Flow of portfolio investment among the Muslim countries: modelling and possibilities

The objective of this study is to identify the thematic areas for cooperation among the Muslim countries in the field of portfolio investment. The study covers the investment principles of return maximization, risk minimization and diversification. The core area of the study is to explore the investment opportunities in Muslim countries through geographical and sectoral diversification to provide greater investment security, risk minimization and profit maximization. To identify the scope of Muslim world and the economic implications of the cross boarder portfolio investment are the natural ingredients of this study. In the beginning, the study summarizes the economic and financial issues of the Muslim worldPortfolio Investment; FDI; Financial Theory; Muslim World

From Knowledge Creation to Economic Development: Missing Links in Muslim World

The paper discusses the cause and consequences of the deterioration and depressing condition of higher education in Muslim countries. The study establishes the links between academic research and economic development. Alternative hypothesis to envisage the causes of sustainable economic development were discussed with historical evidences. The hypothesis of external conspiracy was not accepted in the study and it was concluded that weak human resources are mainly responsible for deterioration in the higher educationHigher Education; Muslim World; Development Modeling;

Funds Flow Analysis and Determinants of Fixed Assets

The core objective of this study is to ascertain a link between the investment in fixed assets and the changing in the patterns of working capital. The relation between the flow of funds and the fixed assets is a central issue of the study. It is concluded in this study that funds from different sources determine the investment in fixed assets by different ways. With the help of this model, corporate planners and financial analysts can quantify the impacts of the flows of various funds on the assets holding patterns. Important conclusion of the model is that “fixed assets and working capital are complements. Working capital of a firm will increase with the enhancement in fixed assets”. The model is based on a single behavioral equation. The study is a mixture of the financial accounting postulates and econometric techniques.Working Capital; Employed Capital; Simulation Analysis; Above the Line; Multiple regression

Unemployment, Economic Status and Ethnic Politics

Regional-based quota in public sector employment was always considered as one of the important cause of the ethnic politics in Pakistan and particularly in Karachi. The majority of educated youth and middle classers in Pakistan belong to the urban areas and big cities where public sector employment is a frictional part of the total employment. However, households’ economic statuses in those areas are closely related with the employment status of the households’ members. This study has one objective only: to test the hypothesis that socio-economic variation between the ethnic groups was the origin of the emerging ethnic politics in Karachi. The disparities in income, employment and social status have been compared between the nine ethnic groups of Karachi. It is noteworthy that statistical evidences have rejected the hypothesis that rise in ethnic politics was a consequence of socio-economic discrepancies between the ethnic groups.Ethnicity, Income Disparities, Social Status

Corporate governance and dividend policy

The long-term return behaviour of dividend-changing firms has been investigated in the study and it is estimated that 23 percent only incremental profits are transformed into dividend. The remaining profits are utilized for the additional investment. It is also concluded that concentration of ownership is also an important factor of the dividend payments. The results support the hypothesis that companies start to pay dividends after a certain level of growth. At the earlier stage companies concentrate on retained earnings. The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique has been applied in the study and the model has been estimated through the pooled data of annual audited accounts of 180 listed companies of the Karachi Stock Exchange.Dividend Policy; OLS; ; Ownership Structure; Retained Earnings

Business competitiveness in Muslim World: role of governance and higher education

The main objective of this study is to compare Muslim countries with the rest of world in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency of the factors of competitiveness. Another objective of this paper is to determine the factors of competitiveness of the nations. The study has also assessed the impacts of improvement in political and corporate governances of the institutions, technological advancement and higher education on the business competitiveness. The World Competitiveness Index constructed by the World Economic Forum and World Banks statistics on aggregate savings and investment were used to estimate the regression parameters. It was hypothesized that Muslim world is significantly different from the rest of world in terms of the effectiveness and efficiency of the factors of competitiveness. The role of innovations and knowledge creating activities in determining of business competitiveness was not found statistically significant in Muslim world; it was highly significant in case of the rest of world. It was concluded that investment and technology readiness affects the competitiveness in Muslim countries in different ways. It was recommended that Muslim countries should improve their governance of the corporate and political institutions and the higher education to achieve the efficiency and higher targets of competitiveness.Competitiveness; Innovations; Higher Education; Efficiency; Governance

Is there a Vicious circle in Muslim World? Trade competitiveness and investment strategies

The study tests the existence of a vicious circle of the lack of investable funds, weaker technological advancement and business competitiveness in Muslim countries. Its second objective is to quantify the magnitude of variations in competitiveness between the Muslim world and the rest of world. A model was established to quantify the linkages between the financial resources, technological advancement, business sophistication and competitiveness. The results are based on 111 countries, 30 out of which belong to Muslim world. The governance of the political and corporate institutions, higher education and technology readiness are classified as significant factors of the business competitiveness. It was concluded that governance, technological readiness and higher education are the important and major factors of business competitiveness, while investment was not identified as major determinant of the competitiveness. The study rejects the hypothesis of existence of the vicious cycle in Muslim world. It concludes that Muslim world can achieve the higher target of business competitiveness and ultimately the sustainable economic development by improvement in the higher education and institutional governance.Muslim world; Competitiveness; Globalization; Governance; Vicious circle;

How monetary policy affects poverty: nexus and consequences

This case study provides some interesting insights and phenomena. It was observed that how monetary policy badly affected the poverty situation in Pakistan. This study covers three important aspects of the socio-economic changes in Pakistan in the recent past. First it describes the macroeconomic growth in the different political regimes. Second aspect of the study is to assess the poverty levels in Pakistan. In this part, we have compared the poverty in Pakistan with the selected countries and trends over the period have also been shown. Third aspect of the study is to identify the impact and contribution of monetary policy in poverty and income distribution.monetary policy; poverty; inflation

Stock market consequences of macro economic fundamentals

It is concluded in the study that the Valuation Ratio will be independent from the Equities if equity-elasticity is equal to one. However, Market Capitalization depends on the investment in equities and the market liquidity. The model has been tested in the context of Pakistan and the Monetary and Fiscal policies have been found as the significant determinants of the Market Capitalization.Co-integration; Granger’s Causality; Liquidity-Elasticity; Equity-Elasticity; Market Capitalization; Simulation

National trade associations, economic development and globalization

In the post communism regime, the responsibility of economic development has largely been shifted to private sector. The increasing role of private sector enterprises introduced the new concepts of corporate social responsibility (CSR), democratization in business and finance, corporate culture, fair trade, good governance and economic freedom and participation. The ‘wealth maximization concept’ under the ‘extreme capitalism’, limited liability, separate entity, agency cost, professionalism, and competitiveness were redefined. The implementation of the separate entity concept and the code of corporate governance have become more important in the post communism regime. Now, problems in trade and investment are closely linked with the problems of unemployment, income distribution, poverty, macroeconomic growth, regional and infrastructure development, socio-cultural changes, political structure, and the rate of crimes in a country. Business related issues couldn’t be studied in isolation; they are integrated with the sociopolitical dimensions of an economy. In the present inclination of globalization where the word ‘countries’ is being silently replaced by ‘economies’, the role of trade bodies has became more important. The policy advocacy, research and to work as a leading and supreme think tank should be the core activities of the national and multilateral chambers of commerce. The power and role of the chambers in global polices has been studied and contemplated by various analysts. The role of trade associations, chambers of commerce, large corporations and the business groups in the economic development has become an important area of research which lead the drastic development in the literature of business economics. Now, Business Economics has become an important branch of the applied economics. To provide a forum for research and debates on the contemporary issues in Business Economics, the National Association of Business Economists are serving in the developing and industrialized countries. These associations have close association with the National Chambers of Commerce. Various economists have been analyzing on the productivity, importance and the role of the local chambers and the trade specific associations. Aldrich, Fiol, and Staber from Cambridge University, Arendt from University of Chicago, Axelrod, from New York, Benhabib from Princeton University, Dowling from Oxford University, Fombrun from Harvard Business School, Fukuyama from John Hopkins University, Gutmann from Harvard University, Harré from Cambridge University, Lehne from New York University, Olson from Harvard University, North from Cambridge University, Olson from Harvard University, and Shapiro from Oxford University are famous research scholars in the filed of business economics who have been serving on the role of large business houses and the business representative associations in the economic and socio political development and changes in the global business and financial environment. The paper covers the importance and background of the study, nexus of the chambers with the states and multilateral institutions and effects on socioeconomic development and policy Recommendations.Trade Associations, Globalization, Governance,