Alam Ahmad

Digital money has transformed from a technological experiment into a central concern of monetary economics, financial regulation, and public policy. Despite rapid growth in cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and tokenized deposits, the literature remains fragmented across disciplines, with limited cross-cutting synthesis. This article adopts a scoping–integrative review methodology, combining systematic database (Scopus and Web of Science) searches with targeted retrieval of policy and institutional sources (BIS, IMF, Financial Stability Board (FSB), ECB, and national central bank repositories), covering the period 2008–2025, with integrative synthesis of academic, policy, and regulatory sources following PRISMA-ScR reporting principles. The review identifies four competing trust mechanisms underpinning digital money: algorithmic trust associated primarily with cryptocurrencies, private reserve backing trust (stablecoins), sovereign trust underpinning CBDCs, and regulated institutional intermediation supporting tokenized deposits. The proposed digital money ecosystem taxonomy (DMET) classifies digital money instruments across fourteen institutional, governance, technological, monetary, and regulatory dimensions, enabling systematic comparison of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, CBDCs, and tokenized deposits. Future monetary systems will be hybrid, combining public and private digital money within layered governance arrangements. Interoperability, privacy, programmability, and cross-border governance represent the most critical unresolved policy and research challenges.

Digital money has transformed from a technological experiment into a central concern of monetary economics, financial regulation, and public policy. Despite rapid growth in cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and tokenized deposits, the literature remains fragmented across disciplines, with limited cross-cutting synthesis. This article adopts a scoping–integrative review methodology, combining systematic database searches across Scopus, Web of Science, BIS, IMF, FSB, ECB, and national central-bank repositories (2008–2026) with integrative synthesis of academic, policy, and regulatory sources following PRISMA-ScR reporting principles. The review identifies three competing trust models underpinning digital money: algorithmic consensus (cryptocurrencies), private reserve backing (stablecoins), and sovereign monetary authority (CBDCs and tokenized deposits). The proposed Digital Money Ecosystem Taxonomy (DMET) classifies digital money instruments across fourteen institutional, governance, technological, monetary, and regulatory dimensions, enabling systematic comparison of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, CBDCs, and tokenized deposits. Future monetary systems will be hybrid, combining public and private digital money within layered governance arrangements. Interoperability, privacy, programmability, and cross-border governance represent the most critical unresolved policy and research challenges.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) have transitioned from theoretical concepts to operational realities across multiple jurisdictions. While they promise improved payment efficiency and financial inclusion, public trust, privacy, and user adoption have emerged as the critical determinants of success. Users fear that CBDCs could enable government surveillance, while regulators require sufficient oversight to prevent illicit finance, which creates a fundamental tension between privacy and compliance. This paper addresses the question: how can policymakers craft a global policy framework for retail CBDCs that balances user privacy and trust with necessary regulatory oversight, in order to maximize public adoption? Employing a structured narrative synthesis of peer-reviewed empirical literature and case analysis of four major CBDC implementations, the Bahamas Sand Dollar, Nigeria’s eNaira, China’s e-CNY, and the proposed digital euro, the study develops a seven-component global policy framework organized across four architectural layers. We additionally formulate seven testable propositions linking each framework component to adoption and trust outcomes, providing a structured agenda for future quantitative research. Evidence from randomized survey experiments shows that strong privacy safeguards raise adoption willingness by up to 60, underscoring that privacy is not merely a civil liberty concern but a prerequisite for widespread CBDC success. The comparative cross-case assessment suggests that broader alignment with the proposed framework components appears conceptually consistent with more favorable trust and adoption patterns across the cases examined.

Workforce adjustments, such as mass layoffs, are significant corporate events that can influence stock returns and volatility, yet their broader asset-pricing implications remain underexplored. We examine the impact of such workforce shocks on stock performance from an asset-pricing perspective. Grounded in production-based asset-pricing theory, incorporating labor adjustment costs and search-and-matching frictions, our study posits that disruptions in the labor force significantly affect firm risk and value. This focus addresses a clear gap. Previous research has not comprehensively evaluated workforce shocks as systematic risk factors in a cross-sectional asset-pricing model. Using an extensive dataset spanning 1990–2023 and covering thousands of layoff events, we construct a novel “workforce shock” factor and conduct the first large-scale empirical tests of its pricing relevance. Our analysis reveals that workforce shocks lead to lower stock returns and heightened volatility, effects especially pronounced in labor-intensive firms. Moreover, exposure to workforce shock risk carries a significant premium, indicating that these disruptions act as a systematic risk factor priced in the cross-section of equity returns. Overall, our study provides the first comprehensive evidence linking labor force disturbances to equity risk premia, underscoring the importance of incorporating labor market considerations into asset-pricing models.

Space Economy includes any activity that involves exploring, researching, understanding, managing and utilizing space. The present article includes the development, significant actors, country-specific spending, environmental effects, and economic significance of the space economy with particular reference to India. The budgets of the major spacefaring countries and highlights of national spending on space programs are also discussed. It emphasizes that while developing and less developed nations find it difficult to afford space programs, those with high GDPs can often invest in space research. The connection between the space economy and the environment is also examined, along with the advantages of satellite-based Earth monitoring for the environment and studies on climate change, as well as the production of space trash and efforts to mitigate its effects. Finally, the economic contribution of the space economy is studied, highlighting its significance in raising global GDP through various enterprises and endeavors.

Indian MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) sector, an invaluable employment generator with a cluster of more than 63 million enterprises, is deeply dented by the noxious coronavirus. The second most significant sector of the Indian economy regarding employment creation is in jeopardy after the Covid-19. The sudden abject degradation of performance and eventual threat to the existence of MSME not only captivates the attention but also sets in disquietude in mind to fathom the inherent causes of this fragility and excogitate the ways and means of saving them. Against this background, proper diagnosis of the effect of Covid-19 on MSMEs is inevitable. The analysis is based on Qualitative as well as secondary data. Qualitative data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with 48 MSME stakeholders selected by Judgmental Sampling. The research finds significant challenges before MSME that must be tackled to salvage the industry from an imminent existential threat. The paper recommends the adoption of Industry-4.0 and the closure of gaps identified in the paper to give saving breath to the financially beleaguered and faltering sector. During the last few years, Covid-19 has grabbed literature positioning galore, but they are not specific to Indian MSME. This study is an attempt to gauge the obstacles, measures and gaps faced by Indian MSME post COVID scenario.

This article examines bilateral trade relations between the two important countries of South Asia, India and Sri Lanka, in light of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and the India–Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA). The analysis period spans the years 1995 to 2020. The primary analysis found that bilateral trade has been sluggish and that the SAFTA and ISFTA agreements have had no discernible effect on these two countries’ bilateral trade performance. The causes of lackluster trade performance were investigated using the “revealed comparative advantage” and the “trade complementarity” indices. Clear evidence was found demonstrating that the reason for the bilateral trade’s consistent lackluster performance is due to both countries’ lack of revealed comparative advantage in the majority of product groups, followed by export similarity in the product groups where they do have a comparative advantage. The findings also confirm the suspicion of many observers that they are competitors rather than natural trading partners. Although any substantial future increase in their bilateral trade is improbable and fanciful, the paper reflects on methods of strengthening bilateral trade.

The robust Indian textile industry results in prodigious consumption followed by equivalent waste, leading to environmental deterioration. The solution is circular textile production/products (CTPs), but their existence is almost absent in the Indian market due to a lack of focus on consumers’ acceptance of CTPs. To bridge the literature gap, the TPB model was extended to explore the antecedents that directly and indirectly influence consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions towards CTPs. The PLS-SEM (using Smart-PLS) was used to assess the structural model with the 409 samples collected through an online survey from the NCR of India. The findings revealed that personal benefits, environmental consciousness (except risk perception), perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms significantly and directly influence consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions towards CTPs. In addition, attitude significantly and indirectly mediates the relationship between “environmental consciousness, personal benefits (except risk perception)” and purchase intention towards CTPs. The finding offers pertinent information about the antecedents of CTPs that help the companies, marketers, and government to promote CTP acceptance and attain sustainability in the production and consumption of textile products in the Indian economy. Despite having product-specific and regional limitations, this research contributes significantly to the current literature on CTPs and their acceptance.

After the mushrooming growth of the institutions providing technical education in India, questions are being raised about the quality of education dispensed to technical graduates. The purpose of this study is to recognise the various factors, in order of their importance, that are responsible for declining quality of technical education in Punjab, India. A structured questionnaire was administered to a random sample of 465 students and 310 teachers from 31 engineering institutions of the Punjab region in India. Kendall’s Coefficient of Concordance was used to analyse the data. The result of the analysis of factors leading to deteriorating quality of technical education in Punjab reveals that at aggregate level, students have assigned rank I to economic factors; the teachers has assigned rank I to ethical factors.

This paper reviews the literature on perishable food cold-chain management (FCCM) in order to assess its current state, pinpoint its knowledge gaps, and suggest a framework for addressing the issues faced by this industry. This work examines 103 academic articles on the topic of the perishable food supply chain published in various journals between 2001 and 2022. Research publications were selected from two reputed databases—Scopus and Web of Science. The study finds that the current trend in FCCM is toward sustainable FCCM, which offers financial, ecological, and social benefits. However, sustainable FCC practices are more common in wealthy nations but are still lacking in developing countries. High lead times, costs, waste, order returns, complaints, and dissatisfied consumers are the results of a fragmented market and the associated proliferation of chain intermediates. The authors have also developed a conceptual framework based on the findings that illustrates the interconnected nature of the food cold-chain facilities, collaboration among food cold-chain (FCC) stakeholders, concern among FCC stakeholders, economic enhancement, fulfilment of FCC stakeholders’ responsibilities, and overall functioning of the FCC. This study may be helpful to FCC professionals, food regulators, government authorities, and researchers because it gives a concise picture of the state of research in the field.