Economic Reforms in the Aftermath of Regime Change in Malaysia

The 14th general election in May 2018 brought about an unexpected change in political rule in Malaysia for the first time since the country's independence in 1957. In its first year of rule, the new Pakatan Harapan‐led government implemented several populist economic policies that were drawn from its election manifesto. While these policies may have moderated populist politics to some extent, they have also weakened the government's fiscal capacity. Ethnic fragmentation and a strengthened opposition alliance have also made it difficult for the new government to implement its ambitious institutional reform agenda.     

Exporting Spatial Externalities

Using spatial econometrics, we estimate the effect of externalities generated by neighbors’ exports on place-level exports, explicitly modeling the distance to those neighbors. We find there is a positive effect of neighbors’ exports on exports to the same country but less so for exporting generally. We also find that using a spatial-weights term based on the physical distance between exporters greatly outperforms a dichotomous measure based on exporters in the same region. The results are robust to alternative definitions of the spatial weight.     

Incorporating the National Guideline Clearinghouse into evidence-based nursing practice

The National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) can be used as a means of integrating the constantly growing and changing body of scientific clinical evidence into the artful practice of nursing. The NGC offers an extensive collection of peer-reviewed, current, scientific standards to support clinical decision making in nursing practice. Nurse leaders should take a leadership role in bringing these relevant resources and new nursing knowledge to policy and procedure committees for active consideration.     

A REVIEW OF THE RECENT LITERATURE ON THE INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS ANALYSIS OF THE LONG‐RUN PERFORMANCE OF NATIONS

This paper reviews the recent (post‐2000) literature that assesses the importance of institutions as a factor determining cross‐country differences in growth rates or in the contemporary level of “prosperity.” It first sketches how institutional economics has evolved. It then examines critically the methods of analysis employed in the recent literature. The paper finds that this literature has made a major contribution to the analysis of the causes of economic growth but the relative importance of institutions as a determinant of long‐run growth and prosperity is still a wide open question.     

Escaping the Middle‐Income Trap in Southeast Asia: Micro Evidence on Innovation,Productivity, and Globalization

Microdata studies on innovation, productivity, and globalization are relatively new to the Southeast Asian region. Evidence from microdata studies in middle‐income countries provide valuable evidence for policymaking aimed at graduating these countries to high‐income status. Globalization via trade and foreign direct investment should continue to be important development strategies. A more nuanced approach focusing on exporters and potential exporters, especially SMEs, are likely to be needed. The extent of foreign participation is also likely to have important implications for technological spillovers.     

Building a case for using technology: health literacy and patient education

The interplay of a mobile population can affect the quality of patient outcomes and the economics of health care delivery significantly. Helping patients with limited English proficiency understand the basics of self-care for optimal health will continue to be a challenge in the delivery of the highest quality nursing care. Becoming familiar with high-quality, peer-reviewed, and reliable health education materials and Web sites is the responsibility of every health care provider so that patients receive culturally and linguistically appropriate resources to support healthy lifestyles and choices.