How does FDI affect domestic firms’ wages? theory and evidence from Vietnam

This paper explores the role of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) as a determinant of domestic firms’ wages, namely wage spillovers. We first construct a theoretical model to demonstrate that the presence of FDI firms affects domestic firms’ expected average wages via productivity spillovers and a cut-off capability. We then estimate FDI-induced wage spillovers by employing IV-GMM estimator with a five-year panel dataset of a growing service industry in Vietnam. Despite FDI firms on average pay 2.25 times that of domestic firms, they put a downward pressure on domestic firms’ wages. A one percent increase in FDI presence causes domestic firms to cut average wages by 2.03 percent. The estimations also find that firm-specific features are attributable to significant differences in their wages as well as FDI-linked wage spillovers.     

Cattle as a consistently resilient agricultural commodity

This study compares a range of agricultural commodities over periods of varying economic circumstances. These commodities are examined over three categories, including returns, risk, and contribution to portfolio optimisation. Consistency in these categories is determined over four equal three-year stages which comprise pre-GFC (Global Financial Crisis), GFC, post-GFC and post-post GFC. To demonstrate resilience in the most extreme circumstances, the study uses Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR), which measures extreme risk in the tail of a distribution, as the risk measure and risk-return optimiser. The study thus provides a unique and comprehensive extreme-risk based focus which identifies and ranks the consistency of performance of agricultural commodities over a range of criteria and conditions. Cattle commodities consistently demonstrate the strongest overall performance in the categories examined.     

This We Remember: Consuming Representation via the Web Posting of War Photographs

Consumers are increasingly searching for beautiful memories. Memory is not solely the work of the mind retrieving a “true” past. People represent their unique past to (re)construct their identity and seek social links with others who share the remembered events. Through visual analysis of the web posting of war photographs by Vietnam veterans, this paper explores how people consume representations in remembering, reconstructing identities and building a mnemonic community. The analysis suggests that individual remembering is nested within collective remembering. A conceptual framework viewing remembering as mediated action helps to explain how consumers use representations in remembering. This process is carried out not only by individuals but also by cultural institutions. American Vietnam veterans use consumer products including private photographs, movies, books, travel trips and the Internet as tools to assist in the on‐going process of remembering. They add their own voice into the social representation system to create representations that further express who they are and to connect with their community. The constructed memory shapes consumers' present. This in turn modifies their representation of their pasts which become involved in changing the larger social representation system.     

ETF arbitrage: Intraday evidence

We use two extremely liquid S&P 500 ETFs to analyze the prevailing trading conditions when mispricing allowing arbitrage opportunities is created. While these ETFs are not perfect substitutes, our correlation and error correction results suggest investors view them as close substitutes. Spreads increase just before arbitrage opportunities, consistent with a decrease in liquidity. Order imbalance increases as markets become more one-sided and spread changes become more volatile which suggests an increase in liquidity risk. The price deviations are followed by a tendency to quickly correct back towards parity.     

Characterisation and Diagnosis of Rural—Urban Interface Farming in the Tu Liem and Thanh Tri Districts of Hanoi City,Vietnam

A research project was carried out in two areas in the outskirts of Hanoi city using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The objective was to study interactions among the vegetable farming systems and the peri-urban context within which they are situated. The farms studied were characterised as small-scale farms that use high inputs of soil amendments and pesticides for diversified crop rotation systems. The main source of irrigation water and nutrients for vegetable farming in southern Hanoi is wastewater from the To Lich River. In northern Hanoi, irrigation water is obtained directly from the Red River and nutrients are supplied through high fertiliser inputs. The concentrations of COD (144–287 mg l^?1), N-NH₄ ⁺ (1–25 mg l^?1), PO₄ ^3? (0.5–4 mg l^?1) and coliform (525 × 10³?28 × 10⁶ MPN 100 ml^?1) along the To Lich River was much higher than the limits specified in the Vietnamese standard for water used in agriculture. A higher Cu content in soil in Phuc Ly seems to be linked to the high input of chicken manure at the site. However, the contents of heavy metals in irrigation water, in vegetables and in the soil surface layer at the two sites were lower than the Vietnamese maximum permissible levels.     

Poverty identification: practice and policy implications in Vietnam

To identify poor households, the government of Vietnam applies a combination of proxy means tests and quick collection of income data. This paper examines how well the government's poverty identification reaches the really poor in Vietnam. It is found that there is a large difference between the poverty rate for provinces and districts reported by the government and the rates estimated using expenditure and income data from independent household surveys. There is also a large difference between the poverty status of households identified by local authorities and the poverty status identified by income or expenditure data. More than 50 per cent of the poor households identified by local authorities are not poor in terms of income or expenditure measures. A better identification approach would be to use only proxy means tests and not income data collected using the simple questionnaire.     

Interaction effects of dual organizational commitment on retention in international assignments: the case of Western expatriates in Vietnam

The purpose of this study is to examine the interaction effects of two commitment foci (parent company and local operation commitment) on a focal work behavior (retention in an international assignment). Accordingly, this study formulated and tested four hypotheses by using hierarchical regression, moderated regression analyses and plots of two-way interactions. The data were gathered from 471 Western expatriates working for the subsidiaries of multinational companies in Vietnam. The results confirmed that all components (affective, normative and continuance) of parent company commitment and local operation commitment positively predicted retention in international assignments; however, the retention was more driven by the parent company commitment. Besides, the relationships between two components (affective and continuance) of local operation commitment and retention were moderated by the corresponding components of parent company commitment. The findings improve the understanding of dual commitment's links to work behaviors in international business contexts. Moreover, as to the practical implication, multinational companies were recommended to be aware of the level of expatriate commitments to two foci in order to reduce the rate of premature return.     

Which covariates should be controlled in propensity score matching? Evidence from a simulation study

Propensity score matching is a widely‐used method to measure the effect of a treatment in social as well as medicine sciences. An important issue in propensity score matching is how to select conditioning variables in estimation of the propensity scores. It is commonly mentioned that variables which affect both program participation and outcomes are selected. Using Monte Carlo simulation, this paper shows that efficiency in estimation of the Average Treatment Effect on the Treated can be gained if all the available observed variables in the outcome equation are included in the estimation of propensity scores. This result still holds in the presence of non‐sampling errors in the observed control variables.     

The effects of listing changes between NASDAQ market segments

This study analyzes the effects of listing changes within NASDAQ market segments during the period of 1998 to 2005. We find that firms phased up from the NASDAQ Small Capital Market (SmallCap) to the NASDAQ National Market (NNM) experienced significant declines in bid-ask spreads, the volatility of returns, and the probability of informed trading, and firms that phased down from NNM to the SmallCap experienced decreases in bid-ask spreads, but insignificant changes in the volatility of returns and the probability of informed trading. We also estimate simultaneous equations models of bid-ask spreads, return volatility, and trading volume for both groups of firms. The results confirm that improved liquidity is associated with the listing changes for the phase-up firms. However, the simultaneous equations model suggests that the decreases in bid-ask spreads for the phase-down firms are caused by the changes in share prices.