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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the asymmetric adjustment of cash holdings in Pakistani firms for above and below target firms.

The study employs generalized method of moments (GMM) to investigate the adjustment of cash holdings.

The study found that the firms which hold cash above the optimal level of cash holdings have higher speed of adjustment than the firms which hold cash below the optimal level. Financially constrained (FC) firms also adjust their cash holdings faster than financially unconstrained (FUC) firms but high speed of downward adjustment does not remain persistent after financial constraints are controlled. Findings of this study reveal this asymmetric adjustment in above and below target firms and extend these results in FC and FUC Pakistani listed firms, respectively.

The conclusion of this study has been derived under certain limitations. There is a vast space to extend this study in different dimensions. Firms operating in capital-intensive industries may provide different results for financial constraints because their policy designing would be quite different from other firms.

This study contributes to cash holdings research in Pakistan by exploring the adjustment behavior of cash holdings across Pakistani non-financial firms using econometric modeling. Downward adjustment rate is supposed to be higher than upward adjustment rate and this rate is tested using dynamic panel data model. Similarly, it is inferred that this relationship holds for above target firms even after including the financial constraints in the presented model.

This paper aim at providing decision support for operational adjustment. In order to effectively reduce the external interference impact on train operation.

According to the reality that there are two kinds of high-speed trains running in China, considering the reality that there are two speed level train running in Chinese high-speed railway, this paper proposed the high-speed railway operation adjustment model based on priority, and the objective function is to minimize interference impact on train operation.

Adjustment strategy based on priority than based on sequence can effectively reduce the interference influence on train operation, which makes the train resume the planned operation back on schedule more quickly.

The solution of large-scale cases is too slow, and the practical application is limited.

The model was verified by a case, and the case results proved that adjustment strategy based on priority than based on sequence can effectively reduce the interference influence on train operation, which makes the train resume the planned operation back on schedule more quickly.

Recognizing the severity of COVID-19 on the US economy, the authors investigate the behavior of US-listed firms towards leverage speed of adjustment (SOA) during the pandemic. While prior evidence (based on an international study) shows that firm leverage increased during the pandemic leading to a higher SOA toward leverage ratios, leverage for US firms during the same period reduced drastically. Yet there is a dearth of empirical studies on the behavior of US-listed firms' SOA during the pandemic. The authors fill this void.

The study includes US-listed non-financial and non-utility firms for the period 2015Q1-2021Q4, covering a total sample of 45,213 firm-quarter observations. The authors’ empirical strategy is based on the generalized method of moments (GMM) and firm-fixed effect methodology, controlling for firm- and quarter-fixed effects.

Three main findings are established: (1) while the SOA toward book target increased during the pandemic, SOA toward market target increased significantly only for less valued and cash-constrained firms; (2) firms in states most impacted by the pandemic adjusted faster towards target ratio; and (3) while the emergence of the pandemic and the overall firm-level risk increased (decreased) the deviation from book (market) target, firm-level risk partially mediated the effect of the pandemic on how far firms deviated from target ratio.

This study enhances our understanding of leverage adjustment during the crisis and shows that risk avoidance motive and the market value of firms are key determinants of convergence rate during the crisis and further demonstrates that market leverage is more sensitive to market dynamics. As such, caution must be taken when dealing with and interpreting market leverage SOA.

Although prior evidence based on international study provides insights into how firms behave toward their leverage ratios because of the pandemic, little is known about how US firms react to the pandemic in terms of the target ratios, particularly (1) since the USA is one of the severely affected countries and (2) firms in the USA reduced their leverage ratios as against what prior evidence shows. The authors provide evidence to explain how and why US firms reacted toward their SOA during the pandemic.

This study aims to investigate the influence of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and geopolitical risk (GPR) on corporate cash holding level and speed of adjustment (SOA) in one of the most important emerging markets in the Middle East and North Africa, Saudi Arabia. It also investigates whether Shariah-compliance as well as financial constraints affect the relationship between both EPU and GPR and corporate cash holdings.

The study employs GMM regression considering a sample of 140 nonfinancial firms drawn from the Saudi stock market over the period 2002 to 2019.

The authors find evidence in support of the precautionary motive hypothesis. Facing costly external financing induced by economic policy-related uncertainty and geopolitical tension, Saudi firms tend to accumulate cash as a buffer against negative shocks to their cash flows. The results also show that the positive impact of EPU and GPR on the level of cash holding is less pronounced in Shariah-compliant firms, whereas it is more pronounced in more financially constrained firms. Evidence also reveals that the estimated adjustment coefficients show that Saudi firms adjust more quickly toward their target cash ratio in periods of high economic instability and geopolitical risks.

This study has important implications for managers, policymakers and regulators. For managers, the study is an important reference to understand and design cash management policies by considering factors measured at the country level. More specifically, managers should pay more attention to periods of heightened uncertainties and geopolitical tensions in which the availability of funds is reduced. For policymakers and regulators, this study may be useful in assessing the effect of economic instability on firm’s cash holding decision. Therefore, in an effort to increase the supply of external financing available to firms, policymakers may devise investment friendly environment by controlling country-specific factors.

This paper shows how EPU and GPR as institutional environment factors affect cash holding decision in an oil-rich country.

We explore the impact of equity liquidity on a firm’s dynamic leverage adjustments and the moderating impacts of leverage deviation and target instability on the link between equity liquidity and dynamic leverage in the UK market.

In applying the two-step system GMM, we estimate our model by exploring suitable instruments for the dynamic variable(s), i.e. lagged values of the dynamic term(s).

Our analyses document that a firm’s equity liquidity has a positive impact on the speed of adjustment (SOA) of its leverage ratio back to the target ratio in the UK market. We also demonstrate that the positive relationship between liquidity and SOA is more pronounced for firms whose current position is relatively close to their target leverage ratio and whose target ratio is relatively stable.

This study provides important implications for both firms’ managers and investors. Particularly, firms’ managers who wish to increase the leverage SOA to enhance firms’ value need to give great attention to their equity liquidity. Investors who want to evaluate firms’ performance could also consider their equity liquidity and leverage SOA.

We are the first to enrich the literature on leverage adjustments by identifying equity liquidity as a new determinant of SOA in a single developed country with many differences in the structure and development of capital markets, ownership concentration and institutional characteristics. We also provide new empirical evidence of the joint effect of equity liquidity, leverage deviation and target instability on leverage SOA.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the pricing efficiency of the Malaysian crude palm oil (CPO) market before and after the structural break. This study uses the daily closing price of CPO and CPO futures (CPO-F) for the period ranging from June 2009 to August 2016 while taking structural breaks into account.

In this study, symmetric and asymmetric long-run relationship model are employed, such as the Johansen cointegration, VECM, TAR and M-TAR models, to examine the impact of structural breaks on the pricing efficiency of the Malaysian CPO market.

This finding establish that Malaysian CPO price is efficient before and after the structural break. The consistent efficiency of the Malaysian CPO market supports the trading of the CPO-F in Globex and the use of Malaysian CPO pricing as the reference price. This study establishes that a structural break in the Malaysian CPO price series does not affect the pricing efficiency of the market.

This study shows that using Malaysian CPO price as a reference price is sustainable even in the event of a structural break. Therefore, market participants in the Malaysian CPO market have less to worry about the CPO price as it supports the weak form of efficiency. Price deviation in the short run may not lead to arbitrage profit as transaction cost may not be covered.

This study implies that if there is distortion in the price due to shocks, both manufacturers and producers need to hedge their positions in the futures market (subject to their positions in the underlying market). By entering into the futures market, pricing is locked in advance; hence, price risk is eliminated. Such a distortion could also affect the efficiency of the CPO price, therefore this study also addresses the issue of efficiency of the local CPO market.

Previous studies on Malaysian CPO pricing efficiency did not take the effect of structural break into consideration, making it difficult for these studies to show consistency in the efficiency of the Malaysian CPO market.

Brazil uses the dollar as a vehicle currency to invoice its exports. This fact produces a tendency toward equalizing the prices of products in dollars in the international market and reducing the ability of firms to practice pricing-to-market (PTM). This study aims to evaluate the hypothesis by estimating error correction models in panel data, obtaining estimates of PTM for 25 manufacturing products exported by Brazil between 2010 and 2020.

This study uses the correlated common effect estimator proposed by Pesaran (2006) and Chudik and Pesaran (2015b) to estimate the PTM coefficients.

Results of this study indicate that exporters practice local-currency pricing stability for dollar prices. This study obtains that Brazilian exporters tend to stabilize their dollar price for exports, reducing heterogeneity between destination markets. The results are in agreement with the hypothesis of the prevalence of the coalescing effect of Goldberg and Tille (2008) and lower sensitivity of the markup adjustment to the specific market, as pointed out by Corsetti et al. (2018). The pricing of Brazilian exports in dollars reflects a profit maximization strategy that considers an international price system based on global demand for products.

In addition to analyzing the dollar role in the pricing of Brazilian exports through the triangular decomposition, this study also shows the importance of examining the cross-section dependence of errors, considering the heterogeneous cointegration in export pricing models and producing PTM estimates for short-term and long-term.

This paper aims to examine the effect of both inflation rate and interest rate on stock prices using quarterly data on non-financial firms listed in DJIA30 and NASDAQ100 for the period 1999-2016. The stock duration model is used to measure the sensitivity in variations in inflation rates and interest rates on stock prices.

The authors use standard statistical tools that include Johansen cointegration test, linearity, normality tests, cointegration regression, Granger causality and vector error correction model.

The results of panel Johansen cointegration analysis show that cointegration exists between the stock prices, the changes in stock prices due to inflation rates and the changes in stock prices due to real interest rates. The results of cointegration regression show that inflation rates are negatively associated with stock prices, the real interest rates and stock prices are positively associated, changes in real interest rates and inflation rates Granger cause significant changes in stock prices, significant speed of adjustment to long run equilibrium between observed stock prices and real interest rates and significant speed of adjustment to long run equilibrium between changes in stock prices due to real interest rates and changes in inflation rates.

This paper contributes to the empirical literature in three ways. The paper examines the effects of inflation and interest rates on stock prices differently from other related studies by separating inflation from real interest rates. The paper examines the causality between stock prices, interest and inflation rates. This paper offers significant updated validity to extended literature that a negative association exists between stock prices and inflation rates. This validity can be considered as an existence a theory of stock prices, inflation rates and interest rates.

This paper aims to explain real exchange rate fluctuations by means of a model including both standard fundamentals and two alternative measures of inflation expectations for five inflation targeting countries (the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden) over the period January 1993–July 2019.

Both a benchmark linear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and a nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) specification are considered.

The results suggest that the nonlinear framework is more appropriate to capture the behaviour of real exchange rates given the presence of asymmetries both in the long and short run. In particular, the speed of adjustment towards the purchasing power parity (PPP) implied long-run equilibrium is three times faster in a nonlinear framework, which provides much stronger evidence in support of PPP. Moreover, inflation expectations play an important role, with survey-based ones having a more sizable effect than market-based ones.

The focus on linearities and the estimation of a NARDL model, which is shown to outperform the linear ARDL model both within sample and out of sample, is an important contribution to the existing literature which has rarely applied this type of framework; the choice of an appropriate econometric method also makes the policy implications of the analysis more reliable; in particular, monetary authorities should aim to achieve a high degree of credibility to manage them and thus currency fluctuations effectively; the inflation targeting framework might be especially appropriate for this purpose.

This paper aims to test the hypothesis that the effect of production slowdown on labour demand can be muted by labour hoarding.

This study adopts a production function approach, using data from Malta, a small state in the EU.

The results confirm the hypothesis and indicate that firms are normally prepared to employ and dismiss more workers in the long run than in the short run.

This finding has important implications for developed countries, including that labour hoarding can be of certain relevance in times of economic slowdown as shocks are absorbed by internal flexibility.

The results of this study add on to the existing literature in two ways. First, this study compares two industries –manufacturing and financial services– for which the former sector received support to hoard labour after the financial turmoil of 2008. Consequently, the dominance of labour hoarding in manufacturing relative to financial services is uncovered and the effect of hoarding practices on labour demand is estimated. Second, Malta is an interesting case because it is one of the smallest economies in the world and faces a high degree of vulnerability because of constraints associated with small size and insularity. As a result, firms adopt policy-induced measures to minimise adjustment costs.