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The purpose of this paper is to utilize a newly constructed index for social justice, with its two versions SJI-1 and SJI-2, to measure new values for the indexes in 35 countries in two periods, 2005-2010 and 2011-2015, in an attempt to assess quantitatively how less developed countries developed through time in terms of social justice.

The paper obtained data for 35 developing countries in the six subindicators used to quantify the six dimensions of the social justice index. The values of the subindicators were then normalized and aggregated to form SJI-1 and SJI-2, each of which assigns different weights for its subindicators, for the 35 countries in the two periods 2005-2010 and 2011-2015.

Results of the new values of the index in its two versions were close in showing how 31 countries (according to SJI-1) and 29 countries (according to SJI-2) managed to improve their levels of social justice, while the indexes of only three countries (according to SJI-1) and six countries (according to SJI-2) worsened. Nevertheless, the index depicted that some countries performed better than others by improving their ranks at the expense of others. Comparison of the study’s quantitative results with qualitative research seems to provide some support for SJI-2 in echoing social justice compared to SJI-1.

The study is a vital tool for policymakers for appraising the levels of social justice in their respective countries, both in absolute terms by highlighting the scores of their countries with respect to social justice, and in relative terms by clarifying where their countries stand through cross-country comparisons, in addition to identifying dimensions of social justice which are in need of intervention for further enhancement.

The objective of this paper is to prove that any attempt to implement social justice in its present undefined form is unattainable, and to successfully achieve social justice, the term should be quantified by an appropriate index; accordingly, the first objective of this paper is to make an attempt to construct an appropriate social justice index. The second objective is to quantify this index for a number of developing countries so that a government with low value of social justice index can make policy for achieving an appropriate level of social justice.

The paper constructs a new composite index for social justice for 40 mostly developing countries by selecting six subindicators, each of which represents one aspect or dimension of social justice. The values of the subindicators are then normalized and the final composite index is formed from the weighted average of the subindicators.

The study quantified the levels of social justice in developing countries through a new social justice index and compared the ranking of some developing countries using the new index. The index also helped in identifying areas of social justice that need improvement and hence can improve the developing countries' scores in the social justice index.

The paper is valuable to policy makers in developing countries especially the Arab Spring countries in their pursuit for achieving social justice. Quantifying social justice clarifies exactly where such countries stand and the dimensions of social justice that need urgent action to improve their performance and thus their index scores.

Motivated by recent financial liberalization policies in emerging markets, this study investigates whether bank competition and regulatory capital affect bank risk taking in an international banking context.

Bank competition is regressed, using GLS regression, on various measures of bank risk, to reflect regulatory, accounting and market-based risk-taking. The authors use a sample of publicly traded banks operating in Africa during 2004–2019.

Results show that higher level of bank competition increases bank risk taking and results in greater financial fragility in the absence of banking capital regulations. Furthermore, larger capital adequacy ratios control the risk-taking incentives of managers and guard banks against the risk of default. Further tests confirm the significance of market-based risk measures over accounting and regulatory measures.

Findings are relevant to bank managers and regulators in their sustained effort of finding an optimal balance between bank competition and financial stability. Increased competition should be balanced with capital regulations to curtail bank excessive risky behavior and derive the social benefits of greater competition in the market while sustaining overall economic growth.

This study provides novel evidence in an international context. First, it uses regulatory, accounting and market-based measures of bank risk taking to reflect regulators', management and market participants' emphasis. Another original contribution is the investigation of bank competition across African economies characterized by financial liberalization, stringent banking system and interesting socio-economic challenges.