The region under study is worth exploring as the long-run socio-economic development and demographic changes are significant to probe into to get insights about fundamental sources of growth trajectory for a longer period. Using POLS and GMM estimations for 34 countries of Central Asia and Europe as a region from 1990-91 to 2019-20 based on data collected from the World Bank and Penn World Table, the study finds that a decreasing young dependency ratio in Central Asian countries can improve job market inclusion, potentially increasing economic production while European nations’ increasing old-age dependency ratio exerts pressure on welfare programs and employment opportunities, often hindering growth. Additionally, nations with healthy dependency ratios, where the working-age population is sufficiently utilised, generally experience stronger economic growth historically. The study regards the Action Programmes as an essential roadmap for policy approaches that capitalise on the potential of individuals and strengthen societies amid new demographic realities since demographic proportions substantially affect economic development in this region, shaping labour markets, consumer trends, and investment approaches.

Keywords: Age Structure, Economic Growth, Population Ageing, Demographic Dividend, GMM

Ever since humans shifted from a barter system to the use of precious metals and money, for the development and growth of individuals, the craziness to achieve the heights has always been a challenging area in each and every aspect. The objective of the study was to analyse the impact of socio-economic profile on the awareness of various investment alternatives. One more objective of this research was to check the perception of investors regarding various investment alternatives. Statistical tools like T-test, ANOVA and Factor analysis techniques were applied to fulfil the objectives of the study. The awareness of investment products was analysed through frequency and percentage analysis and influenced factors were extracted through EFA. The research design was descriptive cum exploratory in nature and the study sample included 600 salaried and business- class individuals from different divisions of Haryana District. The district was selected based on per capita income from every division. Multistage and purposive sampling were used for this research. According to the findings, economic, socio-cultural and demographic factors significantly influence investment behaviour. The level of awareness differs from one investment alternative to another. Further, it was found that Financial Preferability, Stability of Returns, Non-Liquid Alternatives, Tax Benefits and Convivence are the factors considered by investors when choosing an investment alternative. It has been observed that a lot of avenues are available in the market but a little education and awareness can assist the investor to select the proper instrument of investment.

Keywords: Savings, Investment, Investment pattern, Awareness, Investment Behaviour, Saving Pattern, Investment Alternatives, Salaried people, Business class.

In the context of addressing environmental pollution and promoting sustainable development, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of environmental regulations on Chinese firm’s industrial upgrading. Treating the environmental protection law (EPL) as a quasi-natural experiment, the current study investigated the effects of EPL on industrial upgrading, measured in the form of total factor productivity (TFP) of Chinese firms. Based on the data from 2008-2020 of 247 firms from polluting industries and 1929 firms from other industries listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, the firm-level TFP was calculated using the Levinsohn-Petrin (LP) method. To evaluate the effect of EPL on the TFP, a difference-in-differences (DID) method was then adopted. The results show that the new environmental protection law of China has a positive and significant effect on firm- evel industrial upgrading in China. Empirical evidence also shows that technological innovation measured in the form of total patents could mediate the nexus between EPL and firms’ TFP. Furthermore, the regional heterogeneity and replacing the dependent and mediating variables in the main model also supported the empirical findings. Based on the derived results, conclusions including policy suggestions are implicated in the enforcement of environmental regulations in the future, and the current study also provides China’s micro-firm level evidence for the Porter hypothesis.

Keywords: total factor productivity, environmental regulations, patents, sustainable development, green development

From 2012 to 2021, the study examines the effects of macroeconomic and bank-specific factors on the profitability of Ghana’s listed banks. The study looked at how banks’ profitability factors affected their performance metrics, return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA), using a panel data regression model. The results show that bank performance is significantly impacted by both internal and external economic factors. This gives regulators, investors and bank managers important information to use when making decisions to improve financial stability in Ghana’s banking industry. The study also demonstrates the crucial relationship between macroeconomic variables and bank profitability metrics, providing empirical support for strategies aimed at creating a stable and lucrative banking environment in Ghana.

Keywords: Banks profitability, macroeconomic indicators, banks specific indicators, commercial banks, Ghana
JEL Codes: G21.E02.N17

The importance of test reliabilities for predicting criterion variables has been well-established by psychometricians and is familiar to experimental researchers too. Thus, the standard operating procedure for experimental researchers includes assessing and reporting Cronbach’s alpha. However, experimental researchers generally ignore item reliabilities. And yet, item reliabilities can be argued as much more important than indices of single- dministration whole test reliabilities, such as Cronbach’s alpha. The present goal is to make that argument and detail the complications that arise upon considering item reliabilities. Item reliabilities interact complexly with true item-criterion correlation coefficients, true interitem correlation coefficients, the number of items, and whether the researcher engages in amalgamating or unamalgamating test items. The standard operating procedure should include the assessment and reporting of item reliabilities.

Keywords: item reliability; amalgamating; unamalgamating; item-criterion correlation coefficients; interitem correlation coefficients Wordcount: 7304