The environmental issue has become a global problem that needs to be examined frequently, motivating researchers to investigate it. Thus, the present study has investigated the asymmetric impact of globalization, economic growth and natural resources on the ecological footprint in the presence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in Thailand. The study has used annual time series data from 1970 to 2018. The study applied a novel method of nonlinear autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL). In particular, the current study has investigated the effect of positive and negative shocks on the independent variable on the dependent variable. The findings have confirmed that the effect of globalization and natural resources are significant and nonlinear. However, the effect of negative shocks of globalization and natural resources is more dominant on the ecological footprint in Thailand than the positive shocks of both variables. Moreover, the present study has also tested the presence of EKC in Thailand, and the findings confirm the presence of an inverted U-shape curve in the Thailand economy.

This article examines the cost, revenue and profit efficiency levels of 74 banks (47 conventional and 27 Islamic banks) in Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries over the periods 2007 to 2011. The level of efficiencies was measured using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method which applied the intermediation approach. We find that, revenue efficiency seems to play the main factor leading to the lower or higher profit efficiency levels. In essence, the higher revenue efficiency only affects a higher profit efficiency levels in Islamic banks. However, the profit efficiency on conventional banks will not be affect by the higher revenue efficiency levels since the result shows the level of profit efficiency is lower than cost efficiency due to the higher revenue efficiency. In addition, the result of this study also shows that they are statistically significant difference on cost, revenue and profit efficiency between Islamic and conventional banks in GCC countries. The findings of this study are expected to contribute significantly to the existing knowledge on the operating performance of the GCC Islamic and conventional banking sector, bank’s specific management, policy makers and may also facilitate directions for sustainable competitiveness of the GCC Islamic and conventional banking sector operations in the future.

The enhancement of the financial sector significantly drives a nation’s economy and thereby increase energy intensity. Considering this situation, the current study aims to examine the link between globalization and financial advancements with the energy intensity of the top 5 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) economies. The development structure of the ASEAN region is considered significant for having stable growth. The authors used the annual data from 1990 to 2018 for five of the largest ASEAN economies: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. The present study used novel methodology, the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS), to examine the nonlinear behaviour among globalization, financial development, and energy intensity in the top 5 ASEAN countries. The study results using ANFIS confirm that globalization and financial development are positively correlated and have a significant impact on the energy intensity level in the top ASEAN countries. The results further suggest that globalization and financial development increase the level of energy intensity more in the countries that are developed relative to their peers in the top ASEAN countries. Moreover, the outcomes of ANFIS also suggest that those countries, which are more globalized and financially developed, have more potential to increase the level of energy intensity. Therefore, the government needs to focus more on projects that involve renewable energy and are environmentally friendly.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to provide new empirical evidence on the impact of country governance on the revenue efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks. The empirical analysis is confined to Islamic and conventional banks operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries banking sectors during the period of 2007-2011.Design/methodology/approach: – The analysis comprises two main stages. In the first stage, the authors employ the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method to compute the revenue efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks. The authors then used the multivariate panel regression analysis with the ordinary least square and generalized method of moments as an estimation method to investigate the potential determinants and the effect of country governance on the revenue efficiency.Findings: – The empirical findings indicate that greater voice and accountability, government effectiveness, and rule of law enhance the revenue efficiency of both Islamic and conventional banks. The authors find that regulatory quality exerts positive influence on Islamic banks, while the impact of political stability and control of corruption enhances the revenue efficiency of conventional banks.Originality/value: – The study on the specific revenue efficiency concept of Islamic and conventional banking is still in its formative stage. In regards, majority of the studies that examined the effect of governance on bank efficiency have focused more on the corporate or bank governance that affects the governance within the institution. Thus, to the best of the knowledge, no study has been done to address the effect of country governance on the revenue efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks specifically on the GCC countries.

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the revenue efficiency of the Malaysian Islamic banking sector. The study also seeks to investigate the potential internal (bank specific) and external (macroeconomic) determinants that influence the revenue efficiency of Malaysian domestic Islamic banks. We employ the whole gamut of domestic and foreign Islamic banks operating in the Malaysian Islamic banking sector during the period of 2006 – 2015. The level of revenue efficiency is computed by using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Furthermore, we employ a panel regression analysis framework based on the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method to examine the potential determinants of revenue efficiency. The results indicate that the level of revenue efficiency of Malaysian domestic Islamic banks is lower compared to their foreign Islamic bank counterparts. We find that bank market power, liquidity, and management quality significantly influence the improvement in revenue efficiency of the Malaysian domestic Islamic banks during the period under study. This study provides for the first time empirical evidence that covering all three efficiency concepts, namely cost, revenue, and profit efficiency is completely missing from the literature. By calculating these efficiency concepts, we can observe the efficiency levels of the domestic and foreign Islamic banks. In addition, by comparing both cost and profit efficiency, we can identify the influence of the revenue efficiency on the banks’ profitability.

The paper follows Simar and Wilson's (2007) two-stage procedure to analyze the efficiency of the Malaysian banking sector. In the first stage, we employ the bootstrap Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to compute the efficiency of individual banks during the period 1999–2008. We then use bootstrap regression to examine the impact of origins on bank efficiency, while controlling for the potential influence of contextual variables. The DEA results indicate that the Malaysian banking sector has exhibited increase in efficiency over the sample period. We find that banks from the Asian countries to be relatively more efficient compared to foreign banks from other regions and their domestic bank peers. In essence, the empirical evidence rejects the home field advantage hypothesis, but lends support to the “limited form” of the global advantage and the liability of unfamiliarness hypotheses