The paper examines how the growth of entrepreneurship affects the generation of employment opportunities in Nasarawa State. Even though entrepreneurship is crucial for generating employment, there are still obstacles in the way of its growth. These include limited support from governmental and non-governmental organizations, difficulty obtaining financing and microcredit, proper training and enlightenment etc. The objective of this paper is to investigate how the growth of entrepreneurship affects the creation of jobs in Lafia, Nasarawa State. The study used a descriptive research design, and the means used for gathering data was a questionnaire given to new entrepreneurs in Lafia, Nasarawa State. A sample size of 375 was determined from a population of 1604 using a Smith (1984) sampling formula; this sample represented the number of questionnaires that were delivered. This findings of the research demonstrated that the creation of jobs in Nasarawa State is significantly impacted by the growth of entrepreneurship. This implies that through entrepreneurship development, self-reliance and employment opportunities have been created in Lafia, Nasarawa State. Through this, youths have been able to develop a way to create value in the society. More so, this study revealed that access to credit (micro credit) has a significant effect on employment creation in the State. Having acquired knowledge on how to manage finance they make sound financial decisions. Lastly, the study showed that the number of new businesses established has a significant effect on employment creation in Nasarawa State. This result implies that youths who apply their entrepreneurship skills and creativity in one nature of business or the other have been able to earn a living out of it in Nasarawa State. This paper thus suggests that the Nasarawa State government should genuinely recognize the relevance of entrepreneurship development and provide an enabling environment. Both the government and institutions should ensure that youths get adequate financial credit (micro-credit).

This paper investigates the impact of monetary policy on the performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria, using monthly data series spanning the period 2008 to 2023. Total private sector credit of deposit money banks was used to proxy the performance of deposit money banks while money supply, monetary policy rate, cash reserve ratio, and maximum interest rate were used as proxies for monetary policy. The Ex-post Facto research design was adopted in this study. Data on total private sector credit of deposit money banks, money supply, monetary policy rate, cash reserve ratio, and maximum interest rate were obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Statistical bulletin. The hypotheses of this paper were tested using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag statistics. The findings disclosed that total private sector credit of deposit money banks has a significant relationship with money supply and maximum interest rate while cash reserve ratio and monetary policy rate has an insignificant relationship with total private sector credit of deposit money banks. The researchers recommended among other things that the monetary authorities should consider policies that enhance liquidity within the banking system. This can be achieved through open market operations, reducing the reserve requirements, or other mechanisms that increase the availability of funds in the economy as the money supply was found to be statistically significant. Also, it is crucial for monetary authorities to monitor and adjust the maximum interest rates to ensure they remain conducive to deposit growth. High lending rates may discourage borrowing and subsequently reduce deposits, while more favorable rates could encourage economic activity and deposit inflows.

The rise of privately issued digital currencies, which primarily serve as alternative investment assets poses a challenge to the traditional financial instruments traded in the financial market. This study examines the dynamic relationship between the major privately issued digital currency (Bitcoin) and two financial market securities in Nigeria. The paper employed Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model and presents three relevant findings. First, the impulse response function indicates the absence of a significant response of the Nigerian financial market to shocks emanating from the Bitcoin market, implying lower connectedness between the two markets. Secondly, the outcome of the variance decomposition reveals a lower contribution of Bitcoin to changes in stock prices and treasury bills, however, stock prices and treasury bills contributed higher impact to each other compared to the contribution of Bitcoin. Thirdly, a weak bi-directional causality between the Bitcoin and treasury bills was observed and a uni-directional causality running from treasury bills and stocks, implying the existence of portfolio rebalancing from the fixed income to the equities market. Despite the weak connection between digital currency and the financial market, the paper recommends that the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Securities and Exchange Commission should maintain monitoring the development of crypto exchanges and continue reviewing the existing policy restricting cryptocurrency transactions through banks to avoid its unsavoury effects.

As prices have grown at their fastest pace in recent times, inflation has become a key concern for the macro-policy environment. In many jurisdictions, consumer prices have typically formed the basis for price stability policies. Notwithstanding, producer prices remain an important channel and must be closely watched. We utilise data on Ghana and investigate the causal links between consumer and producer inflation and assess the necessity to include producer inflation target in the monetary policy rule. Our VECM and Granger causality analyses show that consumer and producer prices exhibit very stable long-term relationship and short-term gaps between the two tend to normalise over time. The relationship between consumer and producer prices has not been a one-sided lag structure, even though producer prices lead more than lag consumer prices. We conclude that Bank of Ghana’s monetary policy design that does not distinguish between consumer and producer inflation is less problematic at the moment.

This paper examines the efficiency, in its weak form, of the clean energy stock indices, Clean Coal Technologies, Clean Energy Fuels, and Wilderhill, as well as the cryptocurrencies classified as "dirty", due to their excessive energy consumption, such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ethereum Classic (ETH Classic), and Litecoin (LTC), from January 2020 to May 30, 2023. In order to meet the research objectives, the aim is to answer the following research question, namely whether: i) the events of 2020 and 2022 accentuated the persistence in the clean energy and dirty energy indices? The results show that clean energy indices such as digital currencies classified as "dirty" show autocorrelation in their returns; the prices are not independent and identically distributed (i.i.d). In conclusion, arbitrage strategies can be used to obtain abnormal returns, but caution is needed as prices can rise above their real market value and reduce trading profitability. This study contributes to the knowledge base on sustainable finance by teaching investors how to use forecasting strategies on the future values of their investments.

This paper provides a thorough review of the shifting landscape of economic analysis, spotlighting recent trends and predicting future paths. While traditional economic models remain key for interpreting economic activity, they are being supplemented by fresh methods and cross-disciplinary viewpoints. The increased attention to inequality studies, using advanced statistical techniques and unique data sources, underscores the growing emphasis on fairness and distribution within economic analysis. The incorporation of behavioral elements into economic models also expands our comprehension of economic decision-making and market results. Notably, the emergence of computational economics-integrating artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and machine learning into economic scrutiny-represents a major development. Often referred to as ’smart economics,’ this field employs technology to formulate, address complex economic dilemmas, and perceive economic activity in unconventional ways. Yet, the application of AI and machine learning in economics introduces new hurdles around data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the transparency of model outcomes. The impact of the digital revolution on economic analysis is significant, as the advent of computational economics and the surge of big data are transforming research techniques and policy implications. Concurrently, the advent of the circular economy indicates a radical shift in our perspective on economic sustainability, carrying considerable implications for environmental policy and business tactics.  In the future, it’s anticipated that these trends will further modify the realm of economic analysis, with AI and machine learning integration, emphasis on sustainability and fairness, and the influence of big data becoming more pronounced. As these changes take place, it’s imperative for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to remain adaptable and flexible, prepared to capitalize on the opportunities and tackle the challenges these trends present.

In the dynamic landscape of exponential growth in the games industry, crowdfunding has emerged as an important funding method for indie games. Previous research has provided inconsistent results on the factors behind its success. This study closes this gap by examining which factors influence success and how success factors vary with different definitions of success and funding goals. The results show that caution is needed when interpreting the results as they depend on model specifications even within the same dataset. Furthermore, the study proposes a framework, supported by an empirical analysis of 1,967 campaigns, to increase the probability of crowdfunding success.

The relation between fund flows and returns in the Australian ETF industry is assessed in this study. Daily data from 43 equity ETFs over the period 2019-2023 are used. The main research objective is to accentuate whether past returns can predict future fund flows and in what way and vice versa. According to the results of the applied regression analysis, past flows and past returns can predict to some extent concurrent flows. This is also the case about concurrent returns. However, in both cases, the results are not unanimous and depend on the specification of the applied regression model.

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) deposits across 13 African nations from 2016 to 2022, using a seven-year dataset and Ordinary Least Squares estimator. Notably, it uncovers a significant positive link between the pandemic and SMEs deposits, indicating heightened reserves amidst economic uncertainty, potentially driven by risk mitigation or government support. Associations between gross domestic product (GDP), inflation, unemployment, foreign direct investment (FDI), exchange rates, and SMEs deposits were evident, showcasing higher GDP aligning with increased deposits, while inflation and unemployment linked to reduced ones. FDI showed a positive influence, and exchange rate fluctuations notably affected SMEs deposits, especially for those in international trade. These findings emphasize policy reconsideration for crisis strategies supporting SMEs reserves during uncertainty and interventions addressing inflation, unemployment, and exchange rate risks. Future research exploring regional nuances and global comparisons could further enrich policymaking for resilient SMEs amid evolving economic landscapes.

This study compares return and volatility performance of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with high-ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) rating vs. low-ESG rating. The paper also examines time-series data predictability by identifying their positive dependence and volatility asymmetry properties, and examines the performance of two combinations of short-memory models i.e., autoregressive moving average and exponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARMA-EGARCH); autoregressive moving average and asymmetric power autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARMA-APARCH) and two long-memory models, autoregressive moving average and fractionally integrated exponential generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARFIMA-FIGARCH); and autoregressive fractionally-integrated moving average and asymmetric power autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (ARFIMA-APARCH). The study found that low-ESG rating ETFs on average have slightly significant higher returns and also lower volatility compared to their high-ESG rating counterparts. Evidence of asymmetric volatility properties are also present on both high-ESG and low-ESG rating ETFs returns. The study also observed that for both high-ESG and low-ESG rating ETFs denote a stationarity, but non-invertible process in their returns. Results can provide fresh understanding in the topic of leverage effects and volatility that can open future research channels to academicians.

The study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on African exchange rates, employing a panel dataset over the period 2016-2022 from 13 African economies and employing pooled OLS estimator. The findings reveal a noteworthy positive correlation between COVID-19 levels and exchange rates within the region. However, this association necessitates deeper exploration due to its multifaceted implications, including economic disruptions, government interventions, global market interconnections, regional stability perceptions, and investor behavior. Economic indicators, such as GDP, inflation rate, real interest rate, and unemployment rate, significantly influence exchange rates. While GDP positively impacts exchange rates through economic growth, investor confidence, and trade strength, controlled inflation fosters investor confidence and export competitiveness, positively affecting exchange rates. Moreover, a pronounced positive impact of the real interest rate indicates economic stability, attracting investment and contributing to currency appreciation. Conversely, high unemployment negatively affects exchange rates, signaling economic weaknesses and eroding investor confidence. These findings emphasize nuanced policy responses for managing health crisis-induced economic disruptions and suggest future research directions focusing on specific country-level analyses and multifaceted factors influencing currency valuations within African economies.

Banks operating within a free economic environment and with constructive regulatory frameworks can function with enhanced efficiency, augmenting their profitability. This study aimed to examine the influence of economic freedom and financial restrictions on banks' profitability within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation member nations. The study used a sample of 1453 banks, collecting panel data spanning 13 years. The System-GMM methodology was justified based on the enduring characteristics of the data and the profitability metrics. The dependent variables, namely the Net Income Margin, Return on Average Assets, and Return on Average Equity were individually examined. The research findings indicate that most economic freedom indicators, except for investment freedom, harm bank profitability. The influence of the rule of law on profitability indicators is mostly adverse, although regulatory quality within the financial system has a comparatively favorable effect on profitability. Furthermore, bank-specific performance indicators had a negative impact on profitability, except for bank size. Moreover, country-specific variables substantially impact banks' profitability, including inflation, tax, and interest rates. The presence of Islamic banking has been shown to substantially impact the profitability performance of banks within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. OIC banks' profitability is adversely impacted by the ongoing health crises, including the Covid-19 pandemic.