The energy-GDP nexus: Evidence from a panel of Pacific Island countries

The Pacific Island countries are small island economies that are increasingly dependent on energy for growth and development, yet highly susceptible to climate change. Thus, the relationship between energy consumption and GDP is crucial for realizing their future development and growth objectives. This article tests for Granger causality and provides long-run structural estimates for the relationship between energy consumption, GDP and urbanization for a panel of Pacific Island countries. For the panel as a whole in the long-run there is bidirectional Granger causality between energy consumption and GDP and these variables exert a positive impact on each other. A 1% increase in energy consumption increases GDP by 0.11%, while a 1% increase in GDP increases energy consumption by 0.23%. The findings suggest that for the panel as a whole these countries should increase investment in energy infrastructure and regulatory reform of energy infrastructure to improve delivery efficiency, continue to promote alternative energy sources and put in place energy conservation policies to reduce unnecessary wastage. These strategies seek to realize the dual objectives of reducing the adverse effects of energy use on the environment, while avoiding the negative effect on economic growth of reducing energy consumption.     

Modeling the relationship between firm and user generated content and the stages of the marketing funnel

While research has successfully linked social media to separate customer metrics, an in-depth conceptual and empirical understanding of how social media affects the stages of the marketing funnel is currently lacking. We draw on extant theories of consumer information processing and source credibility to conceptually link and contrast the relationships between firm generated content (FGC) dimensions of neutral valence, positive valence and vividness, user generated content (UGC) dimensions of volume and valence and the marketing funnel stages of awareness, consideration, purchase intent and satisfaction. Using daily aggregate brand-level data for 19 brands across seven industries, our analysis shows that UGC dimensions have a stronger relationship with awareness and satisfaction while FGC dimensions are more effective for consideration and purchase intent. Specifically, we observe that FGC vividness has the strongest relationship with consideration and purchase intent, while UGC valence dominates UGC volume for these stages. Our results also show that brands with higher corporate reputation have stronger relationships between dimensions of FGC and the marketing funnel stages. Findings by consumption category show that UGC and FGC dimensions have larger positive relationships with awareness for durables and non-durables, and with consideration, purchase intent, and satisfaction for services. Thus, overall, our study offers critical managerial insights into social media marketing regarding how to leverage both FGC and UGC in managing the marketing funnel and brand reputation.     

Gandhian values and consumption behavior: scale development and validation

Researchers have long been interested in the measurement of human values. Gandhi was a leading figure in the independence of India and also in the fight against racialism in South Africa. His teachings are invaluable and have inspired generations all over the world. Following standard procedure for scale development, we aim to identify the various Gandhian values that can be imbibed by an individual. We validate the applicability of the instrument by assessing its relationship with potentially related constructs like socially responsible consumption behavior and consumer frugality. We also assess its relationship with a negatively valenced construct of materialism. To develop the Gandhian values scale, we used a mix of both qualitative and quantitative methods. We conducted three data collection rounds corresponding with four separate phases of scale development. We ensured the stability of the Gandhian value scale across different contexts by testing and validating it across three different sets of sample. To the best of our knowledge, our scope of research is second only in the line of similar research like the Confucian values. Our primary contribution is the development and testing of a parsimonious Gandhian values scale that captures the value system of individuals.     

Refugees as Surplus Population: Race,Migration and Capitalist Value Regimes

ABSTRACT

Refugees and migrants are often studied as though they have no relation to the racial and class structures of the societies in which they reside. They are strangers to be governed by ‘integration’ policy and border management. Refugees and migrants are, however, subjects of contemporary capitalism struggling to render themselves valuable capitalist modes of production. I study the government of refugees and migrants in order to examine capitalist value regimes. Societal values and hierarchies reflected in capitalist modes of production impact on struggles of racialised subaltern groups to translate body power into valued labour. Marx’s account of surplus populations points to the common marginalisations of people called ‘refugees’ and other subaltern groups struggling to translate their body power into valorised labour. The essay includes a study of the gentrification of a district in Budapest, and its transformation into a means for the reproduction of capital, leading to the marginalisation of groups who no longer fit the new value regimes. Studying refugees as surplus populations allows for a sense of the common marginalisations of subaltern and racialised groups before capitalism, and questions the treatment of refugees and migrants as ‘strangers’.     

Herding by Foreign Institutional Investors: An Evidential Exploration for Persistence and Predictability

The primary objective of the study is to explore the predictability of herding patterns of foreign institutional investors in the Indian market using high frequency data over a period from January 2003 to June 2014. Herding of an individual stock was measured estimating a simple volume based ratio and persistence of trends was detected using the runs test (Wald and Wolfowitz [1940 Wald, A., and J. Wolfowitz. “On a Test Whether Two Samples are from the Same Population.” The Annals of Mathematical Statistics, 11, (1940), pp. 147–162.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]]) on that ratio. Predictability of herding behavior has been successfully modeled by applying 7 data mining models using various measures of performance. Market regulators may consider our findings to regulate the foreign institutional investors trading to make the financial system more transparent and robust.     

Liquidity in Asian markets: Intensity of Regional and global linkages

This study investigates cross-market linkages and the intensity of liquidity spillovers across nine Asian markets and five developed markets during 2006 to 2016. Further, the study examines the contagion caused by recent global financial crisis and its impact on the market liquidity. The direction and intensity of spillovers has been measured using forecast error variance decomposition method as suggested by Diebold and Yilmaz (2012). Among the developed markets, the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom significantly affect liquidity changes in Asian countries like India, China, Singapore and Japan. The results revels that on average, each Asian market receives 7% spillover from the global markets and 16% from regional markets. During the financial crisis, the average regional spillover increased to 20% and the global spillover increased to 11%. Thus, in Asia, the regional spillover is higher than the global spillover. Our results support the demand side hypothesis and suggest that it is the trade and portfolio investments that drive the liquidity spillovers. Our findings have potential implications for international investors, policy makers and market regulators.     

The Impact of Legal and Political Institutions on Equity Trading Costs: A Cross-Country Analysis

We conjecture that macro-level institutions affect equity tradingcosts through their impact on information risk and investorparticipation. In a study of trading costs for 412 NYSE-listedAmerican Depository Receipts (ADRs) from 44 countries, we findthat, after controlling for firm-level determinants of tradingcosts, effective spreads and price impact of trades are significantlylower for stocks from countries with better ratings for judicialefficiency, accounting standards, and political stability. Tradingcosts are significantly higher for stocks from French civillaw countries than from common law countries. Overall, we concludethat improvements in legal and political institutions will lowerthe cost of liquidity in financial markets.     

A model for risk classification of banks

This paper deals with designing a bank risk classification scheme based on readily available performance data. This risk rating is referred to as ‘Risk rating’. Due to non-availability of data on CAMEL rating (C rating), R risk rating has potential for studying risk-based premiums insurance policy and for determining optimal frequencies for variable frequency on-site examination policy. A composite non-performance measure is developed to estimate probability of failure of a bank based on performance data available in bank call reports by fitting a Logit curve and estimating its parameters using maximum likelihood method. Division of banks into healthy and watchful types is based on critical dividing value of probability of failure.