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In recent years, progress in digitalisation and foreign direct investment has caused many structural changes, reorganisation in economics, rising productivity, globalisation, and increasing trade or international investment flows, which have led to increased capital flows and information availability. Therefore, this research investigated the impact of digitalisation and foreign direct investment on economic growth in developed countries. Panel data analysis was applied to data of 16 developed countries, from 2006 until 2019. The findings show that digitalisation - presented by mobile cellular and internet users - and foreign direct investment positively impacted economic growth, thus they strongly contribute to advancing the economy and increasing welfare. Therefore, developed countries have been learning about the critical role of technology and capital, as stated by economists over several decades, and developing countries can copy their policies into their own economic strategies.

The current economic uncertainty, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, has affected the global socio-economy. In Malaysia, to curb the spread of Covid-19 viruses, the government has implemented the Movement Control Order (MCO). This action has caused many SMEs (including micro-enterprises) not to be able to continue their operations as usual, mainly due to cash flow problems, operational instability and supply chain disruptions. Micro-enterprises are a significant contributor to local economic development. Hence, business continuity strategies are essential for these enterprises to continue and survive in the market. The government has introduced various methods to support these businesses. Meanwhile, virtuous strategic planning and management can improve the management's governance and integrity in making accurate decisions to achieve their goals. The implementation of digital marketing can upsurge the sale of micro-enterprises. This study intended to examine the relationship between government support, governance & strategic planning, operational restructuring and digital marketing with micro-enterprises business survival. This study uses a quantitative method with a total of 135 respondents among the owner of micro-enterprises in Complex Pekan Rabu, Kedah. Government support, governance & strategic planning and digital marketing were found to be survival determinants factors during the covid-19 pandemic.

Purpose The persistent increase in household indebtedness is an alarming issue that is becoming a major concern for economists and governments in developing nations. Although household consumption is an essential source of economic growth, households’ failure to meet their financial obligations will be one of the causes of economic problems if the increase in consumption is largely financed by household borrowing. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the nexus between households’ indebtedness and consumption and the roles of household characteristics. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a microdata set of the Household Expenditure and Income Survey in 2019, which contained a simple random sampling of 4,730 households. Findings Using a simultaneous equations model, our results show a negative nexus between households’ consumption and their indebtedness. We find that household savings and size have an indirect impact on the debt service ratio, while the assets and total debt repayment instalments indirectly influence household consumption. We also identify differences in the relationship between the gender of the household head, rural and urban locations and income groups in consumption and indebtedness. Research limitations/implications The implication of this study is that governments should adopt several programmes to increase the awareness of household financial and debt management, especially for those in the low-income group. Originality/value This study contributes to the empirical literature by establishing a microeconomic perspective of consumption and an indebtedness model focusing on the differences in household characteristics in explaining consumption and indebtedness.

PurposeThis study examined the economic and social impact of Malaysian universities on their communities from stakeholders' perspectives. It analysed whether university stakeholders' spending, human capital (HC) and knowledge exploration (KE) will impact aggregate income (AI), quality of life (QOL) and business growth (BG) in surrounding communities.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted among 540 university stakeholders from the southern, northern and eastern regions of Malaysia, representing the alumni, community and industry. Data were subjected to factor analysis using structural equation modelling (SEM).FindingsResults showed that universities impacted communities' economic development and wellbeing, thereby fulfilling their community-related role.Originality/valueThis study addressed universities' role in communities' economic growth and social development. Universities' contributions towards communities can be improved through the proposed model, which suggests ways to maximise their impact. A more detailed study of a particular university is needed to identify other factors that can strengthen universities' impact, even at national and global levels.

The premium is a deterministic function to compensate for losses due to random events and it is an essential part of an insurance company operation. Numerous issues are faced by the Takaful operator in the practice of insurance, one of them is “validity of life insurance” which is still under discussion among Islamic scholars. Their conversation leads to the issue of approach which are utilised by the Takaful operator to create a sales illustration product. Based on their current discussion, there are still some hidden elements and some missing points related to the concept of loss and surplus sharing utilised by Takaful operator. Therefore, this paper focuses on the practice of Family Takaful for producing the sale illustration product which Shariah compliant. The study develops a new model of the premium for an equity-linked policy (Unit-linked product) by considering the properties of Takaful contracts namely Tabarru and Mudarabah. It aims to ensure that a new model developed can comprehensively demonstrate Shariah compliance. The model adapted and derived from the current Takaful Business Model. We add several assumptions to implicate the approach in a real problem associated with the ratio of profit-sharing (Mudarabah) and loss-sharing (Tabarru). Secondary data are used to test and produce a sales illustration product by utilising a new integrated model of the premium developed. Based on the empirical results, a new model of premium is used to create a sales illustration product that comprehensively complies with Shariah and also more profitable and beneficial when compared with a standard approach used by Takaful operator.

PurposeThis study aims to develop an educational tourism demand model, particularly in respect to dynamic effects, university quality (QU) and competitor countries. Educational tourism has been identified as a new tourism sub-sector with high potential, and is thus expected to boost economic growth and sustainability.Design/methodology/approachThis study reviews the literature on the determinants of educational tourism demand. Even though the existing literature is intensively discussed, mostly focusing on the educational tourism demand from an individual consumer's perspective, this study makes an innovation in line with the aggregate demand view. The study uses data that consist of the enrolment of international students from 47 home countries who studied in Malaysia from 2008 to 2017. The study utilised the dynamic panel method of analysis.FindingsThis study affirms that income per capita, educational tourism price, price of competitor countries and quality of universities based on accredited programmes and world university ranking are the determinants of educational tourism demand in both the short and the long term. Also, a dynamic effect exists in educational tourism demand.Research limitations/implicationsThe results imply that government should take the quality of services for existing students, price decisions and QU into account to promote the country as a tertiary education hub and achieve sustainable development.Originality/valueResearch on the determinants of the demand for educational tourism is rare in terms of macro data, and this study includes the roles of QU, competitor countries and dynamic effects.

The aim of this study is to develop basic artificial neural network models in forecasting the in-sample gross domestic product (GDP) of Malaysia. GDP is one of the main indicators in presenting the macro economic condition of a country as set by the world authority bodies such as the World Bank. Hence, this study uses an artificial neural network-based approach to make predictions concerning the economic growth of Malaysia. This method has been proposed due to its ability to overcome multicollinearity among variables, as well as the ability to cope with non-linear problems in Malaysia’s growth data. The selected inputs and outputs are based on the previous literatures as well as the economic growth theory. Therefore, the selected inputs are exports, imports, private consumption, government expenditure, consumer price index (CPI), inflation rate, foreign direct investment (FDI) and money supply, which includes M1 and M2. Whilst, the output is real gross domestic product growth rate. The results of this study showed that the neural network method gives the smallest value of mean error which is 0.81 percent with a total difference of 0.70 percent. This implies that the neural network model is appropriate and is a relevant method in forecasting the economic growth of Malaysia.

The aim of this study is to find out the time-series nexus of public debt and economic growth in Malaysia. For an upper-middle income country, Malaysia had experienced over 50% ratio of debt to GDP since 2009 until now. The question arises is whether this trend is healthy to the economy. With a focus into the debt-to-GDP ratio from 1970-2015, this study investigates the short-run and long-run relationship between public debt and economic growth in Malaysia. This study used secondary data by collecting time-series data (1970-2015) from the World Bank Data and Bank Negara Malaysia. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model is applied in this study to examine the relationship between debt and economic growth. Based on ARDL framework, it shows that there is a long-run effect between the debt and economic growth in Malaysia. While the significance value of Error Correction Term shows that there is a long-run adjustment in the short run. Generally, this study found government expenditures, in the long run, strongly influence the GDP per capita. Through the findings, the government expenditures could increase the GDP per capita. The study also reveals that any increment of the debt ratio will result in reduction of the GDP per capita.

This article presents internet and mobile technology (IMT) usage during the pandemic and examines its impact on Malaysian workers' work-life balance. This study also included the Malaysian local value, namely Ugahari, and its role in shaping individual work and personal/family life behavior. The operationalization of variables was developed based on the work-life balance from permeability and flexibility, type of work-life balance consequences, and the theory of planned behavior utilized for local wisdom to characterize the respondents. Data were collected through online surveys and distributed to industries and government agencies in the Urban Area of Malaysia. There are 466 valid and complete questionnaires. The data set has been collected as a reference source for further research regarding the role of local value ''Ugahari, especially on work-life balance.

Malaysia is targeting to becoming a develop nation by 2020. However, income disparity between the developed and less developed states in Malaysia has persisted for more than 50 years without any sign of narrowing the gap in the future. Despite the various Malaysia Development Plans for the past several decades, regional disparity between states remains. Thus, the objective of the present paper is to address the question whether the less developed states, namely; Kedah, Kelantan, Pahang, Perlis, Sabah, Sarawak and Terengganu are catching-up with the more richer state of Selangor. Using annual data for the period 1970 to 2013, by employing the error-correction model our results suggests that there is cointegration and thus, imply convergence between less developed states and Selangor. Our catch-up analyses suggest that there is narrowing of disparity between Selangor and the less developed states. In this respect, the state government has an important role to play in enhancing growth by continuously providing stable economic environment for investment and other productive economic activities. This will ensure full convergence can take place at a faster rate in the future.

This article presents data on digital adoption by enterprises in Malaysian industrial sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data were collected during the periods of Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) and Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) from October 11 to December 31, 2020. Data collection was completed through an online questionnaire survey conducted among a sample of 432 enterprises from four industrial sectors, namely services, retail, manufacturing, and tourism, in all states in Malaysia. The sample was selected using cluster and systematic random sampling. The questionnaire asked respondents to state whether they used the Internet, computers, phones, web sites, e-payment, and e-commerce to complete their activities relating to finance, production and operations, human resource management, and marketing. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation. The data show the extent of digital adoption by Malaysian enterprises during the pandemic in comparison to the situation before the pandemic. The data may be of use to other similar researchers as comparison and to policy makers as guides in devising related policies.

The objective of this research is to develop a financial system stability index and analyze the internal and external factors that we expect to affect the stability of the Indonesian financial system. We measured the single model of financial system stability index (FSSI) from year 2004M03 to2014M09 in Indonesia, and compiled a single quantitative measure based on aggregate internal factors and external factors to capture and predict the shocks of the financial system stability. Stability parameters were composed of composite indicators on different bases. In addition, we developed a comprehensive index component associated with the relevant market conditions, including banking soundness index, financial vulnerability index, and regional economic climate index. Results stated that US economic growth and economic growth of ASEAN countries positively affected financial stability. In addition, current account, exchange rate, inflation, interest rate were shown to negatively affect financial stability. The results of this study imply that internal factors have a strong influence on the financial stability. Therefore, the central bank should give a fast and correct response to the changes of external and internal financial environment, especially for internal factors through monetary policy. Keywords: Financial System Stability Index, Banking Soundness Index, Financial Vulnerability index, Regional Economic Climate Index

Since the early 21st century, the educational tourism sector has been growing rapidly especially in developing countries and it is one of the major sources of export in a number of developed countries. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to determine the impact of educational tourism on economic growth with controlling the impact of exports of goods and foreign direct investment. A panel dataset of 11 countries was selected as the main group in international education exporter for the years 2002-2017 and this study utilised static panel data analysis. The results found that educational tourism and exports have positive impact on economic growth. The study also found that there is a country specific effect through different constant. This study proved that other than exports of goods, certain countries can benefit from the educational tourism sector as the new engine of economic sustainability.

In the finance literature, the relationship between capital structure and firm value has been extensively investigated, both theoretically and empirically. The main issue on corporate finance is how firms dealing with the important decision of capital structure. In this study, a model of capital structure is formulated in which corporate tax and zakat payment exist by firms into the consideration of combination of debt and equity. The theoretical model as shown by comparative statics prove the implication which is negatively relationship between leverage of the firm and the corporate zakat payment. Meanwhile, the empirical evidence reveals several implication as follows, (1) tax deduction reduces the current liability item relative to the firms that prefer equity financing, (2) the significant of zakat is consistent with the theoretical model that zakat would encourage firm to issue more equity than debt, (3) the strong significant relationship between return on assets with the leverage are the leading indicator of capital structure in all models. Keywords: C apital structure, C orporate tax, Z akat JEL Classification: C33, G32, H2

Livelihood in river settings may appear simple, but upon closer examination, it is multifaceted and dynamic. The elements of uncertainty in sustaining a satisfactory livelihood are always present. The concept of resilience is about individuals, households or groups making a living and attempting to satisfy their consumption and economic necessities, surviving with uncertainties and responding to new opportunities. The earlier approaches in livelihood studies regarded poor people as inactive or passive victims. However, the trend has changed with greater interest to study on the survival strategies of the poor. In particular, consideration is given to the living experiences of households and the community. The objective of this study is to apply the concept of resilience as a diagnostic approach to the understanding of rural communities’ livelihoods. The analysis highlights the resilience aspects of the rural community and their livelihood strategies for comfortable living.

Islamic financial instruments are subject to taxes and zakat for Muslim shareholders and debt holders. Therefore, it is important to investigate the implementation of corporate taxes and corporate zakat in capital structure compositions. In order to model corporate zakat in terms of conventional capital structure theories, this study will discuss the conventional view of those theories in depth. The introduction of zakat are based on the conventional static trade-off theory developed by previous researchers Keywords : wealth tax; optimal capital structure; Islamic financial instrument.

The stock market has become a significant role in the economy and has attracted investor's attention, as it is to generate funds and make an investment decision for companies and investors as well. Therefore, the objective of this study is to study the effect of the money supply, exchange rate, interest spread and stock market in the short and long run and volatility issue. The study employed monthly data, from January 1997 to August 2018. Method analysis is the Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) and GARCH model. The findings stated that the money supply, real effective exchange rate, interest spread, had a long-run effect on the performance of the stock market. Money supply and the real effective exchange rate had a positive effect on the stock market performance in the short run. Conversely, the interest spread showed a negative influent on the stock market performance in the short run. The volatility indicated a high persistence between the money supply, real effective exchange rate, interest spread and stock market (KLCI). The implication of the study is the investors or policymakers should take account the changes of interest rate and exchange rate before making stock investment or policy to stabilize the stock market performance.Keywords: Performance, Money Supply, Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER), Interest Spread

The purpose of this paper is to study the implementation of social enterprise towards empowering the wellbeing of bottom 40 group (B40) in Malaysia. It provides an overview of the existing literature in this subject area and focuses on the ability of social innovation in empowering the B40 group. Thus, in order to elevate the B40 groups towards a middle-class society, three strategies were identified in the 11th Malaysia Plan (11th MP). One of the strategies is by developing community and social-based enterprises. As stated in 11th MP, a systematic approach shall be introduced to develop community and social enterprise based on the cooperative model to carry out activities for B40 groups in urban areas. By applying the principles of social innovation into the social enterprise framework, it can move social innovators towards sustainability and self-sufficiency. This conceptual paper contains definitions, concepts, and also the characteristics of building social enterprise in businesses with emphasis on social innovation. In addition, it also states the development of basic concepts, instruments, and dimensions in social innovation principles, and also discusses strategic and systematic plans for the B40 community. Results indicated that social innovation is important in empowering the B40 community through social enterprise and can give more impact to fulfill social needs in Malaysia.