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The relationship between idiosyncratic risk and stock return has been debated for decades; this study reexamined this relationship in the Pakistani stock market by using the quantile regression approach along with the prospect theory.

The present study is quantitative, and secondary data obtained from an emerging market are used. The quantile regression method allows the estimates of idiosyncratic risk to vary across the entire distribution of stock returns, i.e. the dependent variable. In this study, the standard deviation of regression residuals from the Fama and French three-factor model was used to measure idiosyncratic risk. Convenience sampling is employed; the sample consists of 82 firms listed on the KSE-100 index, with 820 annual observations for the ten years from 2011 to 2020. After computing results by using quantile regression, the study's findings, ordinary least squares (OLS) and least sum of absolute deviation (LAD) regression techniques are also compared.

The quantile regression estimation results indicate that idiosyncratic risk is positively correlated with stock returns and that this relationship is contingent on whether prices are rising or falling. Consistent with the prospect theory, the finding suggests that stock investors tend to avoid risk when they anticipate a loss but are more willing to take risks when they anticipate a profit. The results of the OLS and LAD regressions indicate that the method typically employed in previous studies does not adequately describe the relationship between idiosyncratic risk and stock return at extreme points or across the entire distribution of stock return.

These empirical findings shed new light on the relationship between idiosyncratic risk and stock return in Pakistani stock market literature.

High economic policy uncertainty forces firms to accumulate a higher level of cash than during normal business periods. However, it is not evident that economic policy uncertainty has a homogeneous impact across cash-holding distributions. This paper aims to study the impact of economic policy uncertainty, leverage and their interaction on cash-holding distributions.

This study adopted a quantile regression approach to examine the influence of economic policy uncertainty and firm leverage on firm-level cash-holding distributions. To investigate the influence across quantiles, the author estimated 19 quantiles between 0.05 and 0.95.

This study finds that both economic policy uncertainty and firm leverage significantly affect firm-level cash-holding distributions heterogeneously. But, the impact of the interaction of these two variables is significant only for firms placed in the 60th to 85th quantiles of cash holding distribution.

The study adds to the existing knowledge of determinants of firm-level cash holdings but takes exogenous variables as economic policy uncertainty. The paper builds on a unique sample setting wherein, the cash holdings of all nonfinancial firms have increased many folds, including housing companies in an emerging economy.

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of key hotel attributes on the room rates of selected hotels in the Greater Gaborone Region, Botswana.

Using hedonic pricing analysis, the effect of eight attributes collected from 80 standard double rooms on Booking.com in the area was analysed using quantile regression.

The estimated results from quantile regression suggested the importance of the 10th quantile as the best predictor of hotel room price distribution. Overall, the presence of a fitness centre and the availability of meeting and conference facilities were positively significant for the lowest- and premium-priced hotels, respectively.

The study advanced the literature in hedonic pricing models by confirming the applicability of hotel room rate attribute research in unexplored environments.

Hotel managers should be aware of the influence of key attributes, such as meeting and conference space availability and locational factors, on the pricing decisions of room rates in the Greater Gaborone Region. The study also presented opportunities for business-to-business marketing between hotel and tour operators in the region.

The study is one of the few that uses quantile regression in the hedonic pricing analysis of hotel room rates.

Might the impact of the financial stress on exchange markets be asymmetric and exposed to regime changes? Departing from the existing literature, highlighting that the domestic and foreign financial stress in terms of money market have substantial effects on exchange market, this paper aims to investigate the impacts of the bond yield spreads of three emerging countries (Mexico, Russia, and South Korea) on their exchange market pressure indices using monthly observations for the period 2010:01–2019:12. Additionally, the paper analyses the impact of bond yield spread of the US on the exchange market pressure indices of the three mentioned emerging countries. The authors hypothesized whether the negative and positive changes in the bond yield spreads have varying effects on exchange market pressure indices.

To address the research question, we measure the bond yield spread of the selected countries by using the interest rate spread between 10-year and 3-month treasury bills. At the same time, the exchange market pressure index is proxied by the index introduced by Desai et al. (2017). We base the empirical analysis on nonlinear vector autoregression (VAR) models and an asymmetric quantile-based approach.

The results of the impulse response functions indicate that increases/decreases in the bond yield spreads of Mexico, Russia and South Korea raise/lower their exchange market pressure, and the effects of shocks in the bond yield spreads of the US also lead to depreciation/appreciation pressures in the local currencies of the emerging countries. The quantile connectedness analysis, which allows for the role of regimes, reveals that the weights of the domestic and foreign bond yield spread in explaining variations of exchange market pressure indices are higher when exchange market pressure indices are not in a normal regime, indicating the role of extreme development conditions in the exchange market. The quantile regression model underlines that an increase in the domestic bond yield spread leads to a rise in its exchange market pressure index during all exchange market pressure periods in Mexico, and the relevant effects are valid during periods of high exchange market pressure in Russia. Our results also show that Russia differs from Mexico and South Korea in terms of the factors influencing the demand for domestic currency, and we have demonstrated the role of domestic macroeconomic and financial conditions in surpassing the effects of US financial stress. More specifically, the impacts of the domestic and foreign financial stress vary across regimes and are asymmetric.

This study enriches the literature on factors affecting the exchange market pressure of emerging countries. The results have significant economic implications for policymakers, indicating that the exchange market pressure index may trigger a financial crisis and economic recession.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between Islamic finance for entrepreneurship activities and economic growth in Malaysia within the model of endogenous growth.

This study applied a parametric analysis represented by vector autoregression (VAR) Granger causality and a non-parametric analysis represented in the bootstrapped quantile regression to examine the effect of Islamic finance for entrepreneurship activities on economic growth within the model of endogenous growth. This paper used a sample of all Islamic banks working in Malaysia covering a period from 2014 first quarter until 2019 third quarter (2014Q1–2019Q3).

The findings demonstrated that Islamic finance for entrepreneurship activities are promoting economic growth in Malaysia which indicates that Islamic finance is a vital contributor to economic growth through financing entrepreneurial domains small and medium-sized enterprises.

The analysis in this paper would fill the literature gap by investigating the link between Islamic finance for entrepreneurship activities and economic growth within the model of endogenous growth in Malaysia as this study serves as a guide for the researchers and decision-makers to the necessity of merging Islamic finance as a major player in the economy to finance the entrepreneurial domain which contributes to economic growth.

This study is the first that investigates the relationship between Islamic finance for entrepreneurship activities and economic growth empirically using the causality and quantile regression within a new theoretical approach over the model of endogenous growth to provide a proven valuable experiment from Malaysia concerning Islamic finance for the entrepreneurial domain which promotes economic growth.

This study aims to investigate the effect of national culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation) on audit report lag.

The authors use two econometric approaches (ordinary least squares (OLS) and quantile regression) using STATA software for a sample of 1,208 firm-year observations over the period of 2017–2018.

Using Hofstede’s (2001) cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation), the authors find that masculinity and long-term orientation are positively associated with audit report lag, while uncertainty avoidance is negatively associated with the same variable. Quantile regressions suggest that the adverse effect of masculinity on audit report lag is more prevailing for companies communicating companies' annual reports in a timely manner. Furthermore, the positive association between power distance and audit report lag exists only under tardy disclosure regime. Quantile regressions also confirm that the negative (positive) effect of uncertainty avoidance (long-term orientation) on audit report lag is maintained under different timely disclosure regime. Additional analysis conducted with respect to legal system shows that individualism becomes a significant predictor of audit delays with a significant negative effect for common law countries, while uncertainty avoidance has a positive effect on the same variable in civil law countries characterized by high level of discretion and secrecy.

The results of this study suggest that national culture as an informal institution may complement formal institutions (e.g. financial markets) in promoting timely disclosure. For instance, foreign investors may view high uncertainty avoidance scores, in common law emerging economies, as an indicator of transparency and timely disclosure.

This study adds to the extant literature a further understanding of the impact of cultural dimensions on timely disclosure, as proxied by, audit report lag. The use of quantile regression approach shows how different timely disclosure regime may affect the association between masculinity, power distance and audit report lag.

Expansion of the consumption of renewable energy is a significant issue for reducing global warming, to cope with climate change and achieve sustainable development. This study aims to examine how research and development expenditure (R&D) affects renewable energy development in developed G-7 countries over the period from 2000 to 2019. Variables of trade liberalization and CO₂ emissions are considered control variables.

This study has adopted a panel quantile regression. The impact of the variables on renewable development has been examined in quantiles of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 0.9. Also, a robust examination is accomplished by applying generalized quantile regression (GQR).

The empirical findings reveal a positive and significant relationship between R&D and the consumption of renewable energy in 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 quantiles. Also, the findings describe that the expansion of trade liberalization and CO₂ emissions can significantly increase the development of renewable energy in G-7 countries. Furthermore, GQR verifies the main outcomes.

These results have very momentous policy consequences for the governments of G-7 countries. Therefore, investment and support for the R&D section to promote the development of renewable energy are recommended.

This paper, in comparison to other research, used panel quantile regression to investigate the impact of factors affecting renewable energy consumption. Also, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has perused the effect of R&D along with trade liberalization and carbon emissions on renewable energy consumption in G-7 countries. Also, in this paper, as a robustness check for panel quantile regression, the GQR has been used.

Sustainability represents innovative elements in determining the profitability of real estate investments, among other factors, including the green component in real estate. Evidence from the literature has pointed out that incorporating green features into residential buildings can reduce operational costs and increase the building’s value. Although green real estate is considered the future trend of choice, it is still being determined whether prospective buyers are willing to accept the extra cost of green residential investment. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of housing attributes and green certification on residential real estate prices.

The impact of the housing attribute and green certification in the residential sectors was assessed using a transaction data set comprising approximately 861 residential units sold in Selangor, Malaysia, between 2014 and 2022. Linear and quantile regression were used in this study by using SPSS software for a robust result.

The findings indicate that the market price of residential properties in Malaysia is influenced by housing attributes, transaction types and Green Building Index certification. The empirical evidence from this study suggests that green certification significantly affects the sales price of residential properties in Malaysia. The findings of this research will help investors identify measurable factors that affect the transaction prices of green-certified residential real estate. These identifications will facilitate the development of strategic plans aimed at achieving sustainable rates of return in the sustainable residential real estate market.

Specifically, this research will contribute to achieving area 4 of the 11th Malaysia Plan, which pertains to pursuing green growth for sustainability and resilience. This will be achieved by enhancing awareness among investors and homebuyers regarding the importance of green residential buildings in contributing to the environment, the economy and society.

The regression model for housing attributes and green certification on house price developed in this study could offer valuable benefits to support and advance Malaysia in realising its medium and long-term goals for green technology.

This paper aims to explore the effect of female’s presence in corporate governance structures to reduce agency conflicts, using a quantile regression approach.

The research investigates the relationship between company performance and boardroom gender diversity using quantile regression methods. The study uses annual data of 111 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from 2010 to 2020.

The study reveals that women on the board impact firm return on assets and enterprise value, varying across performance distribution. This contrasts fixed effect findings but aligns with two-stage least squares. However, quantile regression indicates that female executives and independent non-executive directors have notably negative impacts in high and low-performing companies, highlighting non-uniformity in the board gender diversity effect compared with previous assumptions.

The empirical findings suggest that companies with no women directors on the board are generally more likely to experience a decrease in performance and enterprise value relative to companies with women directors on the board. As recommended through the King Code of Corporate Governance, it is thus valuable to companies to ensure gender diversity on the board of directors.

The research confirms through rigorous statistical analyses that corporate governance policies, principles and guidelines should include gender diversity as a requirement for a board of directors.

Initial Public Offering (IPO) is a major milestone for a company. It allows a private company to issue shares to a much broader group of investors and become public. But conclusive evidence of the driving forces behind investors’ demand is yet to be identified. Therefore, the major purpose of this study is to assess the level of investors’ demand in IPO and how investors’ demand in IPOs is affected.

The study will employ 80 IPO companies of a Muslim-majority country, Bangladesh, starting from 2013 to 2021 with application of linear and quantile regressions. Apart from that, t-test will be used to compare means of groups of Shariah-compliant and non-Shariah-compliant firms and IPOs under fixed-price and book-building mechanism.

Oversubscription is higher for IPOs issued through fixed-price method compared to book-building method, but no significant difference is found in oversubscription for Shariah firms compared to non-Shariah firms based on t-tests. The authors found IPO size, firm size, IPO risk, proportion of shares offered to public, and bank interest rate to have significant impact on the IPO demand. Some models found non-Shariah compliance status of IPO companies to be a significant factor for the investors to demand IPO. Quantile regression results found board independence to have a positive association with larger, less-subscribed firms and board size to have a negative relation with IPO demand, for smaller firms with high demand.

Future studies may apply the findings to other settings, especially into the reasons behind preference for non-Shariah-compliant firms and higher demand for IPOs during higher interest rate. Equity issuing firms and issue managers can benefit from this study by wisely deciding on the proportion of shares for public, issue size and board of director composition. Shariah considerations cannot be ignored given that more information on Shariah compliance is disseminated among investors despite current non-preference for Shariah-compliant IPOs. On the other hand, institutional investors and general investors should consider firm-specific, governance and macroeconomic factors in IPO investment. Likewise, regulators would do well to bring in quality IPOs with characteristics mentioned in this study for ensuring stability of the market.

The main contribution of the study is identifying determinants of IPO demand: faith, governance, macro issues – understanding whether one or many of the above factors drive investor demand in IPOs of a Muslim-majority country will be the main contribution.