Editorial

Welcome to the last issue of the International Journal of Management and Economics in 2022. This time we offer two papers in finance, two in management, and three in economics. Five of them include empirical research and there is one original conceptual work. From the geographical perspective, the articles in this issue cover Poland, Ukraine, and on a more general level, the European Union (EU) and also global markets.

In the first paper, entitled “Where is the missing value? Evidence from the game industry IPOs underpricing in Poland,” Paweł Śliwiński, Szymon Ablewski, Kamil Gemra, and Michał Łukowski study the IPO underpricing effect in the Polish capital market. They focus particularly on the game industry. The Warsaw Stock Exchange has become a financial hub for this category of companies, boasting one of the largest number of IPOs in this sector globally. The authors confirm the well-known market-wide phenomenon of IPO underpricing. However, they find that the effect is much stronger in the game sector than in the no-game group of debuting companies. Additionally, the way the placement of equity is carried out seems to influence the degree of underpricing. Greater underpricing is observed in private offers (up to 100 specially targeted investors) as compared to public offers (investments made available to the general public). The analysis of price and volume behavior during and after the debuts indicate also the existence of behavioral aspects during IPOs. First, there is an evidence of the disposition effect (relatively quick profit-taking when a debut offers high returns and much smaller willingness to sell when the debut is below the IPO price). Second, despite the fact that the authors of the paper do not take explicit note of it, the data also indicate a possibility of a bubble in the game sector. The hot investor sentiment in this segment might be at least one of the sources of exceptionally high premiums at the debuts of game companies.

The second paper, entitled “Is the cryptocurrency market efficient? Evidence from an analysis of fundamental factors for Bitcoin and Ethereum,” is by Blanka Łęt, Konrad Sobański, Wojciech Świder, and Katarzyna Włosik. The authors test informational efficiency of the cryptocurrency market by analyzing investment strategies based on structural factors related to on-chain data. The test of efficiency is conducted by carrying out a comparison, based on selected fundamental factors, between the performance of active strategies and that of a passive investment approach (buy&hold). The study uses daily data for the period 2015–2022 for the two major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin and Ethereum. The findings show that factor-based strategies perform consistently better in terms of mean/median returns and Sharpe ratio as compared to the “buy&hold” strategy. These findings are interpreted as the evidence against informational efficiency of the cryptocurrency markets.

The third paper in this issue is the one prepared by Małgorzata Juchniewicz and Magdalena Łada. It is entitled “Competitive potential vs the competitive position of the high-tech sector in EU countries.” First, the authors define competitiveness, competitive potential, and competitive position in the industry. Further, they use selected indices to evaluate the competitive potential and to establish a competitive position of each member state of the EU. The synthetic competitiveness index is calculated and used to identify the relationship between the potential and position of the high-tech sector in EU countries. The analysis identified the decisive factors having an impact on the competitive potential and competitive position of the sector and the relationship between them. There is a statistically moderate correlation between the competitive potential and competitive position. The authors argue that it is mainly due to a moderate relationship between a country's share in the total number of high-tech companies and a synthetic index of a competitive position. Countries with high competitive potential and position were the Netherlands and Germany. Much lower competitiveness of the high-tech sector was observed in Luxembourg, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Lithuania. These countries had very low competitive potential and a low competitive position. Poland was characterized by a high competitive potential and an average competitive position. Based on such diagnoses, the paper postulates that Poland should take additional measures in order to increase the share of exports of technologically advanced products and services.

In the fourth paper, entitled “Using the potential of the creative economy to restore Ukraine,” Iryna Moiseienko adopts creative economy models for analysis of the Ukrainian economy. She carries out a comparative study of the characteristics of the creative economy in the EU member states and in Ukraine. Applying statistical analysis of creative activities in the economy of Ukraine, she determines the list of growth parameters and identifies peculiarities, and also some problems. Based on these analyses, she formulates the principles and priorities of the state policy for the development of the creative economy in Ukraine. In particular, she postulates that the model of the creative economy of Ukraine should be supplemented by the development of creative human potential.

The next paper, entitled “Does an increase in education quality cause developing countries to catch up?”, is by Łukasz Goczek, Bartosz Witkowski, and Ewa Witkowska. The authors investigate whether increasing the education quality causes increases in economic growth allowing poorer countries to catch up. They extend Nelson–Phelps's classic paper by introducing differences in education quality in a leader–follower type of growth model with knowledge diffusion. They use students’ performance in a standardized international PISA test to measure education quality's impact on economic growth using a panel Vector Error Correction allowing for cross-correlation in the cointegration analysis in a set of all countries observed over the years 1975–2018. The possible reverse causality that characterizes economic development and the quality of education is also taken into account. The results of formal theoretical and empirical analysis confirm the significance of earlier education quality for GDP growth. The authors argue that the changes in education quality shall have effects on the GDP growth, but only in the long-run. This paper is an important voice in the discussion on the role of education and provides an additional argument for directing a stream of investment toward education, especially in poorer countries that need to catch up.

The final paper of this issue is “Food export restrictions in COVID-19 pandemic: real and potential effects on food security” by Aleksandra Kowalska, Anna Budzyńska, and Tomasz Białowąs. This is a conceptual paper that reviews and criticizes the implementation of food export restrictions in times of crisis as being an insufficient tool in addressing food security challenges. The study explores the problem of food export restrictions introduced in 2007/2008 and in 2020 and assesses the changes in the state of food security at national level during the COVID-19 pandemic using the Global Food Security Index. The authors argue that the trade restrictions imposed in 2020 did not play a key role in international food prices’ increases, unlike the situation during 2007/08 and 2010/11. The combination of sharp rises in food prices and “lock-down” of economies has contributed to a large increase in the prevalence of undernourishment. The analysis of GFSI values questions whether food export restrictions have been sufficient measures given the size of the food security challenge during the pandemic. The authors point out that the issue of food export restrictions is under-regulated in the WTO and this needs to be urgently addressed, possibly also by another institution, e.g. FAO, given that the war in Ukraine is endangering food security across the world.

This is the last issue of the International Journal of Management and Economics for 2022. As is usual, on this occasion, too, we list the reviewers who helped us assess the 60 submissions considered for publication over the past year (vol. 58, issues 1–4). We would like to thank them cordially for their time and expertise in keeping our academic standards high. We express our appreciation also on behalf of the many authors who benefited from inspiring remarks and suggestions concerning improvements needed in their articles.

In keeping with tradition, at the turn of the year, I would like to wish all readers, authors, and other members of our academic community a Happy New Year 2023. It is our fervent wish that, in the coming year, you might encounter many intellectual challenges that you would meet successfully, and that these successful outcomes serve as a source of true satisfaction for you in the days further ahead. Stay with us for more scientific reports and inspiring papers in further issues of the coming new volume.