The capital structure decision plays an important role in the performance of a firm. Therefore, there have been many studies inspecting the rapport of capital structure with the performance of firms, although the findings of these studies are inconclusive. In addition, there is a relative deficiency of empirical studies examining the link between capital structure and the performance of banks in Bangladesh. This study attempts to fill this gap. Using the panel data of 22 banks for the period of 2005–2014, this study empirically examined the impacts of capital structure on the performance of Bangladeshi banks assessed by return on equity, return on assets and earnings per share. The results of the pooled ordinary least square analysis showed that capital structure inversely affects bank performance. The findings of this empirical study are of greater significance for the developing countries like Bangladesh because it calls for the concentration of the bank management and the policy makers to pursue the policies that reduce reliance on debt to achieve the optimal level of capital structure. The results of this study are also analysed in the light of earlier studies.

E-banking has become one of the most popular methods of banking that has experienced a considerable expansion during the last few years. However, there is relative dearth of empirical studies examining the impact of e-banking on performance of banks. Though e-banking is gaining acceptance in Bangladesh, impact of e-banking on bank’s performance is yet to be established. This paper fills this gap. Using panel data of 13 banks over the period of 2003–2013, this study empirically investigated the impact of e-banking on the performance of Bangladeshi banks measured in terms of Return on Equity, Return on Assets and Net Interest Margin. Results from pooled ordinary least square analysis show that e-banking begins to contribute positively to banks’ Return on Equity with a time lag of two years while a negative impact was found in first year of adoption. Empirical findings of this study is of greater significance for the developing countries like Bangladesh because it will invoke the attention of the bank management and policy makers to pursue such policies to expand e-banking. This study also contributes to empirical literatures by reconfirming (or otherwise) findings of previous studies.

Countries around the world are announcing stimulus packages in response to the COVID 19 pandemic. This research attempts to measure the extent and progress of stimulus packages by proposing a multidimensional index that standardizes governments' economic responses and allows us to examine the differences in economic policies from country to country. We apply the Euclidean distance formula to develop the new index and then identify the determinants of the economic stimulation of COVID-19 through beta-regression. The results show that Chile, Switzerland, Croatia, Sweden and the Netherlands responded more strongly to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the remaining countries responded slightly to the pandemic. Empirical results also indicate that most countries increased COVID-19 economic support, although not significantly. Finally, the results of the beta regression show that the median age of the population, the number of hospitals, beds per capita, the number of total COVID-19 cases, GDP, health care expenditure and the index of the severity of the government's response is significantly related to the level of the countries' stimulus packages.

In recent times, financial inclusion and financial stability issue have become a priority on policy agendas across the world. However, there is relative dearth of empirical studies addressing and establishing the link between the same. This study fills this gap. Using panel data of 2001-2013, this study empirically investigated whether financial inclusion contributes to country’s financial stability, measured by Z-score. Robust results from GMM dynamic panel data estimator show that financial inclusion variables as measured by number of SME borrowers to total borrowers and ratio of outstanding SME loans to total loans have significant positive contributions to financial stability. Findings also indicate that GDP per capita, liquidity, proportion of private credit to GDP are positively and proportion of domestic credit provided to private sector and financial crisis are negatively associated with financial stability. Empirical findings of this study is of greater significance to the policymakers as it will invoke the attention of governments and policymakers to undertake such policies to accelerate financial inclusion of their countries which in turn will lead to country’s greater financial stability. This study also contributes to empirical literatures of the issue of financial inclusion and financial stability by reconfirming (or otherwise) findings of previous studies.