Bibliometric analysis of stock market performance throughout the COVID-19 outbreak

In this study the author examines the effect of the speed of population aging on the financial markets in 11 OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries after controlling the proportion of labor population, the growth rate of real GDP (Gross Domestic Product), the rate of increasing productivity, inflation rate, and the rate of increasing scale of pension market. The author finds that the performance of stock market is affected by complex factors including increasing of average life expectancy, the growth rate of real GDP, the rate of increasing productivity, the inflation rate, the earning rate of stock market and the rate of increasing scale of pension market. Especially, the proportion of economically active people is the most significant factor to explain the stock market performance. Considering the decreasing proportion of economically active people in aging societies, the decrease of productivity and eventually the decrease of earnings from financial markets would be expected.

This study explores the association between family influence in firms and stock market returns in Germany, a country with a less investor-friendly corporate governance system where shareholders cannot directly influence top managers. The study forms portfolios of firms with and without the influence of families as shareholders or members of the firm’s legal bodies. The models estimate portfolio returns from 2003-2013 using a four-factor model. Results suggest that corporate governance is highly correlated with stock returns in Germany. Specifically, they document a significant relationship between family influence and firm valuation. Firms with stronger family influence via voting rights and board-participation are found to have a higher firm value (annualized excess return: 0.48%-6.00%). The study interprets this to mean that families may improve a firm’s internal corporate governance, as their strong motivation and ability to become actively engaged in a firm’s daily operations or to assume a monitoring role distinguishes them from other corporate blockholders. The results add to those of an increasing number of publications finding a positive association between strong family governance and performance. They contribute to a year-long scholarly exploration of performance differences among family and non-family businesses, mainly by defining the former by mere ownership. The study combines a large set of governance provisions into a novel, transparent, and replicable index of family involvement and then estimates the empirical relation with market performance. The index captures influence via shareholder voting rights, considers direct influence of owners on day-to-day operations, and controls for indirect influence via supervisory board.

Acknowledgment
The authors acknowledge support by the Open Access Publication Funds of the HTWK Leipzig.

This study aims to investigate the quality management of public transportation services in the Tunisian context during the COVID-19 outbreak. The empirical study was based on the conjoint analysis approach. The sample collected is composed of 250 individuals who often use the train as a means of transport and the pairwise comparison method is adopted for conjoint analysis.
This study assesses quality management of customer service and takes into account four aspects of service quality such as comfort, way of reservation (possibility of online booking), speed, and safety. The findings revealed that the optimal combination of service offered by the Tunisian national railway company is characterized by the terms “first class”, “online booking”, “express”, and “safety”. It is favored by Tunisian customers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Additionally, the results show that the maximum utility corresponds to the “safety train” modality followed by “second class”, “online booking”, and finally “stopover”. Moreover, the use of new information and communication technologies (NICT) has importance for train users during the COVID-19 outbreak. Indeed, Tunisians are looking for safety and measures to reduce crowding in a train, to minimize the risk of contagion of COVID-19 outbreak.