Open Access

Article

Article ID: 2852

Poverty mitigation in Nigeria: The role of human capital investment and institutions

by Samson Adeniyi Aladejare, Timothy Odzie, Patrick Akani Odey

Forum for Economic and Financial Studies, Vol.3, No.2, 2025;

Despite the enormous resource wealth and human capital of Nigeria, poverty has become endemic among its population. Thus, this paper assessed the role of human capital investment and institutions in mitigating poverty in Nigeria between 1990 and 2023. By employing the autoregressive distributed lag technique, the paper demonstrated that human capital has a weak effect in decelerating poverty levels in the country. Specifically, while public investment in education and health has no significant long-term impacts on poverty, an increase in employment significantly reduces poverty levels for Nigeria. Conversely, institutions were found to aid the rising trend of poverty in the country, with dysfunctionality in government effectiveness and politically motivated violence being significantly responsible. Thus, the study recommends an increase in funding for the health and educational sectors and an enabling environment for sophisticated manpower investment to further boost income levels against poverty incidences. Also, the dysfunctionality in the institutional workings of the country will need to be tamed before the dividends of governance can effectively tackle poverty.

Open Access

Article

Article ID: 2015

Integration between Islamic financial technology and Islamic financial principal to improve performance of SMEs in Indonesia

by Sukrisno, Idah Kusuma Dewi, Pranoto, Reliani Zai, Dionius Saputra Nehe, Renny Apriliyani, Haniek Listyorini, Kundori, Karona Cahya Susena

Forum for Economic and Financial Studies, Vol.3, No.1, 2025;

This study investigates the integration of Islamic financial technology and principles and their impact on small and medium enterprise (SME) performance in Indonesia. Utilizing a quantitative research methodology, the study employs a correlational design to examine the relationships between Islamic financial technology adoption, adherence to Islamic financial principles, and SME performance metrics. The research sample comprises 230 Muslim SME owners from Java Island, selected through stratified random sampling. Data collection involved structured questionnaires designed to measure the adoption levels of Islamic financial technology, adherence to Islamic financial principles, and various indicators of SME performance. The study employed multiple regression analysis to assess the relationships between the variables. Results indicate statistically significant positive correlations between the implementation of Islamic financial technology, adherence to Islamic financial principles, and SME performance. The regression model accounts for 79.5% of the variance in SME performance. Islamic financial technology adoption emerged as a particularly strong predictor of improved SME outcomes, suggesting the potential for technological innovation within an Islamic financial framework to drive business success. This research contributes to the growing body of literature on Islamic finance and financial technology in emerging markets. It provides empirical evidence for the potential synergies between Islamic financial principles and modern financial technology in enhancing SME performance in Indonesia. The findings have implications for policymakers, financial institutions, and SME owners in leveraging Islamic financial technology to promote sustainable economic growth.

Open Access

Article

Article ID: 2519

Assessing the future influence of tourism-related factors on economic growth in selected south Asian countries through a random forest approach

by Sujan Acharya, Md Shahriar Kabir Sajib, Ahnaf Aiman Abdi, Golam Mahadi

Forum for Economic and Financial Studies, Vol.3, No.1, 2025;

The study applies sophisticated machine learning techniques to measure the effect induced by important tourism indicators upon the GDP of six South Asian countries from 2001–2019. Among the models tested, the Random Forest model demonstrated the highest predictive accuracy, making it the most effective approach for analyzing GDP determinants in the region. It was determined from a World Development Indicators dataset analysis through the use of a Random Forest model what were the main determinants behind GDP growth for all countries in the area. Tourist arrivals and international tourism expenditure are good indicators of economic growth, while the unemployment rate and population growth have only minor effects. Other tourism-related factors contribute very significantly toward explaining any possible variation in GDP growth. Therefore, these results are important from the standpoint of the formulation of policies related to tourism toward maximizing its contribution to the economies of South Asia. For such policies to result in maximizing contributions from tourism, investments need to focus on the development of tourism infrastructure and international marketing to effect sustainable tourism development environments. Such policies are also very important with respect to unemployment and demographics. This work offers an evidence-based perspective to inform policymakers in developing investment in tourism infrastructure, international tourism promotion, and sustainable tourism practice. Such investment will greatly empower the South Asian economies to reconfigure tourism as a key driver of sustained economic growth and globally improved competitiveness.

Open Access

Article

Article ID: 2218

Unemployment and the informal economy in Uganda: An empirical investigation

by Stephen Esaku, Salmon Mugoda

Forum for Economic and Financial Studies, Vol.3, No.1, 2025;

This paper investigates the relationship between unemployment and the informal economy in Uganda. Using annual time series data from Uganda, covering the period from 1991 to 2017, we apply the ARDL method to investigate this relationship. The results indicate a positive and statistically significant relationship between unemployment and the shadow economy in both the long- and short-run. This implies that an increase in unemployment increases the shadow economy in both the long- and short-run. These findings reveal that a high level of unemployment is detrimental to the formal economy since it spurs informal sector activities in both the short-and long-run. These results suggest that any attempt to regulate unemployment without tackling informal sector activities may not succeed unless they are addressed simultaneously. Furthermore, the results also imply that curbing informality requires implementing fiscal, economic and political reforms aimed at ensuring proper functioning of the business environment.

Open Access

Article

Article ID: 2593

Identifying solutions to ensure the financial security of the enterprise in current conditions

by Victoria Postolache

Forum for Economic and Financial Studies, Vol.3, No.1, 2025;

The issue of ensuring the economic security of enterprises has become increasingly pressing, encompassing a wide array of components, including technical, technological, financial, intellectual, human resources, fiscal, legal, property, and informational dimensions. In light of current economic conditions, research highlights the imperative of developing and implementing an effective mechanism to secure the financial dimension of an enterprise’s economic security. This has emerged as one of the foremost priorities. A well-designed mechanism to safeguard financial security is expected to provide robust solutions to address the challenges encountered throughout an enterprise’s operational trajectory. The objective of this research endeavor is to ascertain viable solutions that will ensure the stability and resilience of the financial security system through the implementation of a range of management tools. The primary goal of these tools is to mobilize the enterprise’s internal and external reserves in an effective manner. In this context, attaining the intended objectives necessitates not only a comprehensive examination of the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of financial security but also the formulation of a system of essential financial prerequisites. Such a system must support the enterprise’s sustainable growth and development, both in the short and long term, while being adaptable to the specific economic conditions and sectoral characteristics in which the enterprise operates.

Open Access

Article

Article ID: 1774

Designing a general economic model to incentivize maintaining infrastructure in informal settlements

by Bruce Cahan

Forum for Economic and Financial Studies, Vol.3, No.1, 2025;

This paper sketches the design for a general economic model (GEM) quantifying how informal settlements (also known as slums) function and interact with ancillary urban or rural regions. The GEM is an essential tool for calculating the incentive fee payable to residents of the informal settlement to maintain housing, healthcare, schools, water, sanitation, or other infrastructure improvements and investments made by third parties and to identify potential payors or funders of the incentive fee. It is suggested that the GEM resolve limitations of traditional cost-benefit analyses (CBAs) in order to better calculate such incentive fee amounts and ascertain the parties willing to pay them. To understand how the GEM fills data gaps and helps fund national commitments to the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the financial constraints on two countries, Fiji and Indonesia, as exacerbated by the Coronavirus COVID-19, and Indonesia’s village finance modernization scheme (Siskeudes) are discussed.