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This paper aims to shed light on the process of adopting and accommodating a global language education framework, namely the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for languages, in the context of Vietnam.

The data to develop the argument of the paper are obtained from a doctoral research project that aims to understand the reception, interpretations and responses of key stakeholders in the process of enacting the CEFR in a Vietnam public university. The study was designed as a qualitative case study with data being collected using policy document analysis, classroom observation and in-depth interviews with 21 purposively sampled participants, including school administrators, English language teachers and students over a period of six months.

The paper argues that the adoption of the CEFR, as it currently stands, can be seen at best as a “quick-fix” (Steiner-Khamsi, 2004, p. 58) solution to the complex and time-consuming problem of improving the quality of English language education in Vietnam, which fails to address some critical issues in the practice of teaching and learning the language in the country.

The study speaks to the body of literature on the CEFR as a contemporary global language policy borrowing phenomenon in developing countries. It contributes to a better understanding of how a global language policy is adopted and appropriated at the grass-root level.

This study aims to analyze the financial inclusion of individuals living in the Middle East, North African, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAP). It intends to show the influence of these individuals’ characteristics on financial inclusion, using the World Bank Global Findex Database 2014 for 16 countries in the region.

A probit model is used to examine the marginal effect of financial inclusion of the characteristics of individuals living in the MENAP region. These characteristics include gender, age, income and education. Individual characteristics that are linked to the main financial-inclusion indicators include having a formal account and formal saving and borrowing. The barriers to having a formal account, alternative borrowing sources and motivations for borrowing are also linked to the respondents’ characteristics.

The results indicate that females and the poor are less likely to be included in financial systems, while education level enhances financial inclusion. As disadvantaged people consider access to credit is important to improving their lives, the study finds that the poor are more likely to borrow for medical issues than for other needs. While Islam is the majority religion in the MENAP region, it is not considered a barrier to having a formal bank account. Furthermore, people in different income quintiles are more likely to use informal financial sources, while the educated are more likely to use formal ones.

The results show that policymakers in MENAP should make more of an effort to enhance financial inclusion as a way to enhance economic development in the region. Also, governments institutions, such as central banks, financial ministries and other institutions, could build on these results to enhance financial inclusion as a way toward development in the MENAP region.

To the author’s best knowledge, this is the first study to examine the influence of individuals’ characteristics on financial inclusion in the MENAP region.

This paper aims to investigate how firms from emerging economies choose among different international bond markets: global, US144A and Eurobond markets. The authors explore if the ranking in regulatory stringency –global bonds have the most stringent regulations and Eurobonds have the most lenient regulations – leads to a segmentation of borrowers.

The authors use a novel data set from emerging economy firms, treating them as consolidated entities. The authors also obtain descriptive evidence and perform univariate non-parametric analyses, conditional and multinomial logit analyses to study firms’ marginal debt choice decisions.

The authors show that firms with poorer credit quality, less ability to absorb flotation costs and more informational asymmetries issue debt in US144A and Eurobond markets. On the contrary, firms issuing global bonds – subject to full Securities and Exchange Commission requirements – are financially sounder and larger. This exercise also shows that following the global crisis, firms from emerging economies are more likely to tap less regulated debt markets.

This is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first study that examines if the ranking in stringency of regulation – global bonds have the most stringent regulations and Eurobonds have the most lenient regulations – is consistent with an ordinal choice by firms. The authors also explore if this ranking is monotonic in all determinants or there are firm-specific features which make firms unlikely to borrow in a given market. Finally, the authors analyze if there are any changes in the debt-choice behavior of firms after the global financial crisis.

This paper aims to examine the motivations of firms that issue global bonds. Specifically, it seeks to test whether firms are motivated to offer bonds in multi‐markets to raise more capital, take advantage of being well‐known in foreign markets and/or owing to poor domestic economic conditions.

A sample of global bond offerings of US industrial firms during the period 1995 to 2001 was studied. Logistic regressions were used to examine the determinants of the choice between global and domestic debt offerings. The factors that explain the stock price reaction of global bond issues were also analyzed.

The authors find evidence suggesting that firms with a good reputation abroad and firms that want to raise large amounts of funds choose to issue global bonds instead of domestic bonds. Firms also tend to issue global bonds when the domestic economy is weak. In addition, the stock markets do not react more positively to global bond issues than domestic bond issues, suggesting that the issuing cost of global bonds is not lower than the cost of domestic bonds.

Future researchers may want to investigate why some firms choose to issue global bonds while others choose Eurobonds when they want to issue debt internationally.

The findings of this study suggest that, although firms might be able to raise more capital by issuing global bonds, the issuing costs are not lower.

This is the first paper to study the determinants of the choice between global bonds and domestic bonds and examine the factors that affect the stock price reaction to global bonds.

The objective of this paper is to provide a macroeconomic assessment of the impact of global financial integration over the economies that are undergoing financial integration.

The paper focuses on several issues. It begins with examining the evidence whether financial globalization elevates growth performance of the integrating economy and supports it macroeconomic stability. It takes a nuanced view and divides the impact of financial integration into direct and indirect benefits. Second, it scrutinizes whether there are some threshold conditions, that is, in their presence and with their support, financial globalization underpins growth and stability of the capital importing economy and in their absence it cannot. Third, it delves into the oft‐cited allegation of financial globalization being a source of macroeconomic volatility and eventually financial crises. Fourth, as the evidence that emerged regarding ability of financial globalization to underpin growth was unambiguous. Policy mandarins' options are examined.

The paper finds that from a theoretical perspective, it is easy to state that integration of financial markets an potentially faster growth. Whether it happens in reality is a different matter.

The paper explores a new theme. While there are many relevant themes in financial globalization, the author has not seen any article on this theme and this paper may well be the first.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and evaluate the sovereign default restructuring options in the European Monetary Union (EMU).

The paper examines financial policy options from a politico‐economic‐legal perspective. It relies primarily on secondary data analysis.

Sovereign default restructuring an unthinkable phenomenon in the hitherto affluent EMU could now be a possibility because of the lack of political cohesion and the realities of two‐speed European Union.

The paper relies extensively on secondary data. Future research through empirical multiple case studies would enrich the insights of this paper.

Insights from the paper would be of benefit to lawmakers, financial supervisors, financial institutions and investors in general.

The paper's main value lies in its use of multiple lenses to evaluate a serious financial issue in the EMU.

The greatest revolution in financial management over the last 20 years must be the growth in the use of derivative securities. We can also consider this area to be part of the much larger concept of financial engineering. Limited in their use for many years, innovative financial institutions have now introduced derivatives of every colour and flavour. Principal driving forces in this growth have been:

The authors examine network features such as connectivity, centrality, adjacency matrices, closeness and betweenness measures through a variety of indicators. The results of the study indicate that over time there is a tendency for markets to integrate and segment due to various factors such as pandemics, financial crises, global trade relations and international investments.

This paper employs a visualized network technique to study the dynamics of integration and comovements in global equity markets of emerging economies. Daily closing prices of stock market indices of 24 countries from January 2013 to July 2020 are used to construct a minimum spanning tree network (MSTN) and graph network (GN).

The authors identify India and China as global power hubs and clusters among the emerging economies. India and Bangladesh serve as bridging countries connecting to various other clusters. Bosnia serves as a center in the European region owing to Bosnia's trade relations with neighboring countries. Although Brazil has witnessed the worst recession in the early years of the decade, Brazil has risen to be a central cluster among the Latin American countries. Finally, the authors find that African countries tend to form links with the rest of the world rather than with economies within the Africa continent.

This is the pioneering study that uses network models such as MSTN and GN supplemented with measures of centrality and connectivity to study financial market integration in emerging countries. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to work on a network visualization strategy to examine global stock market integration. The authors also try to use graphs and the spanning trees instead of the correlation models to understand the association between the markets, avoiding the downsides of the existing models. The authors' approach tries to visualize the network integration to examine the interconnectedness in the global stock market.

This paper aims to discuss the tax-related illicit financial flows from a human rights perspective. It argues that curbing illicit financial flows, and specifically tax abuse, is essential not only for realizing human rights but also for achieving the sustainable development goals. It provides definitions of tax evasion and avoidance, as well as estimations of illicit financial flows. It studies the tax abuse implications for human rights and sustainable development, as well as the obligations in the field of human rights and tax abuse. It also critically assesses the recent international initiatives aim at curbing illicit financial flows. It concludes with a set of recommendations on how to curb illicit financial flows.

This paper combines economic, legal and policy perspectives to study the multidimensional, complex and global problem of illicit financial flows. It not only proposes an explanation of the volume, roots and economic, social and human rights implications of illicit financial flows but it also proposes reforms that states and other stakeholders need to implement in order to curb this phenomenon.

Combating tax abuse and illicit financial flows more broadly, is essential to make better progress in realizing international human rights obligations. The inclusion of a specific target to reduce illicit financial flows under the sustainable development goals makes clear that curbing such flows is also essential for creating an enabling environment for sustainable development. While we should applaud that reducing illicit financial flows is mentioned in one of the targets of the sustainable development goals, the target remains broad and vague. Specific measures to operationalize this target are needed to ensure that progress is achieved and that such progress can be tracked and measured. The author presents recommendations for discussion. To promote accountability, the recommendations are addressed to specific stakeholders.

This paper tries to contribute to improve our knowledge and understanding of illicit financial flows and tax abuse more specifically at global level and their implications for human rights, to make the need for change more compelling, as well as to stimulate the debate around reforms that need to be implemented to curb illicit financial flows.

Advancing the economies in Asia toward meeting sustainable development goals (SDGs) needs an unprecedented investment in people, processes and the planet. The participation of the private sector is necessary to bridge the financing gap to attain this objective. Engaging the private sector can contribute significantly to attaining the 2030 agenda for SD. However, the financial markets in Asian economies are yet to realize this potential. In this context, this paper aims to discuss the state of finance for SD in Asia and identifies innovative financial instruments for attracting private investments for SDs in these economies.

This study relies on published articles, reports and policy documents on financing mechanisms for SD. The literature review covered journal data sources, reports from global institutions such as the UN, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and think-tanks operating in the field of climate change policies. Though the topic was specific to financial market instruments, a broader search was conducted to understand the different sources of sustainable finance available, particularly in Asia.

The investments that are required for meeting the SDGs remain underfunded. Though interest in sustainability is growing in the Asian economies, the financial markets are yet to transition to tap the growing interest in sustainable investing among global investors. This paper concludes that to raise capital from private investors the Asian economies should ensure information availability, reduce distortions and unblock regulatory obstacles. It would also need designing policies and introducing blended financing instruments combining private and public funds.

Though the study has grouped Asian economies, the financing strategy for SDGs should be developed at the country-level considering the domestic financial markets, local developmental stage, fiscal capacity and nationally determined contributions. Further research can focus on developing country-specific strategies for using innovative financial instruments.

Mobilizing funds for implementing the 2030 Agenda for SD is a major challenge for Asian economies. The paper is addressed to national policymakers in Asian economies for developing strategies to raise capital for SD through private participation. It provides opportunities for revisiting national approaches to sustainable finance in these economies.