This paper analyzes long-term equilibrium relationships between a group of macroeconomic variables and the Karachi Stock Exchange Index. The macroeconomic variables are represented by the industrial production index, the consumer price index, M1, and the value of an investment earning the money market rate. We employ a vector error correction model to explore such relationships during 1973:1 to 2004:4. We found that these five variables are cointegrated and two long-term equilibrium relationships exist among these variables. Our results indicated a "causal" relationship between the stock market and the economy. Analysis of our results indicates that industrial production is the largest positive determinant of Pakistani stock prices, while inflation is the largest negative determinant of stock prices in Pakistan. We found that while macroeconomic variables Granger-caused stock price movements, the reverse causality was observed in case of industrial production and stock prices. Furthermore, we found that statistically significant lag lengths between fluctuations in the stock market and changes in the real economy are relatively short.

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Bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is an important bacterial disease in rice leading to heavy yield and economic losses. In current investigation, the rice leaf samples from infested regions were screened for Xoo strains linked to incidence of this disease. Subsequently, 17 different isolates were identified based on Gram staining, KOH assay and PCR analysis. Moreover, the percentage diseases incidence and weight loss of 1000-grains of each sample from four zones of rice production were recorded. Both biochemical test exhibited red stained and rod like Gram-ve bacteria. In addition, the molecular recognition by means of a 16S rRNA universal primer revealed DNA amplification in 15 out of 17 isolates which confirmed the pathogen as "Xoo". The data assessed for disease incidence in all investigated districts ranged between 70.12%-49.23%. While, the maximum and minimum weight losses of 17.84% and 11.17% from Sialkot and Narowal were recorded respectively. The application of such tools for Xoo detection and its impact on crop yield are contested in this investigation.

This preliminary study aims to develop a corporate governance index based on governance practices followed by the listed firms at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). Since the corporate governance concept is at very initial level of its implementation and practices, this study also analyses the structure of good corporate governance practices and level of awareness about new regulations of corporate governance implemented by Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan. The data is collected through a structured questionnaire covering seven corporate governance categories: audit committee, board of directors, charter/bylaws, director education, executive and director compensation, ownership, and the progressive practices during the year 2004. The results indicate that all of the firm performance measures; return on equity, net profit margin, sales growth and dividend yield (except Tobin’s Q) have their expected positive relation with corporate governance index score (Gov-Score) and are significant in correlation and decile analysis. This suggests that firms with relatively poor governance are relatively less profitable, less valuable, and pay less cash to their shareholders. The role of audit and board of director are highly associated with good performance while the governance categories related to director’s education and charter/bylaws are least associated with good performance

In the context of recent energy transition from hydrocarbon molecules to electrons, this research aims to examine the degree of substitution between renewable energy sources and fossil fuels through a dynamic framework of time‐varying parameters under state‐space model. For this purpose, this research selects four major oil‐importing countries and employs annual time series data for crude oil imports, gross domestic product, crude oil price, renewable energy consumption, population growth, real effective exchange rate and industrial production index for each country in the sample while covering the period 1991–2018. The estimates reveal positive and significant income, population and industrial production index elasticities for most of the countries in the sample. In addition, this research finds negative and statistically significant elasticity between renewable energy consumption and demand for imported crude oil for India, China and Japan, although magnitude is very small. However, there is insignificant and little substitution for US data. This research is unique as to our knowledge there is no such study available before and it provides insights for policymakers in oil‐exporting countries to develop sustainable long‐term diversification strategies to reduce reliance on oil revenues.