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The main purpose of this paper is to establish the mediating effect of credit counselling in the relationship between access to microcredit and survival of micro small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa post COVID-19 pandemic with data collected from rural Uganda.

Structural equation modelling (SEM) through SmartPLS 4.0 was used to generate the standardized parameters to test whether credit counselling mediates the relationship between access to microcredit and survival of MSMEs in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa post COVID-19 pandemic with data collected from rural Uganda.

The SEM bootstrap results revealed that credit counselling enhances access to microcredit by 27% to promote survival of MSMEs in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa post COVID-19 pandemic with data collected from rural Uganda.

The current study focused only on women MSMEs. Future studies may possibly collect data from all the MSMEs to draw better generalization of the findings within the sector.

The findings can help public finance policy to ensure provision of credit counselling to microentrepreneurs who borrow from different financial institutions to reduce the problem of loan defaults and delinquency rampant in lending. This could be done through conducting routine business education and counselling sessions for microentrepreneurs who often need credit to grow their businesses.

This study is amongst the first few studies to establish the mediating effect of credit counselling in the relationship between access to microcredit and survival of MSMEs in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa in the aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic with data collected from rural Uganda. There is a dearth in literature and theory on the rehabilitative and preventive role of credit counselling in reducing repayment defaults amongst borrowers within the credit market to spur survival of MSMEs seen as the main enabler of economic growth, especially in developing countries. In fact, credit counselling acts as a safety net by substituting financial literacy and education to solve the rampant problem of overindebtedness amongst borrowers who are debt illiterate within the credit market.

This paper aims to assess to what extent the COVID-19 shock is expected to create a debt crisis in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) through two main questions: what are the main determinants of EMDEs external vulnerability? How vulnerable are EMDEs to the current COVID-19 shock compared to the global financial crisis (GFC)?

In addition to a descriptive analysis of the determinants of EMDEs external vulnerability, this paper designs two sub-indices of overindebtedness and financial fragility that capture EMDEs’ distinct characteristics. The two sub-indices together illustrate the overall external vulnerability to the current shock.

EMDEs are more vulnerable compared to the GFC era. Current debt threats arise mainly from debt architecture and the domination of volatile debt forms – primarily foreign currency-denominated bonds. Excessive fear of debt-deflation spirals after the GFC prompted EMDEs to expand their growth trajectories through a pattern of cheap private lending, loose measures and unmonitored fiscal expansion.

Conclusive post-crisis data are still unavailable.

EMDEs need to balance between temporary accommodative measures and a post-shock policy mix that prevent a deflation spiral without worsening indebtedness and financial fragility. Moreover, financial prudence in face of growing credit demand is crucial, particularly in light of the monetary expansion and injected liquidity.

The indices offer a framework for examining external vulnerability in EMDEs based on theoretical and historical revisions, IMF benchmarks and EMDEs specific debt characteristics. The indices components can be offered for empirical examination in separate future research once conclusive data become available.

This paper aims to understand if buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, a digital type of credit that targets young consumers, acts as a protective or a risk factor for food insecurity among young consumers in Australia.

The study uses survey data from a representative sample of young consumers aged 18–24 from all internal states and territories in Australia. Propensity score matching is used to test two hypotheses: BNPL drives young consumers to food insecurity, and food insecurity leads young consumers to use BNPL.

There is evidence that BNPL use is driving young Australian consumers to experience food insecurity, but there is no evidence of food insecurity driving the use of BNPL services.

The evidence of BNPL driving young consumers to experience food insecurity calls for the adoption of practices and stronger regulation to ensure that young users from being overindebted.

Although the link with more traditional forms of credit (such as personal loans) and consumer wellbeing has been explored more broadly, this project is the first attempt to have causal evidence of the link between BNPL and food insecurity in a high-income country, to the best of the authors’ knowledge. This evidence helps to fill the gap about the protective or risky nature of this type of digital financial product, as experienced by young Australians.

To improve the loan repayment performance (LRP) of microfinance banks (MFBs) in Pakistan, this study aims to look at the direct impact of multiple borrowing (MB) on LRP and client-business performance (CBP), as well as the direct impact of CBP on LRP. The moderating function of pandemic factors in the relationship between MB and CBP, as well as the mediating effect of CBP in the association between MB and LRP, was also investigated in this study.

A questionnaire was used to obtain data from 531 lower-level workers of microfinance institutions (MFIs) for the study. The respondents were chosen using stratified sampling, which divided the target population into four influential groups: lending officers in agriculture, lending officers in businesses, lending officers in gold loans and lending officers in salary loans. In this study, a two-stage structural equation modeling approach was used, including a measurement model (outer model) and a structural model (inner model). The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were investigated using the measurement model (outer model), whereas PLS-SEM bootstrapping was performed to test the hypothesis and find the relationship among different underpinning constructs by using the structural model (inner model).

The outcomes of this study demonstrate that MB has a direct impact on CBP, and that CBP has a direct impact on LRP. MB, on the contrary, had no direct and significant impact on LRP in this study. The idea that CBP mediates the relationship between MB and LRP, as well as the moderating effect of pandemic factors on the relationship between MB and CBP, is supported by this research.

Until now, the influence of MB on LRP via the mediating role of CBP and the moderating role of a pandemic factor in the setting of Pakistani MFBs has received little attention. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this research also aids MFBs in better understanding MB and its impact on LRP. Furthermore, based on the findings of this study, Pakistani MFIs can enhance their LRP by implementing new lending regulations, particularly with reference to MB and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global systemic risks of climate change, overindebtedness in the aftermath of the 2008/2009 World Financial Crisis and the need for pension reform in the wake of an aging western world population, currently raise attention for intergenerational fairness. Pressing social dilemmas beyond the control of singular nation states call for corporate social activities to back governmental regulation in crisis mitigation. The purpose of this paper is to promote the idea of intergenerational equity in the corporate world.

Theoretical description.

In the given literature on global responsible leadership in the corporate sector and contemporary corporate social responsibility (CSR) models, intergenerational equity appears to have been neglected. While the notion of sustainability has been integrated in CSR models, intergenerational equity has hardly been touched on as for being a more legal case for codifying the triple bottom line.

Advocating for integrating intergenerational equity concerns in CSR models in academia and practice holds untapped advantages of economically influential corporate entities, corporate adaptability and independence from voting cycles.

Integrating a temporal dimension in contemporary CSR helps imbuing a longer-term perspective into the corporate world alongside advancing tax ethics and global governance crises prevention.

Future research avenues comprise of investigating situational factors influencing intergenerational leadership in the international arena in order to advance the idea of corporations tackling the most pressing contemporary challenges of mankind.

Following a successful debt-renegotiation process in the mid-2000s, Argentina consolidated a path of growth and debt relief. The outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2007–2009 and other domestic imbalances altered the economic scenario. In this context, the authorities tried to return to global financial markets, but legal conflict with vulture funds made that option unpalatable. In 2015, the triumph of a right-wing political coalition restored the dominance of neoliberal economic policies, including the return to debt and equity markets. The subsequent cycle of indebtedness and capital flight faced by Argentina not only unleashed a major crisis but also caused the return of the International Monetary Fund, which granted the largest lending arrangement to a single country in its history. The aims of this chapter are to analyze the winding cycle of debt reduction and overindebtedness experienced by Argentina between 2001 and 2022; to examine the set of structural factors as well as the role of certain domestic and foreign actors; and to consider the long-term effects of external indebtedness and some lessons that can be drawn for other countries in the Global South.

Young consumers represent a significant purchasing group, but little is known about how they make money management decisions. This study aims to identify and classify different approaches to money management that may impact purchasing behaviour.

Data from focus groups with 40 respondents between 18 and 24 years were recruited via campus notices across three campuses in a university in Melbourne, Australia.

Based on how respondents accommodated economic, social and psychological influences in their money management approach, the authors identified three distinct approaches to money management: conservative money managers, creative money managers and entrepreneurial money managers.

The study is based on a small sample consisting of 40 individuals in Australia.

Young consumers share common traits as a group but have diverse attitudes and approaches to money management. The authors identify three distinct approaches to money management based on respondents’ management of factors affecting their money management. Companies must consider these differences to effectively approach millennial consumers.

The indebtedness of young consumers is a common concern in society. Analysis of their approaches to money management offers an opportunity for organisations to support responsible individual money usage amongst young consumers.

While exploratory, the current study is the first to consider how differences in money management behaviour in young generations may impact consumer decision-making.

The cycle of external indebtedness of dependent countries has become a huge constraint on any strategy for radical social change.

Argentina has recently entered a new process of debt overhang and renegotiation with the International Monetary Fund and private global creditors. The dominant debate around the country's foreign debt revolves around the conditions that can guarantee the sustainability of repayment. The underlying objective is to remain in the debt system that produces and reproduces dependency.

This chapter will seek to analyze the question of debt sustainability from another point of view: Is it possible to guarantee the (financial) sustainability of the debt at the same time as guaranteeing the sustainability of life? Our argument is that by remaining in the global debt system, Argentina creates conditions that violate the requirements for the sustainability of human and nonhuman life. Drawing on a discussion from Marxist dependency theory and the traditions of Marxist feminism and environmentalism, we will discuss how the debt sustainability argument presupposes the impossibility of reproducing life. In particular, we will show how the conditions required to guarantee debt sustainability in Argentina entail the deepening of the superexploitation of the “productive” and “reproductive” labor force, and the exacerbation of extractivism, putting social reproduction in crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to review the main methods used in the literature to measure financial literacy (FL) of individuals.

The paper begins by describing how the different items used to measure the FL level of individuals are constructed. Then, it focuses on how do researchers select the items. Finally, it reviews the different calculation methods used in the literature to assess the FL level.

FL as a concept is tough to define and measure. Several studies focus on the definition and the measure of this concept. Different items are used in the literature and are mostly related to the study topics. The used calculation methods differ across the different studies.

This paper sheds light on the principal methodologies used in the literature to measure FL. It highlights the relationship between the items' content areas and the studies' subjects. Thus, this paper suggests guidance for future studies on measuring methods of FL.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which individual risk attitude determines a Cambodian smallholder's choice between a commercial informal loan and a credit from a licensed microfinance institution.

The paper analyzes a sample of smallholder farmers in the Ratanakiri province in northeastern Cambodia, a country with a long history of microfinance and a saturated microcredit market. Employing a binary and a multinomial logit model, this paper assesses the effect of individual risk attitude on the choice of a financial instrument.

The results reveal a statistically significant relationship between the choice of a credit source and an individual's risk attitude: On average (c.p.) the less risk averse the smallholder is, the more they tend to prefer an unlicensed commercial lender.

The findings suggest that less risk-averse individuals tend to take up riskier and generally more expensive informal loans. Measures to increase the safe access to financial services for less risk-averse borrowers as well as improvements in financial literacy should be undertaken to protect smallholders from taking risky choices.

Although existing studies have examined the importance of risk attitudes between credit provider and borrower, they focus mainly on the lender's perspective. This paper provides new insights on how risk attitude influences the borrower's choice in Cambodia. Thus, this study is relevant for policymakers in countries with oversaturated microcredit markets and a high prevalence of informal lenders.