Volume 58 (2022): Edition 4 (December 2022)

The underpricing phenomenon on financial markets has long been the research subject in many financial areas – from neoclassical to behavioral finance. Once confirmed as a persistent pattern, it has begun an ongoing discussion as to its possible causes. Our study examined the phenomenon of IPO underpricing for companies from the game sector in Poland from 2016 to 2020. Many IPOs in Poland have attracted both international companies and investors, making the Warsaw Stock Exchange a kind of financial hub for game companies. Analyzing the whole IPO market in Poland, we however found substantial IPO underpricing, which is statistically higher in the game sector than in the no-game group of debuting companies. Our research argues that the issuer's industry may influence the size of the IPO's first-day return. We also noticed that the way the IPO was carried out influenced the underpricing. Greater underpricing characterized private offers compared to public offers.

This article sheds new light on the informational efficiency of the cryptocurrency market by analyzing investment strategies based on structural factors related to on-chain data. The study aims to verify whether investors in the cryptocurrency market can outperform passive investment strategies by applying active strategies based on selected fundamental factors. The research uses daily data from 2015 to 2022 for the two major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). The study applies statistical tests for differences. The findings indicate informational inefficiency of the BTC and ETH markets. They seem consistent over time and are confirmed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research shows that the net unrealized profit/loss and percent of addresses in profit indicators are useful in designing active investment strategies in the cryptocurrency market. The factor-based strategies perform consistently better in terms of mean/median returns and Sharpe ratio than the passive “buy-and-hold” strategy. Moreover, the rate of success is close to 100%.

Despite a considerable body of research and gathering information on advanced technologies, there is still a study gap concerning its importance from the perspective of international competitiveness. Therefore, a question arises: what affects the competitive potential and how does it contribute to the competitive position of the high-tech sector in European Union (EU) countries? For this reason, a study was taken up to evaluate the competitive potential and competitive position of the high-tech sector in EU countries. Defining the competitiveness, competitive potential, and competitive position in the industry was the starting point for the analysis. Further, selected indices were used to evaluate the competitive potential and to establish a competitive position. The synthetic competitiveness index was also calculated. The study identified the decisive factors having an impact on the competitive potential and competitive position of the sector and the relationship between them.

The concept of the creative economy in the modern global world is filled with new meanings and acquires many qualitatively new features and properties. The article describes the development of creative economy models. A comparative analysis of the characteristics of the creative economy in EU countries and Ukraine was carried out. Through statistical analysis of creative activities in the economy of Ukraine, we determined the list of growth parameters. Using analysis of the studies on the creative economy in Ukraine, we determined the peculiarities and problems of its formation to formulate the principles and priorities of the state policy for the development of the creative economy in Ukraine. The modern model of the creative economy of Ukraine is proposed to be supplemented by the development of creative human potential.

We investigate whether increasing the education quality causes increases in economic growth allowing poorer countries to catch up. To this end, we extend Nelson-Phelps's classic paper by introducing differences in education quality (proxied by students' performance on the Program for International Student Assessment [PISA] test) in a leader-follower type of growth model with knowledge diffusion. We use students' performance in a standardized international PISA test to measure education quality's impact on economic growth using a panel Vector Error Correction allowing for cross-correlation in the co-integration analysis in a set of all countries observed over the years 1975–2018. Additionally, we consider the possible reverse causality that characterizes economic development and the quality of education. Our results confirm the relevance of education quality as a significant causal factor of economic growth. However, further analyses indicate that the discussed relation is long-run, which may have important implications for policymakers.

The purpose of the article is to review and critique the implementation of food export restrictions in times of crisis in addressing food security challenges. The methodological approach was to undertake a narrative literature review to outline the challenge of ensuring food security in times of crisis. We explored the problem of food export restrictions introduced in 2007–2008 and 2020 and assessed the changes in the state of food security at the national level during the COVID-19 pandemic using the Global Food Security Index (GFSI). The trade restrictions imposed in 2020 did not play a key role in the increases in international food prices as was the case during 2007–2008 and 2010–2011. The analysis of GFSI values questions whether food export restrictions have been sufficient measures given the size of the food security challenge during the pandemic, and this is a new contribution of this research. The issue of food export restrictions is underregulated in the World Trade Organization (WTO), and this needs to be urgently addressed by another institution, e.g., Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), given that the war in Ukraine is endangering food security across the world.