درخت حوزه‌های تخصصی

It seems that paying attention to social responsibility by companies can lead to a better stakeholder’s view toward the company, thereby increasing their loyalty and trust. Having the ability to obtain more financial resources in times of crisis, due to the greater loyalty of investors, will result in reducing the company risk. In contrast, being overconfident about the loyalty of individuals to the company can lead to keeping a short-term debt structure, thereby increasing the risk of obtaining financial resources. Recently, the negative impacts of petrochemical companies on the environment have made social and environmental groups focus more on this industry, and this focus has pushed companies into involving in more social activities. Considering the potential impact of CSR on the company’s risk, this study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility and value at risk in petrochemical industry using a sample of 27 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during the 2010-2017 period. Eviews 10 is used for computing and analyzing the data, and the generalized auto regressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model is employed to estimate value at risk. The results indicate a negative and statistically significant relationship between corporate social responsibilities and company value at risk. <strong> </strong>  

Currently, distribution of various types of petroleum products is performed exclusively by the government. The high price of land in metropolitan cities, lack of incentive for the private sector to invest in construction of filling station due to the low-income, have caused filling stations to be insufficiently available. One of the solutions to overcome this obstacle is to use the ability of the private sector for distribution of petroleum products. To reduce the government's ownership, the market structure for petroleum products distribution in the country needs to be changed. This change should be firstly done gradually and step by step, and secondly, the government has to monitor this issue at various stages. In this study, three stages are proposed for the market restructuring of the petroleum products distribution in the country, and the conditions and requirements for each stage are separately identified. For the private fuel distributing companies, the most important problem is the economic issue and having profit. On the other hand, since the product price is still subsidized in the country, therefore, it is indispensable that the amount of commission fee should be determined in such a way that the activity for private companies is economically justified. In this study, the amount of products commision fee is calculated concerning capital and operatational expenditures, using the engineering economics method in different situations by COMFAR version 3 software.

Expanding use of renewable energies (RE) around the world is a critical mission to reach to global environmental policies. Largest share of global energy mix relates to deployable and carbon-intensive fossil fuels. So, it is necessary to create proper incentives for investors to invest in RE in order to move toward low carbon economy. In this regard, one of the implemented policies is imposing tax on using deployable energies which includes tax on both energy consumption and motor vehicle transportation. This paper investigates impact of environmental tax policy on investors’ behavior for 13 leading selected developed and developing countries during the period 2004-2016. Based on economic theory, investment, particularly in capital-intensive energy industries would have a long gestation period. To capture this feature and evaluate dynamic relations of investments in RE, a partial-adjustment dynamic model is applied and estimated using Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) method. The results show that imposing tax on fossil fuel energy consumption and transportation systems, in particular that use fossil fuels, has a significant negative and positive impact on investing in RE, respectively. Also, empirical results demonstrate that there is a significant negative relation between interest rate (IR) and Investments in Renewable Energies (IRE).

Washback refers to the effect of testing on teaching and learning. The university entrance exam for Iranian MA candidates of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (hereinafter TEFL MA UEE) is a nationwide high-stakes test administered every year, and significant decisions will be made based on the examinees’ performance on this exam; therefore, it is prone to bring about degrees of washback at the micro and macro levels. This study was an attempt to examine the washback effect of TEFL MA UEE on Iranian lecturers’ classroom activities. Therefore, a mixed-method approach was used to collect, analyze, and integrate both quantitative and qualitative data in order to obtain a better grasp of the research topic and to enhance validity and reliability of the information. Based on a sequential design, two phases of data collection were conducted with a two-week interval. In the first phase, a valid and reliable researcher-made questionnaire was administered to a sample of 16 Iranian university lecturers. In the second phase, five lecturers agreed to be interviewed. For this purpose, an interview protocol was developed and it was checked for the validity and reliability. The findings showed that TEFL MA UEE did not induce a high level of washback on the lecturers’ classroom activities and their teaching methodology. The findings could have practical implications for TEFL MA UEE constructors and policymakers in Iran and could also be of use to the researchers in the field of washback studies by providing some guidelines for this complicated phenomenon.