Journal of Business & Economics Research
The Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER) welcomes articles in all areas of business and economics. Using a wide range of research methods including statistical analysis, analytical work, case studies, field research and historical analysis, articles examine significant research questions from a broad range of perspectives. JBER is a widely cited, completely open access journal that is essential reading for academic researchers and business professionals. Articles may include but are not limited to the fields of accounting, business law, economics, ethics, finance, management, marketing, and related fields.
Navigating Wage Inequality in the AI Economy towards Inclusive Growth in the UAE
The swift incorporation of artificial intelligence (AI) is significantly altering labor markets worldwide, particularly in vibrant economies such as the United Arab Emirates. This research investigates the socio-economic disparities that arise from technological advancements driven by AI, with a particular emphasis on their effects on lower-skilled workers and the Inclusive Wage Growth Index. Through thorough analysis, distinct inequalities are revealed between individuals in high-skill roles and those who are disadvantaged, who encounter obstacles without adequate support. The study underscores the critical necessity for proactive regulatory frameworks to ensure equitable practices within the AI landscape. Collaborative initiatives and ethical governance structures are vital to bridging gaps and promoting inclusive wage growth. This paper promotes responsible implementation approaches aimed at achieving long-term sustainability and collective advancement across various sectors. By tackling complexities and encouraging equality, the research highlights a shared objective of realizing potential for all individuals while enhancing economic resilience and prosperity throughout communities, ultimately benefiting future generations.
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Business & Economics Research
Efficacy of Formal Versus Informal Sources of Financing Agricultural Growth and Development in Nigeria
This study examines the relative efficacy of formal and informal financing sources in driving agricultural growth and development in Nigeria. Specifically, it seeks to determine which category—formal or informal—contributes more significantly to agricultural production and how individual component sources within these categories affect agricultural activities and how these sources can be effectively marketed to the agricultural sectors and the farmers. The study employs statistical techniques, including the T-test, Satterthwaite-Welch t-test, ANOVA F-test, and Welch F-test, to test relevant hypotheses. The results reveal that both formal and informal financing sources significantly impact agricultural growth, with farmers perceiving these sources as effective in supporting agrarian activities. Among informal sources, personal savings, family/village fund pools, and rotational credit schemes (Isusu/Ajo) emerge as the most influential, while among formal sources, commercial banks, the Bank of Agriculture, and the World Bank Group play the most vital roles. However, government financing is deemed suboptimal in fostering agricultural development. The study recommends that government policies should incentivize and strengthen the role of commercial banks, development banks, and international financial institutions in agricultural financing to sustain and expand their contributions to the sector.
Weights Computation For Optimal Average Taxation
Prior research reported that the optimal tax rate for maximizing per capita gross domestic product (GDP) adjusted for purchasing power parity (GDPppp) is 21 percent worldwide. This is the rate that applies to the total domestic income from all production and services. However, this income emanates from a variety of sources. These component income sources might be taxed at different statutory rates. In the United States of America (USA), statutory tax rates might be graduated as incomes rise from low to high values in the interest of what is said to be social justice. The reason for these differences might also be due to desired outcomes and politics of social mores and may vary regionally by state and by city. Differences might also exist by industry for desired economic outcomes or by political priority. The purpose of this paper is to identify the various sources of income in the USA, and to determine the optimal weights that when applied to these income components result in a weighted average tax that amounts to 21 percent.
The Future of Healthcare around the World: Four indices integrating Technology, Productivity, Anti-Corruption, Healthcare and Market Financialization
The COVID-19 crisis has tested healthcare systems worldwide. A global response must integrate technological advancement and economic productivity to both combat the pandemic and sustain essential services. Anti-corruption is key to equitable public healthcare access. Market financialization mobilizes private sector funding for research and market-oriented implementation, fostering efficient responses to health crises. Innovation, tech-driven growth, and transparency are essential for future healthcare resilience, though their presence varies globally. This paper introduces four indices to synthesize these dynamics. Index 1 connects Artificial Intelligence, proxied by internet connectivity, with economic output (GDP). Index 2 examines anti-corruption and its link to strong public healthcare. Index 3 integrates digital access, transparency, and healthcare potential. Index 4 adds market capitalization and innovation to the mix, spotlighting regions best poised for medical breakthroughs. These indices reveal global disparities and synergies across public and private sectors, offering insight into where future pandemic solutions may flourish. Mapping these ingredients provides strategic direction for a more unified and digitally empowered global healthcare response.
corruption-free maximization of excellence and precision
corruption perception (CPI)- global connectivity (GCI) index
corruption perception (CPI)-global connectivity (GCI)-healthcare index
corruption perception (CPI)-global connectivity (GCI)-healthcare-market innovation financialization index
The Dark Currency: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Dark Market Activity and Bitcoin Returns
This body of research aims to study the relationship between two distinct disruptive technologies, Bitcoin, and the Dark Market, as both entities are used in tandem and are not mutually exclusive Dark Market consumers have adopted Bitcoin as the primary tender used for transactions, with circa 46% of all Bitcoin transactions being related to the sale of goods on the dark web. This study aims to determine a causal relationship between Dark Market activity and Bitcoin returns in an attempt to legitimise Bitcoin as a credible asset, determine Bitcoin price formation and aid in regulation formation and oversight. The results highlight no causal relationship between Dark Market activity and Bitcoin returns, however, an interesting takeaway of this study in terms of regulation is the causal relationship between Dark Market activity and the privacy coin, Monero. The contribution to the literature is noted in chapter five. The economic and regulatory significance of these results are also presented, which discuss Bitcoin price formation, and suggestions for a cryptocurrency regulatory trajectory.
Educational Status of the Underprivileged Classes in Jammu and Kashmir: A Reflection on Pre and Past Abrogation of Article 370
Despite the Indian Constitutional provision for free and compulsory education, some underprivileged classes, such as OBC, SC, and ST, are still considered socially and educationally deprived in many parts of India. The level of education in a community is a good indicator of its progress towards development. The primary focus of this research is to investigate the educational status of underprivileged classes in India, with particular reference to Jammu and Kashmir, before and after the abrogation of Article 370. Secondary sources such as research papers, government statistical data, articles, websites, and so forth are used to collect the data for the present study. The main objective of this paper is to study the educational status of underprivileged classes (OBC, SC, and ST) in J&K after the abrogation of Article 370. The present study's findings indicate that the educational status of the underprivileged classes has risen since the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Collaboration Skills Recovery in Formerly Oppressed Communities: Reparations for Psychological Health Rehabilitation
It is well known that countries that rank highly in capitalism, democracy and rule of law (CDR) have high levels of real per capita gross domestic product (GDP) adjusted for purchasing power parity (GDPppp). But collaboration is essential for rule of law, and collaboration skills may have been lost due to prior stresses such as forced labor, excessive discrimination, and chemical exposures in formerly oppressed communities. These psychologically debilitating outcomes can be transmitted to human progeny via negative epigenetic transgenerational psycho-sequela, indefinitely. The result can be low academic and job performance, low income, self-harm, poor community relations and high aggression. The purpose of this paper is to explore the design of a framework for psychological health rehabilitation reparations designed to regain lost collaboration skills as an alternative to direct payments to individuals. The novelty of the paper is the framework for the recovery of collaboration skill through mandatory sport and music training and gene therapy that is the basis of extraordinary economic growth and higher average income nationwide.
psychological health rehabilitation reparations
Human Resource Development on the Technical Competence of Middle Manager and Employees in the Era of Globalization
Globalization underscores the crucial role of human resources in organizational sustainability, with middle managers essential for capacity-building. This requires adaptability and competence, necessitating enhanced competencies through effective learning strategies, including self-competence, teamwork, adaptability, communication, and ethics. This study analyzes global human resource development, focusing on middle managers' capacity-building roles. A literature review using the PRISMA diagram selected articles from the last five years, emphasizing titles, abstracts, full texts, and methodologies. Key terms were "Development AND Human AND Resource AND Competencies," with sources from Scopus, Google Scholar, ProQuest, PubMed, and ScienceDirect, covering 2019-2023. Descriptive data analysis identified 15 articles for review. Findings are categorized into Competencies and Performance, Human Resource Practices and Organizational Effectiveness, and Employee Development. The study discusses the importance of competencies, performance-based assessment, and their impact on performance, motivation, and career development. It emphasizes strategic human resource management's role in optimizing organizational performance across diverse contexts, highlighting the influence of talent acquisition, training, and workplace culture.
Copyright (c) 2024 Journal of Business & Economics Research
How to Perform a Balanced Assessment of an Individual Country’s Market Accessibility: Exploring the Perspective of Non-Preferential Trade Partners
This study acknowledges that there are many information sources concerning the different elements of market accessibility, but that often these focus on specific issues and are therefore not useful in isolation when wanting to assess a country’s market accessibility profile (a profile that is broader than the scope of most leading publications). Additionally, in recent times, certain leading publications have had their methodologies challenged. As such, attempting to perform an assessment of a country’s overall market accessibility credentials can be challenging; therefore, a form of guidance and structure is needed. Given the limitations of relying on individual publications, it is recommended that market accessibility be defined as the combination of three core elements: tariffs, non-tariff measures and ease-of-doing-business. Findings relating to these elements can form an overall market access profile that can be used to compare and contrast different countries. A recommended analysis approach combines the use and interpretation of a host of well-established and enduring secondary research sources including ease-of-doing-business rankings; non-tariff databases; and applied tariff rate schedules. These can be complemented by findings from academia that explore certain regulations, sectors and themes in greater detail. Using Thailand for case study purposes, this approach provides policy makers and other interested stakeholders with a worked example of how to perform an initial, high-level assessment of a country’s market accessibility credentials. This study can act as a foundation to build from with regard establishing an accepted market accessibility toolkit, or become an important element of a broader trade policy toolkit.
Profit Patterns of Live-Streaming Platforms in China: A Case Study of Kuaishou
This paper examines the profit pattern of live stream platforms and their effective operation by taking Kuaishou, a popular Chinese short video app, as a case. With the innovation of Internet technology and the development of online media and live-streaming platforms, live-streaming has surged and injected new resources into the Internet economy. At the same time, the competition among live-streaming platforms has intensified. Behind the fierce competition are business practices of varying qualities and low capital turnover. At present, scholars and practitioners do not thoroughly analyze the profit pattern of online platforms. Based on the review of the available research, this paper examines the current profit pattern of Kuaishou as a live-streaming platform. Moreover, it explores the problems and measures to improve Kuaishou in the fast-developing Internet era and thus provides some reference for other live-streaming platforms.
Macroeconomics and New Trends in Higher Education: An Empirical Study of Contemporary Chinese Practice
The Cobb-Douglas production function and economic growth factor analysis proposed by Denison are combined to analyze China’s higher education composite index from 2009 to 2019. It deduces and calculates relevant data to measure the contribution rate of higher education to economic growth in China. Based on the international perspective, it analyzes the new trend of higher education development in developed countries and compares the differences in the development models of higher education among countries. With the help of the Arc GIS platform, it visualizes the regional differences in the investment in higher education and the regional economic development in China in 2019. The human capital theory and the economies of scale theory analyze the new demand for higher education in China’s macroeconomic development and propose strategies for its high-quality development.
Small Business Dilemma for Positioning the Firm Resale: Sales, Profit, Valuation and More
Serial entrepreneurs and small business owners make up a substantial portion of the economy by percentage and are generally known for starting firms, developing their capabilities and subsequent sales, then looking to exit. Commonly, the end game is to sell the enterprise and potentially start a new firm, or at some point retire. Regardless of whether this is a one-time resale, or an entrepreneurial pattern, the reselling process can be mired in issues related to achieving a maximum selling price. Although there are firms to aid in this process, there is little research that supports the optimal variables and structures for supporting the final sold price. This paper examines some common variables associated with selling a small business in an attempt to understand, and potentially maximize these transactions. Although there is a great deal of literature on small business behavior and performance including drivers for sales and growth, and drivers for success, there is much less research examining the resale of small businesses. This study investigates five firm level variables and their relationship to the sold price. These are sales or profit maximization, business valuation method, business type, years in business, and franchise orientation. A dataset that examines 8,569 small business firms sold over a 10-year period is employed to support the study’s regression and analysis of variance. Results support that there are unique relationships and significant differences between the variables examined in this study.
An Update on the Possible Incorporation of IFRS into the U.S. Financial Reporting System
The SEC issued the “Commission Statement in Support of Convergence and Global Accounting Standards” in February 2010 to reaffirm its position that IFRS was best positioned to serve as the single set of high-quality globally accepted accounting standards and indicated that it would not incorporate IFRS into the financial reporting system for U.S. issuers unless such a change is in the best interest of U.S. investors and capital markets and that a determination was expected to be made in 2011 as to whether, when, and how to incorporate IFRS into the financial reporting system for U.S. issuers. It is now 2015 and the SEC still has not yet made a decision. Nonetheless, based on the statements given by the SEC Chief Accountant James Schnurr at the Baruch College Financial Reporting Conference in May 2015, it appears that the SEC might make a decision really soon. The wait for the SEC’s decision might finally be over. This paper provides an update on the possible incorporation of IFRS into the U.S. financial reporting system.
International Financial Reporting Standards
Social Media and the Fear of Missing Out: Scale Development and Assessment
For many, viewing social media causes them to relate their own lives to what they are seeing or reading, resulting in feelings that they are somehow missing out. It is suggested that the fear of missing out influences decision making and behavior. The current research explores the measurement of FOMO, focusing on scale development and validation. Using extant scales for inadequacy, irritability, anxiety, and self-esteem, a list of items (n=37), postulated to measure FOMO, was created. In addition to the scale items, questions to assess behavioral and demographic characteristic were included. A pre-test of the survey instrument was conducted (n=30). The final survey was administered electronically, resulting in a useable sample of n=202. Principal components analysis resulted in a 10 item, 3-factor solution explaining 71% of the overall variance. The three factors performed reasonably well all with Cronbach’s alpha above or near Nunnally’s suggested .70 (Nunnally, 1978). Using the newly created scale, FOMO scores were calculated for each respondent. Results suggest significant differences in social media consumption across levels of FOMO. Results also suggest significant differences in the use of particular social media based on one’s level of FOMO. Limitations include the sample and it is suggested that future research, including confirmatory factor analysis, should be conducted.
Farm Labor Monopsony: Farm Business and the Child Hierarchical Model of Fertility
Arthur Lewis (1954) classic article on duel labor markets suggests that subsistence labor, due to high fertility and overpopulation, causes low wages. Basu (1999) and Dessy (2000) show a compelling theory for high fertility in developing countries where regions go into a poverty trap of low labor demand, low wages and overpopulation. An alternative explanation for overpopulation has to do with a simple farm business model where farming families have a labor monopsony for their own child labor. Child labor, not from society at large but from the farm family’s own children, can be a source of labor to run a farm business. The farm business model shows how, due to simple monopsony characteristics, it may be cheaper for a farmer to use fertility induced, family child labor, rather than expensive non-family labor, to provide his labor supply and increase his rent. Children can provide the farmer with labor that has a psychological barrier to exit, making it easy to add human capital without paying a high wage. However, due to sibling rivalry and child psychological growth stages of binding, delegating and expelling, older children will be forced to leave the farm inducing greater fertility to replace them. We assume capital investment options and the use of technology are limited for such farms due to monsoon rainy seasons, dense forests or steep hills, which suggests the need for labor intensive farms. The end result is that child labor is a way to provide significant profit to a farm business.
Lake Drawdown Revisited: The Value of Two Inches of Water
This paper uses a hedonic price model to estimate the impact of water level on the value of real estate on Lake Koshkonong in Wisconsin. Hedonic techniques are employed to show that a reduction in the lake’s water level has a significant effect on shoreline property values. The body of existing research demonstrates that changes in both the subjective and objective indicators of value are important for estimating the implicit value of water quality in hedonic analysis. This paper provides new evidence on the economic harm to lake communities created by the reduction of water levels.
Stock Picking Techniques: The Practice of Applied Money Managers
This study examines the diverse methods practitioners of money management use in order to choose stock investments. The authors discover they use discounted cash flow, multiples, balance sheet approaches. Additionally, they consider industry forces such as demographics and psychographics.
A Re-Examination of the Property Tax Burden
The property tax is the major source of own revenues for most city and county governments, yet economists have had very little definitive information to share with policymakers about the burden that it imposes on local citizens. This is because most previous studies of property taxes have used a Suits index analysis which does not allow for any independent variables other than income. We estimate a regression model using current income and various socio-demographic variables in order to take a more fine grained approach. We use data obtained from the Florida Department of Revenue from 326,976 single family homeowners in four northeast Florida counties geo-coded with the 2010 block group census data. We find that the property tax is regressive with respect to current income. With respect to demographic variables, we find that homeowners over the age of 65 pay a higher average tax rate based on their current incomes. African Americans pay a lower tax rate than other races based on their current income. When we combine income and demographic variables to predict the tax rate paid by a hypothetical low socioeconomic status household versus a high socio-economic status household, we find that the high SES household pays a higher average tax rate. Thus, the demographic variables temper the regressivity of the property tax based on current income alone.
The Effect of Working Capital Management on Firm’s Profitability: Empirical Evidence from an Emerging Market
In this study, we empirically investigate the effect of working capital management on firm’s financial performance in an emerging market. We hypothesize that working capital management leads to improved profitability. Our data set consists of firms listed in the Cyprus Stock Exchange for the period 1998-2007. Using multivariate regression analysis, our results support our hypothesis. Specifically, results indicate that the cash conversion cycle and all its major components; namely, days in inventory, days sales outstanding and creditors payment period - are associated with the firm’s profitability. The results of this study should be of great importance to managers and major stakeholders, such as investors, creditors, and financial analysts, especially after the recent global financial crisis and the latest collapses of giant organizations worldwide.
Mass customization allows firms to produce only things their customers want (or produce after they have orders in hand). This approach, make-to-order, brings many benefits to firms in terms of cost and profit because of lower inventory levels, maximum sales, elimination of material waste, flexible production and, most of all, customer satisfaction. However, mass customization may not be the panacea for all organizations. While some companies are very successful with mass customization, others are not. This paper illustrates that mass customization strategies depend on an understanding of the conditions in each industry.
Experiential Learning Theory: From Theory to Practice
This paper examines Kolb’s (1984) Experiential Learning Theory and Learning Style Inventory, presents a summary of some research examining accounting students’ learning style preferences, and provides examples of activities to incorporate into the instructional environment that encourages learning through experience.
Building Customer Value and Profitability with Business Ethics
Firms assume ethical business practices only add costs to the firm. However, business ethics actually add value for customers and result in increased profitability and performance for the firm.
The Lasting Effects of Social Media Trends on Advertising
Americans are exposed to an astounding number of advertising messages every day. The result of this bombardment of advertising on society is that consumers have become increasingly resistant to traditional forms of advertising. After spending millions of dollars on mass advertising that consumers tend to block out and ignore, marketers have re-evaluated their advertising methods and are following holistic marketing concepts that focus on customer relationship marketing and more creative, understated ads instead of in-your-face billboards and loud television segments. This paper explores social media trends, including social media opportunities and mobile marketing, and the potentially lasting effects that these trends have on advertising.
Implementing a Balanced Scorecard in a Not-For-Profit Organization
This paper examines the use of the Balanced Scorecard in a not-for-profit organization (Cattaraugus County ReHabilitation Center). The ReHabilitation Center has begun using the Balanced Scorecard paradigm in its strategic planning process. In this paper an overview is presented of the basic concepts of the Balanced Scorecard including the financial perspective, customer perspective, internal process perspective, and learning and growth perspective. The history and services of the ReHabilitation Center are then summarized. The application of the Balanced Scorecard approach to the ReHabilitation Center is discussed in detail. Implications in using the Balanced Scorecard are discussed. Finally, conclusions regarding the use of the Balanced Scorecard in a not-forprofit organization are presented.
Consumer Satisfaction and Stock Price Behavior: A Case of Diminishing Returns
This study investigates stock price behavior of firms with differing levels of customer satisfaction as measured by American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) scores. Using a fixed effects regression approach, it looks at the association between stock price changes and ACSI scores, total assets, total liabilities, and total revenues for sixty-four firms over a three-year period and discovers a marked difference between stock price changes for high- and low-scoring companies, indicating possible decreasing marginal returns for investments in customer satisfaction.
The Effect of Non-Audit Services on Independent Auditor Judgment
This study examines the effects of non-audit services on auditors’ risk and materiality judgments. The results revealed a significantly negative association between non-audit services and auditors’ risk judgments, but only for services involving financial information system design and implementation. The auditors did not change their risk judgments for non-audit services with less audit relevance. Non-audit services had an insignificant effect on auditors’ materiality judgments. We conclude that non-audit services did not cause an inappropriate bias in auditor judgment.
Open-Market Repurchases, Firm Quality, and Discouraging Short Sellers
Announcing an open-market repurchase (OMR) is presented as a potential tool for managers to discourage short selling in their firm’s stock. Empirical testing determines the relation that abnormal short selling that follows an OMR announcement has with abnormal returns during the announcement period and announcing firm quality. Results show that post-announcement abnormal short sales decrease with positive abnormal returns during the OMR announcement period but that announcing firm quality is unrelated to the level of post-announcement abnormal short sales. Therefore, announcing an OMR may be an effective tool to discourage short sales in a firm’s stock independent of firm quality because abnormal returns around an OMR announcement tend to be positive and short sellers do not appear to distinguish among announcing firms based on firm quality.
Billions Lost Yearly to Earned Income Tax Credit: Errors or Fraud?
The Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable credit designed to assist working families with children; especially those who are considered to be living at or close to the poverty level. Over the last decade billions of dollars have been lost due to the improper application and fraudulent claims of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Critics believe that the program no longer serves its intended function because of the cumulative increase in the amounts lost each year; the legislation needs a major overhaul. The IRS have claimed that over 60 percent of the overpayments of EITC is due to manipulation of self-employed income and expenses, unqualified dependents being claimed, and misuse of single and head of household filing status. Even though the penalties for fraud and the lack of exercising due diligence are severe, these crimes continue to occur. While the tax authorities and other legislative bodies explore ways to combat these fraudulent claims, CPAs and other tax-preparers can assist in the fight against these crimes. As the de facto gatekeepers of the tax revenues, they are encouraged to exercise intensive due diligence and professional skepticism when claiming EITC for their clients.
Investigating the Impact of Justice Dimension and Perceived Value on Customer Satisfaction for Sharing Economy of Accommodation
The sharing economy is in the embryonic stage of its development, and empirical research has rarely studied issues in the sharing economy. This study examines the impacts of justice dimensions and perceived v alues on intention, satisfaction, and loyalty in the context of the sharing economy. The purpose of the study is to examine the impact of procedural, interactional, and distributive justice dimensions of customers as well as perceived values of price, trust, and experiences on intention, satisfaction and loyalty for the sharing economy of accommodation. This study investigated the following research questions: i) how does the awareness of sharing economy affect the justice dimension that includes procedural justice, distributive justice, and interactional justice?; ii) how does the awareness of sharing economy affect perceived values including price, reliability, and experience?; iii) how do justice dimensions and perceived values affect potential customer intention?; iv) how do justice dimensions and perceived values affect customer satisfaction?; and v) how does customer satisfaction affect customer loyalty? This study collects data through an online survey and applies quantitative methods such as factor, regression, and ANOVA. The results find that both justice dimensions and perceived values play an essential role in improving satisfaction and loyalty. This study provides both theoretical and managerial implications for future analysis of the relationship between justice dimensions, perceived values, satisfaction, and loyalty in the environment of sharing economy of accommodation.
The Positive Outlook of the Last In First Out Inventory Methods
Until very recently, the Last In First Out method (LIFO) was under severe scrutiny from the financial community, and its repeal as an acceptable accounting method seemed imminent. There were pressures from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the International Financial Accounting Standards Board to standardize accounting standards worldwide. In addition, there were political pressures imposed by US Congress to raise additional revenues. Both groups strongly oppose LIFO. However, an SEC Report issued in July 2012 has greatly renewed the lifeline of LIFO indefinitely. In the unlikely case of its ultimate repeal, the author presents some tax opportunities available in this transition period.