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This paper studies recent inflation dynamics in Egypt with the objective of assessing whether structural factors are behind the trend rise in inflation since 2003. Using an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, we uncover the role of two significant determinants of long-run inflation dynamics: excessive monetary growth, and a rise in the intensity of relative price variability. These two variables are shown to play a key role in explaining inflation developments over the period January 2000 to October 2018 after controlling for the impact of exchange rate devaluations, energy price liberalization, adverse supply-side shocks and movements in international commodity prices. While the latter group of variables was influential in triggering inflation waves over the short to medium term, our empirical results show that excessive monetary growth and increased variability in relative prices are the main drivers behind the trend rise in inflation. The paper also estimates an unrestricted vector autoregressive (VAR) model to further study the direction of causality between inflation and relative price variability. Results from the forecast error variance decomposition show that relative price variability accounts for the largest proportion of the variance decomposition for inflation, further confirming its central role in driving inflation dynamics. In addition, the impulse response functions also indicate the strong response of inflation to positive RPV shocks, while inflation appears to have an insignificant effect on RPV. Furthermore, our ARDL model demonstrates superior predictive ability when its out-of-sample forecast performance is compared with benchmark models. The policy implications of our findings point to the immediate need to curb excess money growth in the economy, and also the pertinence of treating the issue of price liberalization using a holistic long-run plan as opposed to the historically-adopted piecemeal approach. JEL Classifications: C22, E31, E58 Keywords: Inflation, Structural Determinants, Relative Price Variability, Excessive Monetary Growth, Autoregressive Distributed Lag Model Contact author's email address: diaa.noureldin@aucegypt.edu, INTRODUCTION One premise that is not subject to much controversy in economics is that low and stable inflation is a desirable economic outcome. There is a growing consensus that low [...]

The woollen textile industry in India is an industry in the MSME sector with a few key players but having huge export potential mainly attributed to the abundance of availability of raw material. India is one of the leading producers of wool and woolen products in the world and it is estimated to be the seventh-largest producer of wool in the world. The present paper uses yearly and monthly data of exports of woollen products from India from 2008-2018 collected from UN-COMTRADE to forecast exports from 2016-2022. The paper based on Revealed Comparative Advantage and Export Intensity Index narrows down on top 9 countries where India has a potential for increasing its exports.An attempt has been made to identify the markets using ARIMA Model to forecast the future destinations for woolen exporters. Before applying ARIMA, it is necessary to check the stationarity of the series being forecasted. The paper indicates that the thrust countries of India's exports of woollen textiles are Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, South Africa, Senegal and United Arab Emirates. It is found that projected woollen textile exports from 2018-2022 are constant in case of Australia, Bahrain, Brazil and Senegal but rising at an increasing rate for Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, South Africa and United Arab Emirates. Thus, this indicates that India needs to gain more competitive advantage to diversify and grow in the identified markets for export and further to enter new markets of various other countries and increase its level of exports in the future. For enhancing exports of woollen textiles from India, it is suggested that, policy makers as well as exporters of Woollen products from India need to work in sync to achieve the objective of export promotion to the identified thrust markets. Favourable terms should be negotiated to meet the non-tariff barriers in the identified export destinations. Initiatives need to be taken to reduce the cost of production, increase manufacturing capacity and integrate the fragmented supply chain. Keywords: India's Woollen Textiles, Export Forecasting, Revealed Comparative Advantage, Export Intensity, ARIMA JEL Classification: F14, F17, O13, O53 Corresponding Author's Email Address: areej@iift.edu, INTRODUCTION India is one of the leading producers of wool and woolen products in the world and it is estimated to be the seventh-largest producer of wool in the world. [...]

This paper examines the drivers of overall inflation and its component, food inflation in India using monthly data from April 1996 to March 2017. The analysis covers both WPI and CPI-IW measures of inflation along with their component food inflation. The study uses cointegration approach to identify the determinants of inflation in India. Empirical estimates of the study show that there is a long-run relationship between inflation and its determinants that include expected inflation, output gap, rate of growth of money supply, exchange rate, interest rate, fiscal deficit, minimum support prices, rainfall international oil and food prices. These determinants also Granger cause both the measures of inflation. The normalised generalised variance decompositions suggest that determinants of inflation, in descending order of importance include expected inflation, exchange rate, rate of growth of money supply and output gap and least variation in them is explained by interest rates. This analysis is found to be similar for both the measures of inflation. Thus demand factors such as exchange rate, rate of growth in money supply and output gap explain significant variation in both the measures. On the supply side global factors like international oil and food prices play a key role in determining both overall and food inflation in the economy. This has important policy implications in the light of new monetary framework where flexible inflation targeting is adopted by the central bank. Inflation management will become a more challenging task as inflation is also significantly determined by the supply side variables. The Reserve Bank of India's report of the Expert Committee to Revise and Strengthen the Monetary Policy Framework (ECRSMPF) reports that monetary policy has little or no effect on food and fuel inflation, which are the supply side factors. The report also finds that high inflation in food and fuel with strong secondary effects gets generalised in the system through inflation expectations. Shocks to food and fuel inflation have a high degree of persistence on household inflation expectations which leads to more prolonged effects on headline inflation. Hence, for better management of inflation dynamics, an analysis of the driving factors can help predict likely changes in inflation more efficiently and accurately. JEL Classifications: E31, E64, Q18 Keywords: NKPC, Demand and Supply side factors, Overall and Food Inflation, Wholesale and Consumer Price Inflation, Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), Granger causality, Forecast Error Variance Decomposition Corresponding Author's Email Address: deepika_goel@hotmail.com, INTRODUCTION The primary objective of this paper is to identify the long-run determinants of overall inflation and its component, food inflation, for the Indian economy by using monthly time-series for [...]

The classical Phillips curve shows a negative relationship between inflation and unemployment. However, various studies have documented temporal positive and negative relationships between inflation and unemployment, leading to strong criticisms against the Phillips curve. In particular, the triangle approach indicates that the nature of the inflation-unemployment nexus is contingent on the source of the shocks, the length of lagged responses, and the policy response. Similarly, the strong linearity assumption on which the Phillips curve rests may have led to its empirical failure. Prior studies have modelled the possibility of threshold effects in the Phillips curve but no study has established the thresholds of when the relationship switches from negative to positive in the Eurozone. This paper addresses this limitation using 11 Eurozone countries for the period of January 1999 to February 2017. The paper also estimates both short- and long-run Phillips curves for these countries. We found that, by assuming linearity, there exists a Phillips curve in the short and the long run. We also established that the linearity assumption in the classical Phillips curve might be too strong since there is evidence of threshold effects. The thresholds in unemployment were 5.00% and 6.54%. By estimating the Phillips curve using these thresholds, we found that the relationship between inflation and unemployment is only negative when unemployment is lower than 5.00%. The negative relationship turned positive when unemployment was between 5.00% and 6.54%. Inflation and unemployment are unrelated once a threshold of a 6.54% unemployment rate is surpassed. These findings do not only highlight the importance of threshold effects in the Phillips curve, they also shed light on the need to fight unemployment in the Eurozone. JEL Classifications: E24, E31 Keywords: Inflation, Unemployment, Nonlinearity, Phillips Curve, Eurozone Corresponding Author's Email Address: alicehosinyu@gmail.com, hosy@unisa.ac.za, INTRODUCTION Unemployment remains one of the most pressing challenges facing humanity and as a result has been one of the main foci of economic policies around the world. Over time, [...]

Economists and policymakers often associate external competitiveness with the real exchange rate. This paper seeks to study Bangladesh's external competitiveness by critically examining the determinants of the country's real equilibrium exchange rate. While a number of studies have been done on Bangladesh in this area, no consensus has emerged on the determinants of real exchange rate. Few studies explicitly incorporate net foreign assets when modeling exchange rate change of Bangladesh. This paper plans to bridge this gap by developing a simple model in line with Musa (1984), Faruqee (1995), and Egert (2004). In this model, the current account in the long-run is driven by adjustment in the net foreign assets (NFA) towards a targeted level. Given a country's long-run target for the stock of net foreign assets, the real equilibrium exchange rate then corresponds to a current account balance that is consistent with the income flows from this stock. The model is then tested by applying the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound testing approach by Pesaran et al. (2001) to the cointegration for the long-run and using the error correction model to examine the short-run dynamic relationship among real exchange rate, dual productivity differentials, net foreign assets, and real absorption. The empirical analysis is based on the annual data series from 1980 to 2014, collected electronically from the online databases of the IMF, the Penn World Table, and the World Bank. The empirical result show that, once shocked, real exchange rate convergence to equilibrium is quick with 64% of the adjustment occurring in the first year. The study finds that increased capital flow, greater real absorption, and faster productivity growth in the tradable sector relative to that of the non-tradable sector lead to real exchange rate appreciation. The estimated parameters are also stable. The paper then discusses policy implications and sheds some lights on the research limitations and future research considerations. For example, the paper recommends that Bangladesh should try to keep its currency relatively weak to protect domestic producers from foreign competition and strengthen their competitiveness to produce for and sell, particularly readymade garments, to world markets. JEL Classifications: F21, F31, F32, O53 Keywords: Bangladesh, External Competitiveness, Real Exchange Rate, ARDL, Balassa-Samuelsson Effect, Stock-Flow Model of Exchange Rate Determination Author's Email Address: bhasnat@brockport.edu, INTRODUCTION A country's real exchange rate can affect its economy through its impact on trade and capital flows. Economists and policymakers often associate external competitiveness with the real exchange rate. [...]

The changing dynamics of tax revenue and its responses to domestic and external shocks play a pivotal role in the discussion of the sustainability of public finance in small developing economies. However, the empirical literature on the response of tax revenue to various shocks in developing economies in the Pacific is sparse. Despite several tax reforms over the last decade, the spending plans of the Fijian government since the 2017/2018 budget announcements have stimulated frequent public discussions regarding the sustainability of public debt. Against this background, the main purpose of this paper is to investigate the response of tax revenue in Fiji - a small developing island economy, to external and domestic shocks using historical annual data covering more than five decades. This study uses unit root tests that account for single and multiple endogenous structural breaks and finds that tax revenue in Fiji is a non-stationary process, I (1) with break dates coinciding with tax reforms, general elections, and political coups. The findings reveal that tax reforms and political developments are possible important sources of shocks to tax revenue and have important policy implications. First, shocks to tax revenue will have persistent effects, with the effects of adverse shocks being transmitted to other related variables and sectors of the Fijian economy. Second, historical values of tax revenue cannot be used to formulate forecasts of tax revenue and policymakers should consider other determinants of tax revenue (for example, the share of the agriculture sector, trade volume, political stability, education, life expectancy, infant mortality rates, age composition of the population, urbanization, inflation rate, and corruption) for forecasting purposes. The evidence of non-stationarity indicates that future studies on tax revenue need to carefully reflect on the modeling technique to avoid spurious regressions. Furthermore, our findings reveal that temporary fiscal measures will not have a permanent effect on tax revenue and sustainable revenue growth requires focusing on long-term (rather than short-sighted) reforms. Thus, our findings underscore the importance of evidence-based policy reforms to improve the resilience, efficiency, and sustainability of the tax system in Fiji to shelter it from future adverse shocks. JEL Classifications: C20, E60, H20 Keywords: Tax Reforms, Tax Revenue, Structural Breaks, Fiji, BACKGROUND Following the 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 budgetary announcements, there has been increased scrutiny over the government's expenditure plans, and debate on the sustainability of public finance in Fiji. The budget [...]

This paper profiles and maps the existing Indian HR competency models against similar Western models in order to assess their contemporary relevance. Secondly, it analyzes the diverse HRM roles and competencies associated with a sample of different Indian organization types and sizes. This study was exploratory in nature and based on the AHRI Model of Excellence. Three key HR roles--namely, strategic business partner, functional HRM specialist, and administrative expert--and seven HR competencies included in the model were selected for the analysis of Indian HRM professional practice. A questionnaire based on this model was constructed and administered to HR professionals representing HR departments in a range of Indian industry sectors. Respondents were chosen to represent a separate HR/personnel department containing at least one HRM professional. Further, it was required that the respondents had a minimum of two years' HR work experience. This paper reports the findings from the sample of one hundred Indian organizations. Of the three Indian HR competency models profiled in the study, the HR Compass Model is the most relevant and similar to the Western models. It includes almost all the important western HRM competencies in its framework. Conversely, the two other Indian models (RPG and TVRLS) need to incorporate more 'competencies' as per the AHRI model. The study further noted that the majority of the Indian HRM professionals considered their key role to be that of a functional HRM specialist, followed closely by a strategic business partner role. The competencies of credible activist and workforce designer recorded higher levels of expertise levels across all organizations. The findings demonstrated consistency with previous Western and Indian studies on the key roles and competencies of HR departments in India. The decreasing reliance on the administrative expert role supports a degree of convergence of HRM practices in line with western HR practices, which can be possibly attributed to the overseas expansion of Indian companies, as well as their exposure to the HRM practices of multinational corporations in India. JEL Classifications: J24, M12, O15 Keywords: HR competency models; HR competencies; HR roles; Indian HRM practices, INTRODUCTION An increasing number of organizations is becoming more systematic and strategic in their human resource management (HRM) systems in order to better align the interests of employees with those [...]

Exchange rate misalignments has attract a significant attention especially in developing economies; Libyan economy has witnessed a major economic and political changes. Libyan exchange rate has been changed specifically after 2000, and political instability after 2011. This paper aims to shed a light on the equilibrium real exchange path to obtain the misalignments level (over and undervaluation) periods for the Libyan economy. This problem have not received an adequate intention from the policy makers in Libya. Cashin (2004) model is used to determine the main fundamentals that affect the equilibrium path. After applying time series analysis for a period (1975-2015). This paper utilized annual data covering the period (1975-2015); and the data extracted from Central Bank of Libya (CBL), International Financial Statistics (IFS), Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD, Arab monetary Fund (AMF) and World Bank (WB). After testing stationarity of time series using ADF and P.P., this study applies co-integration technique to investigate long relationship between exchange arte and its fundamentals. Then, it performs the vector error correction model (VECM) to compare between long run and short relationships, supported by impulse response functions. The main findings of this study as follows. First, real oil prices and real relative productivity are found to play a significant role in the real exchange rate. For Libyan case, this study includes the degree of openness to this model because the Libyan authorities applied intensive restrictions to restrict external trade for a long time. Second, the results of VECM technique reveal that the speed of adjustment is 4.5 years for half-life to return to the actual level of exchange rate to the equilibrium path. In addition, the results from the impulse response functions (IRFs) found that the real exchange rate responds positively to the shocks in (rop) and (rrp), whereas responds negatively to the shocks in (open). Finally, the real exchange rate for the Libyan economy is recently overvaluation by more than 40%. This study provides some important policy implications for Policy maker specifically monetary authorities (Central Bank of Libya) should consider misalignments of Libyan exchange rate, and implement a proper policy to keep the exchange rate reasonably close to what fundamentals suggest. Policy makers should reduce money supply and increase exchange rate. A managed floating exchange rate policy could be a choice. JEL Classifications: F31, O24; F31;C01; C22. Keywords: Equilibrium Exchange Rates, Libya, Time Series Estimation, VECM, Co-integration., INTRODUCTION One of the significant issues that caught the attention of the authors, economists and policy makers equally is the issue of real exchange rate misalignment and equilibrium. Edwards (1989) [...]

The financial models used in the literature to investigate the performance of banks show mixed results and a low [R.sup.2] in many of the studies. Therefore, Agency theory can be used in addition to the financial models to give investors enough information about banking industry performance. The sample used in this study consist of accounting information (bank specifics) and market information (macroeconomic variables) for a group of national and foreign banks located in the GCC countries during the period 2002 to 2013. The final sample consists of 115 banks with completed data collected from Bankscope database for financial data. The macroeconomic data were collected from sources such as the International Monetary Fund, International Financial Statistics, National Statistics, and the World Bank. Regression models have been developed to examine the factors that may determine banks performance in the GCC. The results of the study provide evidence that the models used in this paper are significant, indicating that all models containing the above financial and macroeconomics factors are important and statistically significant in determining and explaining bank performance. Even though our results indicate that the above factors are important in measuring bank performance, we believe that the agency theory could be used to shed some lights and provide insights on factors affecting bank performance in the GCC countries. There appears to be a need for a common understanding, a balancing of risks with financial rewards, and a building of long-term relationships. The findings enhance our theoretical understanding of the importance of these factors in creating an environment of trust that governs the behavior of the owners and managers, and hence reduces the agency problem. As for general management, the results indicate that opportunistic behavior can be lessened by managing the relationship between the two parties through a contract that clearly specify these factors. Therefore, this paper paves the way for further research in this area. JEL Classifications: G2, E0 Keywords: Banks performance, Agency theory, GCC, INTRODUCTION The banking failures' waves of the 1980's have generated losses that exceeded the ones of the 1930's great depression. These failures led to questioning the effectiveness of banking practices. [...]

The banking sector has suffered recently from a series of financial crises that have affected the worlds' financial system's stability. It is argued that the weak financial performance of banks could be due, among other factors, to deficiencies within corporate governance systems in banks, and the lack of conservatism (as conservatism is used to minimize the agency problem). This paper aims to examine the effect of the corporate governance mechanism (ownership structure, bank's characteristics) and conservatism level on the Jordanian commercial banks' performance for the period between 2005 -2014. Four ownership structure dimensions are employed- ownership concentration, institutional ownership, foreign ownership and government ownership. Bank characteristics are captured by using size, age and debt-to-equity ratio. The paper used return on assets and return on equity to assess the financial performance, and applied the accrual method and book value-to-market value method as proxies for conservatism. The results showed a significant impact for all of the ownership structure dimensions and bank's characteristics, on the bank's performance, except for the institutional ownership and the banks' age, which showed no impact on performance. The explanation of this exception is that the Jordanian banking sector is essentially built upon family business. The foreign ownership and government ownership have a positive relationship with bank performance, as the high level of foreign ownership indicates high quality investments. Additionally, government ownership usually imposes more controls and minimizes the agency problems. On the other hand, the concentrated ownership and the bank's size showed a negative relationship to the banks' performance, as concentrated investors may abuse their authority. The negative relationship to the banks' size is due to the high cost required from these banks to control and monitor their different branches. In addition, the results suggest a negative impact of conservatism on the bank's performance when utilizing the book value method as the balance sheet accounts are understated, and hidden reserves are created. On the other hand, a positive impact of conservatism on the bank's performance is detected when utilizing the accrual method. This is because conservatism's policy will improve firm's performance by minimizing the investment in the negative net present value projects. Thus, two different methods could have different results as every method adopts a different perspective. JEL Classifications: G32, G34, L25, O16 and M41 Keyword: Ownership structure, Conservatism, Bank's performance, banks' characteristics, INTRODUCTION The series of financial crisis has exposed significant weaknesses in the worlds' financial system. It has put the stability of the global financial system into more questions, arguing that [...]

This study investigates the relationship between financial development and economic growth in the context of five South Asian countries for the period 1985-2014. Pedroni, Johansen co-integration, and panel based Granger causality tests are employed to examine the long and short run relationship dynamics between economic growth and other instrumental variables estimated in this paper. A vector autoregressive model (VAR) is a constructive method of analyzing the impact of a given variable on itself and all other variables by using variance decompositions (VDCs) and impulse response functions (IRFs). To check the robustness of this study, fully modified least square (FMOLS) has been conducted. The results of Pedroni and Johansen co-integration tests confirm that the indicators of financial development have a co-integration relationship with economic growth in the long run. Granger causality test shows that bidirectional causality between economic growth to M2 and also real interest rate and domestic credit to private sector in the short run. Moreover, unidirectional causality exists among the total value of stock traded variable to economic growth, M2 to domestic credit to private sector and M2 to real interest rate in the short run. This paper also documents shocks in stock traded total value has strongly positive response to economic growth. Shocks to domestic credit to private sector, trade openness, M2 have positive response with economic growth but not very strong. The shocks response function of real interest rate to economic growth is negative and quickly returns to the equilibrium. The results of variance decomposition confirm that shocks in the variables of M2 and stock traded total value shock have more impact on economic growth in the long run. FMOLS is employed to check the robustness and shows that financial development and economic growth are holding same relationship except the real interest rate. Policy makers should take immediate steps to minimize the interest rate spread in the south Asian countries. An optimum real interest rate spread will spur the growth process in the south Asian region. The policy makers also should think for transformation of the financial system through upgrading and strictly imposing the financial rules and regulations. The financial institutions must be monitored closely and the policy makers should pay more attention on that issue. JEL Classifications: G21, O11, C23 Keywords: FMOLS, Financial development, economic growth, co-integration, Real interest, Causality, INTRODUCTION The financial development and economic growth relationship have drawn significant interest of researchers over the last couple of decades. How financial markets, instruments and institutions that directly contribute to [...]

This paper explores the link between foreign direct investment (FDI) and the BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting) practices of multinationals (MNEs). It puts the spotlight on the outsize role of offshore investment hubs as major players in global corporate investment, a role that is largely due to MNEs' tax planning, although other factors contribute. The paper shows that tax avoidance practices enabled by FDI through offshore hubs are responsible for significant leakage of development financing resources. In policy terms, these findings call for enhanced cooperation and synergies between international tax and investment policymaking.Keywords: multinational enterprise, BEPS, revenue losses, developing countries, offshore investment, 1. Introduction: an investment perspective on international taxationMNEs build their corporate structures through cross-border investment. They construct those corporate structures in the most tax-efficient manner possible, within the constraints of [...]

In recent years, policy-makers have given paramount attention to 'competitiveness', working to ensure that domestic economies attract investment, jobs, and tax revenues. Toward this end, countries have steadily lowered corporate tax rates in an attempt to attract mobile international businesses. This paper discusses the desirability of this policy stance in light of data on the world's biggest companies. Using Forbes lists of the top 'Global 2000' companies over the period 2003-2017, the paper analyzes companies' headquarters locations, focusing on economic, geographic, and policy determinants. The paper then relates these findings to larger policy questions.Keywords: multinational corporations, headquarters, international taxation, tax competition, 1. IntroductionPolicy-makers throughout the world frequently emphasize the importance of attracting mobile business activity. Multinational company investments may enhance the potential output of the country and the productivity of labor, [...]

As sustainability issues have become a major concern for the majority of the world's population, businesses have reacted in different ways. Some CEOs of major corporations have espoused several pillars of sustainability, but this is not yet a widespread phenomenon. In this paper, executives are classified in terms of their position on sustainability. In addition, the paper explores the link between the morality of executives and their attitudes towards sustainability. Keywords: Sustainability, Moral identity, Spiritual and pragmatic executives, INTRODUCTION The issue of morality has been a subject of intense debate and study for centuries. The existence of mankind and its survivability are based on moral conduct and responsibility. [...]

Extant research on internationalization of research and development (R&D) has not examined what the impact of foreign R&D investments is for the investing corporate parent firms, in particular on domestic R&D investments. The aim of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of international knowledge sourcing through foreign R&D in an empirical analysis of the effects of foreign R&D investments on domestic R&D intensity for a panel of Indian firms. The paper specifically investigates the importance and impact of the role and the location of foreign R&D centres on parent-company R&D by analysing differences between foreign-technology-seeking and foreign-technology-exploiting R&D, and between centres in advanced countries and in developing countries. The analysis finds contrasting results between advanced and developing countries and between technology-exploring and technology-exploiting investments., 1. Introduction This paper focuses on the internationalization of research and development (R&D) by Indian multinational enterprises (MNEs) by analysing foreign R&D greenfield investments of Indian MNEs over the last [...]

African economies count among the fastest-growing economies in the world. In particular, West African economies have grown by an average of 5.7% in 2013 and 6% in 2014, despite the battle with the Ebola virus. Ghana has been at the forefront of this growth with an average economic growth of 8% in the period 2001-2014 (AfDB 2015). The challenge faced by African countries, such as Ghana, is to maintain this high economic growth rate in order to finance a number of developmental projects and curb the rampant poverty prevalent in a number of African countries. The sustainability of Ghana's growth path and the economic policy that ensued necessitates a sound knowledge of the drivers and determinants of its economic growth. This paper contribute to the literature on economic growth in Ghana, as a case study of a fast-growing economy in Africa, by applying the BMA analysis in determining the drivers of the country's economic growth. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study that identifies the drivers of economic growth in Ghana by using the BMA approach. The BMA technique provides the advantage over single-model techniques by combining and averaging different existing models and theories to determine the driver of economic growth. Yearly data ranging from 1970 to 2012 was collected from the World Bank Development Indicators (WDI 2012) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) statistics. There are 22 variables used in the model estimation, including the GDP per capita as the dependent variable. Explanatory variables are selected by taking into account their likelihood of determining economic growth in Ghana. Moreover, these variables are selected by accounting for the particularities of the Ghanaian economies, such as the existence of the dual economy and its reliance on natural resources for export revenues. Using the 50% threshold, as suggested by Raftery (1995), for the selection of relevant variables that drive economic growth in Ghana, the empirical results show that variables such as population density, crop production, inflation rate, labor force, current account balance and population growth are the important drivers of economic growth in Ghana. The paper suggests the following recommendation in the light of these results. Firstly, inflation targeting should remain the anchor of monetary policy in Ghana. Secondly, this paper recommends that the government of Ghana develops policies and strategies that enable the crowding-in of the private sector. Finally, this paper recommends that the government of Ghana promotes crop production in both commercial and subsistence sectors. JEL Classifications: E01, E10 Keywords: Ghana, Growth, Model uncertainty, Bayesian model averaging, INTRODUCTION African economies count among the fastest-growing economies in the world. In particular, West African economies have grown by an average of 5.7% in 2013 and 6% in 2014, despite [...]

The literature suggests that terms-of-trade (TOT) is a key determinant of the developing countries' macroeconomic performance, including its likely impact on the level of national saving. The main objective of this paper is to examine the extent to which the TOT behavior contributed to changes in the saving rates across the developing countries. In doing so, the paper analyzes the TOT by conducting an empirical analysis of annual cross-country data for 57 developing countries for the period 1980-2010. We concentrate on the developing countries as problems stemming from fluctuations in TOT are likely to be more severe as the developing economies face restricted access to world financial markets with a greater magnitude than the advanced economies. The core aspect of our empirical analysis is that we utilize TOT shock duration and trend growth measures that have not been considered in the previous empirical literature. The trend growth is calculated using the smoothing procedure of Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filters. The shock duration is measured using the 'half-life' of shocks. The empirical results of our models indicate that TOT trend growth and shock duration are important determinants of national saving in developing countries. Our results are robust to alternative estimation methods, time periods, sample construction, alterations in the control variables, sample coverage (e.g., the exclusion of larger exporters where one might fear the TOT are less likely to be exogenous). Our findings provide new evidence that permanent TOT shocks lead to changes in national saving rates. We also find that greater financial development and international financial integration mitigate the impact of TOT on national saving. Our findings add value to the existing empirical literature in terms of this new evidence and raises policy issues for the developing economies that are critical in terms of boosting their saving rates while ensuring stability in the trading environment. As a matter of policy, and to reduce the variability of TOT, developing countries should phase domestic economic reforms ought to be focused on achieving a diversified export structure. Closely allied to this, policy-makers need to formulate policies that improve the operation and facilitate the deepening of the domestic financial markets. Keywords: Saving rate, Terms-of-trade, Developing countries. JEL Classifications: F21, F31, INTRODUCTION The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the impact of terms-of-trade (TOT) on national saving rates with more robust measures that better treat the effects of TOT movements [...]

In developing economies like India, 'informal' sector occupies a large portion of GDP and employment. In the wake of slowdown in investments across countries and ensuing fall in the GDP growth rates, the question that arises is the following. If an economy suffers from growth slowdown, and since investment is often believed to be a driver of growth, should more investments go to the formal sector or to the informal sector? In what ways outcomes are different in terms of composition of output, employment, and wages? The issue may be a particular interest to India where slowdown in investments is believed to be the primary reason behind the recent sluggish growth of the economy. This paper theoretically evaluates the effects of investments on sectoral wage rates, output and employment composition, and growth in a developing economy consisting of a vast informal sector in a general equilibrium framework with endogenous demand and sector specific capital. The model traces, beginning with capital market disequilibrium and labour market distortion, whether investments into the sectors lead to equilibrium in capital and labour markets over time. This approach is distinctly different from the existing literature that is primarily engaged with finding out comparative statics results of a change in policy variables such as tariff rate and subsidy/tax. This paper also brings in endogenous demand that is mostly missing thus far. The model highlights the following results. Investments in the formal sector increase the size of the sector and cause the informal sector to shrink. The labour market distortion goes away as wages are eventually equalized across the sectors, after which the capital market equilibrium is achieved. Equalisation of wages is similar to the 'turning point' of the Lewis model of development. On the other hand, investments in the informal sector increase its own size but do not alter the size of the formal sector. Much contrary to the previous case, capital market equilibrium is achieved first, so the labour market distortion stays, leading to the existence of a persistent wage gap in the long run. One way of avoiding the possibility of the informal sector becoming large in size would be to subsidize the short-run capital return in the formal sector. This of course is a 'second-best' policy to counteracting the distortion in the labour market. JEL Classifications: D50, E22, O17, O41 Keywords: Developing economies, Formal and informal sectors, General Equilibrium, Growth, India, Investment, INTRODUCTION Developing economies, like India, are often characterized by dualism in terms of 'informal' sector occupying a significant portion of overall GDP and employment (Marjit and Kar, 2011). Since investment [...]

Within the literature on the informal sector, there has been numerous research on the impact of labour regulation and the tax rate on productivity on the size of the informal sector (IS) and unemployment. These effects have mostly been analysed with the aid of search and matching models. However, we have observed, that the impact of labour regulation on the size of the informal sector and unemployment rate has not been estimated empirically. On the other hand, the effect of the tax rate on the size of the informal sector has been analysed with the aid of various theoretical and empirical models respectively. Our paper attempts to bridge the gap in the theoretical and empirical literature by demonstrating that a change in firing costs generates a trade off in the decision to operate in the informal sector or become unemployed. However, an increase in the tax rate on production can neutralise the impact of higher firing costs on unemployment. We use a dynamic general equilibrium model to show how a change in firing costs or tax rate affects the incentive of an agent to operate in the informal sector as well as the consequences for unemployment. The model's parameters are calibrated with values used in the general literature to demonstrate analytically the impact of firing costs and the tax rate on the size of the informal sector and unemployment. Our results show that an increase in firing costs decreases the relative size of the IS but raises the unemployment rate. However, a rise in the tax rate increases the relative size of the informal sector but reduces the unemployment rate. Next, we apply panel data analysis to estimate the effect of firing costs and direct tax for a panel of 93 countries between 2000 and 2007. We find that our empirical results are consistent with the results from our theoretical model. Our results reveals how the kind of regulation (labour or non-labour) can have a direct impact on the mobility of factors of production between the formal and informal sector respectively. It also shows how regulatory policy can be refined to maximize the trade-off between the informal sector and unemployment. JEL Classifications: J41, O17 Keywords: Firing cost, Informal sector, Tax burden, Unemployment, Labor regulation, Shadow Economy, INTRODUCTION Our paper estimates the effect of firing costs on the size of the informal sector (IS) and the unemployment rate. We show that higher firing costs has a significant [...]

Crime and corruption are ubiquitous worldwide. They have long been both cause and consequence of poverty and various other societal problems around the world, especially in underdeveloped countries. Crime and corruption take different forms, existing at all levels of society and deeply affecting people's lives, from underground exchanges inside or between businesses, to judiciary or police functions and municipal or national government departments. Undermining both political and economic development, crime and corruption can worsen income polarities and harm the poorest most. Currently there are quite many studies focusing on why firms pay for briberies; however, very few studies have considered how firms deal with crime. This paper empirically studies how firms in developing economies cope with both crime and corruption. To be specific, I look into the potential determinants on why and how much worldwide firms spend on protection payments. Using a unique firm-level dataset extracted from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys from 2006 to 2014, this paper focuses on two types of protection payments made by firms operating in developing economies: (1) open security payments, intended to avoid criminal losses exoterically, and (2) underground bribery payments, intended to meet corrupt government officials' needs secretly. Overall data on 120 developing countries were extracted, and 105,282 observations became available. I start with ordinary least squares (OLS) to estimate the determinants of how much a firm decides to pay for protection. Furthermore, to alleviate the potential simultaneity problem embedded in the OLS method, I also use probit estimation for the firms' decisions to pay. Results obtained through multiple statistical and econometric examinations suggest that firm-level characteristics such as employment size, international business connections, labor quality, and expansion experience exert profound and differentiated influence on firms' payments. Meanwhile, bureaucratic inefficiency and social instability significantly raise firms' incentive to pay. Firms that are smaller with fewer foreign business connections, lower labor quality, and defective infrastructure tend to pay, and pay more, for protection, as do those firms that have grown faster and longer. Besides, fast expansion makes firms more vulnerable to extortion, and more likely to encounter with crime and corruption. Various tests confirmed the robustness of these findings. There are several important policy implications based on these findings. First of all, governments need to enhance the quality of the society's infrastructure. This will effectively decrease firms' extra security expenditures. Also, the government must endeavor to control corruption, especially among those small and less productive firms. Enhanced supervision and auditing procedures must be developed, and create a better growth atmosphere for all firms. JEL Classifications: D22; D73; O17 Keywords: bribery payments; security payments; crime; corruption; developing countries; firms, INTRODUCTION A firm can guarantee its own survival and prosperity through multiple expenditures. Marketing expenditures establish the enterprise's reputation; advertisement expenditures help a firm stand out from its competitors; research [...]

The success of telecommuting adoption depends on many factors, including the employee's openness and readiness for such a work arrangement, the company's openness and desire to take advantage of such a model, and an information and communication technology infrastructure that can enable its success. Telecommuting, which originated in the 1970s as a response to the oil crisis and concerns over employees' potential inability to travel to and from the office, has involved employees completing work outside the traditional working office environment. Recent advancements in information and communication technologies enabled this form of employment relationship to become a viable alternative to traditional offices, leading to cost advantages to employees and employers, improving the environment, working motivation and thus leading to increased adoption (Turetken et al., 2011). Yet, despite the potential advantages of telecommuting, the adoption of this working model has been slower than initially predicted due to many mitigating factors (Pyoria, 2011). These deterrents may include traditional corporate cultures that may not support a non-traditional employment relationship due to risks of relinquishing power, misunderstandings of cost value, personal preferences in terms of work/life balance and work schedule flexibility, regulatory concerns related to liability and intellectual property rights associated with working outside the traditional office (Calvasina, et al. 2012), and overall control over legal liabilities (Genova, 2010). This research, which builds upon earlier work, aims to look at the various factors related to teleworkers' experience and the effect on teleworkers' success in terms of satisfaction, performance, and productivity. The theoretical framework adopted for evaluating these relationships is Human Capital Theory, which suggests that direct experience improves employee productivity, thus leading to increased capital value. Evidence for this study is non-experimental and quantitative in nature using the same research instrument used previously for measuring success. A web-based distribution method has been used to gather responses from a wide variety of United States based employees across multiple industries, age groups, and an even mix of genders. Therefore, evidence presented in this paper comes from the collection and analysis of a total of 406 usable survey responses. The finding provides insight into the effect of teleworking experience on employee success. Two factors in particular, gender and technology in particular, were aggregated and may be of interest for future study. This research is the first in terms of evaluating teleworking-specific experience and evaluating the effect of teleworking success by using the framework of human capital. JEL Classifications: M150, O33 Key words: Managing Technology, Telecommuting, Teleworking, Processes. Corresponding author's e-mail: carmen.reaiche@adelaide.edu.au, INTRODUCTION Building upon previous measures of success, including job performance, productivity, and satisfaction (dependent variables) conducted by Turetken et al. (2011), this paper will follow their recommendation to look more [...]

The multidimensional approach in poverty research is dominating over the monetary based poverty approaches worldwide. The failure in millennium development goal in terms of reducing absolute poverty by its half lead United Nation Development Program to adopt Sustainable Development Goal. Social business is a new form of business concept put into practice firstly in Bangladesh to trigger poverty in such a multidimensional approach. Similarly, Sustainable livelihood, is a popular model of intervening poverty to the development agencies due to its design of participating people in the project policies, supports the multidimensionality too. The purpose of this study is to discuss about the conceptual explanation of social business and sustainable livelihood. Besides, this paper also portrays the conceptual linkages of social business with the sustainable livelihood framework. The present study is of qualitative in nature where extensive literature review has been conducted adopting an intensive desk research method using secondary data sources like published articles, working papers, brochures and companies official websites via internet. The study found that social business, in general, possess the feature of reducing vulnerability of people directly providing with an array of products and indirectly, with its innovative policy of making involve deprived people in the entire value chain as active participants. In addition, its integrative business approach helps in searching people's deficiencies like knowledge, skills, affordability and taking remedial measures in the form of training, financial support, frequent surveillance and accumulation of resources. The study concluded that social business, driven by problems and pro-poor approach, could be a complementary model for superseding poverty via sustainable livelihood approach. As implication of the study, it will help policy makers to adopt or adjust their policy regarding bringing sustainability of people's life with a new tools other than the existing state-run or philanthropy based programs. Besides, it will also broaden the interest of researchers for further empirical tests relevant to this sort of business and effectiveness of it in alleviating poverty and ensuring sustainability. JEL Classifications: I 31, I39, L31, Q56 Keywords: Poverty, Social Business, Sustainable Livelihood. Corresponding Author's Email Address: masuk_iba111@yahoo.com, INTRODUCTION Poverty is a universal problem, yet to mitigate its' adversity there hardly has a unique approach worldwide. The four decades long initiatives with various models were seemingly effective but [...]

This paper undertakes an analysis of bilateral trade linkages between Australia and Thailand over 1990 to 2011, analysing changes in trade competitiveness, and possible role played by the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) that came into force in 2005. Trade competitiveness changes are measured by the revealed comparative advantage index (RCAI) at an aggregate and value-added level, as well as a constant market share analysis (CMS) analysis. An export-demand model utilizing interaction effects in presence of the TAFTA is then estimated, hitherto not attempted earlier in the empirical literature on Australia-Thailand trade. The findings of the paper suggest that the Thailand-Australian trade relationship has undergone further adjustment since the establishment of the TAFTA. However, the changes in trade patterns are not necessarily due to TAFTA but more of a long term trend. CMS analysis suggest that Thailand's export competitiveness significantly contributed to the remarkable growth of exports to Australia experienced over the period, and the strongest trade link between the two countries has been the export of automotive vehicles from Thailand to Australia. However, value-added RCAI reveals that Thailand's domestic industry have been contributing to its exports to a much lesser extent than as actually observed in its gross exports, and this reflects the increasing role of foreign firms and imported inputs in Thailand's machinery and transport equipment sector. The export demand model therefore finds a significant positive impact of the TAFTA only on Australian exports to Thailand, but not vice-versa. The observed statistically insignificant impact of the TAFTA on Thai exports to Australia could be due to the limited impact of the TAFTA on trade barriers in Australia, as Thai exporters already enjoyed low tariffs prior to implementation of the TAFTA. The insignificant income effect observed in presence of TAFTA confirms that the TAFTA agreement had no impact on Thailand's demand for Australian exports even while the Australian economy was growing. The results imply that Australia and Thailand's membership with the same country in three different FTAs (bilateral, regional and cross-regional) could throw up additional challenges of utilization of these agreements for actual business purposes in the near future. JEL Classifications: F14, F15 Keywords: Trade competitiveness, revealed comparative advantage, constant market share analysis, Free Trade Agreement, export demand model. Corresponding Author's Email Address: abu.siddique@uwa.edu.au, INTRODUCTION Over the period 1990 to 2011, both Thailand and Australia have experienced annual GDP growth at significant levels; 3.13% for Australia and 4.18% for Thailand (World Bank, 2012). In [...]

Nowadays, globalization of local firms is an important topic for every country. The international firms seem to have a high reputation, but does it really work for investors? Historically, several international firms that had a high reputation among investors have been involved accounting scandals before the exposure of terrible news. These cases raise investors' suspicion that international firms do not always have high quality accounting information. Investors should focus on some important indexes of earnings quality, helping themselves to decide the quality of companies' accounting statements which lead to a better decision. This paper tries to answer the following 3 questions: what kind of companies make overseas investment? Can overseas investment improve all types of earnings qualities? Do the legal systems and degree of development of the invested countries effect earnings qualities? In this paper, we hypothesize that firms under greater influence of common law and developed countries have higher earnings qualities. Then we use the propensity score matching model to control for differences in firms' characteristics between overseas investment Japanese firms and non-overseas investment Japanese firms. After that we examine the correlation between overseas investment and three types of earnings qualities (earnings management, value relevance of accounting information, and reporting conservatism), using two dimensions (quantity and percentage) to represent the extent of influence of common law countries and developed countries. We test out 6 hypotheses with the propensity score matching sample of 6,973 firm-year data for the year 2005 to 2014. Based on the results, we find that Japanese firms with lower advertisement expenditure, lower quick ratio, higher capital ratio, higher R&D expenditure, higher interest expense, higher intangible assets rate, higher ROA, and larger size, have a higher tendency to make overseas investment. In addition, we find that overseas investment can improve earnings quality by reducing earnings management risk. We also find that firms under greater influence of common law countries or developed countries have lower (higher) level of earnings management risk (value relevance). Lastly, we find that overseas investment can damage earning quality by impairing the reporting conservatism, but firms under greater influence of common law countries or developed countries have higher level of reporting conservatism. The findings of this study have implications not only for investors but also for security analysts, auditors, policy makers, and other accounting information users in enhancing their understanding of legal systems and degree of development differences, and their impact on earnings qualities. JEL Classifications: M41, D92, Q56, K42 Keywords: overseas investment, earnings quality, propensity score matching Corresponding Author's Email Address: gu.junjian@f.mbox.nagoya-u.ac.jp, INTRODUCTION Nowadays, globalization of local firms is an important topic for every country, as it is one of the main drivers of economic growth. As of 2015, around 1,100 listed [...]

Extant studies on FDI technology spillovers have reached inconclusive findings, indicating that the effect of FDI technology spillovers is likely to be contingent on a variety of factors. The present paper argues that one of the likely contingent factors is the distinction between FDI as an insider and FDI as an outsider to individual domestic firms. For instance, FDI in industry A is considered as insider FDI by domestic firms in industry A, but outsider FDI by domestic firms in industry B. Similarly, FDI in location X is considered as insider FDI by domestic firms in location X, but outsider FDI by domestic firms in location Y. Most extant studies failed to make this distinction. To fill this research gap, the present paper distinguishes industrial outsider FDI technology spillovers from industrial insider FDI technology spillovers on the one hand, and regional outsider FDI technology spillovers from regional insider FDI technology spillovers on the other. The study develops hypotheses, and tests them against firm-level data of the National Industrial Enterprise Survey compiled by the China National Bureau of Statistics. The paper finds that FDI as an industrial insider as well as a regional insider tends to produce positive technology spillovers, whereas FDI as an industrial outsider as well as a regional outsider tends to produce negative technology spillovers. In particular, FDI located in the advanced coastal region tends to adversely affect the productivity of domestic firms located in the interior region no matter whether or not the domestic firms are located in the same industry as the FDI. The patterns of FDI technology spillovers help explain the radical industrial upgrading associated with FDI in China, especially the rise of industries with substantial FDI inflows such as electronics, home appliance, and automobile in recent decades. The patterns of FDI technology spillovers also help explain the widening regional gap between the advanced East Coast region with substantial FDI inflows and the backward Inland region with limited FDI. Findings of the study have important implications for both managers of multinationals and the government of transition economies. While investing in rising industries, multinationals need to consider investing in these industrial sectors in the backward region of transition economies. While facilitating industrial upgrading, the government of transition economies should formulate effective policies to encourage multinationals to invest in rising industries in the backward region. JEL Classifications: M1, M2, O1 and O2 Keywords: FDI, technology spillovers, transition economy, China, industry Contact author's email address: Email: x.tian@murdoch.edu.au, INTRODUCTION Starting from the late 1970s, centrally planned economies began to shift from de-linking to re-linking with the global market and opened up to foreign direct investment (FDI) from market [...]

This paper is aimed to examine co-movements and heterogeneity in inflation dynamics of different regions across Indonesian provinces to improve the understanding of the nature of inflation characteristics in the context of the Indonesian monetary union. Having employed a factor analysis approach, our model is able to decompose regional inflation dynamics that are explained by country wide and district (zone) specific factors as well as an idiosyncratic local factors. An interesting finding here is that common (national) factors are almost equally important together with local (regional) factors in explaining sources of inflation differentials across Indonesian economies. The second objective of this study is to investigate determinant factors of regional inflation differentials, and our findings suggest that the differences are mainly related to their structural economic characteristics namely economic structures, market competition, degree of openness, cost of input factors, and local specific factors. Given the fact that the significances of those local variables in explaining regional inflation variations may assert that economic integration within Indonesia is currently still difficult, considering that its geography are vastly distributed throughout regions, while its infrastructure and connectivity conditions are limited. The final objective of this study is to examine long run convergence of regional inflations, and in turn our model is able to find and show the existence of convergences. Overall, this paper illuminates the importance of disaggregate regional inflation information, as summarised by the local factors, in explaining aggregate national inflation rates, even after conditioning on macroeconomic variables. Accordingly, the relevant policy actions and coordinations based on subnational and local level play a vital role in enhancing the effectiveness of the monetary policy conducts in Indonesia that is primarily directed to targeting inflation. JEL Classifications: E31, R10, C33 Keywords: regional inflation dynamics, dynamics panel data, common factor models Corresponding Author's Email Address: mha_ridhwan@bi.go.id, INTRODUCTION Under an optimum currency area theory, inflation rates will be equalized across regions (countries) within a monetary union due to the high integration of labour, product and capital markets. [...]

Malaysia has been experiencing sustained current account surplus during post-Asian crisis period. Although current account surplus is not as harmful as deficit, it cannot be sustained forever. Moreover, if the surplus is caused by bad reasons, such as, insufficient social insurance, inefficient financial intermediation, then it is reflected in deteriorating external competitiveness through more depreciated real exchange rate. Therefore, examination of current account sustainability is of crucial importance for the long-run health of the economy. Previous studies on Malaysian current account sustainability produce diverse results and leave it as an unsettled issue open to further research. In this backdrop this paper investigates the sustainability of Malaysia's current account balance for the period 1970-2010. This paper employs inter-temporal budget constraint to understand the behavior of exports and imports of Malaysian economy. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method is applied to examine the long cointegrating relation between Malaysian exports and imports plus interest on external borrowing. Advantage of employing the ARDL method is that it does not require the variables to be integrated to the first order. This method can be applied to a set of stationary and nonstationary variables. The paper uses annual data over the periods 1970-2010. Export, import and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data are in current US dollars. Interest payment on long-term external borrowing in US dollars is used as a proxy for interest on net foreign debt. Estimation results indicate that these two variables are cointegrated, which implies that Malaysia's current account is sustainable in the long run. Strong sustainability requires the coefficient of cointegrating vector to be one. In addition to ARDL method, coefficient of cointegrating vector is estimated by two other methods, namely, fully modified OLS (FMOLS) and dynamic OLS (DOLS). All three estimations show that the long-run coefficient is greater than one. This indicates that in the long-run export increases more than import plus interest on external borrowing. Therefore, if the excess export earnings in the long run cannot be utilized productively current account surplus may not sustain. It is, therefore, concluded that Malaysian current account is weakly sustainable. This findings call for policy intervention at macro level to make efficient utilization of excess saving to boost economic growth through promoting social insurance, facilitating efficient financial intermediation and encouraging private investment. JEL classifications: F32, F34, F41. Keywords: Current account, sustainability, ARDL, cointegration Corresponding Author's email: a.hoque@murdoch.edu.au, INTRODUCTION Current account is an indicator of a country's ability to meet its financial obligations with the rest of the world. Persistent deficit in current account increases the likelihood of [...]

The current study focuses on assessing the quality of corporate governance (CG) in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries using conventional and non-conventional indices. The purpose of this paper is threefold. Firstly, to extend the conventional equally-weighted Corporate Governance Index (CGI) developed in Al-Malkawi, Pillai and Bhatti (2014) to include both financial and non-financial companies listed in the GCC stock markets, as the former study limited its CGI application to the non-financial companies. Secondly, apart from computing the CGI for all GCC companies, the present research applies a non-conventional Corporate Governance Deviation Index (CGDI), the first attempt of its kind in the GCC setting, proposed by Fan and Yu (2012) to further underpin the results obtained by the CGI and to provide another dimension to comprehend the governance quality of the GCC countries. Finally, the paper also makes an effort to investigate if any differences persist in CG adherence levels between financial (FIN) and non-financial (NFIN) companies. The result shows that most of the firms operating in the GCC countries adhere to factors considered as ideal for ensuring proper disclosure, board effectiveness and shareholders rights. The outcome of the un-weighted CGI indicates that the UAE tops the position, among the GCC countries, as the country best adopting the internal governance mechanisms studied followed by Oman and Saudi Arabia, respectively. Furthermore, the CGDI result affirms that a higher governance score leads to a lower deviation index and vice versa. The paper also observes that there is a statistically significant difference in CG adherence levels between FIN and NFIN in the GCC setting, with FIN displaying higher levels of CG compliance than NFIN. The findings of this study provide some important implications for managers, policy makers and future research. JLE Classifications: G30, G34, G38 Keywords: corporate governance index (CGI), corporate governance deviation index, (CGDI), GCC countries. INTRODUCTION As the corporate titans strengthen their resolve in introspecting the underlying reasons for the recurrence of a global financial crisis in 2007 soon after the Asian [...]

To arrest the spread of COVID-19, most countries have imposed some form of lockdown to ensure social distancing. For India, a complete was imposed by the Central Government over four phases and over two months (April-June, 2020). While the effectiveness of such a stringent measure is yet to be established, some estimates of the economic distress owing to lockdown are available and it projects a substantial drop in GDP as well as State Domestic Products. It is therefore important for India to plan the unlock down phase well. Unfortunately, with the possibility of may more pandemic related disruptions that are likely to happen in the future, both lock down as well as removal of lockdown becomes a key determinant for both controlling the spread of pandemics as well as revive the economy. In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework to address how un lockdown must be planned and discuss the respective roles of the States as well as the Centre. The model is set against the backdrop where a large part of the migrant labor has also been forced to return to their home States. In our model, the Centre as well as the States maximize the Expected Economic output while planning un lockdown. The probability of COVID spread is modeled using simple Epidemiological probability function. We find that a centralized lockdown would mean lower lockdown levels for the labor receiving state compared to the case when such decisions were decentralized and a higher lockdown level for the labor sending state as compared to the case when such decisions were decentralized. We recommend that the role of the Centre in easing of lockdown must be limited to two things. One, support the States with more investments in health infrastructure that will help them reduce lockdown intensities. Two, compensate the expected shortfall in wage income through a Direct Benefit Transfer to the labor in the two States. Our model can be used to implement unlock down phases should a contingency in the future arise. JEL Classifications: E37, I15, J61 Keywords: COVID-19, Lockdown, Economic recovery. Migration, INTRODUCTION AND MOTIVATION The impact of COVID-19 on the Global health infrastructure as well as the economy has been devastating. As of July 15, 2020, there has been over 15 [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the higher education improvement and highlighted the maintenance of public health as an essential priority. Due to this unexpected situation, the educational system moved from face-to-face to distance learning without prior preparations. This contingency made it possible to study the benefits of ICT tools in the educational process. Starting from the primary function of the educational process and through the forecast of future trends in education, this paper presents the guidelines for improvement of the teaching and learning processes and some opportunities for their implementation. A survey was conducted among the Faculty of Economics, Business, and Tourism students in Split, Croatia, who evaluated the acceptance of various ICT tools. Based on the obtained research results, generic strategic guidelines for the effective use of IT tools in teaching are presented, including their potential impact on accreditation criteria. Keywords: COVID-19, ICT tools, critical thinking, teaching, higher education Pandemija COVID-19 zaustavila je unapredenje visokog obrazovanja i stavila naglasak na održavanje javnog zdravlja kao kljucni prioritet. Zbog ove neocekivane situacije, obrazovni sustav se, bez posebne pripreme, preorijentirao s tradicionalne fizicke nastave na obrazovanje na daljinu. Ova je okolnost olakšala analizu koristi od IKT alata u obrazovnom procesu. Polazeci od primarne funkcije obrazovnih procesa i predvidanja buducih obrazovnh trendova, u ovom se radu predstavljaju smjernice za unapredenje procesa ucenja i poducavanja, kao i neke mogucnosti za njihovu primjenu. Medu studentima Ekonomskog fakulteta u Splitu, u Hrvatskoj, provedeno je anketno istraživanje, na temelju kojeg se evoluira prihvacanje razlicitih IKT alata. Na temelju rezultata istraživanja, prezentiraju se genericke strateške smjernice za ucinkovitu uporabu IKT alata u poducavanju, ukljucivši i analizu njihovog potencijalnog djelovanja na akreditacijske kriterije. Kljucne rijeci: COVID-19, IKT alati, kriticko razmišljanje, poducavanje, visoko obrazovanje, 1. COVID-19 AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE TEACHING PROCESSES COVID-19 pandemic is a public health issue with significant implications for social, economic, and political life. Moreover, epidemiological [...]

This paper conducts a comprehensive examination of the sources of economic growth and catch-up of ASEAN countries since the Asian Financial Crisis, with comparative views of China and India. The [...]

The focus of this paper is to explain in more detail the theoretical concept of the relationship among local content policy (LCP), indigenous oil firms' participation and job creation in Nigeria's oil and gas sector. There is no doubt about that 'capital-intensivity' of oil and gas sector and that it creates little amount of jobs in the economy. However, it has been argued that if the sector is well managed and regulated, it has potential to create sizable employment. This mounts on the perception that several medium-scaled services often required in stages of production of oil products which may generate many employments. Recently, the motive for job creation in oil and gas sector, particularly for local labours, has led many established oil-producing countries to implement some regulatory policies in their hydrocarbon sectors. One common of such policies is the so-called local content policy (LCP). Generally, the LCP often aims at increasing participation of local oil service companies through which employment opportunities would be created for local workforce. Nigeria, a nascent oil-export country, introduced LCP in its hydrocarbon sector early 2001. The core objective of this policy in Nigeria is not uniquely different from other oil-rich countries where the policy has been practiced. The policy is mainly designed to increase participation of Nigerian indigenous firms for value addition to local economy, especially, in terms of creation of more employments for Nigerian workforce within the sector. Some corpus of studies has described the relationship between LCP and local firms' participation in the oil sector, many of which relied on theory of firm. However, they provide little understanding on how such influence relate to job creation. This paper demonstrates and explains in more detail a theoretical relationship that likely to exist among the LCP, indigenous oil firms' participation and job creation in the oil and gas sector. The focus is not on empirical examination of the effect, rather on explanation of conceptual relationship among these variables, which has seen as an indispensable. In this paper, we infer that there might be a linear link between LCP and indigenous oil firms' participation in the industry. This paper argues that the credence of LCP relies on the amount of job it evolved. However, if interaction between LCP and indigenous firms' participation fails to relate to job creation, then, the focal objective of the policy on value addition, as regard to job creation, may not achieved. JEL Classifications: O25, L26, Oil Keywords: local content policy, indigenous firms' participation, job creation, value-addition, INTRODUCTION Job creation has been the main economic strategy crucial to many developing countries that face high unemployment rate. Particularly in Nigeria, particular, unemployment remains one of most intractable economic [...]

Theoretically, it is believed that FDI is a principal factor supporting and accelerating economic enhancement of an economy over the years. FDI boosts the productivity of host countries and promotes economic development, as FDI may not only provide direct capital financing, but may also create positive externalities via the adoption of foreign technology and know-how. In this paper we focus our attention on Estonia, as a (former) transition economy. Estonia stands out as one of the most successful ones in terms of economic growth and institutional changes among former command economies, as in less than two decades Estonia has been able to build functioning market-economyinstitutions virtually from scratch and has joined the European Union (EU) and the Euro-zone. This paper, using cointegration methodology for the period of 1994:Q1-2013:Q2 focuses on the causal relationship between FDI and real GDP in Estonia. The real GDP data is obtained from Eurostat (2005 = 100) while the FDI data is obtained from the Bank of Estonia. Exploring the cointegration test is done through two methods: the residual-based test of Engle and Granger (1987) and Johansen's methodology. The cointegration tests require that series to be integrated of order one. For this reason we first test for the existence of a unit root using Augmented Dickey Fuller unit root test (ADF, 1979, 1981), and Kwiatkowski et al. (KPSS, 1992). We further investigate the causal relationship using Granger Causality analysis and Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The stationarity tests show that the variables are integrated of order 1, confirming that FDI and GDP are not stationary. The Engle-Granger method shows that FDI and real GDP are not cointegrated. Continuing with Johansen Cointegration Test, which is more generally applicable than the Engle-Granger method, the findings indicate that both the real GDP and FDI series are cointegrated, hence, the variables have long term relationship in that they will not deviate arbitrarily from each other and that their deviations from long run equilibrium path are corrected. Finally, Granger Causality test provides evidence that GDP does respond to changes in FDI in the long run but not in the short run, besides FDI does Granger cause real GDP. Our findings demonstrate that FDI can be very useful for Estonia, and it will be interesting to examine whether such findings are essentially due to large share of FDI in the banking sector and/or due to large share of FDI from high-income countries. JEL Classifications: F21, F23, O52 Keywords: FDI, Cointegration, VECM, Granger Causality, Estonia, INTRODUCTION In the literature many studies shed light on the effect of FDI on economic growth. In theory it is believed that foreign direct investment (FDI) enhances the productivity of [...]

The role of national and external savings on economic growth in developing countries has received considerable attention in Economics. Recent research has investigated the roles of human capital and institutions in promoting economic growth, with results that show that human development and solid institutions exert important impacts on growth during the process of socio-economic development in developing countries. The question that arises is which variable is of more significance, be it savings, human capital or institutional strength, and whether these variables complement each other. To shed light on this matter this paper presents the results of a Vector Auto-regressive Model, VAR, consisting of the variables: the human development index, a governance indicator, rule of law, net development assistance, national savings, and public and private investment. The VAR is estimated with panel data from a sample of 24 Sub-Saharan African countries, with data from the 2003-2006 period. The results indicate that the human development index and the governance indicator are the main determinants of savings and investment, and both exert negative impacts on external assistance. As well, external savings exert negative impacts on human development and rule of law. These two variables are complementary and both support public and private investment. It is argued that by virtue of its positive impact on the mobilization of savings, human development can decrease developing countries' external vulnerability. It is postulated that the attention to early childhood education and health can result in a more dynamic economy, one that generates larger tax revenues, such that the additional tax revenues can offset the initial expenditures incurred in promoting social development. The paper ends with a series of considerations on the need to expand the financing of human development as a means to attain social and economic stability and promote dynamic economic growth. JEL Classifications: O15, O16, O17, O43 Keywords: Human development, education, health, governance, investment, crisis, economic vulnerability, INTRODUCTION The roles of national and external savings in financing investment in developing countries continues to receive attention in the Economics literature, with results showing that both national savings and [...]

This paper revisits the issues and concerns associated with the implementation of the Malaysian Minimum Wage Order (MWO), 2012 and its impact on the various stakeholders on the cost of doing business. While it is aimed to facilitate the transformation of the Malaysian economy to become a high-income nation, it has generated multifaceted issues. There is a dilemma in MWO implementation if it not applicable to foreign workers, there is notion that employers would have more incentive to displace local workers with foreign labor. In compliance with International Labour Organisation's convention, the minimum wage policy covers all workers, and with the definition of wages which excludes most of the allowances, businesses were impacted by rising cost of doing business. Using results of two surveys undertaken by two trade associations, this paper revisits the issues and concerns associated with the minimum wage (MW) order and its impact on the various stakeholders on the cost of doing business. Based on the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) Survey 2013 conducted by the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) in 2013 with 772 respondents and the impact assessment survey conducted by the Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association (MPMA) in early 2014. This study focuses on the impact of the increase in the labor cost, a major component of production cost, as a result of MW implementation. Malaysia has among the highest minimum wage rates in the ASEAN region, along with Philippines and Thailand. The multiplier effects of the minimum wage that poses upside risk to another cost-push factor, leading to higher cost of living, hence defeating the goals of the minimum wage policy. It is timely to re-address the dilemma issue of minimum wage setting from the real business situation. Malaysian Government should establish some benchmarks or studies on the minimum wage effects on the cost of doing business and its interaction with other policies or fundamental changes such as the implementation goods and sales tax (GST) in 2015, the rationalisation of subsidies and the cash hand-outs schemes to reduce the people's burden of subsidy reductions. Review or readjustment of minimum wage rate should be actual evidence, or substantiation from reliable industry findings and with more balanced approach taking into cognizance the productivity and readiness of the business sector to comply with the minimum wage mandate. JEL Classifications: J31, J38 Keywords: Minimum wages, implementation, Malaysia, cost of doing business, BACKGROUND OF REVIEW The Malaysian government has announced a standard minimum wage (MW) of MYR900 per month throughout Peninsular Malaysia and MYR800 per month for Sabah and Sarawak--in the East [...]

This paper examines the relationship between defence burden and real gross domestic products in Nigeria, using annual time series data. This study uses Johansen's Cointegration approach to investigate the relationship between government's military expenditure (defence burden) and real gross domestic products, among other variables. In light of the lingering controversy on military expenditure and growth nexus, this paper contributes to the existing literature using time-series data from Nigeria, a country with high military spending over the years to re-investigate the impact of military expenditures on economic growth and the direction of causality between military spending and economic growth. Specifically, this study discusses the long run relationship between military expenditure and economic growth using Johansen cointegration approach. The key variables used in the study include: military burden (military expenditure), real GDP, real education expenditure, real health expenditure. The nature of the relationship that exists between military expenditure and economic growth as well as the cointegrating vector, taking into cognizance all other variables is focus of this paper. The results of the study show that increased defence burden is harmful to the Nigerian economy, and there exists a negative long-run relationship between defence burden and increase in the growth of real gross domestic products, the impact of defence burden remains negative both in the short-run and long-run respectively. It is not sufficient to have cuts in military expenditure, but such reallocation from defence should be directed towards productive investment in other sectors of the economy in order to generate economic prosperity and enhance the welfare of the citizens. Implications of having a negative effect of defence burden on growth rate of real Gross Domestic Products result in crowding-out of private sector investment, retards economic progress or growth rate of real gross domestic products, and therefore, is an ineffective tool to stimulate the growth of the economy in Nigeria. Military expenditure cannot be an effective tool of fiscal policy (government revenue and expenditure to regulate the economy), from the results of the study both short-run and long-run impact are negative, hence, the role of military sector should be limited to the maintenance of internal law and order as well as the defence of the country against any form of external aggression. This study will be of immense significance towards shaping policies that relate to military spending in Nigeria. JEL Classifications: C12, C32, O16 Keywords: Military expenditure, economic growth, Cointegration, Johansen, Nigeria., INTRODUCTION The Nigerian Civil War from 1967 to 1970, coupled with protracted periods of military rule created conditions that sustained the military's rising claims on national resources. The main reason [...]

Bangladesh is one of the leading economies of the world in term on international labor migration. It is well known that remittances from international migrants is a major source of income of many Bangladeshi households. However many Bangladeshi households also depends on internal remittances received from the family members residing in other parts of the country. Therefore, the modes of remittances of households in Bangladesh can be categorized as 'No Remittances', 'Internal Remittances' and 'International Remittances'. It can be hypothesized that these mode of remittances are associated with the basic characteristics of the households in Bangladesh. The paper empirically invistigates this association. As the mode of remittances can be classified in 3 categories, the paper utilizes Multinomial Logit Model (MNL) to investigate the association between Households' characteristics and the modes of remittances. The data have been obtained from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (2010) conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of statistics. The data depicts that almost 78% households of Bangladesh received no remittances, about 12% received internal and about 9% received international remittances. The paper runs MNL regressions associating the data on households characteriscs such as rural-urban locations, religion, age, sex of houholds' heads, expenditure shares etc. with these 3 categories. The study reveals that household level variables such as rural-urban locations, age and sex of the households heads, religion, ratio of male, adult and young members etc. are potentially significant in households' orientation to remittances. Importantly, the results shows positive association of rural location with both internal and international remittances. It also surprisingly shows that the households with female heads are more likely to receive both internal and international remittances compared to the households headed by male. In addition, Muslim households are more likely to receive international remittances. The study however has found insignificant association between higher education and the mode of remittances. The paper contributes to the policy analysis through revealing the association between the households' characteristics and the various modes of remittances. The finding will provide guidelines in policy debates and future research linking migration, remittances and economic development. JEL Classifications: D01, F24, O53 Keywords: Internal and International Remittances, Households, Bangladesh, INTRODUCTION Bangladesh is one of the most highly populated countries of the world. It is also one of the leading countries of the world in terms of international labor migration [...]

The application of the latest management methods becomes today, during the ongoing European integration processes, a requisite for the success of the business within the environment of international markets. In this paper, the authors pay attention to the expansion of the organizational knowledge base with an application of a new management method. They are dealing with assessment of the organization performance, the issue of its effectiveness and the increasing economic efficiency, on an example of a selected mining company as a case study. In order to detect weaknesses in the company reviewed and to offer suggestions for improvement, which may move the company towards prosperity, the authors carried out the performance assessment by using the EFQM Excellence Model 2010. The aim of this paper is to introduce the business performance assessment model in terms of the European standards that will allow the use of latest management methods in the environment of both the Slovak and European companies. Primjena suvremenih menadzerskih metoda danas postaje zahtjevom za uspjeh poduzeca u medunarodnom okruzenju, s obzirom na trajne procese europskih integracija. U ovom radu, autori se referiraju na povecanje organizacijske baze znanja, koja nastaje primjenom novih menadzerskih metoda. Pritom se bave analizom organizacijskih performansi, pitanjem efektivnosti poduzeca i povecanjem ekonomske efikasnosti, na primjeru izabranog rudarskog poduzeca, kao studije slucaja. Kako bi utvrdili slabosti te mogucnosti za unapredenje poslovanja, autori analiziraju organizacijske performanse koristenje modela poslovne izvrsnosti EFQM-a iz 2010. godine. Cilj je ovog rada predstaviti procjenu poslovnih performansi u kontekstu europskih standarda, a koje ce unaprijediti koristenje suvremenih menadzerskih metoda u slovackim i europskim poduzecima., 1. INTRODUCTION The application of the latest management methods is, in the context of the ongoing European integration processes, a prerequisite for business success on international markets. In this paper, [...]

After almost a decade of high growth, Vietnam's growth rate fell during 2011-13. Since 2001, the country has also experienced two bouts of high inflation, booms and busts in equity and real estate markets, and episodes of large capital inflows and outflows. Against the backdrop of the global economy, this paper provides an account of macroeconomic developments in Vietnam during 2011 to 2013, examines the imbalances that came to a head in 2011, the macroeconomic stabilization achieved during 2012 to 2014, and the outlook and challenges going forward. The paper concludes that successfully designing and implementing a broad set of policies--staying the course on macroeconomic stabilization, while accelerating the pace of structural reform significantly, and integrating into the global economy--will allow Vietnam to further advance the remarkable gains that it has already made in poverty alleviation and achieving its Millenium Development Goals. Keywords: Vietnam, macroeconomics policies, structural reforms, world economy., 1. Introduction After almost a decade of high growth, Vietnam tumbled to low growth rates. Prior to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008, real GDP growth averaged 7.25 per [...]

In many small developing countries, the benefits of capital market development are not realized, as banks dominate and stock markets struggle to establish a firm footing in the economy, remaining relatively illiquid and volatile. This paper examines the determinants of stock market volatility in such conditions, specifically investigating the role that banks play in engendering volatility. Although significant amounts of research have been conducted on the determinants of stock market volatility in large developed country and emerging market exchanges, the stock exchanges in small developing countries have largely been ignored, as has been the relationship between banking operations and stock market volatility. Using a Generalized Autoregressive specification, this paper investigates the conditions under which banks in conducting their core functions impact stock market volatility in a small, bank-dominated developing country. The results show that factors which affect banks' profitability, such as inefficiency, ill-advised financial transactions and overly stringent or inconsistently applied regulations, can increase stock market volatility. They also indicate that in an economy wherein most listed real-sector firms survive through a combination of equity and credit financing, the effectiveness of financial intermediation impacts stock market volatility by affecting the profitability of such firms. We show that in small bank-dominated economies, profitable, well-functioning banks are needed if capital markets are to develop. Suggestions are provided as to how banks, regulators and policymakers can aid in the reduction of stock market volatility. JEL Classifications: O16, G21 Keywords: Stock market volatility, capital market development, financial intermediation, small developing countries, INTRODUCTION In the early to mid 1990s, stock markets surged, with emerging markets accounting for much of the boom. (1) The extraordinarily fast growth of new listings on many of [...]

This paper aims at offering a review and assessment of various emerging technologies and their business applications and implications. The study focuses on nineteen emerging technologies categorized under five major themes: (1) automation and robotics; (2) data and connectivity; (3) interfaces and visualization; (4) materials; (5) energy and resources. For each theme, the associated technologies are examined, their business applications and implications are assessed, and some examples are provided. In the end, an integrative table of nineteen emerging technologies is offered, and some avenues for future research are discussed., 1. Introduction In the past three decades, the pace of innovation has substantially accelerated, and product lifecycles have shortened. Trade has become more global, and new products and technologies have [...]

The future patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI) are important inputs for policymakers, even more so during severe economic downturns, such as the one caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, there is neither empirical consensus nor significant ongoing empirical research on the most appropriate tool for forecasting FDI inflows. This paper aims to fill this gap by proposing an approach to forecasting global FDI inflows based on panel econometric techniques--namely the generalized method of moments--accounting for the heterogeneous nature of FDI across countries and for FDI dependence across time. The empirical comparison with alternative time-series methods confirms the greater predictive power of the proposed approach. Keywords: FDI, forecast, panel econometrics, time-series econometrics, underlying FDI trend, generalized method of moments JEL Codes: C23, F23, F47, 1. Introduction Foreign direct investment (FDI) is an important contributor to economic growth. The FDI-growth linkage operates through direct and indirect channels. Directly, multinational enterprises (MNEs) expand host countries' production [...]

Due to the new information and communication technologies, it is now possible to disconnect work from space and time and to take advantage of new ways of organizing work. One of the options is teleworking (TW), currently being implemented throughout Europe due to the condition created by the coronavirus pandemic. The aim of the paper is twofold: (i) to analyse a range of factors (size of the enterprise; foreign owner; written strategy; project-driven enterprise; disabilities; work-life balance; benefits, lack of workers, illness, lower cost, relax at work and comfort; renting space, IT level) influencing the duration of TW implementation in the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and (ii) to better define the differences between the SMEs where TW was introduced in a short time, and those introducing it over a longer period. Out of the total of 31 factors, six factors have been proved to have a different impact on the duration of TW implementation (TW implementation due to higher efficiency; monitoring is performed only according to the results; the managers see the disadvantage of TW in its possible misuse; the enterprises use internal TW regulations; the managers see the main advantage as higher operational flexibility; the introduction of TW, due to the balance of work and family life). All together, 44,000 SMEs in the Czech Republic were invited into the research. The data were collected from 1,018 enterprises, with 60% of the enterprises using TW actively; on average, these enterprises have been using it for seven years. Keywords: teleworking, career, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), management, homeworking, 1. INTRODUCTION The development of teleworking (TW), defined by the use of modern information and communication technologies and the mutual trust between an employer and an employee, is not hampered [...]

In the 1970s and 1980s, the economies of several developed and developing countries witnessed much volatility in output growth, inflation and other macroeconomic variables. Thereafter, these became considerably low and more stable. This latter development has been named the 'great moderation' with first observation in the US and comparable evidence for other developed and developing economies including South Africa. However, the 2007/2009 economic and financial crisis resulted into heightened uncertainty and volatility. This brings to question the role of monetary policy and its effectiveness in the economy. This paper examines the transmission mechanism of shocks to monetary policy in South Africa using quarterly data from 1980:1 to 2012:4. We also in addition identify demand and supply shocks. Our analyses are based on a factor-augmented vector autoregression with time-varying coefficients and stochastic volatility (TVP-FAVAR), which allows us to simultaneously analyze the changing impulse responses of a set of 177 macroeconomic variables covering the inflation, real activity, asset prices and monetary series. We also have intangible variables, such as confidence indices, and survey variables. These data capture the broad trends in the South African economy. Our results based on the impulse response functions, are consistent with economic theory as we observe no price puzzle that is often associated with the standard VAR models. We find evidence of modest time variation in the transmission of shocks. Overall, the macroeconomic variables seemed to have responded slightly more to the monetary policy shocks in the post -2000 (inflation targeting) sub-period than the pre-2000 period, albeit the differences in the effects are statistically insignificant. The forecast error variance decomposition results show the changes in the macroeconomic variables are largely determined by the demand shock relative to the monetary policy shock although the contribution of the latter increased slightly over time. Our results suggest the need for a more efficient role of the monetary authority as this will both improve its credibility and greater economic stability. As inflation still remains within the upper portion of the 3-6% target range, appropriate mix of supply and demand side policies could be explored alongside monetary policy to reduce inflationary pressures. JEL Classifications: C32, C54, E31, E52 Keywords: Monetary policy, Transmission Channel, Inflation Targeting, Time-varying FAVAR, INTRODUCTION The recent global economic and financial crisis between 2007 and 2009 which began as a subprime mortgage crisis is an episode in the history of the world that has [...]

This paper introduces a large-scale social entrepreneurship model to help address the growing need for the development of an international water resource sustainability system within a world water economy. We explore the relationships between government policy, geopolitical impacts, and business interests. In particular, we investigate why past policy has largely failed, while proposing an emerging entrepreneurial model that introduces a new perspective for largescale green business start-up capability. We believe an appropriate overlay of multiple stakeholder interests and alternative structuring may be employed in innovative entrepreneurial start-ups that require complex manufacturing and distribution networks. Comprehensive longterm water shortage planning and short-term interventions coupled with an emerging prototype large-scale green entrepreneurship model may help to advance the conversation., 'How sad to think that nature speaks, and mankind doesn't listen.' -Victor Hugo, 1840 INTRODUCTION Issues of sustainability are widespread and encompass all aspects of human global expansion and development [...]

How will the COVID-19 pandemic affect prospects for foreign investment and development in Africa? In part this depends on its interaction with pre-existing meta-trends in the global economy, such as the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). It will also depend on the nature of revisions to political settlements in Africa arising from the pandemic. This paper explores these issues through an examination of the direct and indirect economic impacts of the pandemic and their likely interaction with meta-trends in the global economy. In particular it argues that while there is still an important role for foreign investment, the crisis also creates opportunities for more domestically-focused investment and production. Keywords: Africa, COVID-19, development, Fourth Industrial Revolution, value chains, 1. Introduction Globalization has both positive and negative impacts, which are unevenly distributed by class, gender, geography and other factors. COVID-19 has highlighted both the depth of global interconnection, and [...]

In this paper, we investigate the short run and long run causal relationship between wholesale price index (WPI) and consumer price index (CPI) in India over the period from 1994 April to 2015 August. Using a linear cointegration and a nonlinear time series model of threshold cointegration with asymmetric error correction model and spectral Granger causality approach, the study attempts to find the linear and nonlinear cointegration relationship between WPI and CPI in India. Empirical results reveal the non-existence of linear cointegration between the WPI and CPI indices in India. Moreover, using consistent threshold autoregressive (C-TAR) and consistent momentum threshold autoregressive (CM-TAR) model, we find the evidence of non-linear cointegration between WPI and CPI in India over the period from 1994 to 2015. The consistent M-TAR model indicates the presence of threshold cointegration between WPI and CPI, which further suggests the consistent inflationary trends after 1995 in India due to rising per capita income and other macroeconomic indicators. Furthermore, results indicate that WPI and CPI are cointegrated with threshold error correction adjustment, and the adjustment towards long-run equilibrium is asymmetric. This further suggests that WPI and CPI respond differently to positive and negative deviations from the long-run equilibrium after the threshold level. Empirical results further indicate that adjustment towards longrun equilibrium tends to persist more for negative deviations and respond more quickly towards positive deviations. The spectral granger causality results do not reveal the causality from WPI to CPI. However, the Granger causality from the asymmetric error correction model reveals the unidirectional causality, which indicates that CPI Granger causes WPI, support the demand-push inflation in India. CPI Granger causes WPI at very low and high frequencies, which takes an average wavelength of more than 3.6 quarters time in a year. Furthermore, empirical results reveal that WPI and CPI reach equilibrium asymmetrically after the threshold level of the two percentages. In sum, results suggest that the Indian policymakers can emphasis on the demand side rather than supply-side inflation to control the level of inflation after the desired threshold level. Moreover, the central bank of India would give importance to control the unwarranted inflationary trend, which has been caused due to the CPI-based demand-side inflation. JEL Classifications: E31, C22, C32 Keywords: CPI, WPI, Asymmetric adjustment, Spectral Granger Causality Contact author's email address: Email: smrutibehera2003@gmail.com, INTRODUCTION The consumer price index (CPI) can be defined as a measure of average prices for a basket of goods commonly purchased by consumers. CPI is usually used for determining [...]

Malaysia has consistently placed high priority on reducing income inequality, particularly between ethnic groups, with increasing emphasis in recent years on national--rather than intergroup--inequality, exclusion of low-income households, and gender disparity. Official statistics show steeply declining household income inequality in recent years, and a marginal gender wage gap, but further investigation finds different trends and more nuanced pictures. This paper presents alternative findings that pose questions about the official account. Computing estimates of wage distribution, the study finds moderate changes in inequality, with relatively higher wage growth at the top and bottom ends--managers, production and elementary workers--while professionals, skilled workers and service workers have experienced slower gains. Shifts in Malaysia's economic structure and labour markets are consistent with the modest changes in inequality that are observed, and somewhat confound the drastic drop plotted in official sources. On gender inequality, women's rapidly increased educational attainment and steadily rising labour participation have bolstered their economic standing, and may account for the surprisingly low average male-female wage disparity. However, when disaggregated by occupation, age group, and employment status, substantial gender gaps are observed. Malaysia's efforts to redress inequality warrant more rigorous analyses and systematic policies. Keywords: inequality, Malaysia, income, wage, labour, gender., 1. Inequality in Malaysia: Recent Trends and Policy Stances Malaysia is generally regarded a success story in reducing income inequality, especially between ethnic groups, while sustaining growth and eradicating poverty [...]

This paper reviews the long-term trend of economic inequality and exclusion in Indonesia since the country embarked on its democratic transition in the late 1990s. While economic inequality was largely stable and relatively low during the high-growth New Order phase that lasted from the 1970s until the 1990s, it sharply increased during the first decade of the new millennium, reaching a record high in 2011 when the expenditure Gini coefficient touched 0.41. The Gini has started to decline since 2015, albeit slowly. Using earnings data from the labour force survey, six sources of exclusion are identified, including: belonging to the lower income group; low educational attainment; residing in a rural area; working in the informal sector; being female; and having a disability. In general, there has been no meaningful trend of inclusion for the identified groups relative to the reference groups. While Indonesia has placed more serious attention on tackling rising inequality, particularly by expanding infrastructure, connectivity and social assistance, policymakers need to start efficiently targeting those categorized as disadvantaged groups. Keywords: inequality, exclusion, Gini coefficient, Indonesia., 1. Introduction Rising economic inequality is a universal concern. Global awareness of the problem was bolstered by the United Nations in its 2005 Report on the World Social Situation: The [...]

This paper attempted to address two questions: (1) Does foreign direct investment (FDI) influence economic growth in emerging markets? and (2) Are there preconditions that must be available in emerging markets before FDI influence economic growth? The second question was triggered by literature which says that certain conditions must exist in the host country before economic growth triggered by FDI occurs (Azam and Ahmed. 2014; Pegkas. 2015). Literature shows that FDI led growth nexus has been extensively researched on and is now a settled matter. What is still unclear is which ones are the preconditions that must exist in the host countries to allow significant FDI impact on economic growth. Few empirical studies on the subject matter shows that there is no consensus yet on the list of conditions which must be available in the host countries before FDI triggered economic growth advantages are felt (refer to Table 1). Such empirical studies shied away from emerging markets despite the fact that emerging markets were major recipients of FDI in the last two decades as confirmed by Cavusgil et al (2013). It is against this background that the author investigated whether financial development, trade openness and infrastructural development are preconditions that are necessary for emerging markets to enjoy FDI triggered economic growth benefits. Panel data analysis methods, namely pooled ordinary least squares (OLS), fixed and random effects with data ranging from 1996 to 2014 were used for the current study. Fixed and random effects found out that financial development and infrastructure development are absorption capacities which should be available in the emerging markets if economic growth is to be significantly influenced by FDI. Pooled OLS observed that only trade openness and infrastructural development must be available in emerging markets before FDI significantly influence growth. The policy implication of the study is that emerging markets should implement policies that increase financial development, trade openness and infrastructural development in order to enhance FDI's ability to influence economic growth. Future studies should investigate all factors raised by literature to find out if they are absorption capacities in the FDI-growth nexus in emerging markets. JEL Classifications: F21, F43 Keywords: FDI, Emerging Markets, Economic Growth, Absorption Capacities Author's Email Address: tsaurk@unisa.ac.za, kunofiwa.tsaurai@gmail.com, INTRODUCTION Background, Research gap and Contribution of the study: In emerging markets, FDI has been argued to be the major catalyst for economic growth in recent years, according to United [...]