Does International Trade Cause Economic Growth? A Survey

This study surveys the literature on the relationship between international trade and economic growth, and succinctly reviews the role of GATT/WTO in fostering free trade. Most studies support the gains of trade and recognise the substantive contributions of GATT/WTO in fostering free trade; the evidence is, however, not ubiquitously unambiguous. The macroeconomic evidence provides a dominant support for the positive and significant effects of trade on output and growth, while the microeconomic evidence lends larger support to the exogenous effects of productivity on trade, as compared to the effects of trade on productivity. The GATT/WTO remains surrounded by barriers to trade and avowed preferences for preferential trade agreements. The strength of the argument for the gains of trade needs to be evaluated in juxtaposition with several methodological and measurement issues that surround the trade‐growth empirics. Most studies focus on partial equilibrium analysis of trade policy and ignore the general equilibrium aspects of macroeconomic policy. It is difficult to disentangle the effects of trade policies from those of other macroeconomic policies and unequivocally interpret the observed correlations between trade policies and economic growth. Trade is one of the several catalysts of productivity and growth and hence its contribution is contingent on its weight in economic activity.     

Non-market economic valuation in developing countries: Role of participant observation method in CVM analysis

Developing countries have high proportion of black money and related corruption in the society in comparison to the developed ones. This aspect has to be kept in mind while conducting contingent valuation method (CVM) questionnaire survey (in-person) at the site whose economic valuation is being done. Participant observation method (POM) and unstructured interview schedule (UIS) are the two means, which must be used in addition to structured interview schedule during CVM studies in developing countries to arrive at a reasonable non-market economic valuation figure of an environmental amenity. It has been observed that researchers generally ignore this fact during survey for primary data collection among respondents who are quite well off, educated and belong to countries of huge parallel economy. However in the present study, we have utilized these two means during primary data collection for a CVM study and reached the conclusion that CVM has to be used with caution even among educated masses in the developing countries.     

Does Having an Ethical Brand Matter? The Influence of Consumer Perceived Ethicality on Trust, Affect and Loyalty

The recent rise in ethical consumerism has seen increasing numbers of corporate brands project a socially responsible and ethical image. But does having a corporate brand that is perceived to be ethical have any influence on outcome variables of interest for its product brands? This study analyzes the relationship between perceived ethicality at a corporate level, and brand trust, brand affect and brand loyalty at a product level. A theoretical framework with hypothesized relationships is developed and tested in order to answer the research question. Data have been collected for 45 product categories in the fast moving consumer goods sector using a panel of 4,027 Spanish consumers. The proposed relationships are tested using structural equations modeling. The results suggest there is a positive relationship between perceived ethicality of a brand and both brand trust and brand affect. Brand affect also positively influences brand trust. Further, brand trust and brand affect both show a positive relation with brand loyalty. The managerial and academic implications of the results are discussed.     

Analyzing determinants of value creation in domestic and cross border acquisitions in India

The present study seeks to assess the acquiring company announcement gains, and determinants thereof, in domestic and cross border acquisitions in India. For this purpose, 268 acquisitions comprising of 202 cross border acquisitions and 66 domestic acquisitions constitute the sample set. Standard event study methodology has been employed for computing the announcement returns. Further, regression analysis has been conducted to assess the sources of wealth gains in domestic and cross border acquisition. The results of event study indicate that cross border acquisitions have created significantly higher wealth gains than the domestic ones. Further, the results of regression analysis highlight that cross border acquisitions, pursued by the acquiring companies in technology intensive sector, for the target companies also in technology intensive sector, create superior wealth gains. The reason being, such cross border acquisitions provide an opportunity to the acquiring company to combine and judiciously utilize intangible resources of both the companies on a broader scale across new geographies. Thus, the study contributes to the existing literature on internalization theory by extending it to an emerging market like India.     

International Trade and Economic Growth Nexus in Australia: A Robust Evidence from Time‐Series Estimators

This study examines the effects of international trade on output and tests the null of Granger non‐causality between trade and economic growth in Australia. The single‐equation IV‐GMM, DOLS, FMOLS and NLLS and the system‐based ML estimates consistently support the positive and significant long‐run effects of exports and investment on output. The effects of imports are consistently negative across all the estimates. The OLSEG, RLS and ARDL‐ECM estimates provide a mixed and weak and that overparameterised level‐VAR estimates no support for the effects of trade on output. The estimates of the model with structural breaks provide a dominant support for the cointegrating relationship among variables. In conclusion, the evidence supporting the positive and significant long‐run effects overwhelms the evidence providing a mixed, weak or no support for the effects of trade on output. The results of the study can be inductively generalised to mimic the findings of the literature at large and to suggest that a part of the inconclusiveness over the gains of trade could analogously be ascribed to the use of different methodologies and test statistics across studies. The results support the acceleration of exports and investment to foster the higher levels of output and economic growth.     

Sovereign Risk: Are the EU's New Member States Different?*

This article examines whether rating agencies and investors perceive the sovereign risk of the new member states (NMS) of the European Union (EU) as different from that of other emerging markets. The results suggest the NMS have enjoyed favourable treatment since somewhere between 2002 and 2004, amounting to an advantage of 1.8 notches in ratings and 100 basis points in foreign currency spreads. We argue that, although several explanations of this effect are possible, it is most likely because of higher policy credibility bestowed by EU membership.     

Ratio cum product method of estimation

Summary In this paper methods of estimation which may be considered as combination of ratio and product methods have been suggested. The mean square errors of these estimators utilizing two supplementary variables are compared with (i) simple unbiased estimator (p=0), (ii) usual ratio and product methods of estimation (p=1) and (iii) multivariate ratio and multivariate product estimators (p=2), wherep is the number of supplementary variables utilized. Conditions for their efficient use have been obtained for each case. Extension to general case ofp-variables has been briefly discussed. A new criteria for the efficient use of product estimator have been obtained.     

The mediating influence of work–family conflict and the moderating influence of gender on employee outcomes

Finding a balance between work and home continues to be a challenge for many employees. The influence of work–family conflict both from work interfering with family (WIF) and from family interfering with work (FIW) on employee outcomes is not well understood. Although substantial empirical research supports the general view that work–family conflict results from employees having conflicting roles, many previous studies examine work–family conflict and outcomes in the same, or ‘matching’ domains. Some studies on work conflict also have found cross domain outcomes that are largely unexplained. This research addresses this gap in the field by developing and testing the hypothesis that cross domain relationships will be mediated by conflict in the matching domains. Specifically, this study proposes that WIF mediates the relationship between FIW and four employee work outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behavior and task performance), and that FIW mediates the relationship between WIF and life satisfaction. This research also examines the moderating role of gender on the relationships while controlling for age and family status. The results of this study using a sample of 435 full time employees in the US provide support for most of the hypothesized relationships. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Comparison of Cramer–Rao lower bounds of variances for at least equal protection of respondents

In this paper, a new randomized response model is proposed, which is shown to have a Cramer–Rao lower bound of variance that is lower than the Cramer–Rao lower bound of variance suggested by Singh and Sedory at equal protection or greater protection of respondents. A new measure of protection of respondents in the setup of the efficient use of two decks of cards, because of Odumade and Singh, is also suggested. The developed Cramer–Rao lower bounds of variances are compared under different situations through exact numerical illustrations. Survey data to estimate the proportion of students who have sometimes driven a vehicle after drinking alcohol and feeling over the legal limit are collected by using the proposed randomization device and then analyzed. The proposed randomized response technique is also compared with a black box technique within the same survey. A method to determine minimum sample size in randomized response sampling based on a small pilot survey is also given.     

Strategic HR orientation and firm performance in India

This study tests the relationship between strategic HR orientation and firm performance. The study has been conducted to add to the growing empirical evidence in this field. The study has been carried out in the Indian setting, where the importance of human resources has gained currency in the last decade. Results show that there is a significant relationship between strategic HR orientation and firm performance.