Estimating Cost Functions of Malaysian Commercial Banks: The Differential Effects of Size,Location, and Ownership*

Bank integration and competition policies are a core part of current financial reforms intended to strengthen the financial sector in Malaysia. This paper intends to clarify the production technology employed in Malaysian banks and indicate important policy implications for current bank consolidation policy. While it is essential to conduct a microeconomic analysis of the banking sector to appraise financial reform policy, Katib and Mathews (2000) is the only formal study in this area that uses micro level data on Malaysian banks. Our analysis expands on Katib and Mathews’ study in three aspects. Firstly, while Katib and Mathews employed Data Envelopment Analysis, we use estimation analysis based on a parametric approach. Secondly, we examine technological differences among Malaysian banks according to the size of operations, location of branches and ownership structure. Thirdly, we also explicitly incorporate the existence of hidden bad loans in estimating cost functions. According to our estimation analysis, there is a difference in production technology between large‐sized banks and small or medium‐sized banks. While economies of scale are observed for large‐sized banks, no economies of scope and technological progress are observed for any banks. The results of our analysis suggest that, while the current reform policy is basically appropriate, serious problems remain regarding bank consolidation and the lack of market competition.     

The labor market and the distribution of landholdings in pre-Famine Ireland

The size distribution of landholdings varied widely in pre-Famine Ireland. Its determinants are of great interest given the catastrophe of the Great Famine. This paper divides holdings into labor-deficient and labor-surplus. The statistical analysis consists of fitting a lognormal distribution to the holding data and regressing the estimated parameters on the physical characteristics of the locality, such as land quality, and on the economic environment and in particular population density. Their influence operates through the labor market on the sides of both supply and demand. The model explains the inequality in the holding distribution better than the central tendency.     

Agglomeration Effects versus Policy Effects: The Case of the Electronics Industry in Malaysia

The present study analyses investments within the Malaysian electronics industry in 1991 to assess the effectiveness of development policy in light of strong agglomeration effects in the electronics industry. We find that agglomeration and the use of industrial estates as development policy have had positive effects on firms' location choice. However, agglomeration has a much larger effect than industrial estates. In addition, we find that the marginal effect of industrial estates is positively correlated with the degree of agglomeration. This suggests that improvement of problems of regional inequality by industry estates would be very difficult in reality.     

Productivity of Foreign and Domestic Firms in the Malaysian Manufacturing Industry*

The relative position of total factor productivity (TFP) of both foreign and domestic ?rms in the manufacturing industry in Malaysia is estimated for three‐ and ?ve‐digit level subsectors. It was found that the differences between foreign and domestic ?rms varied widely from sector to sector. However, for the manufacturing industry as a whole, TFP was approximately the same for foreign and domestic ?rms for the period 1994–1996.     

Characteristics of labor market in Serbia - View on the labor demand on Belgrade and Banat labor markets

The labor market in Serbia is characterized by one of the highest unemployment rates of the working population （aged 15 to 64）. Also, it is notified that the unemployed level of the qualification is very low and that there isn＇t enough space in the existing formal educational system for any new introductions （such as prequalification courses, or lifelong educational concepts）. The research on the labor demand was aimed at assessing the state of the labor markets in the selected regions and at analyzing short-term demand for labor force. The analysis establishes： Which sectors of local/regional economy are being developed and are likely to require additional labor force in the next six months; which types of jobs are likely to be in demand in the aforementioned sectors; which additional knowledge and skills are needed for such occupations. The applied methodology also enabled to analyze information on vulnerable groups of unemployed, namely persons with disturbing factors in employment and the young unemployed of up to 24 years of age. In order to gather reliable data at regional level, a research was conducted on a stratified sample covering 1400 enterprises and some of the statistical labor market indicators were established indicating particularities of the labor markets in the surveyed regions -- Belgrade and Banat.     

The rise of migration and the fall of self employment in rural China's labor market

When examining questions regarding the Lewis model, one of the most salient set of facts involves the shift of labor between agricultural and the off farm sectors. The goal of this paper is to answer several questions about the nature of this movement: How has the expansion of the economy after 2000 affected off farm labor market participation? Has off farm labor continued to rise? What is this rise being driven by—migrant wage earners or self employment opportunities? What is, in part, driving these trends? Using a national representative set of data that consists of two waves of surveys done in 2000 and 2008 in six provinces, the paper finds that off farm labor market participation has continued to rise steadily in the early 2000s. However, there has been a structural break in the trends of occupational choice before and after 2000. Unlike before 2000, after 2000 migration's growth accelerated; during this same period the self employed subsector stagnated. The number of wage earning migrants in 2008 was greater than the number of those in the self employed subsector. The data also show that the rise in wage-earning migration is mainly being driven by the younger cohorts. Our analysis also shows that the rise of migration is happening in conjunction with a rising unskilled wage.     

我国出口产品结构与劳动生产率提高的实证分析

本文通过对我国1980年以来的初级产品出口,工业制成品出口和名义劳动生产率的数据进行协整分析,揭示了我国名义劳动生产率与初级产品出口有协整关系,与工业制成品出口不存在协整关系,并根据格兰杰表示定理运用EG两步法,建立误差修正模型,对我国出口产品结构与劳动生产率的关系做出评价。     

Robert Kuok: Family,Dialect, and State in the Making of a Malaysian Magnate

Chinese overseas family businesses generally lack longevity. In addition to difficulties in transiting towards professional management they are susceptible to state pressures. However, Robert Kuok, the richest man in Southeast Asia who heads a vast business empire, has been able to surmount both challenges. This study shows how Kuok successfully turned three important sources of identity into strengths: family, dialect, and the state. These three sources are set against his Johor Bahru background, the changing domestic political landscape, and shifting regional economic influence.     

Decomposing inequality and poverty in post-war Rwanda: The roles of gender,education, wealth and location

This paper provides an overview of poverty and inequality in post-war Rwanda. Rwanda is one of the poorest countries in the world, and has recently become one of the most unequal. High levels of poverty and inequality have important implications not only in terms of evaluations of social welfare, but also for management of social tensions and the propensity for violent conflict in the future. This paper uses the first two available and nationally representative rounds of household surveys –EICV1 2000 and EICV2 2005 – to decompose and identify the major ‘sources' of poverty and inequality in the country. I find stark differences in vulnerability to poverty by region, gender and widow status of the head of household. I additionally find important changes in the ‘income generating functions' of Rwandan households, and that distribution of land and financial assets are increasingly important in determining the inter-household distribution of income.     

The effect of import competition on labor income inequality through firm and worker heterogeneity in the Japanese manufacturing sector

This study estimates the effects of import competition from Asia on the labor income inequality of Japanese manufacturing workers, considering firm and worker heterogeneity. Parameters are obtained from regression results of annual salary by using constructed worker–establishment panel data. The estimated salary change is positively and negatively larger for higher- and lower-paid workers, respectively, implying that labor income inequality among industry–size–skill–gender groups has increased due to imports from Asia. However, the actual evolution of income inequality during 1998–2014 is not successfully explained by Asian imports: other shocks overshadow import competition to determine actual income inequality.     

Few Opportunities, Much Desperation: The Dichotomy of Non-Agricultural Activities and Inequality in Western Kenya

Using data from Western Kenya, we confirm the existence of a dichotomous non-agricultural sector. The poverty and inequality implications of the differently motivated diversification strategies only partly correspond to expected patterns. While high-return activities are indeed confined to richer households, low-return activities constitute an important income source for households across the entire income distribution. Finally, we examine the wider implications of our findings for rural livelihoods. We find that only engagement in high-return non-agricultural activities is significantly associated with increased agricultural productivity. It seems that such high-return activities play a key role in triggering cumulative effects of relative livelihood success.     

江苏科技人才发展问题与对策研究

人才是科技创新最关键的因素,以《中国高技术产业统计年鉴》、《中国科技统计年鉴》为基础,对江苏的主要人才指标与广东、浙江进行对标分析,找出江苏科技人才发展的优势与不足.江苏存在研发人员增速缓慢、基础研究人才不足、人才区域分布不均衡等问题,分析问题背后的深层次原因,并从增强高新技术产业人才集聚效应、建设高水平基础研究人才队伍、提高苏中苏北引才育才能力等方面提出对策建议.     

生产率的测度以及各种生产率的比较

生产率的测度是产出和投入之比。对产出和投入的不同界定而产生的生产率包括：直接劳动生产率、完全劳动生产率、增加值劳动生产率等。本文探讨了完全劳动投入的测度，并比较了这些生产率之间的关系。     

苏东地区的城市化与生产力布局优化探讨

在地区经济的发展中 ,生产力布局优化是城市化的经济内涵 ,城市化是生产力布局优化的空间载体。文章在简析苏东地区发展现状的基础上 ,就其城市化与生产力布局优化的总体思路、战略重点和主要对策进行了有益的探讨。     

地方高校管理科学专业人才培养模式与课程体系设计探讨

以地方高校—湖南邵阳学院为例,探讨了地方高校管理科学专业人才培养模式及与之相适应课程体系的构建。     

试论创新文化产业与福建文化生产力发展

创新文化产业是创新文化建设的重要组成部分，是福建建设创新型省份的必要支撑。本文认为培养创新理念是发展创新文化产业的首要问题，在简要分析影响福建创新文化发展的技术、人才、宽容等因素后，提出城市化是提高福建文化生产力的主要途径。     

The social value of income information in a model with market power and endogenous variety

The present paper analyzes the value of public information in a general equilibrium economy with imperfect competition. The welfare effects of an improved information system for perfectly competitive economies have been extensively investigated in the published literature. Schlee (2001) shows that the value of information is always negative in exchange economies if an efficient risk sharing mechanism exists. In contrast, in economies with production, better information reduces welfare provided consumers are sufficiently risk-averse ( Eckwert and Zilcha 2000, 2003 ). In the present paper it will be shown that this result is robust if the production sector exhibits monopolistic competition in the Chamberlinian sense. Even so, the inefficiency of equilibria adds further potential for positive welfare effects of improved information. A model is presented where the degree of market imperfection is positively linked to the value of information. If the markup on competitive prices is sufficiently high, the value of information is positive; that is, better information increases economic welfare.     

山东省固定资产投资效率的演进轨迹及影响因素分析：1981-2011

文章利用DEA方法对山东省固定资产投资效率(1981-2011年)演进轨迹进行了分析。指出山东省固定资产投资效率总体呈"双峰"演进特征,其中,第一产业与第三产业固定资产投资基本呈"单峰"分布,而第二产业呈不明显的"双峰"分布特征。在山东省固定资产投资效率的影响因素分析中,发现提升对外开放水平、合理利用外资、减少能耗、加大政府支持力度、提高信息化水平对山东省提升固定资产投资效率是有利的。     

Non-Europe: The magnitude and causes of market fragmentation in the EU

Non-Europe: The Magnitude and Causes of Market Fragmentation in the EU. — In 1985 the European Commission diagnosed its member states as suffering from excessive market fragmentation, later referred to as “Non-Europe.” The authors examine the empirical basis for the Commission’s diagnosis using a trade model derived from monopolistic competition. They then investigate the links between the initial size and subsequent evolution of border effects within the EU. The findings support the view that European consumers act as if imports from other members were subject to high nontariff barriers. However, there appears to be almost no relationship between market fragmentation and the barriers that were identified and removed by Europe’s Single Market Programme.