Demand and Supply Analysis of Transport Energy in Pakistan

Over the last decade, the importance of energy consumption in transport sector has burgeoned forth and has been growing rapidly in Pakistan, and the course is being augured to linger over the coming decades. This paper brings about the function of transport energy demand, economic growth (GDP), oil rents, gas rents, road length and number of registered vehicles for Pakistan over the 1980-2015 by using Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) approach. The results which have had come about shows preponderance of the fact that there is powerful relationship between all concerned variables when transport energy demand is used as a dependent variable in Pakistan. Hence, Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model is used for the future forecasting related to the consumption and production of gasoline and oil. According to the forecasted results, consumption (demand) is much greater as compared to production (supply) in both non-renewable sources. As policy makers suggest, we can make up for this lacuna by bourgeoning forth new technology (hybrid vehicles) as well as an awareness campaign through which we can make others abreast of this research may be launched about energy conservation methods to curtail the transport energy demand (TED) in the country

Microfinanças e empoderamento de mulheres: uma análise de regressão de comutação endógena

Women in Pakistan are suffering from a great social and economic deprivation due to gender discrimination and inequitable distribution of resources. This paper examines the determinants and extent of women empowerment by their participation in microfinance programs. Data for this study were collected from different areas of Faisalabad, Pakistan, where most of the households were poor and had borrowed money from different microfinance institutes. Keeping in view the disguised endogeneity, Endogenous Switching Regression Model was employed which accounts for selection bias because of observable and unobservable factors. The analysis revealed that education level, household size, family system, educational expenditures, income level and the ownership of different assets like sewing machines have the statistically significant impact on the women decision to work and hence promote women empowerment. It is concluded that the government in developing countries should introduce income-generating activities, especially for women by providing them access to financial resources.Las mujeres en Pakistán están sufriendo una gran carencia social y económica debido a la discriminación de género y la distribución desigual de los recursos. Este documento examina los determinantes y el alcance del empoderamiento de las mujeres por su participación en los programas de microfinanzas. Los datos para este estudio fueron recolectados de diferentes áreas de Faisalabad, Pakistán, donde la mayoría de los hogares eran pobres y habían tomado dinero prestado de diferentes institutos de microfinanzas. Teniendo en cuenta la endogeneidad disfrazada, se empleó el Modelo de Regresión de Conmutación Endógena que explica el sesgo debido a factores observables y no observables. El análisis reveló que el nivel educativo, el tamaño del hogar, el sistema familiar, los gastos educativos, el nivel de ingresos y la propiedad de diferentes activos, como las máquinas de coser, tienen un impacto estadísticamente significativo en la decisión de las mujeres de trabajar y, por lo tanto, promover el empoderamiento de las mujeres. Se concluye que el gobierno de los países en desarrollo debe introducir actividades generadoras de ingresos, especialmente para las mujeres, proporcionándoles acceso a recursos financierosAs mulheres no Paquistão sofrem de uma grande privação social e econômica devido à discriminação de gênero e à distribuição desigual de recursos. Este artigo examina os determinantes e a extensão do empoderamento das mulheres pela sua participação em programas de microfinanças. Os dados para este estudo foram coletados em diferentes áreas de Faisalabad, Paquistão, onde a maioria dos domicílios era pobre e tinha tomado dinheiro emprestado de diferentes institutos de microfinanças. Tendo em vista a endogeneidade disfarçada, empregou-se o Modelo de Regressão por Comutação Endógena, que considera o viés de seleção por causa de fatores observáveis e inobserváveis. A análise revelou que o nível de escolaridade, tamanho da família, sistema familiar, gastos com educação, nível de renda e posse de diferentes ativos, como máquinas de costura, têm impacto estatisticamente significativo na decisão das mulheres de trabalhar e, portanto, promovem o empoderamento das mulheres. Conclui-se que o governo dos países em desenvolvimento deve introduzir atividades geradoras de renda, especialmente para as mulheres, proporcionando-lhes acesso a recursos financeiro

Green finance, renewable energy investment, and environmental protection: empirical evidence from B.R.I.C.S. countries

Environmental degradation has become a severe concern for the globe; therefore, policymakers in emerging economies are trying to meet the environmental standards. Nowadays, economies have shifted their energy pattern from non-renewable to renewable energy (R.E.U.), but its cost is too high. Undoubtedly, the financial sector also performs well in facilitating such green activities. Therefore, the current study investigates the role of R.E.U. and green finance in environmental quality and collects the data for B.R.I.C.S. economies from 2000 to 2018. The study uses quantile regressions and other advanced techniques to deal with the problems of cross-sectional dependence (C.S.D.) and heterogeneity. The estimated outcomes show that green finance, R.E.U. consumption, and technical innovations perform well in securing the environment by reducing carbon emissions. Likewise, the environmental quality in selected economies is deteriorating due to the rise in non-R.E.U. consumption, economic progress, F.D.I., and trade openness. Therefore, it is time to reshape the local, national and regional growth policies concerning a green investment that can secure our environment. Also, this study proposes future pathways for green finance and other factors relevant to a sustainable environment

Smoking and Human Health: Socio-economic Analysis

Smoking causes a large number of diseases in human beings. About six million people die each year due to smoking, and predictions have shown that this number will increase to ten million in 2030. Pakistan has the highest consumption of tobacco in South Asia. Cross sectional data was used for study and it was collected through personal interviews of 175 respondents from different areas of Faisalabad, Punjab. Study focused on the determinants of smoking and its impact on the economy of households. Logistic regression model was used because the dependent variable is of dichotomous nature. The effects of smoking on the economy of household were measured by expenditures on diseases caused by smoking. The main determinants of smoking   included the presence of smokers in family and friend circle, low level of education and marital status. The results of underlying study revealed that smokers have had more diseases as compared with their counterparts and hence medical expenditures of smokers were found greater than those of non-smokers. In the light of study findings, we suggest that government should launch awareness programs to help smokers in quitting smoking. People need to know that if they stop smoking, they can save their smoking expenditures that will eventually be spent on basic needs and medical expenditures. Study data showed that the majority of smokers were unable to attribute reasons for unsuccessful quitting

Do circular economy, public-private Partnership and carbon policy manage the environmental stress? Developed countries' situation under the Prism of COP27

Since the Industrial Revolution, the economies have played well to make progress in economic growth. Besides, rapid growth has brought severe challenges, and environmental degradation is one of them. Therefore, the globe has introduced several green initiatives, such as the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals, but the problem remains intact. Specifically, this study focuses on COP27 and highlights the key challenges and their best solutions. Undoubtedly, most nations have tried to meet their settled targets by 2030, but these have different priorities to facilitate their populace. Therefore, international cooperation has been introduced as a logical solution to collaborate across borders or within the region to deal with sustainability themes. However, developed nations have environmental problems due to industrial, income, and population growth, directly associated with environmental risks. Thus, under the SDGs, this empirical research tries to cover the critical problems (income, population aging, & industrial development) and their best alternative (public-private partnership, emission taxes & circular economy) to minimize environmental issues. Similarly, the current study utilizes an advanced series of estimators to investigate the study's objective for 17 developed nations from 2000 to 2021. Investigated outcomes describe income, population aging, and industrial activities that bring carbon emissions. Conversely, carbon policy and public-private partnerships support the sustainability theme for specified economies. Under the base model, the circular economy declines the environmental pressure by 0.016 %, 0.002 %, and 0.019 %, respectively, under the specified estimators. Moreover, this empirical research investigates the mediating role of carbon policy, public-private partnership & circular economy on industrial development. It brings a significant decline in emissions only for carbon policy & circular economy. However, this study also proposes some green policies to become clean & green shortly

INFRASTRUKTŪROS VYSTYMOSI POVEIKIS BRICS ŠALYSE

This study weighed the impact of infrastructure on economic growth for the BRICS countries. To pull through this study two different models have been used. For exigency regarding our objectives, data of 36 ranging from 1981 -2016 years has been conjured up for the BRICS countries. The findings of this study have brought forth the theory from the oblivion that transport infrastructure and telecommunication infrastructure brings about positive impact on economic growth as compare to energy infrastructure. Nevertheless the policymakers of BRIC countries ought to have pondered over the policies of physical as well as social infrastructure. This study also promulgates that in these new times where technology leads the way, there is a dire need to put the might of policymakers behind the telecommunication infrastructure as the future will draw opulence in this sector.Šiame dokumente buvo įvertintas infrastruktūros poveikis BRICS šalių ekonominim augimui. Taip pat išanalizuoti priežastiniai ryšiai tarp infrastruktūros plėtros ir ekonominio augimo. Šiam tikslui pasiekti buvo naudojami du skirtingi modeliai bei naudoti 1981–2016 metų duomenys. Analizei atlikti buvo pritaikytas ARDL modelis. Šio tyrimo išvados parodė, kad transporto ir telekomunikacijų infrastruktūra daro teigiamą poveikį ekonomikos augimui, palyginti su energetikos infrastruktūra. Tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė, kad būtina sukurti politiką, kuri pagerintų fizinę ir socialinę infrastruktūrą. Šiais naujais laikais, kai technologijos rodo pavyzdį, ypatingas dėmesys turėtų būti skiriamas telekomunikacijų infrastruktūrai

Effects of Diabetes on The Output of Farmer and Its Policy Implications

This study investigated the impact of diabetes on work performance of different farming communities from Punjab, Pakistan. This study was based on cross-sectional data. A representative sample of 374 farmers was collected from five selected districts. Three types of respondents were analyzed in the study e.g.,laborer, small and large growers. Poisson and logistic regression techniques were used for the sake of analysis. According to the investigated results for thelabor category, respondents with more age, less qualification, low earning per month (Rupees), and having positive record of family diabetes, would havemore leave per month. In the same way, findings for small farmers revealed that education, family size, family with diabetic records, marital status and availability at farm (hour/day) were significant. In case of third category, study outcome highlighted that age, education, marital status, having positive record offamily diabetes and number of hours spent at farm would be positively correlated with the reduction in working efficiency at farm due to diabetes. It can beconcluded that diabetes have negative influence on the work performance of selected farming groups

A wavelet-based analysis of the co-movement between sukuk bonds and Shariah stock indices in the GCC region: Implications for risk diversification

Investors are interested in knowing whether sukuk bonds and shariah stock indices in the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) region are related. This study examines the connectedness between the sukuk- and shariah-compliant stock indices in the GCC financial markets. Bivariate and multivariate wavelet approaches are applied to the daily data covering the period 10 July 2008 to 15 May 2017. The empirical findings demonstrate a strong correlation between these GCC sukuk bond indices and shariah stock indices. The degree of connectedness between these sukuk and shariah stock indices varies across time and scale. A strong and positive association is observed in the short term and a negative association is evident in the long term. The same findings are observed, using the wavelet cohesion approach that also validates the existence of portfolio diversification opportunities at a short-time horizon. The multivariate cross-correlation analysis reveals that these sukuk and shariah stock markets are highly integrated across time and scale. Furthermore, the value at risk (VaR) for the sukuk bond–shariah stocks portfolio is performed to highlight the significance of the wavelet analysis. The outcomes show that portfolio stocks are variable with respect to time or scale (time diversification). Overall, analyzing the sukuk bond–shariah stock index returns in the GCC at a multiscale level makes it easier for financial agents dealing with heterogeneous trading horizons to assess the benefits of diversifications

The Spread of and Death from Infectious Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for FDI Attraction

Are “economic bads” of infectious diseases and “economic goods” of foreign direct investment antagonistic to each other? This is the salient question that this research inquiry unravels for 34 African economies from 2000 to 2017. The empirical evidence revealed the following through a generalized method of moments (SGMM) inter alia: First, the mitigating roles of infectious diseases, such as malaria, HIV prevalence rate and AIDS, on global FDI inflows are unconditionally certified from a statistical and economic sense. Second, the diminishing influences of other confounders, such as low per capita GDP, shallow financial development, excruciating inflationary trend, and natural resource rents curse, are empirically endorsed, on the one hand, while the persistent nature of FDI and trade openness as boosting mechanisms for FDI are unambiguously applauded, on the other hand. Finally, a reduction in the numerical strength of the estimates after accounting for the outliers’ effect from the models and the inclusion of additional controls do not diminish the robustness of already established findings, except for the HIV prevalence rate. On the policy front, if the foreign direct investment is truly pro-development outcomes, any policy interventions that eliminate infectious diseases will be Pareto-improving

Synergy between adaptations and resilience of livelihood from climate change vulnerability: A group-wise comparison of adapters and non-adapters.

The similarities, differences, and contradictions regarding climate change adaptation and resilience by academics and practitioners have already been documented. It is the need of time to set new precedence by observing the adaptations and resilience as tools to respond to the climate variations. This study analyzed the influence of climate change adaptations and synergy between resilience from livelihood vulnerability and adaptations. A field survey of 489 farming households is conducted with the help of a well-structured questionnaire from four districts of the south part of Punjab province of Pakistan. This study uses the Endogenous Switching Regression model for the sake of analysis. The outcomes of the study reveal that age, education, family size, total land, and seed price have significant linkage with the adoption of adaptations. The synergistic effects of adaptation and resilience are also visible here as the adaptations factors are significantly contributing towards yield, per capita income, poverty, and poverty gap of the respondents. This study suggests the provision of proper education and smart technology to help in enhancing the adaptive capacity of farmers. More imperatively, adaptations to climate variations can be concluded as a remedial tool for resilient livelihood. It is believed that the present study can be considered as a guide for future research on other regions of Pakistan and neighboring countries