The behavior of market participants often does not rely on market signals, but replicates the investment decisions of other parties. The convergence of their investment behavior leads to the emergence of herd behavior with negative implications for financial stability. Moreover, this phenomenon may be even more pronounced in times of crisis. Although herding is an interesting topic which invites the interest of academic researchers, it still has not been sufficiently studied in terms of comparing the herd effect between differently developed stock markets. The first objective of this research was to determine the herd behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic using static and rolling regression analysis. The second objective was to investigate whether the herd behavior was triggered by the pandemic, while the third objective was to compare the differences in herd behavior between differently developed European stock markets. The results show that this phenomenon is most pronounced in emerging markets, followed by frontier markets and developed markets. Therefore, the results of this study are of particular importance for individual and institutional investors to achieve efficient risk diversification and for financial authorities to establish rules and avoid an increase in herd behavior.

The purpose – It is important to emphasize that liquidity on Croatian stock market is low, the purpose of this paper is to test empirically and find out which variables make crucial role in decision making process of investing in stocks. Design – This paper explores the impact of various liquidity variables on liquidity ratio since it is still insufficiently researched topic. Methodology –This research uses secondary and primary data available from Croatian stock market. Considering primary data this paper use daily data from Zagreb stock exchange for 196 stocks traded in one year, with the purpose of finding the key variables that make up some stocks more attractive to investors. Liquidity is measured with Amihud's liquidity ratio, which shows the amount of capital sufficient to change price by 1%. Approach – With more than 61.035 input data, using the method of multiple regression, this paper examined the influence of different variables on the stock liquidity on Croatian capital market. Findings – Key findings of this paper indicate that size of firm measured by market capitalization, number of issued stocks and achieved volume affects liquidity ratio. This paper uses multiple regression, and correlation matrix to show dependence among liquidity variables. There is strong correlation coefficient among liquidity variables and liquidity ratio, results are statistically significant. The originality of this research – The originality of this work rises from the obtained research results and the fact that this is first paper that studies problem of stock liquidity on Croatian capital market.

This research addresses the impact of individual investors on the cryptocurrency market, focusing specifically on the development of herd behavior. Although the phenomenon of herd behavior has been studied extensively in the stock market, it has received limited research in the context of cryptocurrencies. This study aims to fill this research gap by examining the impact of liquidity and sentiment on herd behavior using the CSAD model, considering small, medium, and large cryptocurrencies. The results show different outcomes for cryptocurrencies of different sizes, consistently demonstrating that the herding effect is more pronounced under conditions of lower liquidity, as determined by the turnover volume and liquidity ratio of cryptocurrencies. Proxy measures such as the Twitter Hedonometer and CBOE VIX were used to measure investor sentiment and show the prevalence of herding behavior in optimistic times for all cryptocurrencies, regardless of their market capitalization. Consequently, this study provides valuable insights into the manifestation of herd behavior in the cryptocurrency market and highlights the importance of liquidity and sentiment as influencing factors. These findings improve our understanding of investor behavior and provide guidance to market participants and policymakers on how to effectively manage the risks associated with herd effects.

Research background: In Croatia, a small-open and growing economy that lags behind more developed countries, globalisation has had a considerable impact on economic stability. The globalised world economy, characterised by international trade, capital flows and migration, has strongly influenced the economic landscape of Croatia. Although foreign direct investment (FDI) and remittances are fuelling economic growth, emigration poses a major challenge. In addition, the vital tourism sector in Croatia emphasises these relationships and can increase overall economic prosperity. Purpose of the article: The main purpose of this study is to analyse the causal relationships between FDI, remittances, emigration and economic growth in Croatia. In addition, it examines the causal relation between FDI, remittances and tourism growth. Moreover, this study examines the relationships between emigration and FDI, as well as emigration and remittances. Methodology: This study adopted a methodological approach that includes time series analysis and panel data analysis to consider the complexity of this issue in more detail. Specifically, the study applied a two-pronged approach such as time series analysis to investigate the causal relationships between FDI and emigration, FDI and tourism growth, remittances and emigration as well as remittances and tourism growth. In parallel, panel data analysis devoted itself to analysing the subtle inter-relationships between FDI, remittances, emigration and their combined effects on economic growth using the same methodological approach. Findings & value added: Key findings show several causal relationships in the Croatian context: emigration substantially affects FDI, remittances influence emigration patterns, a bidirectional causal relationship exists between FDI and tourism growth and tourism growth boosts remittance flows. FDI boosts economic growth in Croatia, which, in turn, causes the flow of remittances and patterns of emigration. The importance of this study lies in highlighting the potential significance of FDI and remittances, as well as the crucial role of tourism in Croatia while emphasising the potential threat posed by emigration to the Croatian economy. These findings provide a crucial framework for policymakers to design targeted strategies that navigate these inter-connected factors, ensuring sustainable economic growth in similar small, growing economies worldwide.

Tourism is one of the most important sectors in the Republic of Croatia. It plays a significant role in its economic development. This research investigates whether the macro-variables have an impact on the stock returns in the hospitality industry. The focus of the work consists in causality relationship between four macro variables (consumer price index, industrial production, exchange rate and number of tourist arrivals) and a stock index composed of Croatian hospitality companies. After applying Granger-causality tests based on the VAR methodology, results suggest that only consumer price index Granger-cause stock returns in the hospitality industry in the observed period from July 2008 to July 2018. Further analysis through impulse response function indicates that the impulse responses of inflation meet expectations in terms of the direction of impact. In the second month, stock prices react negatively to shock, implying that higher inflation causes negative stock price returns. After applying the variance decomposition method, a very low explanatory power of consumer price index on stock returns in the hospitality industry was revealed. This paper contributes to the existing literature on the topic of the impact of macro-economic variables on hospitality stock returns by extending the scope to Croatia and by testing a different set of variables compared to those from previous studies.

Svrha istraživanja ovoga rada je istražiti mogućnost predviđanja stečaja u hrvatskoj restoranskoj industriji. Istraživanje je provedeno u razdoblju 2017.– 2019. godine na uzorku od 297 poslovnih subjekata u stečaju i 308 poslovnih subjekata koji nisu u stečaju, te isti pripadaju području I razred 5610 - Djelatnosti restorana i ostalih objekata za pripremu i usluživanje hrane. Temeljem logističke regresije procijenjen je model s dvije varijable, te je isti pokazao 82,8 % točnosti predviđanja godinu dana prije stečaja, 76,7 % dvije godine prije stečaja i 76,4 % tri godine prije stečaja. Model sugerira da koeficijent vlastitog financiranja (koji pokazuje udio imovine koji se financira iz kapitala) i EBITDA marža (koja ukazuje na EBITDA izraženu u postotku poslovnih prihoda), imaju važnu ulogu u predviđanju stečaja restorana. Ovaj rad pruža nova saznanja u predviđanju stečaja restorana u Hrvatskoj.