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This study aims to investigate the impact of banking-sector concentration on the banks' liquidity creation in GCC countries over the period from 2012 to 2018 by using a dynamic GMM panel procedure. The results suggest that increased bank competition reduces banks' liquidity creation across the GCC countries. The study's findings are in line with the 'financial fragility hypothesis\" according to which banks to reduce their lending activities when competition is high in the market. The evidence suggests that the banking industry is different from others, and pro-competitive policies in the banking industry can reduce liquidity provision by banks. In the context of policy implications, a concentrated banking system discourages capital provision to firms; hence, regulators have to take appropriate measures to resolve the problem of a reduced supply of capital. Government must regulate the banking sector by keeping in view their long-run goal as competition is a double-edged sword in banking.

This article aims to give a fresh insight into the non-linear relationship between unemployment, governance, and poverty in Pakistan. For the purpose, the study utilizes data from 1984 to 2016 by employing a nonlinear ARDL co-integration approach. The findings provide an insight that poverty responds asymmetrically due to positive or negative shocks in unemployment and governance. Moreover, the results suggest that applying linear models on poverty modelling may mislead the inference. The findings of the study imply that the policymakers and academicians must consider nonlinear behaviour of poverty for better policymaking.

The heightened risk of global warming has attracted the special attention of researchers and policymakers towards the linkage between economic growth and environmental protection. Thus, this study examines the effects of FDI inflow, GDP, trade openness, urbanisation level, and nuclear energy consumption on environmental pollution factor CO2 emissions by using the STIRPAT model (1997). Furthermore, this study also examines the moderating role of green financing by analysing the data of eight nuclear power states from 2008 to 2019. The results revealed that foreign direct investment, gross domestic product, and urbanisation as increased contributors to CO2 emissions, thus damaging the environment. Whereas trade openness, nuclear energy consumption, and green financing have an inverse relation with CO2 which means they positively contribute to the environment of the nuclear power states. The outcomes also reveal that green financing negatively moderates the relationships and positively contributes toward environmental safety (reduces CO2). The findings have paved the way for the regulators to increase their focus on green finance to play a positive role in environment preservation and conservation alongside economic growth. Not only that, but the results also imply that the policymakers should direct their efforts to promote nuclear energy production and consumption to cater to the surging energy needs.

PurposeThe study aims to yield evidence on the relation between the quality of governance characteristics and the firms' financial credibility involved in financial violations.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses annual data ranging from 2000 to 2018. The sample consists of 154 nonfinancial firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, comprising 77 fraudulent and 77 non-fraudulent companies. To examine the relationship between improvements in the governance structure and financial credibility of the firms, hypotheses are tested using the univariate analysis and multivariate regression model through the ordinary least square method.FindingsThe results affirm that fraud firms are possessed with poor governance structure compared to control firms in the pre-fraud year. The findings further imply that an improved governance structure brings foremost performance in stock price. The results of the study divulge that board of directors characteristic i.e. change in outside directors' percentage has a significant positive impact (β = 0.015, p = 0.05) on the financial credibility of the firms. The governance variables in terms of CEO-COB joint position has a significant negative (β = −0.824, p = 0.05) association with the financial credibility, which means that whenever CEO-COB joint position enhances, the financial credibility of the firms decreases. However, governance variables in the context of blockholders percentage has a significant positive (β = 0.13, p = 0.01) impact on financial credibility. The results of the study overall indicate that the governance structure has a significant influence on the financial performance of firms in the stock market.Originality/valueThe study provides an understanding of how fraudulent firms rehabilitate their governance structure and accrue economic benefits by the means of financial credibility after when the fraud is made public. It also adds to the literature in the area of corporate frauds specifically the role of governance structure in the financial performance of fraudulent firms in the stock market; this field is in its initial stage, even in developed countries, while, in developing countries, little work has been done.

Purpose The aim of this study is to understand how board structure, size of audit committee (AC), gender diversity and ownership structure influence banks’ performance in Pakistan. This study also aims to examine how various dimensions of governance differently affect the different measures of bank performance. Design/methodology/approach This study used panel estimation techniques to quantify the impact of various elements of corporate governance on bank performance by taking annual data of 19 Pakistani banks for the period 2013–2020. The corporate governance is measured by board size, CEO duality, AC size, ownership structure and gender diversity. To get the robust results, this study measures bank performance by considering different indicators, namely, return on assets, earning per share, technical efficiency (TE) and total factor productivity. The empirical investigation is based on several well-known and well-accepted governance theories such as the agency theory, the stewardship theory, the tokenism/critical mass theory and the information asymmetry theory. Findings The findings of the study reveal that the size of board and ACs both significantly improve profitability and productivity, whereas they decrease TE. Further, the findings suggest that most of the indicators of gender diversity significantly deteriorate the performance of banks. However, ownership structure significantly improves banks’ earnings per share and TE. This study further illustrates that CEO’s duality does not have any significant impact on bank performance. This finding holds true for all the performance measures considered for this study. Practical implications The findings are of great importance to various stakeholders, especially to policymakers to know about the factors influencing different measures of performance. Specifically, based on these findings, they can devise the result-oriented strategies to enhance the financial and real performance of banks. The findings also suggest that both investors and owners should take into consideration the governance indicators while evaluating banks’ performance by using accounting, market-based, efficiency and productivity measures. Originality/value This research adds to the vast body of existing knowledge about the effectiveness of corporate governance by investigating how the different dimensions of corporate governance and gender diversity influence bank performance in a developing country, namely, Pakistan. Further, this study elaborates the domestic rules/regulations, governance theories and governance framework and practices and tries to link the empirical findings with them for better understanding the role of governance in determining the performance of the banking sector of Pakistan.

Significant demand for ecological services and diminishing environmental issues pose severe threats to the existence of humanity. Some scholars believe that the rapid development of financial sectors may add to this problem. Therefore, this study evaluates the impact of disaggregated financial development on the ecological footprint of the Next-11 countries using the panel data from 1995 to 2019. For in-depth empirical analysis, financial development is divided into three categories: banking sector development, insurance market development, and stock market development. Each class comprises four indicators, and the composite index is constructed using principal component analysis. Results of the unit tests indicate that variables are stationary at mix orders some variables are stationary at the level and others are stationary at the 1st difference. By utilizing DCCE and AMG estimations model. The study has confirmed the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis in sampled countries by showing the inverted U-shaped relation between economic growth and ecological footprints. The results also revealed that both stock market development and banking sector development decrease ecological footprints and could help protect the quality of the environment. Furthermore, the findings show that municipal is inseparably linked to environmental adversity in the Next 11 countries. Therefore, to safeguard the ecological footprint in the Next-11 countries, sustainable practices with green financial development accompanied by green urbanization are among the appropriate solutions.

Economies are under serious pressure to sustain themselves due to globalization, focusing simply on economic growth and operational efficiency will not yield the desired sustainable financial and economic position for economies. Management of energy efficiency and reducing the energy dependence and intensity is the core objective for the economy and achievement of the above objective financial, economic, and environmental factors need to be studied. Economic wellbeing critically depends on the efficient use of energy and which type of governance mechanism is in place will also define the ways toward energy efficiency. A better understanding of the relationship will help the economies to fulfill their energy needs efficiently, realize developmental goals, and overcome environmental issues. This study examines the relationship between financial, economic, and environmental factors with energy efficiency, intensity, and dependency with moderating role of governance including institutional quality and governance index for belt and road initiative countries. The core objective of the study is to analyze which financial, economic, and environmental factors serve well in the management of energy efficiency, intensity, and dependence issues and how various dynamics of governance policies including market structure moderate the above-mentioned relationship. For this secondary data is used from world development indicators, market insiders, and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) data. This research will help the researchers and practitioners to achieve long-term economic, financial, and environmental sustainability. The proposed model predicts that 0.44% change in Total Factor Energy Productivity measure of Energy Efficiency, 0.03% changes in Energy use/Purchasing Power Parity ratio measure of Energy Intensity, and 9.63% changes in Energy Reserves/Energy Production ratio measure of Energy Dependence. Results also reveal that environmental factors including Rural population, Urbanization, Co2 emission, energy use, and energy production will contribute most to achieving sustainable economic growth.

The purpose of the study is to examine the sustainability of the tax aggressiveness of shared directors from coercive isomorphism and whether social networks of directors have an impact on their tax aggressiveness. Specifically, the study intends to examine how tax knowledge diffuses across firms and how this knowledge diffusion affects connected firms. To test the constructed hypothesis, the panel logistic regression model is estimated using a firm-level panel dataset for the US and Pakistan to analyze cross-country differences, as the USA holds more legislation and effective governance mechanisms. The study covers the period of 2007–2019. The data required for the empirical analysis was collected from the Thompson Reuters database. The results of panel logistic regression show a significant relationship between tax aggressiveness and director’s connections, suggesting that information diffuses by board interlocks. Specifically, the estimates suggest that there is a positive and significant influence of connected directors on the probability that the tax aggressiveness spreads through coercive isomorphism, inferring that the sustainability of the tax aggressiveness of shared directors from coercive isomorphism is strong. Findings reveal that Pakistani firms, when compared to the USA, are more likely involved in tax aggression because of fewer legislations and tax reforms. The results also reveal that coercive isomorphism significantly mediates the relationship between board interlocks and tax aggressiveness. These findings provide valuable insights into detecting the tax aggressiveness of firms and the channels through which this spread. The study contributes to the scarce research on the impact of board interlocks on tax aggressiveness and the influence of coercive isomorphism on these impacts. This study can help tax authorities in identifying tax-saving strategies through connected directors. Secondly, this study provides empirical evidence to support the diffusion of information regarding tax aggression and provides mechanisms with which to detect tax aggression. Third, our choice of empirical context also helps us contribute to the management practice of firms. CEOs and boards should be wary of interlocks with organizations, lest they inadvertently become reticent and hence prove to be of no good.

This study examines the role of institutional ownership in explaining stock returns. The Fama & Macbeth (1973) rolling Beta (ß) and two pass regression methodology is used in estimating ownership risk premium for a periodfrom June 2002 to June 2012 by using a data set of 187 companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). Standard portfolio based approach is used to mitigate Errorsin-Variable (EIV) problem. Findings of this study give an insight to develop a new theoretical framework and are an attempt to give fresh perspective into the puzzling empirical linkages documented in existing literature between equity market returns and firm specific characteristics such as size, value and ownership structure. The relationship reveals that institutional ownership concentration increases information availability and results are in line with monitoring hypothesis that argues that institutional investors create value by effective monitoring that ultimately translates into equity market returns. The study reports that a significant ownership premium exists for stocks traded at KSE.