The dependency of Islamic bank rates on conventional bank interest rates: further evidence from Turkey

The nexus between Islamic banks’ returns on term deposits (participation accounts) and conventional banks’ (CBs) interest rates on term deposits is one of the controversies with regard to Islamic finance. The obvious correlation between two sides is considered a convergence of Islamic banking to the conventional mode and the breach of the ‘risk sharing’, the underlying principle of Islamic finance. The aim of this study is to econometrically investigate the long-term relationship between CBs’ term-deposit rates (TDRs) and participation banks’ (PBs) TDR in Turkey. We undertake an elaborate analysis of the dependency of each PBs in Turkey on interest rates utilizing the most recent econometric techniques including Maki cointegration tests with multiple breaks and frequency domain causality tests. Findings show that TDRs of three PBs are significantly cointegrated with those of CBs, while one is not. In addition, permanent causality is found from CBs to all PBs.     

Forecasting Nevada gross gaming revenue and taxable sales using coincident and leading employment indexes

This article provides out-of-sample forecasts of Nevada gross gaming revenue (GGR) and taxable sales using a battery of linear and non-linear forecasting models and univariate and multivariate techniques. The linear models include vector autoregressive and vector error-correction models with and without Bayesian priors. The non-linear models include non-parametric and semi-parametric models, smooth transition autoregressive models, and artificial neural network autoregressive models. In addition to GGR and taxable sales, we employ recently constructed coincident and leading employment indexes for Nevada’s economy. We conclude that the non-linear models generally outperform linear models in forecasting future movements in GGR and taxable sales.     

Understanding Why Women Work in Five-Star Hotels in a Developing Country and Their Work-Related Problems

This study investigated why women work in five-star hotels in a developing country and what type of problems they face when working in these organizations. The empirical data was collected via a survey from 571 women working in five-star hotels in Turkey. Having formal training and education in tourism, high interest in the industry, and enjoyment of working in tourism were the most important reasons for the participants to work in tourism organizations. The study findings further reveal that lack of sufficient time for friends and relatives, low wages and the difficulty of getting a promotion were the main job-related problems for women working in five-star hotels in Turkey. The research findings provide partial support for previous studies but also provide additional insights into this relatively under researched area.     

Exchange rate volatility and exports: a firm-level analysis

The relationship between real exports and exchange rate volatility is investigated using panel data analysis at the firm level. Results indicate that there is no negative or positive relationship between volatility and real exports. In addition, firm size and level of international activity do not influence the size and significance of the volatility effect on exports. However, there is some evidence that firms use import revenue to lower their exchange rate exposure.     

CUE with many weak instruments and nearly singular design

This paper analyzes many weak moment asymptotics under the possibility of similar moments. The possibility of highly related moments arises when there are many of them. Knight and Fu (2000) designate the issue of similar regressors as the “nearly singular” design in the least squares case. In the nearly singular design, the sample variance converges to a singular limit term. However, Knight and Fu (2000) assume that on the nullspace of the limit term, the difference between the sample variance and the singular matrix converges in probability to a positive definite matrix when multiplied by an appropriate rate. We consider specifically Continuous Updating Estimator (CUE) with many weak moments under nearly singular design. We show that the nearly singular design affects the form of the limit of the many weak moment asymptotics that is introduced by Newey and Windmeijer (2009a). However, the estimator is still consistent and the Wald test has the standard χ²${\chi }^2$ limit.     

Twitter-marketing in multi-unit restaurants: Is it a viable marketing tool?

The main purpose of the current article is to investigate the status of the usage of Twitter-marketing and to examine the potential factors that impact the usage of Twitter-marketing. The results show that 69.4% of the multi-unit restaurant companies studied use Twitter-marketing and that small restaurants are more likely to utilize Twitter-marketing.     

Absolute and Conditional Convergence in Both Zones of Cyprus: Statistical Convergence and Insitutional Divergence

This paper implements a time series econometric model to determine the timing of full convergence of incomes and output per capita and total factor productivity in the North and South of Cyprus, regardless of whether there is a political settlement or not. A significant dimension of the paper is its emphasis on institutional convergence, going beyond econometric or statistical convergence. Our results reveal that North Cyprus needs 17 years to catch up to full per capita income convergence, 16 years for per capita output convergence and 17 years for full total factor productivity (technological) convergence. The time‐series findings demonstrate that statistical convergence is occurring quite rapidly as the North is catching up to the average income and productivity levels of the South, which may confirm evidence of unconditional (beta) or absolute convergence, but there are significant differences between North and South in savings, tastes, population growth and technology. Most significantly, there are institutional differences highlighted in the study with a Two‐sector model of gate‐keeping and rent‐seeking which validates the premises of conditional convergence. Put differently, there are strong forces of divergence hidden behind our statistical findings.     

CORRUPTION'S DIRECT EFFECTS ON PER‐CAPITA INCOME GROWTH: A META‐ANALYSIS

Corruption is a symptom of weak institutional quality and could have potentially adverse effects on economic growth. However, heterogeneity in reported findings makes it difficult to synthesize the evidence base with a view to test competing hypotheses and/or support evidence‐based policy and practice. To address this issue, we have extracted 327 estimates of corruption's direct effect on per‐capita GDP growth from 29 primary studies, following a peer‐reviewed and pre‐published systematic review protocol. Precision‐effect and funnel asymmetry tests indicate that corruption has a negative effect on per‐capita GDP growth after controlling for publication selection bias and within‐study dependence. However, multivariate meta‐regression analysis results indicate that the overall effect is not robust to inclusion of moderating variables through a general‐to‐specific procedure for model specification. We report that the marginal effect of corruption on per‐capita GDP growth is more adverse when the primary study estimates relate to long‐run growth, are based on low‐income‐country data only, and extracted from journal papers. The effect is less adverse in studies that use the International Country Risk Guide corruption perceptions index and in those reporting estimates from two‐stage least‐squares estimations.     

Truth-telling and trust in sender–receiver games with intervention: an experimental study

Recent experimental studies find excessive truth-telling in sender–receiver games. We show that this phenomenon is robust to the random intervention of a truthful regulator. In addition, intervention significantly increases the excessive trust of receivers while the overall percentage of truthful messages received does not change much with or without intervention. We offer a theoretical explanation for the behavior of senders and receivers, using a logit agent quantal response equilibrium (logit-AQRE) model incorporating a non-monetary lying cost for senders (like Peeters et al. in Scand J Econ 115(2):508–548, 2013). We show that our experimental findings are all consistent with the predictions of this model. Moreover, we find that the lying cost is significantly higher under intervention, implying that truthful intervention is beneficial for receivers and justified as a tool for policy makers acting on behalf of informationally inferior parties.