Green growth is an exceptional strategy for sustainable development. It provides a pathway to combat environmental issues and the use of natural resources. This study investigates the effects of green technology and environmental factors on green growth in high-gross domestic product (GDP) countries from 2000 to 2020. In addition, it also probes the linear and nonlinear effects of GDP on green growth. To do so, we employ an advanced econometric approach, e.g., a cross-sectional autoregressive distributed lags estimator for long and short runs. The outcomes demonstrate that the linear effect of GDP is positive for green growth. On the contrary, the nonlinear effect of GDP has a negative magnitude for green growth. Besides, green technology substantially increases green growth. Energy consumption is found to be an important influencer, and it decreases green growth. Environmental factors such as emissions, according to the findings, also reduce green growth in the sample countries. It is worth noting that the joint effects of energy consumption and emissions deteriorate green growth in countries. Based on empirical findings, for policy makers, this study suggests that high-GDP countries should manage their economic and environmental activities in order to increase the amount of green growth that may protect the ecological environment.

Increasing competition in the automobile industry has led to a vast variety of choices when buying a car thus making car selection a tedious task. The objective of this research is to develop a new hybrid multi-criteria decision-making technique, with accuracy greater than that of the already existing methods, in order to help the people in decision-making while buying a car. Hence, considering a broader spectrum, this study aims at easing the process of multi-criteria decision-making problems in different fields. To achieve the objective, seven different alternatives were evaluated with respect to the enlisted evaluation criteria, which were selected after analyzing the secondary data obtained from Pak wheels based on style, fuel economy, price, comfort and performance. These criteria were then analyzed using the proposed Full Consistency Fuzzy TOPSIS method. As the name tells, this method is a unique combination of two techniques. The Full Consistency method is used to calculate the weights of the criteria while the Fuzzy TOPSIS approach is applied to rank the alternatives according to their scores in the selected criteria. The outcomes demonstrate an increase in the consistency ratio of the weight coefficients due to which the ranking of the alternatives by the FCF-TOPSIS is more accurate than the TOPSIS and the Analytical Hierarchy Process. The novelty of the method lies in the fact that this combination has not been used for an alternative selection scenario before. In addition to this, it can be used in various industries where a choice between the available alternatives arises based on a set of evaluation criteria.

In this study we examine the technical efficiency of commercial banking sector of Pakistan. In recent past Pakistan’s commercial banking is making substantial investment and up-gradation in information and communication technology (ICT) in order to keep pace with global banking industry. Due to financial linearization the entry of the foreign banks with advance technology in the commercial banking sector has been increased that inclines other banks to adopt the new technology in order to earn more of market share. To justify the huge investments in computers and related technologies many question arises about the efficiency & productivity growth of the banks due to ICT. Accordingly, this study analyzes the efficiency of a sample of 11 commercial banks for the period 1998 to 2012. Using data envelopment analysis (DEA) we measure the Malmquist productivity index (MPI) to measure total factor productivity (TFP). In this study the time period (1998-2012) has been decomposed into pre-digital reforms (19982005) & post-digital reforms (2006-2012) period, in order to compare the efficiency change after the adaptation of IT by commercial banking sector. The variables are selected under intermediation approach. The results show that technical efficiency has been significantly increased in post-digital reform era and as a result TFP has also been boosted. The results show that MCB has consistently scored the highest efficiency & Malmquist TFP scores.

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It is generally believed that information technology (IT) impacts the organizational profitability positively however empirical evidence has remained inconclusive. This was first highlighted by Solow (1987), labelled as Solow’s paradox, and later labelled as profitability paradox by Beccalli (2007). The persistence of inconclusive empirical literature provides the impetus of this research to investigate the impact of different components of IT on banks profitability in Pakistan from 2009-2016 for a sample of 25 Pakistani commercial banks. Return on assets (ROA) and return on equity (ROE) have been used as indicators of bank profitability whereas two different components of IT, number of ATMs and investment in banks software have been employed as proxies of IT. Empirical results reveal that investment in bank software appears to have a positive influence on bank profitability, while the acquisition of ATMs seems to reduce the profitability of banks. It can be concluded that IT paradox is not necessarily a paradox of IT in totality and may be termed as IT component paradox.

Non-performing loans has become an important part of commercial banking of a country. This paper empirically tests the macroeconomic and bank-specific covariates of non-performing loans for a panel of 13 commercial banks for period of 2003-2012. Using fixed effects with Driscoll and Kraay standard errors, the influence of macroeconomic and bank-specific covariates is found meaningful. Recommendations include the policy steps to complement the sound financial system with a healthy macroeconomic environment to reduce non-performing loans in commercial banks in Pakistan. Moreover, need is highlighted for a policy approach with emphasis on the apposite credit culture and lending policy designed with pertinent economic and financial factors.

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