Winners of Al Hussein Awards for Economic Research honoured

AMMAN — Winners of Al Hussein Awards for Creativity and Excellence were honoured by Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) Governor Adel Sharkas during a ceremony held in Amman on Tuesday. 

Adel Sharkas, who also chairs the board of directors of the King Hussein Fund for Creativity and Excellence, awarded the winners of the second edition of economic research for the year 2022. 

During the ceremony, Sharkas announced the launch of the third edition of the Economic Research Award for the year 2023, in the fields of monetary policy, the financial and banking sector, green economy, digital economy, financial technology and labour economics.

“The award is an opportunity to enrich research work in economic fields, including monetary policy, public finance and banking sciences, in a way that contributes to the development of ideas, solutions and proposals based on scientific foundations,” Sharkas said during his remarks. 

Sharkas highlighted the necessity of scientific research, noting that its importance lies in its key role in achieving progress, growth and prosperity. Sharkas also stressed the importance of practical research in helping economic decision-makers.

“Appreciating and supporting research efforts is of high importance, and I highly encourage and urge researchers to extend their efforts and continue in the field of academic research,” said Sharkas.

Meanwhile, Ali Yaghi, director-general of the King Hussein Fund for Excellence (HFE), said that the fund, which was established in 1999 under Royal patronage, represents the social responsibility arm of the banking sector in Jordan. 

“HFE aspires to be a national centre for supporting creativity and excellence, as well as advancing sustainable development in Jordan,” Yaghi added. 

Yaghi stated that sustainable development can be achieved by nurturing creativity in the technological, cultural and developmental fields, and also, by launching, supporting and sponsoring projects that develop talents, capabilities and creativity among all sectors of Jordanian society. 

HFE grants funds to projects launched and implemented by ministries, the government and private sector institutions in several fields covering many sectors, Yaghi added.

“In this context, the HFE, in cooperation with the CBJ, launched the Fund's Economic Research Awards, which we celebrate today by honouring the winners of the second edition of research awards,” Yaghi said. 

“The second edition of the awards witnessed high demand for participation, totalling to 128 applications,” Yaghi added. 

Among the applications, 74 were for the research category, 20 for the doctoral theses category and 34 for the master's theses category. 

“The participation of researchers from Jordanian universities amounted to 73 per cent, while researchers from other ministries and institutions contributed about 14 per cent of the works, and 13 per cent of applications were submitted by researchers from the CBJ,” Yaghi added. 

According to the results, approved by the board of directors of the fund headed by Sharkas, the research presented by researchers Rand Al Mubaideen and Ahmed Al Majali titled “Estimating the Indirect Effects on Inflation, the Output Gap, and Foreign Reserves in Jordan Using the Modern Keynesian Model” won the Monetary Policy Award.

While the award was withheld for the doctoral thesis category, the award dedicated to the master's thesis was shared between Renad Al Shamayleh for her thesis, titled “The Non-Linear Impact of Monetary Policy on Core Inflation in Jordan: The Nardel Model”, and Bassel Mohammed Sanajleh for his thesis titled “The Impact of the Real Interest Rate on Economic Growth in Jordan.”

In the field of fiscal policy, two research papers shared the award: the first for research submitted by Mazen Al Basha titled “Determinants of the financial multiplier: The case of Jordan”, and the second for research submitted by Rasha Abu Shawish and Amani Al Rawashdeh titled “Estimating the tax gap in Jordan during the period 2010-2020”.

Meanwhile, the award for the best doctoral thesis in the field of financial policy was shared between Hamza Qawaqza, for his thesis was titled “The mediating impact of audit quality on the relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and the quality of financial reports”, and Firas Al Mallah for his thesis titled “Budget Transparency and Governance, and its Impact on Economic Performance and Public Finance: An Analytical Study of a Number of Developing Countries in the Middle East and Asia.”

In the field of the financial and banking sector, the award for the best research was shared between Saddam Al Wadi, Jamil Jabr and Muhammad Saleh for their research titled “Improving the Accuracy of Forecasting in the Banking Sector, a case study from the Amman Stock Exchange,” and Ibrahim Khatabeh, Wasfi Al Salamat, Muhammad Abu Al Foul and Jamil Jaber for their research titled “Is there a Kuznets financial curve in Jordan? Analyse the structure of time series.”

The award for the best doctoral thesis in this field went to Jamil Jaber for his thesis titled “Modeling Corporate Credit Risk Using Actuarial Techniques”. The award for the best master's thesis went to researcher Lara Al Nuaimi for her thesis titled “The Impact of Internal Audit Effectiveness on the Relationship between the Application of the COBIT5 Model and Decision Making in Jordanian Commercial Banks”. 

As for the economic growth category, Saeed Al Khatib and Alaa Al Khatib won for their research titled “Driving Factors for Global Market Integration: The Case of Jordanian Industries”, for the same category, Munther Al Rawabdeh won for his master's thesis titled “Determinants of Growth in the Construction Sector in Jordan”, while the PhD thesis award was withheld from this category.

The Scientific Committee of the Award granted a number of appreciation awards for research applications which had important topics, including Islamic economics and won by Al Bahahat Hamza Mashouka, for his research titled “The role of the Zakat system in changing the behavioural pattern of low-income consumers”. Meanwhile, the green economy research award was given to Muhammad Al Adwan for his research titled “Green Economy: Sustainability, Accounting, Reality and Aspirations”.

In the field of central banks, research submitted by Maan Al Nsour and Samer Rajoub titled, “The Four Indicators of Independence of Central Banks, The Case of the Central Bank of Jordan,” won the award.