Exchange rate volatility connectedness during Covid-19 outbreak: DECO-GARCH and Transfer Entropy approaches

Motivated by the severe impacts of the Covid 19 outbreak on the global trade and capital flows, which can shift the forex market structure, this paper aims to examine the equicorrelation and causal association across major currency markets during Covid 19 pandemic using novel approaches: DECO-GARCH and Transfer Entropy. We find that major exchange rate markets have a positive equicorrelation, and these trends have been more pronounced during the Covid-19 crisis, uncovering the existence of contagion effects. The results also show the causal associations between the currency markets, depicted by three categories: no effect, mono-direction, and bi-direction. Such connections unveil the shock sender and receiver in the examined exchange rate markets, supporting that there is contagion risk across currency markets. Our findings suggest important implications for investors, firms, and policymakers in risk management during crisis periods. © 2022 Elsevier B.V.

Policy Response to Covid-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on the Vietnamese Economy: An Analysis of Social Media

Amid the outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide, many countries are hesitant to implement aggressive measures to curb the spread of the pandemic with the fear that this would damage their national economy. A question is whether there is an actual trade-off between saving lives and economic development. To answer this, we study the case of Vietnam, a successful story in combating the pandemic thanks to the Government’s immediate and rigorous policies. We collect official news related to the Covid-19 pandemic in Vietnam in the year 2020 by utilizing a self-developed web scraping tool. By analyzing the news data, we identify the key phases of the pandemic in Vietnam and the key Government policy announcements. We then contrast this information with the performance of the equity market and find that the two types of policies, including border and entry control and cross-country travel control, negatively impact the equity market, whilst the other policies hardly affect the stock market return. These findings suggest that government policies can be very efficient in controlling the Covid-19 pandemic;however, some of them almost cause no damage to the country’s economy. This study, therefore, efficiently depicts the relationship between pandemic combat and economic development. It also provides valuable guidance for other countries in terms of policy decisions during the current fight against the Covid-19 pandemic as well as in future community. health crises. © 2022, Institute of Technology PETRONAS Sdn Bhd.

Ex-ante risk management and financial stability during the COVID-19 pandemic: a study of Vietnamese firms

Purpose: The authors investigate whether firms can ensure their financial stability during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic by having ex-ante risk management. Design/methodology/approach: The authors study 279 Vietnamese listed firms by investigating their disclosure of risk awareness and risk management tool(s) in the 2019 annual reports. The authors then examine whether prior risk awareness and adoption of risk management tool(s) can enhance the firms' financial ratios during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings: The authors find that firms that disclose their risk management tool(s) in the 2019 annual reports have better asset utilization and higher liquidity during the COVID-19 pandemic than the others. However, firms that simply express their risk awareness exert no stronger financial stability. In addition, the authors document that debt management is the most popular and most effective tool to ensure firms' financial stability during the crisis. Originality/value: The study highlights the need for ex-ante risk management for future pandemics. The authors also suggest that stakeholders can rely on the degree of risk management tool utilization to evaluate the financial stability of firms. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Students' adoption of e-learning in emergency situation: the case of a Vietnamese university during COVID-19

Purpose: By using a technology acceptance model (TAM) on survey results collected from two member schools of a Vietnamese educational institution, this study aims to uncover the key factors that affect students’ acceptance of e-learning during the Covid-19 period. Design/methodology/approach: A bilingual questionnaire in English and Vietnamese was delivered. It was pre-tested on 30 participants before it was finalized. The authors first reviewed the measurement model and made adjustments to the theoretical TAM model. Then the adjusted TAM was used to investigate the relationships of the constructs in the model. Findings: The results of the structural model show that computer self-efficacy (CSE) has a positive impact on perceived ease of use (PEOU). There is also a positive relationship between system interactivity (SI) and PEOU. Surprisingly, the authors documented that PEOU has no significant impact on students’ attitudes (ATT). The results show that SI can moderately affect ATT. Finally, it is noted that the social factor (SF) directly affects the student’s attitudes (ATT). Research/limitations/implications: This study contains three limitations. First, as this study only focuses on undergraduate programs, readers should be careful in applying the findings and/or implications of this study to other education levels such as K-12, vocational training and postgraduate programs. Second, the findings are generated within the context of one type of e-learning, conducted via Google Meet. Therefore, future research is needed to provide further validation and comparison across other forms of e-learning. Finally, to further prevent the common bias problem, future research should use both five-point and seven-point Likert scales for the response options in the survey, as well as use negatively worded items. This will help prevent respondents from providing similar answers to all questions. Originality/value: This study has both theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical perspective, the study can provide a solid framework for similar studies. From a practical perspective, this study offers implications for governments and universities in the process of adopting e-learning, given that the Covid-19 pandemic is currently in its second and more dangerous wave. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.