Alfonsina Iona

Profile

Research interests: Corporate Finance, Corporate Governance, Economics of Innovation, Empirical Microeconomics.

Current position

Alfonsina is a Professor in Finance and Director of the MSc Investment and Finance and MSc Banking and Finance (September Starter). She is also Director of the QUMMIF Investment Fund at Queen Mary. Alfonsina holds a Ph.D. in Economics and Finance  from the University of Naples "Federico II", Italy.

Background

Her research in Finance is carried out both at the theoretical and empirical level. In particular, she studies and develops models of investment where the effects of capital market imperfections contribute to shape the firm's investment; where corporate investment is affected by the public investment and where capital market imperfections effects may be relaxed by some macroeconomic variables. In this research area she also analyses how corporate governance characteristics affect the firm financing policies and how these affect the firm value.

Her research on innovation, instead, focuses on the main determinants of the adoption of innovations by firms and the impact of product, process, technological and managerial innovations on firm performance.

Research

Publications

• Iona A.,Leonida L.,Limosani M.,Patti D.,Navarra P. (2024) "Does economic liberalization foster corporate investment? Theory and evidence from US and Canadian firms" Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Volume 91, February 2024
• Iona A., Calef A., Georgiou I. (2023) "Credit Market Freedom and Corporate Decisions" Mathematics 2023, 11(7), 1670; Special Issue on Mathematical and Statistical Modelling of Socio-Economic Behaviour. 30 March 2023
• Iona A., Eweje G., Foley M., Nerantzidis M. (2021) "The responses and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education, social responsibility, sustainability, firm performance and corporate governance" Corporate Governance, 2021, Vol. 21 No. 6, pp. 961-968
• Iona A., De Benedetto M.A., Assefa D.Z., Limosni M. (2020) "Finance, Corporate Value and Credit Market Freedom in Overinvesting US Firms", Corporate Governance, Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 1053-1072. https://doi.org/10.1108/CG-05-2020-0196
• Iona A. (2019) "Modelling the Relation between Managers, Shadow Cost of External Finance and Corporate Investment" Mathematics
• Iona A. "Managers' empire preservation behaviour and corporate investment" Physics of Life Reviews 2017, Vol. 22-23, pp. 32-34.
• Iona A., Leonida L., Ventouri A. (2017) "Does executive ownership lead to excess target cash? The case of U.K. firms" Corporate Governance, Vol. 17, Issue 5.
• Iona A., Leonida L. (2016) "Suboptimal financial policies and executive ownership in the UK: Evidence from a pre-crisis" Corporate Governance, Volume 16, Issue 1.
• Iona A., Leonida L., Navarra P.M. (2013) "Business Group Affiliation, Innovation, Internationalization and Performance: A Semi-Parametric Analysis" Global Strategy Journal, Volume 3, Issue 3, pages 244–261.
• Aiello F., Iona A., Leonida L. (2012) "Regional Infrastructure and Firm Investment. Theory and Empirical Evidence for Italy" Empirical Economics 2012, Volume 42, Issue 3, pp 835-862.
• Battisti G., Iona A. (2009) "On the Adoption Decision and Intra-Firm Diffusion of Complementary Innovations: Evidence from UK Establishments" Research Policy 38, 1326-1339.
• Battisti G., Iona A. (2009) "The UK productivity gap. Do management practices matter?" International Journal of Productivity & Performance Management 2009, Volume 58 (8), 727-747.