Chapters authored
Pandemics and Financial Assets
There have been several pandemics in the history of mankind. One of the major pandemics was the Spanish flu that took place in 1918, in which millions of lives were lost globally. Despite significant advances in science and medicine since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has still caused major impacts around the world. As evidenced, pandemics not only cause social and public health implications, but also cause effects on the economy as well. This chapter addresses the ill effects of pandemics on the economy and presents how the financial markets and financial institutions were influenced and how they responded to the pandemics. More specifically, this chapter identifies the effects of the pandemics on various assets (e.g., crude oil, gold, currencies, equity, bonds, and cryptocurrencies) around the world. In addition, the chapter also presents evidence of corporates’ characteristics relative to their responses to the ill effects of the pandemics.
Part of the book: Banking and Accounting Issues
CSR and Female Directors: A Review and Future Research Agenda
Society’s expectations for business are higher than ever. Younger generations believe that organizations that are environmentally and socially conscious are better places to work and the vast majority believe that they will be more loyal to companies that share their values. The responsibilities placed on leaders grow in tandem with the need for social accountability. Gender diversity on corporate boards has been identified as one of the most important drivers of sustainability as well as corporate social responsibility (CSR). Nevertheless, there are the mixed empirical evidences to back up this claim. To fill this void, the purpose of this chapter is to provide readers with a brief overview of theories and empirical evidence supporting the relationship between female directors and CSR. Besides, the chapter attempts to gather the main conceptual contributions on the situation and evolution of the relationship, providing insights regarding future studies.
Part of the book: Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century
CSR Reporting and Blockchain Technology
Blockchain technology is a public ledger that stores data in a chain of blocks which can radically improve the quality of our records from “records that might be trustworthy” to “records that trust is absolute”. This chapter explores one area that blockchain technology can radically transform but has not yet received significant attention. We evaluate the suitability of applying blockchain technology for corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting. We demonstrate that blockchain technology is suitable in the context of CSR reporting since there is a strong need for an immutable common database shared among various stakeholders with potential trust issues. We also argue that blockchain technology does not completely eliminate existing trusted third parties such as governments, international organizations that provide CSR reporting standards, major CSR reporting assurance companies and major CSR infomediaries. In particular, blockchain technology can be used as a platform that integrates all traditional trusted third parties, transforms their functions, and reduces their drawbacks for advancing CSR reporting. We also demonstrate that a permissionless public blockchain would be the most suitable structure.
Part of the book: Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century
Perspective Chapter: The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investment and Its Implications
Investment management has been an important part in a long-term financial planning for investors around the world. Traditionally, investors aim to maximize the risk premium relative to the riskiness of the investment subjected to certain goals and constraints such as the time horizon, risk appetite, and consumption behavior. Recently, investors, both retail and institutional investors, have shown significant interests in sustainability especially on the environmental, social, and governance, which is often referred to as ESG investments. Studies on ESG investing are unable to reach consensus. We will review literature related to ESG investing in order to identify key limitations that obstruct advancements in this field. In particular, key limitations that we have identified involve the issues of data inconsistencies and the choice of benchmarks, among others. Furthermore, this chapter identifies areas for future research that address these limitations and thus should advance research in this field.
Part of the book: Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century