The Coastal Community Perception on the Socio-Economic Impacts of Agro-Tourism Activities in Coastal Villages in Malaysia

This paper is concerned with the socio-economic impacts of agro-tourism activities in coastal villages listed as Desa Wawasan Nelayan (DWN) in Malaysia. The paper discussed the impacts of the two major components of socio-economics dynamics, namely social and economic activities. This account highlights a number of discussions with specific reference to DWN in Malaysia. It identifies the similarities and differences with regard to socio-economic impact, and it is expected that these points will be of practical use for other agro-tourism areas around the globe, and help to increase interest in agro-tourism activities.     

Aumann's and Schelling's Game Theory: The Nobel Prize in Economic Science, 2005

Abstract

Robert Aumann and Thomas Schelling won the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 2005. Their work in game theory shows two different approaches to understanding strategic interaction. Schelling's work on the strategic aspects of negotiations, focal points, and self-command is mathematically informal and is based on experimental and inductive knowledge of players' capabilities. Aumann's work on repeated games and common knowledge is mathematically deductive, and assumes highly rational agents. An exploration of their work allows for a comparison of these two approaches.     

Exchange Rate Regime and Demand for Reserves: Evidence from Kenya,Mexico and Philippines

This paper empirically investigates the demand for international reserves (and foreign exchange reserves) during fixed and floating exchange rates periods in three developing countries: Kenya, Mexico and Philippines. Based on theoretical models, three factors are identified as important for the demand of international reserves and foreign reserves: average propensity to import, volume of imports and variability of reserves. The paper employs the cointegration methodology and error correction method to investigate the relationships. Cointegration tests results indicate a reliable long-run stationary relationship between the international reserves (and foreign exchange reserves) and the stated explanatory variables across countries and sub-periods of fixed and clean float. The error correction results indicate causality from the explanatory variables to the reserves during both the short and long run. This is true during both the fixed and the floating periods.

High level of education builds up strong relationship between organizational culture and organization performance in Pakistan

Organizational culture is an important aspect to be considered by dynamic organizations in order to develop some competitive advantage to ensure enhanced organizational performance. This study aims to elaborate the dimensions of cultural construct in organizations of diversified sectors and their implications in Pakistan. Ten organizations were selected for the study. Four hundred and seventy eight questionnaires were received from these organizations. The questionnaires consisted of three parts, of these, the first part had nine elements that were related to organization and personal profile of the respondents, whereas the second part consisted of 60 elements of cultural construct, namely mission, adaptability, consistency, and involvement. In the third part, dependent variable appears as organization performance and was evaluated by asking eight questions. Results are revealed in two models: according to the first model, organization performance increases from negative 56% to positive 92% due to organizational culture with respect to education. And the second model is also significant at the 95% of confidence level (p < 0.05), and there is a positive relationship between independent and dependent variables. Organizational culture is an essential part of organizational success. Core organizational values typically emphasize special themes such as performance excellence, innovation, social responsibility, worker involvement, and quality of work life. Literacy rate in Pakistan is far below the literacy rate in developed countries. Educated employees play an important role in enhancing organizational performance, particularly in corporate setup. To measure affects of education on organizational performance through its construct involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission have been endeavored in this study.     

The tourism-led growth hypothesis: empirical evidence from Turkey

In the economic growth literature, the contribution of tourism to economic development has attracted great attention due to its significant roles as a source of foreign exchange earnings, creation of employment opportunities and an important source of public revenues in many countries. In this paper, we aim to analyse the empirical relationship between economic growth and tourism by employing different econometric techniques. First, we employed the Bound test approach developed by Pesaran, Shin, and Smith (2001, Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships. Journal of Applied Econometrics, 16(3), 289–326) in order to investigate the co-integration relationship between economic growth and tourism. Second, we used the Granger causality analysis for the 1998–2011 period and found evidence of a long-run uni-directional causality running from tourism to economic growth, but not vice versa. Our findings show that the Turkish case supports the tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH). Third, the autoregressive-distributed lag approach was employed in order to investigate the long-term and short-term static relationship between tourism and economic growth. The results show that tourism has a positive effect on gross domestic product and economic growth both in the long-term and short-term. Finally, the effect of tourism on economic growth was also investigated dynamically by employing the Kalman filter method. The findings of this method support the TLGH for Turkey.     

Towards a spirituality-based platform in tourism higher education

This conceptual paper contributes to tourism knowledge by proposing a spirituality-based platform in tourism higher education. Through this platform, the authors show how tourism education that supports discussion on spiritual development can help to create global citizens who are able to understand their potential as social, cultural and environmental stewards. This paper reviews recent developments shaping tourism education and examines the contemporary tourism educational landscape that supports a spirituality-based educational approach. The 7th platform of tourism studies is offered through a spirituality-based approach to knowledge and examples are given of how we can develop such a platform in tourism higher education.     

Financial Statement Comparability and Idiosyncratic Return Volatility

This study examines the association between financial statement comparability and idiosyncratic return volatility (IRV). A greater degree of comparability lowers information acquisition costs, reduces the uncertainties associated with performance evaluation, and increases the overall quantity and quality of information available to corporate outsiders, which, in turn, helps investors to understand and evaluate the cash flow and performance of firms more accurately. Therefore, we hypothesize a negative association between financial statement comparability and IRV. Using a large US sample from 1981 to 2013, we show that financial statement comparability is associated with lower level of IRV significantly. We also find this association to be more pronounced in a poor information environment. This study contributes to the emerging research that stresses the benefits of financial statement comparability.     

Policy impact assessment in developing countries using Social Accounting Matrices: The Kenya SAM 2014

This paper describes the structure and estimation of a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) of Kenya for the year 2014. Among its specificities, this SAM includes a very high disaggregation of the agri‐food sector and accounts for the double role of households as producers and consumers. Accounting for these characteristics is crucial to provide robust socioeconomic analysis in the context of developing countries. Indeed, this type of database is valuable to perform ex‐ante evaluations of economic policies with various economic models and techniques. In this paper, we present an application with a linear multiplier analysis (backward linkages and value chain decomposition). The results show the capacity of the primary sector in Kenya to generate value added and employment, with this growth distributed more intensely in rural households whose main livelihood is semi‐subsistence agriculture.