Volumen 18 (2022): Edición 3 (September 2022)

The rising uncertainty in financial markets in the last 40 years has led to the creation of new financial indices that will enable these uncertainties to be defined and measured. For this purpose, the first volatility index created was the VIX Index as an indicator of uncertainty in the stock markets, which was followed by the OVX Index as an indicator of uncertainty in the oil markets and the GVZ Index as an indicator of uncertainty in the gold markets. These volatility indicesare also called “global risk indicators”. The MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International) Emerging Markets Index, which is the dependent variable of the study, is an index that is frequently followed by fund and portfolio managers in international markets and used as a benchmark. Therefore, in this study, the relationship between the MSCI EM Index and the global risk indicators for the period 28.03.2011-25.03.2022 was examined by the Toda-Yamamoto Causality Test. Afterwards, impulse-response and variance decomposition tests were applied to the variables. As a result of the study, causality relationships from global risk indicators to the MSCI EM Index were determined.

The study determines the factors that can affect the operational efficiency of Saudi commercial banks. It uses the data of listed banks from the period 2010 to 2017. The panel data estimation technique of pooled ordinary least squares is used with random and fixed effects estimations to find the significant factors. Based on the Hausman test (1978) fixed effects estimation results are used for discussion. The operational efficiency of Saudi banks is influenced by the same factors highlighted for different economies, with a certain exception. Capital adequacy, profitability, and bank size have an adverse influence on operational efficiency. Contrary to this it is positively related to liquidity and asset quality. The results of the study will be useful for policymakers and bank managers to support the effective role of banks in the improvement of the financial sector which is also part of the Kingdom’s vision 2030 development plan.

Working capital management (WCM) plays an important role in a firm’s value, financial risk, and firm profitability. WCM requires continuous management to maintain a certain level of the numerous components of working capital (WC). The main aim of this study is to estimate the efficiency of WCM of certified firms from the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model. The study also tests the speed to attain each firm’s target level of efficiency using industry norms as the target level of efficiency. The financial data of the Czech certified firms from the manufacturing sector was derived from the CRIBIS database from 2015 to 2020. The efficiency of WCM is measured by utilization index (UI), performance index (PI), and efficiency index (EI). The findings revealed that Gerresheimer Horsovsky Tyn Spol., Miele Technika, and Koyo Bearings Česká Republika efficiently managed WC, as their indexes are greater than 1. The number of efficient firms was the lowest in 2020 based on the year-wise comparison which means that the efficiency of WCM of the firms was severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). All the β values are lower than one, which signifies that none of the selected firms outperform the manufacturing industry as a whole. The findings of the current research are useful to the management of the firms and recommends that they give importance to the different indexes of WCM and efficiently use the current assets to generate sales.

The rapid transformations and developments experienced today have increased the importance of energy resources and sustainable energy. In this context, the success and profitability of the activities of companies engaged in energy production and distribution is an important topic. This study, which was carried out in such an environment, was aimed to determine the financial indicators that statistically significantly affect the return on assets (ROA) and equity (ROE) of companies that produce and distribute oil, gas and electricity in Turkey. In the context of the energy sector, ROA and ROE increase competitiveness and provide companies with an advantage in terms of financial success and sustainability of operations. Considering the increasing importance of energy, it is important to determine the internal factors that have an impact on the profitability of energy companies. The research was carried out on a sample of 16 companies operating in the Turkish energy sector and traded on Borsa Istanbul. A panel linear regression model was used to identify the strongest predictors of ROA and ROE. The study used fifteen ratios that are believed to impact ROA and ROE significantly. According to the results obtained, ROE is influenced by CSR (at the significance level of 10%), QR, LR, RTO, ITR, and TA, and ROA is influenced by RTO, CSR, LR, QR (10%), and PB.

The purpose of this research is to examine the poverty phenomenon indicators in Poland through the prism of sustainable development. The subject of poverty and its consequences is often omitted in the discussion of sustainable development, or simplified only to social issues, yet it is an important aspect of economic development and implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study will cover the problem of poverty in Poland, together with the assessment of the potential of implementation of sustainable development goals in terms of poverty eradication, as well as the issue of the impact of social policy activities on SDGs (named as ‘no poverty’) and household finances, both closely related to the risk of poverty. To achieve the aim of the study the authors use statistical data describing the issues of poverty and changes in this area in the period between 2010 and 2020 (or the most up-to-date data available) based on data from the Central Statistical Office in Poland.

The purpose of the article is to check the impact of Net Operating Loss Policies (NOL) for firms. Net Operating Loss Policies (NOL) are a central fiscal tool because they enable firms to be taxed on their average profitability over time. A complete NOL policy has 4 dimensions: a NOL carry-forward (1), carry-back (2), unlimited in time (3) and with the time value of money (4) taken into account. No country applies a complete NOL policy. To evaluate the impact of all dimensions of NOL policies, Polish firm data from 41 sectors from the BACH database over ten years, from 2011 to 2020, are analysed. The results show that the change observed in the effective tax rate is positive with a complete NOL policy. In such case, firms pay less CIT in total, showing that the state will earn less, but should get more stability from firms which will hoard more cash. More investments or firms with more equity could be reached, strengthening the state’s stability. The variance confirms such intuition, an earlier use of a full or almost full fiscal deficit logically means a higher effective tax rate in years to come (but less in gross terms).

The COVID-19 pandemic, due to its prevalence, has affected all spheres of socio-economic life, in particular household finances. The aim of the article is to present the impact of the pandemic on the financial situation of Poles and Slovaks who use robo-advisory services, including their financial behaviour and investments. The methodology of the article involves literature analysis, statistical data and the author’s own empirical survey. The empirical study aims to verify the research hypothesis: the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the personal finances of Poles and Slovaks who use robo-advice, although this impact was not the same in all areas of personal finance, nor in relation to investment plans after the pandemic. During the pandemic, most of the respondents had lower expenses, but in the future more than half of the respondents did not plan to change the amount of their expenses. Most of the surveyed people increased their savings during the pandemic. Poles more often admitted that they invested more during the pandemic, while more Slovaks than Poles invested the same amount during the pandemic. On the other hand, the Slovak respondents declared that after the pandemic they intend to invest greater sums than Poles indicated.

The war affects the socio-economic state of Ukraine and is the cause of the deterioration of the economic situation of neighboring countries. Under such conditions, there is a need to carry out assessments of economic losses from the conduct of military operations and forecast the main economic indicators for the nearest period, taking into account the impact of the war. The purpose of the study is to calculate the losses to the economy, the destruction of residential facilities and critical infrastructure facilities in the first 100 days of the war, the assessment of the potential volume of the fall in GDP and the calculation of projected fiscal losses. The calculation of GDP reduction was based on the forecasts of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group and the Government of Ukraine. The expected amount of GDP reduction is calculated using the GAP-analysis method, based on the forecasts made by these institutions in the prewar period, and the calculation of the level of GDP during the war. Based on the results of the conducted research, it was established that the economic losses from the war consist not only of the losses incurred and the reduction of GDP volumes, but also of the lost opportunities for development and unearned profits. In addition to the reduction in GDP, Ukraine’s losses are manifested in the increase in the level of public debt, the depreciation of the national currency, the reduction of gold and currency reserves, and the outflow of foreign direct investments³.