Do Foreign Direct Investment and Gross Domestic Investment Promote Economic Growth?

The paper attempts to show causal relationships between economic growth and FDI and GDI in 80 countries over the period 1971–95, by using a panel VAR model. The results show that FDI Granger–causes economic growth, and vice versa; however, the effects are rather more apparent from growth to FDI than from FDI to growth. Also, GDI does not Granger–cause economic growth, but economic growth robustly Granger–causes GDI. These findings suggest that strong positive associations between economic growth and FDI inflows or GDI rates do not necessarily mean that high FDI inflows or GDI rates lead to rapid economic growth.     

Block versus nonblock trading patterns

We investigate the relationship between the number of block (20,000 shares) and nonblock (<5,000 shares) trades over the trading day and across exchanges. In general, for each day of the week, the ratio increases from the first to the second period, declines through the period ending at 3:30 p.m., and increases for the last 30-minute period. Periods with increased small trading activity experience a more than proportionate increase in block trades. Differences across exchanges in the intraday pattern of block trades in relation to smaller trades are reported.     

The impact of IT use on migration intentions in rural communities

The main goal of this study is to identify potential factors that close the urban-rural digital gap, as well as to determine how one's ‘degree of personal IT use’ enhanced through digital gap bridging efforts affects rural-urban migration intention. To accomplish the goal, an integrated structural model was established. A questionnaire was developed and distributed to residents in rural areas in Korea. Of 302 responses collected, 272 were usable. PLS (Partial Least Squares) were used for analysis. Main effects and moderating effects were both investigated. Perceived usefulness for job and perceived playfulness turned out to be the strongest variables influencing personal IT use in the rural area. However, influence of interpersonal norm and social norm were not significant. Elder people having positive perception of IT use are less likely to leave for urban areas. More educated people tend to more optimistically evaluate the value of IT use; however, they are more likely to leave for urban areas. Lower income families tend to have less negative perception of IT use as their degree of IT use increases. The findings stress the importance of rural adult education and extension, as well as IT infrastructure construction. The contribution of this study is to provide the ground work for a government or policy maker with the purpose of closing the digital gap and minimizing rural-urban immigration in selecting which group to target.     

A mechanism design approach to an optimal contract under ex ante and ex post private information

This paper applies a mechanism design approach to the problem of an optimal contract when one party has both ex ante and ex post private information. With ex ante private information added to the costly state verification environment, the timing of the contract is important in achieving the first-best investment decision. It is shown that an optimal contract involves precommitment, a feature often observed in many bank loan contracts. An optimal contract thus obtained is interpreted as t he golden parachute, a device providing incentives to managers not to distort the running of a firm to fight takeover bids. In the process of characterizing an optimal contract, the revelation principle is re-examined. Received: 12 April 1996 / Accepted: 3 December 1997     

Holding or not holding a mega-event: case of the F1 Korea Grand Prix

This study aims to estimate visitors’ consumption benefits using the double-bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation method. The results of this study show that the per capita consumption benefit of the F1 Korea Grand Prix, a study context used in this study, were approximately US$307 and then, the total aggregated economic value generated by the event was US$49,262,301 in 2011. These results indicate that visitors of the F1 Korea Grand Prix perceive huge economic benefits from their visitation and activities during the event. In addition, the results show that prior visit experience and a sport identification are significantly associated with visitors’ perceived consumption benefits while other variables (e.g. age, gender, nationality, automotive club membership) are not. Several theoretical, practical, and methodological implications of this study are discussed.     

Meditation as a kind of leisure: the similarities and differences in the United States

Meditation has been shown to be a cost-effective means to help individuals reduce stress, alleviate anxiety and depression. Similarly, leisure has been found to reduce stress, improve mood and contribute to overall health and well-being. The similarities and differences in outcomes between meditation and leisure suggest that a comparative analysis may determine if and how experiences and outcomes of meditation may be similar to and different from those of leisure and provide deeper insights into the ways in which both can contribute to improved quality of life. The purpose of this study is to examine the similarities and differences in meditation and leisure as perceived by a range of individuals engaging in meditation. Results indicate that meditators experience stress reduction, emotional balance and an enhanced quality of life during both their leisure and meditation. Many of the positive experiences and outcomes derived from meditation render it very similar to leisure. Nevertheless, meditation and leisure also differ in several important ways.     

An impact of economic integration through trade: on business cycles for 10 East Asian countries

Many recent studies about East Asian countries discussed “natural” economic integration through trade, but there are few rigorous empirical studies on how their economies were affected by the evolution of economic integration within the region. This paper investigates the effect of bilateral trade dependence on the co-movement of business cycles for 10 East Asian countries. We find that economic fluctuations tend to be more synchronized within the region as trade interdependence among them deepens. This finding suggests the necessity of cooperative efforts to prevent or adjust unfavorable future economic crisis in East Asia.     

Testing financial contagion on heteroskedastic asset returns in time-varying conditional correlation

We suggest that there is a significant relationship between cross-market comovement and time varying volatility. The time-varying component of cross-market dependence is attributed to the intertemporal risk-return adjustment by rational, risk-averse investors who systematically revise their expectation in response to changing volatility. To reflect the time-varying component of cross-market dependence, we propose a time-varying correlation test for contagion. Our results show that out of the countries reporting contagion evidence under the constant correlation test, none of the countries exhibits contagion evidence from the 1997 Asian crisis. We conclude that a high level of cross-market correlation during a crisis reported as contagion evidence under the standard constant correlation test is mostly due to the high level of cross-market co-movement resulting from the intertemporal risk-return adjustment.     

Motivations of non-Buddhists visiting Buddhist temples

The current study employs the leisure motivation scale to examine motivations of non-Buddhists visiting Buddhist temples. Specifically, this investigation builds on tourism literature to explore the motivations of non-Buddhists visiting Buddhist temples in Los Angeles, California. Motivations to Buddhist temples are of particular interest given the increasing popularity in the West of Eastern spiritual activities, such as yoga and meditation, as well as the exponential growth of Buddhist-themed tourism campaigns. The findings provide insights for tourism officials responsible for promoting ways to attract tourists to Buddhist temples within their respective destinations.