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Income inequality stalls economic growth with undesirable socio-economic consequences. Despite various measures targeted towards reducing the inequality gap, disparities in income distribution persist in Nigeria. Therefore, this study aims to explore a new line of argument to the finance mechanism in reducing income inequality.

The study uses time-series data on Nigeria from 1980 to 2015 with analysis conducted using the autoregressive distributed lag-error correction model approach of Pesaran et al. (2001).

The results show amongst others that the channel of real interest rate on income inequality is through bank credit, real interest rate has an indirect relationship to income inequality and bank credit has an equalising impact on income inequality when the model is augmented for a structural break. The results show amongst others, that, on average, ceteris paribus, a 1% point increase in the real lending interest rate is associated with a 0.45% decline in the volume of bank credit.

This paper engages a new line of argument by unbundling how financial intermediation impacts on income inequality. The extant literature submits that finance directly impacts income inequality, whereas this study investigates further to show that interest rate impacts income inequality through bank credit. That is, the transmission mechanism by which finance affects income inequality is modelled and analysed.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis within the methane (CH₄) emission–economic growth nexus among the six Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries from 1985 to 2012.

The study employs dynamic panel data estimation approaches such as mean group (MG) and pooled MG (PMG) techniques.

The findings reveal that the EKC hypothesis for the CH₄ emission in these economies proves to be valid. In other words, economic growth causes CH₄ emissions to decrease. Nevertheless, energy consumption is deteriorating the environment by enhancing CH₄ emissions in these countries.

The ASEAN region has experienced substantial economic growth over the previous few decades. Nevertheless, pollution has also increased manifolds in this region. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas (GHG) as compared to carbon dioxide (CO₂) and a major source of socio-economic issues in the ASEAN region. This study is the first in the existing literature on the EKC hypothesis examining the role of economic growth on CH₄ emissions in the selected ASEAN countries. The outcomes of this study could be really beneficial for the policymakers in this region regarding sustainability and economic development.

This paper aims to focus on the implications of female participation in the board on the management of intellectual capital for improved firm performance, particularly in the Nigerian-banking sector. It uses the resource dependency theory to ascertain the link between female board participation, intellectual capital and performances.

The paper adopted longitudinal panel analysis to analyze data obtained from the annual reports of selected listed commercial banks in Nigeria. The random effect regression was adopted as the method of analysis. The decision was informed by conducting the Hausman test.

The results revealed that female board participation has insignificant influence on bank performances, whereas intellectual capital efficiencies positively contribute to bank performances. However, significant influences were exhibited upon the interactions of female board participation and components of intellectual capital efficiency on bank performances.

Because of the focus of the research work, which is centered on the banking sector of the Nigerian economy, the findings of the research may not be sufficiently suitable for other sectors of the country. This, however, leaves the coast for other researchers to extend research on intellectual capital and gender participation to other non-financial sectors and other countries.

The outcome implies that there is a need for increased female participation in the boardroom to harness optimal intellectual capital efficiencies for firm performance. It further confirmed that intellectual capital unlocks the hidden treasure of firms.

The paper identifies and fulfills a niche on the need to extend the frontier of knowledge on intellectual capital and gender equity.

This study aims to examine the effect of various forms of capital flows on financial stability in middle-income countries from 2010 to 2017 using the World Bank economy classifications of 121 economies.

Panel spatial correlation consistent approach was used in this study.

The findings provide convincing evidence that in middle-income countries, capital flows are positive and significant predictors of financial stability and that financial systems in advanced economies are more stable than those of emerging and developing countries. However, outward foreign direct investments are shown to have the largest potential for ensuring financial stability.

Globalization has fostered financial integration of nations, which is manifested in capital flows from lower-income countries to middle-income and upper-income countries and vice versa. These flows can lead to financial instability if not properly controlled. The authors show how the various forms of capital flows affect the financial stability in middle-income countries.

Since competitiveness is crucial in international trade, this paper contributes to the literature by interrogating the information and communication technology (ICT)-trade nexus on competitiveness in Eastern and Western European countries. Does ICT usage promote or hinder the impact of trade openness on competitiveness? This study attempts to answer two questions: (1) is the interaction of trade and ICT significant in promoting competitiveness? (2) Is the effect significantly different by European classification?

With data on 17 European countries from 2007 to 2020 and using mobile phones and fixed telephone usage as ICT indicators, the study engages the bootstrapped ordinary least squares (BOLS) and method of moments quantile regression (MM-QR) techniques to probe the discourse.

The empirical findings reveal that (1) the interaction of trade and ICT boost competitiveness; (2) the effect of mobile phone is consistent across the full, East, and West European samples; (3) the interaction effect is also significant across the conditional distribution of competitiveness and (4) mobile phones and fixed broadband usage reveal “leapfrog” effect across the quantiles. Overall, the study submits that ICT usage will enhance the impact of trade, and thus, ICT is a critical enabler of competitiveness in Europe; policy recommendations were discussed.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study examining the interaction effect of trade openness and ICT usage on competitiveness in Europe. In other words, the authors attempt to analyze how ICT usage influences trade-competitiveness dynamics. To fill the gap in the literature, the authors' use a sample of 17 European countries from 2007 to 2020. The variables of interest are the competitiveness index, trade openness, and four ICT indicators (mobile phone, fixed telephone subscriptions, fixed telephone subscriptions, and Internet users).