Volume 17, Number 4, 2025

EN:

Traditional auction theory typically assumes that bidders will fully honor their commitments upon winning. However, this assumption often proves inadequate in high-stakes auctions, such as those for infrastructure projects or luxury assets, where securing the necessary funds post-auction can pose challenges. Factors such as market volatility, liquidity constraints, or delays in financing frequently result in bidder defaults, leading to substantial disruptions for sellers, including the costs of re-auctioning and project delays. This paper seeks to bridge this gap in auction theory by exploring how comprehensive information about bidders’ default risks can be utilized through a straightforward post-bidding mechanism. Furthermore, it highlights the advantages this approach offers to the auctioneer compared to scenarios where such critical information is unavailable.

EN:

This paper investigates recent trends of production factor – including both capital and labour – ratios in the EU-27 based on national accounts data. These output elasticities are typically expected to be constant, however, both theoretically and empirically, these assumptions are frequently violated for a variety of reasons.

In this paper a lagged response is introduced and investigated: changes of profitability can affect labour force adjustments with a delay. Granger causality tests confirm lagged behaviour. Structural VAR estimations show the strongest impact over the span of two to five quarters and the effect is moderate.

EN:

This research investigates the relationship between ethnic diversity in the boardroom and the ESG performance of US banks during the 2016-2021 period. To this aim, we implement the 2-step system GMM estimation technique, which addresses endogeneity issues that have posed challenges in many studies. Our findings indicate that boardroom ethnic diversity negatively influences ESG performance. Moreover, in a nonlinear analysis, we provide evidence of a U-shaped relationship between boardroom ethnic diversity and the ESG performance of banks. These results remain robust when, instead of ESG performance, we examine the social and corporate governance performance of banks. We also demonstrate that the impact of boardroom ethnic heterogeneity on ESG performance varies with bank size. Furthermore, we reveal that during the pandemic, the previously negative impact of ethnically diverse directors on ESG performance shifts and ultimately becomes positive. Consequently, our conclusions serve as an important source of information to lawmakers and regulators and enrich the corporate governance research concerning the nexus between board characteristics and ESG performance.

EN:

The global emphasis on women's economic participation has grown significantly due to its vital role in promoting macroeconomic stability and advancing financial inclusion. Involving women in economic activities is essential for achieving Sustainable Development Goals, such as poverty alleviation and closing gender gaps. However, a range of regulatory, cultural, and structural barriers continue to hinder women’s ability to participate in the mainstream economy. This study aims to examine the impact of restrictive laws and regulations on women’s economic participation within the BRICS bloc. Women’s economic participation has been examined through three key dimensions: paid employment, political representation, and entrepreneurship. The findings suggest that the removal of restrictive laws and regulations is associated with increased levels of women's economic participation. It is important to acknowledge that while BRICS countries have made significant strides in dismantling legal barriers affecting women, substantial obstacles remain from both legal and regulatory perspectives that hinder women’s engagement in economic activities. Therefore, the study recommends that BRICS nations prioritize the complete removal of restrictive laws and regulations impacting various aspects of women's lives, including mobility, pay, marriage, and entrepreneurship.. Furthermore, ensuring a gender-equitable distribution of resources should be a central focus in policymaking to ensure that no one is left behind in the development agenda, particularly women and children.

EN:

This paper investigates the impact of financial inclusion on health and the gender-health differences in Ghana using microdata from the sixth wave of the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) and instrumental variable techniques. The findings reveal significant gender health differences, with women reporting lower health than men. Importantly, the study suggests that financial inclusion could be a powerful tool in reducing the gender-health gap, as individuals with higher financial inclusion levels report better health. Furthermore, there is no significant health difference across genders for people with a higher level of financial inclusion. These findings have novel and important policy implications, highlighting the potential of financial inclusion in addressing the gender-health gap in Ghana.

EN:

This study analyzes the impacts of the European Union Emissions Trading System and free allowances on sectoral value added, gross output, and greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union for the period 1995-2020. Since the European Union Emissions Trading System inherently covers firm-level emissions, most studies in this area have been conducted at the firm level. However, a sectoral analysis allows understanding how sectors as a whole respond to the carbon pricing mechanism in terms of carbon reductions, competitiveness and sectoral output growth. It can also reveal how changes differ across sectors subject to different regulations. Controlling for sectoral employment, intermediate input use, and time effects, the results show that European Union Emissions Trading System coverage has a negative impact on both value added and gross output, but does not lead to a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The findings indicate that more labor-intensive and less input-intensive production can reduce emissions. Furthermore, the study draws attention to the competitive losses caused by compliance costs in sectors within the scope of the European Union Emissions Trading System and shows that the impact of free allowances on performance is insufficient. These results highlight the importance of coherent and inclusive approaches in policy design to more effectively manage the economic and environmental impacts of the European Union Emissions Trading System. It is recommended to develop more targeted and flexible strategies, taking into account sectoral differences.