Weather Effects on Stock Returns and Volatility in South Asian Markets

We study the effect of mood-proxy variables on index returns and volatility in six South Asian markets. Our mood-proxy variables include six weather (temperature, humidity, cloud cover, air pressure, visibility, and wind speed), three weather indicator variables (fog, thunder storm and rain or drizzle) and two biorhythmic variables (SAD and lunar phases). We adopt a robust approach and attempt to select the best parsimonious econometric model for each market. Our findings suggest that mood-proxy variables have some convincing influences in South Asian capital markets. In some instances, these variables are influencing returns while in other instances they are influencing volatility.     

Intertemporally Dependent Preferences and the Welfare Cost of Capital Income Taxation

The welfare cost of capital income taxation is analyzed utilizing intertemporally dependent preference operationalized using a variable rate of time preference. It is shown that if households exhibit increasing marginal impatience, then the welfare cost of capital income taxation is inversely related to the elasticity of the rate of time preference with respect to consumption. Therefore, the welfare cost of capital income taxation reported using time additive preferences may not be robust. Numerical examples show that the use of time additive preferences could result in the welfare cost of capital income taxation to be overestimated by as much as 25%.     

Does insurance‐growth nexus hold for Malaysia?

The study investigates the impact of insurance activities on economic growth in Malaysia over the period 1990–2015. Combined cointegration in the presence of identified structural breaks was used to confirm the existence of long‐run relationships among economic growth, insurance activities, human capital, physical capital, and industrial production. The findings indicate feedback effects between insurance activities and economic growth in the long run. The study provides new insights for policymaking to enhance economic growth via insurance activities.     

Independent directors and firm performance in family controlled firms: evidence from Indonesia

We analyse the relationship between board structure and firm performance in family‐controlled firms using a sample of Indonesian non‐financial companies. We find that the share of independent directors on the board has an insignificant relationship with firm performance. We suspect that the result is driven by the lack of institutional reforms in relation to the appointment of independent directors. Our analysis shows strong empirical support for the proposition that family control (family ownership and family involvement on the board) is negatively related to firm performance. However, the significant effect of family ownership disappears when family involvement on the board is taken into the model. This result indicates that family ownership is more detrimental to firm performance whenever the family is highly involved in control decisions. Our results suggest that Indonesia needs to implement governance reforms that prevent majority owners from exercising excessive control over firms.     

Re‐Visiting Financial Development and Economic Growth Nexus: The Role of Capitalization in Bangladesh

This paper revisits the relationship between financial development and economic growth in Bangladesh by incorporating trade openness in production function using quarter frequency data over the period of 1976‐2012. We applied combined Bayer–Hanck cointegration approach to examine cointegration among the series. Our empirical evidence suggests that development of financial sector facilitates economic growth but capitalization impedes it. In addition, trade openness stimulates economic growth. Labour is also positively linked to economic growth. The vector error correction model Granger causality results divulge that financial development causes real per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth, and resultantly, real per capita GDP growth causes financial development in a Granger sense. The results also show that trade and labour Granger cause economic growth. The findings of the paper provide insights for policymakers to use financial development and trade openness as a tool for sustained economic growth in the long run. The paper also suggests policymakers to utilise capitalization in a way that is beneficial for economic growth of Bangladesh.     

Trade openness and income inequality in China and the SAARC Region

The paper empirically examines the effects of trade liberalisation on income inequality in China and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries. Panel data analysis is conducted for the period of 1973 to 2012. The results show that liberal trade policies have increased income inequality in these countries. These results are robust to alternative liberalisation measures. The control variables used have differing effects on income distribution. Per capita income has an increasing effect on income inequality, while education, financial development, financial openness, democracy, and government size are shown to reduce income inequality. These outcomes can be expected to have important policy implications for the use of trade liberalisation in these countries.     

Hiring and Separation Rates Before and after the Arab Spring in the Tunisian Labour Market

We seek to explore the hiring and separation rates in Tunisia before and after the Arab Spring based on quarterly business level data for 503 firms over the span of January 2007 to December 2012. Furthermore, we examine whether employers are willing to dismiss older workers to trigger an effective increase in mobility that will open new opportunities for the youth community. We build our analysis upon six main empirical models to study employment decisions reflected by major indicators such as the number of hiring, number of separations, total employment effects, male‐female ratio, age cohorts, labour mobility and net employment. The results show that the Arab Spring has created structural unemployment trends. In addition, we note that the 2008 global turmoil has fostered the firing level of employment. Our conclusions also indicate that the response of Tunisia's government to high unemployment rates caused by the financial meltdown in 2008 and the events in 2011 was not sufficient to remove the attached lingering effects that still distress the country's labour market. In addition, our findings emphasize the significant challenges faced by Tunisian youth that could be mitigated by efficient policy actions to incentivize training and development geared towards the private sector.     

The Importance of Intellectual Capital for Firm Performance: Evidence from Australia

This study investigates the dynamic relationship between intellectual capital (IC) and firm performance (FP) through system generalised methods of moments, when previous studies produced divergent results based on static OLS or fixed‐effects estimations. Based on 571 listed firms in Australia for the period of 2005–2014 (5518 firm‐years) this study reveals that IC efficiency is positively significant with ROA and ROE – which endorses resource‐based theory. Further analysis shows that human capital, structural capital and physical capital are also significant and confidently endorse resource‐dependency and organisation‐learning theories. The findings of this study are vital for stakeholders such as management, shareholders and potential investors to understand the role of IC for FP. Moreover, the findings are particularly important for policy‐setters to highlight the importance of IC and develop a systematic framework for IC disclosure. This study also opens new avenues for future research to consider the dynamic nature of the IC–FP relationship and account for endogeneity.     

Macroeconomic determinants of stock market capitalization in an emerging market: fresh evidence from cointegration with unknown structural breaks

This article explores the macroeconomic determinants of stock market development in an emerging market (Pakistan) over the period of 1974–2010. We have applied Zivot–Andrews unit root test for integrating properties of the variables and the autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing for cointegration. The direction of causality between the variables is investigated by applying the vector error-correction model Granger causality approach. Our results revealed that variables are cointegrated for long run relationship. Economic growth, inflation, financial development and investment increase stock market development, but trade openness decreases it. The causality analysis confirms that stock market development is a Granger cause of economic growth, inflation, financial development, investment and trade openness. This article indicates the importance of trade openness while formulating a comprehensive financial policy.     

The Development of Accounting and Reporting in Ghana

In this paper, we examine the economic, political, and legal systems as well as the institutional factors that influence the accounting and disclosure practices in Ghana. The impact of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) on disclosure is also investigated, as Ghana has recently completed full adoption. We find that the accounting and reporting practices are significantly influenced by legal, political, institutional, and economic factors and that the regulatory environment is neither effective nor efficient due to the weak monitoring and enforcement of compliance. Although there has been some recent progress, the Companies' Code, which is the corporate legal framework of Ghana, must be updated to reflect the dynamic nature of world operations. This study advances the course of standards setters, regulators, accounting practitioners, and policymakers to improve the corporate reporting and accounting practices. Urgent measures need to be undertaken to reform and build the capacities of institutions charged with the responsibility of regulating and monitoring Ghanaian accounting and reporting practices to ensure best practices and build investors' confidence.