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Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of financial development on international trade in Upper-middle-income countries. The paper focuses on financial stability as a key element of the financial system and investigates whether economic growth is a conduit through which banking sector development and stock market development influence international trade. Thus far, the impact of financial development on international trade has received limited attention. The study adopts the generalized methods of moments (GMM) approach, employing balanced panel data from 13 upper-middle-income countries for a period ranging from 2006–2017. Using the z-score as a proxy for financial stability, evidence suggests that banking sector development has a positive and significant influence on international trade, while stock price volatility as a proxy for financial market stability, was found to have had an insignificant influence on foreign trade. The study recommends that upper-middle-income countries implement policies or adopt monetary policy approaches that enhance financial stability. Further research should be conducted to investigate other channels as possible transmission mechanisms. This paper contributes to the global discourse of whether economic growth is a conduit through which financial development can influence international trade. Overall, the paper suggests that financial development plays a role in stimulating economic activities, but its impact or effect is subject to the choice of financial proxies use which may be unique based on economic circumstances of a given country.

The appearance of new notions in economic theories is due to the dynamic and applied nature of the economy regarding the involvement of studies and researches in the solution of pressing problems. The notion of economic resilience appears as a new concept provided by the community of scientists from various continents, a fact that confirms the synergy and rationale of economic thinking on the phenomena that are increasingly being approached at the global level. The author's interest in this phenomenon comes in the context of the joint study initiated by a team of researchers from the National Institute of Economic Research in the Republic of Moldova concerned with the issues of adapting the national economy to current challenges. In this context, we would like to present this study as an analysis of the concepts of the world's scientists, who had in their study objectives the element of economic resilience and on which they expressed their own opinion. This study is of particular importance for the researches initiated by clarifying the diversity and size of the concept and the conclusions of all those cited in this paper as reference points to some formulations and the process of developing the subject in the context of the Republic of Moldova.

automobile product recall has increased in recent years albeit attendant impact on stock price. Objective: the objective of this paper is to analyse the stock price effect and the stock price response time to automobile product recall for Toyota, GM and Tesla. Prior Work: the paper inclines on prior work on efficient markets and product recall effects on corporate financial value but takes a slightly different stance to focus on automobile recall effect on stock price and reaction time gap. Approach: the paper applied a t-test statistics for difference in mean stock price following automobile product recall announcements. Results: the results show that following the recall announcements, the stock prices reacted negatively at a highly significant value of P

There is evidence that a change in accounting regulation can stimulate global access to a country’s capital market, thereby increase financial performance of firms. Corresponding to the change from the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to the mandatory adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Nigeria, this paper examines available information in order to confirm whether the change has created desired improvement in the firms’ performance after the adoption in 2012. Three financial performance indicators related to productivity (asset turnover, ATO) and profitability (returns on assets, ROA, and return on equity, ROE) are examined on univariate tests of significance differences in the mean, median and variance of sample for the ‘prior to’ IFRS adoption period (2003‐2011) and the post‐IFRS adoption period (2012‐2020). Accordingly, the Satterthwaite-Welch t-test, Wilcoxon/Mann-Whitney t-test and ANOVA-F-test are applied for the mean, median and variance, to verify the conjectured hypotheses. The results find that slight increase was perceived after adoption for average value of the ATO and ROA, but the considered tests are unable to indicate sufficient evidence to identify the improvement as significant. Contrary, the evidence supposes undesired significant decline in the ROE. The evidence finds the change in the variability, due to the transition to IFRS, for the indicators as significant. The findings have implications for the capital market and regulation; hence, the paper suggests that regulators should monitor firms’ compliance to the standards and extend the use of IFRS to other non-listed companies in Nigeria.

automobile product recall has increased in recent years albeit attendant impact on stock price. Objective: the objective of this paper is to analyse the stock price effect and the stock price response time to automobile product recall for Toyota, GM and Tesla. Prior Work: the paper inclines on prior work on efficient markets and product recall effects on corporate financial value but takes a slightly different stance to focus on automobile recall effect on stock price and reaction time gap. Approach: the paper applied a t-test statistics for difference in mean stock price following automobile product recall announcements. Results: the results show that following the recall announcements, the stock prices reacted negatively at a highly significant value of P

There is evidence that a change in accounting regulation can stimulate global access to a country’s capital market, thereby increase financial performance of firms. Corresponding to the change from the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to the mandatory adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Nigeria, this paper examines available information in order to confirm whether the change has created desired improvement in the firms’ performance after the adoption in 2012. Three financial performance indicators related to productivity (asset turnover, ATO) and profitability (returns on assets, ROA, and return on equity, ROE) are examined on univariate tests of significance differences in the mean, median and variance of sample for the ‘prior to’ IFRS adoption period (2003‐2011) and the post‐IFRS adoption period (2012‐2020). Accordingly, the Satterthwaite-Welch t-test, Wilcoxon/Mann-Whitney t-test and ANOVA-F-test are applied for the mean, median and variance, to verify the conjectured hypotheses. The results find that slight increase was perceived after adoption for average value of the ATO and ROA, but the considered tests are unable to indicate sufficient evidence to identify the improvement as significant. Contrary, the evidence supposes undesired significant decline in the ROE. The evidence finds the change in the variability, due to the transition to IFRS, for the indicators as significant. The findings have implications for the capital market and regulation; hence, the paper suggests that regulators should monitor firms’ compliance to the standards and extend the use of IFRS to other non-listed companies in Nigeria.

The full value of any strategic objective is achieved through effective strategy implementation. However, globally, strategy implementation is arguably the most significant drawback of the strategic management process, with failure rates as high as 90%. This article is aimed at determining the extent to which stakeholder agility contributes to successful strategy implementation in public tertiary education institutions in Zimbabwe, so that, they may contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic development of the nation. The study was motivated by the lack of prior research on the nexus between stakeholder engagement and strategy implementation in public education. Data was analysed from 486 questionnaires that were randomly distributed to the senior management of tertiary education institutions. Correlations, and regression analyses techniques were used to determine the extent to which stakeholder agility predicts strategy implementation. The results indicated that external stakeholder agility positively influences successful strategy implementation, whilst internal stakeholder agility does not. The study provides guidance to tertiary education institutions on enhancing strategy implementation through external stakeholder agility. This paper also provides evidence in the African context on the reduction of the strategy implementation failure through stakeholder agility practices relevant to the public education sector.

Investors are humans and are sensitive to rumours of war and actual war events, which appear to have different impacts on stock market performance. Objective: this paper evaluates a two-stage differential effect of the current Russian invasion in Ukraine on stock market volatility in EU, UK and US stock markets. Prior work: the paper inclines on related prior works on the effect of international conflicts on stock markets. Method: the paper uses stock market data for EU, US and UK for 21 days before Russian troop build-up on Ukraine boarders in 2021 and 21 days during the troop build. It also collected 21 days stock market data for 21 days in 2022 before Russian invasion in Ukraine and for 21 days during the Russian invasion. Data were analysed using the t-test statistics and line graphs for trends. Finding: results show that Russian invasion in Ukraine has significantly caused stock market volatility for EU(FTSE EU), UK (FTSE London) and US (S&P500). However, the EU stock market (FTSE EU) has suffered higher volatility compared to UK and US. In the same vein results show that, the US stock market (S&P500) remains the less volatile and safest investment haven to safeguard stocks during the ongoing war in Ukraine. Implication: The results contribute latest stock market investment information to investors and stock market hedgers to make risk and investment decisions in this conflict times. It also offers an important new case study for business economic classes in higher education business schools, and highlights an agenda for further research. Value: the paper contributes a twostage differential analysis approach (stage 1 troop build-up stage, and stage 2 actual war stage) – and reveals divergent implications of a two stage application and results for stock market analysis.

The quest for sustainable economic development alternatives is revolutionising the automobile industry toward a more economic and sustainable products. This paper examines the relationship between green (electric) vehicle products and stock market performance. The prior work inclination is on the innovation and diffusion theories, which provides a lens to examine green innovation in auto industry. The paper adopts a fusion of review and quantitative approach. Data were from the International Energy Agency and Investing databases. A fixed effect panel analysis examine how the stock market reacts to two main types of electric vehicles – the Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). The result adds to new knowledge namely, the BEV product relates to the stock market significantly at P=0.00002 but negatively. However, the PHEV has a positive and significant relationship with the stock market at a P=0.00001. The results offer practical implications including inter alia, manufacturers’ introduction of more PHEV products into the consumer market has a high propensity to improve the stock market performance; this provides a useful information for stock market analysis and auto industry strategic planning. It also offers a good innovation case material for business schools. This paper contributes the first modelling of two main types of green car on stock market performance.

The full value of any strategic objective is achieved through effective strategy implementation. However, globally, strategy implementation is arguably the most significant drawback of the strategic management process, with failure rates as high as 90%. This article is aimed at determining the extent to which stakeholder agility contributes to successful strategy implementation in public tertiary education institutions in Zimbabwe, so that, they may contribute meaningfully to the socio-economic development of the nation. The study was motivated by the lack of prior research on the nexus between stakeholder engagement and strategy implementation in public education. Data was analysed from 486 questionnaires that were randomly distributed to the senior management of tertiary education institutions. Correlations, and regression analyses techniques were used to determine the extent to which stakeholder agility predicts strategy implementation. The results indicated that external stakeholder agility positively influences successful strategy implementation, whilst internal stakeholder agility does not. The study provides guidance to tertiary education institutions on enhancing strategy implementation through external stakeholder agility. This paper also provides evidence in the African context on the reduction of the strategy implementation failure through stakeholder agility practices relevant to the public education sector.

This paper analysed the impact of interest rate and exchange rate volatility on banking sector stock returns in South Africa considering the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper employed daily secondary data for the period 01 January 2011 - 19 August 2021. The OLS and GARCH approaches were utilized to analyse the relationship between the variables. The results indicate that the interest rates have a positive and significant relationship with bank stock returns as four out of five banks showed positive coefficients in the OLS estimator. Moreover, a high foreign exchange rate leads to a negative bank stock returns as the coefficients from the OLS estimator were negative. The ARCH and GARCH models' results indicate that bank stock returns are determined by their past volatility. The study has managerial implications for the banking sector because interest rate and exchange rate volatility increase the risks associated with the returns, implying that banks should consider various hedging strategies in mitigating these risks. Therefore, banks should consider various hedging strategies while the investors could attentively consider monetary policies during the investment decision process.

The emergency of several online travel agents (OTA) has come with several benefits for the potential travellers. Many accommodation establishments especially hotels find OTA helpful in this age of technological innovations and are using them as distribution channels for their products. This paper examines why hotel customers opt to book indirectly via OTA rather than making direct booking with the hotel. The paper also determines why hotel customers in Cape Metropole think it is cheaper and more convenient to make reservations through travel agents. Hotel customer behaviour when booking accommodation is also reviewed to establish the motivations in choosing a specific booking method. Three-hundred hotel guests participated in the study, and data analysed descriptively using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study revealed a more inclination to OTA rather than direct reservation with the hotel, and this was mainly attributed to convenience and affordability. The study is of importance to hotels and OTAs as it advances understanding of booking behaviour of hotel customers. Recommendations on how hotels can attract and convince customers to book directly to help evade commissions to OTAs were discussed.

The banking sector has undergone considerable changes since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) as the countries no longer operate in isolation, owing to globalization (Viegi, 2008). Yesteryear, banks were easily recognizable as a brand. Today brand bank is wanning, and profit margins are being squeezed. In the contest of South African Banking market this paper investigates whether the emergency of Non-Banking Financial Institutions is threatening the brand of a bank. Using a guided questioner, this paper asserts that the emergency of Non-banking institutions has eroded the banks’ brand and has impacted on patronage and loyalties to traditional models of banking. Based on Cronbach’s alpha criterion, results from the study reveal that the survey instrument used to collect data from participants was statistically reliable. Overall, results on frequency statistics and factor loadings computed based on the exploratory factor analysis technique reveal that respondents largely concurred with the assertion that brand bank is on its way to the grave due to the emergence and growth in non-banking financial institutions in South African banking market. The results will benefit banks ‘s efforts in re-aligning their products with market trends and assist policy makers and regulatory authorities in tracking banking practices in their economies

The overshooting theorem as pioneered by Rudiger Dornbusch has aided monetary policy conduct for many years. However empirical evidence on its validity is mixed. This paper re-examined the validity of the overshooting phenomenon using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound test approach. To achieve the main object the paper firstly examined if the United States/Malawi Kwacha (USD-MWK) exchange rate overshoots or undershoots its long run exchange rate. In addition, the research paper tested if there exist any fundamental macroeconomic fluctuations (money supply, real gross domestic product (GDP), interest rates and inflation rates) that may alter the spot exchange rate in a theoretically derived price-flex model. The study used a forty-one-year span of yearly nominal (USD-MWK) exchange rate data and that of monetary fundamentals data from World Bank development indicators (WDI) and the National statistical office (NSO) Malawi. The other data for each country were sourced from the International Financial Statistics (IFS). All the exchange rate used was from the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM). The results indicated that empirically only the inflation rate differential is economically significant in triggering spot rate rapid movements in the Price-Flex model. Conclusively, exchange rate overshooting has tested to be evident in Malawi. Solely attributed by the significant inflation rate differential where the other fundamentals are not statistically significant at 5% level of significance. This has been due to the constrained workability of the specified Price-Flex mathematical model in our economic environment.

Objectives Acute leukaemia is the most common type of cancer in the paediatric population and the myeloid form represents only 15 percent. In this paper we aim to emphasize the management difficulties of this pathology in pediatric patients. Prior Work Studies addressing the costs and burden of acute myeloid laeukemia (AML) in children are sparse in the international literature, due to the low incidence rate, high mortality and some rare clinical aspects, such as polyuria-polydipsia syndrome. Hematologic tests usually can be relevant. Less common complications, that may require urgent intervention, include central nervous system involvement, hyperleukocytosis, and tumor lysis syndrome. There for, the total amount of resources used for the management of these patients represent an important burden for the medical systems all over the world. Approach In the current paper we present two clinical cases of paediatric patients diagnosed with AML, associated with leukostasis syndrome, neurologic impairment. ResultsIn both cases it was more cost effective to use a rational corroboration of basic diagnostic tools adapted to each clinical form. Due to the fulminant evolution of these patients towards a negative outcome, we focused the most effort and resources on intensive care treatment methods to prolong the survival rate of our patients. Implications Such atypical cases may represent a strenuous management challenge for pediatric medical professionals and financial health system responsible. Value Clinical presenting aspects described in these two cases are extremely rare in pediatrics and represent an effective way to improve medical practice and share a local clinical management experience and resources usage.

This paper analyses the response of stock markets to vaccine availability. The objective of this paper is to examine the differential effect of information about the arrival of COVID vaccine on the stock price performance of five main global stock market indexes. The paper relies on the prior theory of Efficient Market Hypotheses (EMH). Data on stock price performance, seven months before vaccine arrival, and seven months within the vaccination period were from Trading Economics stock indexes archives for five main market indexes namely (Dow Jones, Shanghai, S&P, FTSE, and EURONEXT). The data were analysed using the t-test of mean difference in stock prices before and during vaccine at 5% alpha level. Results for the five indexes analysis show that stock prices during the arrival of vaccine significantly outweigh the stock prices before vaccine arrival at p-values below 0.01. The mean stock price increases during vaccine arrival ranges from 7% to over 20% for the different indexes. The paper provides practical information for investors who need to know how sensitive the various indexes are to vaccine information. The paper also provides an avenue for future research to expand this initial research on vaccine effect on stock prices. Furthermore, the paper presents a veritable case study for economics and finance postgraduate students in the universities. This paper fills existing gap in knowledge by being the first to analyse the effect of COVID vaccine arrival on the stock price of five main global stock indexes and contributes by indicating that stock indexes are sensitive to vaccine production with diverse percentages of sensitivity.

Objectives this paper investigates the effects of wealth taxes on the South African economy by analysing the relationship between wealth taxes and the gross domestic product (GDP). Prior Work Although other factors such as investment, government expenditure, labour (unemployment), population and capital (education and technology) can also have an impact on economic growth, the idea was to isolate the effects of the taxation, in this case wealth taxes, and to do a test run on current wealth taxes. Approach It considers the Engle and Granger cointegration technique on annual tax data of the current forms of wealth being taxed (donations tax, transfer duty and estate duty), to determine the empirical relationship between wealth taxes and GDP. Results The study suggests that wealth tax increases GDP in the long run, with no impact in the short run. Value The proposed wealth tax is a continuous annual tax and will therefore cause individuals to make changes to their economic activities. The paper contends that the introduction of a comprehensive wealth tax in South Africa by the government would not yield favourable results and is thus not recommended.

Romania can make a huge leap in development in the coming years using EU financial assistance, which is around 80 billion euros over the next 7 years. These funds will come through Cohesion Policy, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and other European instruments. This paper highlights the funding opportunities for the 2021-2027 programming period, that a city benefits from, the aim of the paper being to create an integrated vision on the type of investments and actions that are needed in order to build a smart future for Romanian cities. The transition to a clean, circular economy and the stimulation of the efficient use of resources in urban areas in the long run can only be achieved through strong cooperation between local public actors and other urban actors, from the private or non-profit environment. Thus, this paper offers a long-term development vision on how to transform the Romanian cities in accordance with the current requirements of society, the intended implication being to raise awareness of all the stakeholders about their potential involvement in developing successful projects for their community so as not to miss any chance of development.

In the present paper we aim to analyze several important aspects regarding the methods in which political parties obtain their finances and to present the amounts and the private financial sources of Romanian parliamentary political parties in the last legislature (2016-2020). Political parties are necessary elements for any democratic society. The exercise of fundamental human rights is only possible in democracies and democracies require a group of representatives in order to govern the society. The political parties provide these representatives and, there for, the good functioning of political parties is essential in a democratic society. In the present paper we discuss the financial resources of political parties, and the Romanian legal provisions in this matter and also, we will present and analyze data regarding the financing of parties. The political parties are financed by the state and also have private resources like: membership fees, donations, loans and other resources. In our case study we referred to the case of Romania, more specifically of the amount of financing the parliamentary political parties in the 2016 – 2020 legislature. The method used is scientific research and data analysis.

This paper evaluates the connection amid oil and financial innovation in Nigeria. The study employed quantitative technique (ARDL method) for the period of 1985-2019. The results signify that long-run coefficients show no significant connection amid oil rent and financial innovation in Nigeria. Furthermore, a negative connection is established between the pair of variables. The study recommends that financial regulatory body should review and regulate the participation of financial institutions, especially the deposit money banks participating in oil and gas business.

This study investigates the influence of financial and macroeconomic variables on non-performing loans using 27 countries from sub-Saharan Africa. The study sourced data for the period 2012 to 2021. To ascertain financial influences, bank-related variables representing bank operations and bank quality were chosen. For the macroeconomic influences, monetary policy variables and variables representing the macroeconomic conditions were chosen. Based on the preliminary data investigation results and subsequent findings in the course of the study, three estimators- Dynamic Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), System GMM (SYS-GMM) and system Seemingly Unsure Regression (SYS-SUR) - were used to analyze the data. The results confirm that bank quality; monetary policy and bank operations were significant determinants of the variations in non-performing loans in the region. The paper concludes that nonperforming loans do respond to environmental both financial and economic environmental influences. It then recommends that monetary authority should use monetary tools such as interest rates or required reserve ratio instead of the money supply since those tools do not have any impact on NPLs. Strict monitoring of commercial banks is also recommended.

This paper sought to investigate the influence of fiscal imbalance on inflation and economic growth in Nigeria for the period 1981 to 2019. In this paper, we utilized the ordinary least squares (OLS) approach in achieving the set objective. The correlation analysis was also utilized to ascertain the nature of the relationship between fiscal imbalance and inflation and economic growth. The correlation analysis revealed that fiscal imbalance has a positive relationship with economic growth, but a negative relationship with inflation. From the regression analysis, it was discovered that fiscal imbalance has a positive and significant effect on economic growth. However, the effect of fiscal imbalance on inflation was negative and statistically significant. Though fiscal imbalance may propel economic growth, it tends to accelerate inflation in the Nigerian economy over the study period. The policy implication of these findings for national development is that fiscal imbalance should be augmented with the appropriate discretionary monetary policy to achieve economic growth and price stability simultaneously.

The article aims at analyzing the influence of inflation on economic growth in South Africa using quarterly data spanning from 2000-2018. The paper focuses on quantitative research, exploratory research design and a positivism research philosophy with the variables of the consumer price index, inflation, gross domestic product, interest rate and unemployment. The data set comprises quarterly data from 2000 to 2018, extracted from the Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) website and also from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). The Augmented Dickey-Fuller, Phillips-Perron (PP) and Kwiatkowski, Phillips, Schmidt and Shin (KPSS) tests were conducted. The serial correlation, diagnostic tests, normality test and heteroscedasticity passed expectations of the assumptions. The optimal lag selection was carried out by means of the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and the optimal lag length of two was selected. The existence of long-run equilibrium amongst the variables was tested using the Johansen co-integrated test. The VECM results showed that GDP is explained by lagged values of GDP, inflation and the consumer price index control variable in the short run. The relationship between economic growth and inflation targeting found to exist. The analyses in this paper reflected that there is a long-run relationship between inflation targeting and economic growth in South Africa, The study suggests that the monetary policy should be formulated with measures that are innovative to stabilize the exchange rate at a level that can be sustained. Further, the study recommends that the government of South Africa should continually align its economic policies and maintain control measures over the fiscal policy for sustainability.

financial grant creates an avenue to reduce poverty, inequality and to improve equitable economic development. The objective of this paper is to examine the effect of social financial grant increases on poverty alleviation in South Africa. The paper inclines on prior poverty theories of economic growth, which highlights the use of social financial grants to achieve poverty reduction and equitable economic growth. The paper applies a quantitative approach; data on social grants were from the publications of the South African department of statistics and the South African Social Security Agency. The ensuing cross-sectional data were analysed using the structural equation modelling approach. Findings from the analysis indicate that, amongst the seven types, only three namely, the grants for old age, grants for disability and grants for supporting a child enhances reduction in inequality. On the contrary, four of the seven social grant types enhance reduction in poverty level; these are the grants for war veterans, aid grants, grants for dependency, and grants for fostering a child. The paper highlights policy implications of the findings, which includes inter alia, that policy makers may target poverty reduction or inequality reduction using specific social grant types. Findings from this paper provide an avenue for further research to assess poverty and inequality reduction through these social grant types in other developing economies. Such research should check if this current research result is replicable using social grant data from other developing countries. This paper uniquely applies the SEM model to evaluate poverty and inequality implication of social grants in South Africa.

This paper aims to present the importance and effect of remittance flows in the context of receiving foreign funds. Remittances from Kosovar migrants constitute one of the most important source of the foreign flows and in microeconomic terms represent one of the most important sources of households income because of the great dependence of households on them. This paper will also present data and analysis regasrding to the trend of migration and remittances, influenced factors on variable phenomena, the importance of remittance flows in macro and micro economic terms. The paper finds that remittances are not only related to remittances flows to Kosovo, but also with other contribution forms such as expenses, money, purchases and other expenses they execute during their stay in Kosovo; remittance flows are significant as a share of GDP. This share is the highest in the region. The paper also shows how remittances have a very important role in mitigating the balance of payments deficit.

As the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread throughout the world and proclaimed a pandemic, governments around the world have implemented countless unparalleled policies in response to the pandemic. Preventative techniques such as close management of infection, patient isolation, and social distancing. However, in the absence of a particular antiviral or vaccine recommended for the treatment of COVID-19, pandemic control often includes minimizing virus transmission by effective policy interventions. Although most of these steps are successful, they bring economic and social burden. The goal of this paper is to analyze, from a cross-cultural viewpoint, the management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper comprehensively synthesizes the evidence on conditions during this emergency and suggests several measures to control and mitigate the risks relating to it, taking into account the most recent data presented by agencies such as WHO and CDC. This paper's approach will be a literature review and a critical examination of the results. This analysis might be used by policymakers and health authorities for responding to the global challenges posed by the pandemic, such as strain on health care structure, resource allocation, and supply chain disruptions, for decelerating its propagation, and for planning before similar situations in the future.

The industry and consumers have a role toward the actualisation of sustainable economy; sustainable product innovation and consumer sustainable purchasing are important avenues. Objective: This paper examines the relationship between sustainable product innovation and consumer patronage of sustainable products. Prior Work: the paper is inclined on the concept of sustainable production. Approach: Data were collected from the index of European Union Market for Sustainable Products. The data on sustainable sourcing, sustainable production strategy and consumer purchase of sustainable products were analysed using the fixed and random effects panel regression. Finding: results from the analysis indicate a significant positive relationship between sustainable sourcing, sustainable production strategy and consumer purchase at a p-value of less than 0.001. Implication: Producers of can improve sales of sustainable products by improving sustainable sourcing and production strategy.The paper provides academic case study for sustainable business and further research agenda is suggested to explore aspects of sustainable products most preferred by consumers. Value: this paper provides first empirical link between the EU data on sustainable sourcing and consumer patronage and provides initial result, which indicates that random effect regression provides a better model for this analysis.

his paper provides a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on the key determinants of import demand in developing and developed countries. On the whole, the findings from the studies reviewed in this paper show that the determinants of import demand differ from country to country and over time, and depend on the proxies used to measure import demand. Moreover, the findings confirmed that the key drivers of import demand depend on whether the income variable is usedas a single variable or is disaggregated into different components. In general, the majority of the studies found that income and relative import price are the key determinants of import demand –although the nature of the impact of these factors differs from country to country.

The objectives of this paper were to analyse the different risk measures to determine the best measure of bank risk to use in the quantile regression between risk and regulation; determine the best proxies for bank regulation from the World Bank survey on banking regulation and evaluate the nature of therelationship between bank risk and bank regulation variables this study built on the work done in 2012 by Klomp and De Haan and added a new focus study to their methodological approach A factor analysis was used to explain variability amongst the variables in the risk indicators of the different countries. After that, a principal component analysis was performed with the regulation data of the sample. Finally, a multilevel quantile regression function was used to determine the relationship between strict regulation and risks for the identified banks in different countries. The results indicated that bank regulation and supervision mainly affect high-risk banks which are in the 0.75 and 0.95 quantiles. This finding was also similar to what de Haan and Klomp discovered in their results. The study highlighted the lack of literature for African studies in the bank risk and regulation topic post the 2008 global financial crisis. The paper indicated that more bank risk that focuses on capital regulatory requirements need to be implemented to assist in the reduction of possible banks risk.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether Kosovo is benefiting from being partof the eurozone or should start thinking on leavingeurozone by starting to issue its own currency.As a new country with a developing economy we know that staying within the eurozone conditions a reduction in inflation and all this affects the slowdown the rapidity of economic development. This has led it us to analysewhether staying in the eurozone is beneficial for Kosovo. The data collected in this paper are primary data obtained from the basic literature analysis, as well as the secondary data analyzed according to the descriptive analysis by observing and analyzing the macroeconomic and financial indicators in Kosovo. The findings of the study show that in the current situation, both politically and economically, there are more benefits of using euro than its own currency for Kosovo.Because of being part of eurozone, Kosovo has benefited from loans with lower interest rates than other neighboring countries for the sole reason that Kosovo is in the eurozone and they are not, by ranking us in a safer place for investors and a more stable place as a result of euro.

The main objective of this study is to examine unemployment, health outcome and inclusive growth on Nigerian economy over the period 1990-2021. Extant literature only captured a part of the whole as they either concentrate on the relationship between unemployment and inclusive growth or health outcome on inclusive growth. Consequently, the tripartite relationship among these concepts seems missing in the body of literature. This study utilized the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) Bound Test technique to examine the correlation and long run relationship among variables. The empirical findings indicated a long run relationship among inclusive growth, unemployment and health outcome. Also, unemployment and health outcome have a negative and significant relationship with inclusive growth in Nigeria within the study period. Based on the findings, the paper recommended the need for the government to develop plans and policies that will expand employment opportunities and also enhance inclusive growth through increased health expenditure that will instigate the desired health outcomes.

Stock market performance relationships during disease epidemics is nebulous. The objective of this paper is to analyse the causal relationship between the BRICS countries’ stock market performance during the COVID-19 period. the paper inclines on prior work, which posits that anomalies in stock market might stimulate ripples amongst market participants. BRICS countries’ stock market data for a period of 95 days between January and May 2020 were analysed for causality using the Vector Auto-regression and the Granger Causality Wald test. Stock performance in China and India during the COVID period can predict the stock performance in Brazil during the COVID period. In addition, stock performance in Russia and South Africa can predict stock performance in India during the COVID period. the findings provide additional investment information to clarify investment risks and uncertainty for current and potential investors in BRICS countries. This paper provides important academic case study for business schools and suggests future research agenda. this article contributes the first empirical analysis of causal relationship amongst the BRICS market performance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Without proper adoption of entrepreneurial marketing (EM) as a business strategy, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in both developed and developing economy would fail to survive. The aim of this conceptual paper is to elaborate the strategic role of EM in SMEs. To achieve this, the complexity of EM as well as the aspects of entrepreneurial marketing (EM) are discussed. The paper assert that strategic roles of EM embrace eight dimensions which are cardinal for SMEs to adopt not only to ensure the long-term direction of the business, but also leverage resources and capability to sustain advantage over competitors.

The paper was an attempt to investigate the impact of public health expenditure on diseases/epidemics in Nigeria particularly as development assistance for HIV/AIDS decreases. Data were sourced from World Development Indicator (WDI) from the period of 1982 to 2016 and analysis was done using a vector autoregressive (VAR) methodology. The findings from the VAR analysis indicate a negative significant relationship between hiv prevalence and government expenditure on health. Per capita income suggests weak relationship with hiv prevalence. Shocks from government expenditure on health and per capita income caused a persistent downward spiral in hiv prevalence and most of the variations in hiv prevalence explained by government health expenditure. The paper recommends that government expenditure on health would be a viable alternative for the management and control of epidemics/diseases in Nigeria cum to achieve the HIV/AIDS goal by 2030 compare to per capita income of households.

This paper presents a current analysis of the effect of coronavirus pandemic on select global stock indexes (SSE Composite Index [China], Euronext 100 [Europe], Dow Jones Industrial Average [United States of America]. The objective of the paper is to evaluate the extent and direction of the differential effect of COVID-19 pandemic on select world stock index. The data on stock value performance were gathered for fifty days before and fifty days within the Coronavirus epidemic; data were analysed using the paired t-test of difference in mean stock values at an alpha level of 0.05(5%). The results reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has different effects on the stock markets. Dow Jones Industrial Average showed a significant reduction in mean stock value during the coronavirus period, Chinese Stock Exchange Composite Index experienced a significant increase in mean stock values during epidemic higher than before the epidemic. On the contrary, the S&P 500 and the Euronext 100 indexes show a non-significant difference in mean stock price. The paper provides direction to stock market participants, investors and speculators regarding a safer investment destination during this time of COVID-19 pandemic; the paper serves a good case study for class room teaching and also provides direction for further research. This paper provides the first empirical research on the early effect of COVID-19 pandemic on three global important regional stock indexes, which finds that some stock markets such as the Shanghai Composite Index is resilient to COVID-19 pandemic.

Insurance plays a prominent backbone in a country’s economic growth through its financial intermediary role. Although previous researchers have examined the different factors that influence customers’ satisfaction and patronage of insurance such as corporate image, fair premium, prompt settlement of claims, etc., not much has been achieved as demand for insurance still remains at a low ebb. Thus, insurance industry in Nigeria has achieved below its potential in its one century years of existence. This paper examines the impact of relationship marketing on word of mouth (WOM) communication in the insurance industry in Nigeria. Population of study comprises all insurance consumers in Lagos metropolis. Data was collected through the completion of questionnaire distributed to a sample of 400 policy holders selected via convenience sampling technique. Correlation and regression analyses were applied on the data collected using SPSS version 20 software. Findings indicated that relationship marketing components were positively correlated with WOM communication. The R-squared statistic revealed that 67.5% variance in the dependent variable was explained by variances in the independent variables collectively. The paper therefore recommends that insurance firms in Nigeria should adopt relationship marketing strategy to earn customer satisfaction whose consequences are both customers’ positive WOM communication and loyalty.

The scientific paper begins with research on the financial-credit stability of the banking system in Kosovo, in the Western Balkan countries, in the Eurozone and beyond, to analyze the importance and effect of indicators on the stability of the banking system. This research paper focuses on management, analysis and measurement of credit risks. Firstly, the performance of the banking system is analyzed in different periods (specifically during the last 10 years), making comparability with other countries. Then, the financial- credit risk indicators are analyzed through: empirical time series analysis, credit shock analysis, credit index analysis, descriptive analysis, factorial analysis, reliability analysis. Finally, in order to protect the banking system from the failure or decline of financial stability at all times and continually the quality of loans and other assets should be assessed. This paper will assist future researchers for further analysis in different countries.

This paper examines the variables that drive foreign direct investment in Chinese economy. Recent past studies have shown conflicting results which make further study on this subject matter imperative in the recent times. Data were collected from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and World Bank Indicator from 1990– 2017 and the study employed the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and Error Correction Model (ECM) to address its objective. Consequently, the major findings that originated from the work could be submitted as follows. The result of ECM term confirmed that about 19% of the total disequilibrium in the previous year would be corrected in the current year. Meanwhile, the principal drivers of FDI inflows in China are the large market size and impressive growth rate of the economy. However, GDP per capita could not derive FDI inflows in China. Based on the findings that emerged in this work, it is mandatory this paper makes these recommends for both the policy makers and the future researchers in China that whenever sporadic inflows of FDI is the target of the policy makers in this country, the Chinese government should manipulate the market size and growth rate of its economy.

Unemployment has been a cause for concern in the political economy since its inception, and viewed as a universal problem. Both the New Classical and Keynesians models ignore involuntary unemployment, which is an effect of labour supply. Thus, a pertinent question arises; Are the theoretical constructs of unemployment the same for both schools of thought? This paper investigates and discusses the implications of the two schools of thought in relation to the mentioned constructs. Gaps in literature suggest that existing theories of unemployment and the macroeconomic theory are based on problematic assumptions; which do not allow for a seamless policy framework. This has resulted in conflicting and contrasting dimensions between the two schools of thought. The paper adopted a qualitative approach, using content review method. This involves the review of various journal articles and publications. To compare the main difference between the Keynesian School and the New Classical School, we focused on macroeconomic Equilibrium; Monetary policy Effects of Unemployment; Philips Curve and Supply of Labour. Analysis suggests that a near consensus is that there is no answer to unemployment conundrum for developing countries without them increasing their rate of capital accumulation, which must be at the same level with the growth of labour supply. The New Classical model posits that an efficient outcome is a consequence of free markets, which is self-regulating. They assume that in the long run, aggregate supply curve is inelastic; therefore, any shift from full employment will only be transitory. However, Keynesians contend that the economy can be below full capacity for a significant time because of market imperfections. Thus, they advocate a greater role for expansionary fiscal policy to overcome recession. Policy makers should support micro and macro adjustments for effective fiscal policy. The issues discussed in the paper provide a template that could assist policymakers in improving policies that aim to reduce unemployment.

The extractive sector in South Africa has been through different stages of transformation exacerbated by slow economic growth, labour unrest, and policy uncertainty recently. It can be assumed that stakeholder relationship management framework can be a tool to engage, network and partner with different stakeholders with common developmental interests that seek to mitigate the transformational impact of the recently experienced policy uncertainty, slow growth and labour unrest. Within the framework of stakeholder relations, the extractive sector would benefit from the identification and management of partners’ interest with a relationship strategy that recognises group dynamics and prevailing social, economic and environmental context consistent with a transforming society that promotes good labour practices for sustained economic growth. Objective: This paper presents a framework to promote harmonisation of stakeholders’ interest within the extractive sector in Cape Town. The harmonised interest would enhance the understanding of group dynamic within the context of differences in stakeholders’ needs - as the nexus between stakeholders’ relations, sustained economic growth, social cohesion and environmental protection. This understanding provides the base to develop and present framework that offers a new approach to relationship management. Prior Work: Previous studies identified significant divergence between mining activities, stakeholders’ relations, and societal interest. Other studies identified benefits of stakeholders in different categories. Approach: Despite the differences of interest, perceived evidence of lack of stakeholder relations effectiveness were collected from 16 employees selected using purposive sampling from eight participating companies in Cape Town. A sequential mixed methods approach was adopted. This approach entailed collecting qualitative data using in-depth interviews on the 16 employees and quantitative data from 384 respondents using online LimeSurvey. Results: The paper findings revealed mixed and varied respondents’ perceptions of stakeholder’s relations activities but less effective to harmonise stakeholders’ interest. Implications: This research provides insights to understanding stakeholder relationship management from a threedimensional perspective, namely: context, group dynamics, and implementation. Value: The value of this study was twofold: (1) determining the level of engagement needed for stakeholder relations to be effective and (2) presentation of stakeholders’ relation framework to support and promote extractive sector sustainability.

South African has been striving to apply monetary policy that is conducive to productivity in the economy, but the latter has remained elusive. Human capital development in the country has also been a problem with a huge mismatch between the economy’s needs and skills available. Whilst monetary policy operate through transmissions that affect investments, it is not clear how monetary policy, investment in human capital, as well as productivity are interdependent in South Africa. In this paper, we explore this interdependence using the vector autoregressive (VAR) methodology. Data for South Africa, covering the period 1980–2016 on changes in money supply, productivity and human capital were used to explore the interdependence. The null hypothesis of this study (H0) is that there are no linear interdependencies among human capital, monetary policy and productivity in South Africa. The key questions of focus in this paper that are of interest to policy makers are 1) how fast do productivity respond to changes in human capital development and monetary policy in South Africa is considered in the model. 2) A related question concern how does monetary policy respond to productivity and human capital in the economy 3) finally, is the limited role of monetary policy due to the interdependence of this policy and human capital development? The evidence in respect to these questions is that, although productivity responded to both macro-economic variables around the same period, we noticed that productivity response more to human capital than its response to money supply in the model. Again, with respect to changes in money supply, it is expected that productivity would improve quickly in response to a sluggish monetary policy but reverse is the case. Economic performance in South Africa has not led to the expansion of human capital in the country. From the variance decomposition result, it was noted in response to question 3 that human capital development and its interaction with monetary policy are not doing enough to spur expansion in the economic activity in the country. Policy makers should know that given that human capital growth is crucial in a given economy, the lack of effect of monetary policy on human capital suggests that limited productivity has been a result of limited investment in human capital.

This scientific article aims to highlight the importance of the transition from the linear economy to the circular economy and the business opportunities that can be developed based on the principles of this new type of economy. At the same time, the paper tries to determine the role of ICT’s in developing such innovative and sustainable long-term entrepreneurial initiatives. Based on an empirical analysis, the results of the research showed that the circular economy produces positive effects on the medium and long term both from an economic point of view, as well as for the environment and health. Also, the results showed that Romania is at the beginning in the process of transition to the circular economy and it takes time, financing, regulations and state support for companies that have or want to start businesses based on certain strategies specific to the circular economy. On the other hand, the exhibitions in this scientific paper have shown that digital technologies are one of the main pillars that stands up the development of an innovative and inclusive long-term entrepreneurial initiative.

The objective of this paper is to analyze the differential effect of Brexit on the British stock market and money market before and after the Brexit referendum. Prior work. Many research articles have emerged on the economic effect of Brexit, but these papers have largely been predictive in nature; this paper builds on these prior research and examines what exists rather than being predictive. Approach. Stock market data and exchange rate data were collected from the London Stock Exchange. The data were analyzed with the usage of paired t-test of difference in means. Results: Findings from the analysis show a negative stock value within three days after the referendum, but further analysis show a positive stock value increase within twenty one days after the Brexit referendum. Additionally, the t-test results show that the British Pound fluctuated toward a weaker trajectory than the pre-Brexit period. Implications: Policy makers should shorten the negotiation period for exiting international integrations to reduce protracted loss of investments. Future searchers should observe more days to expand this paper’s new result between stock and money market fluctuations. Value: This paper contributes by examining the difference in fluctuation between stock and money market effects of Brexit.

The aim of this study is to examine the long run equilibrium relationship between FDI, growth rate and economic growth in the developing countries of South Asia. Data was collected from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and World Bank Development Indicator from 1990 to 2017. However, Johansen Fisher Panel Cointegration and Pairwise Dumitrescu Hurlin Panel Causality Tests were utilized to address the objective of this paper. Consequently, it was discovered that a long run equilibrium relationship exists between FDI, growth rate of economy and economic growth in the developing countries of South Asia within the period under consideration. Moreover, there is an existence of unidirectional causality running from both growth rate and economic growth to FDI inflows in these countries. This implies that whenever the target of the policy makers in these economies is to facilitate the sporadic inflows of foreign capital, expanding the market size and manipulating the rate of economic growth would induce an increase in FDI inflows in the long run. Finally, the important findings that emerged in this work made this paper to recommend the following vital policy for the policy makers, investors, financial institutions regulators and future researchers. Therefore, the policy makers in the developing countries of South Asia should come up with the strategic policy measure that will expand the market size and ensure a sustainable growth rate in this sub region.

There is dearth in research about woman and tourism from an Islamic perspective. Previous research explored Islam and tourism and shed light on different types of tourism such as Islamic and Halal tourism (Kamali 2012; Akyol and Kilinc 2014; Aziz et al., 2016; Harahsheh et al., 2019). Meanwhile, debate about the position of Islam regarding tourism is popular (Jaafari and Scott 2014). Some scholars stated that Islam and tourism are contradictory, and tourism was described as a religious spiritual process only that aims at visiting the holy places in Makkah and Madinah and Al Aqsa Mosque. However, other scholars clarified that Islam is expansive in its meanings and interpretations. Accordingly, these scholars provided a different proof that tourism and Islam are not opposing, on the contrary Islam promoted tourism and travel (Saghayi and Abdar Esfahani 2016). They proofed their position by the saying of God: “Travel through the land and observe how He began creation. Then Allah will produce the final creation. Indeed Allah, over all things, is competent” (Holy Qora: Surat Al Ankabut 20). Nevertheless, research regarding Muslim women and tourism in Islam or how these women are perceived and viewed by Islam is almost scarce. Thus, the aim of this research is to clarify how woman and tourism are perceived from an Islamic point of view. The study adopted a conceptual research design to build better understanding of a Muslim woman travel behaviour. The paper answers the question why a Muslim woman cannot perform tourism independently? There is huge chunk of data and debate from different point of views. Accordingly, this paper explores how sociocultural and religious factors may or may not influence Muslim women and decision to travel. Thus, the focus is on religion and particularly Islam and its influence on shaping Muslim woman’s ability to travel and visiting tourism destinations. In addition, the paper will contribute potential Halal destinations in organising Halal package tours for Muslim women. Other issues in Islam is woman’s work in general and particularly in the tourism sector and how Islam deal with this issue.

«How to approach the sustainable spatial development in South-East region of Romania? » is the main question to which this research-paper tries to find answers. New development trajectories are needed in order to tackle the current challenges posed by the rapid dynamics of the labour market, in a globalized, increasingly digitized economy, and in the context of technological, climate and demographic changes. This paper analysis the internal socio-economic inequalities that South-East region of Romania experiences, highlighting the main challenges of territorial development. The internal development capability of South-East region of Romania is presented by an inventory of needs and resources during the 2010-2016 period, using the most recent statistical data available on the website of Romanian National Institute of Statistics. This region is confronted with multiple vulnerabilities such as mass unemployment (due to the lower wages and the territorial proximity with capital-region: Bucharest-Ilfov), insufficient public income transfers, out-migration (causing high social costs and also constituting a barrier to regional adjustment) and if these trends persist in longrun, at the extreme, possibly desertification. Moreover, in absence of some basic preconditions for regional development, in terms of infrastructure, accessibility, basic public services, growth could be a dream and not a reality. The paper concludes by proposing suggestions on how to respond to the specific and particular challenges that the South-East region of Romania is now facing, on the basis of the previous conceptual and empirical evidence.

The study empirically tested if the macroeconomic variables of the 26 member countries of the Tripartite Free Trade Area are converging or not over the 15 year period. Convergence is important because it indicates if the countries are moving towards a similar level of development and wealth and business cycles are becoming synchronised. The paper does not employ the traditional method of testing for absolute and conditional convergence but rather uses the macroeconomic variables identified under the ‘convergence criteria’ by the three regional economic communities (COMESA, EAC, SADC) which make up the TFTA. The study observed evidence of relatively strong forms of convergence of macroeconomic variables across the TFTA member countries. However, as expected, the evidence is scattered because it was detected in the majority but not all economies or sub-periods. Nonetheless, the paper acknowledges the progress made by the member countries over the 15 year period in stabilising key macroeconomic variables especially inflation and service debt. Although cross-country dispersion of deficit was decreasing over time (which indicates convergence), the evidence remained weak and unstable. In general, the magnitude of convergence was stronger for monetary variables but the majority of TFTA countries were still struggling to fuse (move towards convergence) and stabilise their fiscal positions.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the factors that will influence the economic growth. Factors that have impeded investment and economic development in these nations include political unrest, weak institutions, and restricted access to credit and finance. (OECD 2021). The region’s current socio-economic conditions provide an impetus for Balkancountries governments to induce more foreign investment as a mechanism for fostering economic growth FDI promotes economic growth in both the host country and the country of origin. The host country benefits from FDI by financing projects planned, developing new technologies and generating new jobs. Investing companies benefit from the expansion of markets and, consequently, the growth of their shares in international markets. The world is full of development opportunities, be it for countries that have just begun to modernise to the richest countries. Overall, the region's economic growth and development still have a lot of room for improvement, even though some Balkan nations have made strides in recent years. Higher rates of economic growth and development in the Balkans may be facilitated by policies aimed at enhancing political stability, bolstering institutions, decreasing corruption, encouraging investment, and expanding access to finance.

This paper investigated the influence of foreign aid on income inequality in selected emerging markets using panel data (2004-2019) analysis methods such as fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS), fixed effects and pooled ordinary least squares (OLS). The study also examined whether human capital development is a channel through which foreign aid influenced income inequality or whether human capital development is one of the conditions which must be fulfilled in the recipient country before foreign aid can have a significant reduction effect on income inequality in selected emerging markets. Foreign aid was found to have non-significantly reduced income inequality across all the three estimation methods. Pooled OLS and FMOLS show that human capital development significantly reduced income inequality. Under the fixed effects and FMOLS, human capital development was found to be a factor which be available in the recipient country before foreign aid can significantly reduce income inequality in selected emerging markets. Foreign direct investment and unemployment significantly led to the increase in income inequality across all the three econometric estimation methodologies. Trade openness and financial development produced similar results but only under the pooled OLS. Trade openness significantly reduced income inequality under the FMOLS and the fixed effects. Responsible authorities are therefore urged to implement policies that increases human capital development, financial development and trade openness to enhance income inequality reduction in selected emerging markets.

In this paper, the COVID -19 induced socio-economic hardship in Nigeria was appraised in the face of Naira devaluation and the need for a living wage rate was advocated. The appraisal shows that the COVID-19 pandemic had deleterious effects on the Nigerian economy. By occasioning a plunge in oil price by 25%, the COVID-19 plague induced a government resolves on lockdown of over 200 million Nigerians whose per capita income was previously as low as $2,396.3, together with the embargo on interstate journeys, to quarantine the contagious impact of the pandemic, the Nigerian economy had to suffer negative growth rates of -6.10% and -2.48% for both Q2 and Q3 of 2020 in that order. And so, the Nigerian economy contracted easily resulting in an outcome of economic recession. Many Nigerians are presently more financially poor, and financially distressed and so wallow in hunger and socioeconomic hardship as exacerbated by the recent COVID-19 contagion. This has made the living cost excessively high and so becoming more difficult to live beyond poverty with a meager minimum wage of ₦30,000. Even when expenses are higher in Nigeria, salary levels have not been structured to make provision for income re-distribution so that people can afford to live in Nigeria. Hence, we advocate for a living wage of at least ₦312,928 per month which translates to a dollar equivalence of $680.28 per month for a full-time worker to cushion the negative effect of COVID-19 pandemic as it exceeds the poverty headcount amount.