Sofia Anwar

• Dean Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences
• Chairperson at Government College University, Faisalabad

Cities' sustainability is a multifaceted challenge influenced by environmental, economic, infrastructural, and social factors. This study applies regression analysis to assess key sustainability determinants across six major cities in Punjab, Pakistan-Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, and Sargodha. The results indicate that pollut...

The research examines the principal factors influencing employee motivation and retention within Pakistan's textile industry. The primary survey data was acquired from 498 respondents using convenience sampling through a questionnaire. The explanatory variables include occupational risk (diseases, injury, workplace environmental and psychological f...

This study evaluates the sustainability of six major cities in Punjab, Pakistan, through a multi-dimensional assessment spanning from 2003 to 2022. The cities were ranked based on six key dimensions e.g (economy, infrastructure, cultural aspects, resource consumption, environmental factors and social factors) of sustainability by using Principal Co...

The study aims to evaluate socio-economic, cultural, environmental, and infrastructural disparities across six major cities of Punjab—Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Sargodha, and Bahawalpur—through the lens of SDG-aligned performance indicators to inform sustainable development policies. Punjab's cities exhibit significant variations in de...

The effective use of digital devices has become an essential part of modern life. This study explores the socioeconomic determinants of the adoption of digital devices in Pakistan. The data has been obtained from the Pakistan Social Living Standard Measurement (PSLM) survey 2019-2020. A binary logistic regression model has been used. The dependent...

This initiative aims to achieve income equalization within society, thereby fostering economic growth, alleviating poverty, and enhancing the stability of the financial system. Financial inclusion represents a concerted effort to remove both price and non-price barriers that hinder public access to formal financial institutions. To examine this dyn...

Recent studies have suggested that socioeconomic, psychological and demographic factors play an important role for risk taking behavior. These suggestions raise the question that whether all of these variables have positive or negative impact on risk taking behavior. So, this study aims to estimate the impact of these factors on risk taking behavio...

Food loss and waste are consistent threats to food security which, if left unrelieved, may have serious social, economic, and environmental aftermaths. Food waste from consumers is a critical issue which influences the economy and the environment. The resolution of this study is to understand how food waste is influenced by psychological and househ...

In the last couple of years, there has been a shift in the financial services industry that goes hand in hand with accelerated technological advancement; it, therefore, requires a more encompassing approach to assessing its inclusive nature. This study, therefore, extends the understanding of analyzing cross-sectional data on Financial Inclusion by...

Digital transformation drives operational efficiency, customer interaction and innovation. Hence it is necessary for industries to adopt digitalization in order to remain in competition with the global world. Hence, the present study investigated the factors influencing digital transformation within the textile industry, focusing on the roles of in...

Digital transformation in industries is essential for industries in order to remain competitive in global world and to achieve sustainable performance. Hence, in order to pursue the driving forces for digital transformation in Pakistan, the present study is being conducted in Textile sector of Pakistan. The drivers of digital transformation are cla...

Environmental behavior needs a keen intervention to avoid the upcoming worse outcomes of the energy utilization. Global warming is transitioning towards the global boiling stage and the reason behind the faster growth of renewable energy resources exploration. The present study empirically investigates the circularity impact of the renewable energy...

A circular economy is a regenerative approach that emphasizes resource efficiency, waste reduction, and the reuse of materials for a sustainable world. By adopting circular practices, we can reduce the negative impact of traditional linear economic models on the environment. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the world...

Sustainable economic prosperity lies in the production of technological products that use the latest technology and do not depend upon natural, non-renewable sources. Trade of such goods boosts the economy and diversifies its existing trade pattern. This study analyses various variables that contribute to high-tech exports. All countries of the wor...

Malnutrition among children is pervasive in South Asia and there are also reports of overnutrition. To better understand this phenomenon, we need a composite measure. However, the existing measures such as CIAF (Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure) and its revised version have ignored the overnutrition aspect of the phenomenon. This study pro...

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes are leading causes of global mortality and disability. Addressing the impact of NCDs aligns with sustainable development goals. Objective: The objective of this paper is to use individual data to investigate the risk facto...

Purpose: Multifaceted food waste behavior attracted the researchers from diversity of disciplines. Scholars have studied this subject from two primary sociological ontologies: behavioral and socio-psychological. There are several interrelating activities due to which behaviors and practices related with waste reductions are intricate. Methodology:...

Basic aim of this systematic review paper is to overview the ergonomics risk factors associated with jobs and enumerate the associations between risk factors such as organizational, psychosocial, biomechanical, hard physical job risk factor and work-related musculoskeletal problems. PRISMA methodology for paper selection is adopted and selects 103...

Reducing natural disasters and their related economic losses remains critical to achieving sustainable development. However, there is a lack of comprehensive studies that assess sustainable cities and human settlements in efforts to attain sustainable development goal 11.5. Here, the present research explains the effect of disaster risk and disaste...

Being ranked 4th in the production of cotton, Pakistan's Textile industry makes up one-fourth of industrial output and generates employment for about 40 percent of the industrial labor force. Having 60 percent of total export, textile export has been declining in Pakistan since 2013-14. Therefore, this study explored the impact of innovation on pro...

The construction industry is becoming a major source of carbon emissions in Pakistan due to the country's rapid urbanization. To slow global warming, it is crucial to evaluate and cut construction's carbon emissions. Despite significant international efforts to encourage the use of green construction technology, which have not yet been extensively...

Women malnutrition has been identified as a serious issue in Pakistan yet national statistics mask important local differences in malnutrition levels and its determinants. The 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provided a roadmap to achieve and maintain health and nutrition targets. This study aimed to explore the existence of...

Governments and policymakers are increasingly concerned about climate change. To cope with this inevitable issue, the SDGs-13 target underscores the importance of developing adaptation measures that reduce its adverse effects and ultimately safeguard both society and the environment. This issue is critical in developing countries, which are unable...

Natural disasters do occur and have become a global problem due to increasing intensity. Developing countries are mostly affected due to natural disasters owing to a poor environment, feeble adaptation, impoverished socioeconomic conditions, poor infrastructure, limited resources, and unstable institutions. The SDG 11.5 target which highlights the...

The COVID-19 pandemic affected the everyday life of human beings. This study investigates the impact of COVID-19 on six socio-economic dimensions (i.e., food availability, food quality, education, finance, non-payment of utility bills, and sale of assets/goods) in Punjab, Pakistan. Three districts were selected from Punjab province based on two cri...

Energy security has always been the most crucial objective for nations seeking sustainable economic growth. The present study examined the impact of political institutions on energy security using panel data from 34 high-income countries for the years 2000–2018. To investigate the mechanisms through which political variables affect energy security,...

In the recent era, economic growth is not enough to represent sustainable development. Sustainable development has three dimensions (i.e., economic, social, and environment). This study estimated the economic, social, and environmental efficiency using data from 2000 to 2021. Input-oriented data envelopment analysis shows strong heterogeneity acros...

In recent years, debates on sustainable economic development have highlighted the importance of comprehensive growth especially in developing countries. Inclusive growth is widely seen as a key ingredient for sustainable development. However, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. The current study examines the level of inclusive...

The study aims to estimate the status of digital transformation (DT) in developing economies. Since there has been a gap in the measurement of digital transformation, this study will help in improving the economic performances of SAARC countries in the future. Herein, a study of the rankings of Digital transformation is being presented by the South...

Purpose: The concept of entrepreneurship has gained much devotion from governments and decision-makers in numerous countries, particularly in emerging countries already suffering from many problems like slow economic growth and development. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the impact of socioeconomic status and career motivation o...

This study shows the impact of risk (hazard, exposure, and vulnerability) and resilience (infrastructure, information and communication technology, institutional quality, food security, women empowerment, economic performance, human capital, emergency workforce, and social capital) indicators on losses due to natural disasters in 24 high-income, 24...

Health inequality is a global issue since the lack of one or more aspects of the essential health services still exists in 90% of the countries due to changing global economic conditions, political decisions and societal norms. The objective of the current study is to assess the effect of a set of socioeconomic, demographic, severity & non-severity...

The heavy smog pollution in all the urban areas of Pakistan is disturbing everyday life very badly. Most of the smog pollution comes from transportation, and it is triggering many health problems. The government of Pakistan is struggling to alleviate smog pollution by introducing green vehicles and new modes of transportation. The Push-Pull and Moo...

The occurrence of natural hazards on the earth is as universal as this universe. Though difficult to avoid or control, however, increasing resilience remains a crucial coping mechanism for disasters. This study focuses on the first target (SDG-13.1) of “Climate Action” which entails strengthening country-specific resilience and adaptive capacity to...

Pakistan is a developing, 5th populous country with recession in economic indicators. Bypassing is the phenomenon that is widely discussed among the low income countries due to the less provision of health care facilities at primary health care centers. Secondary healthcare centers provide specialized level of diagnostic and treatment facilities wh...

The occurrence of natural disasters is as old as the history of human beings, thus, the SDG 11.5 target underscores the importance of reducing natural disasters and their corresponding losses. Natural disasters suddenly disturb the inflow of foreign reserves and restrict the purchase of necessary goods, thus, causing welfare loss. Due to limited li...

The pervasiveness of malnutrition among children under five is unacceptably high in South Asia. Assessment of overall burden of malnutrition with summation of Gomez and Waterlow’s three class divisions in Svedberg formulated composite index of anthropometric failure (CIAF) and Nandy’s revised CIAF have overlooked the incidence of overnutrition and...

This study shows the effect of natural disasters, rainfall, temperature, economic growth, renewable energy, and contributing family workers on the agricultural development index in 101 countries of all income groups (i.e., 24 high, 29 upper-middle, 32 lower-middle, and 16 low). It develops a new agricultural development index using a standard proce...

Environmental degradation is a severe problem for all nations, especially for developing ones like Pakistan. For analysis purpose, this study employed two proxies of environmental degradation, i.e., carbon emission and ecological footprint as the explained variables during 1980–2017. In contrast, real GDP per capita, electricity consumption, financ...

The J-curve is a term used to describe short-run deterioration in the trade balance combined with long-run improvement subsequent to a currency devaluation or depreciation. While the majority of studies have tested the symmetric J-curve concept, the new direction is to test for an asymmetric J-curve. We tested both concepts for each of the 21 two-d...

This study investigates the relationship between institutional quality, economic growth, investment, government expenditures, human capital, income inequality, trade openness, and urbanization in 20 Asian countries using panel data from 1984 to 2020. By reducing a big number of variables into a smaller one, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is use...

Global warming and the conservation of resources is a challenge for policymakers to achieve sustainable development. This study develops a new global tourism index, based on standard index-making procedures (indicators selection, winsorization, normalization, aggregation). It explores the impact of the global tourism index, renewable energy, gro...

In the recent decade, the investigation of environmental degradation and its drivers has become a burning subject of dispute among the governments and their policymakers. However, various crucial drivers of environmental damages still have not been sufficiently analyzed in the existing literature. Considering this view, the current study investigat...

In the recent decade, the investigation of environmental degradation and its drivers has become a burning subject of dispute among the governments and their policymakers. However, various crucial drivers of environmental damages still have not been sufficiently analyzed in the existing literature. Considering this view, the current study investigat...

This study uses the theory of planned behavior to examine the individual’s intentions and zig-zag kiln technology adoption attitude in responding to carbon emissions in Pakistan. This study is based on cross-sectional data and a representative sample of 335 brick kilns owners from 11 districts of Punjab province of Pakistan is collected. Partial le...

Keeping in view the idea of the third-country effect by Cushman, the analysis attempts to capture the asymmetric impact of third-country exchange rate volatility on Pakistan–China commodity trade. The empirical analysis is based on the annual data for 14 industries that export from Pakistan to China and 34 industries that import to Pakistan from Ch...

Pakistan is experiencing increasing CO2 emissions in contrast with other regions of the world. The country is also facing the problems of low economic growth, energy poverty, and environmental pollution. The objective of the study is to analyze economic growth of Pakistan and obtain some alternate sources of production for sustainable environment....

This study aims to estimate determinants of MM in selected districts of Punjab. Data have been extracted from 196 families from three respective districts. Education, safe water availability, sanitation, health infrastructure, immunization card, family size, residence, household income, and ANC visits are taken as independent variables. Education,...

Pakistan is a country which is facing chronic trade deficit since its independence and currency devaluation have always remained an effective strategy to bridge this gap between imports and exports. Previous studies which assessed the influence of changes in exchange rate on Pakistan’s trade balance followed a symmetric or linear approach. However,...

Pakistan is an agriculture-based economy, having 19.3% share in GDP. About 63% population is living in rural areas. Lifestyle describes the expenditure pattern, behavioral difference and daily life decisions of people. The pattern of energy use is different between rural and peri-urban areas. About 80% of villages in Pakistan have access to elec...

This study aims to measure the association of real economic growth per capita, renewable energy consumption, and financial development with ecological footprints (EFP) across the 155 countries of four different income groups over the period of 1990–2017. For the analysis, the unit root tests allowing cross-sectional dependency, Westerlund cointegra...

Background/Objective: The adoption of Information and communication technology (ICT) in developing countries is increasing during last two decades. This study explores the determinants of ICT adoption in 67 selected developing countries. Methods/Statistical analysis: Panel data was collected from World Bank and International telecommunication websi...

This study uses ecological modernization and environmental transition theories to estimate the interaction among energy intensity, carbon emission and urbanization for the period of 1980–2017. We have systematically examined the empirical connections among emission, urbanization, income per capita, imports, exports, energy use, trade openness and e...

The study explores the dynamic linkages among financial development, trade openness, technological innovation and energy efficiency in Pakistan utilizing cointegration tests, Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAG) and Structural Vector Autoregression (SVAR) model for the period 1980-2017. The results of Johansen cointegration show that variables ae cointegr...

Globally, the outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has significantly increased during recent years. In the light of OFDI's role in determining the GDP growth rate, it is necessary to assess how economic growth rate responds to such outflows. Based on the non‐linear autoregressive distributive lag (NARDL) model, the present study investigates th...

Financial inclusion is considered an essential mediator to achieve economic growth in recent years. The main focus of this study is to construct the financial inclusion index and to explore the determinants of financial inclusion in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. Data is collected from InterMedia's financial inclusion insights datasets 2016 that...

Background/Objectives: Subsistence of health inequalities explains that basic human right is not available to every person in the country. As everyone knows that health of newborn child and maternal health are reflections of any good economy. The Infant Mortality (IM) and Maternal Mortality (MM) are caused by the health inequality, and hence this s...

This study empirically investigates a monetary policy reaction function for South Asian economies by incorporating financial stability as an additional policy objective in the central bank’s loss function. Empirical results are estimated by applying auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration and vector autoregressive (VAR) app...

Objectives: This study aims to check the impact of globalization and macroeconomic variables on environment degradation in low income countries. This study also tested the existence of Kuznets curve. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Greenhouse gases emission is used as proxy of environment degradation. Panel data was taken from 1996 to 2015 for Zimbab...

This study calculates the efficiency of Rural Health Centers (RHCs) and investigates the impact of other variables affecting the efficiency of RHCs. The study considers 29 RHCs, 13 of District Faisalabad, 9 of Toba and 7 of Jhang; a survey was conducted to collect data from each RHC for the year 2016. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model was utili...

The current study attempted to calculate the potential gains/losses to the household income in Pakistan. The study has employed MyGTAP model which was initially developed by Minor & Walmsley (2012) and is extension of standard GTAP model. The standard GTAP model was linked with a representative household model by using the Social Accounting Matrix...

The study employed the latest developed MyGTAP model to calculate the effects of agricultural trade liberalization on the different sectors of the economy. In order to calculate the effects of agricultural trade liberalization on income distribution and economic growth, an analytical framework MyGTAP was developed where the standard GTAP model was...

The study explores the causal link between environmental quality, renewable and non-renewable sources of energy, per capita output and population density in the region of South Asia. Four countries i.e. Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan from South Asia have been selected for the analysis. The study conducts both time series and panel analys...

This study examines the relationships between economic development and financial stability in five South Asian economies, namely Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal over the period of 1980-2012. Human Development Index (HDI) used to measure economic development is calculated using the goalposts based on south Asian data. While financia...

The present paper examined the impact of population density and urbanization on energy consumption and environmental degradation by using the STRIPAT (stochastic impact by regression on population, Affluence and Technology) model for the panel of selected top 10 populous countries over the period of 1997-2014. Panel unit root tests, panel Co integr...

Terrorism has greatly influenced the economies in the world; especially the Muslim economies which were on the track of development are devastated by this global calamity. This study explores the implications of inflicted terrorism on the investment and growth of 26 Muslim countries. Feasible generalized least squares (FGLS), differenced generalize...

Computable General equilibrium (CGE) models take into account inter-linkages between different sectors of the economy and emphasize on factor and product markets and on prices and output through detailed input-output analysis and equations. Like any other modelling technique, CGE models also have strengthens and weaknesses. The current study attemp...

Hepatitis is a potentially life threatening infectious disease of liver causing serious health problems all around the world like higher mortality and longer morbidity costs to patients. Patients suffering from it face discriminatory behavior not only from health care workers but also from fellow community members. Discriminatory behavior is rooted...

Purpose: The present study is undertaken to examine youth knowledge, attitude and practices about malaria in district Layyah Punjab. There is little evidence that studies have been conducted to evaluate knowledge, attitudes and practices of youth about malaria prevention. Thus the aim of the study is to explore the knowledge, attitude and practice...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the welfare cost resulted from an increase in food prices in the three most populous countries of south Asia (Pakistan, India and Bangladesh). Design/methodology/approach The effect of rising food prices on consumer welfare is analyzed by using the compensating variation technique. The measurement o...

This paper explores the causal relationship between environmental quality, renewable and non-renewable energy sources, economic growth and population density in the region of South Asia. The study conducts both time series and panel analysis and covers the period of 1980-2013 in four Asian countries India Pakistan Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.. To anal...

Hepatitis is a fatal disease. This disease caused serious problem in developing countries as well as in Pakistan. A large number of population is affected by this disease in Pakistan. This study reports socio economic determinants of hepatitis B and C knowledge in urban and rural areas. Impact of hepatitis disease on agriculture production is also...

Using the aggregate financial stability index (AFSI) which measures the gradual progression and changes in financial market stability, this paper empirically evaluates the impact of financial and economic integration on financial stability in South Asian countries using time-series data for the period 1980–2012. Auto-regressive distributed lag (ARD...

The objective of present study is to empirically examine the socio-economic determinants of crime in Pakistan. The analysis is carried out by using the annual time series data for the period 1973-2014. The dependent variable is total crime rate (per one million population), While the explanatory variables are unemployment, education, income inequal...

Abstract The purpose of the study is to investigate the impact of Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) plus on household income of Pakistan. European Union, the largest trading partner of Pakistan, granted the status of GSP plus to Pakistan in December 2013. The study has used MyGTAP, developed by Minor & Walmsley (2013) to calculate the impact...

Purpose Strengthening the middle class has become a major policy goal in both developed and developing economies due to its social, economic, cultural and political importance. Keeping in view the importance of middle class, the purpose of this paper is to measure the size of the middle class in the province of Punjab (the biggest province of Pakis...

The current study explores the determinants of financial development process in selected countries of South Asian Association for Regional Corporation (SARRC) namely, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Financial development is measured by financial depth index which is constructed using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). For emp...