Stock market reaction to policy interventions

We analyse stock price reactions to the announcements of monetary and fiscal policy actions in 12 stock exchanges worldwide between 1 June 2007 and 30 June 2012. While past papers have analysed the effect of policy interventions focusing on monetary policy actions (e.g. Ricci 2015), our paper focuses on stock indices either capturing the whole stock market or various industries. By estimating abnormal stock reactions around the announcement date, we show that (1) stock industry indices react to policy interventions in a different manner than the broad stock index does; (2) stock returns react negatively to restriction measures for general and non-banking sector indices; and (3) stock reaction to expansionary measures was stronger at the beginning of the financial crisis

The S.A.F.E. project: an interdisciplinary and intersectorial approach to innovation in Furniture Design

The S.A.F.E. project is an industrial research project whose objective was the design and prototyping of furniture for schools and offices capable of transforming themselves into intelligent systems of passive and "life-saving" protection of people during an earthquake, integrating technical-scientific knowledge and skills as those of Industrial Design, Structural Engineering, Computer Science and Chemistry and facilitating a process of cross-fertilization of the know-how of companies belonging to very different sectors, such as that of Wood- Furniture and that of ICT and IoT. During an earthquake, furniture and mobile equipment become obstacles that aggravate the dangerous conditions and often cause death, or, on the contrary, they behave, in a completely casual way, as a protection of life in the event of collapses. This different behavior of the furniture depends above all on how they are designed and built. The design of “anti-seismic” and intelligent furniture systems, developed for public contexts (schools and offices) in highly dangerous areas, could be an alternative and integrative solution, to the seismic adaptation of buildings, for the protection of people's lives during earthquakes. The challenge of the S.A.F.E. was to innovate the design of traditional furniture for schools and offices from a structural perspective, transforming them into intelligent systems for the protection of life, which facilitate detection, localization, and rescue of survivors under the rubble during an earthquake. The paper describes the main results of the S.A.F.E. project, focusing on the methodological relevance of a systemic, interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach to innovation to be able to manage both projects and complex research problems, and accelerate the processes of transfer and cross-fertilization of knowledge and know-how, in a collaborative model between universities and companies

European environmental policy and climate benchmarks: What happens to my money?

Climate change raised the interest in how the regulatory policy affects investor portfolios. The aim of this study is to analyze whether a new policy framework, that is the new European Climate Benchmark, negatively impacts the risk-return performance when investments are directed into stocks with specific emission-oriented criteria. By using a dataset of company Emission Score and recursive portfolio methodology, this article analyses the performance of High and Low Emission Stocks in European region. The study focuses on stocks listed on the Eurostoxx600 Benchmark, during the period 2006-2020. By implementing a variety of portfolio screens, our analysis provides the following insights. First, active selection of high-rated stocks does not provide inferior performance in comparison to low-rated stocks. Second, investors preferring stocks with low carbon footprints (good portfolio) and high carbon footprints (bad portfolio) still observe a performance similar to the broad market in terms of overall riskiness, while showing a U-shaped relationship between riskiness and Emission level. Moreover, investing in best Emission score stocks led investors to greater overall returns in the most turmoil periods, providing the insurance-like protection attribute associated with ethical investments. Therefore, there is no incompatibility between pursuing higher sustainable values as well as greater financial performances from investments

The Impact of the Financial and the Health Crisis on Listed Hotel Stocks

Travel and tourism represent one of the largest industries in the world as far as percentages of GDP and occupation are concerned, consequently, asset managers could be interested to select listed hotel stocks in their portfolios. The hotel industry has shown some difficulties not only in periods of financial, but also during the health crisis (Covid-19), when global and local restrictions on travel and tourism had a negative effect on the hotel sector. This study aims to analyze how listed hotel stocks could improve their contribution to portfolio diversification in different stages of the market. First, we use a constraint mean-variance approach to analyze the effect of diversification, and then we study the difference in the performance of the hotel sector by using the Risk-Adjusted Performance (RAP) measure. We analyze three sample periods: a) the whole sample (01/2000-09/2021); b) the Financial Crisis sample (06/2007-06/2012) and c) the COVID sample (02/2021-09/2021). Our findings contribute to a good understanding of financial patterns in the hotel industry as an asset class at different stages and support our hypothesis of its possible positive contribution in terms of diversification and performanc

Volatility and liquidity in Eastern Europe financial markets under efficiency and transparency conditions

ABSTRACT. Following the consequences of the global financial crises, transparency and efficiency conditions of a local economic system have become important remedies for restoring of financial markets. This study provides measure of transparency and efficiency with correlation to liquidity and volatility and is taking into account the stock price reaction of emerging financial stock markets of Eastern Europe area and Turkey. We find that observed countries don't fully answer the expected sign of transparency, liquidity and risk measure, which meets the innovation from previous works (Berglof, Pajuste, 2005). It raises doubts concerning functioning of legal basement in these countries and affects the decisions about investments. In line with previous research (Ivanov, Lomev and Bogdanova, 2012) our findings show that these countries don't prove to have certain transparency expectations, which could result in a limited access to market information and in a decrease of market efficiency.Keywords: Financial Crisis, Risk, Liquidity, Volatility, Emerging Market, Eastern Europe.JEL Classification : G010, G23, G24(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)IntroductionCountries with emerging markets are trying to rebuild their economies according to developed market models and are becoming more attractive for investing and trading. According to Miyajima and Shim (2014) the total amount of Asset Under Management (AUM) by the largest 500 AMCs doubled from $35 trillion in 2002 to almost$70 trillion in 2012, more specifically, after Leham Brothers, the total AUM of EME equity and bond dedicated funds increased from $900 billion in October 2007 to$1.4 trillion in May 2014. However, emerging markets of Eastern Europe experienced influences of financial crises dramatically. Injured by consequences of financial crises then others. According to ECB (2010) in Europe, the impact of the crisis varied across the countries (also varied the speed and the timing at which countries were affected) and coming from domestic demand, dependence from FDI, fiscal policy and external imbalances. Among the Eastern Europe countries, Poland has weathered the crisis relatively well, unlike the Baltic countries, Romania and Bulgaria.When talking about the GDP growth (annual %), all observed countries showed a sharp reduction of this index in 2009, especially Ukraine, Turkey, Romania and Lithuania. In the end of the second wave of financial crises (2012), such countries like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania demonstrated the highest GDP growth among the observed group. However, there are negative meanings of GDP growth in Czech Republic and Hungary, while other countries reduced their GDP down to the minimum but still positive meaning. Moreover, it led to a limited role of local firms in the efficient resource allocation in these countries. It is worth of saying that Eastern European emerging markets are very young and weak, hence, they are still trying to reach a decent level of efficiency, which is a key factor for investor's decisions. Eastern European markets are well-known for their lack of transparency and high level of corruption. However, exactly better transparency increases investor's desire to work with a certain country.According to recent studies (Barth (2013), Francis and Huang (2009), Lang (2012), Jahanshad (2013)), transparency is meant to improve liquidity which in turn is crucial to deal with large quantities of securities very fast and with minimum costs. Moreover, timing of liquidity of Eastern European markets is very important due to possible illiquidity of stocks where they can become expensive to sell at the exact time suitable for investor. Liquidity uncertainty reflects in liquidity volatility, liquidity skewness, and extreme liquidity events which bring a negative image of a company and it reflects also on the whole local financial markets (Barth (2013), Lang (2011), Lang (2012)).We agree with previous studies (Ang, Ciccone (2000), Lin (2014), Millar (2005)), that transparency is a timely and reliable increase of certain information which is open for investors.

Ricerca e sviluppo di un modello metaprogettuale per la generazione di nuovi concept di arredo salva-vita in caso di sisma.

This research is a part of the scientific-disciplinary field of Industrial Design, with a particular focus on Design for Safety. It intends to address the issue of earthquake protection, with specific attention to life-saving strategies developed to date for the implementation interior safety, exactly through the use of devices and furniture systems specialized in safeguarding people’s lives. Therefore, this research is mainly focused on investigation and analysis of furnishing systems characterized by high capacity for protection and safeguarding of human life with the final aim to define new design guidelines and life-saving strategies for development of new earthquake- proof furniture concepts. The doctoral research was developed within the S.A.F.E. industrial research project, characterized by an interdisciplinary and intersectoral approach to innovation aimed at the development of life-saving furniture in the event of an earthquake. The research starts from the observation that, to date, the guidelines for securing and survival methods in the event of an earthquake are still inadequate compared to those nations characterized by a predominantly historical building, and therefore, vulnerable to earthquakes. Unfortunately, Italy and its buildings are also a part of those countries. In fact, the latest seismic events in our country, in particular those of 2016, which severely hit Central Italy again, have rekindled the debate on the safety of public and civil buildings with great attention to those in historic centers, and on the lack of an adequate anti-seismic prevention strategy throughout the Italian territory. To aggravate the emergency scenario in addition to precariousness of structures and their obsolescence, there is also the inadequacy of many usual domestic practices for survival in the events of subsidence and collapses during the earthquake, such as getting under the table or under the architraves of the doors, whose fundamental purpose is help to survive the shock without suffering serious injuries, based on the theories of “drop, cover, hold on” and the “triangle of life”. According to some statistics on certain seismic events, about 25% of deaths caused by an earthquake are due to non-structural damage to buildings (fall of partitions, windows, cornices, tiles, etc.) and to phenomena induced by the earthquake. Unfortunately, sometimes during an earthquake not only the architectural structures, but also the furniture systems, objects and equipment that set up the interiors of public or private buildings, can become obstacles and barriers that aggravate the conditions of danger and rescue or on the contrary, represent a temporary shelter when it is time to reach it and when it does not yield under the weight of the collapsing structures. We can consider these “improvised” shelters as passive protection systems similar to other safety devices (airbag systems, safety clothing, etc.). The different behaviour of furniture systems and furnishings in the event of an earthquake and collapse depends on how they were conceived, designed and built. Starting from this observation and the observation that to date, there are no adequate intervention solutions for a historical building context. A first macro-phase has been launched characterized by a series of preliminary research aimed to frame the seismic emergency in our country, with particular attention to the worrying data of Italian school buildings. Following the framing of the reference scenario, an extensive analysis has been launched on the state of the art of systems and procedures for safety of living spaces and functional spaces, such as learning environments, highlighting the problem of non-structural elements and furnishings as a cause of damage to people and things. In the second macro-phase, a series of detailed research was launched to frame the issue of protection and safety with respect to devices and other products, developed to date, and capable of securing indoor spaces. Starting from the study of “light” systems to attach certain types of furniture to the walls, the research investigated the state of the art of patents, concepts and life-saving furniture products in the event of an earthquake. This activity has been fundamental to explain the protection strategies adopted and bring out, through a critical analysis, a new set of design requirements evolutionary with respect to the state of the art investigated in order to develop new life-saving furniture concepts. The latest research has been focused on recognition of high- strength materials, and ICT and IoT technologies, aimed to increase the anti-seismic performance of traditional furnishings, especially those intended for teaching spaces. The third macro-phase, the experimental one, has been characterized by the definition of a procedural model and design guidelines for the generation of new life-saving furniture systems in the event of an earthquake. Therefore, the final objective of this research is to make a twofold contribution to the theme of safety and protection from earthquakes. The first one relates to a greater diffusion of emergency culture and intends to expand the state of the art of technical-scientific literature with respect to earthquake protection methods in historical and strategic building contexts; the second one, by developing a procedural model and new design guidelines, aims to provide a tool for design of new concepts of furnishing systems, capable of protecting and safeguarding people’s lives in the identified critical building contexts. The main research results achieved include: the cataloging of examples of products and devices for safety in the event of an earthquake and a series of life-saving furniture case studies for indoor contexts; the definition of main levels of intervention for safety of living spaces and the definition of life-saving strategies in the event of an earthquake, implemented to date in the case studies mapped by the research; the development of a metaproject model, divided into phases and design guidelines, for the design of new life-saving furniture system concepts in the event of an earthquake; the definition of new application and development scenarios with respect to the theme of seismic emergency in countries, where buildings are particularly vulnerable to earthquakes. Furthermore, considering the great theme of protection and safety in the event of an earthquake, other research streams to be developed in the future were framed, especially those concerning implementation of new approaches and methodologies, such as Biodesign, and application of Generative Design tools for development of new geometries, with high performance and earthquake resistance

Stock market reaction to policy interventions

We analyse stock price reactions to the announcements of monetary and fiscal policy actions in 12 stock exchanges worldwide between 1 June 2007 and 30 June 2012. While past papers have analysed the effect of policy interventions focusing on monetary policy actions (e.g. Ricci 2015), our paper focuses on stock indices either capturing the whole stock market or various industries. By estimating abnormal stock reactions around the announcement date, we show that (1) stock industry indices react to policy interventions in a different manner than the broad stock index does; (2) stock returns react negatively to restriction measures for general and non-banking sector indices; and (3) stock reaction to expansionary measures was stronger at the beginning of the financial crisis

Climate change shocks and socially responsible investments

Climate change's impact on investor behavior is a scantly investigated area in finance. This paper examines the performance of socially responsible exchange trade funds (ETFs) concerning conventional ETFs, in response to climate change events. We proxy climate change signals with a list of natural disaster events that NASA scientists relate to climate change. We contribute to existing literature, by using a very extensive information set of ETF strategies, not influenced by rating agencies' subjective evaluation policies, and covering almost 90% of the universe of worldwide sustainability thematic-oriented ETFs. This sample allows us to identify the socially responsible investment behavior in response to unpredictable climate change shocks. Our identification strategy accounts for endogeneity concerns and relies on two-stage least square (2SLS) approach finding that responsible investors react to climate change events by purchasing socially responsible investments. The relationship between climate change signals and return of investment in themes linked to the development of sustainability is positive. Interestingly enough, the sign of this relationship is different, when we disentangle the empirical results according to the asset type, confirming that investors shift their investments from equity funds to bond funds when market sentiment worsens. Our results indicate that policymakers should increase the support of firms adopting environmentally conscious business practices, while managers should boost a sustainable business strategy

Modular design towards the circular economy – From ‘making to unmake’ to ‘making to remake'

Given the recent debate regarding the transition to the Circular Economy, Design for Modularity strategies play a decisive role in the process of transforming the current economic model from linear to circular. By describing some recently developed modular product case studies, this article intends to outline the considerations developed in the field of design culture for sustainability, on the concept of modularity. In recent years, this has shifted from the industrial logic of ‘making to unmake’, namely designing modular and disassemblable products mainly to recycle their end-of-life materials, to the logic of ‘making to remake’, to increase their circularity and durability, thereby making them reusable, repairable and remanufacturable. The objective of this contribution is to re-examine the concept of ‘modularity’ in the Circular Economy scenario, as a strategic design lever to extend the useful life of industrial products.   Article info Received: 12/09/2023; Revised: 16/10/2023; Accepted: 22/10/202

Design di prodotti per la sicurezza in caso di sisma

La ricerca si inserisce nell'ambito disciplinare dell'Industrial Design e del Design for Safety ed intende affrontare il tema della protezione dal sisma, con particolare attenzione verso le strategie life-saving ad oggi sviluppate per lo sviluppo di sistemi di arredi specializzati nel salvaguardare la vita delle persone in caso di terremoto. Il presupposto della ricerca parte dalla constatazione che ad oggi le linee guida per la messa in sicurezza e la sopravvivenza delle persone in caso di terremoto, risultano ancora inadeguate nei contesti edilizi vulnerabili al sisma e gli arredi possono rappresentare un sistema di protezione