Journal of Economics and Financial Analysis

In line with the exogenous and endogenous theory coupled with the seminal Schumpeterian contribution, we attempt to investigate the impact of the use of internet and innovation on economic growth in the case of the Tunisian economy. For this purpose, we employ the ARDL bounds testing methodology over the period 1985-2018. In the short-run, our empirical facts outline the absence of a significant effect of innovation on economic growth. Also, our empirical findings reported that the internet stimulates economic growth. However, in the long-run, our empirical findings pointed out the presence of the negative impact of the innovation and the use of internet on economic growth. Moreover, our results show a significant positive impact of the internet and economic growth on innovation in the long-run. Finally, our results show a negative impact of economic growth on the use of the internet. However, the results display a significant positive impact of innovation on the use of the internet. From these perspectives, the Tunisian authorities should take seriously the innovation and the potential of the use of the internet which can help the economy to be modernized, diversified, and robust to create new jobs and to find new markets and new strategic partners, and new opportunities.

Time-varying calendar anomaly is thinly investigated in frontier stock markets. This study evaluates the day-of-the-week (DOW) calendar effects within the adaptive market hypothesis framework in frontier African stock markets. The study applies rolling analyses of the various GARCH family models to estimate daily stock indices return of Ghana stock exchange, Nairobi securities exchange, Botswana stock exchange and Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres (BRVM) for 2000:1-2020:6 periods. The results show changing DOW effects in Kenya and Botswana which is consistent with the AMH. However, DOW effects cannot be validated in BRVM and Ghana. It suggests that each market must be treated with their own peculiarity even though they are ranked as frontier markets. We conclude that the changing DOW effects in the AMH context cannot be generalised in the frontier African markets and the existence of DOW effects must be treated with caution in BRVM and Ghana.

The banking system of a country plays a pivotal role in achieving sustainable economic growth in a country. Recent transformations and reforms in the economic policies of the Republic of Uzbekistan have led to significant changes in the banking sector. Studying the key factors which contribute to the profitability of commercial banks in Uzbekistan is becoming increasingly important. Thus, this research paper examines the main determinants of banking profitability in the Republic of Uzbekistan. For this, various indicators of the bank's effectiveness, such as specific banking characteristics, as well as macroeconomic determinants, were considered to investigate their influence on the profitability of Uzbek banks. To be more accurate liquidity, capital, size, government ownership, operational expenses, inflation, and gross domestic product (GDP), were included as explanatory variables. In turn, the return on assets (ROA) and the return on equity (ROE) were used as proxy indices of profitability for Uzbek banks. Panel data for the period from 2017 to 2021 have been employed on 32 commercial banks of Uzbekistan. Empirical conclusions have shown that the profit of the bank is largely determined by specific factors affecting its activities. The regression results have shown that government ownership and operating costs have negative and statistically significant relationship with the profitability of a bank. Surprisingly, GDP growth rate is negatively associated with ROE and ROA of commercial banks in Uzbekistan. Inflation and liquidity rates were found to have positive relationship with ROE. Other internal determinants, such as capital, and size have shown statistically insignificant impact on the bank's profitability.

This paper examines the long-run interactions between South African stock (JSE) and real estate markets, with global asset markets such as oil, gold, platinum, and cryptocurrency markets during pre-Covid-19 tranquil period and during Covid-19 pandemic period comparatively using cointegration, causality and structural break tests. Findings of the paper shed light on the fact that cointegrations relationships between Bitcoin - JSE, Oil - JSE, and Real Estate – JSE were significant during pre-Covid period, while these significances weakened or disappeared during Covid period. On the other hand, cointegration relations show up between Oil – Platinum market and Gold – Real Estate market. It implies that JSE became volatile during Covid period comparing to Oil, Platinum, Gold markets in South Africa.