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Debt is beneficiary to individuals and households when their consumption can be extended with credit. However, the benefits gained from availability of credit have negative implications, and research on indebtedness has become a focus of many scholars from different fields of study. Therefore, this research sought to explore the implications of household debt on individuals’ social and economic well-being by using 407 sample data collected from the urban households in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Several regression models were applied to investigate the impact of household debt on individual’s well-being from various aspects such as economic, psychological, physical health and family relationships. The principle finding was that the impact of household debt extended beyond the economic aspect to all the other three dimensions as well. However, the analysis shows that there are differences with regard to the extent of the impact across the four aspects. The highest impact is on the psychological well-being, compared to other dimensions of well-being. Furthermore, the research also found there is a clear difference between the effect of secured loan and unsecured loan on the social and economic well-being.

Using data collected from urban households in the Klang Valley, Malaysia, this study examined the impact of household debt on urban household consumption decisions. The findings revealed that household debt does not generally affect consumption decisions, except in the case of expenditure on vacation, which tends to be reduced for households facing high levels of debt. Furthermore, general financial wellness tends to be the main factor affecting consumption rather than debt. Households with poorer financial wellness make more frequent cuts to daily meals, fruit, utility, transportation, clothing, medical care, vacations, and leisure activities. Although the impact of debt on consumption is not extensive, it must be closely monitored to ensure that the risk is contained and that the wellbeing of households is not adversely affected.

This study investigates the effect of religiosity on economic development or achievement of individuals in South Kalimantan, Indonesia. This province is of interest as its people are viewed as highly religious but lagging in economic development. The study attempts to address the measurement issues found in earlier studies at the micro level of analysis by constructing a multi-dimensional measure of religiosity. This study considers five dimensions of religion, namely: ritualistic, experiential, ideological, consequential and intellectual. Apart from the construction of a multi-dimensional measure of religiosity, an indicator of economic wellbeing is formulated other than income. The results show that Muslims in South Kalimantan have a high level of religiosity and that those with higher level of religiosity are economically better-off. Education was also found to be a significant determinant of individual economic achievement. Hence, religion and education must be emphasized for economic progress especially for South Kalimantan which has a low level of education.

By using the data collected from urban households in Klang Valley, Malaysia, this study tries to provide empirical evidence on the effect of household debt on married Malaysian couples on their marital satisfaction. This study wishes to extend the implications of household debt in Malaysia beyond economic concern per se. We found that household debt does have a negative association with marriage satisfaction for married couples in Klang Valley Malaysia. Such relationship is valid even financial wellness and other demographic variables are controlled. Moreover, the less secured personal debt shows a significant negative relationship with the couple’s marriage satisfaction compared with no evidence on the impact of housing loan and vehicle loan.

This study examines the relationship between trade and the OIC countries’ social developments as measured by the Human Development Index (HDI) using the generalized method of moments (GMM) procedure in a panel data distributed lag model for the years 1980 to 2005, with a five-year increments as well as annual data from 2000 to 2009. It addresses two questions: (i) whether trade has a positive relationship with human development as reflected by longevity, educational attainment and income in the HDI measurement, and (ii) whether trade still has a positive relationship with human development, when the income component of the HDI is excluded. Comparisons are made across OIC countries based on three World Bank Classifications by Income, namely, high income, middle income and low income countries. Trade is found to have a significant positive relationship with HDI for all income categories, but insignificant relationship with nonincome HDI. The finding indicates that trade is associated with human development only through income channels, and it is not associated with other components, such as longevity, literacy level and educational attainment. More of appropriate and effective public policies need to be formulated and implemented so as to achieve the desired outcomes of multidimensional human development in the true sense of the word.

Balanced development can only be achieved if growth is accompanied by an improvement in the quality of life, which includes a reduction in social problems. This study investigates whether this is true for Malaysia and whether a person's values are related to his social behavior. It is found that the incidence of social problems increases with higher income levels and that involvement in social problems is negatively related to good values. Hence, in order to improve social well being, in particular to reduce the incidence of social problems, it is proposed that the focus be directed at inculcating good values.

This study analyzes the relationship between values and social problems for Malaysian teenagers. Malaysia has undergone a tremendous social transformation that has affected many of its traditional and religious values and norms. This development is said to have contributed to a r.ise in social problems. Our basic premises are that values are reflected by behavior and that reli­gion plays an important role in Malaysians' value formation. In this context, and since !slam is Malaysia's official religion, the measurement of values is based on the works of al-Ghazali and Rokeach.1 Some suggestions also are provided for future devel­opment policies.

This study investigates the values of teenagers and their parents, and the influence parents have on the values of their children. Values are categorized into terminal and instrumental values. Different from previous works on values, the measurement of both these values is based on al‐Ghazali’s works in line with Islamic ethics. In addition, this study also determines the “oughtness” of both categories of values. The results reveal that overall, both teenagers and parents had good instrumental and terminal values. However, there were differences in the terminal values of teenagers and parents across ethnic groups. The analysis also shows that teenagers shared similar terminal and instrumental values as their parents, implying that parents had a significant influence on the development of their children’s values. Thus parents play an important role in transmitting good values to their children in resisting negative influences.

The study examines the values that Malaysian teenagers admire, and how their values differ across age, gender, ethnic group and other characteristics. It also analyzes the relationship between students’ and perceived teachers’ admired values. Factor analysis is used to identify a number of values associated with various attributes that may be admired by students. It is found that altruistic values are the most admired, compared to attention‐seeking, self‐achievement, materialistic and anti‐social values. Values that students admire are different across various groups. In addition, there is a significant relationship between their values and values that they perceive their teachers admire. Based on the findings, policy recommendations are suggested to help solve the social problems in Malaysia.

The World Trade Organization (WTO), established on 1 January 1995 as a successor to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), has played an important role in promoting global free trade. The implementation of its agreements, however, has not been smooth and easy. In fact this has been particularly difficult for developing countries, since they are expected to be on a level playing field with the developed countries. After more than a decade of existence, it is worth looking at the WTO’s impact on developing countries, particularly Muslim countries. This paper focuses mainly on the performance of merchandise trade of Muslim countries after they joined the WTO. I first analyze their participation in world merchandise trade and highlight their trade characteristics in general. This is then followed by a short discussion on the implications of WTO agreements on Muslim countries and some recommendations on how to face this challenge.

This study analyzes the views of Malaysian teenagers on selected aspects of religion and its impact on their involvement in social problems.Religiosity is conceptualized as consisting of ideological, ritualistic, intellectual, experiential and consequential dimensions. It is measured in two ways: 1) the overall measure of religiosity (for both Muslims and non-Muslims which excludes ideological), and 2) the measure of religiosity for Muslims only (which includes ideological). The research, based upon a questionnaire administered to 2869 secondary school children, found that each component is positively correlated with the overall measure of religiosity. It also reveals that the more religious the person is, the less he or she becomes involved in social problems. Thus, religion plays an important role in contemporary Malaysian society and it should be given due emphasis in Malaysia’s nation building and developmental activities.

This study examines the case of the Bachelor of Economics curriculum at the International Islamic University Malaysia regarding the extent of the practice of pluralism in the quest to create better graduates professionally competent and imbued with ethical values. We conclude that the programme provides a ‘model of integration’ of knowledge, motivated by ideological commitment to an Islamic view of education as a process to build personality and character via the provision of knowledge, skills and values. The programme shows the practice of ‘permissive’ pluralism in the early years, has reverted to a more standardised mainstream neoclassical curriculum. We also argue that adopting a pluralist position can actually contribute to the development of an Islamic economics alternative. Tracer studies have shown that the integration model is somewhat successful in producing qualified professionals, concomitantly imbued with ethical values of Islam.