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Given the large global investments made in FinTechs and the context of Brazilian credit (which has been suffering from the effects of the crisis in the last decade), the purpose of this paper is to study the propensity of consumption of credit services offered by FinTechs of loans. In order to discover the factors that influenced the propensity to apply for FinTech loans, a theoretical model was designed, which was tested by means of a survey given to individuals who might contract loans.

The final sample consisted of 507 individuals whose data were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM), with estimation of partial least squares.

From the results of the research, it was possible to draw a profile of the FinTechs of Brazilian loans and also to estimate the antecedents of the propensity to utilize this type of service.

The model proposed in this work was developed to measure the propensity to consume in relation to the credit services offered by lending FinTechs.

The consumer should intensify the use of these channels to shape financial products and services to their needs, thereby democratizing access to credit, which is often restricted in quantity and quality by policies of institutions that dominate the Brazilian lending market.

Aspects such as trust, personal innovation, perceived utility, ease of use and social influence, as well as the constructs that precede them like privacy, stigma and transactional distance, explain 41.5 percent of the propensity to use services from lending FinTechs in Brazil.

This study aims to examine whether there exists any relationship between corporate biodiversity reporting decision (CBRD) and corporate environmental performance (CEP).

The primary sample contains 442 firm-year observations over a period of 13 years (2008–2020) for 34 listed Finnish companies. Based on both legitimacy theory and voluntary disclosure theory, 2 logit regression models are estimated to test the CBRD–CEP nexus. CBRD is a dichotomous variable. Three proxies for CEP, namely propensity to emit greenhouse gas (GHG), propensity to consume water and propensity to generate waste are employed.

This study finds that firms having higher propensity to consume water and generate waste are inclined to release biodiversity-related information. The findings support legitimacy theory suggesting that firms with inferior environmental performance may decide on reporting biodiversity information for legitimation purpose.

The study uses Finnish data and hence, the results may lack in generalizability to other national contexts.

The results of this study should be valuable to policy makers for formulating mandatory biodiversity reporting standards to ensure disclosure of standard, extensive and authentic biodiversity-related information by companies. The results should also be valuable to corporate managers and eco-friendly investors.

Corporate biodiversity reporting (CBR) is an under-researched area of environmental accounting literature. Using the Finnish context, this paper extends the existing literature by investigating whether any association exists between CBRD and CEP, which has not been examined before.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the new rural social pension program’s effect on household consumption in rural China.

The paper employs field data in Hebei Province and comprehensively applies the ordinary least squares regression model and the difference-in-difference matching method.

The findings show that participation in the Program may not obviously increase household consumption, rather it significantly inhibits the marginal propensity of young families’ consumption temporarily without an apparent impact on participating households’ consumption.

In addition to maintain the stability of the basic system framework of the new rural social pension program and preserve or increase the value of the fund under the Program, dynamic adjustments to pension levels should be made as and when appropriate.

The study provides a new empirical evidence for the relationship between the new rural social pension program and consumption and gives insight into potential modifications and improvements to the Program.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test an existing conceptual model from Mak et al. (2012a, 2012b) to discern which factors have the most influence on food choices when travelers visit destinations with different options, i.e. local foods, other than those available in their home environments.

The quantitative study surveyed 330 travelers and used descriptive analyses of all the variables involved. A hierarchical linear regression was calculated to predict for the dependent variable of local cuisine consumption, based on the independent variables of culture and religion, socio-demographic factors, motivational factors, food trait personality and exposure effect/past experience.

Culture, motivational factors and food-related personality traits were consistently significant predictors of local food consumption.

Limitations include using an English-only online questionnaire and self-reported bias. The impacting delimitation relates to data collection from US travelers and thus limiting generalizability findings.

The study explained factors involved in travelers’ decision to consume local foods at a destination. Government, tourism-related organizations, producers and service providers gain information to improve products, increase interest, create additional employment opportunities, increase tax revenues that assist local communities and increase consumption of local foods, products and services.

The limited availability of research on this topic prompted the interest of the researchers. Mak et al. (2012b) provide a conceptual model that was first tested empirically in this study. It presents a five factors impacting tourist food consumption at a destination. Local food consumption of tourists was tested using the aforementioned conceptual model.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the teaching of undergraduate macroeconomics.

To suggest a roadmap, based on a consumption function, to be used by instructors willing to teach the Lucas Critique subject.

Therefore, this paper proposes a lesson, which consists of three parts, to help undergraduates better understand the subject: (1) a grading exercise to bring the topic closer to students’ lives; (2) a Keynesian and an optimal consumption function, followed by an example based on an unemployment insurance policy; and (3) two optional topics consisting of extensions of the optimal consumption function and some empirical results related to the Lucas Critique.

The Lucas Critique influenced the evolution of research in macroeconomics, but it is not easily grasped in a classroom.

The Government of Namibia has traditionally used fiscal (especially tax) policy as an instrument for annual budget formulation. Marginal tax rates for profits and various income brackets have been changed back and forth in response to changes in economic conditions. However, to date, no attempt has been made to evaluate the effectiveness of these reforms in achieving the broad national economic goals, in general, and the potential effects on government revenue in the short, medium and long-run periods, in particular. The purpose of this paper is to fill this information gap by analysing the implication of the 2008 zero-rating of value added tax (VAT) on basic commodities for aggregate demand and government revenue.

The study uses an analytical framework based on economic theory which posits that in an open economy, which trades with the rest of the world, aggregate demand for goods and services is made up of consumption demand, investment demand, government demand and net exports and that real sector equilibrium is attained when aggregate supply of goods and services is equal to aggregate demand for goods and services.

Using the Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey results, the annual loss in government revenue attributable to this policy is, ceteris paribus, estimated to be N$310.4 million. With a marginal propensity to consume out of disposable income of 0.89, total expenditure by households on goods and services is likely to increase by N$276.3 million per annum. In the medium-to-long-run, national income will have increased by N$303.9 million per annum. Taxes which are responsive to changes in the level of national income will have increased by N$85.7 million, compensating for just over one quarter of the estimated loss in government revenue of N$310.4 million.

The study has used a partial equilibrium model as opposed to computable general equilibrium model, which provides a consistent framework that meets most of the sectoral and institutional data requirements for the simple reason that a social accounting matrix which can be used readily to connect data from different sources, such as national accounts and household surveys and would thus have been ideal model for analysing the impacts of the VAT tax reform has not been developed for Namibia.

The paper provides a number of practical policy options available for government including, but not limited to, increasing direct taxes, VAT rate on specific (luxury) goods and services and statutory VAT rate on all other commodities not zero-rated, other taxes such as taxes; and borrowing from external sources.

It is established that zero-rating VAT on all the basic commodities in 2008 reduces the VAT paid by all Namibian households by N$310.4 million per year, which represents the annual increase in the disposable income of all households. And with a marginal propensity to consume out of disposable income of 0.89, total expenditure by households on goods and services will increase by N$276.3 million per year.

This paper presents the first attempt at evaluating the effectiveness of tax (VAT) policy reforms in Namibia in achieving the broad national economic goals, in general, and the potential effects on government revenue in the short, medium and long-run periods, in particular.

The Spanish wine sector has gained ever greater relevance not only in economic terms but also from a social and environmental perspective. One Spanish region with a deeply rooted history of growing and producing wine is the Canary Islands, and specifically the island of Tenerife. The wine sector there has undergone notable evolution since the end of the past century. The main aim of these changes has been to improve the quality of Canarian wines, although it is also crucial to design marketing strategies that contribute to maintaining and increasing market share. In this context, it is essential to improve our knowledge of wine consumption among the population, especially given the scarcity of studies that analyze consumption preferences. Thus, the aim of this study is to identify wine consumption profiles.

This study uses data from a survey carried out on a representative sample of 1,028 Tenerife residents. Discrete choice models are estimated to identify profiles of wine consumers.

The main results show that the probability of consuming wine is the greatest among adult men compared to a lower consumption by younger individuals and women. Furthermore, it was shown that the probability of occasional consumption increases with higher educational levels.

This study examines in depth the individual factors that influence decisions on wine consumption (frequency and amount) in Tenerife (Canary Islands), which has a wine-growing landscape that produces several unique grape varieties. The study quantifies the probability of wine consumption depending on resident individuals’ sociodemographic characteristics. Thus, it contributes to a greater understanding of demand and consumption patterns in the island´s wine sector and allows comparisons to be made with studies for other geographical areas. It is, therefore, a valuable framework for designing targeted marketing strategies to increase consumption and attract demand from potential consumers with specific characteristics.

This paper aims to examine the effect of housing wealth on household consumption when there are resale and refinancing constraints that prevent housing assets from being cashed out.

Based on Household Expenditure Survey data in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2010, regression analysis is applied to compare the housing wealth effects of private and subsidized homeowners. Propensity score matching is adopted to ensure that the two groups of homeowners share similar household income. Further regression analysis is conducted to examine private homeowners’ consumption when their recourse mortgages are in negative equity.

Subsidized homeowners, who are not allowed to resell their units before sharing their capital gain with the government, experienced an insignificant housing wealth effect. While private homeowners experienced a significant housing wealth effect, the effect was weakened in the presence of a resale constraint induced by negative equity. The results remain robust after the application of more rigorous sample selection through propensity score matching.

The analyses are subject to two potential data limitations. One is a relatively small sample size. The other is that data on financial assets and mortgages are unavailable and have to be indirectly controlled through household characteristics. Nevertheless, our estimated marginal propensity to consume out of housing wealth is 0.03 of the annual household consumption for private homeowners, which is within the range of estimates reported in previous literature.

This study shows that the housing wealth effect enjoyed in the private sector does not necessarily apply to the subsidized sector where resale and refinancing constraints exist. This is not to suggest that the constraints be removed. Rather, policymakers should be aware of the tradeoff: while the constraints ensure that government subsidies are used to assist home ownership, not capital gain, they also bring about consumption inequality in a society, especially in a booming housing market.

Our findings extend the literature on the housing wealth effect, which has been exclusively focusing on private homeowners, to subsidized homeowners. This study also adds to the literature on housing welfare by highlighting that the resale constraints of subsidized housing can weaken the housing wealth effect.

This paper presents a model of government saving in order to examine several questions regarding the personal and professional saving preferences or inclinations of a national sample of local government finance managers. First, is personal propensity to save related to a preference for local government saving? Second, is personal propensity to spend related to the finance managers' opinions about their local government's spending? Third, what are the determinants of finance managers' propensity to save or spend, both personally and for their local government? Results confirm that finance managers have a personal propensity to save and a positive view toward local government saving. The opposite, propensity to spend, is also influenced by personal preference. Determinants of these behaviors are explored.

A growing number of Muslim countries are expressing the desire, and even in some cases taking serious actions, to turn to strict Islamic laws and teachings in modelling their way of life including their economic behaviour. It is the purpose of this paper to investigate the economic implications of these laws i.e. the teachings of the Holy Qur'an, the traditions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad and the practices of early Muslims. In particular, some are concerned that the application of Shariah could impair the economy's ability to accumulate capital since Islamic principles aim at the establishment of a greater degree of social and economic justice through continuous redistribution of income and wealth in favour of the poor and needy. First, Islam does not favour the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. The Qur'an says,“… in order that it (i.e. wealth) may not merely make a circuit between the wealthy among you”, secondly, Muslims must contribute a proportion of their income and wealth called “Zakat” for the use of the poor and needy. “Keep up prayer and pay Zakat” is the constant term of the Holy Qur'an. There are at least twenty‐seven passages in the Holy Qur'an where the order to pay Zakat and the order to establish prayer occur jointly. Thirdly, Islam urges the believers to spend generously in the cause of God i.e. on the poor and needy. Thus the Qur'an says, “Speak to my servants who have believed that they may establish regular prayers and spend in charity out of substance” (Chapter 14, Verse 31). The Qur'an also says, “Believe in God and His Prophet and spend in charity out of the substance whereof He has made you heirs. For those of you who believe and spend in charity is a great reward”. The reward for spending in charity is specified in Chapter 2, Verse 261, where God says, “The parable of those who spend their substance in the way of God is that of a grain of corn; it groweth seven ears, and each ear hath a hundred grains. God giveth manifold increase to whom he pleaseth; and God careth for all and He knoweth all things”. Fourthly, Islam urges the wealthy to lend God “beautiful loans” in the form of spending in charity. Thus the Qur'an says, “If ye loan to God a beautiful loan, He will double it to your credit and He will grant your forgiveness. For God is most ready to appreciate service, most forebearing”.