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Energy resources play a vital role in the process of urbanization, and the high level of energy consumption has significantly created an alarming situation for environmental degradation. Increased demand for energy consumption in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) zone is a core concern for decreasing the existing reserves of energy, especially nonrenewable energy, when the growth of urbanization is increasing also. This study investigates the impacts of urbanization on energy consumption in this region by identifying factors that influence energy use. We employed globally used econometric techniques to examine the relationship between energy use and urbanization. The results of the study indicate that all the independent variables used in the model (except urban population growth) were statistically significant with a 99% level of confidence. In addition, the findings of this study recognized three long-run causalities running from the GDP (gross domestic product) to energy consumption, energy consumption to GDP, and energy consumption to the industry's share of the countries' GDP. We recommend (i) taking the initiative to invest in renewable energy, (ii) implementing green energy-efficient technologies in the industrial sector, and (iii) raising public awareness of the negative effects of energy use on the environment through education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the likelihood of a long-term relationship between nuclear energy and CO2 emissions as well as nuclear energy and per capita GDP. For this, we used a panel cointegration, panel FMOLS, and panel DOLS, as well as the panel Granger causality test on a sample of four SAARC countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) during the years 1980–2017. We identified unidirectional causation between nuclear energy and per capita GDP in the output equation. Long-term analysis, on the other hand, reveals feedback causation between nuclear energy and economic growth. The short-run results of the environmental equation reveal feedback causation between GDP and environmental pressure. Furthermore, the findings reveal one-way causation between nuclear energy and environmental pressure. Additionally, a long-term examination reveals feedback causation between environmental quality and wealth, as well as between nuclear energy and the environment. Given the constant structural changes, developing a proper trade-off between the advantages and costs of using nuclear energy to assure the economy's long-term growth and ecological well-being is a tough task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the nexus between institutional quality and FDI inflows in SAARC countries for the sample period of 1996–2017. The analysis is carried out using panel ARDL and panel quantile regression to draw the inferences. Empirical findings reveal that corruption, political stability, government effectiveness, and GDP per capita have a positive and statistically significant impact on FDI inflows. The result of panel quantile regression shows that all the estimates of government effectiveness, GDP per capita, and trade openness are positive and statistically significant. This exploration suggests that institutional quality matters to the progression of FDI inflows. Along these lines, effective institutional changes should be a precedence for policymakers as this sets up an admirable investment climate to pull in FDI inflows in SAARC countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid proliferation of information and communication technology has accelerated innovation in financial instruments, resulting in a heightened transformation of the competitive landscape and regulatory framework within the banking sector. Despite ongoing policy debates regarding the role and significance of financial innovation and regulation, there is a scarcity of empirical studies investigating their implications in the context of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Therefore, this study seeks to bridge this gap by examining the impact of financial innovation and regulation on bank performance. Specifically, it assesses how financial innovation influences bank performance and how this interaction varies across different aspects of the institutional environment in relation to bank performance. To achieve the objectives of study, we employ panel regression methods, including fixed and random effect models, to analyze a dataset consisting of 88 banks from SAARC countries for the period 2007 to 2019. Our findings reveal a significant positive relationship between financial innovation and banking performance. In addition to this, bank regulation has a moderating role in the relationship between financial innovation and bank performance over the sample period. This indicates that both financial innovation and regulation help to improve the quality and efficiency of banking services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electricity demand increasing day by day with the passage of time, fossil fuels and traditional electricity sources are becoming obsolete. The possibility of dealing with a power deficit and importing oil and gas for electricity generation exists for developing nations like Pakistan. One of the most accessible and affordable sources of renewable energy in the world is solar power generating. Photovoltaic (PV) cell performance is influenced by the environment and the technology used to capture the available energy. The Islamabad region of Pakistan is blessed with an average of 300 days of sunshine a year due to its location in the solar band at 33.7215°N latitude and 73.0433°E longitude. The current study compares and contrasts how Pakistan and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries generate electricity using solar systems. Choosing one geographical place from all SAARC nations, PVSyst software is used to develop and estimate the performance study for solar model cell Panasonic 320Wp, 48V and 1.5 kW Inverter Fronius for a 9.6 kWp load. Energy supplied into the grid is studied together with various losses that occur in the system, with the choice of PV arrays and other factors remaining the same for comparison study of all SAARC countries. The approach to minimize losses through the utilization of an adjustable tilt angle has been implemented. This study will be useful in estimating and planning the solar energy output in all SAARC nations for the same photovoltaic system, and it will be simple to trade all PV system components in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, demand for energy consumption has increased, especially in emerging countries such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries. This study thus aims to investigate the explicit relationship between energy consumption and economic growth in the SAARC countries. The researchers employed panel econometric techniques using data for the period 2002-2020. The study used pooled OLS, fixed effect and GLS estimators for estimation purposes. The pivotal results of the work revealed that the nexus of energy consumption with per capita income is not only significant but also takes an inverted u-shaped. As research evidence in the SAARC region is limited, we expect policymakers working in the energy sector to benefit significantly from the results of this study. This work contributes to the limited empirical studies exploring the impact of energy consumption on economic growth specifically in the SAARC region, with interesting findings that provide important insights to the SAARC region on electricity consumption and per capita income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sağlığa yönelik yatırımların ağırlığı ülkeden ülkeye değişmekle birlikte, bu yatırımların finansmanı kamu ve özel kesim tarafından sağlanır ve bu durum da toplumların refah seviyesi üzerinde etkili olur. Sağlık yatırımlarının nicelik olarak artırılmasının yanında niteliğinin de artırılması gerekmektedir ve sağlık göstergeleri performans analizlerinin yapılması faydalı olmaktadır. Bu bağlamda çalışmada Güney Asya Bölgesel İşbirliği Örgütü (SAARC) ülkeleri ile Ekonomik Kalkınma ve İşbirliği Örgütü (OECD) ülkeleri içinde toplam sağlık harcamaları en yüksek olan ülkelerin sağlık göstergeleri performansı ölçülmeye çalışılmıştır. Sağlık performansını etkileyen kriterler olarak toplam, kamu ve özel sağlık harcamaları, bebek ölüm oranı, kişi başına düşen GSYİH, doğuşta beklenen yaşam süresi ve ölüm oranı değişkenleri dikkate alınmıştır. ARAS ve WASPAS’ın uygulandığı araştırmada ulaşılan en güncel yıl olan 2019 verileri kullanılmıştır. Sonuçta ARAS ve WASPAS’ın benzer sonuçlar ürettiği gözlenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgulara göre sağlık performansı en yüksek olan ülkeler Norveç, İsviçre, İsveç ve İrlanda iken en düşük olanlar ise Butan, Pakistan, Hindistan, Nepal ve Bangladeş’tir.

Environmental SDGs, or Sustainable Development Goals, are a set of targets outlined by the United Nations to address the most pressing environmental issues of our time. These goals aim to promote sustainable development by addressing issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. By achieving these goals, we can safeguard the planet's resources for future generations while improving the quality of life for people around the world. This research investigates the effect of environmental SDGs on economic growth (GDPGRO) at the disaggregated level, with two dimensions: economic and social goals. Using panel data from selected SAARC countries between 2000 and 2020, we employ a panel ARDL (PMG) technique. The finding of this study shows that increasing access to SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), SDG 13 (climate action), and SSDGs (social Sustainable Development Goals) is negatively associated with potential decreases in economic growth which can occur in several ways, such as increased government spending and taxes, redistributive policies, and regulations that increase costs for businesses. Promoting SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 12 (responsible consumption and production) can lead to long-term economic growth. SDG 15 (life below water) and ESDGs (economic Sustainable Development Goals) have a positive relationship with economic growth by conserving and sustainably using terrestrial ecosystems that can contribute to economic growth in the long term. ESDGs lead to increased income, improved living standards, and reduced poverty and inequality. Policies should prioritize disaster risk mitigation, align climate change goals with sustainable development goals, and promote sustainable production and consumption. This can be achieved by incentivizing cleaner energy sources and sustainable cities. To balance economic growth with sustainability, policies should encourage responsible business practices and sustainable industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary aim of this research is to investigate the long-run impact of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and arable land (ARL) on agricultural productivity (AGP) in SAARC countries from 1965 to 2016. To discover the long-term associations and causation among the underlying variables, robust panel co-integration methods, panel FMOLS and DOLS long-run estimators, and panel causality tests are employed. Panel co-integration results show a long-term link between agricultural production, CH4, N2O, CO2, and arable land. The key findings from FMOLS and DOLS indicate that methane and nitrous oxide have a negative impact on agricultural output, while carbon dioxide and arable land have a beneficial impact in the long-run analysis. The causality tests outcomes reveal that long-run causation is substantial for all variables tested. Furthermore, there is bidirectional causality between agricultural output and methane. The link between nitrous oxide and agricultural output is unidirectional. The causation between agricultural output and CO2 emissions is two-way, but in the short run, the connection running from CO2 emissions to agricultural output is stronger than the converse. As a result, the SAARC countries require stronger national measures to curb GHG emissions and reduce the negative long-run impact of extreme climate shocks on agricultural output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Economics & Administrative Sciences / Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi Iktisadi ve Idari Bilimler Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Afyon Kocatepe University, Faculty of Business Administration and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examines the impact of energy consumption, urbanization, and globalization on environmental degradation proxied by carbon emissions (CO2) in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, namely Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and India using data over the period 1990–2018. The cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL), pooled mean group (PMG), and Dumitrescu and Hurlin (D-H) Granger causality techniques are employed for the empirical analysis. First and second-generation panel unit root tests are used to determine the stationary level of all data series which reveals mixed order of integration. The empirical findings show that urbanization, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita income, energy consumption, industrial growth, globalization, and financial development cause CO2 emissions, while the other variables, namely arable land and innovation, put negative effects on CO2 emissions. Moreover, the D-H heterogeneous test results exhibit that bi-directional relationship exists between CO2 and arable land, urbanization, industrial growth, and financial development, while a unidirectional causality exists between CO2 emissions and GDP per head income. These findings suggest that planned urbanization, investment in renewable energy sources, and effective strategies regarding the economic and financial integration with the global economies are required for a clean and green environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nexus of total factor productivity, inequality, and taxes (selected SAARC Countries) along with other control variables like corruption, consumption expenditure, capital, and labor. For short and long-run elasticities along with different estimation techniques are applied. TFP (Total factor Productivity) data of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries) were unavailable, so only Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are estimated. Tax to GDP (Gross Domestic Product) ratio is low, and income equality is negative as it will decrease the tax revenue, and increase in anticorruption policies will increase tax revenue, an increase in TFP will reduce in tax revenue, increase in employment, there will be an increase in tax to GDP ratio and consumption expenditure is found negative and significant on tax The results confirm that most of the variables of the long-run elasticities are significant. All the models are robust because there is no slope heterogeneity, heteroscedasticity, multicollinearity, and cross-section dependence among the variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article intends to investigate the relationship between corruption and poverty based on the panel data of SAARC countries over the period 1996–2019. We employed the panel ARDL of pooled mean group (PMG) technique to analyze the data and focus on capability poverty, using the human development index (HDI) as a proxy for poverty. The empirical findings of PMG of the ARDL model suggest that an increase in corruption score (COC) (i.e. decrease in corruption) and increase in women's labor force participation rate (WLFPR) seem to have a significant impact either in eradicating poverty or increasing social welfare in the long run as well as in the short run. A random effect (RE) model also identified a significant positive relationship between corruption score and HDI, and WLFPR and HDI. A Dumitrescu-Hurlin pairwise panel Granger non-causality test detected a bilateral causality relationship between COC and HDI, and WLFPR and HDI, while unilateral causality ran from WLFPR to COC. The article contributes to examining the dynamics between corruption and poverty from the governance aspect, taking South Asia as a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Transformations in Business & Economics is the property of Vilnius University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper explores the coronavirus pandemic response from a South Asian perspective. When their case numbers were still relatively low, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries adopted lockdowns at the same time or before India did. On 24 March 2020, when there were just two confirmed cases, Nepal went into lockdown, and Sri Lanka locked down on 22 March, when there were 78 cases. India locked down the day after Nepal, with all countries imposing some form of restrictions on people’s movement. This paper draws its data from the first year of the pandemic that loomed in the SAARC nations. The regional cooperation provided by SAARC has allowed the sharing of resources and a strengthening of the region’s self-reliance. Notably, the commitment made by India to ensure its neighbours are supplied with vaccines, many of these donated. The eight-member SAARC states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. This paper draws on the knowledge and perceptions of academics and social workers in the SAARC countries. It provides insight into the responses, impacts, vulnerabilities, and challenges faced by the region and in each specific country since the beginning of COVID-19. This paper also offers a discussion on vaccines, PPE, as well as the role of cooperation across the region. The relationship between India and the SAARC countries and its ‘neighbourhood first’ policy are also discussed.

The previous studies focused on environmental issues, identifying their root causes, urging prompt action to reduce environmental degradation. In this context, the current article extends the literature by incorporating the ecological impacts on the health sector and the role of sustainable development. The present study adds to the body of knowledge by examining the relationship between CO2 emissions, sustainable development, energy efficiency, energy intensity, and health expenditures for SAARC countries from 2000 to 2020. Fully modified OLS (FMOLS) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) are used and diagnostic tests to check the association between the variables. The empirical analysis validated the long-run impact of the examined factors on health expenditures. The results show that energy efficiency and sustainable development have a statistically significant negative effect on health expenditures, vice-versa for CO2 emission. Energy efficiency, energy intensity, and CO2 emissions have been shown to have a one-way causative relationship with health expenditures, but sustainable development and economic growth have a two-way causation relationship. The better health status of the SAARC economies necessitates the establishment of long-term development strategies, environmental sustainability, and an examination of the energy sector. This work's conceptual and empirical advances have significant policy ramifications for this part of the globe and its efforts to improve sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: At present, South Asian Association for Regional Coorporation (SAARC) countries have tremendous pressure on child stunting along with the impact it is making on economic growth. World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), and The World Bank (WB) have emphasized for this region to reduce stunting by 40%. The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of stunting on economic outcomes in SAARC countries so that to scale up policies and programs aiming to reduce child stunting. Methods: The systematic review has assessed five international databases; PubMed, JSTOR, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and CINAHL Plus for published, unpublished, and ongoing research till the year 2020. Grey literature is searched using Google Scholar and Google search engines. The systematic review registration number in PROSPERO is CRD42021230279. Results: Thirty-three (33) studies matched the criteria. Most quantitative studies link stunting with economic repercussions. Three investigations found no or a weak link between the two. Nutritional intervention synthesis predicts a 12 percent return, a 5:1-6:1 benefit-cost ratio, and a 14mm height gain. A 1 cm increase in height increases pays by 4% for men and 6% for women. Stunting caused a 5%-7% income penalty and lower lifetime pay. Studies show that a 10% increase in agricultural growth reduces stunting by 9.6%, while a 10% increase in non-agricultural growth reduces stunting by 8.4%. Conclusion: To reduce stunting prevalence, policies should be scaled up, as well as targeted and structural interventions are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study has focused on external debt and growth relations along with demand management policies in SAARC countries. Panel data have been collected for a sample time from 1990 to 2019. The ARDL is found suitable after getting mixed results from panel unit root tests. According to the results, external debt is retarding the process of economic growth in SAARC economies. Even when the relationship is explored in the scenario of demand management policies, it is still negative. But multilateral foreign debt is accelerating growth. The nonlinear relationship between external debt and growth is also examined via the Laffer curve. Some policy implications are driven such as the economies may explore and extend internal resources instead of relying on external debt. However, in case of dire needs multilateral external debt may be preferred. Moreover, demand management policies can play a vital role in this respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To devise an appropriate climate policy dealing with environmental degradation, reliable measurement of CO2 emissions is essential. In the recent past, most researchers have utilized production-based emissions in their studies, ignoring the important role of consumption-based emissions in environmental degradation. Therefore, the present research examines the drivers of consumption-based CO2 emissions in SAARC nations over the period 1990 to 2018. By employing traditional and second-generation panel cointegration methodologies, the study, more specifically, explores the link between consumption-based CO2 emissions and its five macroeconomic determinants, namely, GDP growth, energy consumption, FDI, trade openness (measured by composite trade share index), and urbanization. The study also applies the FMOLS and DOLS techniques for calculating the long-run elasticities of regressors with respect to the explained variable. The results establish a cointegration relationship between the variables and validate an "N-shaped EKC" for the SAARC region. It is also found that in the long run, energy consumption and urbanization amplify the consumption-based CO2 emissions while FDI and trade openness improve the environmental quality by plummeting emissions. Most importantly, the study rejects the "pollution-haven hypothesis" for the SAARC region based on the outcomes of FDI and trade openness. Lastly, based on the results, some policies are recommended for the abatement of environmental degradation in SAARC countries. As the SAARC nations rely heavily on fossil-based energy, it is suggestive for these economies to enhance the level of energy efficiency and augment the share of renewable energy sources in the energy mix. Furthermore, the policy designers in this region should encourage trade openness and liberalize inward FDI for containing consumption-based emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research scholars have diverted their attention towards the effect of biomass energy use on ecological footprints. Although recent research has investigated this association, the link between ecological footprints and biomass energy consumption has not provided consistent results. Therefore, this research attempts to fill the gap by examining the ecological footprints-biomass energy consumption nexus in the context of environmental Kuznets curve over the period of 1990–2016 in South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SAARC) countries. Moreover, this work incorporates globalization, natural resources, and economic growth (GDP) for empirical analysis. In doing empirical analysis, we applied some econometric analysis to deal with the issue of cross-sectional dependence in the data. The outcomes of fully modified ordinary least squares and dynamic ordinary least squares estimations show that biomass energy consumption increases ecological footprints in SAARC countries. Moreover, globalization and GDP are also increasing ecological footprints. Environmental Kuznets curve cannot be validated in estimated countries. The Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test confirms one-way causality from biomass energy usage to ecological footprints. On the base of empirical results, several policy implications are suggested for SAARC countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the institutional environment on the capital ratios of banks operating in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) area. We apply the Hausman-Taylor methodology to unbalanced panel data of 145 banks (109 conventional and 36 Islamic banks) for the period 2010 to 2019. The findings demonstrate that banks with greater creditors' rights have a low regulatory capital ratio. Similarly, banks are reluctant to hold a high regulatory capital ratio as a result of greater corruption perception. However, countries with more financial openness hold higher regulatory capital ratios to present greater financial strength. We also provide evidence that the impact of creditors' rights is more distinct in conventional banks than in Islamic banks. Finally, we demonstrate that with more financial openness, small banks hold a higher regulatory capital ratio than large banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reveals a webometric study on the Institutional Digital Repositories (IDR) of SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) Countries. The SAARC countries include eight countries i.e. Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In this study, a selected search engine is used to find out the number of link webpages in each IDR in with different types of links. The search engine has been used to search and collect data. The data collection method extensively makes use of five special key words like site:URL/site Address, link:URL/site Address, link:URL/site Address AND site:URL/site Address, link:URL/site Address NOT site:URL/site Address and link:URL/site Address AND NOT site:URL/site Address from selected search engine. The five Boolean search statement methods used to collect data for each IDR of SAARC countries and an advanced tool SocScibot4 is used for link network visualization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Antenatal care (ANC) plays an important role in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and political organization of eight countries in South Asia. There is an unacceptably high burden of neonatal mortality and stillbirths in the SAARC region. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to estimate the percentage of at least one ANC visit from 2015 to 2030 from previously available data and to compare the progress among SAARC nations. Methodology: This is a secondary analysis study. Data indicating percentages of women attending at least one ANC by skilled health personnel in SAARC countries Maternal and newborn health coverage dataset-May 2021 by United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was used. Regression Coefficient was used first to check the strength of the relationship for prediction at a 5 % significance level. Then, the percentages of ANC visits were predicted. To compare the percentages among countries, non-Parametric correlation Kendall's tau was used. Findings: Results indicate that SAARC countries are struggling to reach at least one ANC visit. Comparison among these countries has shown no significant trend and it is concluded that there is no significant difference among SAARC countries' women ANC visits from 2015 to 2030 at a 5% significance level for all years. Practical implications: The estimations of this research would help to develop innovative strategies for uplifting maternal health among SAARC countries to reach Sustainable development goals (SDGs). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cybercriminals have a plethora of options to commit crimes and engage in other unpleasant activities due to the internet's current widespread use. Due to jurisdictional barriers and legal limitations, it is typically difficult to prosecute using contemporary judicial systems. Governments, businesses, and industries have all assumed the obligation to combat various forms of cybercrime. This paper examines what constitutes cybercrime and how law enforcement in SAARC nations has been able to address these crimes. The study provides a brief overview of the legal framework to prevent cybercrime in SAARC countries. The paper concludes with a discussion of the overall ineffectiveness of SAARC nations in combating the problem of cybercrimes, highlighting the intrinsic limitations and inadequacies of present legal approaches to cybercrime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows benefits the recipient countries by providing capital, technology and long term foreign exchange and bridges savings and investment gap of the recipient country. Further, FDI provides an important role in achieving economic growth in the developing countries. This paper identifies the influential factors that determine FDI inflow in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Countries and empirically investigates the relationship between economic growth and FDI. Further, this study uses time series data from 1980 to 2018 and considered the size of the economy, economic growth, potential of the host market, economic stability, degree of openness, income level and institutional developments in the host country to identify influential factors to determinants of FDI. Analysis reveal that countries with larger Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate can successfully attract FDI and FDI on the other hand, significantly affect economic growth of a country. In addition, it was found that current account balance, financial deepening and trade openness significantly play a crucial role in determining the FDI flows into recipient countries.

This paper provides a quantitative assessment of research output in SAARC countries in the domain of Fishery Science. The primary data for this study have been sourced from Scopus database for the period 1994 to 2021. The findings of the study highlight that a total of 1190 publications of different forms are available with 8820 citations with an average citation per year per document of 1.732 and annual growth of 4 articles per year in the 28 years window. The growth rate of publication is found to be highly consistent. A total of 4784 authors contributed their research items in the period of study and the number of multi-authored or collaborated works are found to be maximum (4750) and only 34 publications are found to be single-authored with a degree of collaboration of 0.99. India is the leading nation among the other SAARC nations with 75.97% of the publication (904 publications) and 8164 citations to those publications. Khan, MA is found to be the author with the highest number of publications (35) but Harikrishnan, R is the most influential author (highest g-index = 27) with 1100 total citations in 27 publications. Aquaculture Research is the journal with maximum publications (66). There exists a significant correlation between h-index and g-index in authors and journals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The precarious and decisive dynamics concerning the health of the population of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries has called for further inquiry into the determinants of life expectancy (LE) in this region. Hence, the current paper employs the panel data estimation methods to analyse the economic, social, demographic, environmental, and technological factors influencing LE in five SAARC countries. These countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) are selected as they are favoured by the country similarity theory and other identical contexts. Available secondary data from 2000 to 2016 were obtained from the World Bank and UNDP databases for the specfic countries. The results reveal that the mean year of schooling and sanitation services are significant positive predictors of life expectancy at birth (LEAB). However, the total fertility rate, urban population, and CO2 emissions negatively influence life expectancy. Furthermore, the impact of health expenditure on life expectancy is significant but negative, which is unconventional. On the other hand, other independent variables, such as GDP, gross capital formation, internet usage, and mobile cellular subscription turn out to be insignificant predictors of LEAB. Our aggregate findings reveal some common factors on which the governments of SAARC countries can collaborate to improve the LEAB of the region while identifying some idiosyncratic factors that require tailored attention of the governments and policymakers of the respective nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the relationship between renewable energy consumption, agriculture, economic growth, and CO2 emission in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. We used annual cross-sectional data from 2000 to 2017 and applied panel fixed effect regression and two-step system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to check the robustness of the variables. Results of panel fixed regression indicate that the value of renewable energy consumption has a significant but negative effect, whereas economic growth shows substantial positive relation with carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, while no relationship exists between agriculture and CO2 under this method. However, agriculture and renewable energy consumption have a negative and considerable association in GMM estimation, and the impact of economic growth is positive and significant. The results imply that renewable energy consumption and agriculture with emission-free methods were essential drivers in lessen the CO2 emission, and regional cooperation may accelerate the progress to achieve ecological benefits and sustainable atmosphere in the SAARC countries. Furthermore, in the future, most of the regional states are planning to invest in non-renewable energy to impulse economic growth and to meet the necessary energy demands of growing population that will bring more CO2 in the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose:The relationship between foreign direct investment and population health has been the focus of research among researchers in recent years. One of the basic individual rights is a healthy life and decent living conditions, but the SAARC countries are lagging behind in this respect.The goal of this study is to evaluate the effect of foreign direct investment inflows on population health by integrating growth, foreign aid, and human capital into the model for selected SAARC countries. Design/Methodology/Approach:The fixed effect technique based on the Hausman test was implemented through the period of 1996-2018 because of the Panel nature of the data. Findings:Our empirical results indicate that FDI inflows have a positive and significant effect on population health. Increase in FDI inflows in the host country raises the income of the people, as better job opportunities are available to them. Implications/Originality/Value:This research is a crucial step in observing the complicated relationship between Foreign Direct Investment and Population Health. It is expected that this research motivates the debate and enhance the knowledge further in this line of research.Government should provide incentives to the foreign investors by providing concessions in taxes, and better facilities in terms of improved infrastructure.

Apart-from providing food to the massive population, agriculture sector contributes a big share to South Asian GDP and it also provides employment to the fast-growing population. Examining the sources of agriculture productivity has not attained much importance related to SAARC countries. Moreover, the studies on the role of agriculture productivity in case of the South Asian region are limited to individual countries. Due to the important role of agriculture productivity in the world's economy, it is imperative to analyze the sources of agriculture productivity of the SAARC countries. This endeavor examines the impact of financial development on agricultural productivity in case of SAARC countries for the period of 1996 to 2019. Moreover, this study introduces trade openness, human capital, and income as important control variables of agriculture value-added. To serve this purpose, this study utilizes CS-ARDL approach. The results of long-run estimates show that financial development, income, trade openness and human capital are important factors explaining agricultural productivity. Moreover, the study finds an inverted-U shaped nexus between financial development and agriculture productivity. The results of this study have great policy implications for SAARC countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between renewable energy sources and sustainable economic growth of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. This study uses three main renewable energy sources such as geothermal, hydro and wind. This study collects dataset from SAARC countries from 1995 to 2018. This study applies a fixed-effect test and panel vector error correction model (PVECM) test for data analysis. The overall results show that all three renewable energy sources have positively significant impacts on economic development among SAARC countries' economies. Moreover, the hydropower renewable energy source has more effects and influences on economic growth as relatively compared with the rest of the two individual sources of renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public health is facing a current covid-19 crisis situation in the world. This study aims to analyze particular the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries' public health research interest and growth. This bibliometric study selected the "Public Health" keyword from Scopus database geographical area selected was only SAARC countries in the title only and retrieved 1720 published articles. The time period selected was from 1957 to March 2021. 5758 authors were identified to published relevant studies on total over an average of 7.34 years in public health. The data retrieval most productive three main publishing countries India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Most productive institutions and authors are from India. Bibliometric analysis showed growth in international collaboration with the USA among most SAARC countries. The most productive journal was found to be "Indian Journal of Public Health" and the most productive author Ramasam, Y. J having a total of publication 57. This bibliometric analysis provides an inclusive overview of the public health research conducted in SAARC countries, which helps researchers, policy makers, and practitioner better understand the development of public health care and possible practice implications. Future Public health research should be dedicated to filling in the gaps between SAARC Countries health care research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, financial development, trade policies, and energy performance have attracted attention due to their behavior on environmental quality. Therefore, the current study examines the impact of financial development, trade openness, primary and renewable energy utilization, and economic growth on the ecological footprint in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries from 1990 to 2017. This article progresses the proficiency of financial development by utilizing the comprehensive and multidimensional index of financial sector development based on their depth, access, and efficiency of their financial institutions and markets. In order to estimate the robust results, this study employed the cross-sectional dependency tests that allow the second-generation unit root, Westerlund cointegration, augmented mean group (AMG), error correction model (ECM), and Dumitrescu–Hurlin (D-H) panel non-causality tests. The results revealed a very weak effect of financial development in a panel of SAARC countries, while country-specific results reveal that financial development significantly enhances the pollution level in the case of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. However, it improves the environmental quality in Nepal. Furthermore, trade openness only improves the environmental quality in the case of Nepal. Additionally, the findings explore that primary energy consumption enhances the ecological footprint in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka and reduces in case of Bhutan. On the contrary, renewable energy consumption significantly improves the environmental quality in all countries except Bangladesh. Finally, consistent with these findings, a number of suitable policy implications are expressed in the angle of SAARC economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disaster is a natural event like earthquake, flood, landslide or hurricane, which leads to significant human fatalities, damages to property and environment. This study looks into the determinants of the impact of natural disasters by considering the SAARC countries and India. The period of study ranges from 1960 to 2018 for the 8 SAARC countries and 28 Indian states using panel data analysis. The study indicates that variables like population density, urban population and education affect natural disaster fatalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SCI mago is the Journal and Country Ranking database available freely on the internet. We have accessed the required data from 2008 to 2017 from this database and evaluated the research productivity of SAARC countries and citations in the field of social science subject. This article studied SAARC countries publications, citations, citations per document, selfcitations and degree of self - citations. The study revealed that on an average 6054 articles are published during the study period. India is the only country to publish more than the average citations publications during the ten years of study. India received 78% of citations and stood 1st rank in the study, whereas Pakistan and Bangladesh got 8% and 6% citations and stood 2nd and 3rd rank. Nepal got highest 76% of citations per document and stood 1st rank among the SAARC countries in the last ten years from 2008 to 2017. Further, it is found that the degree of self-citation is 0.24, which is very lowest. Since all the SAARC countries are underdeveloped so it is suggested that the government of SAARC countries has to encourage more and more publications, then only their socio-economic level may increase. Individuals, as well as organisations, should take more interest to publish their research articles in high impact journals both at national and international level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) was acknowledged as a global pandemic by WHO, which was first observed at the end of December 2019 in Wuhan city, China, caused by extreme acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus2 (SARS-CoV-2). According to the Weekly operation Update on COVID-19 (November 13, 2020) of the World Health Organization, more than 53 million confirmed cases are reported, including 1.3 million deaths. Various precautionary measures have been taken worldwide to reduce its transmission, and extensive researches are going on. The purpose of this analysis was to determine the initial number of reproductions (Ro) of the coronavirus of SAARC countries named Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, the Maldives, and Sri-Lanka for the first 60 days as the growth is exponential in the early 60 days. The reproduction numbers of coronavirus for Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka are 1.47, 3.86, 2.07, 1.43, 1.31, 3.22, 1.75, and 2.39 respectively. The basic reproduction number (R0) 3.86 for Bangladesh and 1.31 for Bhutan indicated that up to 60-days of the outbreak COVID-19, the epidemic was more severe in Bangladesh and less severe in Bhutan among all the SAARC countries. Our predictions can be helpful in planning alertness and taking the appropriate measures to monitor it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In compliance with the socioeconomic theory, the study has strived to investigate the impact of economic and non-economic public policies on tax evasion using panel data of 7 SAARC countries covering the period from 1998 to 2015. The study has applied the ordinary least square with fixed effect and random effect models to analyze the data assembled. The result of the study implies that the higher the degree of economic freedoms, the lower the tax evasion. More specifically, the government policies about property rights, monetary freedom, fiscal freedom and investment freedom have a negative influence on taxpayers' choices of tax evasion while financial freedom result shows a positive effect on tax evasion. Additionally, there is a negative impact of public sector governance and religiosity on tax evasion, which implies the higher the public sector governance and the higher the religious faith amid the people, the lower the degree of tax evasion. The findings of the study are supposed to offer the governments, tax authorities, and research scholars the valuable insights into public policies for reducing the tax evasion to a significant extent.

This study attempts to analyse the influence of urbanization, economic growth, and population size on residential carbon emissions in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member nations for the period 1994 to 2013. To do so, we employ an augmented STIRPAT model in an ecological analytic framework with a fixed effect regression model that incorporates Driscoll and Kraay standard errors. The results show that population size and per capita GDP are leading drivers of high carbon emissions in the SAARC countries. The empirical results show that a U-shaped relationship exists between urbanization and residential carbon emissions: residential carbon emissions initially decrease with an increase in urbanization, reach a turning point at 25.33% and then increase with urbanization. Thus, our findings suggest a need for stronger national policies to control the impact of urbanization and population growth on residential carbon emissions in the SAARC member countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the prior studies carried out in the context of a single country or group of countries for the association of stock market development with economic growth produced incongruent results. Thus, this study enquires the association of stock market development, political stability, controlling corruption and good governance with the economic growth of some selected countries like Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from the SAARC region from 2002 to 2018. The application of Pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) with robust options unveiled that stock market development, political stability, and institutional index exert a significant positive impact on economic growth. However, controlling corruption and ensuring good governance have an insignificant positive effect on economic growth. These findings not only contributes to the existing knowledge but also provide insights to all key stakeholders for further improvement in practice and decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]