Z. R. HUSZÁR

Sustainability

These papers are currently under review or work in progress, please contact for copy.

Recent years, I have been broadening my research horizon, including topics gender issues, concern about elderly long term livelihood, and the croslimate risk realization in Europe a Thus, I decuded besides short selling and real estate, I am also working on women investment related topics, pension reforms and energy sustainability questions.  I am also keenly aware of the lack of financial models for sustainability and working on a NPV framework for dollarization of the personal utility derived from greenery. Specifically, with my team of sustainability conscious students we are measuring the financial gains from: (1)  health costs (stress related hospital visit, heatstroke visits), (2) environmental damage (flood repair costs, costs of human life) and (2) societal benefits (temperature reduction and air quality improvements).


European Energy firms volatility network modelling (Energy Economics, 2023)

Demographic and economic trends, and already motions in place make it clear in Europe that massive acceleration of energy efficiency and renewables is required to meet the growing demands and alleviate the climate crisis. The energy supply chain is critical in Europe for a number of reasons. First, Europe is heavily dependent on imported energy sources, making it vulnerable to supply disruptions and price fluctuations. Second, the EU has ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing the share of renewable energy in the overall energy mix. Third, the integration of the European energy market is a key goal of the EU, which requires a well-functioning supply chain to facilitate the flow of energy between countries and regions. In this study we are examining the vulnerability of the EU energy firm network to provide insights for policymakers and investors for hedging energy market risks. 

European Energy firms short selling and systemic risk (work in progress)

Financial firms, including banks and other financial institutions, are often protected by regulators against short sellers because short selling can potentially destabilize the market and the potential harm the financial system. Banks and other financial firms are considered as a critical infrastructure for the economy (systematically important firms) and their failure can cause severe rippling effects on the economy. Thus, regulators also protect them from short sellers to prevent any potential negative impact on the economy.

Regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the US, set restrictions on short selling to limit the potential harm to the market and protect investors. These restrictions can include "uptick" rules, which only allow short selling when a stock's price is rising, and "circuit breaker" rules, which temporarily halt short selling during sharp declines in the market. Additionally, regulators may also require short sellers to disclose their positions to the public, to increase transparency and help prevent market manipulation.

Recent studies already argue that energy and infrastructure firms are also a source of systemic risk, thus it may be warranted to consider protecting these firms during market turbulence. In this study, we examine short selling patterns in Energy firms to contribute to the regulatory debate about the role of energy firms in the economy. 

Women in household decision making (work in progress) in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) Countries

Women decision role in households is often a  subject of concern, for the well being of women and for women empowerment. Often male dominance in decision making is linked to lower education of women and their lack of access to knowledge and financial market. We conduct a survey in Hungary (plan to extend to Poland, Romania and Slovakia) to examine women involvement in household decision in a setting where women are relatively educated (women make up about 60% of university graduates in CEE Countries) and despite high education are underrepresented in leadership positions. We focus on three aspects: education, (stem versus social science), work experience, and the limitation on human capital. The latter aspect aims to measure financial and time limitation due to not only child raising but also because of pets, and caregiver responsibilities for ailing parents and relatives. We are particularly interested in the last aspect which is expected to be a continuously growing burden as the former social system, free health care and pension system unable to serve the growing aging population.


ESG preferences in investment decisions in former CEEC, a representative survey study  (Presented at the Swedish Community for Sustainable Finance Conference)

Using a representative Hungarian population survey, we examine investors (in age group 19-29) ESG and green investment preferences and find that ESG investments are not necessarily considered as top priority. While consistent ex-ante expectations, we show that on average younger, more educated people express greater preference for ESG investment options,  we do not find that women and Generation Z members exhibit high ESG and green investment preferences. The relation between wealth and ESG preferences displays a degree of nonlinearity, as we provide weak evidence that high net worth individuals and experienced investors exhibit comparatively lower levels of interest for ESG investments. In further work, we consider different aspects of the level of financial education.