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This study aims to test the validity of the Rajan theory in South Africa and other selected emerging markets (Chile, Peru and Brazil) during the period 1975–2019.

In this study, the researchers used time-series data to estimate a Bayesian Vector Autoregression (BVAR) model with hierarchical priors. The BVAR technique has the advantage of being able to accommodate a wide cross-section of variables without running out of degrees of freedom. It is also able to deal with dense parameterization by imposing structure on model coefficients via prior information and optimal choice of the degree of formativeness.

The results for all countries except Peru confirmed the Rajan hypotheses, indicating that inequality contributes to high indebtedness, resulting in financial fragility. However, for Peru, this study finds it contradicts the theory. This study controlled for monetary policy shock and found the results differing country-specific.

The findings suggest that an escalating level of inequality leads to financial fragility, which implies that policymakers ought to be cautious of excessive inequality when endeavouring to contain the risk of financial fragility, by implementing sound structural reform policies that aim to attract investments consistent with job creation, development and growth in these countries. Policymakers should also be cautious when implementing policy tools (redistributive policies, a sound monetary policy), as they seem to increase the risk of excessive credit growth and financial fragility, and they need to treat income inequality as an important factor relevant to macroeconomic aggregates and financial fragility.

This paper aims to contribute to the current debate between the mainstream and the non-mainstream literature on the effect of the growth of finance on the level of income inequality, for which the empirical evidence has also been providing mixed results.

We estimate a linear model and a non-linear model by employing a panel autoregressive distributed lag approach and relying on the dynamic fixed-effects estimator because of the existence of variables that are stationary in levels and stationary in the first differences.

Our findings confirm that finance, economic growth, educational attainment and degree of trade openness have a positive long-term effect on the level of income inequality in the European Union countries, whilst government spending has a negative impact in the short term.

Our findings imply that policy makers should rethink the functioning of the financial system in order to restore a supportive relationship between finance and income inequality and adopt public policies that are more in favour of the poor in order to constrain the growth of income inequality in the European Union countries.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that, simultaneously, focuses on the European Union countries, assesses the nexus between finance and income inequality, uses three different variables as proxies for the level of income inequality (the Gini coefficient, the top 1% income share and the top 10% income share), measures the variables that are proxies for the level of income inequality in terms of pre-tax and pre-transfer values and as post-tax and post-transfer values, takes into account four different variables as proxies for the role of finance (credit, credit-to-deposit ratio, liquid liabilities and stock market capitalisation) and identifies the long-term and short-term determinants of income inequality.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the distributional impact of house price increases on consumption in the context of the energy transition.

This study draws from two micro cross-sectional datasets, the English Housing Survey (EHS) and the Living Costs and Food Survey (LCFS) to study the Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC) out of changes in house prices. By employing pseudo-panel regressions, the paper examines the impact of house price changes on consumption among diverse household types.

This paper finds varying consumption responses to house price changes across age and tenure groups. Older homeowners tend to increase consumption when house prices rise. In contrast, middle-aged individuals, often renters or mortgage holders, reduce consumption in response to price increases. The youngest age group also experiences increased consumption but to a lesser degree than the oldest group. Energy-efficient homes are related to lower consumption across all tenure levels. However, when interacted with house prices and age, the estimates are positive, pointing to an unequal accrual of property premiums depending on housing market positions.

The main limitations stem from data constraints. First, using a pseudo-panel approach hinders control for unobservable selection bias. Additionally, while robust under cross-validation and specifications tests, the energy efficiency variable imputation results in a low number of energy-efficient homes. Due to heterogeneous responses to rising house prices, this paper contends that an energy transition model that subsidises homeowners’ renovation is likely to produce a negative impact on consumption among younger and middle-aged households.

This paper contributes to the MPC literature by incorporating energy efficiency as a key variable. It draws from recent data to obtain new estimates. By highlighting shifts in consumption patterns the paper contributes to a well-established body of literature with renewed policy relevance regarding housing retrofit.

This study aims to examine the dynamics of the market development of Islamic banking in Pakistan. This study investigates how shocks to the economy in the form of changes in benchmark rate and exchange rate and internal factors such as efficiency, profitability and asset quality affect the development of Islamic banking. The study also evaluates the impact of Islamic banking on the real economy in the macro perspective and society at large in terms of inclusiveness, competitiveness and fairness.

Autoregressive distributed lagged model method is used for analysing the short-run and long-run determinants of market development of Islamic banking and the economic impact of Islamic banking on the real economy.

Profitability and exchange rate have a positive effect on market development of Islamic banking while higher inefficiency and interbank rate have a negative effect. On the other hand, financing intensity and profitability in Islamic banking positively affect the large-scale manufacturing sector.

Stable profits, high asset quality, efficiency and rising import demand with low policy rate environment complement Islamic banking growth. Moreover, the economic assessment shows that Islamic banks have been able to achieve the financial inclusion of those who want to avoid Riba, but they need concerted efforts to improve competitiveness and distinction with regard to distributional impact.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study in Pakistan to evaluate determinants of market development of Islamic banking taking 16-year quarterly data and assessing the economic effects of Islamic banking on inclusiveness, competitiveness and fairness.

This paper aims to test the causal relationship between urban-biased policy and urban-rural income gap and further examine the moderating role of government intervention.

Based on the provincial Government Work Reports and the long-term policy practice of implementing the target responsibility system, the authors construct a unique indicator of urban-biased policy in China. Further, applying the panel data of 30 Chinese provinces in 2003–2018, the authors explore the causal relationship between urban-biased policy and urban-rural income gap.

The results show that urban-biased policy has contributed to the widen urban-rural income gap in China, which supports Lipton's urban-biased hypothesis. Further research shows that the stronger the government intervention, the bigger the role of urban-biased policy in widening urban-rural income gap.

On the one hand, this study not only investigates the direct effect of urban-biased policy on urban-rural income gap, but also examines the moderating effect from the perspective of government intervention, which helps to enrich the relevant studies of urban-biased theory. On the other hand, the authors' findings provide the latest empirical evidence for urban-biased policy to widen urban-rural income gap and presents a reference and warning for China and other developing countries about balancing the relationship between equity and efficiency during economic development.

Energy poverty presents substantial challenges for both developed and developing nations, with the latter experiencing more pronounced adverse effects due to issues related to the provision and equitable access of energy resources. This study aims to provide a deep understanding of how financial development, economic complexity and government expenditures can impact energy poverty.

This research employs generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation on panel data to investigate the economic determinants of energy poverty in 31 developing countries from 2000 to 2020. For a comprehensive analysis, the proxies for energy poverty include access to electricity, access to clean fuels and energy consumption.

The findings suggest that while financial development cannot facilitate access to clean fuels in developing countries, it contributes to an increase in energy access and consumption. Another finding is that energy poverty can be alleviated by enhancing economic complexity since economic complexity can result in increased access to electricity and increased use of clean energy sources. Furthermore, the results underscore the pivotal role of government expenditures, surpassing the influence of financial development. In other words, government expenditures have the potential to significantly improve energy poverty across all three indices.

This is a pioneering research that seeks to examine some economic dynamics including, financial development and economic complexity on energy poverty and provide valuable guidance for policymakers aiming to promote sustainable energy development with respect to economic dynamics.

This paper provides a systematic review of literature pertaining to the welfare impact of financial inclusion. We identify the 50 most influential publications in the field that have evolved into three distinct categories, each of which we critically review to identify the main contributions of this research area.

By conducting a state-of-the-art literature review, this paper identifies the most influential papers in the research fields on the welfare impact of financial inclusion. One caveat is that as newer publications generally have fewer citations, reviewing prior work can result in a misleading account of emerging trends and research directions. Manual assessment of publications after 2018 facilitates a discussion of important emerging research trends and their directions.

The three key research streams are identified as financial services and financial accessibility, financial capability, and financial literacy and household welfare. By assessing publications from 2018 to 2023, we also document four key emerging research trends: Fintech and digital financial inclusion, sustainability and climate change, growth, poverty, income inequality, financial stability, and Entrepreneurship. Drawing on these emerging trends, we highlight the opportunities for future research.

Keyword searches have limitations as some papers might be overlooked if they do not match the specific search criteria, despite their relation and significance to the overall topic of the welfare impact of financial inclusion. To address this issue, we have expanded this review by incorporating more literature from other databases, such as the Scopus database which may alleviate this issue.

The three key research streams contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the welfare impact of financial inclusion. The emerging trends integrate existing knowledge and leave the chance for innovative research to expand the research frontier.

This paper fulfils the systematic literature review streams in the welfare impact of financial inclusion and provides fruitful opportunities for future research.

The unique institution of waqf that was ignored during the colonization of the Muslim areas has to be revived to play its role in shared growth, social inclusion and cohesion in society. This research paper aims to explore the role of waqf as an instrument for a sustainable growth system and to suggest a model for socioeconomic development in an economy like that of Pakistan.

This qualitative research is based on analytical methods to arrive at the frameworks and a model that could facilitate the revival of waqf for community development/social inclusion in economies like that of Pakistan.

As most of the OIC member states like Pakistan are facing serious financial problems due to debt servicing obligations, promoting Waqf for various socioeconomic and cultural functions is a vital requirement for such economies. The inability of the state institutions in providing necessary civic, health and education facilities to the public is causing serious harm to the balance of the society. It requires promoting a formal system of charity and using FinTech for waqf-based donations and financing the micro businesses. The perpetuity complimented by the profitability of the waqf properties makes the waqf institutions sustainable and effective when compared to individual charities.

This is conceptual research discussing the potential of waqf in light of its historical role. Researchers may undertake empirical studies on awqaf operations in various jurisdictions and their role in the empowerment of the poor.

The research will provide the researchers with insight into the potential of waqf as a tool for community development. Besides, it will enable policymakers and implementation authorities to socialize charity for sustained benefits and welfare.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is the first major research that discusses the role of waqf in economies facing budgetary and trade deficits in the eradication of poverty and the promotion of social and economic entrepreneurship in realizing the community development targets for the economies like that of Pakistan.

This study investigated the relationship between last-mile distribution or delivery (LMD) and commodity access through the mediating role of commodity availability and commodity security and the moderating effect of supply chain integration (SCI).

The study adopted the survey research design and employed the questionnaire instrument in collecting primary data from respondents in Eastern Regional Health Institutions in Ghana. The total number of valid responses received was 204. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was adopted to analyze the relationship between the study variables.

The findings showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between LMD and commodity availability as well as LMD and commodity security. Moreover, while the relationship between commodity availability and commodity access is positive and significant, that between commodity security and commodity access is positive but insignificant. Furthermore, there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between LMD and commodity access. The study discovered that the interaction between LMD and commodity access is insignificant and negatively affected by SCI.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous studies have empirically verified the effect of LMD on commodity access in the presence of mediating factors such as commodity availability and commodity security and SCI as the moderating factors.

This study aims to explore the spatial impact of an increase in the minimum wage on the labor productivity of star-rated hotels in China.

The impact is analyzed by using the dynamic spatial Durbin model.

The authors find a U-shaped link between the increase in minimum wage and labor productivity of star-rated hotels. The long-term impact of a minimum wage increase has a greater influence on labor productivity than its short-term effects. While there is no notable spatial spillover impact observed in the sample of 31 provinces in China, the authors do identify a spatial spillover effect of the minimum wage rises on the labor productivity of star-rated hotels in the central area. Furthermore, they observe heterogeneity across China. The eastern and western regions exhibit a U-shaped relationship, whereas the central region exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship.

The findings of this study allow government agencies to get a more comprehensive comprehension of the actual consequences of minimum wage hikes on the tourism and hospitality sector, thereby establishing a solid basis for them to develop appropriate policies. Moreover, it offers a variety of suggestions aimed at enhancing the quality and efficiency of hotel management.

Research on the effects of minimum wage standards is scant in the hospitality industry. Based on human capital investment theory, this study examines the effect of the minimum wage standard hikes on labor productivity of star-rated hotels from the spatial perspective, filling the existing research gap.