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As a coastal emerging country, export-led marine economy has been the development model of Vietnam over the past decades since The Renovation 1986. Given the rise of globalization, regional economic integration and logistics enhancement have been identified as key engines for economic sustainability by Vietnamese government. Nevertheless, little sectoral and sub-sectoral evidence has been given for the platform shaped by policies relevant to export, logistics performance and regional economic integration. The paper employs the trade gravity model to study the relationship between seafood export, logistics performance and regional economic integration in the case of Vietnam. Sectoral and sub-sectoral trade gravity models are employed. Logistics performance from the exporter-side and importer-side is included in the estimations. Membership to effective regional trade agreements of Vietnam are proxies for regional economic integration. Zero trade issue is resolved by the Pooled Ordinary Least Squares (POLS), Poisson Pseudo-Maximum Likelihood (PPML) and Heckman Sample Selection estimations, while endogeneity is tackled by the difference and system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) models. Findings vary by estimation methods, data levels, product groups, and whether which side is considered. In addition, theoretical contributions and some seafood export-driving policy recommendations relevant to regional economic integration and logistics performance development are discussed.

In this study, the relationship between female labour force participation rate and economic growth is investigated in middle-income countries. The study covers the period of 2001–2016 by employing a dynamic panel approach. Pooled Ordinary Least Square and Fixed Effects model estimations are calculated as a decision criterion to select proper GMM Method. The outcomes indicate that the proper estimation technique, which is a System-GMM model, evidences the U Feminisation Theory for the middle-income countries while controlling all other factors.

The novelty of this study is that the research not only employs both difference and system generalised method of moments (GMM) estimators but also includes main explanatory variables such as education, fertility, and total labour force rate. The study provides an opportunity to review the U-shape nexus between the female labour force and economic growth while controlling education, fertility and total labour participation rate.

The estimation implies that middle-income countries support a U-shaped relationship. The fertility rate does not impact on the female labour force, and education and total labour force level have a positive influence on women's participation in the labour market.

This study used data that include the period of 2001–2016 for middle-income countries. So, further studies can use different periods of data or different countries.

The authors emphasise the importance of economic growth for female labour force for middle-income countries. Thus, a country intending to increase female labour force should also focus on its economic growth. As the study points out, middle-income countries staying under the minimum threshold, $4698.15 (per capita), should priorities their economic improvement policies to reach their female labour force participation goal. Those countries also should be prepared for a female labour force participation declining phase until they reach the turning point income level.

Furthermore, education is one of the critical determinants that have an impact on FLFPR. The equal opportunity for both genders to engage in education should be considered as a policy. If females do not have an equal chance to enrolment in education, it may influence the policy of increasing female labour force adversely. Fertility rate appears no more statistically significant in our study. Moreover, today, there are some countries they practise equality between genders by providing equally extended parental leave, which may be a promising policy for gender equality in the labour force and may worth a try.

Some previous studies may suffer model mistakes due to lack of consideration the endogeneity problem and bias issue of the results as suggested by Tam (2011). Moreover, previous studies tend to choose either studying U-feminisation as excluding other variables or studying determinants of female labour force participation rate as excluding U-feminisation theory. There is not any panel data study acknowledging both concepts by using recent data to the best knowledge of the authors. Thus, the novelty of this study is that the research not only employs both difference and system generalised method of moments (GMM) estimators but also includes main explanatory variables such as education, fertility, and total labour force rate. The study provides an opportunity to review the U-shape nexus between the female labour force and economic growth while controlling education, fertility and total labour participation rate.

This paper aims to empirically analyze the impact of export diversification on gross domestic product (GDP) per capita growth.

Using system generalized method of moments (GMM), a nonlinear model in a dynamic panel data growth framework for 101 countries between 1995 and 2019 was estimated.

Results evidenced that export concentration, measured by the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI), is negatively associated with GDP per capita growth after controlling for the effects of other explanatory variables. Further, the squared term of HHI used in the model to measure the nonlinear relationship between export concentration and economic growth indicated that the low-income and lower-middle-income countries benefited from export diversification. At the same time, high-income and upper-middle-income countries perform well with their export specialization. The results of the robustness check validate the findings of nonlinear estimation.

The findings recommend that low-income and lower-middle-income countries diversify their export basket to improve economic growth by generating stable export earnings. Similarly, high-income and upper-middle-income countries should focus on measures to close the product lines which no longer belong to their factor endowments and rebalance their export basket.

This study contributes to the existing literature by using the system GMM method, which is most appropriate for a dynamic panel data growth framework with up-to-date data. Further, this study segregates a large panel into 43 concentrated and 58 diversified countries to test the robustness of the empirical results.

This paper aims to examine the effectiveness of monetary policy on bank loans in Egypt using generalized method of moments (GMM) model. Also, it investigates the impact of bank level variables, namely, total assets, liquidity, capital and income on bank loans. It develops the equation of loans, which is introduced by Ehrmann et al. (2002) using bank level variables such as income and the interaction between income and interest rate.

This paper examines the impact of monetary policy shocks on bank loans in Egypt by applying the GMM technique and panel data from 1996 to 2014.

The results reveal that real interest rate has a significant impact on bank loans, which indicates that the bank lending channel is effective in Egypt. Furthermore, the bank level variables, namely, banks’ size, liquidity and income have significant effects on bank loans in Egypt, which sustains the heterogeneous effect of monetary policy on bank loans. Therefore, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) can adjust interest rate to influence the bank loans and total demand.

It does not examine the effect of monetary policy on small and large banks in Egypt.

The policy implications from this paper indicate that the monetary authority in Egypt should adjust interest rate to stabilize the bank loan supply. By stabilizing the bank loans, the monetary authority is able to stabilize investment, consumption and total demand.

The relevance of bank lending channel indicates that the role of commercial banks is very important in transmitting monetary policy shocks to the real sector.

It is important for the CBE, banks and people because it shows the effectiveness of bank lending channel and the effect of global financial crisis on the Egyptian economy.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the Yemen War on banking services (deposits and loans) at the aggregate and at the level of conventional and Islamic banks in GCC countries. The author also tests hypotheses of direct and indirect impacts of the Yemen War on bank services.

The sample comprises a total of 70 banks (45 conventional and 25 Islamic banks) over the period 2000–2018. The static and dynamic panel generalized methods of moments (GMM) estimation techniques are applied.

Empirical results indicate that the Yemen War has a significant negative direct impact on deposits and loans of GCC banks. The results lend support for the direct channel hypothesis, but not for the indirect channel hypothesis. The negative direct impact is most prominent on banks in GCC countries that are directly involved in the Yemen War, although the war has an asymmetric effect on conventional and Islamic banks, the former being more vulnerable. The overall conclusion is that the Yemen War exerts an asymmetric impact on the GCC region, across both banks and countries.

These results are a warning to policymakers to be cautious when formulating a strategy for macroeconomic stability.

It is widely recognized that the Yemen War has a significant impact on the economies of the GCC countries. However, the possible impact of the war on GCC bank services has not so far been subjected to robust empirical analysis. This paper therefore seeks to fill this gap by providing an in-depth quantitative analysis of this impact. It distinguishes between direct and indirect channels through which the Yemen War may affect bank services. It is also the first to examine the asymmetric impact of the Yemen War on the GCC region, across both banks (Islamic and conventional banks) and countries (whether or not involved in the war). The study uses both static panel and dynamic panel GMM estimation techniques to analyze the data.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the role of real effective exchange rate (REER) volatility on export volume and also to address the impact of the international financial crisis of 2008.

The empirical methodology is based on System GMM estimation for a set of 106 countries for the period of 2000-2011.

For the complete sample of countries and for a set of developing/emerging economies, there is evidence that an increase (decrease) in REER volatility reduces (increases) export volume. The results are not robust once the oil export countries are removed from the sample. The estimated coefficients for the financial crisis dummy are positive and statistically significant, indicating that export volume were 0.14 percent higher after the financial crisis of 2008 compared to the previous period (2000-2007). There is also evidence that the export volume is price (REER) and income (trade weighted) inelastic.

The empirical results are valid for the complete set of countries and for developing and emerging economies when including the oil export countries, suggesting that countries should reduce exchange rate volatility in order to foster their export volume and that oil export countries have an important role on these results.

The paper suggests that policymakers should adopt different policies to minimize exchange rate volatility if they seek to increase export volume. The international financial crisis had a significant impact on export volume in all estimated models regardless of the set of countries used.

One of the main novelties of this work is that it deals with possible endogeneity using GMM estimators and addresses the issue of instrument proliferation, which is not a common feature of previous empirical studies on exchange rate volatility and trade flows. Another original aspect of the research is the construction of trade weighted variables for foreign income and REER based on the major 20 export partners for each country used in the panel data estimation. The work also incorporates the years following the international financial crisis of 2008, which is an additional empirical novelty, in order to address the impact of the international financial crisis on the export volume.

This paper aims to empirically explore the nexus between Islamic finance and economic growth across Southeast Asia based on the perception of the endogenous growth model.

This paper applied the dynamic panel one-step system GMM as an optimum estimation approach to study the influence of Islamic finance on economic growth in Southeast Asia from 2013Q4 to 2019Q4. This paper used total Islamic financing as the major exogenous explanatory factor inside the endogenous growth model, whereas the gross domestic product was used as the measurement of economic growth. The sample consisted of all complete Islamic banks operating in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia).

The findings demonstrated that Islamic finance is promoting economic growth in Southeast Asia, which reflects the weighty role of Islamic finance as an energetic contributor to economic growth.

This paper would enrich the literature by studying the nexus between Islamic finance and economic growth in Southeast Asia based on the perception of endogenous growth model, as the results of this paper assist as an attendant for financial scholars, decision-makers and policymakers to expand Islamic finance globally as an alternative funding source for the best involvement to economic growth.

Despite the existing studies on the nexus between Islamic finance and economic growth, this paper is the first that explores empirically the nexus between Islamic finance and economic growth in Southeast Asia based on the theoretical background of the endogenous growth model to obtain solid information on this nexus.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevance of the bank lending channel (BLC) of monetary policy and the bank efficiency in Egypt.

This paper examines the effectiveness of bank lending channel using generalized method of moments GMM model during the period from 1996 to 2014. Also, it uses stochastic frontier approach (SFA) to examine the bank efficiency in Egypt.

This study supports the relevance of the BLC using panel data. Moreover, applying SFA, this paper computes cost efficiency taking account of both time and country effects directly. The finding suggests that banks with low inflation and high GDP tend to perform more efficiently.

The limitation of the study is examining one country only.

The finding signals that the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) should adjust interest rate in order to stabilize the bank loan supply.

It is important for the CBE and Egyptian banks because it highlights the importance of BLC.

It examines one channel of monetary policy and bank efficiency in Egypt.

This paper investigates and compares the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows (flow and stock) on bank off-balance sheet (OBS) activities in aggregate as well as at the level of conventional and Islamic banks in GCC countries. It also tests hypotheses of direct and indirect impacts of FDI flow and FDI stock on OBS activities.

This paper uses both static and dynamic panel generalized methods of moments (GMM) estimation techniques to analyze the data of 70 GCC banks (45 conventional and 25 Islamic banks) over the period 1995–2017.

Empirical results indicate that FDI flow and FDI stock have a significant negative direct impact on OBS activities of GCC banks. The results lend support for the direct channel hypothesis for the effect of FDI on OBS activities and find no evidence in support of the indirect channel hypothesis. OBS activities from conventional banks appear to be more affected than those from Islamic banks.

The results of this study are expected to trigger appropriate policy response from the central banks of the respective GCC countries as well as their governments.

It is widely recognized that FDI inflows are of great importance to the economic development of emerging and developing countries. However, their impact on bank OBS activities has so far not been subject to accurate empirical assessment. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing an in-depth quantitative analysis of the impact of FDI flow and FDI stock separately, on bank OBS activities for both conventional and Islamic banks in GCC countries. It distinguishes between direct and indirect channels through which FDI flow and FDI stock may affect OBS activities for banks as a whole and both conventional and Islamic banks separately. It also uses both static and dynamic panel GMM estimation techniques to analyze the data.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of funding liquidity risk and liquidity risk on the bank risk-taking.

This study employs a system generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique and a sample of 57 banks operating in BRICS countries over the period from 2006 to 2015.

The results reveal that liquidity risk has a significant and negative effect on the bank risk-taking, indicating that a decrease in liquidity risk contributes to higher bank risk-taking. The study also reveals that funding liquidity risk has the substantial impact on bank risk-taking, suggesting lower funding liquidity risk results in higher bank risk-taking. These results are consistent with prior assumptions.

The implications of this study highlight the fact that liquidity risk is a risk factor which drives the potential bank default, of which banks tend to take more risks when higher funding liquidity exists.

This study offers a number of valuable implications for the policy makers as well as practitioners. The policy makers should take into account better liquidity risk management framework aimed at preventing banks from taking excessive risks. Bank executives must pay more attention on how banks could hold more liquid securities and cash. Less risk-taking reduces higher borrowing costs undermining earnings through imposing taxes on corporate.

This work uncovered that liquidity risk per se is an important and previously unidentified risk factor, specifically its effects on bank risk-taking and contributes to the view in support of holding more liquid securities than the past.