The Determinants of Sin Stock Returns : Evidence on the European Market.

This article deals with the time-series variation in average sin stock returns – returns on publicly-traded companies involved in producing tobacco, alcohol, and gaming. Next to nothing has been written about this class of stocks, especially on the European stock market. The hypothesis I explore in this paper is that sin stock returns depend on legal and cultural characteristics such as religious preferences, the level of excise taxation, and the degree of litigation risk. Using data on 18 European countries over the period 1975-2006, my results show evidence that Protestants are more “sin averse” than Catholics, and require a significant premium on sin stocks. Moreover, sin stocks have higher risk-adjusted returns when they are located in a country with high excise taxation; and sin stocks outperform other stocks when the litigation risk is higher, even after controlling for well-known risk factors such as market capitalization and book-to-market ratio. These findings suggest that sin stock returns depend on both legal and religious environments of each country.Litigation; taxation; Religion; Sin stocks; European markets;

The Determinants of Sin Stock Returns: Evidence on the European Market

This article deals with the time-series variation in average sin stock returns – returns on publicly-traded companies involved in producing tobacco, alcohol, and gaming. Next to nothing has been written about this class of stocks, especially on the European stock market. The hypothesis I explore in this paper is that sin stock returns depend on legal and cultural characteristics such as religious preferences, the level of excise taxation, and the degree of litigation risk. Using data on 18 European countries over the period 1975-2006, my results show evidence that Protestants are more “sin averse” than Catholics, and require a significant premium on sin stocks. Moreover, sin stocks have higher risk-adjusted returns when they are located in a country with high excise taxation; and sin stocks outperform other stocks when the litigation risk is higher, even after controlling for well-known risk factors such as market capitalization and book-to-market ratio. These findings suggest that sin stock returns depend on both legal and religious environments of each country.European markets; sin stocks; religion; taxation; litigation.

Impact of the Financial Crisis on the Performance of European Acquisitions

This study looks at the impact of the recent financial crisis on the short-term performance of European acquisitions. We use institutional theory and transaction cost economic theory to study whether bidders derive lower or higher returns from acquisitions announced after 2008. We investigate shareholders’ stock price reaction to 2245 deals which occurred during 2004–12 across 22 European Union countries. Our results from both univariate and multivariate analysis show that the deals announced in the post-crisis period, corresponding to the period of economic recession, generate higher returns to shareholders as compared to acquisitions announced in the pre-crisis period. We also test the relevance of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), that is, the Eurozone, to this value accrual during the recessionary period. We observe that non-EMU transactions obtain significantly higher gains vis-à-vis EMU transactions in the post-crisis years. Overall, announcement returns of European acquisitions have been affected by the financial crisis and the global recession; and companies that target countries with different currency regimes are likely to generate better returns from their acquisitions

Impact of the Financial Crisis on Cross-Border Mergers and Acquisitions and Concentration in the Global Banking Industry

© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The global banking industry has seen dramatic changes in the past 40 years. Most recently, the financial liberalization of emerging markets and the global financial crisis have significantly impacted the market share of banks worldwide. This article investigates the impact of the 2007-2008 financial crisis on cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the banking sector and emphasizes the role of emerging-market banks in the postcrisis consolidation trend. Using M&A data and concentration data over the period 2000-2013, our analysis indicates that the financial crisis had a significant impact on worldwide M&As, especially on the direction of the transactions. Emerging-market banks appear to be major acquirers in the postcrisis period, targeting both neighboring countries and developed economies in Europe. We also observe an increase in bank concentration in developed markets most hit by the financial crisis, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom, whereas bank concentration decreased in emerging markets

The Effects of Mergers and Acquisitions on Acquiring Banks’ Contribution to Systemic Risk

This paper is the first to examine the effects of international bank mergers and acquisitions on acquirers' contribution to systemic risk covering the period from 1998 to 2015. Our sample consists of 608 international bank mergers, involved domestic and cross-border deals as well as conglomerate and non-conglomerate mergers. Using the Marginal Expected Shortfall (as in Acharya et al., 2017) as well as Conditional Value-at-Risk (as in Adrian and Brunnermeier, 2016) as systemic risk measurements, we find that on average, mergers do not impact on the acquiring banks’ contribution to systemic risk regardless of the increased potential for risk diversification exhibited by cross-border and cross-industry bank mergers. Determinants that contributes to the decrease in acquirers’ systemic risk include product diversifying deals, deals conducted in a more concentrated banking system and a stable political environment. Whereas, for deals financed by cash only and much smaller compared to acquirers as well as involved private targets, acquirers' contribution to systemic risk increase after the merger

Consumer confidence indices and stock markets’ meltdowns

Consumer confidence indices (CCIs) are a closely monitored barometer of countries' economic health, and an informative forecasting tool. Using European and US data, we provide a case study of the two recent stock market meltdowns (the post-dotcom bubble correction of 2000-2002 and the 2007-2009 decline at the beginning of the financial crisis) to contribute to the discussion on their appropriateness as proxies for stock markets' investor sentiment. Investor sentiment should positively covary with stock market movements (DeLong et al., 1990), however, we find that the CCI-stock market relationship is not universally positive. We also do not find support for the information effect documented in previous literature, but identify a more subtle relationship between consumer expectations about future household finances and stock market fluctuations.Elena Ferrer acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (ECO2012–35946-C02-01)

Consumer confidence indices and stock markets’ meltdowns

Consumer confidence indices (CCIs) are a closely monitored barometer of countries’ economic health and an informative forecasting tool. Using European and US data, we provide a case study of the two recent stock market meltdowns (the post-dotcom bubble correction of 2000–2002 and the 2007–2009 decline at the beginning of the financial crisis) to contribute to the discussion on their appropriateness as proxies for stock markets’ investor sentiment. Investor sentiment should positively covary with stock market movements (DeLong, Shleifer, Summers, and Waldmann 1990); however, we find that the CCI–stock market relationship is not universally positive.We also do not find support for the information effect documented in the previous literature, but identify a more subtle relationship between consumer expectations about future household finances and stock market fluctuations

Religion and returns in Europe

Drawing on social identity and social impact theory, this paper is the first to investigate the impact of religious preferences on share prices and expected returns at the country level. Using data from 12 European countries, our findings suggest that religion has a significant effect on the share price of companies whose activities are considered unethical, i.e., tobacco manufacturers and alcohol producers. The share price of these companies (called sin stocks) is depressed when they are located in a predominantly Protestant environment (relative to a Catholic environment). With investors in Protestant countries being more sin averse than in Catholic countries, they insist upon higher expected returns on sin stocks. Conversely, religious preferences do not have the same impact on the performance of other companies, e.g. socially responsible companies. Our results are robust to various methodologies and controlling for several firm-specific, industry-specific and country-specific characteristics

Facilitating student engagement and collaboration in a large postgraduate course using wiki-based activities

This paper investigates the impact of wiki-based activities on student participation and collaborative learning in a large postgraduate international management course. The wiki was used in this study as a facilitator for engagement and collaboration rather than a means of online discussions. Based on both qualitative and quantitative data, we find strong evidence that the use of the wiki facilitated student engagement and collaboration, both inside and outside the classroom. Moreover, student learning had significantly improved as a result of the enhanced learning environment