An empirical analysis of the influence of financialization on investment in Russia

This paper tries to estimate the impact of financialization on fixed investment in Russia. The work is carried out by using panel data based on reports of non-financial publicly listed companies for 1999–2019. The study finds that financial expenses aimed at paying interest on external financing and paying dividends — that is, focusing on shareholder value, and hence decreasing the internal funds of companies, reduce real investments. Financial incomes have shown the crowding-out effect for large companies. Financial incomes as additional “free” funds in large companies are not perceived as an opportunity to accumulate fixed assets. Managers prefer to increase ­financial investments instead of real ones. In small and medium-sized companies, financial incomes, however, drive the growth of physical investment. This is because small firms, at a particular stage in their lives, find it more profitable to invest in their own growth. The results from the general sample, without dividing by size, indicate that financialization in Russia clearly reduces real investment.

Corporate Social Responsibility and the Value of Cash Holdings: Evidence from the Korean Stock Market

This study examines the impact of a company’s performance in terms of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on investors’ perceptions of corporate cash holdings in South Korea. The study postulates that, in emerging markets, such as South Korea, companies’ CSR activities are often implemented strategically by the management. In emerging economies, companies’ cash holdings are not subject to strict regulation of external capital providers. Hence, companies raise cash easily and manage cash holdings at their discretion, often resulting in agency problems between the management and shareholders. The study’s results reveal that capital market investors negatively perceive the cash holdings of companies actively engaged in CSR. Investors do not expect the cash held by such companies to increase their corporate value. In other words, companies may use internal funds rather than debt for financing CSR activities.

Implementation of Centralized Administration and Management of Funds in Enterprise Groups

Enterprise groups are characterized by multiple levels of enterprises with large scales of assets and complex business models. In the process of administration and management of funds, there are often some problems, such as unreasonable internal funds allocation, high financing costs, and flawed funds control. Centralized fund management is a tool for the overall allocation of intra-group funds and the coordinated management of group investment and financing. It can optimize the resource allocation of enterprise groups and reduce financing costs as well as capital risks. By selecting centralized fund management, establishing control and early warning system, as well as building information system and other steps, enterprise groups can better implement centralized fund management and improve their capital control.

Disordered Eating Attitudes, Demographics, and Snack Patterns in Overweight and Obese US College Students

Objectives An unhealthy snack pattern may impact a person's overall health and quality of life. College students are at risk for disordered eating attitudes (DEA) due the elevated mental and physical demands of higher education. This could lead to a greater snack intake that could replace meals. DEA could also be influenced by demographics. Our objective was to evaluate the association between DEA, snack patterns, stress level, and demographics. Methods We analyzed the baseline data from the Snackability Trial, a trial among overweight and obese students from US colleges to test the effects of using the Snackability app to choose healthier snacks compared to controls (no access to the app). Students are being recruited using flyers sent via email by college professors/staff and social media since June 2020. Participants completed questionnaires at baseline (before randomization) on demographics (age, gender, race, ethnicity, income), snack eating patterns, stress level (scale from 1–10 with 10 being the most stressed), and DEA Score (a validated score assessing eating attitudes with 25 questions related to perceptions of food; higher DEA scores indicate higher DEA with the minimum possible score of 37 and maximum of 190). Descriptive statistics included frequency and mean/standard deviation of all variables. ANOVA and Pearson Correlations were used to evaluate the associations between variables. Results A total of 135 have completed thus far all baseline questionnaires. The average age was 21.5 ± 2.01 years, most students were female (83.7%), Hispanic/Latino (52.6%), and with a household income of <$50,000 (60.0%). Average DEAS was 90.4 ± 19.1, daily snack intake was 2.33 ± 1.08, and stress score was 6.78 ± 1.97. DEAS score was not associated with demographic variables or snack intake, but there was a significant correlation between DEAS and stress level (r = 0.3; P < 0.001). Conclusions Students who have a higher level of stress are more likely to have DEA. Disordered eating is an umbrella of irregular eating behaviors that may or may not warrant a diagnosis of a specific eating disorder. Based on these findings, universities may need to develop interventions for college students to manage stress as well as promoting awareness and programs for students with high levels of disordered eating. Funding Sources Internal funds from Florida International University.

The firm growth-cash flow sensitivity: do financial constraints matter?

PurposeThe paper examines the differential effect of liquidity constraints on corporate growth using unbalanced panel data for 457 Pakistani firms over the period 2010–2017.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses the probability of a financial unconstrained index constructed by estimating the endogenous regression model. This approach provides a time-varying measure of financial position for all firm-year observations and takes into account the different degrees of liquidity constraints that a company faces in attaining funds from external markets. It is derived from a multivariate selection equation that simultaneously accounts for all-important features of the underlying company identified in the literature. The cash flow variable has then interacted with various groups of dummy variables for financial constraint, which allows the coefficient of cash flow to vary across firm-year observations in the different liquidity constraint categories. The two-step system-GMM estimator is applied to estimate the main empirical model.FindingsThe results of the study provide evidence of the heterogeneity in firms' growth sensitivity to internal funds, depending on the degree of liquidity constraints. Financing growth through internal funds is found to be essential for both liquidity unconstrained and constrained corporates. However, it is observed that the coefficient of cash flow is greater for firms that do not have access to external financing and it eventually decreases with reductions in the magnitude of liquidity constraints, making the least constrained corporates' growth less responsive to internal funds. The results further indicate that smaller and younger firms show higher responsiveness of growth to internal funds. This finding is mainly attributed to financial market imperfections that make external funding difficult for them.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that financially constrained firms should expand their corporate size more than the magnitude of positive income shocks they encounter. The study also suggests important policy implications for liquidity-constrained firms to carefully concentrate on their financing strategies to enhance their growth. By improving the corporate's capacity for production, corporates can achieve a faster effect of a potential positive income shock on their growth.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature by constructing a financial constraint index by running the endogenous regression model. It also contributes by investigating the differential impact of credit constraints on firms' growth in Pakistan and how corporate size and age affect firm growth when financial constraints and investment opportunities are controlled.

The Effect of Profitability and Asset Structure to Capital Structure on Non-Bank Financial Institutions Listed On Indonesian Stock Exchange

One of the key decisions faced by financial managers in relation to company operations is funding decisions. The funding decision is seen from the capital structure, good capital structure is the optimal capital structure. The optimal capital structure is a condition in which a firm can use a combination of debt and equity ideally and balancing the value of the firm and the cost of its capital structure. The cost of capital arose is a direct consequence of the decision taken when the manager uses the debt in which there will be the capital cost of interest expense required by creditor. However, if the manager decides to use internal funds, an opportunity cost of funds will be incurred. This research that was used is quantitative data with financial data from the site Indonesian Stock Exchange. The companies that was used is Non-Bank Financial Institutions which published financial statements of the period 2014 – 2016. This research aims to know the effect of profitability and asset structure to capital structure on Non-Bank Financial Institutions Listed on Indonesian Stock Exchange. Analysis method that was used in this thesis is panel data regression with statistical software Views 7 Version. The sample was 30 companies by purpose sampling technique. The independent variables that used are profitability and asset structure, and the variable dependent is capital structure. The results show that profitability partially has insignificant negative effect on capital structure with value of -0.469. Asset structure partially has insignificant positive effect on capital structure with value of 0.945. Profitability and asset structure during 2014 – 2016 simultaneously has significant effect on capital structure on Non-Bank Financial Institutions with value of 0.018. The companies are expected to pay attention to profitability, as it increases profitability equally by increasing internal funding. The used of long term debt align with their firm size because debt will also have its effect to all operational aspect so that asset structure will become optimal.

Evaluation of the accuracy and ease-of-use of Abbott PanBio - A WHO emergency use listed, rapid, antigen-detecting point-of-care diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2

BackgroundDiagnostics are essential for controlling the pandemic. Identifying a reliable and fast diagnostic is needed to support testing. We assessed performance and ease-of-use of the Abbott PanBio antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic test (Ag-RDT).MethodsThis prospective, multi-centre diagnostic accuracy study enrolled at two sites in Germany. Following routine testing with RT-PCR, a second study-exclusive swab was performed for Ag-RDT testing. Routine swabs were nasopharyngeal (NP) or combined NP/oropharyngeal (OP) whereas the study-exclusive swabs were NP. To evaluate performance, sensitivity and specificity were assessed overall and in predefined sub analyses accordingly to cycle-threshold values, days of symptoms, disease severity and study site. Additionally, an ease-of-use assessment and System Usability Scale (SUS) were performed.Findings1108 participants were enrolled between Sept 28 and Oct 30, 2020. Of these, 106 (9·6%) were PCR-positive. The Abbott PanBio detected 92/106 PCR-positive participants with a sensitivity of 86·8% (95% CI: 79·0% - 92·0%) and a specificity of 99·9% (95% CI: 99·4%-100%). The sub analyses indicated that sensitivity was 95·8% in CT-values <25 and within the first seven days from symptom onset. The test was characterized as easy to use (SUS: 86/100) and considered suitable for point-of- care settings.InterpretationThe Abbott PanBio Ag-RDT performs well for SARS-CoV-2 testing in this large manufacturer independent study, confirming its WHO recommendation for Emergency Use in settings with limited resources.FundingThe Foundation of Innovative New Diagnostics supplied the test kits for the study. The internal funds from the Heidelberg University as well as the Charité Berlin supported this study.

Korean Firms’ Share Repurchase Activities: Firm Characteristics, Financing and Investment

This study examines Korean listed firms’ share repurchasing activities over the period 2006~2016 using the amount of net share repurchases from annual statements of cash flow. Korean firms use dividends rather than share repurchases as their primary payout method. Each year, the proportion of share repurchasing firms is lower than 20%, whereas the proportion of dividend-paying firms is around 70% or higher. Univariate analysis and Tobit regressions reveal that the incidence and amount of share repurchases increase with firm value, size, and cash flow. Our findings do not suggest that low valuations (or poor stock performance) or low debt ratios motivate share repurchases. Korean firms use primarily internal funds to finance share repurchases, as share repurchasing firms experience substantial increases in retained earnings. Share repurchasing firms do not invest less than other firms do, suggesting that share repurchases do not result in underinvestment. Compared to dividends, share repurchases are more positively associated with firm value. Compared to share repurchase, dividends are more positively associated with cash flow and financial maturity, but more negatively associated with stock return volatility. Finally, firms with high controlling shareholders’ ownership tend to choose dividends over share repurchases in their payout policy.