Distribution of Wealth for Sustainable Happiness

The richest one percent of the entire population of the world now owns more than half of the global wealth which shows global wealth is unequally distributed. Moreover, this is assumed that sustainable growth is impossible based on impossibility theorem. Considering the above, the study has been conducted and critically overviewed the wealth distribution of an ancient period based on Islamic rules and practice. Upon study, it has been found that people are very much self-centered and unaware of the broader perspective like searching happiness instead of immediate wealth maximization. The finding has also shown that right of inheritances, relatives, neighbors, society, and state should be defined clearly and need distribution of wealth based on definition. If we become more self-centered, we will find ourselves helpless. Here, wealth means knowledge and physical assets.

Characterizing Wealth Inequality in Cryptocurrencies

Cryptocurrencies often tend to maintain a publically accessible ledger of all transactions. This open nature of the transactional ledger allows us to gain macroeconomic insight into the USD 1 Trillion crypto economy. In this paper, we explore the free market-based economy of eight major cryptocurrencies: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Dash, Litecoin, ZCash, Dogecoin, and Ethereum Classic. We specifically focus on the aspect of wealth distribution within these cryptocurrencies as understanding wealth concentration allows us to highlight potential information security implications associated with wealth concentration. We also draw a parallel between the crypto economies and real-world economies. To adequately address these two points, we devise a generic econometric analysis schema for cryptocurrencies. Through this schema, we report on two primary econometric measures: Gini value and Nakamoto Index which report on wealth inequality and 51% wealth concentration respectively. Our analysis reports that, despite the heavy emphasis on decentralization in cryptocurrencies, the wealth distribution remains in-line with the real-world economies, with the exception of Dash. We also report that 3 of the observed cryptocurrencies (Dogecoin, ZCash, and Ethereum Classic) violate the honest majority assumption with less than 100 participants controlling over 51% wealth in the ecosystem, potentially indicating a security threat. This suggests that the free-market fundamentalism doctrine may be inadequate in countering wealth inequality within a crypto-economic context: Algorithmically driven free-market implementation of these cryptocurrencies may eventually lead to wealth inequality similar to those observed in real-world economies.

The Trade Relations between Turkey and United Kingdom after Brexit and in the Covid-19 Epidemic

In the process of globalization, where international economic relations have further increased their significance, the separation of United Kingdom from the EU (Brexit) has literally called into question the understanding of integration. It is also noteworthy that the Brexit event coincided with the trade wars between the USA and China and the beginning of the new regional unions that China has established in the Pacific. Undoubtedly, these developments will significantly affect the future of world trade. Slowing economic growth in the world economy, deterioration in income and wealth distribution, increasing indebtedness rates, falling productivity and the threat of the COVID-19 epidemic in terms of world trade volume are commonly discussed. Especially during the COVID-19 epidemic, the supply constraints, the breaks in supply chains and the problems in logistics sector, are generally seen to mark the beginning of important changes in international trade. And Brexit has taken place amid such severe conditions. Naturally, it will have consequences for almost every country. Brexit is likely to have an effect not only on the fully-fledged members of the EU, but also on countries outside the EU. The EU and the UK are important partners in Turkey’s foreign trade. Hence the question of How Brexit will affect the trade between UK and Turkey, given Turkey’s customs union agreement with the EU has lately topped Turkey’s agenda. This study aims to discuss Turkey’s foreign trade with England prior to Brexit as well as the possible developments after Brexit.

Wealth Inequality, Network Topology and Financial Instability

This paper asks if two, otherwise identical, economies were distinguished only by their distributions of wealth, are they equally stable in response to a random shock? A theoretical financial network model is proposed to understand the relationship between wealth inequality and financial crises. In a financial network, financial assets link individual asset and liability holders to form a web of economic connections. The total connectivity of an individual is described by their degree, and the overall distribution of connections in the network is imposed through a degree distribution--equivalent to the wealth distribution as incoming connections represent assets and outgoing connections liabilities. A network's topology varies with the level of wealth inequality and total wealth and together, simulations show, they determine network contagion in the event of a random negative income shock to some individual. Random network simulations, whereby each financial connection is randomly placed, reveal that increasing wealth inequality makes a wealthy network less stable--as measured by the share of individuals failing financially or the decline in financial asset values. These results suggest a unique architectural role for accumulated assets and their distribution in macro-financial stability.

Detailed analysis of Ethereum network on transaction behavior, community structure and link prediction

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, has attracted wide attention in the last few years and accumulated significant transaction records. However, the underlying Ethereum network structure is still relatively unexplored. Also, very few attempts have been made to perform link predictability on the Ethereum transactions network. This paper presents a Detailed Analysis of the Ethereum Network on Transaction Behavior, Community Structure, and Link Prediction (DANET) framework to investigate various valuable aspects of the Ethereum network. Specifically, we explore the change in wealth distribution and accumulation on Ethereum Featured Transactional Network (EFTN) and further study its community structure. We further hunt for a suitable link predictability model on EFTN by employing state-of-the-art Variational Graph Auto-Encoders. The link prediction experimental results demonstrate the superiority of outstanding prediction accuracy on Ethereum networks. Moreover, the statistic usages of the Ethereum network are visualized and summarized through the experiments allowing us to formulate conjectures on the current use of this technology and future development.

Heterogeneous Dynasties and Long-Run Mobility

Recent empirical work has demonstrated a positive correlation between grandparent-child wealth-rank, even after controlling for parent-child wealth-rank, and a positive correlation between dynastic wealth-ranks across almost 600 years. We show that a simple heterogeneous agents model with idiosyncratic wealth returns generates a realistic wealth distribution but fails to capture these long-run patterns of wealth mobility. An auto-correlated returns specification of this model also fails to capture both short and long-run mobility. However, an extension of the heterogeneous agents model which includes permanent heterogeneity in wealth returns is able to simultaneously match the wealth distribution and short- and long-run wealth mobility.

Do Islamic Banking Financial Instruments Achieve Equitable Income and Wealth Distribution?

The study investigates empirically whether the current practices of Sharīʿah-based financing contracts namely, Murabahah, Musharakah, Mudarabah, Istisna, Bai Bithaman Ajil, Ijarah and other contracts in the Malaysian Islamic banking industry achieved equitable income and wealth distribution. To do so, the study applied the bounds test and ARDL model to investigate the relationship between Sharīʿah-based financing contracts and Malaysian GINI coefficient index over the period from 1Q 2014 to 1Q 2019. In analyzing the long- and short-run implications, it was found that the practice of such Sharīʿah-based financing contracts in the Islamic banking industry achieved equitable income and wealth distribution in Malaysia using Murabahah, Mudarabah, Istisna, Bai Bithaman Ajil, and other (i.e., forward Ijarah) financing contracts. On the other hand, the findings indicated that Musharakah and Ijarah-based financing contract practices did not achieve equitable income and wealth distribution in Malaysia. This may be because the current practices of both contracts which seem to be handled as debts instruments and designed to the benefit of the banking sector only. To improve the Islamic banks’ financing practices in Malaysia, the outcomes of the study suggest that bank operators should strengthen the weight of Sharīʿah-based profit and loss sharing financing contracts with small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) instead of corporations. In other words, Islamic banks are able to achieve fair income and wealth distribution and uphold the concept of justice for all by gradually increasing Musharakah-based financing for SMEs that can potentially grow and create economic value. Further, to solve the problem of Ijarah contract practices, Islamic banks must take steps to enhance the requirements of Ijarah contracts, specifically ownership transformation, maintenance responsibility, default penalty, and the issue of legal treatment as well as bear the costs, risks and rewards related to the leasing asset instead of borne by the clint. The empirical findings of the study will provide valuable input for banks policymakers, particularly central banks, and Islamic bank management to evaluate the current practice of Islamic finance and proactively correct shortcomings to achieve equitable wealth distribution. This study is a pioneering investigation that empirically evaluates whether the current practices of Islamic banking financial instruments achieve the aims of the equitable financial system, and ensure that Islamic banks, as intermediaries, address the issue of inequality and attain equitable wealth distribution worldwide.

Avoiding material hardship: The buffer function of wealth

We assess how a variety of disruptive life-course events impact the economic wellbeing of US households and trace the importance of household wealth in helping families who experience these events avoid entering a spell of material hardship. Using longitudinal data from two panels of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP), we draw on direct measures of material hardship, disruptive events and household assets. Our analyses reveal that the relationship between disruptive events and the likelihood of experiencing a new spell of material hardship strongly varies across the wealth distribution, suggesting that high household wealth provides an effective private safety net. By distinguishing different types of disruptive events, we demonstrate that divorce, disability and income loss entail a risk of material hardship but also that this risk is effectively buffered by substantial wealth. Different types of hardship – namely, financial, food and medical hardship – respond in similar ways. Like public insurance schemes, wealth insurance helps buffer the effects of disruptive events on material hardship, but unlike public insurance schemes, reliance on private wealth further stratifies the economic wellbeing of households. Policy options for addressing this highly stratified private insurance scheme include disposing of the need for it by funding more robust public insurance, for instance through wealth taxation.