Using cross-sectional panel data over eleven years (2009–2019), or 1001 firm-year observations, this study examines the relationship between capital structure and firm performance of service sector firms from Australian stock market. Unlike other studies, in this study directional causalities of all performance measures were used to identify the cause of firm performance. The study finds that long-term debt dominates debt choices of Australian service sector companies. Although the finding is to some extent similar to trends in debt financed operations observed in companies in developed and developing countries, the finding is unexpected because the sectoral and institutional borrowing rules and regulations in Australia are different from those in other parts of the world.

This study attempts to predict credit card fraud and to know the factors responsible for credit card fraud. Using primary data of 7,500 credit card holders, collected using a questionnaire, this study conducts statistical analysis using discriminant analysis method. It is observed that variables, such as distance from home, distance from the last transaction, ratio to the median purchase price, used chip, used PIN for the transaction, and online order are significant factors in contributing to credit card fraud.

Bangladesh is widely cited as a success story for closing the financial inclusion gender gap through mobile money. We use a November 2021 nationwide survey of 3121 adults, a sample that over-represents men (72.8%) and is, therefore, validated throughout against nationally representative Global Findex microdata, and we combine logistic and ordinal regression, machine learning classification, clustering, and a channel-level decomposition of access. The gender gap in access is almost entirely a mobile money gap. Once education and income are held constant, men and women are equally likely to hold and use formal bank accounts, while men have roughly twice the odds of holding and using a mobile wallet. The pattern replicates in the Findex data, where the mobile money gap holds and the banking gap, present among the least educated, closes with education. A Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition attributes about two-thirds of the composite gap to women’s lower education and income, leaving a residual concentrated in mobile money. Gender appears weak as an aggregate predictor precisely because its effect is channel-specific. Exclusion is sharply concentrated in a segment of women with below-secondary education and no income, but the concentration is additive rather than multiplicative: a main effects model reproduces even the most excluded cell. For policy, closing the gender gap means closing the gap in mobile money adoption, the gap that neither banking-side progress nor education closes.

Understanding the risky nature of the airline industry has received attention in the tourism literature from separate angles. Although the systematic risk of the airline industry has been examined before, idiosyncratic risk has largely been ignored. This study fills this gap in the tourism literature by investigating the effect of passengers’ air travel on systematic and idiosyncratic risks of the U.S. airline industry. Using historical air travel data and utilizing both OLS and fixed-effect models, this paper documents negative relationships between the occupancy of airline seats and idiosyncratic risks for 21 U.S. airline companies. This negative effect of occupancy is more pronounced if air travel distances are shorter, companies have lower leverage ratios, and companies are smaller in size. Policy implications for both airline managers and investors are provided.

This study examines the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and green banking practices on the financial and risk sustainability of commercial banks in Bangladesh. Using panel data of 300 observations over the period 2013 to 2024, this study employed random effects regression models to assess how CSR and green banking influence profitability, financial stability, and risk exposure. A System GMM model is additionally used to address endogeneity concerns and validate the robustness of the results. The empirical findings indicate that CSR engagement by banks contributes positively to financial performance with superior shareholder returns. This positive relationship remains robust under the GMM framework. CSR also shows a significant negative association with non-performing loans, which becomes stronger after controlling for endogeneity. Green banking practices also exhibit a positive and statistically significant relationship with ROE under the baseline model. However, this relationship becomes statistically insignificant in the GMM estimation, indicating that the effects of green banking are sensitive to endogeneity.