Does the US regional greenhouse gas initiative affect green innovation?

This study measures the impact of the implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) on firms' green innovation initiatives. We used 20 years of panel data from the Fortune 500 list of the US largest companies. Based on DID, a benchmark regression, the RGGI has a significant adverse effect on the green innovation of Fortune 500 companies, and we verified these findings with multiple robustness tests.

Does credit rating agency reputation matter in China's local government bond market?

All issuers in China's local government bond market, which is nascent but growing rapidly, have the same AAA ratings. However, we provide evidence that the credit rating agency's reputation can certify differences in ratings' reliability and further impact bond pricing. On the basis of a sample of 7941 local government bonds issued from 2015 to 2021, results show that risk premium is significantly low for bonds rated by prestigious credit rating agencies, which means that issuers can save borrowing costs.

An Islamic Microfinance Approach to Scaling up the Economic Life of Vulnerable People with HIV/AIDS in the Muslim Society.

People with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) commonly pose problems to their family as well as to society because of their vulnerable health and economic conditions. Contrarily, PLWHA encounter social discrimination and adverse realities while finding it difficult to continue in their jobs. These complex phenomena interact to push them into a low economic status.

Correction: Market Structure, Financial Dependence and Industrial Growth: Evidence from the Banking Industry in Emerging Asian Economies.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Market Structure, Financial Dependence and Industrial Growth: Evidence from the Banking Industry in Emerging Asian Economies.

In this study, we examine the role of market structure for growth in financially dependent industries from 10 emerging Asian economies over the period of 1995-2011. Our approach departs from existing studies in that we apply four alternative measures of market structure based on structural and non-structural approaches and compare their outcomes. Results indicate that higher bank concentration may slow down the growth of financially dependent industries.

The ability of analysts' recommendations to predict optimistic and pessimistic forecasts.

Previous researches show that buy (growth) companies conduct income increasing earnings management in order to meet forecasts and generate positive forecast Errors (FEs). This behavior however, is not inherent in sell (non-growth) companies. Using the aforementioned background, this research hypothesizes that since sell companies are pressured to avoid income increasing earnings management, they are capable, and in fact more inclined, to pursue income decreasing Forecast Management (FM) with the purpose of generating positive FEs.