Tourism development and economic growth : a comparative study for the G-6 leaders

Purpose: The paper investigates the relationship between tourism development and economic growth for the six richest countries globally for the period 1995-2017 by estimating a simultaneous system equations model. The purpose of this paper is to examine the long-run relationship between these variables by the use of the two-stage least squared methodology. Design/Methodology/Approach: A structural system equation model is estimated for the G-6 leader countries and then we apply a Monte Carlo simulation method, in order to find out the predictive ability of the equation model. Findings: The results of this study indicated that there is a positive relationship between tourism development and economic growth taking into account the negative effect of interest rates and the positive effect of investments, trade openness, and consumption on economic growth. Practical Implications: The group of six leader countries is a group consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, and USA regarded as the most industrialized countries in the world. Originality/Value: The study offers an in-depth insight into econometric modelling of economic growth.peer-reviewe

Ideas for a regulatory definition of FinTech

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to develop the approach to a legal definition of FinTech. Design/Methodology/Approach: In this paper we evolve possible approaches of FinTech legal definition, investigate existing approaches at the international level and examine the policies applied at the national levels. Document analysis, as a form of qualitative research, was used in this study. Findings: We found that in most countries the legislation does not specifically address fintech companies, and the legal framework equally regulates the activities of traditional service providers and fintech operators. In our opinion, no specific legislation for FinTech companies needed, each type of activity provided by a financial or technology company is subject to a specific legislation/regulation with primary focus on services and products provided as payments, insurance, investments etc. Practical Implications: The term FinTech is freely used by policy makers, regulators, companies, researchers, academics and the public, both nationally and internationally. According to international organizations such as the IMF, the World Bank and the OECD, FinTech offers the opportunity to accelerate economic growth and expand financial affordability/inclusion in all countries. Some countries are increasingly striving to become global or international regional hubs for FinTech and are working hard to develop interagency government strategies with a supportive legal environment. Originality/Value: There is still confusion about the nature and dynamics of FinTech among politicians, scientists and practitioners, as well as about the legal framework of this area. The value of this article is to clarify and propose an apprach to definition of FinTech by combining different approaches in a very original and innovative way.peer-reviewe

Exploring the trend of Czech FDIs and their effect to institutional environment

This paper is the result of Metropolitan University Prague research project no. 68-02“Territorial Studies, Economics, International Relations” (2019) based on a grant from the Institutional Fund for the Long-term Strategic Development of Research Organisations. The authors would like to thank for useful comments and suggestions professors and participants of the 7th edition of the Conference IFRS Global Rules and Local Use - Beyond the Numbers in Prague 2019 and participants at conference ICABE 2019 in Thessaloniki Greece.Purpose: The goal of this paper is to explore the trend of FDIs in the Czech Republic and its changes in recent years using the gravity model. Apart from traditional variables used in FDI models we also introduce IFRS in national accounting rules. Design/Methodology/Approach: We use open-source data from the World Bank and FDI data from the Czech national bank, to analyse a panel data of bilateral FDI for 19 EU countries over the period 2008–2017 by PPML specification. Findings: We have observed significant effect of positive impact on broader introduction of IFRS in 2010 in terms of country imports and exports. We observed lower significance of IFRS dummy in the gravity model, where dependent variable is the sum of FDI inflow and FDI outflow it is not significant in the models which dependent variables are FDI inward and FDI outward for FDIs. Practical Implications: In general, FDIs increased productivity in the Czech Republic, especially in 1990s. We assess the effect and possible contribution of traditional variables like size, GDP, border and distance to Czech FDIs. Originality/Value: We find that the positive effect of IFRS exists at 10 percent significance for FDIs. Nevertheless we claim that this effect is mixed with other institutional issues, namely institutional isomorphism. Further tests will be needed after the forthcoming change of the Czech accounting act, which is approaching after 2020.peer-reviewe

FinTech, blockchain and Islamic finance : an extensive literature review

Purpose: The paper aims to review the academic research work done in the area of Islamic financial technology. The Islamic FinTech area has been classified into three broad categories of the Islamic FinTech, Islamic Financial technology opportunities and challenges, Cryptocurrency/Blockchain sharia compliance and law/regulation. Finally, the study identifies and highlights the opportunities and challenges that Islamic Financial institutions can learn from the conventional FinTech organization across the world. Approach/Methodology/Design: The study collected 133 research studies (50 from Social Science Research Network (SSRN), 30 from Research gate, 33 from Google Scholar and 20 from other sources) in the area of Islamic Financial Technology. The study presents the systematic review of the above studies. Findings: The study classifies the Islamic FinTech into three broad categories namely, Islamic FinTech opportunities and challenges, Cryptocurrency/Blockchain sharia compliance and law/regulation. The study identifies that the sharia compliance related to the cryptocurrency/Blockchain is the biggest challenge which Islamic FinTech organizations are facing. During our review we also find that Islamic FinTech organizations are to be considered as partners by the Islamic Financial Institutions (IFI’s) than the competitors. If Islamic Financial institutions want to increase efficiency, transparency and customer satisfaction they have to adopt FinTech and become partners with the FinTech companies. Practical Implications: The study will contribute positively to the understanding of Islamic Fintech for the academia, industry, regulators, investors and other FinTech users. Originality/Value: The study believes to contribute positively to understanding of Fintech based technology like cryptocurrency/Blockchain from sharia perspective.peer-reviewe

Investigating the relationship between tax revenues and tax ratios : an empirical research for selected OECD countries

Purpose: Effective tax rates can have dual effect in the economic policy of a country by maintaining the state revenues in sustainable levels providing a safe net for the economic development. If taxation struggles the economy, there should be a turning point were the results of high tax rates do not have the expected results on the state revenue. The parabolic relation of Laffer curve is tested on a data set of different OECD countries. Design/Approach/Methodology: Three different functions have been selected to test the Laffer curve starting from the fact that the relation of revenues with taxes should have a parabolic form, with the turning point to be the peak of the parabola. Findings: The findings suggest that there exists a peak point where taxation policy is not providing the expected revenues. Results suggest that this pattern is common in several countries with different taxation regimes. The effective tax rates are different between the countries. Countries are divided into clusters with the same effective tax rates. The relation of the tax revenue and taxation rates is adjusted with the tax moral of the country. Practical Implications: The results are compared with other possible forms of the relation of revenue and taxes with considerable importance.peer-reviewe

Applications of М-GARCH Model for the Selection of Securities of Banks’ Investment Portfolio

The main aim of this article is to investigate the accuracy of the Multivariate Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity Model (M-GARCH) for the selection of the best investment portfolio. There is extended literature on M-GARCH in this field with a great number of studies using different sets of variables among them the returns of assets, the volatility of the assets in the investment portfolio, the maturity date of the asset etc. The origin of M-GARCH is associated with the elements of the Dynamic Conditional Correlations Model (DDCM) as proposed by Engle. An earlier version of DDCM with time variations in the correlation matrix has been developed by Bollerslev. DCCM offers flexibility by incorporating different levels of volatilities able to structure portfolios with a great number of assets. M-GARCH models take into account separate univariate GARCH models, associate with each asset in the portfolio, in order to form a complete M-GARCH model. The present article uses a multiple dimension classic M-GARCH volatility model on a data set consisting from three time series. The daily ASE index on stock returns (Athens), the DAX index (Germany) and the CAC index (France). For each national index, the continuously compounded return was estimated as rt=100[log(pt)-log(pt-1)], where pt is the price on day t

Way of banking development abroad : branches or subsidiaries

The purpose of the study is to show what kind of risks would have emerged for bank depositors if there are economical and political risks in a given country. For example, as is the case with the crisis in Greece, a threat or salvation for the banking organizational forms abroad exists regarding which type of bank development is more efficient, branches or subsidiaries. Respectively why do the big banks prefer to operate through branches and those which are focused on retail sales through subsidiaries? What impact could the political and economic risks have on the required reserves on the parent bank? Does the decision depend on the applied organizational form of the bank or on other reasons?peer-reviewe

Comparison of Forecasting Volatility in the Czech Republic Stock Market

The aim of this paper is to examine different GARCH models with three different distributions in order to compare their forecasting power in terms of volatility existing in the returns of the Czech Stock Market and more specific in the PX index, for the period 08.01.2001-20.07.2012. We have employed GARCH, GJR-GARCH and EGARCH models against normal, student-t and generalized error distributions. Then, we have forecasted stock market volatility for the Czech Republic by its returns using the same models, GARCH, GJR-GARCH and EGARCH comparing their forecasting performance. The results show that return volatility can be characterized by significant persistence and asymmetric effects. We have estimated the corresponding variances for all models for the full sample period using static forecasts. After comparing the forecasting performance of all nine models it was found that the EGARCH model has the best forecasting performance compared to others

Design of a socio-economic processes monitoring system based on network analysis and big data

Socio-economic policy should satisfy the interests of the society as much as possible and contribute to improving the quality of life. This actualizes the role of developing the theoretical and methodological foundations for building an innovative information system for monitoring the socio-economic situation and population responses. The study built and tested an algorithm for supporting management decisions based on the collection of large data sets of socio-economic information based on the principles of the digital economy and processing them through network analysis. The algorithm is focused on building a monitoring system that presupposes a synergy of the authorities and the society, not only in its pensionary part, but also among the masses, which are diverse in their representativeness. The result of the study was the formation of a theoretical and methodological framework for creating a system for making management decisions and assessing the effectiveness of the activities of government bodies, based on the principles of reflection of the final beneficiaries of economic policy.peer-reviewe

The impact and challenges of the insurance distribution directive (IDD) on Maltese insurance undertakings

Purpose: With this paper the authors bring to light the impact and challenges of the Directive on the Maltese insurance undertakings. To this effect, a comprehensive examination is conducted on the insurance undertakings in Malta. Literature deals with the regulation of the single European insurance market and what led to the introduction of the Insurance Distribution Directive. Design/Approach/Methodology: To this effect, a comprehensive examination is conducted on the insurance undertakings in Malta. Literature deals with the regulation of the single European insurance market and what led to the introduction of the Insurance Distribution Directive. Furthermore, the salient requirements of the Directive are analysed. Findings: Data analyses suggest that local insurance undertakings will be facing challenges to their business model, selling practices and distribution network. In addition to the above, moderate to high costs are expected in relation to administration and training. Practical Implications: With no delegated acts yet and the limited communication issued in relation to the transposition of the Insurance Distribution Directive into local legislation/regulation, insurance undertakings have little time to fully prepare for the adaptation of the new requirements. Originality/Value: Although, all States might be represented in the decision process, the larger, than Malta, states usually take over and sometimes dictate the final decision. The concept of proportionality in regulations is not clean and is not effectively managed, at the disadvantage of the smaller states. Therefore, this paper is important since it voices the cries of smaller states and allows for an understanding of the impact and implications of new regulations to smaller jurisdictions, in this case within the EU.peer-reviewe