This paper examines the impact of economic and financial factors on tax revenue of Bahrain and Oman from 1990 to 2010. For this purpose, panel regression analysis is performed by considering economic and financial factors including growth domestic product (GDP), Deposit Interest Rate, Lending Interest Rate, Interest Rate Spread, Real Interest Rate, Bank Capital to Asset Ratio, Bank nonperforming loans to total gross loans, Risk premium on lending, Foreign direct investment net inflow and Cash surplus deficit. A conceptual model is developed for this purpose and the key findings are explained. The outcomes of the study explain that there was a significant relationship between Tax revenue and both economic and financial factors i.e. GDP growth, Bank capital to asset ratio, the Risk premium on lending, Foreign direct investment net inflow and Cash surplus/deficit over the period of study. The findings of the study are very much useful for the policymakers to consider which factors are affecting the tax revenues and in which direction. However, the findings of the study can be more meaningful with the addition of more economic and financial factors as well. Besides, the consideration of other Asian states will provide more evidence for the generalization of the findings. Meanwhile, this study will be a policy note on on-going tax reforms in selected Middle East countries and will be helpful for policymakers and researchers in conceptualizing the tax revenue model for them.

The present study examined the effects of cashless policy on financial inclusion in the Nigerian emerging economy. The necessary data were collected from the Central Bank of Nigeria Economic Reports as well as Statistical Bulletin and the ordinary least squares method was applied to analyze the data. The findings reveal that the cashless policy maintained a non-significant relationship with financial inclusion both in urban and rural areas of Nigeria. The findings show that the cashless policy had a significant effect on increasing customers’ deposits in commercial banks of Nigeria. Volume of Automated Teller Machine (ATMVL) maintains a positive and significant effect on financial inclusion indicators in urban center compared with the rural areas. Volume of Point of Sales (POSVL) shows more significant and positive influence on financial inclusion in urban area than the rural area. However, Web Based Technique (WBTVL) reveals a non-significant effect on financial inclusion both in urban and rural centers. The study therefore recommends that more branches of commercial banks and ATM centers/outlets should be opened in rural urban centers with efficient network systems and security in order to enhance banking penetration and by extension effectiveness of the financial inclusion and poverty reductions.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the various factors influencing on people to invest in mutual funds and examine the mediating role of investor’s perception. By using quantitative research approach and cross-sectional research design, 300 questionnaires are distributed among the individual investors and Smart PLS 3 is used to analyze the data. The results reveal that risk and return, liquidity of assets, demographic factors (gender, age, and material status), convenience, reduction in transection cost, tax benefits and transparency were the key factors and maintained significant relationships with investment in mutual funds. Moreover, investor’s perception maintains mediating role between all these factors and investment in mutual funds. The study contributes in literature by investigating the various factors, which influence on investors to invest in mutual funds. Moreover, it also contributes by investigating the mediating role of investor’s perception.

Investors’ decision-making are influenced by certain biases as reported in literature. Fundamental analysis is based on the assumption that investors think rationally, but in practice, things may be different. This study captures the impact of herding behavior and overconfidence biases on the investors’ decision-making in Pakistan. The proposed study collects the necessary data through questionnaires distributed among 150 respondents who were active in stock market and manage to process 100 completed ones. The relationships between investors’ decision-making and herding behavior as well as overconfidence biases were empirically tested using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method. The results show that Pakistani investors’ decisions were significantly influenced by both herding behavior and overconfidence biases.