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Many government policies contain recommendations how to improve financial literacy, particularly through programmes of financial education and personal finance. However, personal financial management is not solely related to knowledge and financial literacy; individual confidence level in own financial abilities and household differences need to be considered in this regard. This paper investigates household financial efficacy through application of psychometric instruments, financial literacy, risk preference and demographic characteristics towards saving decision behaviour. The sample covers 404 households in Peninsular Malaysia and utilises the logistic and probit empirical model. The results show that household's financial efficacy is essential for household's saving decision behaviour and choice of saving instrument. Financial literacy, race, education and dependence ratio and location (rural or urban) of the household also play a role in saving instruments selection. More specifically, households with higher levels of financial efficacy are more likely to use bank-based or other lower risk saving instruments as compared to nonbanking-based instruments.

The economic theory on crime behavior proposed by Becker (1968) suggests that an increase in the number of policemen can deter crimes. However, recent studies found a positive relationship between police personnel and crime rates. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of police personnel on 15 categories of crime rates in Malaysia for the period of 1973 to 2005 by using the vector error-correction model. Our results suggest that 8 categories of crime rates support Becker’s crime economic theory, while 6 categories of crime support the ‘long-run natural rate of crime’ hypothesis.

The worldwide declining trend in male fertility has been a steady concern since the past few decades. Male infertility reportedly accounts for half of the overall infertility cases in the world. Despite the evidences of reduced fertility rates in Malaysia in the recent years, there is lack of interventions regarding the reproductive parameters in Malaysian men. Complexity in determining the underlying causatives in most of the male subfertility and infertility cases limits the scope of management. The sociodemographic impacts upon overall health as well as on reproductive health of men are undeniable. The present study has analysed the data collected from patients' records in the Fertility Clinic, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), from the January 2009 until December 2018. A total of 300 male patients were included in the study and were categorised according to their seminal fluid analysis (SFA) records. The sociodemographic characteristics for each subject were analysed. The results presented significant correlations among essential sociodemographic factors, such as educational attainment, marital duration as well as the age of wife, with the levels of semen abnormalities in the subjects. The study thereby unleashes scope for further investigations focusing upon the demographic factors for better insights to ameliorate male reproductive health in the Malaysian population.

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