While numerous studies have tried to analyze the impact of intergovernmental transfers in fostering fiscal equalization in India, there need to be more studies in the context of north-eastern (NE) states. Situating in a geographically isolated and economically backward region, the states of NE India depend heavily on central fiscal transfers to meet expenditures and to promote various economic activities in the region. One of the essential objectives of these transfers is to achieve fiscal equity. Hence, the study attempts to analyze the fiscal equalizing nature of the intergovernmental transf ..read more

Journal of Public Affairs, Volume 23, Issue 2, May 2023 ..read more

This article looks beyond Z-score and proposes a novel methodological framework to build an all-encompassing indicator of bank stability for individual banks using the optimisation-based ‘benefit-of-the-doubt (BoD)’ approach. Unlike other available approaches, this approach is totally data-driven and generates endogenous weights to aggregate sub-indicators of bank stability and dimensions. Further, the final outcomes are not limited to a scalar measure of bank stability. The unique optimal weights offer valuable policy-relevant insights and highlight the most precarious areas of stability, whi ..read more

The COVID-19 outbreak has left an indelible effect on Bangladesh's agriculture sector, like that of most developing countries. Considering that agriculture is the cornerstone of Bangladesh's economy, we made an effort to compile a detailed scenario of COVID-19's effect on it through a relevant literature review. Since no significant studies outlined a complete picture of the pandemic's impact on agriculture, our study ventured to reveal the circumstances of each sub-sector of agriculture. During the early phases of the pandemic, farmers engaged in agriculture production got poor prices, with t ..read more

This article unearths the salient factors that trap the aspiring middle class in their progression towards a stable middle class in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. The study utilises a quantitative case study design, drawing on a sample of 449 aspirants and 578 middle-class heads of households from the 2021 Gauteng City-Region Observatory Quality of Life Survey. A binary logistic regression model was used to analyse these salient factors (key determinants) and their impact on the social mobility of the aspirant middle class. Findings reveal a significant relationship between social mob ..read more

The role of the public administration is crucial for the development of smart cities. Several scholars have highlighted the need for greater contributions focused on the relationship between public administration and smart cities. This work aims to map the contributions on the topic highlighting the status of the field in the recent years. A bibliometric analysis was performed on a sample of articles published in business and management journals. The analysis was carried out using the R-studio Bibliometrics package. Results show that research on the topic is still in an initial stage and has s ..read more

The purpose of this paper is to first, understand the existing status of Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS) and its convergence from the perspective of accounting practitioners in India; and second, to elucidate the benefits and challenges while implementing Ind-AS. The paper exemplifies the Ind-AS convergence to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) thereon cited as Ind-AS. The study considers exploratory research design and uses an in-depth interview approach, a qualitative research method of 32 practitioners in India from a heterogeneous group of 6 regulating institutions, 8 ..read more

The primary objective of the present study is to identify the antecedents of voter loyalty, with a particular focus on the mediating role of party attachment in the relationship between inner-self, social-self, trust, and loyalty. Using a convenience sampling method, the data for this study were gathered from a sample of 750 voters residing in a developing European country, Turkey. The collected data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling. The results of the study demonstrate that significant and positive relationships exist between the aforementioned ..read more

This study investigates the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the health, food security and financial lives of Nigerian households. The data for the study were collected from 813 households from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria using a questionnaire and the results were analysed using descriptive statistics and andordinal logistic regression model. The ordinal regression model is appropriate for regression results with ordinal scales as the dependent variable. The findings reveal that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected households' personal savings significantly. The majority of the househol ..read more

The study purpose was to assess the impact of public sector audit on investment climate formation under the COVID-19 pandemic and to develop recommendations to improve its effectiveness. For this purpose, a multistage research project was developed with the participation of auditors from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. The project was based on the primary information obtained in the course of expert interviews. Testing the methodological approach with experts from these countries allowed proving the main study hypotheses, according to which the public sector audit has an indirect positive imp ..read more