Finance and Financial Management Commons^™

Numeracy And Financial Wellbeing During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Nora Wikoff

Numeracy

This paper examines the role of numeracy in smoothing financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that numeracy was associated with a 30% reduction in late or non-payment of bills and a 20% reduction in the odds of feeling financially squeezed. The effect of numeracy on financial wellbeing was remarkably consistent across levels of education, ethnicity, and gender, suggesting that improving numeracy levels in the population may be an effective strategy to increase financial capability across the board. However, while numerate individuals were less likely to experience financial difficulty, high numeracy did not predict narrower gaps between Whites …

Covid-19’S Impact On Financial Markets In Spain, Billy Fleurima

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

Late December 2019, emerged what would be recognized as the world’s worst global pandemic since the Spanish Flu. In a 23 month period, roughly 4 million people have died. Everyone’s life has now forever been changed as we move to a virtual world. Remote learning and remote work have dominated both 2020 and 2021. Surprisingly, markets in the United States flourished, dominated by a relatively new trend: Special Purpose Acquisition Companies or SPAC. Across the globe, as countries enforce strict lockdown restrictions, major trends start to emerge worldwide such as a global dearth of semiconductor chips, rise in inflation and …

Audit Firm Culture: An Evolution Of The Audit Profession In Response To External Forces, Christina T. Alberti

2022

The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting business operations throughout the world, including the working procedures of audit professionals. Yet, to date, research on COVID-19’s impact on auditing is limited. This is despite its potential long-term implications. Thus, my dissertation uses a mix of research methods to examine auditors’ response to, and regulators’ evaluation of auditors’ response to, COVID-19.

The first paper (co-authored) synthesizes research on audit firm culture (AFC) over the past decade, reviewing recent developments in research on AFC and its influence on audit quality and auditors’ work attitudes. Using a three-phase model based on prior research and professional guidance, …

Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Household Financial Decisions: A Consumer Vulnerability Perspective, Atefeh Yazdanparast, Yasser Alhenawi

School of Business

This study joins a rapidly growing body of research that investigates the multi-faceted impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on consumers' behavior. Specifically, we examine how the pandemic-induced state of vulnerability impacts consumers' saving, investing, and spending decisions. Using survey data from four different countries (i.e., USA, UK, South Africa, and Mexico), we examine the role of personality on consumer vulnerability, create an index of consumer vulnerability, and establish the role of vulnerability in impacting important financial decisions. We report evidence that perceptions of vulnerability and the pandemic-induced changes in financial and consumption behaviors vary across residents of developed and developing …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Corporate Financial Fragility In The Vietnamese Manufacturing Industry, Trang Nguyen

Honors Theses

In the past decades, under the government’s export-led growth strategy, the Vietnamese manufacturing sector – the backbone of the whole Vietnamese economy – has established a deep tie with the international market and the reliance on foreign buyers has fueled the growth of this sector before COVID-19. However, during the pandemic, when the global market contracted at -3.5 percent and demand slumped globally, this existing growth model and the manufacturing sector’s reliance on foreign buyers induced significant risks to this sector from both the demand and supply side. Using the firm-level data on 41 manufacturing exporting companies from the Vietstock …

Navigating The Impact Of Covid-19 On Small Commercial Businesses And Insurance Companies, And A Call To Action For Future Communicable Disease Outbreaks, Natalie Peña

Honors Program Theses and Research Projects

The short-term and long-term effects of Covid-19 have caused many small commercial businesses to face financial hardships, loss of employees, and even closures for entities that were already experiencing low profit margins. Distraught with their businesses suffering, owners turned to their primary insurance companies to receive compensation through their business interruption policies. However, most insureds were upset when they discovered that their insurance plans did not include communicable diseases and pandemics as a covered peril. This led to many small businesses battling these issues in the courts and fighting for insurance companies to provide financial assistance to them during this …

Accounting And Finance Lessons In The Time Of Covid-19: Views From The Pacific Basin: Part 2, Kuan Yong David Ding, Julie Harrison, Martien Lubberink, Chris Van Staden

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The global COVID-19 pandemic is now in its second year, and we are fast approaching the third. The year 2021 has brought some hope that vaccination will lead to the end of the pandemic. But it has also brought a more infectious variant of COVID-19 and multiple waves of surging cases that show no immediate sign of disappearing. As the pandemic continues to impact global societies and economies, it is imperative that we study its impact to try and understand how it will affect us in both the short-term and long-term. While the longer-term impacts are still unknown, there is …

Bonds Duration And Covid-19: A Study On United Kingdom Conventional Gilts, Riffat Abdul Latif Mughal

Business Review

This article studies whether the government bonds portfolio developed based on bonds duration produces abnormal returns in London Stock Exchange fixed income market during the phase of double-dip recession and COVID-19. The sample consists of UK conventional gilts traded from February 2004 till February 2021. The daily data is obtained from Thomson Reuters / Refinitiv Eikon. For this study, the data is divided into two subsamples July 2009-December 2018 and December 2019-February 2021. The findings reveal that all the bonds produced abnormal returns during the complete sample and sub-sample period when returns of UK gilts 1 year maturity are kept …

Accounting And Finance Lessons In The Time Of Covid-19 – Views From The Pacific Basin, Kuan Yong David Ding, Julie Harrison, Martien Lubberink, Chris Van Staden

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to create the worst economic recession in our lifetime and generate “enormous damage to our health, jobs, and well-being” (OECD, 2020). This special issue focuses on the lessons for accounting and finance policy-makers, practitioners, and academics as a result of the social and economic turmoil that arose in the immediate period following the World Health Organization’s declaration of a pandemic (WHO, 2020). Governments responded to support businesses and economies using various policy tools to support markets, businesses and individuals impacted by the pandemic. It is timely to consider the extent to which policymakers and standard-setters …

Contingency Planning Amidst A Pandemic, Natalie C. Belford

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Proper prior planning prevents pitifully poor performance: The purpose of this research is to address mitigation approaches - disaster recovery, contingency planning, and business continuity planning - and their benefits as they relate to university operations during a worldwide pandemic predicated by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The most relevant approach pertaining to the University’s needs and its response to the coronavirus pandemic will be determined and evaluated in detail.

The Gender Effects Of Covid-19 On Equity Analysts, Frank Weikai Li, Baolian Wang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We use the COVID-19 pandemic as a natural experiment to study the effects of childcare and household duties on sell-side analysts. The richness of this setting allows us to compare female and male analysts while requiring them to perform the same tasks. We find that female analysts' forecast accuracy declined more than male analysts, especially when schools were closed and among analysts who were more likely to have young children, inexperienced, were likely busier before the pandemic, and lived in southern states. Female analysts also reduced the timeliness of their forecasts and resorted to more heuristic forecasts. The stock market …

Covid-19: An Optimal Strategy To Resume Life With Safety And Economic Prosperity, Skyler Tate

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the world hard since the beginning of 2020, and the United States has certainly felt a negative impact. Many important aspects of life have been greatly altered by the pandemic, and this has resulted in a hindered economy. The purpose of this project was to determine if there is an optimal strategy with respect to policy and the economy that the United States could implement in order to mitigate the coronavirus. In order to determine this, I evaluated multiple aspects of the disease through a literature review. Upon review, I conducted a survey and performed …

Stay At Home: Flight-To-Safety And Home Bias In U.S. Etfs During Covid-19 Pandemic, Hamed Yousefi, Mohammad Najand

College of Business (Strome) Posters

We examine the relations between dollar flows of U.S. traded ETFs with exposure to the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the rest of the world during the COVID-19 crisis utilizing a Markov Switching Model (MSVAR). We find convincing evidence that investors use ETFs to gain exposure to foreign markets. This study differs from the new stream of research on the effects of COVID-19 on financial markets and investors’ reactions in two major ways. First, we follow the money by using actual dollars of fund flows, whereas previous studies use returns. Second, we investigate the existence of two distinct regimes during this …

Digital Sustainability And Its Implications For Finance And Climate Change, Gerard George, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

As the pandemic forced the entire world to a virtual standstill, nature revived a little. The US emitted 10.3% less CO2 in 2020 than in 2019 and other regions similarly experienced emission declines. Depending on the source, global carbon emissions were down between 4 and 8% in 2020.2 Consumers globally have expressed more concern about sustainability, an observation confirmed by large survey research by Accenture, Kantar, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Ipsos.3 In its latest Emissions Gap Report4 , the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) explicitly connected the pandemic to climate change, nature loss, and pollution. Besides the acceleration of business …

Tourism Well-Being And Transitioning Island Destinations For Sustainable Development, Jerome Agrusa, Cathrine Linnes, Joseph Lema, Jihye Ellie Min, Tony Henthorne, Holly Itoga, Harold Lee

Hospitality Faculty Research

The unprecedented growth of tourism over the last century has led to increasing concerns over the sustainable development of many popular tourism destinations throughout the globe. High concentrations of tourists and residents, especially in urbanized areas, have heightened this concern with the arrival of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Over reliance on tourism has left residents vulnerable to external factors, such as the coronavirus pandemic that has halted tourists from coming to this remote destination. As a result, Hawaii’s overall economy is suffering greatly. A survey was developed and distributed to potential tourists in order to acquire their perceptions regarding …

Zoom In, Class Out: An Event Study On Publicly Traded Ed Tech Firm Valuations During Covid-19, Matiss Ozols

CMC Senior Theses

This paper examines how publicly traded Ed Tech firms reacted to negative announcements regarding COVID-19. Using an event study method, I document how an international portfolio of Ed Tech firms react across multiple event windows. The results show that Ed Tech firms reacted positively to the announcement of the first US death and negatively to the World Health Organization’s declaration that COVID-19 was a pandemic. Additionally, differences in geographical location did not impact cumulative abnormal returns across event windows. Finally, firm-specific characteristics such as volatility and financial leverage had little or no significance on stock returns.

Impact Of Covid-19 On Cryptocurrencies: Evidence On Information Transmission Through Economic And Financial Market Sentiments, Irfan Haider Shakri, Jaime Yong, Erwei Xiang

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper investigates the relationship between the COVID-19 crisis and the two leading cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, from 31 December 2019 to 18 August 2020. We also use an economic news sentiment index and financial market sentiment index to explore the possible mechanisms through which COVID-19 impacts cryptocurrency. We employ a VAR Granger Causality framework and Wavelet Coherence Analysis and find the cryptocurrency market was impacted in the early phase of the sample period through economic news and financial market sentiments, but this effect diminished after June 2020.

A Megastudy Of Text-Based Nudges Encouraging Patients To Get Vaccinated At An Upcoming Doctor’S Appointment, Katherine L. Milkman, Mitesh S. Patel, Linnea Gandhi, Heather N. Graci, Dena M. Gromet, Hung Ho, Brigitte C. Madrian

Faculty Publications

Many Americans fail to get life-saving vaccines each year, and the availability of a vaccine for COVID-19 makes the challenge of encouraging vaccination more urgent than ever. We present a large field experiment (N = 47,306) testing 19 nudges delivered to patients via text message and designed to boost adoption of the influenza vaccine. Our findings suggest that text messages sent prior to a primary care visit can boost vaccination rates by an average of 5%. Overall, interventions performed better when they were 1) framed as reminders to get flu shots that were already reserved for the patient and 2) …

Audits For The Minimization Of Eco-Anxiety In The World Economy, Karina Nazarova, Volodymyr Hordopolov, Mariia Nezhyva, Viktoriia Mysiuk, Tetiana Kopotiienko

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

The global pandemic of 2019–2020 is changing not only the lives of citizens, but also approaches to business management. The activities of audit companies have not escaped. Problematic and debatable issues need to be addressed to formulate a comprehensive approach to audits in a transformative economic environment and minimize the global economy's eco-anxiety. The purpose of the article is to determine the role of the audit in minimizing the eco-anxiety of the world economy. The study's materials were indicators of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the world, public writings of scientists, official reports of international organizations, regulations, and …

Women Who Dared: Female Entrepreneurs Defy Odds To Start Businesses During Covid-19, Kinza Tahir

MSJ Capstone Projects

With leadership roles being increasingly won by women all over the world, society benefits in all aspects especially economically when women earn incomes. In the trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic, many women usually perceived as second class citizens of Pakistan have started their own ventures amidst the pandemic.

Investor Behavior In The Midst Of A Global Pandemic, Abigail N. Bates

Honors Projects

Investors partaking in portfolio and asset management through the stock market and other avenues do so with certain reasoning and methods in hand. Each investor may have different interests and risk tolerances that guide their choices for investment. Behavioral finance allows for an in-depth look at an investor’s actions and the influencing psychology behind it. Before this approach was popularized, early studies of finance assumed that investors were always rational in their decision making and put resources only into opportunities that would increase their utility or happiness. The behavioral finance approach takes a more comprehensive look at these behaviors and …

Macroeconomic Stabilization In The Digital Age, John Beirne, David Fernandez

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Macroeconomic Stabilization in the Digital Age provides insights into factors affecting the macroeconomic management of the economy in the digital age. Policy makers need to be aware of the increasing prominence of the digital economy and digital finance and seek to better understand how continued digitalization will affect policies aimed at managing the economy. For emerging market economies (EMEs), macroeconomic policy challenges have been exacerbated by the digital finance revolution in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, when many EMEs experienced large and volatile capital flows. Policy makers must also navigate through fluctuating …

Empowering Singapore’S Smes: Fintech P2p Lending — A Lifeline For Smes’ Survival?, Grace Lee, Alan Megargel

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The COVID-19 pandemic has sent shock waves throughout the world, pushed countries into lockdown, and wreaked havoc on the world’s people and the global economy. The damage to economies around the world caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has far exceeded that of the global financial crisis. While all businesses suffered hugely, it would be of grave consequence if the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), an important segment of every country’s economy, are unable to withstand the shock wave and sustain themselves beyond this pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of cash flow or working capital for the viability …

The Relative Industry Specific Effects Of Covid-19 On Market Volatility And Liquidity, Callin Christensen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Understanding how historical events affect market volatility and liquidity can provide crucial information to financial analysts, investment professionals, and managers in the event that similar circumstances resurface. In this study, I look at how a global pandemic (COVID-19) can introduce frictions into the market and cause disrupt the generation or flow of available information, this could cause prices to deviate significantly from their equilibrium values. I also hypothesize that these inefficiencies may have a greater effect on some industries than others. My analysis seems to confirm this hypothesis. I observe that the global COVID-19 pandemic leads to statistically significant increases …

Towards A Data-Driven Financial System: The Impact Of Covid-19, Nydia Remolina

Centre for AI & Data Governance (2019-2025)

The COVID-19 outbreak has a growing impact on the global economy and the financial sector, which plays a critical role in mitigating the unprecedented macroeconomic and financial shock caused by the pandemic. Given the unprecedented nature of the current crisis, financial regulators and supervisors, central banks, along with governments and legislatures face challenges to maintain financial stability, preserve the well-functioning core markets, and ensure the flow of credit to the real economy. Even though the COVID-19 has slowed down our daily lives and stopped the operation of many industries, it did not have the same effect in the data-driven finance …

The Ursinus College Investment Management Company Newsletter, Spring 2020, Scott Deacle, Johnathan Myers

Investment Management Company Newsletter

Inside this issue:

Letter from Professor Scott Deacle

Letter from Johnny Myers '19

At a Glance

Investment Strategies

Endowment at Work

New at UCIMCO

Investment Performance

Endowment Fund Outlook

Stock Selection Fund Picks

Our Team

Supporters

How to Contribute