The aim of present study is to probe the dynamic relationship between economic growth, energy consumption and CO 2 emissions for period of 1980-2010 in case of Romania. In doing so, ARDL bounds testing approach is applied to investigate the long run cointegration between these variables. Our results confirm long run relationship between economic growth, energy consumption and energy pollutants. The empirical evidence reveals that Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) is found both in long-and-short runs in Romania. Further, energy consumption is major contributor to energy pollutants. Democratic regime shows her significant contribution to decline CO 2 emissions through effective implementation of economic policies and financial development improves environment i.e. reduces CO 2 emissions by redirecting the resources to environment friendly projects.

This study investigates the impact of domestic and foreign currency-valued exchange rate volatility on the export and import demand functions with reference to Pakistan’s trading partners. We use GARCH-based exchange rate volatilities and the least-squares dummy variable technique with fixed-effects estimation to measure the volatility impact on both demand functions. The study evaluates a series of exchange rates from 1970:01 to 2009:12 to compare the long-run impact of volatility with that of the short run. The results show that, when Pakistan employed the US dollar as the vehicle currency with its trading partners, volatility discouraged both imports and exports. In contrast, both the import and export demand functions remained unaffected by volatility distortions when Pakistan traded with its developing partners using bilateral exchange rates valued in domestic currency terms. In policy terms, this implies that Pakistan should opt for direct domestic currency when trading with middle- and low-income countries.

World is going to be global village due to the introduction of new and advanced technology and new innovations in technology make it more possible day by day. The widely spread economic activities both in real as well as in credit market is possible when they use advance technology to communicate. This is a fact that the world is rapidly moving towards an economic system based on the continuous and ubiquitous availability of information. Developing countries try to maintain and develop their technology in such a way that they can become a part of this global village. Recent developments in telecommunication technology have been an important tool to exchange the information to develop a sharp and valuable commodity market. During 21st century to move into post-industrial, information based economic growth, countries and sector try to equip themselves with the necessary telecommunication system. A modern telecommunication infrastructure is not only important for economic growth but also to connect domestic market of commodities as well as credit with international commodity and financial markets. This would develop the smooth flow of foreign investment, positive value of net exports, increase the value addition in GDP of an economy etc. Once the industrial and agriculture development was considered to be a best tool to enhance economic growth of a country, every country gave more importance to these sectors in its plans and policies, but now the trend has changed because the advancement and development of these two major sector of an economy sustain on the development of other factors, the role of service sector, advancement in technology, and the contribution of foreign sector in economic growth by different ways increases, and the major area of interest for foreign sector or investment was service sector and still it is, countries with the existence of GATS, started to privatise their set up, and after realising the importance of communications, the telecommunication sector is now on their main priorities. With the advancement of telecommunication services, a new market mechanism, low cost structure and expanded value chain of firms is possible [Kambil and Short (1994)], on other hand in developing countries, the average price of agricultural commodities is high in the area where there is telephone facilities available than the area where there is no facilities to communicate [Bayes, et al. (1999)].

Conventional Convergence models usually oversee the role of information and communications technology (ICT) as a determinant of convergence. This paper introduces ICT as a fac- Keywords: Convergence Models, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), System Generalized Method of Moments (SYS-GMM), Human Development Index (HDI), Electricity Consumption IntroductionImportance of information has been pivotal since beginning of human civilization. Since time immemorial the information has been serving as a competitive edge for its possessors [12]. During 20 th century, the advent of digital devices has hotfooted the flow of information and ability to process it. This technology is termed as Information and communication technology (ICT). During the last half of 20 th century, 'information revolution' was made possible through the 'digital' Information and Communication Technology 'ICT' [12]. The ICT revolution is crucial insofar as it involves technologies geared to the production and dissemination of knowledge and information. These new technologies, that first emerged in the 1950s and then really took off with the advent of the Internet, have breathtaking potential. It is worth noting that the differences between communication technology and information technology have become fuzzy. e.g. mobile phones are principally tools for communication. But with the invention of wireless technology, users can access information via cellular phone. Inter-

This study investigates the effect of working capital management on profitability of 148 diverse manufacturing firms listed on Karachi Stock Exchange, Pakistan for the period January 2006 to December 2011. The fixed effect and random effect models results revealed that firms’ aggressive strategy of financing negatively affect the profitability. Moreover, tight credit policy, efficiency of stock-in-trade management, early payment policy and conservative strategy of investment in current assets are found to have significant positive effect on profitability of firms. Findings of the study suggested that profitability of firms can be improved by devising optimal working capital management policies and also emphasized the investigation of factors that must be considered by management while formulating appropriate working capital management policies.