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This study aims to examine the hedge, diversifier and safe-haven properties of bonds against infectious disease-related equity market volatility (IDEMV), like COVID-19.

The authors apply wavelet coherence methodology on the daily data of IDEMV and bond market (US, UK, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, China and Europe) indices from 1 January 2000 to 14 February 2021.

The results show no significant co-movement between these bond indices and IDEMV, thus confirming that they serve as a hedge against IDEMV. However, during the turbulent period like COVID-19, the authors find that the US, UK, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, China and European bond markets act as safe-haven against IDEMV, whereas the UK, US, Japan and Canadian bond markets demonstrate an in-phase and positive co-movement with IDEMV during COVID-19, suggesting their role as a diversifier.

The study findings are important for investors and portfolio managers regarding risk management, portfolio diversification and investment strategies.

The authors contribute to the fast growing body of work on the financial impacts of COVID-19 as well as to ongoing consideration of whether a bond is a safe-haven investment.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of trade openness on the cost of financial intermediation and bank performance. Developed and developing countries are currently pursuing trade openness to achieve higher bank performance with less intermediation costs.

In attaining the study's objectives, several regression methodologies were employed (i.e. system generalized method of moments (GMM), fixed effect, pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) and vector error correction model (VECM)). The authors tested the hypothesis on data of 885 banks from BRICS countries, which span 18 years (2000–2017).

The results from this robust study showed that embedding higher trade openness reduces financial intermediation costs and improves banks' performance. The results remain robust following the use of different estimation methods and alternative variables as proxies. In addition, results were still valid upon considering bank level, industry level and country level as control variables. It was also observed that the relation pattern holds its rigidity during “good” and “bad” times (i.e. the global financial crisis).

The results provide better references for bank regulators, academics and policymakers to take advantage of the low financial intermediation costs resulting from trade openness.

This study aims to differentiate crime-related characteristics (such as the number of cases filed against current convictions and criminal history) based on the criminal thinking prevailing among convicts. However, because of the low reliability of subscales and poor structural validity of indigenous and translated versions of international instruments, a new instrument criminal attitude measure (CAM) was extracted to measure criminal thinking patterns among convicts incarcerated in central prisons of Punjab.

A cross-sectional research design was used. Data was collected from 1,949 male convicts (extracting mutually exclusive data from 649 respondents for EFA and 1,300 respondents for confirmatory factor analysis [CFA]). Both data samples were collected from convicts incarcerated in the nine (all) central jails of Punjab, Pakistan.

The results of this study showed poor model fit for both the indigenous criminal thinking scale and the translated version of criminogenic cognition scale. CAM was extracted through principal component analysis and proposed as a 15-item questionnaire with five factors extracted through varimax rotation. Those five factors are power orientation, mollification, entitlement, mistrust toward authorities and short-term orientation. The results of CFA for CAM confirmed the proposed five-factor structure for the construct. Findings based on MANOVA further found that CAM differentiates between the thinking patterns of recidivists, convicts with multiple charges filed against them in current convictions and convicts with a familial criminal record. The findings of this study showed that CAM is a practical, valid and reliable instrument for measuring criminal thinking among convicts.

In this study, using the survey method was inevitable because of the restrictions imposed by the granted permission. However, this time duration was extended because of the courtesy of the Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent of each jail. This study is focused on a male sample only, and the findings cannot be generalized to females. The phenomena proposed (based on large data sets) in this study can further be elaborated using qualitative research designs and methods (using a small sample with an in-depth study). So, it is also suggested to test this new instrument on a comparative study between prisoners and non-prisoners to explore whether scale can differentiate between these two groups.

A short-scale and easy-to-administer instrument was developed for assessing major criminogenic needs among convicts for prison management, i.e. assigning barracks, allocating treatment and also detecting changes in attitude after imprisonment.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first study to explore and validate the construct of criminal attitudes among convicts using both the EFA and CFA. A small and valid instrument facilitates the measurement of criminogenic needs among prisoners. Data was collected from all central jails in Punjab. This study explored comparatively less researched crime characteristics in a relatively large sample.

The study evaluates the role of institutional framework and macroeconomic instability on financial market development among emerging economies.

The study uses panel data compiled from 32 countries from the sub-region of Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA), covering the period starting from 1996 to 2019. Empirical analyses were carried out using the two-step system generalized method of moments (TS-GMM) statistical framework.

Reviewed results suggest that institutional quality, effective governance and corruption control have a significant positive impact on financial market development among economies in the sub-region. Further empirical estimates show that macroeconomic risk and macroeconomic uncertainty have significant adverse effects on financial market development. Additionally, reported empirical estimates suggest that an improved institutional framework has the potential to lessen the adverse effect of macroeconomic instability on financial market development among economies in the sub-region.

The uniqueness of this empirical inquiry compared to related studies in the present literature stems from the fact that studies employing similar empirical approaches on the subject matter for economies in the sub-region are rare. Additionally, the analysis pursued in this study employs critical variables whose impact on financial market performance in the sub-region has not been examined per our review. These variables include indexes such as macroeconomic risk and institutional quality, which are unique to this study based on their construction; these indexes are generated using a principal component analysis procedure with different underlying variables compared to what may be found in the literature.

The study evaluates the effects of governance and other regulatory structures on the development of financial institutions in the subregion of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

Data for the analyses were compiled from relevant sources from 1996 to 2019 from a sample of 36 countries in the subregion. Empirical analyses were carried out using the Prais-Winsten panel corrected standard errors panel estimation technique augmented by pooled ordinary least squares with Driscoll and Kraay (1998) standard errors model.

Findings from the study suggest that governance and institutional quality index, as well as individual governance and regulatory variables, have positive effect on the development of financial institutions among economies in SSA. Further empirical estimates show that output growth volatility has negative moderating impact on the relationship between effective governance, control of corruption, rule of law, regulatory quality, voice and accountability, and development of financial institutions. Additionally, the results show that during periods of heightened macroeconomic risk, financial institutions could benefit from improved governance and effective regulatory structures.

Compared to related studies that have reviewed the discourse on financial institutions, this study rather focuses on how governance structures and institutions influence development of financial institutions instead of the impact of financial institution on the broader economy. The authors further augment this interaction by examining how the relationship in question may be moderated by macroeconomic shocks.

Despite the severe impact of the COVID-19, Maldives was one of the top destinations which witnessed decent tourist arrival amid the pandemic. This study aims to analyze luxury hospitality experiences of guests amid COVID-19 pandemic.

This study is exploratory in nature. This study analyses 4,302 real-time customer reviews using sentiment and thematic analysis with the help of NVIVO 12 plus and Leximancer.

The findings suggest travel products as well as services associated with luxury resorts needs to be revisited. Staff needs to be more professional and must be proactive while redesigning services specially in situations like pandemic. While redesigning services in situations like pandemic, staff needs to be proactive, professional and must follow all protocols. Major negative experiences included long waiting time to avail frill services, privacy intrusion by bloggers and influencers, service quality issues. We recommend enhancing service quality followed by investing more in training and development, increasing the number of foreign languages spoken by staff and disseminating localized culinary experiences will enhance the experience quality with guests.

This study has several limitations: first, this study limited itself to 15 luxury resorts of Maldives, which may not serve as a true representation of all luxury resorts of Maldives. The next limitation of this study is that the authors have collected customer reviews from TripAdvisor only, and the reviews were only in English language.

The findings of the research can be beneficial for the policymakers, hospitality practitioners and academicians who study luxury tourism industry to carve appropriate strategies for enhancing the customers’ luxury experience like leveraging customization in all areas and enhancing service quality, food quality, training and development of employees.

Maldives has become one of the most expensive traveler destinations and is home to world’s most expensive resorts. This study is original in nature and has a forward-looking approach which studies the disruptive effect of pandemic, intangible nature of luxury as a concept can be used by hospitality industry to redesign the luxury customer experience which can improve marketing strategies aiming to potentiate this niche. In addition, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study will be the first one to capture the real customer experiences of luxury resorts of Maldives.

While several existing panel studies have focused on the linear specifications of the effect of remittances and financial development on carbon emissions, nonlinear panel studies on this subject remain thin on the ground. The purpose of this paper is to examine the asymmetric effect of remittances and financial development on carbon emissions in 31 selected sub-Saharan African countries for the period spanning from 1996 to 2018.

The Kao, Pedroni and Johansen–Fisher co-integration tests were conducted to ascertain a long-run relationship among the studied variables, whereas the nonlinear panel autoregressive distributed lag approach was applied to account for asymmetries.

The study revealed, among other things, that remittances and financial development asymmetrically influence carbon emissions in the selected panel of sub-Saharan African countries. In the long run, the positive shock in remittances on carbon emissions is greater than in the negative shock in remittances. Additionally, both positive and negative shocks in financial development mitigate carbon emissions.

The implications of this study include the need to provide tax incentives to remitters and encourage them to invest in clean technologies so as to maintain sustainable development and low carbon emissions in the environment. There is also the need for governments and policymakers to formulate policies aimed at improving the functioning of the financial sectors in sub-Saharan Africa.

The positive and negative shocks of remittances and financial development on carbon emissions are examined to ascertain their asymmetric relationships.

This study examines the intersection of emerging Islamic economies and the digital economy in the context of the United Nations sustainable development goals (UN SDGs). This study aims to investigate the opportunities, challenges and barriers faced by emerging Islamic economies in the context of the digital economy. It specifically focuses on how these economies can contribute to the achievement of UN SDGs established in 2015. In addition, the study explores the prospects of Islamic digital finance and its potential to facilitate the adoption of the UN SDGs.

The following components outline the design, methods and approach of this study, identify and select specific UN SDGs that are relevant to the research aims. These selected goals serve as the basis for evaluating the impact of conventional and Islamic digital financial inclusion, gathered data from credible sources such as Bloomberg and Refinitiv Thomson Reuters to support the analysis. These sources provide comprehensive data on global indicators, progress and targets related to the UN SDGs, compare and evaluate the impact of both conventional and Islamic digital financial inclusion strategies on the selected UN SDGs; the study uses qualitative interpretation of the gathered data, which involves identifying patterns, themes and connections within the data to draw meaningful conclusions.

Results revealed that Islamic digital finance has the potential to contribute significantly to achieving the UN SDGs by promoting financial inclusion, encouraging ethical investments, supporting small and medium enterprises, promoting sustainable investments and leveraging technology to expand access to Islamic financial services and support sustainable investments.

While there are many potential benefits of Islamic digital finance in helping to achieve the UN SDGs, there are also several limitations that should be considered in research, such as limited access to digital infrastructure, regulatory challenges, product offerings, scale, awareness and adoption. Addressing these limitations will be critical to maximizing the potential of Islamic digital finance to contribute to achieving the UN SDGs.

This study points to an important gap in the literature; for practitioners, this study has significant managerial consequences for achieving the UN SDGs in emerging economies by facilitating social impact investments and promoting ethical and sustainable investments.

This study’s uniqueness lies in its exploration of the limited exploration of connecting the implementation of digital financial systems to promote UN SDGs within emerging Islamic economies.

This paper aims to examine the impact of information and telecommunication technologies (ICT-proxied by mobile phone subscription and Internet usage) on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries from 1990 to 2018.

The Cross-section Autoregressive Distributed Lag (CS-ARDL) model is employed to address the potential cross-section dependence problem. Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) and Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimators are used to test for robustness of results.

Results reveal contrasting effects of mobile phone subscription and Internet usage on CO2 emissions. While mobile phone penetration helps mitigate CO2 emissions, Internet usage tends to increase the emissions. Findings show that renewable energy is beneficial to the environment while economic growth is harmful to the environment. The effects of financial development and trade openness seem negligible.

This study offers practical implications for policymakers. As different proxies of ICT could have contradictory impact on CO2, governments should be cautious against utilizing ICT to mitigate CO2. Findings point to the benefits of renewable energy in alleviating CO2 emissions. Therefore, governments are strongly advised to implement policies facilitating renewable energy consumption.

Previous studies ignored the problem of cross-section dependence which could lead to biased results and cause misleading inferences. This study aims to fill this void in the literature.

Expansion of the consumption of renewable energy is a significant issue for reducing global warming, to cope with climate change and achieve sustainable development. This study aims to examine how research and development expenditure (R&D) affects renewable energy development in developed G-7 countries over the period from 2000 to 2019. Variables of trade liberalization and CO₂ emissions are considered control variables.

This study has adopted a panel quantile regression. The impact of the variables on renewable development has been examined in quantiles of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 0.9. Also, a robust examination is accomplished by applying generalized quantile regression (GQR).

The empirical findings reveal a positive and significant relationship between R&D and the consumption of renewable energy in 0.1, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 quantiles. Also, the findings describe that the expansion of trade liberalization and CO₂ emissions can significantly increase the development of renewable energy in G-7 countries. Furthermore, GQR verifies the main outcomes.

These results have very momentous policy consequences for the governments of G-7 countries. Therefore, investment and support for the R&D section to promote the development of renewable energy are recommended.

This paper, in comparison to other research, used panel quantile regression to investigate the impact of factors affecting renewable energy consumption. Also, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has perused the effect of R&D along with trade liberalization and carbon emissions on renewable energy consumption in G-7 countries. Also, in this paper, as a robustness check for panel quantile regression, the GQR has been used.