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Migration and private remittances have been continuously increasing over the years. For many developing countries, the quantum of remittances is greater than other forms of capital, such as FDI, FII, etc. The remittances may be used to fill the gap in potential funding sources for economic development in emerging countries like India. Migrations from India to the United States (US) and the flow of remittances to India have been continuously increasing over the years. The paper studies the macroeconomic factors influencing remittances to India. The study employs ARDL technique to identify the macroeconomic factors such as GDP, term premium, CPI, etc. of US, in addition to the domestic factors of India and price of Brent and other commodities such as gold, silver, and platinum that influence the flow of remittances to India. Further, the study also employs NARDL techniques to identify the asymmetric impact of macroeconomic variables in US on remittance flows to India. CDM technique is also used to decipher the shock evolution of independent variables with regard to remittance flows to India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emmerson Mnangagwa replaced Robert Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s President following a military coup in 2017. Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe and China have had close ties since the colonial period. When Zimbabwe suffered serious economic and political upheaval in the late 1990s and the subsequent imposition of sanctions by the West, Mugabe propounded the country’s ‘Look East’ policy that eventually turned out to be ‘Look China’ policy. Against this backdrop, Mnangagwa came to the fore with the promise to reengage with Zimbabwe’s traditional partners. This paper examines Zimbabwe’s engagement with the West vis-à-vis China in the post-Mugabe era. It further seeks to answer the following questions: How successful is Zimbabwe in its reengagement with the West? Does Mnangagwa still enjoy cordial relations with China? The study is descriptive and analytical in nature, and concludes that considering the negligible engagement with the West, it is safe to say that Zimbabwe continues to heavily rely upon China for its political and economic development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism industry has been defined as one of the largest and fastest growing industries. This industry is also considered to be one of the ancient industries of the world. Tourism industry in India is experiencing a boom at the moment. India has tremendous potential to become a major global tourist destination and Indian tourism industry is exploiting this potential to the hilt. A state like Rajasthan has all the elements to become a model state for tourism in the country. It has a rich cultural heritage and the tourists from all over the world visit it due to its climate, scenic beauty and ecological resources. The statistical figures reveal that Rajasthan gets the lion's share of total tourist arrivals, both foreign and domestic, due to its special climate and culture. The present paper assesses the impact of tourism demand on the economic development of Rajasthan. The paper measures the economic development of Rajasthan in terms of Gross State Domestic Product. It assesses the impact of tourism on various developmental activities. Various statistical techniques such as correlation, regression and neural network are used to measure the relation between these two factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-Governance is an evolving paradigm intended to modernize the public sector by engendering transparency, accountability and good governance. Notably, some countries, including South Korea, USA, Singapore and Canada, have recorded appreciable milestones. In developing countries, the experience is quite different. This paper dwells on the e-readiness of e-governance as an economic and human development engine for effective governance in the 21st century and beyond. This paper articulates some crucial organizational strategies and e-readiness dimensions that would provide vital knowledge and direction towards consolidating e-governance implementation in Nigeria across the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). A survey approach was adopted to evaluate the MDAs and their e-governance strategies as in the first quarter of 2020 vis-à-vis the National e-Governance Master Plan (NeGMP). A gap analysis was conducted on the level of the MDAs' preparedness in implementing the NeGMP. The e-readiness evaluation results showed some gray areas that need strategic and tactical attention. With these findings, the decision makers in the e-governance project can direct efforts to areas where external support is anticipated. The study further elucidated the various measurable pillars, criteria, performance indices and apt theoretical submission to guide the implementation of e-governance plan across the MDAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The financial-led growth hypothesis suggests that the financial development of a country plays a major role in its economic growth. Several channels through which financial development promotes growth in the economy include efficient allocation of capital, mobilization of savings through attractive instruments, lowering of the cost of the information gathering and presenting, among others. Financial development has been a much debated issue among economists and policy makers both in developed and developing countries, including Sri Lanka. This paper empirically examines the validity of the financial-led growth hypothesis in Sri Lanka using time series data from 1966 to 2016. The paper uses the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing for cointegration developed by Pesaran et al. (2001). The empirical results confirm the validity of the financial-led growth hypothesis for Sri Lanka. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on economic exposure management has expanded to a great extent during the last decade. Corporate managers and practitioners have shown interest in examining economic exposure as they have realized the consistency of the concept, with the objective of maximizing the long-term economic value of the firm. In the present paper, a normative view of economic exposure is considered. The paper primarily reviews the identification and assessment of economic exposure and discusses the available models for the measurement of economic exposure. The paper also identifies the gaps in the existing literature and suggests directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic basis of globalization lies in multilateralism. The intended impact of globalization is global allocative efficiency because Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) spearheads the dispersal of capital across the globe. So, it can be said about FDI that multilateralism implies importing capital from a variety of sources as may be most efficient rather than restricting them to a bilateral basis. This forms the motivation of this paper. This paper has used Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and panel regression approaches. The study builds up a methodology for measuring and testing the determinants of the patterns of inward FDI of developed countries. These determinants are a large set of developmental variables. The study evolves a set of six composite indices by using PCA, namely, human resource, infrastructure, labor, market, trade openness and resource. The annual growth rate is 11% while that of the top 10 developed countries of the world experience a significantly lower growth rate, i.e., 3.4% (= 0.111 - 0.077). Infrastructure is highly elastic at 1.72. In the case of the top 10 countries, the determinants of inward FDI that are significant and positive are labor, market and resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical evidence has indicated that there exists a threshold level of inflation, above which economic growth is hindered. Previous literature has shown that this level is around 1-3% in developed countries and 7-11% in developing countries. This paper tries to investigate the relationship between economic growth and inflation in Egypt by estimating the threshold inflation level during the period 1961-2016. As the paper fails to obtain any optimal rate of inflation and this result is in line with those obtained by most studies in the literature, the paper further examines the role of government spending in explaining the nature of the relationship between inflation and economic growth in Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines India's role in regionalism. Even though India's closest regional setting is within the subcontinent of Asia and its vehicle of regional integration is the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), it has not hesitated to actively engage and/or take advantage of opportunities in successful regionalisms such as Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), European Union (EU) and in subregional structures such as the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIM-STEC), the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC). Since the end of the Cold War and following its economic reforms, India has stepped up its relations with these regional and subregional organizations and their member countries with the aim of strengthening economic growth through better trade and investment links, security and stability, and most importantly with a view to increasing its global standing. The paper concludes by drawing lessons for Nigeria from the Indian experience of regionalism. The lessons are even more imperative against the backdrop of Nigeria's recent emergence as the largest economy in Africa and its quest to join the top 20 largest economies in the world in line with its vision 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Economic Value-Added (EVA) considers the cost of equity investments and pays more attention to the long-term development of the company through a number of adjustments in net profit. EVA emphasizes the economic benefits, while the net profit emphasizes it in an accounting sense. When the accounting profit shows that the development of the company is sound, a negative value of EVA may also appear. This paper, considering the GEM listed companies as the sample, uses descriptive statistics and sensitivity analysis to find out the causes of discrepancies between EVA and net profit, showing that the cost of equity capital is an important cause. EVA can better reflect a company's created value, which reminds the managers to pay high attention to enhancing the efficiency of the use of capital in order to increase value creation for shareholders. Based on the findings, the establishment of an EVA management system is recommended to create a corporate culture regarding value creation as the core for achieving rapid and healthy development of the companies listed on GEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims at analyzing China's role in regional integration in East Asia. The rise of China is generally seen as an integrative force in promoting regional integration through trade promotion and institutionalization of multilateral cooperation. The dynamics and opportunities brought about by the rise of China can be seen from a number of perspectives. There are some on-going sub-regional economic integration processes and progresses between China and Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). However, the challenge facing East Asia is the fact that China's increasingly dominant role in the region has raised a concern over its uttermost intention and political objective, which may constitute an unknown factor on the process of regional integration in East Asia. For this reason China needs to further improve its soft power in the region. Finally, the paper examines many fundamental differences as well as deep-seated difficulties and obstacles between countries in the region which make the regional integration process in East Asia an uneasy task for the time being. These gaps are too wide to be bridged, such as vast diversities of economic developmental level, political system, cultural value, security concern, and the indispensable role of the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurs are important contributors to a country's economic development and are at the core of every startup ecosystem. Startups have played an important role in the growth of many economies worldwide by generating employment, increasing innovation and bringing competitive dynamics into the business environment. In recent years, more startups are gaining pace by catering to new types of market demand. The present study examines the internal and external factors that influence the success of a startup in different stages. Multiple research works from various prominent publications like Elsevier, Emerald, Taylor, and Francis have been reviewed in this paper. The findings of the study indicate that external factors have more influence on successful startups than internal factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of economic development at the cost of social development has stirred many controversies in the history of independent India. The objective of this paper is to examine the social security of laborers inside the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in India. A cursory reading of the SEZ Act, 2005, does not reveal if the labor legislations in India are same inside and outside the SEZs. The only evident piece of information that the Act is clear about is that labor in the SEZs is subject to a modified regime which aims at non-implementation of labor laws within the SEZs in India. This paper further evaluates the question of formation of trade unions within the SEZs. Further, it evaluates the possibility of the workers going on a strike within the SEZs. The author proposes creation of a new legal regime for the implementation of labor laws within the SEZs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While land acquisition is necessary and inevitable for economic and social development, the power of government to acquire land under the “Doctrine of Eminent Domain" is draconian as well as in violation of human rights of the land owners under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894. This paper discusses the provisions of the much talked-about peoplefriendly Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (RFCTLARR Act, 2013) which is said to imbibe the maxims Salus populi est supreme lex and Necessitas public major est quam privata. The paper also discusses the issues related to implementation of this Act in letter and spirit and how unjust efforts are made to water down the provisions of the RFCTLARR Act, 2013. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to trace the relationship between finance and growth. There are several indicators which represent the degree of financial intermediation such as M3, Real Rate of Interest (RR) and economic growth. In this paper, we have used Time-series methodology such as Unit Root (ADF and Phillips-Perron Tests), Cointegration (developed by Johansen and Juselius), and Granger Pairwise causality. We have checked the presence of unit roots in the data, and all the three variables-Financial Development, RR and Growth Rate-are found to be integrated at first difference. Secondly, Johansen cointegration test results confirm the presence of long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. Finally, the Granger causality supports the hypothesis of 'Finance-led Growth' indicating that the finance is a leading sector in India and is poised for development. This result supports the supply-leading hypothesis for Indian economy for the sample period. These findings have important implications for the conduct of economic policies in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In any developing country, shortage of foreign exchange reserve, which is very essential to pay the import bills, is a common problem. Bangladesh, which depends more on remittances to pay its import bills, is not an exception. Over the last decade, the workers' remittances played a crucial role in the economic development of the country. This paper examines the determinants of remittances in the economy of Bangladesh. Using econometric techniques, this study finds that factors like GDP, crude petroleum price and exchange rate have a significant positive impact on the remittance inflow in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most advanced technologies in the world. This paper attempts to demonstrate how AI is helping in the development of accounting system as per Perrow's sociological framework as a basis for comparative organizational analysis of the impact of expert systems on organizational issues. The study analyzes the relative impact of AI on two different types of accounting works-auditing and tax. Accounting tasks involve a wide range of structured, semi-structured and unstructured decisions. The heart of auditing and assurance involves the less-structured decisions and analyses that include much uncertainty caused by risks and lack of information. The discussion indicates an impact on factors that ultimately improve productivity. In aggregate, it indicates that expert systems are found to allow the user substantial control of search for solutions and discretion on whether to follow system recommendations, increased access to top management, and a decrease in the need for supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate the Indian logistics network and verify the economic growth led by logistics performance. The paper views the logistics network as a unified entity comprising four sub-networks: Information and Communications Technology (ICT), transportation, warehousing, and institutional framework, within which service providers carry out functions of movement, storage and delivery. The hypotheses have been formed on the basis of existing literature and further verified with the help of in-depth discussion on the information. The study finds that the Indian logistics network has a positive relationship with Indian economic growth led by Indian logistics performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of Brexit was hard on the Indian economy affecting many industries, especially the banking sector. This paper empirically analyzes the effect of Brexit on Nifty index returns and two sectoral bank indices returns (includes both public and private sector banks). The time series data of closing prices of CNX Nifty and two sectoral bank indices were taken for a period of 247 days pre- and post-Brexit. The analysis of the data is based on 493 observations using ARCH and GARCH(1,1) model which is tested on all the three distributions--Normal, Student's-t and Generalized Error Distribution (GED) and considered normal distribution results in detail. The results of Ljung-Box test indicate absence of serial correlation and results of ARCH(LM) test indicate absence of ARCH effect, though histogram normality test indicates that residuals are not normally distributed. The test results conclude that there is a significant impact due to Brexit on the stock returns of the Indian banking sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus on business model innovation has increased to a dramatic extent over the last couple of years. This paper contradicts Porter's views about competitive advantage and highlights how business model innovation can serve as a competitive advantage. The study was purely approached from a theoretical perspective, and previous articles and papers based on competitive advantage were reviewed and analyzed in the present context. The study highlights that business model innovation can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage because for rival firms imitating an entire novel system is quite difficult compared to imitating a product or a service. The study also shows that business model innovators earn four times more returns than product and service innovators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stock market is a venue for investors and borrowers to buy and sell securities. It contributes its part intensively to the economic progress of the country. The stock market index shows the financial health of the country. The investment decisions are based on risk and return analysis. The paper focuses on the 30 stocks of S&P BSE Sensex 30 based on the returns offered by the shares, the risk associated with these stocks, and their respective beta factors. For this study, the data is collected from S&P BSE Sensex 30, which comprises the most important indices of the largest and oldest Bombay Stock Exchange of India. The weekly data from April 2009 to March 2019 have been collected and used to calculate the returns, risk and beta factors associated with the 30 stocks listed in S&P BSE Sensex 30. With cluster analysis, 30 are classified into segments based on their respective returns, risk and beta values. Further, for each section, a predictive model for returns has been prepared. The study will be useful for investors to select good performing stocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The legal system induces the economic system, and legal norms have to be assessed in ways that lead to the most competent outcome. National competition laws can converge towards some common points and standards, and as a consequence, there is an effort for competition law enforcement to become extra-territorial over the years because there is a need to internationalize competition law. A constant development of the legal regulation and enforcement of IPRs means a need for continuous revision of an index (zekipr6/zekipr7/zekipr8/zekipr9, zekpat6, zekcopy6, zekmark6) regarding the protection of patents, copyrights, trademarks and in general IPRs. The analysis presented in this paper is focused on the investigation of the developments of law utilized to produce the indexes and the examination of theimpact of IPRs' protection as it is expressed by our indexes upon FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contends that regional integration is now widely accepted as indispensable for expanding economic opportunities in Africa. African nations are vigorously pursuing an integration agenda in order to participate effectively in the globalization process. African leaders therefore view regional integration the most direct route to fast, broad-based economic development, an effective way to overcome the limitations of small internal markets and reduce the high rates of poverty and unemployment plaguing the continent. It is against this background that this paper seeks to achieve the following objectives: to provide conceptual clarification of relevant key terms such as 'regional integration', 'Community law' and 'harmonization' of laws and policies; to examine the nature and scope of the legal regime for regional integration in Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS); to underscore the importance of human rights protection as a principal rationale for regional integration in ECOWAS and the critical role of the Community Court of Justice (ECCJ) in ensuring sustainable regional integration in West Africa; and to conclude with the way forward for ECOWAS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this review is to explore the role of Corporate Volunteerism (CORPVOL) in a wider socioeconomic context. A systematic review of literature was conducted by using an archival method, using existing literature on CORPVOL. The findings of the review reveal that there are seven different roles of CORPVOL from the perspectives of corporations and beneficiaries. They are CORPVOL as a mechanism for economic development, social development, leadership development, empowerment of people, satisfaction and happiness of people, environmental protection and development of job-related skills. By recognizing and appreciating these roles, studies on CORPVOL are poised to improve our understanding of effective corporate volunteering initiatives, and thereby promote advancement towards sustainable development. These findings increase the value and significance of CORPVOL in the modern corporate context. Finally, the contribution of this paper lies in extending the scope and depth of CORPVOL in materializing economic, social and environmental performance of individuals, societies, organizations and nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper highlights the importance of the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) in the era of cut-throat competition among companies. 25 years ago, the Indian government through its policy of liberalization and globalization paved the way for foreign companies to enter Indian market which imposed the challenge of increased competition. Today, the Indian companies face universal competition on the one hand, and a pressure to offer a wide range of products at economical price, on the other. This has resulted in decreasing profitable growth and companies are driven to compete primarily on cost. But only cost negotiation is not sufficient to outstay and compete in the global marketplace. It is time for companies to look into value innovation by adopting new marketing concepts like BOS. In this paper, the author analyzes the BOS in the Indian branded sesame oil industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of insurance has been prevalent in India since ancient times and has a great social significance. Insurance contributes to the economic growth of a nation, and it has evolved as a process to safeguard the interests of people from loss and uncertainty, and plays a major role in reducing the risk of loss of life and property. In today's competitive market the insurance companies design and market various insurance products to cater to the changing needs of people, business and industry. In the process, they have to design insurance products which have market viability and also capture the attention of the people, where security is the prime motivating factor. While insurance companies design and price the product, IRDA, a regulatory body regulates the same. Without IRDA's prior approval, no new policies could be launched or priced by the insurance companies. Marketing of insurance products is more complex in the present scenario, and products are regulated by a three-tier model--designing, pricing and marketing. The present paper deals with these phases along with the latest IRDA regulations pertaining to the insurance products and pricing. It further discusses the enormous efforts and challenges faced by insurance companies in planning and designing insurance products in the country and the major role played by IRDA in protecting the interests of the insurance policy holders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To maintain healthy banking practices, the Reserve Bank of India formulates and executes a monetary policy with clear-cut goals and tools to be used. Monetary policy is one of the important tools of economic management in India. This paper makes an attempt to study whether policy rates have any impact on BSE Bankex. The relationship between the Banking index and various banking reserve rates is determined using correlation and multiple regression analyses. BSE-Bankex is used as a representative for banking index, whereas Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), Repo Rate (RR) and Reverse Repo Rate (RRR) are used for banking reserve rates. The study is descriptive and empirical in nature. The data is collected through secondary sources, mostly through websites and RBI reports. The findings reveal that the policy rates do not have a significant impact on BSE Bankex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between inflation, inflation volatility and economic growth for India, using both Consumer Price Index (CPI) for industrial workers and Wholesale Price Index (WPI). The study using annual data over the period 1980-2014, reveals that the level of inflation (both CPI and WPI) has negative but insignificant effect on economic growth. To analyze the impact of inflation uncertainty on growth, the study calculates inflation volatility as the fivepoint moving average of coefficient of variation of inflation. The results show that the coefficient of inflation volatility is negative and significant. This signifies that high inflation and inflation uncertainty adversely affect economic growth. Granger causality test is also used to measure the direction of causality between inflation and growth. When CPI is used as a measure of inflation, at an optimal lag length 3, there is no causality between inflation and growth. As more lags are added, the results indicate unidirectional causality from GDP growth to inflation. With WPI, the results show that causality runs from GDP growth to inflation at lag 1, which is found to be optimal. However, WPI inflation and GDP growth are found to be independent of each other as more lags are added to the model during the period of study. Hence, reducing inflation and maintaining price stability is imperative for economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship is the key driver of the country's economy. It is one of the best means for triggering economic and social development in developing countries like India. It provides employment to huge mass of people and also creates wealth for nation. India is the nation known for its youth population which is considered as its greatest asset, and at the same time, the biggest threat is youth unemployment. Hence, developing entrepreneurial skills among youth is more important for the growth of Indian economy. But surprisingly, youth is attracted less towards entrepreneurship as compared to other professions. This paper focuses on analyzing the entrepreneurial traits in youth and the socioeconomic factors influencing youth entrepreneurship. The paper helps in finding ways for promoting youth entrepreneurship and boosting the growth of the Indian economy as well. The research concludes that the potential of Indian youth is huge which should be properly harnessed and they should be properly channeled to be involved in entrepreneurship with ample support and encouragement from the family, society, government and educational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Franchising in India is growing at a very fast rate and becoming a popular business model. Franchising, a form of entrepreneurship, could be a growth engine for the Indian economy in the coming years. The growing market has attracted foreign investors and India has become an important investment destination for the global retail chains. Globalization, liberalization and privatization have particularly changed retailing and resulted in the emergence of a new environment suiting consumers' changed attitude and purchasing practices. India is the second most attractive retail destination globally among the 30 emergent markets. The present paper makes an attempt to study the growth and prospects of retail franchising in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to examine the relative effect of tax policy reforms on economic growth with a view to analyzing whether tax burden and tax mix have direct or indirect association with economic growth in Nigeria using annual data from 1970-2012. Error Correction Mechanism (ECM) and cointegration technique of analysis are utilized to analyze the data and draw policy inferences. The empirical results show that both tax burden (t = 17.78, p < 0.05) and tax mix (t = 7.48, p < 0.05) are found to be statistically significant but negatively associated with economic growth in Nigeria. The study found that higher taxes are strongly correlated with reduced economic growth and that the policy reforms that reduced tax burden and tax mix by shifting from direct tax to indirect and equally improving on tax administration and tax collections would enhance economic growth in Nigeria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study assessed the factors influencing economic development and entrepreneurship ecosystem using log-linear regression models. It used global entrepreneurship index score as a proxy variable for entrepreneurship ecosystem, and per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a representative variable for economic development in the regression analysis. It compiled a cross-sectional imbalanced panel data of dependent and explanatory variables for 106 countries during 2006-2019. The models showed that entrepreneurship ecosystem and economic development were positively associated with business density rate, business extent of disclosure index, exports of goods and services, Foreign Direct Investment Net Inflows (FDINI), individuals using the Internet and market exchange rate. Further, entrepreneurship ecosystem was positively associated with economic development and vice versa. Entrepreneurship ecosystem and economic development have a cause-and-effect relationship with each other. The results also show a diverse impact of economic development and entrepreneurship ecosystems in developed and developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a new dataset of construction investment in countries across the world for the period 2000-2011, this paper provides novel evidence of a bell-shaped relationship between the share of construction in GDP and economic development. The relative level of construction activity tends to increase in developing countries, to peak during industrialization and to decrease at a slowing pace in industrialized countries, approaching stabilization in mature economies. The curve fits better if economic development is measured by alternative indicators instead of per capita GDP, namely, life expectancy and an Economic Development Index (EDI) which takes into account per capita income, life expectancy, maternal mortality ratio and the share of agriculture in employment. On average, the peak in construction activity is reached at a per capita income level of almost €5,000 (at PPP, 2011 prices), or when life expectancy in the country has reached around 67 years. At its peak, construction accounts for about 14% of a country's GDP. The curve is robust to the inclusion of control variables. Population density, demographic growth and credit expansion do not explain cross-country variation in the share of construction in output, while there is weak evidence that a less concentrated income distribution is positively related to the size of the construction sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to assess the development of the pricing of statutory audits in Malta over time, with a view of changes in its determinants, the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and other potentially significant events. The findings reveal that there seems to be a general difficulty in realigning the audit fee in response to variations in its drivers, with a degree of price rigidity or stickiness being attributed to elements of imperfect competition and imperfect information in the market. The study also suggests the prevalence of implicit contracts between audit firms other than the Big 4 and their audit clients in order to mitigate the increase in audit fees expected since the recent GFC from 2008. Such behavior needs to be studied more deeply to understand its pervasiveness across other microstates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the well-studied areas in development economics is the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and economic growth. Recently, a renewed interest has been observed in growth determinants and externality-led growth, with the advent of endogenous growth theories (Barro, 1991; and Barro and Sala-i-Martin, 1995). Under this framework, it is more plausible to include FDI as one of the determinants of long-run economic growth. The present paper investigates the relationship (long run and short run) between economic growth, FDI and exports for the US economy. To achieve this objective, Johansen maximum likelihood procedure is used. The results show the presence of one cointegrating vector. Further, the results of Bai-Perron test reveal two structural breaks, and that of block exogeneity Wald test show causality running from exports to GDP and FDI, and also from GDP to FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is being increasingly accepted that a primary source of competitive advantage of a firm is a responsive supply chain. Responsiveness of the supply chain or the ability to react to sudden or immediate changes in the marketplace depends on effective coordination of the activities of the chain members and seamless integration of the business processes of the firm. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrative framework relating to chain responsiveness, process integration, supply chain coordination and performance. An illustration from the garment manufacturing industry is presented to understand the role of responsiveness and process integration in supply chain coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing entrepreneurial skills among youth is more important for the growth of an economy like India. It will create employment opportunities and increase the country's exports, which in turn will lead to improvement in the standard of living. The important skill with regard to the development of entrepreneurs is the entrepreneurial traits. The present paper analyzes whether the entrepreneurial traits among the commerce students of Arts and Science colleges in Theni district play an important role in developing their own establishments. The study also seeks to find out if there is any relationship between socioeconomic factors and the level of entrepreneurial traits. The paper concludes that entrepreneurial traits are important factors in developing prospective entrepreneurs and creating new ventures, and the educational institutions as well as the government should lend a helping hand to the students in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power shift is an important aspect of international relations. The 21st century shows the possibility of the shift of power to the East. One of the key drivers of this process is China. It promotes the dictum of peaceful rise and attitude that favors globalization. Policies such as economic modernization through higher interaction with the world is one aspect. Its GDP has surpassed that of the US. The trade deficit of US with China is tragic. At the military level, spending has gone up. Along with this, China uses diplomacy for its advancement. The new projects like OBOR must be seen in this context. China is increasing its presence in Africa, especially with regard to its energy needs. In controversial issues such as the Korean issue, China's voice is considered as important by other nations. Now China has moved to another field called soft power projection. These will have adverse impact on the position of the US and over the world in areas such as environment, energy security and economic structure. This paper analyzes the concept of power transition in the context of rise of China as a global power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Entrepreneurship development requires a network of different elements, and this network is known as the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Entrepreneurship ecosystem refers to the elements-individuals, organizations or institutions- outside of the entrepreneur that motivate or impede a person's decision to become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship ecosystems include the financial environment, government tax and support policies, government programs, infrastructure, dynamics and market capacities, basic and excellent education, Research and Development (R&D), and cultural and social norms. Improving the entrepreneurship ecosystem can boost economic growth through increased incentives for entrepreneurship and the development of small and medium-sized businesses. In this paper, the effect of elements of Iran's entrepreneurship ecosystem has been studied. The study is based on the data obtained from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) reports, academic publications, reports, and publications of government agencies and other stakeholders in the field of entrepreneurship in Iran and outside. To this end, according to the 2007-2017 Global Entrepreneurship Survey on Entrepreneurship and the World Bank's Report on GDP, the problems of the Iranian entrepreneurship ecosystem, which hampered the economic growth, were examined. Based on the problems identified, it is suggested that existence of an organization with well-defined and transparent rules for financing entrepreneurs can save from the turbulent financial environment. Further, creating dynamic communication centers for linking industries and universities can improve the R&D transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to Artificial Intelligence (AI), myths are spreading faster than the technology itself is advancing. Left unchecked, they could inspire fears that undermine the technology's progress to the detriment of economic growth and social progress. AI is a branch of computer science that overlaps with other areas of study, including robotics, natural language processing, and computer vision. While AI has become commonplace, the public still has a poor understanding of the technology. As a result, a diverse cast of critics, driven by fear, opportunism or ignorance, has jumped into the intellectual vacuum to warn policymakers that, sooner than we think, AI will produce a parade of horribles. Indeed, these voices have grown so loud that their narratives may soon be accepted as truth. Needless to say, when AI is so demonized, there is a real risk that policymakers will seek to retard its progress. The truth is that AI systems are tools in the service of humans, and we can use them to make our lives vastly better. Given the promise that innovation in AI holds for economic growth and societal advancement, it is critical that policymakers actively support its further development and use. The paper provides a primer on AI and debunks five prevailing myths that, if accepted, threaten to slow or undermine its progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial services should be made available at affordable costs to all segments of the society. Moreover, as banking services are in the nature of public good, it is essential that they are available to the entire population without any discrimination. Then only total financial inclusion can be achieved. According to Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the 'National Mission on Financial Inclusion' launched in August 2014, technology can play a major role in financial inclusion in the country. The main hurdle to financial inclusion in India is the large population and low volumes, thus leading to unnecessary costs. The only way to bring down costs to an affordable level and to improve the reach of financial services to the remotest corner of the country is by effectively leveraging technology, specifically mobile technology. The mobile phone revolution that is transforming our country could also turn into a banking revolution in terms of reach and transaction. Moreover, with the advent of smartphones, almost all banking transactions are now possible through mobile banking. In India, mobile banking has received a thrust from both RBI and Government of India. However, its overall penetration remains low. This paper makes an attempt to highlight the findings of research carried out by the author to analyze the usage of mobile banking at two separate time intervals-pre-PMJDY (before the yojana) and post-PMJDY - in a specific Indian state. The author also provides suggestions as to how to leverage this technology and improve its penetration to further financial inclusion in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to examine the relative version of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) for Indian rupee against the currency of its leading trade partners, the US and Great Britain, using quantile regression and semi-parametric wavelet-based regression. These methodologies provide a fresh look into the hypothesis of PPP over well-defined quantiles of nominal exchange rate and over different time scales. At higher quantiles of exchange rate, there is some evidence for the parity to hold for rupee-pound exchange rate. Similarly, at higher time scales (lower frequency), the parity relation is evident for rupee-dollar and rupee-pound exchange rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study largely attempts to examine the spillover from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Indian manufacturing by using the firm-level data for the period 2000- 2009. With the use of Cobb-Douglas-type production function, it is observed that for the entire manufacturing sector, the impact of FDI on output growth is positive and significant. The result indicates that the increase in foreign equity at firm level and at sector level directly affects the productivity growth of the firm. However this does not hold true when analyzed at sector level. The paper also attempts to find the possible reason for positive spillover by analyzing some more factors of the present dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between the returns volatility, volume and open interest of the futures market. Both volume and open interest are broken down into their respective expected and unexpected components to understand as to which is able to explain the volatility. The study is conducted on daily closing index futures prices, volume and open interest for the near-month contract of the Nifty Futures Index on National Stock Exchange (NSE). GARCH-type models are used to model the volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trickle down of growth from one region to another or spillover effect is implicit in the very idea of 'balanced regional development' which has always been one of the declared objectives of national policy in India. This paper is an attempt to analyze the performance of northeastern states in India in terms of their Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) growth and also to examine the growth spillover effects among the same for the period 1981-2007. The results of the study reveal that there is a considerable variation in the performance of individual states in terms of NSDP growth, with most states growing faster than the regional average. Also, a mixture of trickling down and polarization effects of economic growth is found within the northeastern region. Neither of the two opposite hypotheses holds in general. The present study contributes to the literature by exploring the dynamics of growth linkages among the northeastern states in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In comparison to the rest of the world, the Indian economy has done reasonably well during the global economic crisis and has registered a stable economic growth. However, relatively high economic growth coexists with the presence of widespread deprivation and exclusion. Higher education plays an important role in maintaining the stability in our economy as well as in strengthening the human capital. This paper questions how far the state is able to include all sectors in the economic growth process. What is the role of knowledge economy in strengthening human capability, while targeting to provide inclusive education? Mainly, this paper tries to find out the educational accessibility of marginal communities at the higher education level, compared to the economic growth rate of India. This paper also tries to highlight the importance of human capital formation, assurance of social development, and maintaining equity in education. In the methodological section, the content analysis method is applied to analyze the data from secondary sources. The major data sources are economic survey, NCERT reports and different educational statistics. The finding of this paper shows that the high economic growth has failed to place the marginal communities on the platform of higher education in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A decade of studies at the firm and country level has reliably shown that the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investment on labor productivity and economic growth is significant and positive. At both the firm and the country level, greater investment in ICT is related with greater productivity growth. At the firm level, the paper concludes that the wide range of performance of ICT investments among different organizations can be explained by complementary investments in organizational capital such as dispersed decision-making systems, job training and business process redesign. ICT is more importantly an enabler of organizational changes that can lead to additional productivity gains. In mid-2000, ICT capital investment began to fall abruptly due to slowing economic growth, the collapse of many internet-related firms, and reductions in ICT spending by other firms facing fewer competitive pressures from internet firms. This reduction in ICT investment has had overwhelming effects on the ICT-producing sector, and may lead to slower economic and productivity growth in the India economy. While the turmoil in the technology sector has been unsettling to investors and executives alike, this review shows that it should not overshadow the important vicissitudes that have occurred as a result of firms' investments in ICT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between health expenditure and economic growth has drawn the attention of economists for many years both at the theoretical and empirical level. This paper investigates the possible dynamic relation between Healthcare Expenditure (HCE) and economic growth by applying Johansen and Juselius cointegration method and Granger causality methods by using state-level data from four Southern Indian states namely, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu for the period 1960-2009. The evidence suggests that there is no long-run relation among the variables studied for all four states. However, in Andhra Pradesh, a unidirectional causality runs from economic growth to health expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates Chinese aid relationship with Africa with a view to analyze its motivations, attendant problems and pluses. Issues that border on Sino-African relations are no doubt gaining increased currency both in the academic and official discourses. One of the dominant factors in this over-debated China-Africa dealings is aid which flows exclusively from China to Africa. China's rapid economic growth has noticeably been accompanied with impressive roles in Africa manifesting in the form of aid, aid projects, and other forms of economic assistance. This aid-giving has concomitantly been assailed with accusations. China's intentions and practice of giving aid to Africa have been questioned especially by the West, who posit that the Chinese modusoperandi undermine their efforts at encouraging reforms and bringing about genuine economic development and stability in Africa. This paper, therefore, historicizes China's aid to Africa within the broad framework of Sino-African relations, and explores its accompanying gains and pains to Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ASEAN has a vision to form a single community by 2020. Thus, ASEAN integration has been a topic of great interest but unfortunately, attention has been over-focused on economic aspect. This paper aims to study the specific aspect of ASEAN banking sector integration with three objectives. Firstly, the paper aims to compare the ASEAN countries' respective commitments to its own members through ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) against their commitments to the world under General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Secondly, it aims to evaluate the readiness of ASEAN for banking sector integration using statistical approach. Thirdly, the statistical results from the second objective are utilized to construct an indicator of readiness for ASEAN banking sector integration. The results reveal that ASEAN countries' commitments to AFAS did not differ much from their respective commitments to GATS. Statistical evidence shows that there are vast differences in monetary conditions between ASEAN countries, hence causing difficulties for onestep total integration. Therefore, 'paired-integration' is proposed based on the results of 'readiness indicator'. The results reveal that optimal pairing for Malaysia is Thailand, followed by Philippines and Singapore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]