Purpose: Previous literature has investigated the connection amongst remittances, political stability and unemployment in remittance-receiving economies separately. Besides, they did not cover the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.Design/methodology/approach: To this end, this research uses the pooled mean group (PMG) method.Findings: The findings suggest that the influence of remittances on lowering unemployment accelerates in recipient economies with high levels of political stability.Practical implications: Policymakers in MENA countries should vigorously pursue political stability, which plays a crucial role in boosting the influence of inward remittances on unemployment alleviation. This is accomplished by establishing solid institutions that contribute to ensuring fair politics, increasing citizens' trust in the government, enhancing the rule of law and protecting investors and prioritizing policies and programs that promote political stability.Originality/value: This paper, therefore, aspires to empirically examine the impacts of inward remittances on unemployment via the moderating role of political stability in thirteen MENA-receiving countries from 1996 to 2020.

This paper provides the relationship between macroeconomic variables, including exchange rate, BI rate and inflation, and stocks performance, particulary bluechip stocks listed in LQ45 index in Indonesia Stock Exchange. The study particularly gives insights on bluechip stocks listed in LQ45 stock price index in Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2015 and 2017. The data were obtained from various sources during the period, including the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), the Central Bank of Indonesia (BI), and the Ministry of Trade. This study followed a Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) attempting to estimate the relationship between variables both in the short term and in the long term. The findings of the study showed that in the long run, exchange rate, BI rate and inflation have a negative impact on stock market performance, particularly on LQ45 index in Indonesia Stock Exchange. It implies that an increase in macroeconomic variables results in the decline of stock market performance. Meanwhile, in the short run, two variables, namely the exchange rate and inflation, positively affect stock market performance in Indonesia. On the contrary, the relationship between BI rate and stock market performance showed a negative correlation. These findings have significant implication for the understanding of how macroeconomic variables affect the stock market performance, particularly LQ45 price index in Indonesia Stock Exchange.

This study examines the impact of foreign aid and institutions on income inequality in 23 African countries during the period from 2005 to 2017. The study used a newly proposed novel dynamic panel threshold technique. The results of the study found an institutional quality threshold value of 1.622. Below the threshold, foreign aid was found to positively and significantly influence income inequality. However, above the threshold, the coefficient of foreign aid was negative with statistical significance. This implies that foreign aid tends to diminish income inequality in the presence of quality institutions. The study also used the quantile regression method to check for robustness. It showed that the conclusion between aid and inequality is the same in most of the quantiles (0.1 and 0.2). The findings can be worthwhile for sketching proper aid policies to lessen inequality. Policymakers in Africa should prioritize establishing high-quality institutions and developing measures to improve existing ones. Thus, aid could potentially reduce income inequality. This study suggests that it is important to note that aid programs can be effective when tailored to the particular needs and circumstances of each beneficiary country, as one-size-fits-all methods may not produce the anticipated outcomes.