Financial innovation in the form of new delivery channels, products, and providers has helped push out the frontier of access to finance and thus increase the bankable and banked population. Mobile money and crowdfunding platforms are prime examples for this. The same financial innovation has...

Peer-to-peer lending (P2PL) FinTech is growing rapidly in Indonesia. With its flexibility and simplicity, P2PL reduces the gap in financing that cannot be fulfilled by banks. However, the rapid development of P2PL also raises a number of problems that burden users such as unethical debt...

This study examines economic activity measured with firm performance indicators using the changes in intensity of night-time light in four CAREC economies: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. The empirical analysis is based on the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data for 2019 and...

In this paper, we utilize an e-commerce development indicator in tandem with big data to measure the variations of e-commerce development across counties in the People's Republic of China and assess its impact on entrepreneurship in both rural and urban areas. We find that households living in...

This paper verifies the impact of bank account information, such as information on deposits and withdrawals, that is not necessarily fully accounted for in conventional internal ratings and that can affect the accuracy of the default predictions of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The...

There was an expectation that the independent regulatory institutions that India created for its electricity sector would drive the sector along a sustainable trajectory. However, there has been a dearth of empirical studies analyzing the effect of electricity sector regulation on sustainable...

This paper provides both theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence on the relationship between mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and corporate innovation. It also identifies relevant policies implemented by countries around the world to encourage corporate innovation activities, and...

The ocean is being jeopardized because of the adverse effects of climate change and human activities, such as marine plastic pollution, extreme weather events, sea level rises, and others. In addressing these ocean risks, ensuring sufficient finance to sustain the ocean economy is an...

Free trade agreements (FTAs) have proliferated in East Asia in recent years. As of December 2008, eight bilateral FTAs and one plurilateral FTA involving Japan have entered into force; additional negotiations are ongoing with several more countries. The proliferation of FTAs in Japan and other...

The Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea) continues to promote an open-trade system via the conclusion of free trade agreements (FTAs), arguing that Korean enterprises will obtain considerable business opportunities under the FTAs the government has implemented. However, the FTAs that are...