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The aim of this paper is to assess the robustness of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on stock prices in the United States. Thus, building upon the literature related to the determinants of stock prices and based on data availability, five potential determinants of stock prices and two proxies for the COVID-19 outbreak were selected. Additional variables were taken into consideration to account for the trade war between the U.S. and China and the oil war between Russia and Saudi Arabia since both wars are believed to have a substantial impact on stock prices. The data set spanning from January 2, 2018 to July 16, 2020 was analyzed using the variants of the extreme bounds analysis developed by Leamer and Leonard and Sala-i-Martin. The results show that new confirmed cases of COVID-19 as well as new deaths do have a negative impact on stock prices in the U.S. even though the robustness of that impact depends on the proxy and the estimation technique used. Furthermore, in line with previous studies, it is also found that economic uncertainty, credit risk, investors’ pessimism, inflation, and the on-going trade war are robust determinants of stock prices in the U.S.

Key words: COVID-19, stock markets, extreme bounds analysis, United States.

JEL Codes: C58, E44, I15, I18

The current paper provides precise analytical results regarding the stabilization of productivity shocks in a monetary union. We find that in case of productivity shocks, monetary policy should be inactive; their stabilization is mainly the burden of the governments. A productivity shock which reduces relative producer prices and increases the price competitiveness of a given country, can be progressively removed by market mechanisms, but at the cost of higher macro-economic fluctuations in terms of economic activity and inflation. It can also be compensated by fiscal activism, according to the budgetary constraints of the governments; without resorption of differentials in producer prices, economic variables are then better stabilized. We also find that market adjustment to a productivity shock is quicker if the member countries of the monetary union are more homogeneous regarding their budgetary constraints, or for countries with weak budgetary constraints and more budgetary flexibility. Besides, in case of productivity shocks, monetary unification could be more painful for a country with a weaker budgetary multiplier, with a higher sensitivity of its demand to the real exchange rate, or with a weaker sensitivity of its demand to the foreign economic activity.

Key words: monetary union, productivity shock, market mechanisms, fiscal stabilization.

JEL classification: E31, E32, E63, F44, F45

Based on the Generalized Auto-regressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) family models of normal distribution and Student’s t-distribution, this paper fits the changes in credit spreads in China and the U.S. with various ratings and maturities, and compares their fitting effects. We found that Exponential GARCH (EGARCH) and Power GARCH (PGARCH) models with leverage effect are more suitable for modeling China and US credit spreads. Furthermore, Student’s t-distribution can improve the model compared with normal distribution. In addition, based on the optimal GARCH model, this paper compares the factors influencing China and US credit spreads. The empirical results show that the change in credit spreads in China is affected by risk-free interest rate, stock market volatility and bond market liquidity. Besides, the credit spreads in China are more susceptible to the above factors than those in the U.S. Finally, this paper puts forward policy suggestions to develop China’s bond market.

Key words: Credit Spreads; Volatility; GARCH Model; Student’s t-distribution; Corporate Bonds.

JEL Classification: C32, F34, G12

Common perception is that when expenditure exceeds that of income, both private and public debts are resorted to. Presently, individuals can also access private loan like earlier public debt for other purposes like building house, purchasing car and other appliances in the form of higher-purchase. Development through debt can take place at both public and private level now. In terms of magnitude, public debt is of huge volume relative to private one. For generating required public debt, income expenditure difference can still be relevant for countries which cannot afford its total expenditure as well as for countries which reached a stage of development where loan is not required to meet essential expenditure but to finance excess of expenditure relative to income from time to time, sustenance of development standard achieved, research and innovation culture maintenance to reach technological heights. From this perspective, this paper makes an effort to search performance of different countries in order to provide rationale for public debt per capita at general government level in terms of difference between income per capita and expenditure per capita.

Key words: Public Debt, National Income, National Expenditure, Factors of Public Debt

JEL Classification:  F34, F40, H50, H81, O20.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between economic policies and economic wellbeing measured by GDP per capita. The single equation econometric technique has also been used to examine the relationship using a time series data for the period 1972-2015. Models shows that government spending, fiscal policy, along with some other covariates (excluding money supply, the monetary policy) have some significant effect on GDP per capita whereas the inclusion of money supply into the model shrinked the effects of government spending on GDP per capita and the effect of money supply is much more stronger than the government spending and the effect of population growth on GDP per capita is found significantly negative.

Key words: Fiscal policy; Monetary Policy; Budget; Growth.

JEL Classification: E62, E63, H30, 

This study examines the effect of ownership structure on the financial performance of listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria for the period of 2006-2019. Secondary data was extracted from the financial reports and accounts of the sample companies. Robust OLS as the best estimator of the regression model was used to analysed the data extracted. The findings revealed foreign ownership has a positive significant impact on the financial performance of oil and gas companies in Nigeria. Based on the findings, the study recommends that, foreigners should be allowed to take the majority of the ownership structure of listed oil and gas companies in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry in Nigeria, more so, management of these companies should formulate policies that would boost the number of shares allocated to foreigners since foreign ownership increases financial performance.

Key words: Foreign Ownership, Managerial Ownership, Concentrated Ownership, Ownership Structure, Corporate Governance.

Following the sub-prime mortgage crisis of 2008 in the US, global financial systems were in crisis. This phenomenon led towards the restructuring of the financial services in several countries. In Spain, the authorities formed the Fund for orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) in 2009 and over the period, 2009-2019, the FROB made three interventions in the Spanish Banking System. The restructuration process started in 2010 and even in 2012 several banks were not healthy as the economy was also in recession. The aim of this study is to compare and contrast the performance of the Spanish banking system prior to and post restructuration by the FROB and also to assess whether capital and liquidity as proposed in Basel III are showing improvements post crisis. Analysis has been conducted based on data which could be accessed (37 observations in the period 2000-7, and 62 observations in the period 2013-9). The results are conclusive. This research adds to the literature on bank restructuration and the effectiveness of policies and actions initiated.

Key words: Banking Restructuration, Capital Restructure, Cross-Sectional, Panel Data, Non-Performing Loans, FROB.

JEL: G15, G20, G21, G28