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We show that the impact of global financial crisis (GFC) on Pakistan's economy mainly transmitted through Gulf Financial Crisis (GCC). In this regard, we assess the effects of both the global and Gulf financial crises on remittances, workers' emigration, return migration, national savings and foreign investment. Applying Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) before (2000–07) and after GFC (2008–18), we demonstrate that Pakistan witnessed remarkably low FDI inflows and labour force emigration along with higher return migration rates after the crises. Investment from the UAE and other Gulf countries declined eightfold immediate after the global financial crisis, contributing considerably to the decline of the country's GDP growth during 2008–10. There was significant curtailment in emigration volumes and spurts in return migration after 2012, because of the Gulf oil price crisis. The positive trend in remittances until 2015 seems to be influenced by post‐9/11 anti‐money laundering legislation and depreciation of the rupee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that the impact of global financial crisis (GFC) on Pakistan's economy mainly transmitted through Gulf Financial Crisis (GCC). In this regard, we assess the effects of both the global and Gulf financial crises on remittances, workers' emigration, return migration, national savings and foreign investment. Applying Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) before (2000–07) and after GFC (2008–18), we demonstrate that Pakistan witnessed remarkably low FDI inflows and labour force emigration along with higher return migration rates after the crises. Investment from the UAE and other Gulf countries declined eightfold immediate after the global financial crisis, contributing considerably to the decline of the country's GDP growth during 2008–10. There was significant curtailment in emigration volumes and spurts in return migration after 2012, because of the Gulf oil price crisis. The positive trend in remittances until 2015 seems to be influenced by post‐9/11 anti‐money laundering legislation and depreciation of the rupee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial institutions in transition economies maintain higher liquidity at the cost of economic growth. This study offers an alternative policy tool to achieve higher liquidity without compromising economic growth. We show that Zakat—an obligatory Islamic charity with a fixed rate of 2.5%—can be an alternative to the interest rate and that its use as a policy tool promotes economic growth. Instead of considering zakat as a fiscal tool—an alternative to tax—we present it as a monetary policy tool to substitute the interest rate. We provide a framework based on the endogenous growth model, which allows the use of Zakat as a tool to overcome liquidity constraints in transition economies. We also construct an index‐based varying zakat rate adjusted for economic fundamentals, such as economic growth, for each economy. We provide empirical evidence using system generalized method of moments (GMM) in a simultaneous equation model on a panel data of 38 countries for the period 1996–2015. The results show that zakat rate has a significantly positive impact on economic growth. Furthermore, as a policy tool, Zakat has a statistically significant positive impact on FDI and domestic investment, while reducing corruption (CR). The results are robust for various regions and income classifications in different transition economies. The overall findings corroborate that zakat can help achieve the dual objectives of enhanced liquidity and higher levels of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the mediating role of brand app trust in the relationship between brand app antecedents and purchase intentions via a brand mobile app. It explores the mediating potential of brand and platform trust in this relationship between antecedents and purchase intentions and also highlights which brand antecedents are useful for directly or indirectly establishing trust towards purchasing via a mobile app in the Iranian mobile commerce market. This study uses survey data collected through an online questionnaire form and applies the partial least squares method to extract its findings. All of the estimation results are found to be unbiased and robust. The results show that brand app trust plays a mediating role in the relationship between the brand app antecedents of word-of-mouth recommendation, subjective norms, perceived image (social antecedents), mobile computing self-efficacy (consumer-based antecedent), and perceived ease of use (system antecedent) and purchase intentions via a brand mobile app in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We deviate from standard literature on assessment of household poverty. Contrary to standard practice of using household income and consumption, we use Wealth Index, calculated through Principal Component Analysis (PCA), as measure of poverty. Data from Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2006–07, gathered from female respondents, suggests an interplay of several socio-demographic factors underlying the incidence of household poverty. The multivariate analysis shows that household size, dependency ratio, and sex and age of the head of household are significantly associated with poverty status. Higher education lowers the likelihood of poverty while the opposite is true for the dependency ratio. Most interestingly, male headed households are more likely to have poverty-lower wealth index-compared to households headed by female. We also provide evidence that the impact of household characteristics on poverty is sensitive to the area of residence, rural or urban, and different regions. We conclude that DHS data provides an assessment of household poverty which goes beyond economic factors and single dimension measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]