Emigration,Finite Changes and Wage Inequality

This article shows that large outmigration of labor leads to finite changes in the structure of production at source. We argue that sectors may vanish as they cannot pay higher wages consequent to emigration. We also inquire whether emigration of one type of labor hurts the other non‐emigrating type in this setup. Various situations when real incomes of the emigrating and the non‐emigrating types do not move together are demonstrated. This generalizes some of the existing results in the literature. In particular, emigration can lead to a drastic change in the degree of inequality depending on which of the sectors survive in the postemigration regime.     

Anonymity,liquidity and fragmentation

We examine the effects of the removal of broker identifiers from the central limit order book of the Australian Stock Exchange. We find that spreads and order aggressiveness decline, and order book depth increases, with the introduction of anonymous trading. This is consistent with the hypothesis that limit order traders are more willing to expose their orders when they can do so anonymously. Anonymous markets attract order flow from non-anonymous substitute markets, but this effect is only seen in large stocks. Our results suggest that exchanges operating in fragmented markets should consider anonymous trading to improve price competition and liquidity, although some of these benefits may be significant only if the stocks are sufficiently large and liquid.     

Growth and Stability in the Indian Economy in Post Reform Era: A Macro Econometric Evaluation

Journal of Quantitative Economics - The reforms initiated in the Indian economy during the nineties have given rise to a lot of debate on the feasibility as well as the stability of high growth...     

Multi Fibre Arrangement and Wage Inequality: Firm and State‐level Evidence from India and a Theoretical Model

The phased elimination of Multi Fibre Arrangements (MFA) for textile and apparel has been one of the most compelling trade policy reforms that removed a system of bilateral quotas. The reform brought in significant changes in the industrial structures for exporters from the south, including India. Has the labour‐intensive high‐employment textile and clothing industry in India benefited from this global move towards freer trade? For India, the industry has witnessed unprecedented market concentration of export‐oriented firms. Firm‐level empirical estimate illustrates that workers in the export‐oriented firms in India are adversely affected due to withdrawal of quota. Accumulation of net fixed assets and growth of sales impart positive impact on firm‐level wages that cannot outweigh negative impact due to fall in exports. We also find negative impact of profit on aggregate wage bill for the industry with firms spread over 11 major states in India. We show that the mean deviation of industry‐level wage is positively and significantly associated with mean deviation of the number of factories at the state level and negatively with profit. Finally, a brief analytical exercise obtains conditions under which joint withdrawal of quota and import tariff could raise the aggregate labour income in developing countries, in general.     

Economic Reform,Skill Formation and Foreign Capital

Does trade liberalisation promote skill formation and positively influence the inflow of foreign capital in an economy? How do incentives offered to foreign capital affect skill formation and skilled‐unskilled wage inequality? Is liberalisation of agricultural exports counterproductive to skill formation and foreign capital inflow in the economy? We try to capture these relationships between foreign capital and skill formation in a small open economy facing various exogenous shocks. Among other results, we show that import liberalisation increases skill formation and the inflow of foreign capital in the country. We explore the evolving state of the skilled‐unskilled wage gap in a regime of greater skill formation.     

Factors influencing clothing interest and purchase intention: a study of Generation Y consumers in Malaysia*

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing clothing interest among Generation Y consumers in Malaysia. Brand image, word of mouth (WOM), self-concept, perceived quality, and need for uniqueness were hypothesized to be related with clothing interest, which in turn, was deemed to be related with purchase intention. The interaction effect of price consciousness on the relationship between clothing interest and purchase intention was also examined in this study. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from a total of 300 respondents from Malaysia to test the hypothesized relationships. Results showed that need for uniqueness, self-concept, brand image, WOM, and perceived quality are significant predictors of clothing interest among the Generation Y consumers in Malaysia and price consciousness moderated the relationship between their clothing interests and purchase intention. The practical implications of the research findings were discussed.     

Confidence intervals for maximal reliability in tau‐equivalent models

Subjective probabilities play an important role in marketing research, for example where individuals rate the likelihood that they will purchase a new developed product. The tau‐equivalent model can describe the joint behaviour of multiple test items measuring the same subjective probability. In this paper we stress the use of confidence intervals to assess reliability, as this allows for a more critical assessment of the items as measurement instruments. To improve the reliability one can use a weighted sum as the outcome of the test rather than an unweighted sum. In principle, the weights may be chosen so as to obtain maximal reliability. We propose two new confidence intervals for the maximal reliability in the tau‐equivalent model and we compare these two new intervals with intervals derived earlier in Yuan and Bentler (Psychometrika, 67 , 2002, 251) and Raykov and Penev (Multivariate Behavioral Research, 41 , 2006, 15). The comparison involves coverage curves, a methodology that is new in the field of reliability. The existing Yuan–Bentler and Raykov–Penev intervals are shown to overestimate the maximal reliability, whereas one of our proposed intervals, the stable interval, performs very well. This stable interval hardly shows any bias, and has a coverage for the true value which is approximately equal to the confidence level.     

How Local Is Local? A Reflection on Canadian Local Food Labeling Policy from Consumer Preference

We conducted a nationwide choice experiment to gauge Canadian consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for local beef assigned with various mileage and geopolitical connotations. Results revealed that consumers are mostly indifferent between products labeled generically as “local” and as “local: from within 160 km,” implying that the 160‐km radius fits perception of local of the representative consumers. Additionally, consumers are willing to pay significantly more for home‐province products over products generically labeled “local.” We also found significant positive WTP for enhanced bovine spongiform encephalopathy tested beef as well as for grass‐ over grain‐fed beef.     

Sectoral Technical Progress and Aggregate Skill Formation

Recent studies discuss micro-transmission mechanisms to measure spillover effects of MNC (Multinational Corporations) activity on human capital in host countries. We develop an aggregate transmission mechanism to show that technology deepening in advanced sectors affect economy-wide skill formation, not analyzed in previous studies. Sector-specific advanced technological input and borrowing from local capital market at preferential rates dampens rate of skill formation if local firms are more skill-intensive. Liberal trade policies applied only to MNC sector may lower traditional export if credit subsidy offered to MNCs is simultaneously withdrawn.