This paper analyses the dynamic relationship between the changes in the exchange rate and domestic inflation under the managed floating exchange rate regime in India. The potential channels of causality between exchange rate, inflation rate, output and interest rate, and the sources of contemporaneous shocks are identified following the Kamin and Rogers framework. Using monthly data for the period January 2000 to December 2024, this paper estimates the structural relationship among the variables applying the VAR and SVAR estimation methods. The SVAR estimates show that variations in the exchange rate are explained more by the output gap than the inflation rate. The estimated effect of changes in the exchange rate on inflation is just 0.1% while the effect of changes in inflation on the exchange rate is more than 4%. The low effect of the exchange rate on inflation in India is largely due to the RBI’s managed floating exchange rate regimes that go hand in hand with the market determination of the exchange rate. The effective intervention of the Reserve Bank of India evens out exchange rate volatility by an increase/decrease in net foreign exchange assets and sterilises the expansionary monetary effect by an increase/decrease in net domestic credit. The effective RBI intervention on the foreign exchange rate almost neutralises the effect of the exchange rate on the inflation rate in India.

Keywords: Managed floating exchange rate, volatility, domestic inflation, structural vector autoregression estimation

Access to finance remain a major obstacle for entrepreneurs in developing countries particularly those in informal food businesses. Globally, SMEs face significant financial gap, pushing many to adopt alternative innovative financial models (IFMS) in the food system. These include Community currency (Bangladesh money), Merry-go-rounds, chamas and table banking. In Kisumu, IFMs play a crucial role they offer accessible and inclusive financial options, helping to foster local economic resilience. The study adopted descriptive research design. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires, interview and observation while secondary data was collected from the financial records. Simple random sampling was applied to select a sample size of 400 groups. Data was analyzed using mean, frequencies and thematic analysis. Findings indicated IFMs among women who operates informal business along the food value chain is driven by barriers to formal financial services including lack of collateral, limited financial infrastructure, and lack of financial records. Members face challenges such as irregular members’ contributions, restricted access to large-scale funding from the financial institutions, regulatory gaps and vulnerability to economic shock. The study recommends that to strengthen these systems, there is need to enhance financial literacy, formalizing informal finance groups, adopting risk management practices, and integrating digital tools.

Keywords: Financial institutions, Non Financial models, food systems, Informal Food traders.

This paper explores the causes and consequences of corruption in recruitment of public sector job in India. Causes of corruption has two sides- supply side and demand side. High competition in the recruitment of public sector job or high educated unemployment rate is the main (direct) cause of corruption from the supply side. On the other hand, high rent seeking activity, high discretionary power vested to the administrator and low accountability of the administrators are the main source of corruption from the demand side. Apart from these, lack of certainty, consistency and transparency in framing the rules and regulations are also the sources of corruption from the demand side. Corruption reduces the probability of getting a public sector job to the fresher candidates. The potential educated youth become hopeless. It will have a negative impact on attainment of educational institution of the youth. The high degree of corruption may break the trust of the common people on government/ political leader (concerned ministers). Through corruption (bribe) huge amount of black money is generated in the economy that may increase inflation, income inequality in income distribution. Corruption reduces the consumer surplus of the government.

Keywords: Corruption, Bribe, Nepotism, Consumer Surplus.
JEL Classification Code: K, K4, K42, Z18.

Ethiopia and South Africa are representative economies in Africa. But during the 2000-2019 period, the two countries were significantly different in economic performance because they chose different development models. Specifically, Ethiopia chose Chinese model to develop its economy since 2000s while South Africa has been using Western model. Based on convergence theory, this paper reveals the followings by econometric method: During the 1960-2019 period, measured by the steady state of per-capita output, the relative position of South Africa in a test sample generally remains slightly lower than the average level of all sample countries and shows a slight downward trend; the relative position of Ethiopia is much lower than the average level of all sample countries and continuously declined from 1960s to 1990s, but began and kept rising rapidly since 2000s. The paper gives explanations for the above empirical study results and also provides some suggestions for the future growth of the steady states of per-capita output of the above two countries.

Keywords: Ethiopia and South Africa; steady state of per-capita output; b-convergence.

Youth-the most productive stage of human life-covers nearly 16% of the world's total population in recent. However, youth unemployment-mainly prevailing in developing countries-is a major challenging problem for the countries. This problem seems severe in Nepal and the government assumed it as a serious problem for a long time even with the policies launched to increase the employment opportunities. Concerning this issue, we employed a probit regression model to access the effects of unemployment determining factors on youth unemployment in Nepal using survey data. The analysis found that some of the socio-economic and demographic factors; age, gender, marital status, household size, job application, family income, and internship affect youth unemployment significantly in Nepal. A large size family has less probability to be unemployed compared to low membered family. Similarly, other factors; job search intensity, internship, level of income, social bonding networks, and graduation marks inversely affect to unemployment. Among the independent factors; gender and graduation marks are the crucial factors to increase graduate unemployment than other factors indicating gender discrimination and graduation marks are the dominant factors affecting to unemployment in Nepal and employers prefer higher marks graded employees than the lower graded ones to employ in their work.

Keywords: Unemployment, demographic factors, youth, human capital, job search.
JEL Classification: E24, J10, J13, J24, J64.

The study examines the relationship between trade imbalances and inflation in Nigeria from 1981 to 2023, using the Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model. It finds that positive trade imbalances (PTI) have a short-term deflationary effect on inflation, while negative trade imbalances (NTI) show delayed inflationary effects due to currency depreciation and increased import costs. The study highlights the asymmetric nature of trade imbalances' influence on Nigeria's economy. The study also reveals that macroeconomic variables like money supply, trade openness, foreign direct investment, and real GDP influence inflationary pressures. Increased money supply exacerbates inflation in the short and long run, while trade openness contributes to short-term inflation due to global price volatility. Foreign direct investment offsets short-term inflationary pressures with long-term economic benefits, and real GDP growth contributes to demand-pull inflation in the short term. Diagnostic tests confirm the model's robustness, despite residual autocorrelation. The findings also align with Balance of Payments theory, Monetary Theory of Inflation, and Structuralist perspectives. The study recommends policy measures to manage trade imbalances, stabilize inflation, and promote sustainable economic growth in developing economies, including diversifying exports, enhancing domestic production, and implementing effective monetary and fiscal policies.

Keywords: Trade Imbalance, Inflation, Asymmetric Effects, NARDL Model, Monetary Policy.
JEL Codes: F31: E31: C22: F41: E52

The transforming objectives in healthcare can only be initiated through system and strategy innovation supported by a committed and skilled group of employees. Employee commitment is considered an intangible trait of employees that helps to provide the healthcare employees provide the best services for all of mankind. Existing studies look into the role of workplace empowerment in increasing the quality of work life. However, there has been little research into the underlying mechanism that describes this relationship. This study will help to cover the gap and establish the connection between workplace empowerment (WEM) and employee commitment (EC), with the help of the moderating role of quality of work life (QWL). 180 data of healthcare professionals were taken to conduct this research. This study focused on the fact that with the increase in workplace empowerment, employee commitment also tends to increase, and the quality of work life plays a moderating role between them and intensifies employee commitment. It will eventually work as a positive reinforcement in the overall progress of the healthcare sector.

Keywords: Quality of work life, Healthcare sector, Moderating role.

The study examines the impact of information communication technology on insurance marketing in post COVID-19 era in Nigeria. It identifies the imperatives for adoption of ICT to promoting efficient and efficient service delivery in the insurance industry as a strategy for attainment of the profit maximization objectives of insurance companies in Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design, using responses of structured questionnaire of 50 respondents from the four selected insurance companies in Nigeria. The findings revealed that there was statistical significant relationship between effective implementation of ICT and insurance marketing strategies in Nigeria. This implies that adoption of ICT by insurance companies can enhance efficiency and quality of service delivery. It was recommended that for maximum benefits from ICT, government, regulators and other stakeholders in the insurance sector must synergize to eliminate the challenges of digital insurance marketing, as this will encourage investment in ICTs thereby ensuring the effectiveness of the insurance sector in Nigeria providing sustainably financial guarantees to the insuring public, National Assembly should enact potent laws inculcating digital insurance to reduce the cost of insurance apathy aimed at promoting, and restoring trust and confidence in the insurance business in Nigeria, and the stakeholders and management of the insurance companies must as a matter urgency their personnel towards adopting recent development in ICT in marketing research and product development.

Keywords: Information Communication Technology (ICT), Insurance Marketing, COVI-19, Innovation, Economy.

Impacts of inward FDI on economic growth are assessed in the case of large developing countries, China and India. The underlying analytical structure is based on the Solow model. FDI complements to main factors of production, labour and capital and leads to GDP growth. Comprehensive evidence-based suggestions are provided that can be useful for making policies that spur the long-term growth for the benefit of all people in such emerging economies.

Keywords: FDI, growth, China, India
JEL Classification: F21, F6, O1 and P2

Microfinance, through Self Help Groups (SHG), has been a generally successful developmental intervention in India. However, quantifying or measuring the impact of microfinance has proved to be a difficult task. Despite several studies no concrete conclusion is seen to be emerging, leaving scope for more studies with newer methods and approaches. In this paper, we try to estimate the economic impact of microfinance on rural women using a different approach. In this, we have estimated low, medium and high economic impact depending on the number and kind of economic needs that were met due to participation in the SHG microfinance programme. Further we have used regression to understand how factors such as age, agricultural land owned, time spent in the SHG programme, Below Poverty Line (BPL) status and loan amount could be affecting the economic impact of microfinance. The data used is from a primary survey of 159 women SHG members conducted in Akole village of Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra. The results for our sample show that 58 percent of the sample participants reported a high level of positive economic impact of microfinance. Among BPL and Non-BPL participants, BPL participants experienced higher economic impact of microfinance. Further we found that the time spent in SHG programme is negatively linked to the impact of microfinance; greater the time spent in the programme, lesser is the positive economic impact. Other variables like age of the member, loan amount and agricultural land owned did not have a significant impact.

Keywords: 1. Microfinance 2. Self-Help Groups (SHGs) 3.Economic Impact 4. Impact Assessment
JEL Codes: B400; O100; O160.