Muhammad Tariq Majeed

Efficiency analysis of Islamic banks in Pakistan

Purpose - – This paper aims to empirically analyze the efficiency of full-fledged Islamic banks, Islamic branches of conventional banks and conventional banks in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach - – The paper uses data envelopment analysis to measure and compare the efficiency of banks. Three measures of efficiencies such as total technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency are computed to achieve the objective of the paper. Findings - – Overall, full-fledged Islamic banks are less efficient in terms of total technical efficiency and pure technical efficiency than conventional banks. However, Islamic branches of conventional banks are highly scale-efficient than their counterparts. Research limitations/implications - – The findings need to be supported by considering production function and risk exposure factors. Originality/value - – This paper evaluates and compares the efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks by utilizing the largest available data set during 2007-2014.

Distributional Consequences of Globalization: Is Organization of the Islamic Conference Countries Different?

This article investigates distributional effects of globalization using new comparable panel data for Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and non-OIC developing countries from 1965 to 2010. The results show that the Kuznets Curve does not exist in OIC countries, while it holds in non-OIC countries. International trade tends to widen income inequality in OIC countries while it helps to ameliorate inequalities in non-OIC countries. Financial development decreases inequality only in OIC countries. The study concludes that OIC countries are different from non-OIC countries in their exposure to globalization.

Spatio-temporal evolutionary analysis of the township enterprises of Beijing suburbs using computational intelligence assisted design framework

Township and village enterprises (TVEs) are market-oriented public enterprises under the purview of local governments based on townships and villages in the People’s Republic of China. TVEs have become a vibrant part of the Chinese economy following the significant expansion during the 1980s reform period. In the mid-2000s, TVEs became an integrated part of Chinese industry after the property rights transition. In this study, we examined the dynamic behaviours of TVEs in the near-inner-outer suburbs; we simulated these behaviours using computational intelligence aided design framework, which embedded the micro-genetic algorithm with variable populations (VPμGA). Specifically, we assume that conditions follow development, which includes industry scale, industry profit, employees and district development; we then utilise the VPμGA method to simulate the industrial structure and spatio-temporal evolution of the TVEs across seven industrial sectors and closely analyse the consequences of the transition. Our analysis results are consistent with actual observations, and a macro-level analysis showed that TVEs experienced defined scenarios. For Beijing, these scenarios are as follows: rapid development → chaotic development → steady development. The micro-level analysis showed that TVEs and labour have gradually formed a specific industry, a complex trend that evolved in both space and time. We determined the dynamic behaviours of the structures at micro-scales, meso-scales and macro-scales, clarifying the development of TVEs in the Beijing suburbs.

Quality of Institutions and Inclusive Financial Development in the Muslim World

This chapter explores the linkages between financial development and quality of institutions with poverty using cross-sectional and panel data sets for Islamic countries. The empirical findings show that financial inclusion and development significantly alleviate poverty in the Muslim world. However, poverty-reducing effect of financial development is not robust to the use of different measures of financial development. In contrast, the poverty-reducing effect of institutional quality remains robustly negative and significant in all models. Corruption turns out to be the most significant predictor of poverty in the Muslim world. This study concludes that both inclusive financial development and institutions are important to address the issue of widespread poverty. Nevertheless, these are the institutions, which are prerequisite to eradicate the poverty because institutions also play a mediating role to ensure poverty-reducing effect of financial development.

How Islamic is Islamic banking in Pakistan

Purpose Increasing popularity of Islamic banks in the wake of recent global financial crisis of 2008 has generated debate among researcher about practicality of Islamic banks. Critics argue that Islamic banks are not working according true spirits of Sharia’h. This paper aims to empirically address the question that how Islamic is Islamic banking in the case of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The target population in this paper is staff at the Islamic banks who are employees and managers. Data are also collected from customers to analyze their views. Sample comprises 63 branches of five full-fledge Islamic banks and five Islamic branches of conventional banks in Islamabad. For analysis purpose, the study uses exploratory factor analysis. Findings Findings indicate that Islamic banks are following Sharia’h excluding the provision of profit loss sharing contracts and provision of qard-ul-hassan. Moreover, it is found that customers are less agreed and more neutral about Sharia’h-based operations at Islamic banks. Originality/value Findings will help regulators to introduce wide range of Islamic financial contracts that involve profit loss sharing and consider the expansion of emerging industry. Moreover, findings suggest to consider promotional techniques to create awareness of Islamic banking among the customers.