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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the channels through which Islamic and/or conventional banking can spur economic growth in MENA region. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a range of developed econometric approaches, including panel cointegration technique, panel Granger causality test and a panel-based vector error correction model (VECM), to analyze explicitly all the causal relationships among Islamic banking, conventional banking development and economic growth in a unified framework. Findings The empirical results show that Islamic banking in MENA countries not only leads to economic growth but also affects positively and significantly conventional banking development. Thus, Islamic banking has an active role and could be classified as “supply-following” since its development only leads to economic growth, whereas conventional banking, with passive role, could be classified as “demand-following” since it only reacts to economic growth in long run. Research limitations/implications The study has two principal limitations. It is conducted within a relatively limited time period and sample of countries. Also, the used models did not take into account the impact of others financial and macroeconomic variables like stock market development, interest rate, inflation and financial crisis. Practical implications The results have two main implications. First, in MENA countries, well-functioning Islamic banking sector could not only promote economic growth but also can be served as a development factor for their conventional one. Second, unlike conventional banks, the customer of Islamic banks seems not to be motivated by interest and profits. Rather religious factors are recommended as the main motive for investing and saving in Islamic banks. Originality/value The study tries to perceive whether there exists a substitution or complementarity effect between Islamic and conventional banking in promoting economic growth for MENA countries. This situation is neither revealed nor clarified in the relevant literature.

This article empirically examines the existence of inter-sectoral growth linkages among the key sectors of the Indian economy at the state level. The examination evaluates the impact of the non-agricultural sectors of the states and that of the rest of the states on agricultural output of a particular state. An annual panel data set for 15 general category states have been taken for the period 1980–1981 to 2012–2013. Panel cointegration and fully modified ordinary least square methods have been used to study the existence of a long-run equilibrium relationship between sectors. The results suggest that there is a long-run equilibrium relationship among three sectors of the economy in the Indian states. The evaluation indicates that the industrial sector contributes positively in complementing the growth of agriculture, but the service sector advancement affects agricultural growth negatively. However, services having some direct reference to agriculture such as transport, storage and communication (TSC), trade, hotel and restaurant (THR) and banking and insurance (BI) have positive linkage with agriculture. The state specific econometric evaluation of the agricultural output varies relatively across different states, for example, in Kerala, the impact of rest of the industries and services leaves a positive significance; whereas, the study foresees the negative impact of industry and services in the states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Rajasthan. In order to neutralize the negative linkages of service sector on agriculture, policies for promoting pro-agricultural services such as crop and agricultural insurance, agricultural loans, facilities for agricultural warehouse, marketing services, weather communication, transport services and provision of technical support to farm activities are important. Such initiatives can help agricultural sector grow along in the simultaneous development of sectors propelling growth of the economy at a faster rate.

This study examines the export-growth linkages for selected Asian developingcountries for the period of 1975-2008. To test the causal relationship between exportsand growth, this study employs panel unit root tests (IPS, LLC and Hadri), Larsson etal. (2001) likelihood-based panel co-integration technique, FMOLS by Pedroni (2001)and Hurlin and Venet (2001) panel causality test. The result of panel co-integrationrank test confirms the existence of unique co integration relation between economicgrowth and exports in selected Asian developing countries. The estimated results ofFMOLS shows that during a long period of time to export more, higher growth isrequired. The results based on panel homogenous causality hypothesis shows thesignificant effect of economic growth on export in selected panel. While the results onpanel non-homogenous causality hypothesis show the existence of bi-directionalcausality between economic growth and exports. However, the empirical results onheterogeneous causality hypothesis show that the causality is found running fromeconomic growth to exports in case of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia and fromexports to economic growth in Malaysia and Thailand. Bidirectional causality alsoexists in case of India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia while neutral hypothesis is found incase of Bangladesh.

Author(s): Devine, SM; O'Geen, AT; Larsen, RE; Dahlke, HE; Liu, H; Jin, Y; Dahlgren, RA | Abstract: Given the complex topography of California rangelands, contrasting microclimates affect forage growth at catchment scales. However, documentation of microclimate–forage growth associations is limited, especially in Mediterranean regions experiencing pronounced climate change impacts. To better understand microclimate–forage growth linkages, we monitored forage productivity and root-zone soil temperature and moisture (0–15 and 15–30ncm) in 16 topographic positions in a 10-ha annual grassland catchment in California's Central Coast Range. Data were collected through two strongly contrasting growing seasons, a wet year (2016–17) with 287-mm precipitation and a dry year (2017–18) with 123-mm precipitation. Plant-available soil water storage (0–30ncm) was more than half full for most of the wet year; mean peak standing forage was 2790nkgnha−1 (range: 1597–4570nkgnha−1). The dry year had restricted plant-available water and mean peak standing forage was reduced to 970nkgnha−1 (range: 462–1496nkgnha−1). In the wet year, forage growth appeared energy limited (light and temperature): warmer sites produced more forage across a 3–4°C soil temperature gradient but late season growth was associated with moister sites spanning this energy gradient. In the dry year, the warmest topographic positions produced limited forage across a 10°C soil temperature gradient until late season rainfall in March. Linear models accounting for interactions between soil moisture and temperature explained about half of rapid, springtime forage growth variance. These findings reveal dynamic but clear microclimate–forage growth linkages in complex terrain, and thus, have implications for rangeland drought monitoring and dryland ecosystems modeling under climate change.

In the context of urbanization and expanding markets for agricultural products, the prospects for smallholder farming systems to contribute to development across sub-Saharan Africa is particularly relevant today. Despite scepticism among some, arguments in the literature point to potential productivity, inclusion and multiplier non-farm growth benefits arising from the development of small-farming systems. This research investigates such viewpoints by categorizing countries according to whether national agriculture is small-farm dominated or large-farm dominated and looking at variables dependent on relevant socio-economic phenomena. Findings indicate small-farming countries have performed better in improving levels of productivity, reducing poverty and advancing structural transformation in the period in question. Findings are robust to the effects of differing levels of rural investment. However, sample sizes and the nature of data collection in a context of scarcity limits the capacity to generalize findings. Although the research finds small-farming countries outperform large-farming countries in progress across these variables, bivariate analysis does not establish that linkages from agricultural development to first, poverty reduction and, second, structural transformation are stronger in small-farming contexts. Overall, findings show that possessing an agricultural sector dominated by smallholdings is no impediment to making progress across key indicators of social and economic development. Consequently, reflection on the merits of public expenditure to support smallholder models and opportunities to leverage private finance in smallholder farming are emphasized. Further, the scope for integration of small- and large-farming models in mutually beneficial arrangements can be a useful complement to mechanisms that support exclusively smallholder farming models.

Remittances are considered as the cash inflows to the economy and are imperative international source of revenue for most of the less developed countries (LDCs). For data analysis, the Ordinary least square estimation technique was employed to the time series data for the years 1981 to 2010. This research comes with the conclusion that level of GDP is positively associated with the worker's remittances and the findings also support the optimistic view of remittances. It is suggested that govt. should take serious steps and proper measures to utilize the workers' remittances so, that the economy will be on the right track towards the development.

The agricultural growth linkage debate substantiates that agriculture contributes to economic growth through its linkages to other sectors. This paper contributes to the debate by combining...