Key issues in the effectiveness of public financial tools to support childbearing the example of Hungary during the COVID-19 crisis.

The propensity to have children, which, according to the view accepted in the literature, is a good predictor of actual childbearing, is of particular importance in countries with low fertility rates and economic prosperity. In this paper, we report the results of a representative survey of 15,700 respondents in 2021 of university students in an emerging market economy in Central Europe, mapping their intentions to have children. The PLS-SEM data analysis method was used to test our hypotheses on the relationships between social, economic, and environmental variables of childbearing. Our results confirm the dominant role of socio-cultural inclusiveness in childbearing, over socio-economic and environmental-economic factors. The novelty of our research lies in the impact analysis of family policy incentives; however, our results are consistent with those documented in the literature, namely, the primacy of socio-cultural factors in the willingness of childbearing.

Did the Islamic Stock Index Provide Shelter for Investors during the COVID-19 Crisis? Evidence from an Emerging Stock Market

The economic and financial chaos caused by COVID-19 has been a discussion topic since the beginning of 2020. This study intends to provide a parallel comparison of volatility change and external shock persistence of the Islamic and conventional stock indexes of the Pakistan Stock Exchange. The daily stock index was extracted from Eikon Thomson Reuters for the conventional and Islamic stock index from Jan 2018 to April 2021, which was further divided in three periods, i.e., full, pre-, and post-pandemic period. The data have been analyzed using generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH). An optimally parameterized GARCH (1,1) model is used to measure volatility change for both the pre- to post-pandemic periods. The results suggest that the magnitude of risk in a conventional index is significantly higher than that of the Islamic stock index for the period of study. However, the level of COVID shock persistence is longer in the KSE (conventional) index compared to the KMI (Islamic) index.

Are ESG Shares a Safe Haven during COVID-19? Evidence from the Arab Region

The world experienced significant changes in its social and economic lives in 2020–21. Major stock markets experienced an immediate decline. This paper attempts to examine the impact of COVID-19 on stock market performance as well as to identify the differences between the responses of ESG stocks and normal stocks to pandemic conditions in the Arab region. Daily time series for three years between March 2019 and March 2021 were collected for the S&P Pan Arab Composite index and S&P/Hawkamah ESG Pan Arab Index. We used a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model to measure market shocks and a non-linear autoregressive distributed lagged (NARDL) regression model to display the relationship between COVID-19 measurements and the performance of stock indexes. The findings suggest that the volatilities of ESG portfolios and conventional ones were equally affected in the pre-COVID period. However, in the post-COVID period, the magnitude of volatility in the ESG stock index was significantly less compared to that of the conventional stock index. The results also revealed that in the ESG market, shock tended to remain for a shorter period. Furthermore, the ESG index was not affected by the number of confirmed cases and deaths. However, evidence of asymmetric long-run cointegration existed between the S&P index and number of cases and deaths. Increases in the numbers of cases and deaths caused a decline in market index, whereas the reverse trends were observed in the retreat of the pandemic.

FinTech payments in the era of COVID-19: Factors influencing behavioral intentions of "Generation X" in Hungary to use mobile payment.

Organizations, such as the World Health Organization, encouraged consumers to use contactless payment methods instead of payment methods such as cash, which can be carriers of the SARS-2 virus. This study aims to evaluate factors that influence Hungarian Generation X's behavioral intentions to use mobile payment services during the pandemic. We conducted an electronic questionnaire-based survey among 1120 Generation X individuals. Using structural equation modeling to analyze the study's conceptual model, our results confirm that perceived COVID-19 risk, perceived usefulness, and subjective norms significantly influence Hungarian Generation X's behavioral intentions to use mobile payment services. Moreover, perceived usefulness mediates the relationship between perceived ease of use and behavioral intention to use mobile payment systems. Overall, our results show that the model of perceived COVID-19 risk, perceived usefulness, subjective norms, and perceived ease of use explains 62.9% of the variance in intention to use mobile payment systems. Our study contributes to the technology acceptance model and highlights its effectiveness in explaining the behavioral intention to adopt mobile payments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 and Islamic Stock Index: Evidence of Market Behavior and Volatility Persistence

The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic is not limited to human lives and health sectors. It has also changed social and economic aspects of the world. This study investigated the Islamic stock market’s reaction and changes in volatility before and during this pandemic. The market model of event study methodology was employed to analyze Islamic stock market reactions in nine different markets around the globe. To examine changes in volatility and persistence of risk, the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) method was used. Nine Islamic stock indices were selected for this study from the Thomson Reuters data stream. The results suggest that, in the short run, the Islamic Australian stock index and Islamic GCC stock index remained stable for the first 15 days following news of the pandemic. The Islamic stock indexes of Qatar, UAE, ASEAN, MENA, MENASA, and Bahrain were significantly affected by the outbreak in the short-term. On the other hand, the volatility of Islamic stock indices was substantially amplified after the global health crisis was declared by the WHO. Moreover, volatility shocks tended to persist for a longer period after COVID-19.

Achieving Sustainable Economic Growth: Analysis of Islamic Debt and the Islamic Equity Market

The financial sector is divided into two broad categories: equity and banking markets. The healthy functioning of these sectors plays an imperative role in any economy. This study aimed to examine the short- and long-term relationship between the Islamic financial sector (Islamic debt and Islamic equity market), and sustainable economic growth of the two economies with the largest Muslim populations. Quarterly data were collected from 2010 to 2019 for Indonesia and Pakistan. The study used autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) and the error correction method (ECM). The results revealed that in the long run, the Islamic banking sector imparts a significant and positive effect on achieving sustainable economic growth in both countries. However, in the short run, the Islamic stock market was found to have a positive relationship with Pakistan, while the Islamic banking sector had a positive and significant relationship with economic growth in Indonesia.

Continuous Intention to Use E-Wallet in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Integrating the Health Belief Model (HBM) and Technology Continuous Theory (TCT)

Personal safety has had a renewed focus throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which has led to behavioral change. The adoption of E-wallets facilitates social distancing and thereby helps prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. This paper aims to investigate the potential for consumers’ continued usage of an E-wallet service through an integrated framework based on two established models: the Health Belief Model (HBM) and Technology Continuous Theory (TCT). An electronic survey was distributed to a sample of 1080 individuals from academic society in three different Hungarian universities who had used an electronic wallet during the pandemic COVID-19. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied in the study and explained the 55.9% variance in consumers’ continuous intention towards E-wallet usage. This study found that while the COVID-19 pandemic strongly influenced the current use of e-wallets;the pivotal factor affecting their continued use is based on consumer self-efficacy. The study has both short and long-term implications;in the short-term, decisionmakers should utilize health threat constructs (as an element of the protective behaviors taken during the COVID-19 pandemic) to motivate consumers to use E-wallets;in the longer-term, banks should develop further strategies that encourage consumer loyalty regarding E-wallets by reassuring customers that these financial services achieve the value and benefits that they expect, resulting in self-efficacy.