Suchergebnisse

In this study, we endeavored to establish a threshold of financial sector development (FSD) and exchange rate devaluation (EXD) that stimulates stock market returns (SR) based on an analysis of 25 stock exchanges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Threshold generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) regressions were estimated. Only the Istanbul Gold Exchange stock return was found fit for GARCH volatility analysis. However, results from threshold regression revealed that EXD does have significant threshold effects on SR and when EXD falls lower than its threshold of 19.69 percent, FSD had an increased influence on SR by 11.8 percent. The effects of EXD and FSD on SR are greater when the FSD level is beyond the threshold value of 23.45 percent. FSD below thresholds of 23.5 percent, and 51.1 percent would be insignificant in predicting SR. Lagged SR within an economy below the FSD threshold of 50.59 percent will negatively affect SR. By and large, our results reveal that FSD cannot influence returns of stock on their exchange floors given the devaluation of local currencies beyond the threshold value of 19.69 percent. Future studies could extend our threshold regression framework to allow for endogenous threshold variables.

The reality is that social welfare services in Nigeria exclude more people than they cover, resulting in the deprivation of basic human needs such as water, sanitation, shelter, healthcare, and education that have hindered the betterment of the living conditions of the citizens (Nkpoyen et al., 2021; Okpa, 2022). This study explored factors affecting the government delivery of social welfare services in Nigeria. Five hundred and seventy (570) respondents' opinions were purposively sampled using the 36-item Social Welfare Service Delivery Questionnaire (SWSDQ) and an in-depth interview guide. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square statistical technique, and Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software, version 20. As a supplement to the quantitative data, the qualitative data were analysed in themes. Findings from this study revealed that although all the respondents reported knowing about available social welfare services, 44.3% reported not accessing the existing social services because of such factors as political expediency, transparency, accountability, corruption, and perception of social service providers. A key policy issue, therefore, is the need to look into the eradication or mitigation of these factors ascribed to be hindering the delivery of social welfare services. This will expedite the blanket spread of the delivery, accessibility, and utilisation of social welfare services for residents, not just in the study area but across the country