Cross-border Trade Penetration and Female Labour Intensity in Developing Countries: Evidence from the BioTrade Sector (with Dr. Irene Atadana and Prof. Daniel Sakyi)
Recent developments in the BioTrade sector, supported by biodiversity-focused Official Development Assistance (ODA) to developing countries, aim to empower women and vulnerable groups via greater cross-border trade participation and inclusive growth. Yet empirical evidence on BioTrade's impacts on women's employment and wages remains scarce. We fill this gap with UNCTAD data on BioTrade, employment, and wages across 64 developing countries (2010–2022). A dynamic system GMM model shows that BioTrade increases women's participation in cross-border trade. The Sustainable Development Goals, Buenos Aires Declaration on Trade and Women's Economic Empowerment, and biodiversity ODA further amplify its positive effects on women's tradable-sector employment. BioTrade also raises women's average wages and narrows the gender wage gap in the tradable sector. These results highlight BioTrade's potential to advance women's participation in cross-border trade and economic well-being. Policies strengthening UNCTAD-local community collaboration in developing countries could amplify gains, particularly in rural areas.
Macro Drivers of Cryptocurrency Adoption: A Cross-Country Perspective (with Prof. Vikas Kakkar)
Despite the global surge in interest for cryptocurrencies, the fundamental factors driving their adoption and their potential to generate long-term economic value remain poorly understood. This paper explores the macroeconomic drivers influencing cryptocurrency adoption and usage worldwide. By analyzing data from a diverse panel of 118 countries, we assess the impact of several macroeconomic and financial variables on cryptocurrency adoption. We identify decentralized finance (DeFi), inflation volatility, stock market volatility, GDP per capita, and security fragility as the key drivers of global cryptocurrency adoption, with DeFi having the largest impact. We provide the first evidence that cryptocurrencies are not solely speculative but also address financial exclusion and distrust in banking systems through increased DeFi usage. Our research also uncovers significant variations in cryptocurrency adoption across different income levels and regions, underlining the importance of nuanced policy-making that reflects this heterogeneity.
Determinants of Household Crypto Asset Market Participation: Evidence from the United States (with Prof. Vikas Kakkar)-R&R in International Review of Economics and Finance
While demand for cryptocurrencies as a growing asset class continues to rise, the underlying factors driving this adoption—particularly at the household level—remain insufficiently explored in the literature. This paper investigates the determinants of U.S. household investment in cryptocurrency assets, drawing on data from the 2021 National Financial Capability Study. The findings suggest that households exhibiting high self-assessed financial knowledge, advanced digital literacy, low risk aversion, and strong aversion to fraud have a higher propensity to invest in cryptocurrencies. Interestingly, a household's objective financial knowledge appears to have no significant effect on their investment decisions in this domain. The study also reveals evidence of behavioral biases, particularly overconfidence and myopia (short-termism), in the U.S. cryptocurrency market. Moreover, households guided by financial advisors tend to avoid cryptocurrency investments, while those influenced by social media are more inclined to invest in them. These findings offer important insights for the development of informed policies in the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency landscape.