If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Islam prohibits interest as a source of income or profit. The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible application of Bai Salam contract (forward sale agreement) as an alternative financial instrument in the agriculture sector of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach -A survey was conducted in four districts of the Punjab with a specifically designed questionnaire. A convenient sampling technique was used to gather farmers' concerns related to crops inputs, output and credit requirements. Findings -Empirical findings conclude that agriculture income represents only up to 60 percent of the income of an average farm household. About 70 percent of farmers participate in the credit market. They need money to purchase crops inputs, to pay the labour and to hire rental machinery. Farmers believe that they can save up to 25 percent in costs if they purchase inputs on cash. The survey also discloses that middlemen are the larger financers and buyers of crops in the rural economy whereby only 10 percent of transactions are conducted on a purely cash basis. Farmers usually return the money after the sale of the crop.Research limitations/implications -The concept of the paper can be extended to areas where large landlords dominate the scene. Alternatively, it can be extended towards non-farm activities such as cattle raising and poultry. Originality/value -The paper is a first comprehensive effort to explore the possible application of an Islamic banking instrument in the agriculture sector of Pakistan. It also suggests three possible models for financing under a Bai Salam contract. Some policy recommendations are also given.

The effects of marriage between biological relatives on the incidence of childhood genetic illness and mortality are of major policy significance, as rates of consanguinity exceed 50% in various countries. Empirical research on this question is complicated by the fact that consanguinity is often correlated with poverty and other unobserved characteristics of households, which may have independent effects on mortality. This study has developed an instrumental variables empirical strategy to re-examine this question, based on the concept that the availability of unmarried cousins of the opposite gender at the time of marriage creates quasi-random variation in the propensity to marry consanguineously. Using primary data collected in Bangladesh in 2006-07 and Pakistan in 2009-10, the study found that previous estimates of the impact of consanguinity on child health were biased and falsely precise. The study also empirically investigated the social and economic causes of consanguinity (including marital quality) and concludes that marrying a cousin can have positive economic effects for one's natal family, by allowing deferral of dowry payments until after marriage.

In this paper we present the comparison among the distributions used in hazard analysis. Simulation technique has been used to study the behavior of hazard distribution modules. The fundamentals of Hazard issues are discussed using failure criteria. We present the flexibility of the hazard modeling distribution that approaches to different distributions.