Development Economic Review

Willingness to Pay for Mitigating PM 2.5 Air Pollution in the Municipality of Udon Thani

Savinee Suriyanrattakorn — 2024-10-18

This research aims to estimate the willingness-to-pay value for implementing projects to address air pollution problems in the municipality of Udon Thani province. The study also investigates factors influencing willingness-to-pay based on the findings from a sample group of 360 individuals, using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to assess the value. The study reveals that the average willingness-to-pay for projects aimed at reducing air pollution from PM 2.5 particles in the Udon Thani municipality area is 449.45 Thai Baht per person per year. Factors related to willingness-to-pay include personal income, household members having respiratory illnesses, and awareness of the health effects of PM 2.5 particles. The results of this study can be used as a guideline for policy recommendations, budget allocation in environmental projects, and cost-benefit analysis for initiatives addressing air pollution reduction.

Firm Performance after Allocation of newly issued Private Placement among Thai Listed Firms

Sorasart Sukcharoensin — 2024-10-18

The objective of this study is to study the performance of listed companies after the allocation of newly issued equity to specific investors using private placement (PP) method. The study compares the companies that raised capital by PP method with their counterparts listed on the SET and mai during 2007-2013. The results reveal that those companies allocating shares using PP method have stronger market value and higher rate of return on equity in one year before the specific sale of shares. The advantages have gradually declined since the PP allocation year. On the contrary, companies that allocate PP shares have decreased their debt-to-equity ratio in one year before the shares are sold. The incidences have gradually increased since the year of PP allocation. The results also suggest that the rate of return that abnormal returns of the company that allocated PP shares have decreased, starting from 1 year after the share sale until 2 years after the share sale. The multiple regression analysis reveals that abnormal returns from buying and holding shares after one year of disposition is significantly dependent on equity returns of the year before shares disposals.

Equity Fund Flows and the Stock Market Returns over Business Cycle in Thailand

Sorasart Sukcharoensin — 2024-10-18

This study contributes to additional insights from the literature by exploring the impact of fund flow in the different stages of the business cycle. The stock market is driven by the demand and supply of investors. In The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), there are four major types of investors consists of foreign investors, domestic institutes, proprietary traders, and retail investors. This study explores the competing hypothesis on fund flows to the SET. The study uses the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to test short-term relationships, Cointegration to identify the long-term relationships, and pairwise Granger causality analysis to confirm the causality. The results partly support the feedback-trader hypothesis only for the short- and long-term relationship between market return and fund flow from foreign investors in the recession stage. The results do not support the price-pressure hypothesis for the fund flows from all types of investors to the stock market at any stage of the business cycle.

The Relationship between ESG and Financial Performance of the Companies Listed in SET50

Pariyada Sukcharoensin — 2024-10-18

This study aims to examine the impact and relationship between ESG scores and ESG criteria separately, over financial performances by using dataset of 50 firms listed in the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET50). To measure financial performance, we employ three different dependent variables of Tobin’s Q, return on equity, and return on asset. develop hypotheses and test them by applying regression analysis and using correlation matrix, descriptive statistics with panel data to analyze data of companies listed in SET50 which spans the years 2020 to 2023. Our findings suggest that ESG combined score is positively and significantly associated with ROA. Individual environmental and social scores have a positive and significant relationship while governance score does not have a significant relationship with ROA. On the other hand, only social scores have a positive and significant relationship with ROE. Results of Tobin’s Q suggest that environmental scores have a positive and significant relationship, but social scores have a negative and significant relationship with Tobin’s Q. These findings imply that investing in strong ESG performance yields financial returns for the firm, enhancing both its value and profitability.

The Relationship between Return of Sustainable funds with Total Expense Ratio, Evidence in Thailand

Chayapon Niyomkaew — 2024-10-18

This article examines the relationship between the returns of sustainable funds and the total expense ratio in the context of sustainable mutual funds in Thailand by employing regression and multiple regression models to construct models. The aim is to test whether the total expense ratio of funds is related to the performance of sustainable funds registered in Thailand. The goal is to support investors, stakeholders, and decision-makers in making sustainable investment decisions in Thailand. It delves into the details of the total expense ratio and returns of recognized and sustainability-rated funds, which will contribute to fostering a more sustainable and socially responsible investment environment in the Thai context. The outcomes of this research will enhance the knowledge about sustainable mutual funds in Thailand by exploring the complexities of the interaction between fund expenses and performance by studying various types of funds recognized as sustainable. The research focuses on elucidating the factors influencing investment decisions, with the main variable being the expenses of mutual funds and other variables in the multiple regression models, such as the Sharpe ratio, standard deviation, and sustainability rating by Morningstar. The results from the regression model and the multiple regression model with additional control variables are consistent, indicating that the total expense ratio can partially explain the returns of sustainable mutual funds in the Thai market over 3 years with a significant level.