International Research Journal of Finance and Economics  Issue 180  September, 2020

 

The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on Banks’ Financial Performance: A Case Study on Saudi Banks	8-14
Tariq Saeed and Musaed Sulaiman AlAli
Abstract: This study aims to examine the effect on corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the financial performance of Saudi banks over the period expanding from 2014 to 2019. Using a panel date regression, results show that the amount of Zakat, CSR proxy, and Zakat to net income ratio had a statistically significant and positive effect on Saudi banks financial performance measured by return on equity (ROE). This would indicate that bank business tends to be more profitable and customer become more loyal when the bank engages in CSR activities in the community.< /br> Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Saudi Banks, Panel Data Regression, Return on Equity (ROE), Financial Performance.
Are Children a Normal Good or an Inferior Good? The Case of Turkey and France	15-26
Bülent Bayraktar and Fuat Sekmen
Abstract: This study investigates the neoclassical theory on the demand for children. The neoclassical theory takes child demand in the utility function, like any other commodities. But, the demand for children is different from things which increase our utility. In this study, Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach was used to examine the relationship between real GDP and fertility rate for the 1968-2018 periods of Turkey and France’s economy. The purpose of this relationship is to observe if the child demand is a normal good. If children were normal goods, then their parents would demand more children when they get richer. According to the ARDL model, it was found that there was no any long-term relationship between real GDP and fertility rate in Turkey. However, a long-term relationship between real GDP and fertility for France has been found. But, in this case, the GDP coefficient is not statistically significant. Keywords: Demand for Children, Desired Family Size, Neo-Classical Approach.
A Study on the Relationship among the Returns of Gold Rates, Crude Oil Prices and the Stock Market Investments: An Empirical Evidence	27-39
Elango Rengasamy
Abstract: The present study attempts to examine the relationship among the returns of gold rates, crude oil prices and the stocks included in Dow Jones Industrial Averages (DJIA) for a four year period (48 months) from 2016 to 2019 using the monthly data of the above three variables collected from indexmundi.com (Crude oil prices and Gold rates), marketwatch.com (DJIA). Returns were calculated on all the three rates after standardizing the data applying 'Dixon's Outlier test' procedures to identify the 'outliers' in the time-series data. The normality of the data was checked using five different parameters which included Skewness, Kurtosis, Jarque-Bera test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-W test) and Shapiro-Wilk test. Descriptive statistics revealed a few interesting insights into the returns and volatility patterns of the three variables included in the sampling framework. Further, to examine the relationship and impact among the variables, three multiple regression analyses were performed keeping each variable as the dependent variable (y) while the other two remaining variables as predictor variables (X1 & X2). To ensure that the multiple regression equation does not suffer from any kind of assumptions-related violations for applying multiple regression, Durbin-Watson (DW test) statistic was applied to check if the data have any issues related to autocorrelation while VIF (Variance Inflation Factor) test was applied to examine the multi-collinearity related issues. It has been observed that while Dow Jones and oil price returns (Independent variables) had no statistically significant relationship or impact on the gold price returns (Dependent variable), in yet another analysis Dow Jones and gold returns (Independent variables) had a statistically significant relationship and had an impact on the Oil price returns at 10% level of significance during the study period. In the same way, oil price returns and returns from gold rates had no statistically significant relationship or impact on the stock price returns. Further, oil-price returns were higher when compared to the other two variables while it recorded higher volatility, as well, confirming that high-risk taking is associated with higher rewards. The findings of this study gain significance as security analysts and investors could design their investment strategies in different market scenarios, accordingly. Keywords: Stock returns; Gold price; Oil price behavior; International stock returns JEL Classification: B26, B27, C12, Q41, Q43
Impact of Market Concentration on the Profitability of Banking Sector in Palestine	40-47
Khaled Zidan
Abstract: This study examines the impact of market concentration on banks’ profitability in Palestine from 2008 to 2017. The study sample consists of all banks operating in Palestine. A dynamic panel analysis is applied to the sample of 14 banks with one econometric model consisting of one dependent variable and five independent variables. Return on assets (ROA) is used as a profitability indicator, and market concentration of credit (CONC), market share of deposits (MS), capital adequacy ratio (CAR), bank size (BS), and real GDP growth rate (RGDP) are used as independent variables measured using five financial ratios. The findings and analysis revealed that CONC, MS, and BS had a significant positive effect on ROA, while CAR had a significant negative relationship with ROA. The macroeconomic variable RGDP had an insignificant positive effect on ROA. Keywords: Profitability, banking sector, concentration, market share, Palestine. JEL Classification: G21, C23, L10
Staffing Level, Wages and Banks Financial Performance	48-53
Musaed S. AlAli
Abstract: Overstaffing has always been synonyms with bureaucracy, low productivity and poor financial performance. While understaffing has always been associated with high work load, tension, and high level of dissatisfaction. This study is set to examine the effect of staffing level and workers compensations, measured by cost per employee, on the financial performance of Kuwaiti banks. Using the data of 10 banks listed at Kuwait stock exchange (KSE) over the period 2008-2018, results shows that there was no statistically significant relation between staffing level and the financial performance of Kuwaiti banks. Rather the results showed that there was a direct relation between workers compensations and the financial performance of banks in terms of return on assets (ROA). This would indicate that banks who attracts talented and efficient workers with high compensation packages tend to be more profitable than those how are not. Keywords: Overstaffing, Staffing Level, Kuwait Banks, Financial Performance, Panel Regression Analysis, Compensation, Wages