Herding in the bad times: The 2008 and COVID-19 crises

The objective of this paper is to analyze the imitation behavior of investors in especially convulsed periods, such as the 2008 financial crisis and the recent global pandemic, both of which could affect investors'' emotions and behavior, although both have different characteristics and might have different implications. The cross-sectional dispersion of returns is used to measure the level of herding in the markets of Spain and Portugal, using a survivorship-bias-free dataset of daily stock returns during the period January 2000–May 2021, in turn divided into several sub-periods classified as pre-2008 crisis, 2008 crisis, post-2008 crisis, Covid-19 and post Covid-19. Additionally, the existence is studied of differences between days of positive and negative returns, or between days of high volatility compared to the rest, and whether the cross-sectional dispersion of returns in one market is affected by the cross-sectional dispersion of returns in the other market. The results indicate that herding appears with greater intensity in periods prior to the crisis, disappearing during the financial crisis and reappearing, although with less intensity, after it, while it is not generally detected in Covid-19 times. However, herding behavior can be observed in the market during the pandemic on high volatility days

Cross-Market Herding: Do ‘Herds’ Herd with Each Other?

Although herding constitutes one of the most widely researched behavioral trading patterns internationally, the possibility of cross-market herding has remained largely underexplored in the literature. Our study provides a detailed empirical investigation of this issue in the context of ten Asia-Pacific markets for the February 1995–March 2022 window. We find that all ten markets’ “herds” project significant relationships with each other, with causality being identified within a minority of those relationships. These results are robust when controlling for financial crises (Asian; global financial; global pandemic) and US market returns

Bridging the Digital Divide at the Regional Level? The Effect of Regional and National Policies on Broadband Access in Europe’s Regions

Part 3: Policy and StakeholdersInternational audienceReducing the digital divide is one of the main policy objectives of the “Europe 2020 Strategy” (2010) and the “Riga Declaration” (2006). To this end, the EU transfers structural funds for broadband expansion to regional governments rather than to the national level which is typically seen as the decisive actor in broadband expansion. To explore the relevance of the regions in widening broadband access, we analyze the influence of economic, demographic and institutional factors on broadband expansion at the regional and national level. In order to account for the interplay between both levels of government, we employ a multi-level regression model. We find that regional level variables are able to explain part of broadband access improvement. Significant variables are ERDF expenditure dedicated to broadband expansion, the status of regional broadband diffusion in 2008 and the national degree of inter-platform competition. The paper concludes that, although there is evidence of the role of the regions in the European policy process, the national level still performs an important gatekeeper function and that national ICT strategies are needed to successfully close the geographical digital divide in the EU

Understanding the drivers of broadband adoption : the case of rural and remote Scotland

Reprint of the following article from 2008: Howick, S and Whalley, J (2008) Understanding the drivers of broadband adoption : the case of rural and remote Scotland. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 59 (10). pp. 1299-1311. ISSN 0160-568