Price efficiency and safe-haven property of Bitcoin in relation to stocks in the pandemic era

Purpose When investors experience extreme uncertainty, they seek “safe havens” to reduce their risk, to limit their losses and to protect the value of their portfolios. The purpose of this paper is to examine the safe-haven properties of Bitcoin compared to the stock market. Design/methodology/approach Based on intraday data, this study compares the price efficiencies of Bitcoin and Morgan Stanley Capital Index (MSCI) using Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis for the second half of 2020. This study then evaluates Bitcoin’s safe-haven property using Detrended Partial-Cross-Correlation Analysis (DPCCA). Findings This study finds that the price efficiency of Bitcoin is lower than that of MSCI. Further, Bitcoin was not a safe haven at any time for the MSCI index. The net cross-correlations between Bitcoin and MSCI are weak and they vary at different time scales. Research limitations/implications The behavior of market prices varies over time. Therefore, it is important to replicate this study for other time periods. Social implications The paper sheds light on the price behavior of Bitcoin during a period of instability. The results suggest that the construction of portfolios should differ based on the time horizons of the investors. Originality/value The authors compare Bitcoin against a global equity index instead of a specific country index or commodity. They also demonstrate the applicability of DPCCA in finance research.

Országmárka-rangsorok a Covid-19 világjárvány idején – „Az az egy fontos: legyetek jók most!”

A termékek és szolgáltatások világában jó ideje megszokottak a márkarangsorok: a top100-as globális márkalistát többek közt elkészíti az Interbrand és a BrandZ-Kantar-WPP is. Az Interbrand 2020-as listájának első öt helyén például az Apple, az Amazon, a Microsoft, a Google és a Samsung áll, őket követi az első, nem technológiai márka, a Coca-Cola. De a BrandZ-Kantar-WPP 2020-as rangsora esetén is hasonló a helyzet, ott az első öt helyezett sorrendje: Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Visa. A klasszikus márkarangsorokhoz hasonlóan az országmárkákra is rendelkezésre állnak már toplisták. Sőt, szinte minden évben megjelenik legalább egy új ilyen. Van már Anholt Nation Brands Index, FutureBrand Country Brand Index, Anholt Good Country Index, Bloom Consulting Country Brand Ranking (Tourism Edition, illetve Trade Edition), Young&Rubicam Best Countries, Reputation Institute Country RepTrak és Global Soft Power Index is. Ezek mindegyikét lehetetlen taglalni egyetlen cikk keretei között, és nem is mindegyiknek van annyira friss országmárka-rangsora, ami már a Covid-19 járványidőszak alatt született, ezért most csak az első hármat vettük górcső alá közülük. A publikáció egyik célja az, hogy magyar nyelven először bemutassa ezek módszertanát, dimenzióit és faktorait, illetve az egyes rangsorok eredményeit, különös tekintettel arra, hogy 2020-ban miként változtak. Az írás másik célja, hogy rámutasson arra, hogy a jó országmárka, a jó országimázs alapja voltaképp nem más, mint maga a jó ország, pontosan ugyanúgy, ahogy egy klasszikus márka esetében is a kiindulópont a jó termék és szolgáltatás.

Indeks Malmquist: Studi Literatur dan Kajian Kinerja Perbankan Syariah

Measurement of Islamic Banking Performance using the Malmquist Index has been widely discussed by researchers from various countries. The Malmquist index is part of the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method which is used to process non-parametric data to measure the increase in Decision Making Unit (DMU) productivity. This article aims to conduct a literature study of scientific articles that research the Malmquist Index. The research method used is Literature Study, starting with determining the research topic, then conducting theoretical studies and references related to the research carried out. 12 articles have been reviewed with the criteria of literature that has relevance to the research objectives, in the form of Scientific Journals, both National Scientific Journals, Accredited National Scientific Journals, International Scientific Journals, and Reputable International Scientific Journals. The results of the study reveal that Islamic banking has positive productivity growth, based on the area of Islamic Banking outside the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), has better performance. Sharia Banking in the Southeast Asia Region, represented by Malaysia and Indonesia, alternately, received the best ranking based on the ranking by the Islamic Finance Country Index (IFCI).

The Good Country Index, Cognitive Ability and Culture

The Good Country Index (GCI) measures countries’ contributions to global prosperity in domains such as peace, climate and health. It is known that political institutions and wealth can enhance a country’s ability to be ‘good’. However, past research has shown that the cognitive ability of a society – and of its intellectual classes in particular – as well as education and background factors such as culture and evolutionary history, may be particularly important for socio-economic development. Using correlations, cross-sectional path analyses and longitudinal path analyses, we examined the GCI’s relationships with the following variables: average cognitive ability, cognitive level of intellectual classes, evolutionary history, culture (indicated by religion), consanguinity, education, politics (rule of law, freedom, democracy) and wealth (GDP per capita). There was considerable overlap between measures of politics and the GCI (e.g., freedom; empirically r = .76 to .84). The most important variable for explaining international differences in the GCI was the cognitive level of intellectual classes (around r = .72), followed by indicators of culture (r = .64 to .69). Benefits and limitations of the intellectual class approach are discussed.

Country branding comparison between Slovak Republic and United Kingdom in Future Brand Country Index

Nowadays are known many indexes, which are rating specific countries by their performance in chosen areas. This work will be concentrated on the brands of countries valuated by brand indexes. For purposes of job we have chosen the Future Brand Country Index in order to achieve the most objective result of comparison between Slovak Republic and Great Britain. Although they are known certain number of indexes, factors used in Future Brand Country Index are considered by us as the best suitable for this work. This index valuates strength of perception of the country brand across certain dimensions, which are Value System, Quality of Life, Business Potential, Heritage and Culture, Tourism and Made in. These dimensions consist of numerous associations with specific country which will be specified later. Purpose of our work is to analyse results of Slovak republic and Great Britain, their position in Future Brand Index in 2014 and in 2019 and find reasons of their improvement or deterioration. Since Future Brand Index does not publish data and analyses of these countries, our work will be concentrated on analysing key dimensions of index which could affect position of chosen countries in Future Brand index.

Publication rates of abstracts presented at the World Congress on Pain held by the International Association for the Study of Pain in 2010

Objective To examine publication rates of the full texts of abstracts presented at the 2010 World Congress on Pain (WCP) of the International Association for the Study of Pain. Methods Poster presentations published in the abstract booklet of the 13th WCP in 2010 were examined. The post-congress status of each abstract was investigated by searching titles, first author, and co-authors, in order, using local search engines. The year of publication, country, index, impact factor (IF) of the publishing journal, and name and title consistencies between the abstract and published text were recorded. Results A total 1907 poster presentations were investigated. Of these, 525 (27.5%) were published in scientific journals. The most poster presentations (402, 37%) were from the United States. The most published presentations appeared in scientific journals in 2011. Science Citation Index (SCI), SCI Expanded, and Emerging Sources Citation Index published 491 abstracts as full texts. The mean IF of journals in which articles were published was 3.90 ± 3.64. Conclusions As with scientific journals, a communication process should be established with authors during assessment of poster presentations at congresses regarding critical progression and rectification of deficiencies, which will increase the likelihood of presentation abstracts being published.

Good Country Index – V4 Countries Comparison

There are currently many indices ranking countries based on their national competitiveness, happiness, human development and other criteria. A couple of years ago, the Good Country Index was introduced, whose purpose is to measure how a country contributes to the wellbeing of not only its own citizens, but the whole humanity and the planet. The fundamental idea behind the Index is the significant influence of globalisation on spreading both positive and negative trends in the world. Hence it is vital for countries to cooperate in order to handle the negative effects of globalisation. The Index consists of seven dimensions, namely Science - Technology, Culture, International Peace - Security, World Order, Planet - Climate, Prosperity - Equality, and Health - Wellbeing. In the present paper we compare the Index calculations of the Visegrad Group countries and analyse the reasons behind their respective overall positions, as well as ranking within individual sub-indices. Our special attention is dedicated to culture-related phenomena. Based on the analysis, we offer suggestions to improve the current state in the areas where the countries are less successful. The dominant research method utilised is comparative analysis.

Inovacijska izvedba zemalja članica Europske unije

The aim of this paper is to show the results of the innovation performance of the member states of the European Union. The most comprehensive insight into the innovation performance of countries is provided by the Global Index of Innovation, the Bloomberg Index of Innovation and the European Innovation Success Scale. These indices have different methodologies for calculating innovation performance of countries, and depending on the type of country index and methodology they produce different results. Comparative analysis of the innovation index has shown that, depending on the type of index and methodology of calculation, the leading countries of the world are Switzerland and South Korea, and the most innovative countries of the European Union are Sweden and the Netherlands. Nevertheless, according to all three indices and methodologies some European Union member states show weak innovation performance, such as Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. The comparative analysis of the indices in question points to the weakest links of the economy that needs to be strengthened in order to improve the level of innovation and, consequently, competitiveness, which is why the listed results represent guiding and defining principles, guideline priorities and innovation policies measures.