AbstractThis study investigates the impact of credit market performance on economic security
in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 1990 to 2023. Using the credit friction and
market freeze theory, advanced methodologies are employed, including the Gregory-
Hansen cointegration test, autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing,
nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) model, the Kuznets curve, and Toda-Yamamoto causality
test. The Gregory-Hansen test identifies structural breaks, while the ARDL bounds test
confirms a long-term relationship between economic security and credit market
components, including domestic credit supply and nonperforming loans. Results
indicate that both credit market and nonperforming loans negatively affect economic
security. Furthermore, higher lending interest rates and weak institutional quality are
detrimental, whereas rising oil prices, public expenditure, foreign capital inflows, and
real GD.....