The Impact of Dieselgate on the Required Rate of Return on Equity of VW, BMW and Daimler

Our paper studies the impacts of the Dieselgate scandal on the required rate of return on equity investments into VW, Daimler, and BMW. The object of investigation is the beta coefficient that determines the risk premium in the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). Our research takes a deep dive into the developments from the turning point of the scandal (the EPA NOTICE 2015) on September 18, 2015 – when a Notice of Violation of the Clean Air Act was issued to Volkswagen by the EPA – to the end of February 2016. This period also covers FORMAL COMMENCEMENT 2016, when the U.S. Department of Justice first sued Volkswagen on behalf of the EPA. The spillover (contagion) effect of fraudulent practices of VW impacted BMW, Daimler and other companies in the industry that share a similar business model and market segment. Our research of historical market betas has not confirmed the expectation that in the context of the Dieselgate scandal the return required on equity investments into VW, Daimler, and BMW would soar. The Dieselgate scandal proves that the reliability of beta estimates is an inverse function of market volatility. Historical market beta is, therefore, not a good estimate of the required rate of return for the companies in question.

Factor Driving E-Learning Adoption in Palestine: An Integration of Technology Acceptance Model and is Success Model

One of the most significant changes in the field of education in this information age is the paradigm shift from teacher-centered to learner-centered education. Along with this paradigm shift, understanding of students’ e-learning adoption behavior among various countries is urgently needed. Despite being one of the many countries that are still at the early stages in implementing e-learning, Palestine is a country that has recently seen an expansion in the number of students and the quality of education, which has involved high investment in e-learning. Hence, studies in this area of research interest have yet to be made known within the field of education. This study attempted to address the disparity within the literature for an individual country, Palestine, on the significant influences towards adopting e-learning. A model that investigates the effects of quality features, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness on the intentions and satisfaction of the learners towards the effects of e-learning is proposed in this study. This model encompassed the constructs and variables embedded in TAM and ISSM along with instructor quality. The outcomes of the model, such as actual use and the moderating effect of technical support towards e-learning in Palestine, were investigated. The study proposed that the quality of the course, instructor, service and system as well as perceived usefulness determined the satisfaction among students in use e-learning.

Do Fiscal Transfers Foster Regional Economic Growth?

Fiscal transfer development across the world today has been in part driven by assertions of a supposed ‘economic dividend’ linked with the devolved financial spending. There is, however, little empirical evidence to validate these assertions in Kenya. It is against this background that this study was carried out to estimate the end product of fiscal transfer on regional economic growth in Kenya using a secondary panel data set. Using the ARDL estimation technique the long -run and error correction estimates of the model were generated. The findings revealed that increased fiscal transfer in recurrent budgets accelerates regional growth, hence confirming the Keynesian hypothesis. Conversely, fiscal transfer in capital expenditure was insignificant. This study recommends the need for policymakers to put in place policies and strategies that will improve budget allocation and execution in capital budgets so as to improve physical infrastructure and thus boost private productivity and consequently regional income growth.

Application of Predictive Methods to Financial Data Sets

Financial data sets are growing too fast and need to be analyzed. Data science has many different techniques to store and summarize, mining, running simulations and finally analyzing them. Among data science methods, predictive methods play a critical role in analyzing financial data sets. In the current paper, applications of 22 methods classified in four categories namely data mining and machine learning, numerical analysis, operation research techniques and meta-heuristic techniques, in financial data sets are studied. To this end, first, literature reviews on these methods are given. For each method, a data analysis case (as an illustrative example) is presented and the problem is analyzed with the mentioned method. An actual case is given to apply those methods to solve the problem and to choose a better one. Finally, a conclusion section is proposed.

Digital Finance, Green Finance and Social Finance: Is thera a Link?

Identifying the intersection between digital finance, green finance and social finance is important for promoting sustainable financial, social and environmental development. This paper suggests a link between digital finance, green finance and social finance. Using a simple conceptual model, I show that digital finance offers a smooth, efficient and seamless channel for individuals and corporations to fund social projects that deliver a social dividend, and green projects lead to a sustainable environment. The implication is that digital finance is both an enabler and a channel for efficient green financing and social financing.

Historical Definition and Theorectial Background of Usury Loan Provisions

The thesis deals with usury and illegal lenders both on the domestic scene and abroad. The usury itself is defined by its characteristics, by adjudication and by historical connotations. The historical definition begins in Mesopotamia and ancient Rome, basically since the emergence of money. The aim of the paper is a comprehensive overview of usury, which from the legal perspective is not precisely defined as a term and the thesis tries to find such a definition with the help of case law and interpretation. The characteristics of usury that are described in the thesis are distress, the presence of a weaker party, mental weakness, and a gross disparity of performance. The thesis also describes the history of loan sharks and usury in the United States, where violence plays a considerable part in the issue. The paper also deals with the social background of usury and illegal lenders in the United Kingdom and outlines possible solutions to eradicate these phenomena in financially disadvantaged communities. In the end the thesis attempts to find unifying characteristics of usury across history and said countries.

Comphrensive Analysis of a Company's Activity by Means of Statistical Modeling as Support for its Decision-Making System

An important role in ensuring effective forms of management and increasing competitiveness is played by the process of forecasting the activity of the enterprise. This work analyzed the performance of a food industry enterprise, for which a wide range of statistical methods were applied such as methods of cluster, correlational and regression analysis, statistical tests of Fisher, Student, Farrar-Glauber, Durbin-Watson, Goldfeld-Quandt, μ-criterion, multifactor regression, trend, auto-regression models, and models of seasonal fluctuations, which provided a view of the economic properties of the enterprise profit process, in particular the auto-regression component of revenue dependence on its value last year, seasonal quarterly dependence on sales and marketing costs, product price, etc. The detected patterns will allow us to take into account these features for forecasting future revenues and for adjusting the enterprise’s decision-making system taking into account seasonal features and results of the previous year.

Value of branded education

The objective of the paper is to examine value creation in private higher education. The results of the research are to be applied in reasonable structuring of study programs and courses and for creating profitable business and marketing strategies for private universities. From a student perspective, higher education is a project that must generate a positive net present value. In the pre-investment and investment phases, students see cash outflows and opportunity costs. In the third phase, the project generates benefits that take the form of cash inflows from employment or doing business in the relevant field. The value of the study program from the perspective of a private university is produced by the present value of the future cash flows generated by the investment in the study program and its administration and operation. The main cash inflows are created by tuition revenues and the main cash outflows are brand-related investments and personnel costs. The market equilibrium occurs when the value of a degree program from the perspective of a private university corresponds to the total aggregate net present value of a degree program at a private university from a student perspective.

Psychological capital and leadership role under the turbulent conditions in banking sector

The article discusses the problems of commercial banks related to the coping with abrupt changes in activities organization due to quarantine and moving to partially remote work. The theoretical considerations concerning psychological capital role at organization operating under the unstable conditions are given and hypothesis regarding psychological capital, its individual components, leadership, leadership styles (types) and the overall effectiveness of the organization are formulated. Empirical evidence which proves formulated hypothesis is presented. Concepts of psychological health and psychological competences are presented. The research conducted shows that the psychological capital of financial institutions employees being monitored during COVID-19 quarantine at Spring 2020 is positively correlated with the impact of transformational leadership on the organization effectiveness.

Comparing Digital Finance in the UK, US, India and Nigeria

This paper examines digital finance usage in the UK, US, India and Nigeria. Using data from the global financial development indicators, the findings reveal that the UK and US have higher digital finance usage than India and Nigeria. The US has higher credit card usage compared to the UK while the UK has higher debit card usage compared to the US. Also, Nigeria has higher debit card usage than India. The findings also show that higher debit card usage is correlated with higher domestic credit to the private sector in the US and Nigeria. Higher credit card usage is correlated with lower domestic credit to the private sector, lower private credit by deposit money banks, and fewer remittances to the UK. The implication of the findings is that policy makers in developing countries should develop the digital finance and payment systems in their countries to close up the wide gap in digital finance adoption between developing and developed countries.