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Md Akther Uddin

East Delta University, School of Business Administration, Faculty Member

Moscow State University of Psychology and Education, Educational Psychology, Alumnus

INCEIF (Intern. Centre for Edu. in Islamic Finance), Graduate, Graduate Student

Premier University Chittagong, Business & Addministration, Graduate Student

People's Friendship University of Russia, Economics, Alumnus

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Dr. Akther is a young multidisciplinary-educator with teaching and learning experience from Russia, Malaysia, the UK, and Bangladensh. He has a strong background in language, business, finance and education. Currently, teaching Business, Economics and Finance at the undergradute and graduate level in a new but dynamic university in Chattogram, Bangladesh. He has already published a great number of scholarly research papers, including in ISI, ESCI, Scopus, and VAK indexed journals. Please visit my site to know more about me.
https://sites.google.com/view/akther
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Aysmontas Bronyus, Prof. Dr. Mansur Masih, and Prof. Dr. Milan Kumar Bhattacharjee

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Dr. Md. Akther Uddin

University of Creative Technology Chittagong

Universitas Padjadjaran

National Defence University-NDU- Islamabad- Pakistan

Jeaneth Johansson

Arisman Arisman

BASHIR MUHAMMAD

University of Stellenbosch Business School

Muhammad Tariq Majeed

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Papers by Md Akther Uddin

Political stability and growth: An application of dynamic GMM and quantile regression

Economic Modelling, 2017

This paper studies the effect of political stability on economic growth by taking 120 developing ... more This paper studies the effect of political stability on economic growth by taking 120 developing countries over the period of 1996-2014. We apply relatively advanced dynamic two step system-GMM and quantile regression. Political stability is found to be a key determinant of economic growth. More importantly, political instability (or risk) is found to be higher in the OIC countries and is a deterrent to economic growth. Also, for the lower and middle income OIC countries, political instability appears to affect economic growth more severely perhaps due to the absence of strong economic and political institutions. Moreover, political instability is also found to be significantly higher in the oil-dependent OIC countries. Notably, political instability is likely to affect growth through the channels of investment and human capital accumulation in the developing countries. Finally, the impact of political stability and political instability on growth is found to be equally distributed across the OIC countries with higher or lower growth level. Therefore, the development of political and economic institutions along with human capital development is recommended for all the developing countries in general and the OIC countries in particular.

CV of Dr. Uddin 2020

CV Md Akther Uddin 2019 Updated

Does Indian Economic Growth Affect Bangladesh? An Application of ARDL

Does Indian growth affect the economy of Bangladesh? Growth spillover on neighbouring country has... more Does Indian growth affect the economy of Bangladesh? Growth spillover on neighbouring country has been studied recently but so far little empirical evidence to support this. More importantly, how regional power like India can affect its next-door neighbour Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Srilanka. Using Bangladesh as a case study, this study employs an error correction model derived from standard time series technique called “Auto Regressive Distributed Lag” (ARDL) proposed by Pesaran-Shin-Smith (2001). It is based on a time series data over the period 1975–2014. This study extends existing literature by focusing on growth spillover affect on neighbouring country. By using the ARDL technique, the findings diagnose that there is a long term relationship between Indian growth and growth of Bangladesh. It can be argued that Indian growth affects on growth of Bangladesh and it is found statistically significant. A number of policy recommendations have been proposed in order to further strengthen the relationship between these two countries.

Are Shari'ah Governance and Risk Management Important? A case of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd.

This paper studies Shari'ah governance and risk management practices in the biggest Islamic bank ... more This paper studies Shari'ah governance and risk management practices in the biggest Islamic bank in Bangladesh, Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd (IBBL). The study is descriptive and comparative in nature. We have analyzed existing literature to compare Shari'ah governance framework and used secondary data to understand the risk management practices in IBBL. The results indicate that Shari'ah governance differ across regions and legal institutions but uniformity is recommended to further develop the Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries. In Bangladesh, IBBL follows the AAOIFI standards in Shari'ah governance and has maintained high standard so far. However, the situations in other Islamic banks are not very satisfactory. IBBL has developed comprehensive risk management framework but still face significant investment and credit risk with growing non-performing loan and excess liquidity risk due to limited short-term investment opportunities. The study could help policy makers to develop comprehensive shari'ah governance and risk management framework in IFIs across the world.

Political stability and growth: An application of dynamic GMM and quantile regression

by Md Akther Uddin, Bm Hakim, and Mansur Masih

This paper studies the effect of political stability on economic growth by taking 120 developing ... more This paper studies the effect of political stability on economic growth by taking 120 developing countries over the period of 1996–2014. We apply relatively advanced dynamic two step system-GMM and quantile regression. Political stability is found to be a key determinant of economic growth. More importantly, political instability (or risk) is found to be higher in the OIC countries and is a deterrent to economic growth. Also, for the lower and middle income OIC countries, political instability appears to affect economic growth more severely perhaps due to the absence of strong economic and political institutions. Moreover, political instability is also found to be significantly higher in the oil-dependent OIC countries. Notably, political instability is likely to affect growth through the channels of investment and human capital accumulation in the developing countries. Finally, the impact of political stability and political instability on growth is found to be equally distributed across the OIC countries with higher or lower growth level. Therefore, the development of political and economic institutions along with human capital development is recommended for all the developing countries in general and the OIC countries in particular.

Why are finance and human development important for economic growth in OIC countries? A Dynamic GMM Approach

by Md Akther Uddin and Bm Hakim

Islam is a pro-growth and pro-human development religion and there is a long history of tremendou... more Islam is a pro-growth and pro-human development religion and there is a long history of tremendous economic development in Islam but unfortunately since the last two centuries Muslim countries have derailed from the development trajectory. In a growing body of literature, the impact of finance and human development on growth has been emphasized but so far little empirical evidence to support this for OIC countries. In this paper an initial attempt has been made to investigate the relationship between finance, human development and economic growth in 44 OIC countries by applying dynamic Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), which overcomes the problems of OLS and other advanced static panel techniques. The study finds that finance affects growth positively and human development has significant impact on growth but relationship is ambiguous. OIC countries suffer from high unemployment and inflation problem and consequently affect growth negatively. The importance of accumulation of capital investment for growth is reaffirmed for Muslim countries. Moreover, Asian OIC countries tend to have higher growth than African and MENA region even though the results are not statistically significant. The study comes up with the policy recommendations for OIC countries in order to develop and diversify their economies.

War and Peace: Why is political stability pivotal for economic growth of OIC countries?

by Md Akther Uddin, Bm Hakim, and Mansur Masih

Since the end of World War II, Muslim countries have been plagued by sixteen major wars, many cou... more Since the end of World War II, Muslim countries have been plagued by sixteen major wars, many coups, political, religious and ethnic insurgency, and revolutions. While many developing countries in south-east Asia have emerged as developed economy in this time period, despite having sufficient natural resources, most of the Muslim countries are still fighting with poverty, unemployment, higher inflation, growing inequality, poor healthcare, illiteracy, and rampant corruption. This paper makes an initial attempt to investigate whether political stability affects economic growth in OIC oil dependent countries by using relatively advanced dynamic GMM and quantile regression. This would add new theoretical dimension in political economy with the help of advanced econometric modeling which has been less explored in literature. It is found that political stability has significant positive effect on growth even after controlling for key macroeconomic variables. Political stability is more important for lower income countries than higher income countries. Most of the low to mid income oil dependent OIC countries suffer from chronic misery, higher inflation and persistent unemployment, which affects growth negatively. The importance of political stability, economic diversification and macroeconomic stability has been restated with the policy recommendations for oil dependent developing countries in general and OIC countries in particular.

Reemergence of Islamic Monetary Economics: A Review of Theory and Practice

This paper reviews important theoretical and empirical literatures on Islamic monetary economics.... more This paper reviews important theoretical and empirical literatures on Islamic monetary economics. The reemergence of Islamic economics and finance in the twenty first century has motivated the issue. The prohibition of Riba has imposed challenges on Islamic economists to come up with the viable alternatives to achieve Islamic monetary policy goals. Equity based profit and loss sharing instruments have been proposed for conducting open market operations in an interest-free economy. Moreover, a number of conventional monetary instruments are still available: changes in reserve requirements, overall and selective controls on credit flows, changes in the monetary base through management of currency issue, and moral suasion. Theoretically, the Central Bank can achieve desired goals by manipulating money supply and profit-sharing ratios, also, the evidence from empirical literature suggests money demand tend to be more stable in an interest-free economy. Whether monetary transmission works through Islamic banking channel is yet controversial but the literature is growing. These findings are not surprising as majority Muslim countries lack sustainable and equitable economic growth; suffer from higher inflation and unemployment, little or no monetary freedom due to fixed exchange rate regime, shallow financial markets and strict capital control. A number of policy implications have been proposed.

Negative Interest Rate and Mudarabah Investment Deposits Rate: A Short Essay

Negative interest rate is quite a new phenomenon and many economists are quite puzzled by this ne... more Negative interest rate is quite a new phenomenon and many economists are quite puzzled by this new development after the global financial crisis of 2008/2009 and warned about its negative consequences. Whether negative interest rate can be considered as a Riba, literally interest rate, in Islamic finance is not settled yet. According to the classical text, the logic behind prohibition of interest rate, Riba, is actually inherent injustice; it may be to borrower or lender. There is no ruling or fatwa regarding negative interest rate. However, by following the analogy of injustice in Riba, we can argue that negative interest rate should be equated wtih Riba. One of the most controversial issues in current Islamic banking practice is that the return on Mudarabah investment deposits and interest rate on savings accounts are quite identical if not the same. Three key reasons for this paradox are briefly explained and number of measures has been recommended which might help delinking interest rate from profit rate.

The Academic Views from Moscow Universities on the Future of DEE at Russia and Ukraine

by Mkrttchian Vardan and Md Akther Uddin

Distance higher education has been growing rapidly all over the world and the importance of under... more Distance higher education has been growing rapidly all over the world and the importance of understanding
psycho-pedagogical issues of learners studying in Distance Education (DE) has been growing too.
Moscow universities have always had and are crucial to the development of education in the vast area
covering the entire territory of the former Soviet Union. In this chapter, an attempt is made to investigate
the current studies on components of individual differences like self-actualization, self-regulation, locus
of control, and motivation, and their influence in DE setting, academic views, and development visions for
Cyber U-learning model on the future of distance education in Russia and Ukraine. The current review
of the literature indicates that physical and psychological separation of learners and teachers initiate
various psycho-pedagogical issues and special attention must be given to accommodate this in content
development, pedagogical, instructional, and cyber ubiquitous learning design of DE.

Implications of Chinese Yuan on China's competitiveness

The stability and level of strength or weakness in exchange rates are prime considerations of mon... more The stability and level of strength or weakness in exchange rates are prime considerations of monetary authorities and businesses, both domestic and international. This paper thus analyses the RMB's appreciation and depreciation against its major trading partners' currencies namely the USD, EUR, JPY, AUD and MYR. It also includes a review of their volatilities and most importantly, the economic implications of the RMB rates on exports and foreign investment flows. The Renminbi has come a long way since its pegged days of 1994 to 2005. Most recently, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde herself, has endorsed its inclusion into an elite basket of the fund's reserve currencies. The Renminbi is now on a managed floating system and allegations of manipulation remain, especially with notable pauses in the currency's rises during the global financial crisis and in the second quarter of 2015. But the upward trend is undeniable, given that the Chinese economy is now the world's number two in size and the Renminbi is now the world's second most-used currency for trade finance. Its volatility has similarly picked up with the end of the peg and its increasing use worldwide. Ironically, an appreciating currency, albeit a managed one, bodes well for China's economy now as it is engineering a shift away from being led by exports to being driven by domestic consumption. A strong Renminbi will encourage more import consumption, something that the government would like to see. But challenges remain. China's still largely closed markets and questions about the country's political, legal and economic institutions may constrain the international use of its currency. And while the Renminbi has shot up in use, international sales in the currency still account for less than 3% of global transactions. The greenback continues to dominate as the currency for trade settlements. Thus while the wind is definitely beneath the Renminbi's sails, officials will likely need to skilfully navigate through potential turbulences ahead.

A Social Business Model for Poverty Alleviation through Collecting & Merchandising of Dry Fish: A Case Study from Bangladesh

Maheshkhali is an Upazila of Cox's Bazar District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh and t... more Maheshkhali is an Upazila of Cox's Bazar District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh and there are about 300,000 people in this island. About 21.2% of the populations of Maheshkhali are living below lower poverty line and most of them are directly or indirectly employed in collecting, merchandising and exporting of salt, shrimp, sea-fish and dry fish. In the recent past, various development programs have been undertaken to eradicate poverty in this island but failed to reach to the poorest of the poor effectively due to various reasons, especially exploitation by money lenders and NGOs is considered to be the key. Dry fish processing is one of the major industries of Maheshkhali and there exist a growing demand of dry fish in local market and international market. The study is analytical in nature and based on secondary data collected from available published sources. We propose a social business model that will enable the root level dry fish processor to get benefit from their dry fish production by eliminating intermediaries with the help of latest information and communication technology which will ultimately help in reducing hardcore poverty of Maheshkhali Island.

Islamic Monetary Policy: Is there an Alternative of Interest Rate?

At the advent of global financial crisis conventional monetary policy has failed to regulate the ... more At the advent of global financial crisis conventional monetary policy has failed to regulate the money market and the consequence of which was seen in the global financial and capital market. This paper takes an attempt to give a brief outline of how Islamic monetary policy can be a sustainable alternative to the conventional. In order to understand Islamic monetary policy better we went back to early Islamic period and discussed how money was evolved and monetary policy was performed at that time. Reemergence of Islamic economic system in the latter half of the last century encouraged scholars in this field to have a fresh look at this issue. Comparative analysis shows that Islamic monetary policy can adopt many conventional instruments which are in line with the Shariah guidance such as: Legal Reserve Ratio, Credit Rationing, Selective credit control, Issue of directive, and Moral suasion etc. As interest rate, the key tool of conventional monetary policy regulation, is prohibited in Islamic economic system, the need for sustainable alternative is the order of the day. Unfortunately, Islamic banks and financial institutions set their benchmark based on London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) which raises doubt and controversy of the uniqueness of Islamic finance. Literature shows that this a growing field of knowledge and many theoretical works have been conducted in this area but little empirical work, moreover, very few on alternative benchmark for Islamic economic system. By analyzing literature we propose in our study that GDP growth rate adjusted for inflation can be set as a benchmark for money market instrument and reference for financial and capital market as we argue GDP growth rates reflect real balanced growth potential of an economy as it is correlated with national income, savings, inflation, exchange rate and investment compare to real interest rate, which is fixed in the money market and does not take into account the real sector.

Principles and Application of Preemption in Islamic finance: A critical analysis

This paper discusses the concept of Al-Shuf’ah (pre-emption), literally means amalgamation, addit... more This paper discusses the concept of Al-Shuf’ah (pre-emption), literally means amalgamation, addition, subjunction or joining. In Islamic law, Al-Shuf’ah implies that a co-owner has the right to demand a pre-emption from his partner in a jointly owned property to purchase it at a certain price, before other people (Al-Zurqani, 1981). The study confirms (Al-Zuhayli, 2003) preemption is a weak right, fortified and confirmed by requesting its exercise; preemption was legalized to protect the preemptor’s interests. All jurists agree that a partner in the property is a preemptor, but the Hanafis included neighbors as well, and preemption cannot result in a harm to the buyer by partitioning the sale. The study finds that in contemporary Islamic commercial law and transactions, the doctrine of
Al-Shuf’ah might play an important role in partnership contracts, immovable real estate and can be drawn similar analogy in the context of venture capital and housing financing, moreover, many scholars argue for extending the principle of pure ownership rights in intangible assets, options and preemptive rights of the shareholders of a corporation.

Principles of Islamic Finance: Prohibition of Riba, Gharar and Maysir

Islamic finance, a complete rule based financial system, fundamentals of which are originated fro... more Islamic finance, a complete rule based financial system, fundamentals of which are originated from revealed verses of the Holy Quran considered direct ordinance from the God and the practices of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) commonly known as ahadith. Although the concept of Islamic finance is as old as the religion itself but in the Middle Ages Muslims diverted from the original teachings of Islam, only recently Islamic finance has started to reemerge. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the fundamental rules that make Islamic finance different from its counterpart. In this paper an attempt has been made to discuss briefly fundamental principles of Islamic finance namely prohibition of Riba (interest), Gharar(uncertainty) and Maysir (gambling). It is found in the study that these principles are based on the fundamental sources and early Islamic jurists, scholars and contemporary researchers uphold them in carrying out financial transactions. In order to run financial system according to the Islamic principles these concepts must be understood clearly and all transactions must be free from them.

Governance from Islamic Economic Perspective: A Shari’ah Governance Framework

This paper attempts to give a brief overview of existing Shari’ah Governance framework in Malaysi... more This paper attempts to give a brief overview of existing Shari’ah Governance framework in Malaysia, compare with AAOIFI and IFSB standards and guidelines, identify current issues, and recommend measures to improve existing practices. The study finds that a great number of research have been carried out to study Shari’ah Governance framework in Malaysia, Indonesia, GCC, MENA, UK, and other OIC member countries. It can be concluded that the plurality in Shari’ah Governance practice across regions and countries may ensure success and support innovation in the short run, but, in order to establish credibility and promote Islamic Finance as a comprehensive financial system in the long run uniformity is desirable. A sustainable and viable Shari’ah Governance framework, which will not only provide credibility to IFIs but also ensure transparency, trust, ethical behavior, underlying faith and belief and ethics and also help protecting the stakeholders right and fulfill the broader principle of Maqasid al-Shari’ah (foundational goals of the Shari’ah).

Can GDP growth rate be used as a benchmark instrument for Islamic monetary policy?

This paper discusses Islamic monetary policy which could potentially be a sustainable alternative... more This paper discusses Islamic monetary policy which could potentially be a sustainable alternative to the conventional. Islamic banks and financial institutions have to set their benchmark based on London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) which raises doubt and controversy of the uniqueness of Islamic finance. By analyzing current literature on Islamic monetary policy models it is proposed in this study that GDP growth rate adjusted for interest income and inflation can be set as a benchmark for money market instrument and reference rate for financial and capital market to set the cost of capital or rate of return. In order to test the two proposed models, one year data from 99 countries have been collected. The study uses the OLS regression and the result shows that real interest rate is not a viable instrument for monetary policy framework as no significant relationship has been found with key factors such as inflation and unemployment. On the other hand, GDP growth rate has a statistically significant relationship with inflation and unemployment, GDP growth rate is higher for OIC countries, however, unemployment rate is higher.

Сравнительный анализ личностных особенностей студентов очного и дистанционного обучения (на примере студентов-психологов)

by Md Akther Uddin and Bronius Aysmontas

Personal and motivational aspects of students studying in traditional face-to-face system and distance education system

As the popularity of distance higher education has been growing rapidly all over the world, the i... more As the popularity of distance higher education has been growing rapidly all over the world, the importance of understanding psycho-pedagogical issues of learners studying in distance education has been growing too. In this article an attempt has been made to present findings of a dissertation research on various psycho-pedagogical components like selfactualization, self-regulation, locus of control, achievement motivation, and academic performance. The study reveals influence of the following psychological characteristics of students studying in the face-to-face and distance education: the student of the both forms of education show a similar pattern of personal development for the following characteristics: selfesteem and self-actualization value; distance learners exhibit higher level of self-actualization and internal locus of control but no significant difference is found in the level of self-regulated behavior. Achievement motivation is higher for distance learners; significant correlation exists between achievement motivation and various indicators of personal development of students of the both forms of education.

Political stability and growth: An application of dynamic GMM and quantile regression

Economic Modelling, 2017

This paper studies the effect of political stability on economic growth by taking 120 developing ... more This paper studies the effect of political stability on economic growth by taking 120 developing countries over the period of 1996-2014. We apply relatively advanced dynamic two step system-GMM and quantile regression. Political stability is found to be a key determinant of economic growth. More importantly, political instability (or risk) is found to be higher in the OIC countries and is a deterrent to economic growth. Also, for the lower and middle income OIC countries, political instability appears to affect economic growth more severely perhaps due to the absence of strong economic and political institutions. Moreover, political instability is also found to be significantly higher in the oil-dependent OIC countries. Notably, political instability is likely to affect growth through the channels of investment and human capital accumulation in the developing countries. Finally, the impact of political stability and political instability on growth is found to be equally distributed across the OIC countries with higher or lower growth level. Therefore, the development of political and economic institutions along with human capital development is recommended for all the developing countries in general and the OIC countries in particular.

CV of Dr. Uddin 2020

CV Md Akther Uddin 2019 Updated

Does Indian Economic Growth Affect Bangladesh? An Application of ARDL

Does Indian growth affect the economy of Bangladesh? Growth spillover on neighbouring country has... more Does Indian growth affect the economy of Bangladesh? Growth spillover on neighbouring country has been studied recently but so far little empirical evidence to support this. More importantly, how regional power like India can affect its next-door neighbour Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Srilanka. Using Bangladesh as a case study, this study employs an error correction model derived from standard time series technique called “Auto Regressive Distributed Lag” (ARDL) proposed by Pesaran-Shin-Smith (2001). It is based on a time series data over the period 1975–2014. This study extends existing literature by focusing on growth spillover affect on neighbouring country. By using the ARDL technique, the findings diagnose that there is a long term relationship between Indian growth and growth of Bangladesh. It can be argued that Indian growth affects on growth of Bangladesh and it is found statistically significant. A number of policy recommendations have been proposed in order to further strengthen the relationship between these two countries.

Are Shari'ah Governance and Risk Management Important? A case of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd.

This paper studies Shari'ah governance and risk management practices in the biggest Islamic bank ... more This paper studies Shari'ah governance and risk management practices in the biggest Islamic bank in Bangladesh, Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd (IBBL). The study is descriptive and comparative in nature. We have analyzed existing literature to compare Shari'ah governance framework and used secondary data to understand the risk management practices in IBBL. The results indicate that Shari'ah governance differ across regions and legal institutions but uniformity is recommended to further develop the Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) in both Muslim and non-Muslim countries. In Bangladesh, IBBL follows the AAOIFI standards in Shari'ah governance and has maintained high standard so far. However, the situations in other Islamic banks are not very satisfactory. IBBL has developed comprehensive risk management framework but still face significant investment and credit risk with growing non-performing loan and excess liquidity risk due to limited short-term investment opportunities. The study could help policy makers to develop comprehensive shari'ah governance and risk management framework in IFIs across the world.

Political stability and growth: An application of dynamic GMM and quantile regression

by Md Akther Uddin, Bm Hakim, and Mansur Masih

This paper studies the effect of political stability on economic growth by taking 120 developing ... more This paper studies the effect of political stability on economic growth by taking 120 developing countries over the period of 1996–2014. We apply relatively advanced dynamic two step system-GMM and quantile regression. Political stability is found to be a key determinant of economic growth. More importantly, political instability (or risk) is found to be higher in the OIC countries and is a deterrent to economic growth. Also, for the lower and middle income OIC countries, political instability appears to affect economic growth more severely perhaps due to the absence of strong economic and political institutions. Moreover, political instability is also found to be significantly higher in the oil-dependent OIC countries. Notably, political instability is likely to affect growth through the channels of investment and human capital accumulation in the developing countries. Finally, the impact of political stability and political instability on growth is found to be equally distributed across the OIC countries with higher or lower growth level. Therefore, the development of political and economic institutions along with human capital development is recommended for all the developing countries in general and the OIC countries in particular.

Why are finance and human development important for economic growth in OIC countries? A Dynamic GMM Approach

by Md Akther Uddin and Bm Hakim

Islam is a pro-growth and pro-human development religion and there is a long history of tremendou... more Islam is a pro-growth and pro-human development religion and there is a long history of tremendous economic development in Islam but unfortunately since the last two centuries Muslim countries have derailed from the development trajectory. In a growing body of literature, the impact of finance and human development on growth has been emphasized but so far little empirical evidence to support this for OIC countries. In this paper an initial attempt has been made to investigate the relationship between finance, human development and economic growth in 44 OIC countries by applying dynamic Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), which overcomes the problems of OLS and other advanced static panel techniques. The study finds that finance affects growth positively and human development has significant impact on growth but relationship is ambiguous. OIC countries suffer from high unemployment and inflation problem and consequently affect growth negatively. The importance of accumulation of capital investment for growth is reaffirmed for Muslim countries. Moreover, Asian OIC countries tend to have higher growth than African and MENA region even though the results are not statistically significant. The study comes up with the policy recommendations for OIC countries in order to develop and diversify their economies.

War and Peace: Why is political stability pivotal for economic growth of OIC countries?

by Md Akther Uddin, Bm Hakim, and Mansur Masih

Since the end of World War II, Muslim countries have been plagued by sixteen major wars, many cou... more Since the end of World War II, Muslim countries have been plagued by sixteen major wars, many coups, political, religious and ethnic insurgency, and revolutions. While many developing countries in south-east Asia have emerged as developed economy in this time period, despite having sufficient natural resources, most of the Muslim countries are still fighting with poverty, unemployment, higher inflation, growing inequality, poor healthcare, illiteracy, and rampant corruption. This paper makes an initial attempt to investigate whether political stability affects economic growth in OIC oil dependent countries by using relatively advanced dynamic GMM and quantile regression. This would add new theoretical dimension in political economy with the help of advanced econometric modeling which has been less explored in literature. It is found that political stability has significant positive effect on growth even after controlling for key macroeconomic variables. Political stability is more important for lower income countries than higher income countries. Most of the low to mid income oil dependent OIC countries suffer from chronic misery, higher inflation and persistent unemployment, which affects growth negatively. The importance of political stability, economic diversification and macroeconomic stability has been restated with the policy recommendations for oil dependent developing countries in general and OIC countries in particular.

Reemergence of Islamic Monetary Economics: A Review of Theory and Practice

This paper reviews important theoretical and empirical literatures on Islamic monetary economics.... more This paper reviews important theoretical and empirical literatures on Islamic monetary economics. The reemergence of Islamic economics and finance in the twenty first century has motivated the issue. The prohibition of Riba has imposed challenges on Islamic economists to come up with the viable alternatives to achieve Islamic monetary policy goals. Equity based profit and loss sharing instruments have been proposed for conducting open market operations in an interest-free economy. Moreover, a number of conventional monetary instruments are still available: changes in reserve requirements, overall and selective controls on credit flows, changes in the monetary base through management of currency issue, and moral suasion. Theoretically, the Central Bank can achieve desired goals by manipulating money supply and profit-sharing ratios, also, the evidence from empirical literature suggests money demand tend to be more stable in an interest-free economy. Whether monetary transmission works through Islamic banking channel is yet controversial but the literature is growing. These findings are not surprising as majority Muslim countries lack sustainable and equitable economic growth; suffer from higher inflation and unemployment, little or no monetary freedom due to fixed exchange rate regime, shallow financial markets and strict capital control. A number of policy implications have been proposed.

Negative Interest Rate and Mudarabah Investment Deposits Rate: A Short Essay

Negative interest rate is quite a new phenomenon and many economists are quite puzzled by this ne... more Negative interest rate is quite a new phenomenon and many economists are quite puzzled by this new development after the global financial crisis of 2008/2009 and warned about its negative consequences. Whether negative interest rate can be considered as a Riba, literally interest rate, in Islamic finance is not settled yet. According to the classical text, the logic behind prohibition of interest rate, Riba, is actually inherent injustice; it may be to borrower or lender. There is no ruling or fatwa regarding negative interest rate. However, by following the analogy of injustice in Riba, we can argue that negative interest rate should be equated wtih Riba. One of the most controversial issues in current Islamic banking practice is that the return on Mudarabah investment deposits and interest rate on savings accounts are quite identical if not the same. Three key reasons for this paradox are briefly explained and number of measures has been recommended which might help delinking interest rate from profit rate.

The Academic Views from Moscow Universities on the Future of DEE at Russia and Ukraine

by Mkrttchian Vardan and Md Akther Uddin

Distance higher education has been growing rapidly all over the world and the importance of under... more Distance higher education has been growing rapidly all over the world and the importance of understanding
psycho-pedagogical issues of learners studying in Distance Education (DE) has been growing too.
Moscow universities have always had and are crucial to the development of education in the vast area
covering the entire territory of the former Soviet Union. In this chapter, an attempt is made to investigate
the current studies on components of individual differences like self-actualization, self-regulation, locus
of control, and motivation, and their influence in DE setting, academic views, and development visions for
Cyber U-learning model on the future of distance education in Russia and Ukraine. The current review
of the literature indicates that physical and psychological separation of learners and teachers initiate
various psycho-pedagogical issues and special attention must be given to accommodate this in content
development, pedagogical, instructional, and cyber ubiquitous learning design of DE.

Implications of Chinese Yuan on China's competitiveness

The stability and level of strength or weakness in exchange rates are prime considerations of mon... more The stability and level of strength or weakness in exchange rates are prime considerations of monetary authorities and businesses, both domestic and international. This paper thus analyses the RMB's appreciation and depreciation against its major trading partners' currencies namely the USD, EUR, JPY, AUD and MYR. It also includes a review of their volatilities and most importantly, the economic implications of the RMB rates on exports and foreign investment flows. The Renminbi has come a long way since its pegged days of 1994 to 2005. Most recently, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde herself, has endorsed its inclusion into an elite basket of the fund's reserve currencies. The Renminbi is now on a managed floating system and allegations of manipulation remain, especially with notable pauses in the currency's rises during the global financial crisis and in the second quarter of 2015. But the upward trend is undeniable, given that the Chinese economy is now the world's number two in size and the Renminbi is now the world's second most-used currency for trade finance. Its volatility has similarly picked up with the end of the peg and its increasing use worldwide. Ironically, an appreciating currency, albeit a managed one, bodes well for China's economy now as it is engineering a shift away from being led by exports to being driven by domestic consumption. A strong Renminbi will encourage more import consumption, something that the government would like to see. But challenges remain. China's still largely closed markets and questions about the country's political, legal and economic institutions may constrain the international use of its currency. And while the Renminbi has shot up in use, international sales in the currency still account for less than 3% of global transactions. The greenback continues to dominate as the currency for trade settlements. Thus while the wind is definitely beneath the Renminbi's sails, officials will likely need to skilfully navigate through potential turbulences ahead.

A Social Business Model for Poverty Alleviation through Collecting & Merchandising of Dry Fish: A Case Study from Bangladesh

Maheshkhali is an Upazila of Cox's Bazar District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh and t... more Maheshkhali is an Upazila of Cox's Bazar District in the Division of Chittagong, Bangladesh and there are about 300,000 people in this island. About 21.2% of the populations of Maheshkhali are living below lower poverty line and most of them are directly or indirectly employed in collecting, merchandising and exporting of salt, shrimp, sea-fish and dry fish. In the recent past, various development programs have been undertaken to eradicate poverty in this island but failed to reach to the poorest of the poor effectively due to various reasons, especially exploitation by money lenders and NGOs is considered to be the key. Dry fish processing is one of the major industries of Maheshkhali and there exist a growing demand of dry fish in local market and international market. The study is analytical in nature and based on secondary data collected from available published sources. We propose a social business model that will enable the root level dry fish processor to get benefit from their dry fish production by eliminating intermediaries with the help of latest information and communication technology which will ultimately help in reducing hardcore poverty of Maheshkhali Island.

Islamic Monetary Policy: Is there an Alternative of Interest Rate?

At the advent of global financial crisis conventional monetary policy has failed to regulate the ... more At the advent of global financial crisis conventional monetary policy has failed to regulate the money market and the consequence of which was seen in the global financial and capital market. This paper takes an attempt to give a brief outline of how Islamic monetary policy can be a sustainable alternative to the conventional. In order to understand Islamic monetary policy better we went back to early Islamic period and discussed how money was evolved and monetary policy was performed at that time. Reemergence of Islamic economic system in the latter half of the last century encouraged scholars in this field to have a fresh look at this issue. Comparative analysis shows that Islamic monetary policy can adopt many conventional instruments which are in line with the Shariah guidance such as: Legal Reserve Ratio, Credit Rationing, Selective credit control, Issue of directive, and Moral suasion etc. As interest rate, the key tool of conventional monetary policy regulation, is prohibited in Islamic economic system, the need for sustainable alternative is the order of the day. Unfortunately, Islamic banks and financial institutions set their benchmark based on London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) which raises doubt and controversy of the uniqueness of Islamic finance. Literature shows that this a growing field of knowledge and many theoretical works have been conducted in this area but little empirical work, moreover, very few on alternative benchmark for Islamic economic system. By analyzing literature we propose in our study that GDP growth rate adjusted for inflation can be set as a benchmark for money market instrument and reference for financial and capital market as we argue GDP growth rates reflect real balanced growth potential of an economy as it is correlated with national income, savings, inflation, exchange rate and investment compare to real interest rate, which is fixed in the money market and does not take into account the real sector.

Principles and Application of Preemption in Islamic finance: A critical analysis

This paper discusses the concept of Al-Shuf’ah (pre-emption), literally means amalgamation, addit... more This paper discusses the concept of Al-Shuf’ah (pre-emption), literally means amalgamation, addition, subjunction or joining. In Islamic law, Al-Shuf’ah implies that a co-owner has the right to demand a pre-emption from his partner in a jointly owned property to purchase it at a certain price, before other people (Al-Zurqani, 1981). The study confirms (Al-Zuhayli, 2003) preemption is a weak right, fortified and confirmed by requesting its exercise; preemption was legalized to protect the preemptor’s interests. All jurists agree that a partner in the property is a preemptor, but the Hanafis included neighbors as well, and preemption cannot result in a harm to the buyer by partitioning the sale. The study finds that in contemporary Islamic commercial law and transactions, the doctrine of
Al-Shuf’ah might play an important role in partnership contracts, immovable real estate and can be drawn similar analogy in the context of venture capital and housing financing, moreover, many scholars argue for extending the principle of pure ownership rights in intangible assets, options and preemptive rights of the shareholders of a corporation.

Principles of Islamic Finance: Prohibition of Riba, Gharar and Maysir

Islamic finance, a complete rule based financial system, fundamentals of which are originated fro... more Islamic finance, a complete rule based financial system, fundamentals of which are originated from revealed verses of the Holy Quran considered direct ordinance from the God and the practices of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) commonly known as ahadith. Although the concept of Islamic finance is as old as the religion itself but in the Middle Ages Muslims diverted from the original teachings of Islam, only recently Islamic finance has started to reemerge. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the fundamental rules that make Islamic finance different from its counterpart. In this paper an attempt has been made to discuss briefly fundamental principles of Islamic finance namely prohibition of Riba (interest), Gharar(uncertainty) and Maysir (gambling). It is found in the study that these principles are based on the fundamental sources and early Islamic jurists, scholars and contemporary researchers uphold them in carrying out financial transactions. In order to run financial system according to the Islamic principles these concepts must be understood clearly and all transactions must be free from them.

Governance from Islamic Economic Perspective: A Shari’ah Governance Framework

This paper attempts to give a brief overview of existing Shari’ah Governance framework in Malaysi... more This paper attempts to give a brief overview of existing Shari’ah Governance framework in Malaysia, compare with AAOIFI and IFSB standards and guidelines, identify current issues, and recommend measures to improve existing practices. The study finds that a great number of research have been carried out to study Shari’ah Governance framework in Malaysia, Indonesia, GCC, MENA, UK, and other OIC member countries. It can be concluded that the plurality in Shari’ah Governance practice across regions and countries may ensure success and support innovation in the short run, but, in order to establish credibility and promote Islamic Finance as a comprehensive financial system in the long run uniformity is desirable. A sustainable and viable Shari’ah Governance framework, which will not only provide credibility to IFIs but also ensure transparency, trust, ethical behavior, underlying faith and belief and ethics and also help protecting the stakeholders right and fulfill the broader principle of Maqasid al-Shari’ah (foundational goals of the Shari’ah).

Can GDP growth rate be used as a benchmark instrument for Islamic monetary policy?

This paper discusses Islamic monetary policy which could potentially be a sustainable alternative... more This paper discusses Islamic monetary policy which could potentially be a sustainable alternative to the conventional. Islamic banks and financial institutions have to set their benchmark based on London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) which raises doubt and controversy of the uniqueness of Islamic finance. By analyzing current literature on Islamic monetary policy models it is proposed in this study that GDP growth rate adjusted for interest income and inflation can be set as a benchmark for money market instrument and reference rate for financial and capital market to set the cost of capital or rate of return. In order to test the two proposed models, one year data from 99 countries have been collected. The study uses the OLS regression and the result shows that real interest rate is not a viable instrument for monetary policy framework as no significant relationship has been found with key factors such as inflation and unemployment. On the other hand, GDP growth rate has a statistically significant relationship with inflation and unemployment, GDP growth rate is higher for OIC countries, however, unemployment rate is higher.

Сравнительный анализ личностных особенностей студентов очного и дистанционного обучения (на примере студентов-психологов)

by Md Akther Uddin and Bronius Aysmontas

Personal and motivational aspects of students studying in traditional face-to-face system and distance education system

As the popularity of distance higher education has been growing rapidly all over the world, the i... more As the popularity of distance higher education has been growing rapidly all over the world, the importance of understanding psycho-pedagogical issues of learners studying in distance education has been growing too. In this article an attempt has been made to present findings of a dissertation research on various psycho-pedagogical components like selfactualization, self-regulation, locus of control, achievement motivation, and academic performance. The study reveals influence of the following psychological characteristics of students studying in the face-to-face and distance education: the student of the both forms of education show a similar pattern of personal development for the following characteristics: selfesteem and self-actualization value; distance learners exhibit higher level of self-actualization and internal locus of control but no significant difference is found in the level of self-regulated behavior. Achievement motivation is higher for distance learners; significant correlation exists between achievement motivation and various indicators of personal development of students of the both forms of education.