Expectations of individuals regarding the Ijara Forward contract: the case of healthcare financing

The health sector in Morocco is marked by many achievements, but also by large deficits, especially in terms of healthcare expenditures borne by individuals. With the introduction of Islamic banks (called participative banks) in Morocco, the study aims to determine the extent to which Ijara Forward, as an Islamic financial contract, is adapted to the expectations of Moroccans to finance their health expenditures.The study sample consisted of 200 individuals. The univariate and bivariate analyses are used to identify possible relationships between the study variables. In addition, this paper proposes a model that will predict the demand for Ijara Forward based on the logistic regression method. The results reveal that the financial characteristics of the Ijara Forward contract are in line with the financial expectations of Moroccan individuals. Furthermore, the cost of health services is the main factor that makes healthcare inaccessible. This factor influences the demand of Ijara Forward. In addition, this paper reveals that religious beliefs stimulate Ijara Forward’s demand and encourages people to pay a higher price for Ijara Forward.

Dynamics of the number of myocardial revascularization operations in some countries in comparison with the Russian Federation in 2000–2018

Aim. To study the dynamics of the number of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) in some countries and Russia in the 2000–2018..Methods. The data of the official statistics of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on the number of CABG and PCI were used. The countries that have provided data for most of the analyzed years and have more than 30 CABG per 100,000 population (22 countries) were selected. Data on the number of interventions in Russia were obtained from the CNIIOiIZ and Bakulev NMICSSH. The US data are obtained from the literature.Results. In most countries, the number of CABG decreased by 2018.The United States, Denmark, Finland, Israel, and Luxembourg were the most variable in the average indicator. The most expressed decrease occurred in Finland (2.9 times). The number of PCI has increased significantly (in 9 countries by more than 2 times). The exception was the United States, where the number of PCI decreased by 2 times from 2003 to 2016. In Russia, there was an increase in CABG and PCI (by 10.2 and 50.5 times, respectively). The number of CABG and PCI per 100,000 population was 23 and 34 times less, respectively, in Russia than the international average in 2000, and 1.4 and 1.55 times less in 2018. The decrease in CABG is due to the improvement of PCI technologies, as well as the improvement of pharmaceutical treatment of coronary vessels. The number of proceedings, including court ones, on the validity of stent implantation is growing. The crosscountry variability of the use of cardiac surgical methods is influenced by the organizational and financial characteristics of the healthcare system, demographic and clinical characteristics of patients, the knowledge of doctors, etc. The experience of Russia fully confirms this.Conclusion. There is no optimal method for accurately assessing the population's need for certain treatment methods. Each country chooses its own tactics, taking into account its resource capabilities, approaches to decision-making, its values and preferences, but the general trend is a decrease in the number of CABG operations while increasing the PCI. In Russia, there is a multiple increase in the number of CABG and PCI, but it is less than the indicators of most countries.

Performance, Risk, and Cost of Capital: Trends and Opportunities for Future CSR Research

The information within this study reviews the financial management literature focusing on proponents and opponents of corporate social responsibility (CSR). We review how CSR affects different areas of corporate finance. This study’s core objective is to explore the last 20 years (2000–2019) of CSR top-tier literature to develop and theoretically support CSR and environmental management. Twenty years of publications provide a considerable amount of evidence on CSR’s impacts on firm financial characteristics and some paradoxical findings. The majority of our insights support the argument that doing good is good for business. This study also highlights existing gaps in the literature. Based on our findings, we highlight three areas to further explore in the context of CSR and corporate finance: (1) Does CSR improve specific information contents in stock prices? (2) Does CSR mitigate financial distress risk? and (3) Is CSR good for firm trade credit?

Enterprise Financial Characteristics and Corporate Social Responsibility Costs of Oil and Gas Businesses in Nigeria

This work evaluated the effect of entity characteristics on company social responsibility costs of oil and gas firms in Nigeria for 2010 - 2019. The independent variables of the study and measures of firm characteristics are total assets, total sales, financial leverage and firm age while the independent variable is corporate social responsibility. A sample of three firms was selected out of a population of eleven oil and gas businesses on the Nigeria Stock Exchange during the period. Supporting data were obtained from the selected firms and analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Findings from the analysis suggest that both total assets and total sales positively and significantly affect the corporate social responsibility costs of the firms. It was also found that financial leverage positively and insignificantly affects the corporate social responsibility costs of the firms. Finding further reveals that firm age negatively and insignificantly affects corporate social responsibility costs of the firms. In the light of the findings, it was recommended that the firm managers should invest in assets especially long-term assets that will yield future streams of returns for their firms. This is because investment in assets improves production and promotes the corporate social responsibility performance of the firms. It was also recommended that the firm managers should promote their products through various product promotion channels as total sales boast firm profitability and promote corporate social responsibility performance. It was further recommended that the firm managers should increase the proportion of debts in their firms’ capital structure. It was finally recommended that firm managers should use a modern approach while implementing their corporate social responsibility programs as opposed to the old style.

Determinants of Reluctance to Initial Public Offering in Cameroonian Financial Market

The main objective of this study was to identify the specific characteristics of companies in Cameroon and to highlight the factors that explain their reluctance to be listed on the stock market. Thus, in order to build the state of the art appropriate to this objective, we had to follow three lines of investigation: the theories related to the listing of firms on the stock market, their specific characteristics, and the cross-fertilization of these two fields. On the basis of the literature, four explanatory hypotheses were deduced: they are related to the shareholding structure of firms, to the financial characteristics, to the size of the firm and to the socio-demographic characteristics of the managers. To test these hypotheses, a survey was conducted among 40 SAs in the city of Douala. The data was processed with the SPSS 20 software and we used flat sorting, cross-sorting, pearson correlation test as well as linear regression. This methodology allowed us to obtain the results according to which the family and filial character and the size of the company are mainly the factors of reluctance of the listing on the stock exchange on the one hand, and the behavioral factors of the company managers, in particular the level of education and the experience on the other hand.

The Exogenous Shock of COVID-19: An Evidence from Financial Sector of an Emerging Economy

This paper analyses the effect of COVID-19 on the financial sector of Bangladesh. Particularly, it explores how this pandemic has affected this industry, considering firms’ past (pre-pandemic) financial characteristics. Employing the Generalised Estimation Equations (GEE) method with 1050 firm-year observations, which includes listed Banks, Financial Institutions, and Insurance companies’ data obtained from annual reports, datastream, and WHO, we found that firms with the larger size, more leverage, liquidity, and higher ROA is more resilient to stock return declines reacting to this pandemic. This study should be of interest to investors and regulators as it provides new evidence related to an industry’s pandemic and stock market response based on their prior financial characteristics. Besides, it will contribute to the extant literature of COVID-19 and the firm’s stock return from an emerging economy perspective.

The consequences of claiming Social Security benefits at age 62

Delaying claiming of Social Security old-age benefits past the earliest eligibility age, age 62, raises the monthly benefit for a person's life. Despite arguments from both proponents and opponents of delayed claiming in academia and public discourse, little is known about whether claiming decisions lead to substantively different outcomes. We compare differences in outcomes between age-62 claimants and otherwise similar later claimants that are matched on health, employment, and financial characteristics at age 60. We find that age-62 claimers are substantially less likely to work after 62 and have persistently lower income into their 70s. Differences in assets emerged in the 70s, with early claimants having lower wealth, but we find no differences in mortality or self-reported financial hardship. The difference in wealth is driven primarily by a growth in wealth among later claimants rather than substantial decumulation by age-62 claimants.

The Impact of The Reinsurance Institute on The Financial Results of Insurance Companies

Risk management is one of the biggest challenges for financial market participants, in particular for the insurance companies. To solve this problem, the regulator and the insurance market have created a number of institutions, one of which is the institution of reinsurance. Institutions contribute to the solution of problems arising due to the limited rationality and opportunism of participants of contract processes. By use of these institutions organizations have an opportunity to reduce the “ex post” and “ex ante” transaction costs associated with contracts. At the same time, institutions only determine the rules and goals. The organization’s tactics and the way of fulfilling the requirements are completely controlled by its leadership of all levels, which also defines the role of institutions in solving other important business tasks, such as ensuring its efficiency and sustainability. The sustainability and efficiency of the insurance business significantly depends on proper risk management. This study analyses how the use of reinsurance institution as a part of risk-management affects the financial results of insurance companies. The insured events specified in contracts may not occur during their validity period, and one can suppose that in the short-term perspective reinsurance generates mostly outgoing cash flows, which affect the efficiency, solvency and liquidity of the organization. So the aim of the study is to analyse the impact of reinsurance intensity estimated by the share of premium transferred to the reinsurer on the specific financial characteristics of Russian insurance business. As a result, it was revealed that in the short term the impact is significantly negative: the use of reinsurance leads to decrease in financial performance of domestic insurance organizations. This result, of course, does not diminish the significance of reinsurance for risk-management, but it should be taken into account within financial planning and actuarial activities. For completeness, the relationship of various financial indicators with efficiency, solvency and liquidity of insurance companies was also analysed. In particular, it was shown that a change in the influence strength of a number of financial management tools affect above mentioned characteristics. We also noted the need to consider the nonlinear nature of relationships between financial indicators used in study in processes of forecasting and management.