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Despite Malaysia having a young and predominantly techsavvy workforce, consumers are yet to fully embrace the digital culture. In January 2020, the Malaysian government had launched the ETunai Rakyat incentives to prepare for a cashless society in Malaysia. This study aims to explore the ETunai Rakyat incentive and other factors affecting the consumer adoption of ewallets in Malaysia. The factors considered in this research are perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived security, ETunai Rakyat incentive and social influence. 275 questionnaires were collected from the respondents and analysed. The results show that all the independent variables have a significant relationship with the behavioural intention except for social influence and behavioural intention has a significant relationship with the consumer adoption of ewallets. In addition, except for social influence, BI partially mediates the relationship between all the independent variables and consumer adoption of ewallets. The findings of this study provide insights which would prove useful for the Malaysian government, ewallet developers and future researchers.

Key Term: Ewallets, ETunai Rakyat incentive, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived security, social influence, Malaysia

The need to provide a level playing field for national economies has necessitated the integration of the economies through cross flow of goods, services, technologies and capital. These goods and services are produced by key sectors of the economy which represents the real sector. Over the years, the competitiveness of the real sector in the international market has raised concerns on the link between globalization and real sector performance. Consequent upon this, this study examined the impact of globalization on real sector output in Nigeria for a 39 year time period spanning from 1981 to 2019. The time series datasets used in this study were adapted from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Statistical bulletin. The Ordinary Least Squares and Error Correction Modeling were used as the main analytical tools. The Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test showed that all the variables attained stationary after first difference. The Johansen cointegration test further showed that the series have long run equilibri um relationship at 5 percent level of significance. The result from the errorcorrection model confirms that about 38 percent of the short run shocks in real sector output is corrected annually. From the estimates, a positive and statistically significant relationship exists between real sector output and foreign direct investment. Trade openness also was significant in impacting real sector output positively while a negative and significant linkage was observed between exchange rate and real sector output in Nigeria. The study therefore concluded that openness to trade broadens real output growth. Based on the findings, the study recommends amongst others that in the quest to maximize the benefits from trade openness, the relevant authorities should ensure that the nation’s exports are competitive and meet international standards by leveraging on modern technol ogies and innovation. Also, favourable industrial policies and strong institutional framework should be set up by the government to attract the right foreign direct investments.

Keywords: Globalizati on, Trade Openness, Foreign Direct Investment, Real Sector Output.

To explain economic growth, economists typically resort to a simple and stylized optimal control problem. This problem is solved by a representative agent, who plans, at a prespecified initial date, how to allocate resources over time, between consumption and savings, with the objective of maximizing intertemporal utility. It is assumed that the agent is rational, well informed, and capable of planning over long horizons (eventually an infinite horizon). In this study, the benchmark economic growth model is revisited and reinterpreted after relaxing some of its key assumptions. In particular, the individual agent in the adapted growth model will not address a single longterm problem; instead, a sequence of shortrun decisions has to be pondered. Moreover, the recurrent decisions on how much to save, that the agent will have to make, are shaped by a learning process emerging from the systematic comparison between the agent?s own utility and the utility accomplished by other agents in the system. Additionally, it is assumed that the individual agent has imperfect knowledge about the choices of others, what introduces an element of stochasticity into the model. Simulations reveal that approaching standard growth theory through the lens of a learningbased multiagent system offers important new insights about the growth process, including an opportunity to integrate in a single framework longterm growth and shortterm irregular and unpredictable business fluctuations.

Keywords: Economic growth; Savings; Intertemporal utility; Multiagent system; Learning; Aggregate fluctuations.

JEL classification: O41; E71.

This study explores the relationship between public expenditure on the agricultural sector and economic growth in the agriculturally underdeveloped states of Bihar over the period 1981-2019. In estimating the longrun model, first, the time series characteristic of the data is tested using ADF and the PhillipsPerron tests. Then, the Johansen cointegration test was conducted. Both The longrun and shortrun estimate result shows that public spending on the agricultural sector has a significant effect on the per capita real GDP. This study revealed that government spending on the agricultural sector has an insignificant effect both in the longrun and shortrun periods. While agriculture is the dominant sector and the majority of rural society is engaged in this sector, hence it needs to reduce unproductive government consumption expenditure and give attention to redirecting to productive activities. This will stimulate activities in the economic sectors and, perhaps, converse the insignificant effect on economic growth. The gross fixed capital formation has a positive and significant impact on per capita real GDP in Bihar during the period under review. This result seems to imply that the government should have to build up capital stock by the accumulation of capital formation regularly to improve the per capita real GDP. The labor force has an insignificant effect on the growth of per capita real GDP. Hence, improving the productivity of the labor force through technical and vocational training should have to be a prominent task.

Keywords: Cointegration, Augmented DickeyFuller, Phillips Perron, Error Correction Model

The study examined the effect of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)’ Performance on the Poverty level in Nigeria with a concentration on the Northcentral Nigeria. The mixmethod research strategy was adopted in this study which entails the collection and analysis of both the qualitative and quantitative data. The population of this study includes; all the 5, 757,817 micro, small and medium enterprises in the six states of northcentral Nigeria, out of which a sample size of 384 was selected also the staff of the Bank of Industry in the six states under consideration and the Head office in Lagos. The study employed the use of a twostage cluster sampling technique to compute the sample size, the Cochran sample size formula (1977) was employed. The findings revealed that the MSMEs turnover has a significant and negative effect on the poverty level in Northcentral Nigeria and MSMEs profitability has a negative and significant effect on the poverty level in Northcentral Nigeria. The study concluded that poor availability of funds, limited access to the market, lack of capacity to cope with the latest technological innovations, lack of a winning business model, and banks’ reluctance to grant loan facilities to MSMEs are among the primary reasons impeding the growth of MSMEs and the problems are directly under the control of MSMEs organizations if they possess adequate managerial skills to handle them. The study, therefore, recommended that the government need address and monitor the activities of loan provided by the bank of industry and the bank of the industry should promote and give more loans to MSMEs which will improve their business and in the long run reduces poverty in the region.

Keywords: Profitability, Turnover, MSMEs, Nigeria