Faculty of Economics, Finance and Management

The paper focuses on public sector efficiency (expenditure efficiency) and the performance paradox. The study assumes that there is close relation between efficiency of the public spending, sound public finance and general macroeconomic condition of the state. The efficiency of public spending has been analyzed for the 12 OECD countries over the period 2000-2011. The paper is organised as follows: theoretical background, empirical evidence, and findings. The theoretical part presents literature review, the main thesis, and the goals of the study. Conventional wisdom has been discussed and the major factors which might cause differing efficiency scores have been separated. In the last part of the discussion, efficiency scores and findings are presented.

Municipal investments and related expenditures are an important field of activity at the subnational government tier. There are many ways of financing public investment tasks using different financial structures. However, the key role involves financial risk and other factors which determine access to financial sources (inter alia types of investment, debt limit, purpose of financing, collateral, risk, efficiency). The purpose of this article is to point out the main obstacles and challenges in the financing of municipal investment. In the research process revenues, transfers, and debt instruments have been considered. The author has also paid attention to a hybrid form of financing which integrates different kinds of instruments. As a result, the paper presents the crucial problems in investment financing which influence the investment dynamic and financial decisions made by selfgovernment entities. The general findings are regarding: debt limits and debt policy, a revenue system which is not sound, poor experience in using structural and hybrid financing, problems with cash flow and the maturity of financial instruments, financial standing and public procurement law.

The idea of the financing structure and aspects relating to it considered on the basis of public sector units is a non-described and new sphere of economic theoretical considerations. In the theory of economy, much attention was paid to the research on companies' structure of capital, creating numerous thesis and conceptions in that scope. As for now, there is a lack of analogical research including functioning specification of public entities.

The paper investigates the financial variables which make the municipalities more prone to fiscal distress. I argue that the diagnosis of municipalities in fiscal distress requires not only the analysis of revenues but the expenditures as well. I assume that usage of debt and the intergovernmental transfers increases the fiscal distress risk. I hypothesize that the fiscal autonomy (increasing level of local taxes as percent of the total amount of tax revenues, especially the property tax) allows to decrease the fiscal distress threat for municipal budgets. Finally, I assume that the increasing level of the fixed expenditures as percentage of total expenditures is positively correlated with fiscal distress phenomenon. I use correlation analysis and regression model to verify the thesis. I have investigated the sample of 114 self government entities at municipal tier in the period 2008-2012 and build a model which enables to predict municipal fiscal distress. I have found that and the cities are less impacted by fiscal distress than the rural municipalities because of the revenue and expenditures structure.

The goal of the paper is to examine the relation between finance and sustainability, with a special emphasis on the impact of negative externalities. Sustainable development as a concept aims to mitigate negative externalities. Conventional finance offers no room for the environment and society. Therefore, three-dimensional sustainable finance has appeared. This paper is the first original attempt to examine the relationship between: financial, economic, environmental and social development indicators from the sustainability perspective, with a special focus on externalities. To study the disparities between the European Union (EU) countries belonging to the OECD in the field of sustainable development and sustainable finance, the multi-criteria taxonomy was used. The basis of the analyses was the indicators transformed according to the relative taxonomy method. The database, based on Eurostat, contains indicators describing pillars of sustainable development such as: economic (12 indicators), social (28), environmental (7) and sustainable finance (16). The study analyses the sample of 23 countries in 2007, 2013 and 2016. The results confirm a positive relationship among the analysed indicators. On the basis of 62 statistical features selected according to the statistical methods, 7 groups of countries were obtained in 2007 and 2013 and 8 groups in 2016. In the case of Scandinavian countries, one can observe a permanent separation of economic growth from its negative impact on the natural environment. Such dependencies are no longer so obvious in the case of other EU countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Therefore, attention should be paid to the most economically developed countries in Western Europe, i.e., Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, whose high rankings in the case of economic, social and very often also financial results correspond to much worse results in the case of environmental development.

The Palgrave Studies in Impact Finance series provides a valuable scientific 'hub' for researchers, professionals and policy makers involved in Impact finance and related topics. It includes studies in the social, political, environmental and ethical impact of finance, exploring all aspects of impact finance and socially responsible investment, including policy issues, financial instruments, markets and clients, standards, regulations and financial management, with a particular focus on impact investments and microfinance.

A literature review showed that finance is a driver of sustainability. However, to achieve sustainability through finance, it is necessary to rebuild and adapt the financial system to the specifics of sustainable development. Modern financial systems can be described as one-dimensional, focusing on ensuring the economic security of transactions. Meanwhile, the growing role of risk related to non-financial factors means that the factors referred to as ESG (environmental, social, governance) become the main source threatening the stability of financial systems. Adaptation activities toward the design of so-called three-dimensional financial systems rely on incorporating ESG risk into the financial decisions of the financial institutions that make up the financial system. This is found, among other factors, in the risk assessment methodology. The general goal of the paper is to investigate which ESG criteria are incorporated into the decision-making process of financial institutions and to verify the level of sustainability of financial systems in selected OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries. The main research hypothesis assumes that incorporating ESG factors into the decision-making process of financial institutions makes financial systems more sustainable. A two-stage research procedure was used to achieve the research goal. In the first stage, to determine the ESG factors that affect the level of sustainability of financial systems and identify dependencies between ESG factors incorporated by financial institutions into the decision-making process, a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) was used. The collective map elaborating on the basis of the opinions of experts participating in the study was built using the software FCMapper_bugfix_27.1.2016. In the second stage, based on multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) using the PROMETHEE method (Preference Ranking Organization Method of Enrichment Evaluation), 23 OECD countries that respect the Equator Principles were ranked according to seven groups of criteria defined for financial system assessment (financial depth, development, vulnerability, soundness, fragility, stability, and sustainability), based on a literature review. The ranking confirmed the strong position of Scandinavian countries for assuring best sustainability practices in financial institutions and in the economy. The added value of this paper can be considered at two levels: theoretical and empirical. From the theoretical point of view, it should be noted that it is the first of this kind of analysis which prioritizes ESG factors in financial decisions and ranks financial systems according to fulfilling sustainability criteria. The original empirical approach based on the two-stage research procedure provided analysis of 62 factors, of which 21 represented the environmental scope, 25 the social scope, and 16 the governance scope, which is the main advantage of the empirical study presented in the paper.

Sustainable development is necessary to counteract and mitigate the impact of socially harmful forces in a globalized world. However, sustainable development and its organizations must ensure the effective management of their funds and beneficial financial frameworks in order to best realize their sustainable goals. There is a need for studies that seek to understand how to connect sustainable development and the financial world in order to maximize the economic and environmental wellbeing of the world.

Social, Economic, and Environmental Impacts Between Sustainable Financial Systems and Financial Markets is a pivotal reference source that examines the funding and monetary utilization of environmental and socially-responsible entities. Featuring research on topics such as green taxes, intergenerational equity, and shadow economy, this book is ideally designed for government officials, policymakers, economists, financial managers, sustainability developers, and academicians seeking current research on the relationship between new sustainable financial phenomena and negative global externalities.

Monografia jest jedną z pierwszych na rynku wydawniczym, które w sposób kompleksowy podejmują problematykę finansów zrównoważonych z perspektywy rynków, instytucji, ryzyka oraz powiązań między kategoriami rozwoju zrównoważonego, zrównoważonej adaptacji oraz finansów zrównoważonych. Oryginalne podejście zaprezentowane w opracowaniu wyraża się m.in. w: usystematyzowaniu pojęć i kategorii z zakresu finansów zrównoważonych, kompleksowej klasyfikacji subdyscyplin finansów zrównoważonych oraz propozycji koncepcji zrównoważonych systemów finansowych, propozycji scenariuszy rozwoju finansów zrównoważonych oraz nowatorskim spojrzeniu na rolę finansów w zapewnianiu efektywnego finansowania rozwoju zrównoważonego.

Introduction: ESG risk and the business sector are essential in the process of adapting business models towards sustainability. The article aims to analyze ESG risk, taking into account these business sectors that are most affected by ESG risk, and to identify the relationship between ESG risk and cooperation models of financial institutions and companies (Anglo-Saxon/German-Japanese). The original research approach was based on including the financial system model in the analysis of ESG risk impact and the companies’ methods of achieving sustainable business models with external funding.

Methods: The study is based on a two-stage analysis. First, fuzzy cognitive maps are used to evaluate the strength and direction of the relations between factors included in the companies’ sustainable business models according to the business sectors. At the second stage, a correspondence analysis was carried out to distinguish four groups of companies’ industries characterized by homogenous features related to the business sector, sustainable business model (SBM), and the way to transform to sustainability.

Results: Methods of achieving sustainability in companies’ business models differ depending on business sectors. The “financial institution—company” cooperation model and recommendations were proposed.

Discussion: Financial institutions play a crucial role in financing the transition into sustainable business models. However, their impact differs depending on the business sector and the model of the financial system (bank or market oriented). The study assumes that the financial system model determines the form of cooperation between financial institutions and companies in the process of financing costs towards sustainability.