The sudden switch to emergency remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic posed many challenges for learners, but it also provided the opportunity to research these challenges. This study empirically examines the relationships of the contextual challenges of emergency remote learning with future preference for e-learning, as well as moderating effects of learning outcomes on future preference for e-learning of undergraduates during the closure of Higher Education Institutions. Participants were drawn from two universities in Malaysia practising emergency remote learning during the survey period. Underpinned by the literature, the challenges of emergency remote learning and future preference for e-learning were operationalised into items reflective of each factor. In total, 352 valid responses were collected via a self-administered questionnaire hosted on Google Forms, and responses were analysed with Eviews statistical software. In this study, the significant challenges associated with future preference for e-learning, in descending order, were disadvantages (negative), learning outcomes, and advantages. Additionally, the interaction between learning outcomes and disadvantages has a positive relationship, reversing the original negative relationship of disadvantages with future preference for e-learning. Sustainability of higher education in times of crisis is critical. This study provides valuable insights concerning the importance of achieving learning outcomes in order to support sustainable higher education using emergency remote learning during similar future crises.

Existing studies find that the nonlinear relationship between financial development and economic growth is inverted U-shaped or there exist Kuznets curve, where financial development harm growth after surpassed the threshold point. The objective of this study is to re-estimate the existing relationship between financial development and economic growth for 65 developing countries for the period post 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis starts from 2009-2015 using Generalized Method-of-Moment (GMM). Three financial development indicators namely, domestic credit to private sector (DCPS), liquid liabilities (LL) and private credit to deposit money (PCDM) are used in this study. However, our findings are contrary to the previous study. Interestingly, our result shows that the nonlinear relationship between financial development and economic growth is U-shaped for all indicators. In other words, financial development accelerated economic growth after reaching the turning point. The results of U-test of Lind and Mehlum (2010) confirms that the U-shaped relationship exist. It shows that the higher financial development enhance the performance of economic growth. Thus, our results challenge the previous findings and recommend for policy review.

Financial development is recognized as an absorptive capacity in the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and economic growth. Therefore, FDI effect on economic growth is contingent with the level of financial development. However, existing studies also show that financial development dampens economic growth through the “too much finance harms economic growth” hypothesis. Hence, there is a question of how far financial development should be developed to optimize the benefits of FDI on economic growth. The novelty of this study is that it reexamines the role of financial development in FDI-growth relationship by including the interaction term between FDI and the nonlinearity of financial development on economic growth in the period following the 2007–2008 Global Financial Crisis. Interestingly, our results demonstrate that the nonlinear relationship of financial development on economic growth is a U-shaped curve by using data from the 2009–2013 period, for 65 developing countries, which contrast the findings from previous studies. The absorptive capacity effects work nonlinearly, in that FDI accelerates growth after reaching a certain level of financial development, and that the positive effect originates from a minimum level. The study thus suggests that the level of financial development needs to be increased since it serves as a form of absorptive capacity enabling the positive growth effects of FDI in the recipient countries.

A study on the effects of earnings management practices on bank cost efficiency, using banking data in five ASEAN countries, was conducted in 1989-2015. The Stochastic Frontier Analysis technique employed to gauge cost efficiency revealed that each country has different efficiency level. With panel data analysis, we further discovered that increase in earnings management practices reduces bank's efficiency significantly. It is suggested that banking supervisors and managers should formulate strategies that focus on cost efficiency-related initiatives and regulate earnings management practices. Such strategies could potentially facilitate the economic integration of ASEAN countries.

With the rapid development of internet finance in China, the risk management of internet finance has become an urgent issue. This study analyzes the factors that affect the default risk of Chinese internet finance companies based on measuring the distance to default of companies. This study incorporates ESG rating into the evaluation model to comprehensively reflect the default risk factors. The traditional KMV model is modified with ESG rating, and results are used to construct the panel logit model. Based on internet finance firms listed on China A-Shares data from 2016 to 2020, our results show the following: first, the modified ESG-KMV logit model can effectively analyze the influencing factors of the internet finance default risk. Second, ROE, accounts receivable turnover ratio, asset-liability ratio and z-value are important factors that affect the default risk of internet finance companies. Third, it is also found that COVID-19 has significantly impacted the default risk of internet finance companies. As a policy implication, the regulator can incorporate ESG into the measurement of the default risk to create more awareness among internet finance companies on the importance of the environment and sustainability to human societies.