Muhammad S. Tahir

Purpose: This study aims to find if subjective financial knowledge (SFK), objective financial literacy (OFL) and financial behavior are associated with financial resilience, directly and indirectly through digital financial services (DFS) comfortability. Design/methodology/approach: Using data from the European Union (n = 16,988), a logistic regression model is used for the analysis purpose. Furthermore, Model 4 in the PROCESS macro for SPSS is used to conduct mediation analysis. In addition, several sensitivity checks, sub-sample analyses and endogeneity checks were applied to see if the results remain robust. Findings: The findings indicate that SFK, OFL and financial behavior are positively associated with financial resilience. Other results show that DFS comfortability plays a partial yet strong mediation role. These findings remain the same after applying several sensitivity and endogeneity checks. Practical implications: Regulators should ensure that people have ease of access to DFS and there are no security concerns regarding using DFS. Furthermore, policymakers can design specific policies for financial institutions in paving the way to design relevant financial products for their clients, which will assist them in raising their financial resilience levels. Originality/value: The results add value to the growing literature on financial literacy, financial technology (FinTech) and financial resilience. Furthermore, this study integrates the resource-based view and the dynamic capabilities view to demonstrate that individuals' internal resources and dynamic capabilities are important proficiencies to overcome future financial shocks.

Purpose: Over the past years, there has been a notable surge in attention toward the noneconomic implications of financial development, engaging policymakers and researchers alike. This article aims to explore the impact of financial development on noneconomic indicators, especially social progress, while also assessing the moderating impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on these dynamics. Design/methodology/approach: This study is quantitative as it adopts a Panel Quantile Regression data approach to find the nonlinear impact of financial development on social progress. Additionally, the research investigates the moderating influence of ICT, focusing on how digital inclusion and connectivity affect these outcomes. Furthermore, this study uses Dawson Graphs to define the moderation effect of ICT. Findings: This study emphasizes that the influence of financial development on social progress is nonlinear and varies by income level, with ICT acting as a key enhancer, particularly in low-income countries. Effective governance, digital infrastructure and context-specific policies are necessary for transforming financial growth into inclusive social outcomes. These insights support tailored strategies for achieving the UN SDGs. Social implications: This study suggests that societies with diverse income levels require tailored financial development strategies to enhance social well-being effectively. Such insights can guide the formulation of context-specific social planning and development agenda. Originality/value: This study addresses a significant gap in the existing literature by examining the noneconomic impacts of financial development, a topic that has been relatively overlooked in high, upper-middle, lower-middle and low-income groups.

Purpose: Young people are considered more prone to mental health problems, especially those living in lower-middle-income countries. Timely access to financial resources has always been argued as a vital factor in improving the well-being of individuals. The purpose of this research is to empirically investigate a nexus between financial resilience, mental health and well-being of the young. Design/methodology/approach: After obtaining approval from the ethics review board, data for this research were collected from young Pakistanis aged between 17 and 29 years. Findings: Findings show that mental well-being alone does not mediate the association between financial resilience and life satisfaction. Instead, both mental well-being and financial well-being serially mediate the association between financial resilience and life satisfaction. Practical implications: In the context of Pakistan, where more than 60% of the population is aged below 30 years, these findings imply that access to bank accounts, credit opportunities and insurance needs to be increased for the young. Awareness related to financial products and services should also be enhanced along with increasing the social capital of the young. All these factors will strengthen the financial resilience of youth and relax their mind toward their financial worries. Social implications: The findings of this study imply that societies with limited resources can improve the life satisfaction of youth by initiating affordable healthcare initiatives to look after mental health problems, raising financial well-being levels and using financial resilience as a critical buffer against financial stress. Originality/value: This research is in line with the third sustainable development goal by the United Nations, which argues for ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being of individuals. Unlike other studies, this research is the first to find that youth’s financial resilience, mental health and financial well-being are all significant factors in achieving their life satisfaction.

Gut bacteria have emerged as silent drivers in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). They also make amyloids with structure analogue to pathological amyloids and have potential to cross-seed and propagate in a prion-like manner. AD is characterised by the accumulation of mature extracellular Amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques which are surrounded by inflammatory microglia. We report that exposure to interspecies microbial amyloids of FapC (fimbriae) and CsgA (curli) from opportunistic gut pathogens Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli hyperactivates microglia against Aβ fibrils. Microbial amyloids and Aβ fibrils converge in phagocytic compartments through subsequent internalization, not observed with Aβ fibrils alone. This convergence promotes pro-inflammatory microglia with a defective proteome similar to those observed in AD brains. The resulting clusters develop a pro-inflammatory, indigestible interactome that is eventually regurgitated, inducing progressive degeneration in bystander neurons and ultimately leading to cognitive decline. Collectively, these findings provide compelling evidence that microbial amyloids can trigger progressive AD pathology through microglia-driven neuroinflammation.

Firm-specific considerations impact decisions about capital structure. A few investigations have been done in Pakistan's oil and gas sector. Most studies have examined the effect on non-financial firms and the textile industry. As this sector is very attractive for investors, The influences on capital structure decisions must be considered. In this study, only firm-specific factors are considered for analysis. The effect of asset structure, financial distress (earning volatility), non-debt tax shield, liquidity, firm size, profitability, and firm growth on capital structure decisions are examined. For this, data ranging from 2007 – 2021 of the firms working in Oil and Gas sector of Pakistan was used. The pool regression approach was applied. As per the results, tangibility and liquidity have an inverse relationship; non-debt tax shields and firm size directly affect profitability, and growth does not impact the capital structure.

This study used financial socialization theory to examine the direct and indirect association between financial socialization (from parents, peers, and teachers) and financial well-being (FWB) via financial self-efficacy (FSE). Data were collected from Pakistan in early 2020. Our data analysis using the partial least square structural equation modeling approach revealed surprising results. We found that an association between financial socialization from peers and FWB does not exist both directly and indirectly via FSE. Furthermore, the results showed that the association of financial socialization from parents and teachers with FWB is completely mediated by FSE. Other results indicated partial mediation of FSE in the association between early childhood consumer experience and FWB. Our findings imply that learning from others’ financial experiences builds young consumers' confidence in dealing with financial matters, which, in turn, helps improve their FWB. We suggest policymakers to consider these findings in designing policies related to the young consumers of developing nations.

Financial capability can be viewed as an improved version of financial literacy. Where financial literacy focuses on the financial knowledge of consumers, financial capability extends this construct to consider both consumers’ knowledge and behavior that can improve consumer financial wellbeing. However, the literature does not show a consistent definition and measurement scale of financial capability, which creates ambiguity about the concept. For the purpose of this chapter, we shortlist 95 articles published between 2007 to January 2022 in the Web of Science. Prior research has identified who is more (less) likely to be financially capable and what financial or life outcomes relate to better financial capability. In this systematic literature review, we propose specific research questions and recommend that future research on financial capability needs to consistently define this concept, show how interventions to improve financial capability lead to better outcomes, and make research on consumer financial capability global.