Impact of Islamic banking development and major macroeconomic variables on economic growth for Islamic countries: Evidence from panel smooth transition models

This study examines the nonlinear relationship between Islamic banking development, major macroeconomic variables and economic growth in Islamic countries. Using the panel smooth transition model, the results show a positive nonlinear relationship between Islamic banking development and economic growth. Moreover, the relationship between the macroeconomic variables and economic growth is asymmetric and regime-dependent. Further, by using the dynamic panel quantile model, we show that for many cases the Islamic banking variables lead economic growth across the quantiles. More specifically, foreign direct investment, oil production and inflation have a positive impact on economic growth during the normal financial development state, while government consumption, one-lag economic growth, terms of trade and financial development have a negative impact on economic growth for this state. The human capital index, education and the rule of law have an insignificant impact, regardless of the prevailing regime. The results for the separated oil-importing and oil-exporting economies are generally consistent with the combined sample regarding the Islamic banking development variables. As for the macro variables, they have a positive and significant (insignificant) effect on EG for the oil-importing (oil-exporting) economies for almost all models.     

Derivatives market and economic growth nexus: Policy implications for emerging markets

The derivatives market plays a crucial role in an economy. However, its link to economic growth and macroeconomic factors seem to be insufficiently covered in academic research despite the publication of many empirical studies on the causality of finance and growth. Recently, many emerging markets, such as Vietnam, have decided to establish a derivatives markets for risk management to ensure stability in the economy. This paper investigates the dynamic relationship among these key variables using up-to-date panel data on 17 countries, for which required data are available until 2017. This study yields various findings. First, bidirectional Granger causality between derivatives markets and economic growth exists internationally. Second, using panel vector autoregression, impulse-response functions, variance decomposition techniques as well as panel econometrics estimations, we find that trade openness and government spending have more effects on the derivatives market than economic growth and inflation. Third, we document that the derivatives market has a more integrated direct relationship with economic growth and macroeconomic factors in high-income countries than their upper-middle-income counterparts. These new findings are essential for consideration by policy makers in emerging markets in relation to the development of their derivatives markets.     

Perceived insecurity in the public space: personal,social and environmental variables

Perceived insecurity in the public space: Personal, social and environmental variables. This paper explores perception of insecurity among the users of Barcelona’s public space. It describes the results of a research aimed to determine the key variables for the understanding of subjective insecurity. Structural equation models have been applied for this purpose. Results show low relative indices of causality for environmental variables, whereas those related to space representation, residential satisfaction and urban identity, social support and personal competences offer high predictive potential. It is concluded that insecurity perceptions in the public space are therefore strongly linked to social interaction processes and to the social construction of insecurity. Other results, like the influence of gender or age, are consistent with previous findings.     

Application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) algorithm to income insecurity susceptibility mapping – A study in the district of Purulia,India

Multi-criteria based prediction models are gradually finding places in the social and economic sciences to assess, locate, and address the complicated socio-economic issues arising around the globe. The incidence of any such issues may be treated as an output of complex interactions between a range of variables linked with ambient physical, socio-cultural, economic as well as the political system. The income insecurity is associated with the malnutrition, economic inequality, poverty, and several other socioeconomic hazards. At present, several studies are aiming to develop the ‘tools and techniques’ of demarcating the areas with some degree of vulnerability to a particular socioeconomic hazard and to examine the internal functions of the interactive variables linked with the hazard. In the present study, we tried to apply the algorithm of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) in demarcating the areas susceptible to income insecurity in the district of Purulia, which is a backward district in the state of West Bengal, India, in terms of the overall level of human development achieved so far. The training dataset for developing the AHP model is based on the available secondary data. The model has been validated by running the modeled algorithm on a test dataset and applying the correlation and test of significance between the model output and the collected primary field data. The present model uses fifteen variables and is applicable to most of the subsistence agro-economic systems in tropical areas. The modification of the range of the variables and addition or alteration of variables within the similar structural framework will allow the model getting befitted with the other social and economic systems.     

At their wits’ end? Economic stress,motivation and unethical judgement of public servants

ABSTRACT

Through an interdisciplinary approach, this paper addresses the scarcity of research that assesses economic stressors, public service motivation (PSM), work motivations, and unethical judgement in the public square. We argue that motivations have a direct relationship with the acceptance of unethical behaviour, but that economic stress (defined as financial stress and job insecurity) may influence this relationship both direct and indirectly. Using data from the European Social Survey, we develop a path model to test these hypotheses. We find that PSM and work motivation influence unethical judgements, and perceived economic stressors play an indirect role through their relationship with work motivations. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Perceptions of economic insecurity: Evidence from Russia

Economic insecurity is an inherent characteristic of the transition from a planned economy to a market-oriented economy and workers’ assessments of their economic insecurity have direct consequences not only for their happiness/well-being, but also on consumption and saving behavior. This study utilizes data from the nationally representative Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey to study perceptions of economic insecurity among workers in both rural and urban settlements. Analyzing three measures of perceived economic insecurity, we find that perceptions of insecurity were higher when economic conditions were deteriorating (1995–1998), and lower when economic conditions had stabilized (2000–2004). While perceived insecurity varies substantially by worker characteristics–those with less education, women, and unskilled and semi-skilled manual workers feel most vulnerable–, differences in observed characteristics explain a relatively small part of the ruralurban perceptions gap; other factors, such as different rates of economic recovery in rural and urban locales are also important. Individual well-being and household consumption tend to be lower when concerns about economic insecurity are present.     

Savings and investments in the OECD, 1970–2007: A test of panel cointegration with regime changes

In this paper we test for the existence of a long-run relationship between investment and savings (the Feldstein–Horioka puzzle) in a panel of 18 OECD countries, 1970–2007, allowing for heterogenous breaks in the coefficients. For this purpose we develop a bootstrap panel cointegration with breaks robust to cross-section dependence, shown by simulation to enjoy good size and power properties provided that some care is applied in its use. The tests suggest that, even allowing for parameter shifts in the countries where capital control regulations changed in the sample period, there is no evidence of an investment–savings long-run relationship for the panel as a whole.     

Disentangling the drivers of renewable energy investments: The role of behavioral factors

The scope of this study is to investigate the main determinants of renewable energy investments in Greece. For this reason, we build an appropriate framework to infer the decision‐making process in the renewable energy sources (RES). The main drivers are then categorized under two groups as economic, and behavioral ones. In the next stage, we rely on binomial (logit and probit) and quantile regression analysis to estimate the impact of these factors on investment decisions towards RES. Our findings indicate that investors who gain better access to knowledge and exhibit a more positive attitude towards the contribution of artificial intelligence (AI) on the RES industry have a higher share of renewables in their portfolio. We argue that these investors are willing to invest a higher amount in the RES industry today. At the same time, quantile regression models illustrate that this relationship is nonmonotonic (i.e., inverted U shaped curve), arguing that positive attitudes towards the contribution of behavioral factors on RES are not adequate to encourage investments after crossing a certain point (threshold). Based on the empirical findings, we argue that the message to policymakers and government officials is to promote a faster penetration of low carbon technologies to achieve sustainable economic and social growth.     

Chief executive officer ability,corporate social responsibility,and financial performance: The moderating role of the environment

This paper seeks to explore how chief executive officer (CEO) ability influences the economic impact of corporate social responsibility strategic decisions. Currently, the evidence on the impact of corporate social responsibility on the value of the company is mixed; in this paper, we aim to observe the moderate role played by this particularity of the CEO in the relationship between socially responsible commitment and financial performance. Our results identify that the most able CEOs make investments in social and environmental practices that lead to greater financial performance; in contrast, the less able CEOs can overinvest or underinvest in an opportunistic way for personal benefit at shareholders' expense. In addition, the role that CEO ability plays in social and environmental strategies is particularly pertinent in munificent environments that foment managerial discretion; in these contexts, high managerial ability leads to investment in socially responsible performance, which benefits shareholders by alleviating moral hazard.     

Revisiting the Curvilinear Relation Between Job Insecurity and Work Withdrawal: The Moderating Role of Achievement Orientation and Risk Aversion

Although speculation of the curvilinear relations between job insecurity and job‐related behaviors is theoretically appealing, the empirical evidence has been sparse. The purpose of this study was to contribute to the literature on job insecurity and work withdrawal behaviors by reexamining their curvilinear relation, and the effects of achievement orientation and propensity for risk aversion on this U‐shaped relationship. Using samples with both secure and insecure job situations, we hypothesized that job insecurity could have both positive and negative effects on work withdrawal simultaneously; however, one of these effects could dominate the other at different levels of job insecurity. That is, a U shape would best describe such a relationship, since a moderate level of job insecurity would result in the lowest level of work withdrawal. Furthermore, we hypothesized that achievement orientation and propensity for risk aversion moderates this relationship in such a way that the curvilinear relationship is weaker (flattened curve) when the individual's achievement orientation is high, and that the curvilinear relationship is stronger (steep curve) when the individual's propensity for risk aversion is high. Results show that these hypotheses were supported; implications and limitations of the study are discussed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

中国物流业绩效宏观影响因素的实证研究

通过利用时间序列和面板模型对全国以及各省市物流行业发展与经济增长之间的相互关系进行了分析。在控制了金融发展以及社会资本存量等因素之后,结果发现经济增长对物流业发展起到了显著的促进作用。进一步,在全国30个省市地区的面板模型中,依然发现宏观经济指标对物流业发展有显著的影响。此外,研究还发现我国东部地区的物流行业发展最为迅速,其绩效最高,中部地区则次之。     

Does Monetary Aid Catalyse New Business Creation? Analysing the Impact of Global Aid Flows on Formal and Informal Entrepreneurship

Official development aid – monetary transfers to developing countries to promote social and economic development – reached more than $140 billion in 2016. However, traditional forms of government bilateral aid continue to decline, while private aid is rising. Nevertheless, the impact of this aid, including its potential to stimulate economic development through new business formation, remains uncertain. In this study, we examine the impact of three sources of monetary aid flows on formal and informal entrepreneurship. Drawing from the international political economy literature we argue that bilateral aid and private aid are associated with higher levels of informal entrepreneurship, while multilateral aid is accompanied by lower levels. Moreover, we show that bilateral and private aid are linked with lower levels of formal entrepreneurship, while multilateral aid has no impact. The analyses of a panel of 313 observations from 49 countries provide robust support for these arguments.     

Environmental taxes,reforms and economic growth: an empirical analysis of panel data

This paper explores the relationship between environmentally related taxes and the economic growth rate. The analysis also investigates whether this relationship differs between countries that have implemented environmental tax reforms (ETRs) and those that have not. Using panel data from 31 OECD countries over the period 1994–2013, the paper finds that when we allow environmentally related tax revenues to interact with an initial level of real GDP per capita, the overall revenues of these taxes are negatively associated with the economic growth rate in the short and long term. Furthermore, we show that the higher the initial level of GDP per capita, the more environmentally related tax revenues can promote the economic growth rate. The analysis also reveals that the relationship between environmentally related tax revenues and economic growth varies between countries that have a mechanism to redistribute environmentally related tax revenues and those that do not.     

长三角物流发展和经济增长关系实证分析

文章采用2005~2012年长三角经济圈20个城市物流业发展与区域经济增长的面板数据进行实证分析,通过对数据进行平稳性检验和协整检验,证实了物流业发展和经济增长之间存在着长期协整关系。回归分析中Hausman检验拒绝存在随机效应的原假设,采用固定效应模型分析面板数据,发现物流业发展的三个指标,物流产业规模、物流供给规模和物流需求规模均和区域经济增长之间存在正相关关系,不同城市组别的回归分析发现,不同的区域经济发展策略对物流发展和经济增长之间的关系有着不同的影响。     

Money,random matching and endogenous growth: A quantitative analysis

In this study, we develop a search-and-matching monetary growth model to analyze the effects of inflation on economic growth and social welfare by introducing endogenous economic growth via capital externality into a two-sector search-and-matching model. We find that the channel through which inflation affects economic growth in the search-and-matching model is different from the traditional cash-in-advance model. To facilitate the calibration, we obtain an empirical estimate of the effects of inflation on economic growth using panel regressions. In the simulation analysis, we quantitatively evaluate the welfare effect of inflation in the search-and-matching endogenous growth model and compare it to a search-and-matching exogenous growth model. We find that the welfare effect of inflation is nonlinear in the endogenous growth model whereas it is linear in the exogenous growth model. Furthermore, we find that the welfare cost of inflation under endogenous growth is up to four times as large as the welfare cost of inflation under exogenous growth.     

How does a firm's life cycle influence the relationship between carbon performance and financial debt?

In a progressively more stringent regulatory context concerning greenhouse gas emissions derived from a growing awareness of how economic activity affects our environment, this study analyzes how the firm's life cycle affects the relationship between carbon performance and financial debt. Using panel data on a sample of European listed firms during the 2005–2018 period, we find evidence suggesting that firms with better carbon performance have greater access to external financing during their growth stages and lesser access during maturity, although it has no effect during the shake-out stage. Furthermore, carbon performance has a strong positive effect during growth, maturity, and shake-out when firms need to finance additional tangible investments. We also find that the negative relationship between liquidity and debt is reversed during innovative stages for firms with better carbon performance. Our results are robust to the use of alternative measures of life cycle stages and to the consideration of industrial, legal, and cultural contexts.     

Intellectual Capital Profiles: An Examination of Investments and Returns*

ABSTRACT Using data collected from executives in 208 organizations, this study takes a configurational approach to examine how human, social, and organizational capital coexist to form distinct intellectual capital profiles across organizations. We then examine how investments in human resource management (HRM), information technology (IT), and research and development (R&D) differ across these intellectual capital profiles and investigate differences in financial returns and Tobin's q between the profiles. Results indicate that a relatively small group of superior performing organizations exhibit high levels of human, social, and organizational capital. Most firms, however, tend to focus primarily on only one form of intellectual capital, and a small group of underperforming organizations have very low levels of all three types of intellectual capital. At a general level, HRM and IT investments appear to influence intellectual capital development more than R&D investments. More specifically, HRM investments tend to be higher in firms with profiles high in human and social capital, while IT investments are stronger in firms with profiles high in social capital. Further, HRM, IT, and R&D investments are all very high in the group of superior performing organizations that have high levels of human, social, and organizational capital.     

The impact of value added components of GDP and FDI on economic freedom in Europe

This paper investigates the possibility of a long-run relationship between the Economic Freedom Index (EFI), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and value added components of GDP in thirty Eastern, Central and Western European countries. The study further examines whether the FDI and sector-specific components of GDP have any significant impact on economic freedom for these countries. We use annual data and employ Pedroni and KAO panel cointegration analyses to assess the long-run relationships. The results indicate that there is a significant long-run relationship between the variables under study. Moreover, the evidence shows that the service and industry value added components positively affect EFI, while the agriculture value added component has a negative effect on EFI. However, contrary to the prior literature, we observe a marginally significant and negative relationship between EFI and FDI in the random effects model.     

对发展济南市楼宇经济的几点新思考

楼宇经济是以城市商务楼为载体,通过开发、出租楼宇进行招商引资,从而引进税源,增加收入,带动区域经济发展的一种经济形态。它的出现大大拓展了城市经济的发展空间,随着城市经济和社会的进一步发展,楼宇经济必将成为城市经济发展的“生力军”,发展楼宇经济是城市经济发展的必然选择,是实现跨越发展的客观要求。