Articles

Consumer Preferences and Regulations In Credit Card Markets: Evidence from Turkey

Submitted by Munir on Fri, 08/12/2022 - 21:53

In this paper, we analyze the demand side of the credit card market. Using unique survey data and a discrete choice model, we uncover consumer preferences for all price and nonprice features of credit cards. Our results provide evidence for an alternative explanation for the credit card pricing puzzles. We show that consumers view credit cards as highly differentiated products with both bank-level and card-level nonprice features. When selecting their credit cards, they predominantly prioritize

The Islamic Law of Pearling: Ritual Obligation and Economic Practice in the Arabian Gulf, ca. 1910-1940

Submitted by Munir on Fri, 08/12/2022 - 21:36

In the first half of the twentieth century, the legal landscape of the Arabian sheikhdoms was pluralistic and fragmented. The legal actors who settled disputes included local rulers, qāḍīs, pearl merchants, tribal shaykhs, and British officials. Drawing on fatwas and correspondence between religious scholars and notables in Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Doha, Kuwait and Manama, I examine how Islamic law shaped pearling – the region’s central economic activity – during this critical juncture.

Board characteristics and sustainability performance: Empirical evidence from emerging markets

Submitted by Munir on Fri, 08/12/2022 - 21:31

This study aims to investigate the effects of board attributes, i.e. board independence, gender diversity, board size and board activity, on the sustainability performance of 439 publicly-listed non-financial companies across 20 emerging countries over the period of 2010–2019.

Investigation on Human Development Needs, Challenges, and Drivers for Transition to Sustainable Development: The Case of Qatar

Submitted by Munir on Fri, 08/12/2022 - 21:17

Human development has been widely accepted as both the primary goal and driver of sustainable development. Human development is critically important for countries attempting a radical transformation from a resource-based economy to knowledge-based, sustainable development, like Qatar. This paper examines Qatar’s human development needs and challenges with respect to its economic, demographic, and educational development goals.

The Spillover Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Which sub-sectors of Tourism have been affected more?

Submitted by Munir on Fri, 08/12/2022 - 21:14

This paper investigates the effects of COVID-19 pandemic-related uncertainty focusing on the US tourism subsectors, including airlines, hotels, restaurants, and travel companies. Using daily stock price data, we compute connectedness indices that quantify the financial distress in the tourism and hospitality industry and link these indices with a measure of COVID-19-induced uncertainty. Our empirical results show that some subsectors of tourism are affected more than others. The connectedness of tourism companies has severely increased after March 2020.

Developing Future Human-Centered Smart Cities: Critical Analysis of Smart City Security, Interpretability, and Ethical Challenges

Submitted by Munir on Fri, 08/12/2022 - 21:07

As we make tremendous advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence technosciences, there is a renewed understanding in the AI community that we must ensure that humans being are at the center of our deliberations so that we don't end in technology-induced dystopias. As strongly argued by Green in his book Smart Enough City, the incorporation of technology in city environs does not automatically translate into prosperity, wellbeing, urban livability, or social justice. There is a great need to deliberate on the future of the cities worth living and designing.

The Re-establishment of Mosul's city fabric: an approach to computational hybridization

Submitted by Munir on Fri, 08/12/2022 - 21:01

This paper aims out to analyze the confluence of spatial analysis and computational design strategies to support the reestablishment of Mosul's city housing fabric. According to a UN-Habitat report, Mosul suffered from catastrophic losses on an urban scale, resulting in a housing crisis that requires a large-scale response. However, the need for immediate shelters might lead to a rapid, uninformed reconstruction process, causing the loss of the architectural identity that the city accumulated over the years.

Open Banking from EU's Payment Services Directive to Practice: The Cases of Solarisbank and Insha

Submitted by Munir on Fri, 08/12/2022 - 19:50
Rapid developments and the adoption of financial technologies (Fintech) lead to radical changes in the delivery of financial services, including enabling fast payment systems. The recent COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed these processes, while Open Banking supports their further advancement. The concept of Open Banking is gaining global recognition for integrating innovative financial service providers into the sustainable financial ecosystem. This paper discusses Open Banking, including its core building blocks, prospects, and challenges.