New technologies always have an impact on traditional theories. Finance theories are no exception to that. In this paper, we have concentrated on the traditional investment theories in finance. The study examined five investment theories, their assumptions, and their limitation from different works of literature. The study considered Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) as representative of financial technology (fintech) and tried to find out from the literature how these new technologies help to reduce the limitations of traditional theories. We have found that fintech does not have an equal impact on every conventional finance theory. Fintech outperforms all five traditional theories but on a different scale.

Presently, any development initiatives without considering sustainability can barely be imagined. There has been a paradigm shift in the focus of the development partners from the mere development to sustainable development. However, the role of development partners in bringing sustainability in livelihood assets of the rural community has long been questioned. Hence, this study aims to explore the sustainability in the form of changes in livelihood assets of a local community in Bangladesh. This study considers the changes in livelihood assets of the community over the three-time frames - before, during, and after a project implemented by a national NGO called ‘UST’ and subsequently identifies the community’s capacity to sustain the project outcomes after the completion of the project. ‘Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF)’ developed by Department for International Development (DFID) was utilized in this study to analyse the vulnerability and livelihood issues of the community members. Data has been collected through focus group discussions, household survey and key informants’ interviews from three distinct villages of ‘Khutamara’ union in the ‘Nilphamari’ district of Bangladesh. The finding of the study states that all the livelihood assets such as the social capital, human capital, natural capital, financial capital, physical capital have positively changed due to the interference of the development partners. This study further finds that even after the completion of project tenure, such positive trends continue to exist among the community members indicating sustainable development. Moreover, political capital- a new type of livelihood has also emerged because of the project implementation which was not quite evident before the inception of the project. In addition, this study explored the unique phenomenon of the Shabolombee Gram, where the transformation altering farmers’, livelihoods does not come from the government or the private sector but originates from a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). Therefore, the government and its development partners may adopt and incorporate the Modified Sustainable Livelihood Framework (MSLF) to ensure the sustainable development.

Many financial crises have occurred in recent decades, such as the International Debt Crisis of 1982, the East Asian Economic Crisis of 1997–2001, the Russian economic crisis of 1992–1997, the Latin American debt Crisis of 1994–2002, the Global Economic Recession of 2007–2009, which had a strong impact on international relations. The aim of this article is to create an econometric model of the indicator for identifying crisis situations arising in stock markets. The approach under consideration includes data for preprocessing and assessing the stability of the trend of time series using higher-order moments. The results obtained are compared with specific practical situations. To test the proposed indicator, real data of the stock indices of the USA, Germany and Hong Kong in the period World Financial Crisis are used. The scientific novelty of the results of the article consists in the analysis of the initial and given initial moments of high order, as well as the central and reduced central moments of high order. The econometric model of the indicator for identifying crisis situations arising considered in the work, based on high-order moments plays a pivotal role in crisis detection in stock markets, influencing financial innovations in managing the national economy. The findings contribute to the resilience and adaptability of the financial system, ultimately shaping the trajectory of the national economy. By facilitating timely crisis detection, the model supports efforts to maintain economic stability, thereby fostering sustainable growth and resilience in the face of financial disruptions. The model's insights can shape the national innovation ecosystem by guiding the development and adoption of monetary and financial innovations that are aligned with the economy's specific needs and challenges.

Chinese municipalities have developed a large stock of capital assets during a period of rapid growth and urbanization, but have yet to modernize asset management practices. Cities face challenges such as premature decline of fixed assets and spiking liabilities related to operating and maintaining assets. This paper evaluates the asset management practices in three selected small cities and towns in China, using a benchmarking assessment tool followed by an in-depth field assessment. The paper finds that overall performance is below half the international benchmark for good practice in all three cities. Management practices are considerably more advanced for land than for buildings and infrastructure. Key deficiencies in data availability and reporting, governance, capacity, and financial management indicate increased risks for local government finance and the delivery of public services. For small cities and towns where public revenues are often uncertain and limited, urban public services will be at risk of deterioration unless good asset management practices are put in place. The paper recommends strategic actions for upper and lower levels of government, to advance local asset management practices and facilitate the reform agenda.

With the characteristics of resisting business cycle, mitigating cash flow, and improving portfolio resilience, special assets usually enter a highly active period in the economic downturn cycle, and gradually become an effective asset allocation means in the transition phase of the business cycle. This article aims to analyze the importance of the development of China's special asset investment industry in the context of high-quality economic development, and explore how to introduce market-oriented mechanisms to build primary and secondary markets for special assets, in order to improve the effective allocation of market resources and maximize returns.