Using a time-frequency and quantile connectedness approach, our study examines the complex return spillovers dynamics between BRICS Plus stock markets, the volatility index (VIX), and the global geopolitical risk index (GPRD). By employing advanced models such as TVP-VAR, quantile connectedness, and spectral decomposition, we demonstrate how these markets interact across different market conditions and periods. Our results indicate that the VIX consistently acts as the dominant net transmitter of shocks, especially during periods of heightened uncertainty such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian-Ukraine conflict, and the Trump-era U.S.-China trade tensions. In contrast, the GPRD functions predominantly as a net receiver of shocks, indicating its potential role as a hedge during geopolitical crises. BRICS Plus markets exhibit heterogeneous behavior: Brazil, South Africa, and Russia frequently emerge as net transmitters, while China, India, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE primarily act as net receivers. Spillovers are strongest at the extremes of the return distribution and are mainly driven by short-term dynamics, underscoring the importance of high-frequency reactions over persistent long-term effects. These findings highlight the asymmetric, nonlinear, and state-dependent nature of global financial contagion, offering important insights for risk management, asset allocation, and macroprudential policy design in emerging market contexts.

This paper investigates the frequency dynamics of financial and macroeconomic connectedness by measuring tail-risk and uncertainty for two emerging African economies, namely Morocco and Tunisia, over the quarterly period Q2-2010 to Q4-2024. We employ a quantile connectedness approach, which, unlike traditional mean-based methods, leads to capturing asymmetries, tail-risk dependencies, and state-dependent spillovers, and to providing early warning signals of systemic stress and financial uncertainty. Our results reveal a stark divergence between the two stock markets in their roles in transmitting and absorbing shocks. The Moroccan stock market acts as a net transmitter, occasionally driving macroeconomic conditions and propagating uncertainty throughout the system. In contrast, the Tunisian stock market acts as a net receiver, with macroeconomic fundamentals, particularly GDP and money supply. These findings highlight how structural differences in emerging markets affect the transmission of shocks and offer actionable insights for policymakers, regulators, and investors to manage financial risks and uncertainty.

Entrepreneurs based in developing nations, as well as in contexts with significant corruption, find significant issues when seeking financing, and this was exacerbated by the 2008 financial crisis. Nevertheless, recently developed financial approaches such as international reward-based crowdfunding (RBC), may provide support for these entrepreneurs. Based on this, this study investigates how entrepreneurs’ macroeconomic context, specifically, country-level economic development and corruption, affect crowdfunding outcomes. This aim was addressed by using campaigns on Kickstarter, the world’s leading digital RBC platform, as its study population, and examining campaigns conducted between 2009 and November 2016. Logistic and ordinary least squares multi-level models showed that country-of-origin macroeconomic context was significantly associated with crowdfunding outcomes. After controlling variables specific to the entrepreneur and campaign, developing-economy entrepreneurs found greater success on the platform than those from developed countries. Nevertheless, corruption at the country level has a significant adverse association with campaign outcomes. The study’s empirical findings show robustness and consistency under a range of testing approaches. Implications for digital platforms, entrepreneurial individuals, and policymakers are highlighted.

There is no doubt that financial stability is crucial for the sustainable economic growth of a nation. Nevertheless, whether it has any role in aiding renewable energy investment is an empirical question that has not received much consideration in the past. Therefore, our primary goal is to examine the role of financial stability in promoting renewable energy investment in top-polluting economies from different regions of Asia, Africa, America, and Europe. To that end, our selected estimation technique is CS-ARDL. Our long-run results reveal that financial stability and GDP cause renewable energy investment to rise in all regions except Africa. On the other hand, carbon emissions and ICT favorably influence renewable energy investment in all regions. The short-run estimates are insignificant in most instances. Since financial stability is crucial for promoting renewable energy investment, policymakers must focus on a more stable financial sector, and financial stability should be part and parcel of any policy design to promote renewable energy investment.