The purpose of this paper is to study the direction of causality between the stock market and macroeconomic variables. India is taken as a case study. Although, there have been many studies which attempted to find out the relationship between Indian stock market and economic variables, this...

This paper seeks to close the gap of the lack of empirical evidence surrounding the different impact of conventional interest rates on Islamic finance components – Islamic stock markets, Islamic banking and Islamic insurance (called takaful). Such evidence remains imperative in order for the...

Generally, Shariah (Islamic) indices are considered to have lower portfolio betas relative to conventional ones. The lower portfolio beta of Islamic indexes is a logical result of Shariah screening. As Shariah screening eliminates stocks with high financial leverage, the resulting portfolio beta...

Econometricians had been blamed for the financial crises that occurred due to their giving a ‘false hope’ to investors and policy makers using untested theoretical assumptions. Therefore, econometricians had been challenged to reform their studies by grounding them more solidly on reality....

The paper examines whether banks’ funding structure amplifies procyclicality. Using data for GCC banks for the period 1996-2009, the evidence suggests that banks with higher wholesale dependence cut back lending by a greater amount. In addition, the procyclicality of the financial system and...

The paper traces the determinants of depositor discipline in Indian banking. Using data for the period 1997:1 to 2002:4, the findings reveal that, while bank-specific factors are dominant in case of state-owned banks, systemic variables tend to overwhelm bank-specific factors in explaining...

Policy debate with regard to financial intermediaries has focused on whether, and to what extent, governments should impose capital adequacy requirements on banks, or alternately, whether market forces could also ensure the stability of banking systems. The paper contributes to this debate by...

While the relationship between portfolio risk and capital and its interrelationship with operating efficiency has been extensively studied, little work has been forthcoming on the interrelationships among credit risk, capital and productivity change. The paper makes an attempt to examine the...

The paper develops an empirical model to explore the role that bank characteristics play in influencing the monetary transmission process. Employing data on Indian commercial banks for the period 1992-2004, the findings indicate that for banks classified according to size and capitalization, a...

The article provides a snapshot of Indian banking and explores certain contextual issues