Papers by Seyed Alireza Athari
Social Science Research Network, 2024
Sustainable futures, Apr 1, 2024
Financial innovation, Mar 5, 2024
This paper specifically investigates the effects of US government emergency actions on the invest... more This paper specifically investigates the effects of US government emergency actions on the investor sentiment-financial institution stock returns relationship. Despite attempts by many studies, the literature still provides no answers concerning this nexus. Using a new firm-specific Twitter investor sentiment (TS) metric and performing a panel smooth transition regression for daily data on 66 S&P 500 financial institutions from January 1 to December 31, 2020, we find that TS acts asymmetrically, nonlinearly, and time varyingly according to the pandemic situation and US states' responses to COVID-19. In other words, we uncover the nexus between TS and financial institution stock returns and determine that it changes with US states' reactions to COVID-19. With a permissive government response (the first regime), TS does not impact financial institution stock returns; however, when moving to a strict government response (the overall government response index exceeds the 63.59 threshold), this positive effect becomes significant in the second regime. Moreover, the results show that the slope of the transition function is high, indicating an abrupt rather than a smooth transition between the first and second regimes. The results are robust and have important policy implications for policymakers, investment analysts, and portfolio managers.
This study investigates the co-movement between the Twitter-based economic uncertainty index (TEU... more This study investigates the co-movement between the Twitter-based economic uncertainty index (TEU) and US energy stocks using the wavelet coherence method. The results reveal a homogenous negative co-movement of the TEU with the energy stocks, implying that a rise in TEU leads to declining energy stock prices. Nevertheless, a heterogeneous co-movement of the TEU with other sectors has been detected in the US market. Besides, the results reveal a positive and significant co-movement of the TEU with the Standard & Poor (S&P) 500 index over the medium and long-term horizons though the co-movement became more pronounced during COVID-19.
International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, Dec 31, 2024
Advances in economics, business and management research, 2022
Sustainability
Extant literature suggests that the banking sector’s sustainability is achievable by minimizing t... more Extant literature suggests that the banking sector’s sustainability is achievable by minimizing the risk factors, in particular, credit risk (CR). Despite prior studies, there are fewer attempts to considerably probe the role of country governance settings in managing CR and ultimately achieving sustainability. Therefore, this study aims to test this nexus for the banking sector operating in BRICS developing economies. Specifically, this research attempts to explore whether country governance has a moderator role between CR and the exposure of environments to risk factors. To achieve these objectives, we conduct panel data analysis using the quantile (QR) and fixed effects (FE) estimation methods. The results show that increasing liquidity, profitability, capital requirements, and income diversification lead to decreasing CR, whereas increasing inefficiency causes an increase in CR. In addition, the results reveal that a country’s increasing vulnerability to a specific financial ris...
Ekonomski pregled
This study aims to examine the effect of family control on the corporate financing decision of fi... more This study aims to examine the effect of family control on the corporate financing decision of firms in Pakistan. This study uses the annual data of 100 non-financial firms listed at PSX for the period 2005-2012. To estimate the impact of family control on the corporate financing decision, we employ the ordinary least square (OLS) method. The findings of the univariate analysis show that a significant difference exists between family and non-family firms based on many characteristics of firms. Multivariate analysis results show that family firms maintain significantly high "total debt ratio" and "short-term debt ratio" compared to non-family firms. There are two reasons why family firms keep high debt ratios compared to non-family firms. First, family-owned firms do not want to dilute their ownership, and that is why they fulfill their major financing needs through debt instead of issuing new shares in the market. Second, family firms in Pakistan use extra cash f...
Economic Systems, Dec 31, 2023
Sustainability
Despite scholarly debates on the role of entrepreneurial orientation, its effect on new venture p... more Despite scholarly debates on the role of entrepreneurial orientation, its effect on new venture performance remains largely understudied, particularly in the context of emerging economies. Determining this association is crucial and has an important implication for scholars and managers of SMEs to increase performance. Therefore, using the resource-based view and upper-echelon theories, this study examines this link by considering the mediating role of opportunity exploitation and the moderating role of transformational leadership in the case of an emerging market in Lebanon. The resource-based view theory discusses the importance of intangible and tangible resources in obtaining a sustainable competitive edge. The upper-echelon theory also connects the attributes of firm performance and top employee management. To achieve this purpose, we conducted a comprehensive survey of 411 managers and owners, 346 of whom were men and 65 of whom were women, of SMEs in the top five provinces of...
Financial Innovation
This study aims to fill the gap in the literature by specifically investigating the impact of cou... more This study aims to fill the gap in the literature by specifically investigating the impact of country risk on the credit risk of the banking sectors operating in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS), emerging countries. More specifically, we explore whether the country-specific risks, namely financial, economic, and political risks significantly impact the BRICS banking sectors’ non-performing loans and also probe which risk has the most outstanding effect on credit risk. To do so, we perform panel data analysis using the quantile estimation approach covering the period 2004–2020. The empirical results reveal that the country risk significantly leads to increasing the banking sector’s credit risk and this effect is prominent in the banking sector of countries with a higher degree of non-performing loans (Q.25 = − 0.105, Q.50 = − 0.131, Q.75 = − 0.153, Q.95 = − 0.175). Furthermore, the results underscore that an emerging country’s political, economic, and financial ...
Journal of Economic Structures
This study specifically explores the effect of domestic political and economic risks on risk-taki... more This study specifically explores the effect of domestic political and economic risks on risk-taking in the banking sector for 105 countries operating in six various geographical regions between 2009 and 2017. To the best of our knowledge, this may be the first study that attempts to conduct this relationship from this perspective. Remarkably, the dynamic estimation results underscore that a rise in political and economic risks triggers risk-taking behavior in the banking sector globally, in particular in the OECD High-income region. Besides, the estimation results reveal that capital regulation, market power, and income diversification negatively impact risk-taking while credit risk, inefficiency, financial market development, and deposit insurance have a positive effect on risk-taking behavior. The results also stress that the extent of the effect of determinants and significance level vary by changing the region. The results are robust and have significant implications for policym...
Sustainability, Nov 7, 2022
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Sustainability
This study investigated the effects of financial literacy, financial self-control, and demographi... more This study investigated the effects of financial literacy, financial self-control, and demographic determinants on individual financial performance and behavior during the Lebanese crisis period between 2019 and 2021. To the best of our knowledge, this may be the first study that compares the determinants of financial behavior for different generations, genders, marital statuses, and education and income levels. To do so, we conducted a comprehensive survey of 328 individuals and performed a logistic regression analysis. The empirical results show that an individual’s financial performance and behavior are positively affected by financial literacy, financial self-control, and demographic factors, in particular education and income levels. In addition, when we focused on the demographic factors, the results reveal that having good financial literacy increases the likelihood of an individual’s financial performance and behavior, in particular for Generations X and Z, males and females...
Sustainability
Several investigations show that remittances, renewable energy, and innovation promote the socioe... more Several investigations show that remittances, renewable energy, and innovation promote the socioeconomic advancement of a nation. Nevertheless, the impacts of remittances and renewable energy on ecological quality are yet to be evaluated thoroughly. Therefore, the current investigation assesses the effects of remittances and renewable energy on CO2 emissions while taking into account the roles of technological innovation, globalization, and economic growth. Toward this end, this paper depends on yearly data between 1990 and 2019. The study employed bounds testing and its results disclosed long-term connections between CO2 and the regressors. Moreover, unlike prior studies that employ time-domain causality, we employed frequency domain causality, which considers causality at different frequencies. Furthermore, the ARDL long- and short-run results showed that economic growth amplified CO2 emissions, while green energy, remittances, and globalization lessened CO2 emissions. Lastly, the...
This study specifically investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the trave... more This study specifically investigates the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the travel and leisure (TL) companies’ debt holdings policy. To do so, the present study selects 92 publicly listed TL companies operating in Western Europe’s top tourist destinations, and performs both the static and dynamic panel data estimation approaches during the 2005–2019 period. The results reveal that the EPU negatively impacts TL firms’ debt holdings, implying that firms tend to decline in debt levels by rising EPU. Consequently, the results highlight that the level of EPU matters and firms’ debt ratios are relatively lower in countries having a higher EPU and vice versa. Besides, the results underscore that the EPU negatively impacts firms’ debt holdings in each sub-sector however the negative effect is most prominent on the debt ratios of the firms, particularly those operating in gambling, hotels, travel and tourism, and also recreational services sub-sectors. JEL classification: D80...
The economics and finance letters, Jun 28, 2022
This study investigates the effects of environmental characteristics, namely the quality of count... more This study investigates the effects of environmental characteristics, namely the quality of country-level governance and domestic risk on Islamic banking capital decisions. To do so, this study selects 29 listed Islamic banks operating in Arab markets for the wide range between the 2003-2018 period by performing the System-GMM dynamic panel technique. The results underscore that higher country-level governance quality is linked with higher capital ratios and Islamic banks increase capital ratios specifically by improving methods of anti-corruption, political stability, government effectiveness, and legal systems. Moreover, the results reveal that Islamic banks increase capital ratios by the rise of a country's vulnerability, particularly by increasing financial and economic risks. However, the results suggest that decreasing political risk also corresponds with higher capital ratios. Overall, the results confirm that environmental characteristics have a pivotal role in determining Islamic bank capital ratios. The results are robust and the findings of this study are likely to open new discussions in the banking literature. Contribution/Originality: This study specifically contributes by examining the effect of environmental characteristics, namely country risk and governance quality on capital decisions of Islamic banks operating in Arab markets. 1. INTRODUCTION Bank capital is considered the most significant factor in the performance of the banking sector, given the fact that it represents the strength of banks against risk (Kalifa & Bektaş, 2018). The works of Berger and Herring (1995) and Francis and Osborne (2010) argued that banks hold minimum amounts of capital since it acts as a buffer to absorb unexpected losses or unforeseen fluctuations in order to prevent any possible bank failure. Remarkably, since the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007 and 2008, bank capital has become a popular subject for regulatory bodies (e.g., Basel Committee on Banking Supervision) and has considerably triggered the interest of many researchers. For instance, the work of Barrios and Blanco (2003) showed that market discipline is the crucial factor that impacts capital ratios. Ariff (2008) suggested that profitability and size impact a bank's capital ratio positively and negatively, respectively. Octavia and Brown (2010) found that macroeconomic factors significantly impact bank capital structures, particularly in emerging countries. Cohen and Scatigna (2016) and Valencia (2016) showed that banks' capital ratios increased
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Papers by Seyed Alireza Athari