Suchergebnisse

We study the effects of a peer‐to‐peer learning environment designed for lower secondary schools that provides financial education using games, videos and other materials provided online. We exploit a quasi‐experimental setting with a control group to evaluate the effects of the learning environment and to distinguish them from the effects of a general economics course. We use two different samples from subsequent years to check the robustness of the results. Our results demonstrate the positive effects of financial education on financial knowledge, but no significant effects are shown in terms of savings behaviour. Further, although we find that girls improve their scores much more than boys after the educational intervention, we also find that this results from general education rather than from the specific intervention. Finally, we find that increased knowledge and enhanced savings behaviour are strongly correlated, supporting the notion that financial education holds promise for changing financial behaviour.

ABSTRACT:  We provide the first empirical evidence on the determinants of differences in the size of the cooperative sector around the world. Our key data have been recently released by the ICA and are integrated with other standard sources, such as data from the World Values surveys. In our empirical work we concentrate on the links between inequality and trust and cooperative incidence and undertake selectivity correction estimates as well as a series of robustness checks. Consistent with theory we find strong support for the proposition that trust plays a causal role in accounting for differences in co‐operative incidence. Also consistent with theory, we find support (albeit much weaker) for the role of inequality. Further support for our findings flows from our estimates for conventional, listed firms, where we do not find that trust and inequality play similar roles in accounting for the variation in the incidence of large listed firms across countries.

The aftermath of the 2008 crisis has substantially increased the regulation of banks and insurance companies and curtailed their risk taking, which has shifted much of the risk to their clients: firms and consumers. At the same time, digitalization has encouraged the entry of new firms combining finance and technological innovation, a phenomenon known as FinTech. The emergence of non-bank financial entities has contributed to the fragmentation of financial services, and also opened up new markets. Furthermore, the growing emphasis on corporate social responsibility has made it increasingly important for financial organizations to care about their public image. Drawing together these diverse strands, this book examines how the financial sector is evolving and how the existing actors are adapting to the institutional change and to the challenges from new actors and competitors. It also addresses the issue of how financial organizations are providing fixes to the challenges at the systemic level and how a healthier, more diverse and socially responsible financial sector is beneficial to the operations of the market economy as a whole. While there are books that address each of these issues, and also books that look at organizational diversity, there are few that investigate their interconnectedness. Responsible Finance and Digitalization offers a topical overview of the changes that are taking place in the financial sector and how the financial sector itself can contribute to solving global challenges. It equips both students (at MBA and other levels) and practitioners with analytical tools to reflect on this change and to take appropriate action to ensure that their organization can successfully navigate it and create value.

SUMMARYBased on an extensive literature review, this paper proposes to define social banks (SBs) as social enterprises that run banking activities with the social mission of supplying credit to other social enterprises, which are typically less profitable than for‐profit businesses. This definition marks our starting point for developing a theoretical framework to explain how SBs survive without subsidies in the banking market. We build on a two‐pillar business model of value‐based financial intermediation, which comprises an ownership structure that limits residual ownership claims and preferential credit conditions associated with financial sacrifices from motivated depositors. We also clarify the link between SBs and stakeholder banks and weigh up the importance of market interest rates for facilitating the business of SBs. An empirical analysis based on panel regressions on 5,400 European banks over the 1998‐2013 period attests to the relevance of our theoretical framework. It also confirms that a low interest rate environment raises concerns about the sustainability of the SB business model.