Foreign direct investments,institutional quality,and economic growth

Institutional quality is considered to be an important factor in boosting economic growth of a country. This paper explores the role of institutional quality in economic growth and more specifically the role it plays via the channel of foreign direct investments. This paper uses a larger dataset of 104 countries and applies GMM estimation method to a dynamic panel data to evaluate the direct impact of institutional quality on economic growth and the indirect impact of institutional quality on economic growth through enhancing the FDI-induced economic growth. This paper provides evidence that both FDI inflows and institutional quality cause stronger economic growth. The FDI-led growth, however, was only experienced in the low and middle-income countries. In these countries, better institutional quality was also found to be enhancing the FDI-led economic growth. An important finding of this paper is that in the high-income countries, FDI was found to slow down the economic growth. The results are robust and consistent for individual institutional quality indicators and controlling for endogeneity.     

Is quality management a prime requisite for globalization? Some facts from the sports industry

Countries have progressed during the decades through internationalization of their products. Pakistan is also trying hard to internationalize its products and has succeeded as far as the textile and sport ware industries are concerned. Pakistani Sports industry, though always relying on high quality products, lacked a formal quality management program till 1990’s. It was during this decade that most sports industries adopted a formal quality management program in the shape of ISO-9000. This paper encompasses different aspects of quality management and establishes its role in internationalization. Research findings presented in this paper are carried out in two phases. In phase-I, the detailed analysis of 6 sports industries is done, whereas in phase-II, a survey of one hundred industries was conducted and the role of quality management was established based on obtained results. It was found that 85% companies adopted ISO-9000 as a formal quality management program. The quality impact on internationalization was probed and it was found that the following quality management programs increased the sale, exports, profitability and the well being of the owner and the workers.     

WHY DO CHILDREN TAKE CARE OF THEIR ELDERLY PARENTS? ARE THE JAPANESE ANY DIFFERENT?

We conduct a theoretical and empirical analysis of why children live with (or near) their parents and provide care and assistance to them using microdata from a Japanese household survey, the Osaka University Preference Parameter Study. We find that the Japanese are more likely to live with (or near) their elderly parents and/or to provide care and attention to them if they expect to receive a bequest from them, which constitutes strong support for the strategic bequest motive, but that their caregiving behavior is also heavily influenced by the strength of their altruism toward their parents and social norms.     

Strategies and boundaries: Subcontracting in construction

A central concern in studying organization environment relationships has been the issue of how boundaries of organizational activity are defined and altered. A specific organizational response that pertains to the issue of boundaries is subcontracting. Construction is one industry where subcontracting is used extensively. Eccles' (1981a) study shows, however, that there is great variation in the subcontracting practices of contractors. This paper reports an exploratory study on the possible determinants of the extent of subcontracting by the construction firm.     

U.S. Monetary Policy and Herding: Evidence from Commodity Markets

Atlantic Economic Journal - This paper investigates the presence of herding behavior across a spectrum of commodities (i.e., agricultural, energy, precious metals, and metals) futures prices...     

Cyclicality of commodity markets with respect to the U.S. economic policy uncertainty based on granger causality in quantiles

Given the importance of the U.S. in global commodity markets, the goal is to explore whether U.S. economic policy uncertainty impacts the price performance of certain commodities. The analysis uses the Granger causality in quantiles method that allows us to test whether there are different effects under different market conditions. The results document that economic uncertainty impacts the returns on the commodities considered, with the effects clustering around the tail of their conditional distribution. Robust evidence was obtained under alternative definitions of uncertainty.     

Volatility linkages in the spot and futures market in Australia: a copula approach

To better characterize the dependence structure of the joint returns distribution, we propose to blend copula functions with Asymmetric GARCH (AGARCH) models, which are allowed for generalized error distribution. We model the copula’s marginals by the AGARCH processes that can differentiate between the impacts of positive and negative shocks on the returns volatility while taking the large kurtosis of the returns into account. An application of the procedure is elaborated on the All Ordinaries Index and its corresponding Share Price Index on future contracts in Australia. The findings reveal that the two spot and future markets show a strong right tail dependence but no left tail dependence. This provides a very useful knowledge for the risk management and hedging in futures markets.     

Organizational citizenship behaviour: a study of young executives in Canada,Iran, and Turkey

One of the most interesting constructs in organizational studies and human resource management is perhaps the concept of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). OCB emphasizes constructive and cooperative employee behaviours that contribute to the organization, yet do not fall within the domain of mandatory in-role behaviours. While researchers have investigated the role of contextual attitudes and dispositional attributes on the OCB, there is a lack in cross-cultural examination of this concept. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of individuals' job-related attitudes and dispositional characteristics on their OCB in three different societal cultures, that is, Canada, Iran, and Turkey. Data reported were collected from 220 young executives in these three countries. The results reveal similarities and differences among these cultures on cognitive and affective predictors of OCB.     

Halal Certification for Financial Products: A Transaction Cost Perspective

We argue that although halal certification could potentially reduce the high transaction costs related to buying Islamic financial products, in practice these costs are just replaced by transaction costs relating to the certification itself. It takes considerable time (2–3 months) and money (USD 122.000) to obtain a halal certification. Partially, this is because the market is highly concentrated and non-contestable. About 20 individual Sharia scholars control more than half the market, with the top 3 earning an estimated USD 4.5 million in fees per year. Moreover, this market seems plagued with problems, most notably a strong incentive for excessively lenient certification, lack of consensus on what is considered halal and sub-standard governance practices. We discuss solutions to these problems and conclude that a neutral non-profit government entity should assume the role of halal certifiers.     

Purchasing environmentally sustainable apparel: The attitudes and intentions of female Kuwaiti consumers

The purpose of this study is to examine relationships among knowledge, environmental concern, attitudes about environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) and ESA purchasing behaviours of Kuwaiti women. This was accomplished by surveying 236 participants using four preexisting scales, measuring knowledge about the impact of manufacturing apparel and textile products on the environment, levels of concern about environmental degradation, feelings about clothing that is environmentally sustainable and ESA purchase intentions. Data analysis determined several findings. First, female Kuwaiti nationals showed a low level of knowledge about the environmental impacts of the apparel and textile industry. The participants also held neutral attitudes of environmental concern and neutral attitudes towards ESA. Finally, despite their knowledge and attitudes, the participants did have positive intentions to purchase ESA in the future. To produce, market and sell ESA effectively in Kuwait, the conclusions from this study are important for manufacturers and retailers of ESA products. Kuwait provides a large market for apparel goods and this study is a contribution to a better understanding of consumers and ESA in that market.