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This paper aims to check the E-Government Development Index (EGDI) of South Asian countries and then highlight the main challenges they are facing right now, which are causing South Asian countries to do good in the e-government sector.

The authors will be getting the EGDI data for South Asian countries through the United Nations website, and to visualize it for understanding, the authors will be taking the help of an Online Business intelligence tool. After successfully fetching data and presenting it in a proper format, the authors will be doing an analysis of the South Asian country’s EGDI score overall and also will check on individual indicator levels of EGDI.

Finally, the authors will be sharing the common improvement points which South Asian countries’ governments need to focus on to make their EGDI score better and get included in the list of top E-Government. With its help, countries will progress and get hand-in-hand with the world by providing the best governance practices to their citizens.

It is important to understand for South Asian countries that the e-government initiative is not just about transforming governance or providing quality services to citizens but also it is about being in sync with the world and competing with other countries in the development progress. So, they have to follow the e-government trends to get their country aligned with the world and attain progress country in a faster speed.

South Asia is a region urgently seeking development, although it has failed in regional integration. It is the second least integrated region regarding the number of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and can thus be recognised as a missing bloc in the global multilateral system. This study aims to focus on South Asian FTAs and explores the problems of the inter-relations and compatibility between the systemic and regional trade systems.

The study proposes a framework to benchmark the compatibility of South Asian FTAs with WTO rules. Primary data from 2000 to 2020, including descriptive analyses of reports, legal text of the FTAs, official documents and factual presentations, have been collected and analysed through thematic analysis using the proposed framework.

The study finds that, although South Asian FTAs meet most of the WTO requirements, they are not progressing toward facilitating and promoting trade. Data from 2000 to 2020 show us that South Asian FTAs have not significantly impacted trade between themselves. The study argues that, although South Asian FTAs fulfil some benchmarks, they show only a lukewarm interest in contributing to the international trading system as building blocs. It is therefore recommended that the case of South Asian trade liberalisation must be understood contextually and be given careful and exclusive attention by the WTO.

As such, this study is the first to claim that South Asian FTAs are not fully compatible with the WTO rules. They remain a missing regional bloc in the multilateral system, rather than a building bloc or a stumbling bloc, delaying the region’s opportunity to develop as a region and within the larger system.

Education to an international standard that can provide successful careers has arguably been the main drive of many parents to allocate scarce financial resources to the education of their progenies. Competition for high-calibre degrees has seen an explosion of opportunity in the private education sector. As many Global South countries do not have the equivalent control of standards provided in the United Kingdom (UK) by the Quality Assurance Agency, this can lead to dissatisfaction with the qualifications received in the Global South. This chapter aims to explore the factors influencing participation in higher education in the Global North versus the Global South, particularly where these relate to or vary by locality, and the relative influence these have on the propensity of the learners living in these areas to progress into higher education in local universities. The conceptual framework and methodology provided in this chapter show the differences between transnational education (TNE) as primarily a standalone or independent activity supported by a UK higher education institution (HEI)/provider versus being a collaborative effort between a UK host university and a South/Southeast Asian HEI university partner. The methodology provides a strategy for UK host institutions to best provide carefully aligned independent or collaborative partnerships with the partner country regulatory bodies. The chapter concludes with the author’s personal reflections and recommendations based on decades of collaborative and independent university provision of TNE. These reflections are focused on design-based courses in selected South/Southeast Asian HEI partnerships with the College of Architecture and Design at Birmingham City University.

This paper assesses the environment of legitimacy by determining the role of institutional quality and policy uncertainty on the performance of five major South Asian stock markets (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal) using 21 years data from 2000 to 2020. The focus of this study is to approach the issue of the environment of legitimacy that leads to sustained market returns.

Panel cointegration tests of Kao and Pedroni are applied, and the Dynamic Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) model is used to determine the estimates.

ADF P-Values of both Kao and Pedroni tests show that the panels are cointegrated; the statistical significance of the results of the Kao and Pedroni panel cointegration test confirms cointegration among the variables. After determining the most appropriate lag, the analysis is done using PVAR. The results indicate that institutional quality, policy uncertainty, and GDP positively affect stock market return. Meanwhile, government actions and inflation negatively affect stock market returns. On the other hand, stock market return positively affects institutional quality, government action, policy uncertainty, and GDP. While stock market return negatively affects inflation.

The sample is taken only from a limited number of South Asian countries, and the period is also limited to 21 years.

Based on our research findings, we have identified several policy implications recommended to enhance and sustain the performance of stock markets.

This paper uses a unique analytical tool, which gives a better insight into the problem. The value of this work lies in its findings, which also have practical implications and theoretical significance.

This study empirically examines the impact of some domestic as well as global factors such as trade openness (TO), money supply (MS), exchange rate, global oil prices (GOPs) and interest rate (IR) on inflation.

This study deploys a quantitative method considering 30 years of data (1991–2020) from four South Asian countries, namely, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. To determine the potential impact of different factors on inflation, this study applies the panel analysis of the system generalized method of moments (SGMM).

This study empirically finds that TO, MS, exchange rate and GOPs have a positive impact on inflation, while IR and the structural adjustment program (SAP) have a negative impact on inflation. Out of the various determinants considered in this study, TO, exchange rate and the SAP are insignificant, while the rest of the variables are significant and consistent with previous studies.

This study informs policymakers about maintaining price stability and fostering economic growth in South Asian nations. It breaks new ground as the first empirical examination of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s SAP impact on inflation in the region.

This study tries to find out whether the SAP of the IMF is responsible for inflation in South Asian countries. It gives renewed attention to the causality of inflation from the perspective of countries receiving loans from donors, especially the IMF.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the agriculture-induced environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in South Asian economies (SAE).

This study employs econometric techniques, including Westerlund cointegration tests, cross-sectional augmented distributive lag model (CS-ARDL) and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (DH) causality tests to investigate the relationship between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, agriculture, economic growth, financial development and carbon emissions in SAE from 1990 to 2019.

The CS-ARDL test outcome supports the presence of the agriculture-induced EKC hypothesis in SAE. Additionally, through the application of the DH causality test, the study confirms a unidirectional causality running from renewable energy consumption (REC), fossil fuel consumption (FFC), economic growth (GDP) and squared economic growth (GDP²) to carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions.

This study proposes that future research should extend comparisons to worldwide intergovernmental bodies, use advanced econometric methodologies for accurate estimates, and investigate incorporating the service or primary sector into the EKC. Such multidimensional studies can inform various methods for mitigating global climate change and ensuring ecological sustainability.

Environmental degradation has been extensively studied in different regions and countries, but SAE face significant constraints in addressing this issue, and comprehensive studies in this area are scarce. This research is pioneering as it is the first study to investigate the applicability of the agriculture-induced EKC in the South Asian region. By filling this gap in the current literature, the study provides valuable insights into major SAE and their environmental challenges.

The scope of this work is to explore whether Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) would be beneficial to Bangladesh, given Bangladesh's strong ties with India and the west.

Using extended gravity equation and data from Head and Mayer (2021) and the Direction of Trade Statistic (IMF, 2021) for Bangladesh with its applicable partner countries from 1972 till 2019, the authors attempted to examine the potential impact of joining RCEP while keeping its relationship with South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and other existing economic integration schemes intact.

Using traditional pooled ordinary least squares, two-stage least square and generalized method of moment techniques, it has been revealed that conventional partners in the South led by India are still beneficial to Bangladeshs trading line. Joining RCEP provides ample avenues for trade expansion without replacing the positive effects of SAARC.

Traditional partners from European, American and South Asian trading opportunities are still paying enough dividends to Bangladesh. RCEP is providing a trade-enhancing chance for Bangladesh in the eastern direction. This paper provides a policy suggestion to look east policy of government. A total overhaul of her tax structure through minimizing excessive reliance on import tariff revenue is desired to facilitate her to join RCEP in the future because most of its prospective RCEP partners are import partners.

This is the first and the only study which explores the feasibility of Bangladesh to join the RCEP by using the most recently updated gravity data in a panel framework.

1. Since its inception on November 15, 2020, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has emerged as one of the largest economic integration areas in the world.

2. As a borderline country between South Asia and RCEP, Bangladesh is in a fix to take a decision either to join or not to join RCEP if they are invited.

3. This paper used the gravity equation in an extended form by taking Bangladesh with its 197 trading partners’ trade data for 1972–2019.

4. The findings postulate that the existing relationship with SAARC countries is still beneficial to its welfare, and RCEP is also economically helpful in enhancing its trade.

Since its inception on November 15, 2020, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has emerged as one of the largest economic integration areas in the world.

As a borderline country between South Asia and RCEP, Bangladesh is in a fix to take a decision either to join or not to join RCEP if they are invited.

This paper used the gravity equation in an extended form by taking Bangladesh with its 197 trading partners’ trade data for 1972–2019.

The findings postulate that the existing relationship with SAARC countries is still beneficial to its welfare, and RCEP is also economically helpful in enhancing its trade.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of imported inputs on firms' productivity in selected South Asian economies, namely Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. Furthermore, this study explores the complementarity between firms' capabilities and imported inputs in an augmented productivity framework.

A dataset comprising 7117 manufacturing firms of selected South Asian economies was taken from the World Bank for 2013 and 2014. The empirical analysis was based on stochastic frontier models, the ordinary least square method and instrumental variable estimation techniques.

The empirical results show that imported inputs have positive and significant effects on the firms' productivity in the selected countries. Moreover, the study findings demonstrate that firms' capabilities play a complementary role in expanding the firms' production frontier.

The study outcomes suggest that reducing tariffs on imported inputs will enhance the firms' productivity in the selected emerging economies. However, the study further finds that the potential gain of imported inputs is conditional on the firm's capabilities. It implies that firms operating in these countries can improve their performance by allocating more resources to capabilities, such as workers’ training, management and internal R&D effort.

The existing literature on the subject is sceptical about the positive impact of imported inputs on firms' productivity in the case of developing countries. In this regard, the shortage of skilled labour and firms' capabilities are compelling rationales that need to be explored. Thus, the potential contribution of the study lies in explaining the moderating role of firm's capabilities operating in the selected emerging economies in the nexus of imported inputs and productivity.

This study aims to investigate the interplay between renewable energy development, unemployment and GDP growth within Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The research underscores the significant role of renewable energy plays in stimulating economic growth and mitigating unemployment, offering crucial policy insights for sustainable growth in South Asia.

Utilizing the autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) framework and Toda Yamamoto causality through the vector autoregressive (VAR) approach, the study analyzes the long-term and short-term impacts of these variables from 1990 to 2019.

This study reveals a significant co-integration among renewable energy consumption, unemployment and GDP growth in selected South Asian countries. The long-term estimation shows renewable energy consumption influences negatively economic progression in Bangladesh, with no notable correlation with unemployment. In contrast, Sri Lanka demonstrates an optimal relationship among all the variables. Short-run assessments reveal a significant positive relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in India, while an inverse relationship is evident in Pakistan. Moreover, the relationship between unemployment and economic progression, the result shows a negative and significant relationship in India and Sri Lanka.

The study emphasizes the need for policy development concerning renewable energy development, unemployment reduction and sustainable economic growth in South Asia. While limitations exist, future research can expand upon this work by incorporating varied data, additional countries or alternative modeling techniques.

This research offers a unique exploration into the multidimensional impacts of renewable energy consumption, unemployment and economic growth in the South Asian context, an area previously unexplored in such depth.

The study examines the impacts of debt financing on infrastructure development, investment, creation of new business entities, subsidies to private sector and GDP growth.

The methodology is based on five simultaneous equations which have been estimated through panel least square.

The most important conclusion of this study is the significant role of sovereign bonds in determination of subsidies to private sector. The role of domestic credit is important in South Asian context because of its significant role in creation of new businesses.

This study supports the enhancement in credit financing to private sector for creation of new business activities in the economy.

The improvement in liquidity position by enhancing domestic credit facilities may ensure the sustainability and continuity of business activities. Such activities may improve GDP growth in future.

The most important aspect of the study is to identify the role of debt financing in subsidies and creation of new businesses which are important elements of social economics.

Usually the impacts of sovereign bonds and external debts on infrastructure development and GDP growth are examined. But, to relate these debts to creation of business entities and subsidies is a new dimension.