The study empirically explores the impact of political competition and political institutions on inflation rates in emerging economies, taking into account political institutions' moderating role. This study examined data from 57 developing countries spanning 2000 to 2018.The empirical analysis was performed using a two-step System Generalized Method of Moments (system-GMM) estimation technique. The analysis yields two key findings. In a democratic regime, effective competition among politicians lowers inflation. However, the effect of political competition on inflation is conditional on political institutions. Nations with strong institutional structure and balanced competition are associated with better inflation performance.

Roads serve as the major means of transportation for goods, services, andmobility across Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJ&K), which also hassignificant tourism potential. The construction of the M3 expresswayunder China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is currently awaitinggovernment approval. Literature indicates that no study has examined theimpact of the CPEC project on tourism growth so far. Therefore, it isessential to investigate its effect on tourist arrivals in AJ&K. The currentstudy aimed to explore residents’ perceptions regarding the impact ofconstructing the Mansehra–Muzaffarabad–Mirpur (M3) expressway ontourist inflow in AJ&K. Moreover, it assessed whether the M3 expresswaywould improve connectivity in AJ&K. This research was motivated by theexisting gap in studies and the importance of understanding public opinionon megaprojects. Furthermore, it helped in assessing local perspectives asto how the construction of the M3 expressway influences touristmovement and is valuable for policymakers to forecast the effects of newroad projects on tourism development in AJ&K. The study gatheredprimary data from 200 local respondents across all three divisions ofAJ&K via a structured questionnaire, and the Binary Logit regression wasestimated using the Maximum Likelihood method. The findings suggestedthat the construction of the M3 expressway under CPEC enhancesconnectivity and boosts tourism in AJ&K.

We attempt to examine the causality between economic growth and stock market performance of Pakistan for the years 1992M01-2012M12. For this purpose, the test devised by Granger (1988) has been employed. The results reveal a bi-directional causality between economic growth and stock market performance of Pakistan proxied by Karachi Stock Exchange capitalization (KSECAP). Once this bidirectional causality is established, a system of simultaneous equations has been specified and estimated by 2SLS to find the impact of economic growth and selected macroeconomic indicators on the stock market of Pakistan. The estimated results lead to the conclusion that economic growth affects the stock market of Pakistan and vice versa. The implications of the study are of paramount importance, especially for the emerging economies. Hence, bearing in mind the role of macroeconomic indicators in the performance of stock market a better policy can be formulated to enhance the growth of capital markets that in turn will increase the economic growth of emerging economies such as Pakistan and vice versa.

This paper analyses the intergenerational transmission of formal-informal employment. Using the data from the Household Integrated, Income and Consumption Survey (2015-16) and applying Probit and Multinomial Logit Model, it was manifested that intergenerational persistence is higher in informal employment. The transmission of informal employment from the father to the son is higher in rural regions as compared to the urban regions. Further, scrutinizing informal employment in different occupations revealed its higher persistence in elementary occupations. In the older cohort, the likelihood of the transfer of informal employment as compared to the younger cohort was found to be higher. Father’s occupation remains the primary determinant of the sons’ entry into the labor market. There are limited chances for the sons whose fathers are in low status occupations to move to high status occupations as compared to those sons whose fathers are already employed in high status occupations.

In this paper, the author examined the influence of Indo-ASEAN import on the ASEAN trade and financial integration during 1994-95 to 2017-18 using cointegration test, vector error correction model and Wald Test taking foreign direct investment inflows, real effective exchange rate, openness, Indo-ASEAN import, intra import share, GDP growth rate of ASEAN, the import concentration and diversification index of ASEAN as variables. The paper concludes that there are four co-integrating equations. There are short run causalities from Indo-ASEAN import, intra import share and FDI inflows of ASEAN to growth rate of ASEAN. Long run causalities were found from ASEAN growth rate of GDP to intra import share of ASEAN, from Indo-ASEAN import to growth rate of ASEAN, from FDI inflows of ASEAN and GDP growth of ASEAN to intra-ASEAN import share, from Indo-ASEAN import to import diversification index of ASEAN respectively. Lastly, there are short run causalities from indo-ASEAN import and import concentration index of ASEAN to import diversification index of ASEAN respectively during 1994-2017.

While there are scholars who have analysed factors that influence Turkey’s bilateral exports, very few have examined the impact of cooperation/conflicts on Turkey’s trade in general and with particular reference to Africa. In view of the above, this paper seeks to analyse and estimate the effect on exports from Turkey to 52 African countries of Turkey’s relationship with theAfrica Union for the period 1998-2015. Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) results suggest that Turkey’s cooperation with Africa (TAR) is positive and statistically significant in inducing exportsfrom Turkey to 52 selected African countries. Specifically, TAR increases Turkey’s exports to selected African countries by 44.5%. Alternatively, due to TAR Turkey’s exports to Africa are predicted to be 1.44 times higher than in the absence of cooperation. However, there is evidence that TAR’s impact on exports vary across regions. Compared to countries in the Northern part of Africa, the effect of TAR with African countries in the East, South, and West is negative and statistically significant. Given these results, it is therefore prudent for Turkey to target countries or regional trading blocs in where export deficiency has been diagnosed so that more exports can be stimulated.

The primary objective of the study is to determine the relative and incremental information content of Economic Value Added (EVA) as compared to the traditional accounting measure of Earnings per Share (EPS). The study employs the methodology derived from The study sample comprises 30 largest listed non-financial firms on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) and covers the period from 2005-2014. The findings indicate that EPS outperforms EVA in capturing the market trends of stock return performance. The results of the research negate the common notion of EVA as a superior measure of firm performance. Although, evidence obtained from empirical tests illustrates that EVA provides marginal incremental information combined with EPS, but it is low. The study offers academicians, practitioners and investors a more accurate measure by which to assess performance in the markets.

The problem of energy is one that has plagued the economic growth of Pakistan for decades; the resulting domestic pressure has often led to the misallocation of resources, and therefore should be studied extensively for evidence based policy recommendation. The study in hand aims to envelope and analyze approximate factors responsible for determining electricity demand in the country. The study analyzes the aggregate demand for electricity in Pakistan from 1975-2016, by considering log-run climatic variable affecting electricity demand. The ADF, the Johansen Cointegration, and the ARDL techniques have been applied for the estimation of parameters and analysis. The scientific analysis found that in the short run and long run number of consumers, income (real GDP per capita) square of income and stock of appliances have a significant relationship with the demand of electricity. Where all significant relationships in the long run have a positive relationship with the demand apart from the square of income which may suggest a shift towards alternate means of energy production with a long term sustained growth in income. While, price is found to be insignificant determinant of electricity demand in both short run and long run, which reveals that electricity is considered a necessity by Pakistan’s electricity consumers. In the short run number of consumers, income, squared income, and stock of appliances, all have significant positive relationships with demand, and temperature has an insignificant positive relationship in the short run, but a significant positive relationship in the long run.