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This study aims to investigate the relationship between digital financial inclusion and economic growth in specific Asian countries, emphasizing the exploration of how digital financial inclusion dynamics impact gross domestic per capita income.

The study creates a digital financial inclusion composite index (DFII) by incorporating essential metrics from the Global Findex report. Economic growth is measured using Gross Domestic Product per capita income in its natural logarithmic form (LnPCI), with three control variables– employment-to-population ratio; population growth and inflation. The analysis utilizes a fixed-effect dummy variable model to examine the relationship, considering unobserved country-specific heterogeneity. 30 Asian countries have been selected for the study for the periods 2014, 2017 and 2021 based on their availability, as outlined in Table 4.

The research revealed a robust positive correlation between the Digital Financial Inclusion Index (DFII) and logarithmic GDP per capita income (LnPCI), indicating higher per capita income with enhanced digital financial inclusion. Employment and population exhibited minimal influence, whereas inflation had a notable negative effect on per capita income. Population growth showed a limited impact. The model demonstrated a high explanatory power for the dependent variable (high R-squared), and the residuals displayed low autocorrelation (Durbin–Watson of 1.96).

This study adds to the existing literature by examining the intricate connection between digital financial inclusion (DFI) and economic growth in 30 Asian countries, employing a comprehensive composite index for analysis.

We investigate the role of fiscal policy, through several measures of government revenues and expenditures and redistribution, on disposable and market income inequality and economic growth as well as the interaction between inequality and growth for 31 European countries from 1995 to 2019.

We use a simultaneous equations model to assess the linkage between economic growth, inequalities and fiscal policy variables.

(1) While disposable income inequality has a negative effect on all fiscal policy variables, market income inequality has a mixed effects; (2) for Eastern European countries, public consumption and direct taxation positively influence economic growth; conversely, for Western European countries, the effects are negative; (3) disposable and market income inequality have a positive effect on growth for Eastern European countries, and a negative influence on growth for Western European countries; (4) growth contributes to the increase of disposable and market income inequality for Eastern European countries; for Western European countries, the effects are opposite; and (5) fiscal policy allows for the attenuation of disposable income inequality.

The different results between the role of market and disposable income inequality levels lead us to suggest tax progressivity as an important feature to consider when analyse the trivariate relationship between inequalities, fiscal policy and growth. Furthermore, there are different dynamics between inequality and growth, and the role of fiscal policy, on both Eastern and Western European countries.

The purpose of this study is to provide new insights into the relationship between fiscal policy and total factor productivity (TFP) while accounting for several economic and econometric issues of the phenomenon like non-stationarity, fiscal feedback effects, persistence in productivity, country heterogeneity and unobserved global shocks and local spillovers affecting heterogeneously the countries in the sample.

The paper is empirical. It builds an Error Correction Model (ECM) specification within a dynamic heterogeneous framework with common correlated effects and models both reverse causality and feedback effects.

The results of this study highlight some new findings relative to the existing related literature. The outcomes suggest some relevant evidence at both the academic and policy levels: (1) the causal effects going from fiscal deficit/surplus to TFP are heterogeneous across countries; (2) the effects depend on the time horizon considered; (3) the long-run dynamics of TFP are positively impacted by improvements in fiscal budget, but only if the austerity measures do not exert slowdowns in aggregate growth.

The main originality of this study is methodological, with possible extensions to related phenomena. Relative to the existing literature, the gains of this study rely on the way econometric techniques, recently proposed in the literature, are adapted to the economic relationship of interest. The endogeneity due to the existence of reverse causality is modelled without implying relevant performance losses of the models. Moreover, this is the first article that questions whether the effects of fiscal budget on productivity depend on the impact of the former on aggregate output growth, thus emphasising the importance of the quality of fiscal adjustments.

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the most ambitious investment strategy for infrastructural development belonging to the significant potential for stimulating regional economic growth in Asia, Europe and Africa. This study aims to investigate the impact of infrastructure on spurring inward foreign direct investment (FDI) within the purview of human capital, GDP per capita, foreign aid, trade, domestic investment, population and institutional quality in BRI countries.

In doing so, the authors analyze panel data from 2000 to 2019 within the framework of the system generalized method of movement (GMM) approach for 66 BRI countries from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

The investigated results demonstrate that aggregate and disaggregate infrastructure indices, e.g. transport, telecommunications, financial and energy infrastructures, are the driving forces in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the BRI countries. In addition, control variables (i.e. institutional quality, human capital, trade, domestic investment, foreign aid and GDP per capita) play an essential role in spurring FDI inflows.

The authors’ study uniquely investigates both the pre- (2000–2012) and post- (2013–2019) BRI scenarios using the aggregate and disaggregate infrastructural components from the perspectives of full and clustered sample regions, such as Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The study provides several policy implications.

Globally “non-urgent” health care services were ceased in response to the 2020 outbreak of COVID-19, until 2021, when restrictions were lifted. In the UK, this included speech and language therapy services. The implications of COVID-19 restrictions have not been explored. This study aimed to examine the impact of the UK’s COVID-19 response on speech and language therapy services.

An online survey of the practice of speech and language therapists (SLTs) in the UK was undertaken. This explored SLTs’ perceptions of the demand for their services at a time when COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted, compared with before the onset of the pandemic. The analysis was completed using descriptive statistics and content analysis.

Respondents were mostly employed by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) or the private sector. Many participants reported that demands on their service had increased compared with before the onset of the pandemic. The need to address the backlog of cases arising from shutdowns was the main reason for this. Contributing factors included staffing issues and redeployment. Service users were consequently waiting longer for NHS therapy. Private therapy providers reported increased demand, which they directly attributed to these NHS challenges.

This presents the only focused account of the impact of the national response to COVID-19 on speech and language therapy services in the UK. It has been identified that services continue to face significant challenges, which indicate a two-tier system is emerging. Healthcare system leaders must work with service managers and clinicians to create solutions and prevent the system from being overwhelmed.