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This paper investigates how brands delineate their visual identity in avatar (profile photo) and header (cover photo) on social media platforms. The content analysis of the top 50 Indian brands was conducted from 116 screenshots taken from the brand's Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube page to determine the visual identity exhibited by brands on social media platforms. We found the actual use of visual elements, i.e., logotype, text type, typography, colour, and photographic elements employed by brands in avatar and header to demonstrate their visual identity. The findings also revealed that brands are inconsistent in wielding their overall visual identity across three social media platforms. Designers and marketers are suggested to position their brand across social media platforms strategically.

Keeping a sustainable environment is always a massive challenge for oil-exporting countries, and in that situation, industrialization and rapid growth of urbanization can add fuel to the fire. We investigate the effects of industrialization and urbanization on the CO2emissions per capita in Saudi Arabia, utilizing an annual period 1968–2014. The results show that both industrialization and urbanization impede the environment with the inelastic effect of industrialization and elastic effect of urbanization on the emissions. An asymmetry in the relationship of industrialization and emissions is also found. The increasing industrialization has larger environmental effect than decreasing industrialization. We recommend the Saudi government to design tighter urban and industrial–environmental policies to put a halt on increasing CO2emissions.

Developing countries depend on international trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to support their economies. However, these activities should not be to the extent, that their adverse environmental effects get ignored. The present study aims at exploring the impact of income, trade, energy consumption, and FDI on CO2emissions in five North African countries from 1990 to 2014.​ The analysis also probes the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, considering spatial dependency in the model. We find a significant spatial dependency in the model and validate the presence of the EKC hypothesis as well. All investigated countries are found in the first phase of EKC, which explains the negative environmental consequences of economic growth. Further, we establish evidence of the negative effect of exports on CO2emissions while their spillover effects on the neighboring countries are found positive. The effects of imports and total trade openness are found positive on local economies, and their spillovers are negative. FDI is not found to be affecting CO2emissions. We recommend the North African countries to keep the environmental consequences of energy consumption, economic growth, and imports in check while formulating energy, trade, and public policies.

AbstractThis study analysed data from a panel consisting of 32 O.E.C.D. member countries for the years 1996–2020. This research explores the nexus between CO2emissions, G.D.P. per capita, renewable energy supply, the development of patents, and gross fixed capital formation in the context of 32 O.E.C.D. countries. Also, the panel quantile regression technique is being used to investigate potential variations in heterogeneity and asymmetry. The empirical evidence shows that technological innovation negatively impacts CO2emissions; however, the impact varies greatly between quantiles. This research also explores the potential for heterogeneity and asymmetry in the moderating effect of technological innovation with regards to economic growth and renewable energy. The investigation, which relied on the use of panel quantile regression, revealed that technological innovation exerts a wide variety of moderating effects. In conclusion, the study provided policy recommendations.

Depreciation may help in up-lifting the commodities' exports and this article finds this evidence for Pakistan. This research has investigated the impact of real effective exchange rate (REER) on Pakistan commodities' exports by using a nonlinear auto-regressive distributive lag (ARDL) co-integration developed by Shin et al. (2014) and by using a monthly series of a period of June 2003-June 2016. The long run results confirm the positive impact of world income on the most of commodities' exports. Further, depreciation of Pak rupee has been found helpful in increasing 17 out of 21 commodities' exports and appreciation has depressed the 12 out of 21 commodities' exports. Asymmetrical effects of depreciation and appreciation of exchange rate have also been found in the most of commodities' exports. Furthermore, J-curve hypothesis has been found in the 13 out of 21 commodities' exports. This study recommends the devaluation of Pak rupee to increase commodities' exports.

This paper investigates the determinants of brain drain in Pakistan. Brain drain is a burning issue of today in Pakistan, as it augments the major depletion of human capital stock in the country. To explore the determinants of brain drain, we use three types of brains drain: highly qualified migrants, highly skilled migrants and skilled migrants. The empirical results exhibit that GDP per employed labour is reducing the all types of brain drain in the long run, whereas higher education, globalisation, GDP per capita volatility and inflation volatility are increasing brain drain. Further, political rights are increasing the high skilled migrants only. This study suggests the policy makers in the government of the country to take concrete steps like the absorption of skilled and qualified labour at appropriate places with competitive wages and political rights should be ensured to stop the brain drain from Pakistan.

The concentration of population generates spillover effects and one would expect the upsurge of business and economic activities in that particular area which also affects income distribution in the society. This paper is intended to elucidate income inequality in the context of agglomeration economies in a developing economy like Pakistan during 1980-2014. The study period is hallmarked by the major shocks across the world economies including Pakistan. Therefore, the study incorporates structural break both during the pretesting of time series properties and in cointegration tests. The bounds testing for the long-run cointegration reveals that the under investigating variables are cointegrated. We further find that the Kuznets inverted-U hypothesis does not hold in Pakistan. Moreover, the agglomeration economies negatively and linearly affect income inequality. This study suggests that the concentration of business activities in the less agglomerated areas is helpful in reducing income inequality.

This study explores the causal links among electricity consumption, circular debt and economic growth. Covering the time span from 2005-2015 and using quarterly data, Granger causality based on vector error correction model (VECM) is employed to find the direction of causality after confirming cointegration. Next, the robustness of causality results is determined through variance decomposition analysis (VDA). The present study finds short run bidirectional relationship between circular debt and economic growth and between electricity consumption and economic growth as well. On the other hand, long run unidirectional causality is found running from circular debt and economic growth to electricity consumption. The findings of VDA reinforce causality results. The study finds that Pakistan despite being rich in natural resources (coal, water) is entangled in the web of circular debt that has made the blessings as curse which shows an example of poor governance. The results of study based on two econometric tools conclude with little more conviction that there is a need for exploitation of indigenous resources and wise allocation of available resources for electricity production and suggests electricity conservation policies including improvement of distribution and transmission capacity of its power system to reduce wastage of electricity along with less reliance on oil consumption in electricity production.

Money demand stability attracts the attention of policy makers while deciding the right policy instrument for the monetary policy. The present study estimates the money demand function by using a time spam of 1980-2014 for the GCC countries. For this purpose, it uses the ARDL cointegration technique to find long-run relationships. The cointegration test has confirmed the long-run relationships in money demand functions for all GCC countries. In the long-run analysis, a positive income elasticity of money demand has been found in all GCC countries. Negative and significant semi-interest rate elasticity has been found in UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. Positive and significant exchange rate elasticity has been found in UAE and KSA and it has found negative in Qatar and Kuwait. Positive and significant inflation rate elasticity has been found in Kuwait and Bahrain and it has found negative in UAE, Oman and KSA. Short-run analysis also reveals some significant elasticities. Further, money demand function proofs stable in KSA and Oman and it remains unstable for the rest of GCC countries.

The study investigates the relationship between industrial production and environmental quality in a Chinese economy. The estimates of the ARDL bounds test over the sample 1972–2020 provide evidence of the long-run relation between industrial production and environmental quality in the presence of a controlling factor energy use. The results also confirm the presence of an N-shaped impact of industrial production on environmental quality in the long and short-run in China. The findings further demonstrate that the use of energy is polluting the environment in China in both periods. These findings have opened up a thought process for the policymakers to see to what extent industrial development should be allowed in China by controlling energy use where it is not harmful to environmental quality. The findings also unfold two cutoff points of industrial production for environmental quality. The maximum cutoff point of industrial production is 29.21% at which environmental quality becomes worse off and the minimum cutoff point is 30.71% at which environmental quality turns well off in the long run in China. Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) based causality test suggests a unidirectional causal link running from linear, squared, and cubic terms of industrial production to carbon emissions in the short run, but they have a bidirectional causal link between each other in the long run. Moreover, a bidirectional causal link between energy use and environmental quality is witnessed in the short run but energy use is causing environmental quality in the long run in China. These findings are robust to various diagnostic tests applied in the study. The study proposes such policies that may allow industrial production to be increased up to a level where it will not hurt the natural environment. While beyond a minimum cutoff point, industrial production may be restructured by shifting from unclean energy to environmentally friendly clean energy.