This study aims to analyze the effect of financial literacy and financial education on digital financial inclusion in Mexico. The analysis is carried out with 13,554 data from the National Survey of Financial Inclusion 2021, corresponding to Mexican adults who use digital financial services. The population under study comprises people over 18 years old, residing in Mexico, disaggregated by size of locality, and divided into six geographical regions. The dichotomous Probit model is used to estimate the effect of financial literacy and sociodemographic variables on digital financial inclusion. The results show that financial literacy and financial education have a marginal effect, of 0.94% and 4.42%, respectively, on digital financial services. Results also show that the marginal effect of financial literacy and financial education is greater on the use of mobile payments than on the acquisition of online accounts or apps and online credit. The results also show that gender, locality size, educational level, income and asset holding have a statistically significant relationship with the use of digital financial services. The findings confirm that financial literacy and financial education contribute to the digital financial inclusion of Mexicans, in this sense, providing financial education can especially benefit vulnerable population groups such as those living in rural areas and those with low income and low education levels.

Adolescent childbearing is a crucial problem challenging policymakers in sub-Saharan African countries. The objective of this study is to show how teenage pregnancy and motherhood is related to social determinants like place of residence, education level and wealth quintiles, and consequently to suggest pragmatic actions susceptible to control the burden of teenage pregnancy. Disaggregated data were analyzed using data covering the decade 2012–2022 and provided by Demographic Health Surveys. In each country considered, the index of dissimilarity (ID) was computed to illustrate the variation of teenage pregnancy and motherhood according to the level of education, the rural-urban residence and the income quintiles. Recent statistics were also used for a comparison between countries. This study showed that childbearing affected 22.7% of African adolescents (15–19 years). However, the rate of adolescent childbearing varied from 40.4% in Nigeria to 5.2% in Ruanda. Moreover, huge differences were found in each country. Teenage girls living in rural areas, illiterate or with low level of education and suffering from poverty are more likely to be early married and to be exposed to pregnancy. The rate of adolescent childbearing is higher in Sub-Saharan African countries compared with countries from Latin America and World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean. Most of the 31 countries considered in this study suffer from high rate of adolescent childbearing and large iniquities by place of residence and/or education level and/or wealth quintiles. Consequently, policymakers should adopt urgent and efficient strategies to reduce (and ideally to end) early marriage and teenage pregnancy by developing a policy that targets disadvantaged girls living in remote areas, having low or no decent income and suffering from illiteracy or low level of education.

This paper investigates the factors influencing credit growth in Kosovo, focusing on the relationship between credit activity and key economic variables, including GDP, FDI, CPI, and interest rates. Its analysis targets loans issued to businesses and households in Kosovo, employing a VAR model integrated into a VEC model to investigate the determinants of credit growth. The findings were validated using OLS regression. Additionally, the study includes a normality test, a model stability test (Inverse Roots AR Characteristic Polynomial), a Granger causality test for short-term relationships, and variance decomposition to analyze variable shocks over time. This research demonstrates that loan growth is primarily driven by its historical values. The VEC model shows that, in the long run, economic growth in Kosovo leads to less credit growth, showing a negative link between it and GDP. Higher interest rates also reduce credit growth, showing another negative link. On the other hand, more foreign direct investment (FDI) increases credit demand, showing a positive link between credit growth and FDI. The results show that loans and inflation (CPI) are positively linked, meaning higher inflation leads to more credit growth. Similarly, more foreign direct investment (FDI) increases credit demand, showing a positive link between FDI and credit growth. In the long term, higher inflation is connected to greater credit growth. In the short term, the VAR model suggests that GDP has a small to moderate effect on loans, while FDI has a slightly negative effect. In the VAR model, interest rates have a mixed effect: one coefficient is positive and the other negative, showing a delayed negative impact on loan growth. CPI has a small and negative effect, indicating little short-term influence on credit growth. The OLS regression supports the VAR results, finding no effect of GDP on loans, a small negative effect from FDI, a strong negative effect from interest rates, and no effect from CPI. This study provides a detailed analysis and adds to the research by showing how macroeconomic factors affect credit growth in Kosovo. The findings offer useful insights for policymakers and researchers about the relationship between these factors and credit activity.

This study examines the determinants of stunting prevention among toddlers in fishing families residing in the coastal areas of Bengkulu City. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, the research combined survey data from 70 respondents and in-depth interviews with 11 informants. Findings indicate that health behavior and genetic factors from health status, alongside education level and occupation from socioeconomic status, play pivotal roles in stunting prevention. Consumption patterns, particularly the consistent provision of animal protein and vegetables in daily meals, significantly contribute to the absence of stunting cases in the studied population. However, limited fruit intake persists due to economic barriers. The study underscores the necessity of integrated strategies, including nutrition education, enhanced access to nutritious foods, and economic support for fishing families, to sustain stunting prevention in coastal communities.

This paper investigates the elements affecting dividend yield in developing Southeast Asian countries—more specifically, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. Examined here are the roles of financial information including debt to equity ratio, free cashflows, property, plant, and equipment (PPE) and total sales with controlling factors of size, institutional ownership, and firm age using both short-run and long-run analytical frameworks including the Error Correction Model and Engle and Granger’s approach. The results reveal different trends in the three nations. Higher debt and free cashflows lower dividend yield in Thailand; institutional shareholders benefit from maintaining greater dividend payouts. Aging companies in Malaysia are more likely to pay more dividends while rising revenues are linked to smaller short-term payouts. Leveraged and asset-heavy companies are more likely to keep paying dividends in Singapore. These discoveries have important ramifications for investors and business management trying to maximize dividend policies and improve shareholder value in developing economies.

This study examines the determinants of inflation in Tunisia from 1998 to 2023, with a particular focus on the role of fiscal policy. The study analyzes the long-run and short-run relationships between inflation and key macroeconomic variables, including government expenditure, government revenue, money supply, balance of trade, and budget deficits using ARDL model. The empirical findings reveal that budget deficits have a significant and positive impact on inflation, underscoring the critical role of fiscal imbalances in driving price instability. In contrast, government expenditure, government revenue, money supply, and balance of trade do not exhibit statistically significant long-term effects on inflation. The results highlight the importance of fiscal discipline and effective coordination between fiscal and monetary policies to achieve price stability. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers in Tunisia and other developing economies facing similar inflationary pressures, emphasizing the need for prudent fiscal management and structural reforms to mitigate inflation volatility and ensure macroeconomic stability.