Stock Market Responses to Monetary and Fiscal Policies

This study analyzes the short-run and long-run effects of interaction between fiscal and monetary policies on stock market performance in four emerging Asian economies, which are China, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia, by using ARDL model. The study covers the period of 2003:Q1-2020:Q1. The findings from this study show monetary and fiscal policies play an important role in determining stock market returns. Also, the results theoretically support Richardian neutrality hypothesis for China and Indonesia, Keynesian positive effect hypothesis for India, and classical crowding out effect hypothesis for Malaysia, and interest channel of monetary transmission mechanism only for China.

Research on the Third-Person Effect of Online Commercial Advertisements – Based on the Students from Guangzhou Huashang College

The third-person effect hypothesis has become one of the most important aspects in the research field within the American empirical school. A large number of studies have adopted empirical research methods to verify the reliability of the third-person effect. With the rise of the network society, local research on the third-person effect has gradually extended to the verification or falsification of the third-person effect in the network environment. This article begins with a study on the third-person effect of online commercial advertisements based on the students from Guangzhou Huashang College. Through the study, the research hypotheses have been proposed and questionnaires have been distributed to the research subjects for analysis. Based on a series of quantitative operations, such as data analysis, empirical observations, and empirical research, this study provides a source of reference and reflection for research in this field.

The effect of bio-banding on the anthropometric, physical fitness and functional movement characteristics of academy soccer players

The study examined if maturity status bio-banding reduces within-group variance in anthropometric, physical fitness and functional movement characteristics of 319, under-14 and under-15 players from 19 UK professional soccer academies. Bio-banding reduced the within-bio-banded group variance for anthropometric values, when compared to an aggregated chronological banded group (chronological: 5.1–16.7%CV; bio-banded: 3.0–17.3%CV). Differences between these bio-banded groups ranged from moderate to very large (ES = 0.97 to 2.88). Physical performance variance (chronological: 4.8–24.9%CV; bio-banded: 3.8–26.5%CV) was also reduced with bio-banding compared to chronological aged grouping. However, not to the same extent as anthropometric values with only 68.3% of values reduced across banding methods compared to 92.6% for anthropometric data. Differences between the bio-banded groups physical qualities ranged from trivial to very large (ES = 0.00 to 3.00). The number of functional movement metrics and %CV reduced by bio-banding was lowest within the ‘circa-PHV’ groups (11.1–44.4%). The proportion of players achieving the threshold value score of ≥ 14 for the FMS™ was highest within the ‘post-PHV’ group (50.0–53.7%). The use of maturity status bio-banding can create more homogenous groups which may encourage greater competitive equity. However, findings here support a bio-banding maturity effect hypothesis, whereby maturity status bio-banding has a heightened effect on controlling for characteristics which have a stronger association to biological growth.

Brand Authenticity as a Mediator of Relationship Between Self-Congruity and Consumer Loyalty

This study investigates the effect of brand authenticity as a mediator of self-congruity relationships on coffee shops consumer loyalty. Data obtained by cross-sectional method with convenience/accidental sampling through an online survey platform. Four hundred thirty responses (44.4% male) were collected from consumers of various brands of coffee shops located in DIY. The mediation effect hypothesis was tested using a bootstrapping approach and additional analysis of the causal step approach using the Sobel test. Self-congruity and brand authenticity have a positive effect on brand loyalty. There is a partial mediating effect produced by brand authenticity on the relationship between self-congruity and brand loyalty. Consumers' consideration to be loyal to the brand is not only based on the suitability of their self-concept with the brand image/brand users image (self-congruity), but also the brand's authenticity.

On the influence of erect shrubs on the irradiance profile in snow

The warming-induced expansion of shrubs in the Arctic is transforming snowpacks into a mixture of snow, impurities and buried branches. Because snow is a translucent medium into which light penetrates up to tens of centimetres, buried branches may alter the snowpack radiation budget with important consequences for the snow thermal regime and microstructure. To characterize the influence of buried branches on radiative transfer in snow, irradiance profiles were measured in snowpacks with and without shrubs near Umiujaq in the Canadian Low Arctic (56.5∘ N, 76.5∘ W) in November and December 2015. Using the irradiance profiles measured in shrub-free snowpacks in combination with a Monte Carlo radiative transfer model revealed that the dominant impurity type was black carbon (BC) in variable concentrations up to 185 ng g−1. This allowed the separation of the radiative effects of impurities and buried branches. Irradiance profiles measured in snowpacks with shrubs showed that the impact of buried branches was local (i.e. a few centimetres around branches) and only observable in layers where branches were also visible in snowpit photographs. The local-effect hypothesis was further supported by observations of localized melting and depth hoar pockets that formed in the vicinity of branches. Buried branches therefore affect snowpack properties, with possible impacts on Arctic flora and fauna and on the thermal regime of permafrost. Lastly, the unexpectedly high BC concentrations in snow are likely caused by nearby open-air waste burning, suggesting that cleaner waste management plans are required for northern community and ecosystem protection.

Spillover Effects of Analyst Coverage on IPO Firms

This study investigates the effect of analysts’ recommendations and earnings forecasts for newly listed firms in the same industry. IPO underpricing is significantly lower as the number of firms whose investment recommendations are upgraded increases, supporting the contagion effect hypothesis that a high affinity for the industry has a positive effect on the IPO offer price. However, as the number of listed firms with higher earnings forecasts increases, IPO underpricing is higher, which supports the competitive effect hypothesis that the profit growth of competitors negatively affects IPO firms’ competitiveness. The effects vary depending on the competitive positions of both listed firms and IPO firms within the industry. The results also show that in industries with high concentration (i.e. low competition) , analyst information on listed firms has a greater contagion effect, while the competition effect hypothesis that better earnings forecasts for rival firms negatively affect IPO firms’ competitive position is not supported. This study contributes to the literature by analyzing the information spillover effect of analyst coverage in the IPO market by showing that the effects vary depending on the firms’ competitive positions as well as industry competition.

How the Crowding-out Effect Hypothesis Stands Under a Financial System Liberalised: The Mexican Economy Case

This paper revisits the financial-liberalisation hypothesis predicting one negative effect of public investment on private investment, which led to the de-regularisation of the financial system in Mexico and many other Less-developed Countries (LDCs) so as to probe whether such tenet hold today even when the role played by the public sector has evolved from having a direct intervention in credit allocation scheme to the fulfilment of a limited duties such as the surveillance of the money and capital markets under a financial liberalization environment. Considering Mexico as a case study, an econometric exercise over the 1970-2019 period is tried crunching official statistical data. Besides a brief introduction, the second section discusses theoretical issues concerning the effects of public investment on private investment, likewise some empirical work done in this field. The third section develops the methodology used to taste the net effect of public investment on private investment and presents also the results estimates. Finally, some conclusions derived from the empirical evidence found in the analysis and a brief discussion are laid down.

IMPACT OF INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT AND PYRAMIDAL LAYER ON COMPLETION OF CHINESE SOES’ MIXED-OWNERSHIP TRANSACTIONS

This paper utilizes Chinese SOEs that undertake mixed-ownership transactions in 2019 as its research objects and discusses the impact of institutional environment (including the degree of marketization and governmental hierarchy) on the completion of mixed-ownership transactions. In addition, this study explores the moderating effect of pyramidal layer and the munificence of payment on the above relationships. The empirical results show that the main effect hypothesis is supported. Furthermore, pyramidal layer weakens the positive correlation between the marketization and the completion of mixed-ownership transactions, and strengthens the negative correlation between governmental hierarchy and the completion of mixed-ownership transactions. The munificence of payment has no significant moderating effect on the relationship between marketization and completion of mixed-ownership transactions; however, it weakens the negative correlation between the governmental level and the completion of mixed-ownership transactions.

The dual benefits of synchronized mating signals in a Japanese treefrog: attracting mates and manipulating predators

In dense mating aggregations, such as leks and choruses, acoustic signals produced by competing male conspecifics often overlap in time. When signals overlap at a fine temporal scale the ability of females to discriminate between individual signals is reduced. Yet, despite this cost, males of some species deliberately overlap their signals with those of conspecifics, synchronizing signal production in the chorus. Here, we investigate two hypotheses of synchronized mating signals in a Japanese treefrog ( Buergeria japonica ): (1) increased female attraction to the chorus (the beacon effect hypothesis) and (2) reduced attraction of eavesdropping predators (the eavesdropper avoidance hypothesis). Our results from playback experiments on female frogs and eavesdropping micropredators (midges and mosquitoes) support both hypotheses. Signal transmission and female phonotaxis experiments suggest that away from the chorus, synchronized calls are more attractive to females than unsynchronized calls. At the chorus, however, eavesdroppers are less attracted to calls that closely follow an initial call, while female attraction to individual signals is not affected. Therefore, synchronized signalling likely benefits male B. japonica by both increasing attraction of females to the chorus and reducing eavesdropper attacks. These findings highlight how multiple selective pressures likely promoted the evolution and maintenance of this behaviour. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Synchrony and rhythm interaction: from the brain to behavioural ecology’.

Impact of Internet Pornography on Chinese Teens: The Third-Person Effect and Attitudes Toward Censorship

Based on the third-person effect hypothesis–people’s belief that the media influences others more than it influences themselves–we administered a questionnaire to Chinese teens ( N = 1,538) to discover the impacts of exposure to internet pornography on perceptions of pornography and attitudes toward censorship of pornography. The results validated the third-person effect hypothesis and showed that teens’ subjective perceptions of what constitutes internet pornography and their exposure to it are critical variables for predicting perceptions of negative impacts of pornography on self and others and affirmative attitudes toward censorship. The study also found that the impact on self is the best variable for predicting attitudes toward censorship. The discussion is framed in the context of Chinese collective culture and conservative attitudes toward sex.