Do Morning Classes Improve Student Learning of Microeconomics Principles?

This article analyzes the impact of class time on students’ grades by using data from Middle Tennessee State University. The data cover a period of six years and are based on a sample of 5803 individuals who enrolled in 133 sections of principles of microeconomics. To identify the causal impact of class time on students’ grades, I used a bootstrapping method which allowed assigning measures of accuracy to sample estimates. For males, the estimated coefficients were negative and statistically significant at the 10% level, and the coefficients suggested that a male student in an afternoon class could expect to earn a letter grade that is 0.029 points lower than he would have earned by taking the class in the morning. For females, the estimated coefficients were not statistically significant.     

Financial Consumer Protection Regime in Malaysia: Assessment of the Legal and Regulatory Framework

This paper examines the status of the legal and regulatory framework for consumer protection in Malaysia, an emerging economy. Using leximetrics and notions of incomplete law, the paper explores the financial consumer protection regime in the country by examining two aspects of the legal framework: the legal infrastructure and typology of laws. The Malaysian legal framework for financial consumer protection is assessed in light of the good practices identified in international guidelines issued on the themes by OECD and the World Bank. The results highlight the complementary nature and different roles that laws, regulations, and supporting institutions play in achieving a comprehensive financial consumer protection framework in the country.     

The impact of internal,external, and competitor factors on marketing strategy performance

ABSTRACT

Strategy formulation is commonly understood as the match between a firm’s internal resources and skills and its external environment. Marketing strategy performance is the function of a dynamic, interactive process incorporating internal firm resources, external environmental factors, and competitive actions. The study aims to assess the impact of competitor actions on marketing strategy performance. We develop a model that accommodates the effects of 29 variables (comprising internal marketing strategy variables, external environmental factors and competitors’ marketing mix variables) on business performance. We empirically test the model using simultaneous equation modelling of time-series data on UK car manufacturers collected from publically available resources and annual reports. The results show that external factors, in particular competitors’ marketing mix elements, have a greater influence on a company’s business performance than internal (marketing and non-marketing) strategy variables. Implications for marketing theory and management are discussed.     

Testing the impact of financial inclusion on income convergence: Empirical evidence from Nigeria

Financial inclusion, as a key pillar for inclusive development, has long been considered as an important instrument for reducing poverty and income inequality. However, the income convergence effect of financial inclusion remains only partially explored. Using longitudinal data covering three survey waves on Nigerian households, this study explores the potential of financial inclusion as an instrument for reducing income disparity. After controlling for the endogeneity issues, the results of instrumental variable linear and quantile regressions consistently show a strong nexus between financial inclusion and per capita income. This positive effect is experienced by all households regardless of income distribution. The decomposition results reveal that ab initio, financial inclusion resulted in income divergence leading to widening inequality across the households with various income distributions. However, the income convergence started from the middle to the higher income household categories, with the lowest income lagging behind in the second wave. The lowest income households eventually converged in the data of the third wave. In this sense, it can be argued that financial inclusion could play an important role in the reduction of income inequality.     

Tax Evasion and the Business Environment in Uganda

This paper examines the interaction between the different indicators of the business environment and tax evasion. First, we develop a simple theoretical model linking tax evasion to the business environment. Second, we test the model predictions using the World Bank Enterprise Survey data for Uganda. Findings indicate that the extent of tax evasion is associated with bureaucratic bribery, the quality and efficiency of the legal systems, and the inadequate provision of public capital. Our results are robust to alternative estimation strategy, choice of instruments, treatment of outliers, and missing data.     

Influence of knowledge,bodily integrity,religion and media on attitudes toward organ donation on the university campus

This study examines the influence of knowledge, bodily integrity, religion, and media on attitudes toward organ donation on University campus. A total of 724 participants completed surveys for this study a multivariate regression model was used to test the effects of these factors on participants' attitudes toward organ donation. The variable sets considered are the knowledge of organ donation, bodily integrity, religion, media, and attitudes toward organ donation. The results suggest that the effect of knowledge, bodily integrity, religion, and media influences the intention to donate organs. There is a positive relationship between the knowledge levels of participants on the University campus and belief levels and organ donation attitudes, and the fear of disintegration of their bodies is still an obstacle to organ donation. The paper indicates how it is possible to distinguish different components of organ donation behavior and to present the conclusions regarding the context on a University campus. The findings extend the exchanges with respect to the part of beliefs in the intentions of organ donation and arrangement of attitudes and have a significant incentive in making open approaches that further promote organ donation.     

Development of special forms of B2B relationships: Examining the role of interpersonal liking in developing Guanxi and Et-Moone relationships

The paper examines the driving factors of two of the special forms of relationships that exist in Eastern countries namely Guanxi (China) and Et-Moone (Saudi Arabia). The paper argues that these special forms of relationships that have been found to significantly influence business-to-business relationships in these countries are primarily motivated by the presence of strong interpersonal liking. To do this, a conceptual model has been developed within which interpersonal liking is placed as the key mediating variable. The key outcomes of interpersonal liking are trust and Guanxi (in the Chinese sample) and Et-Moone (in the Saudi sample). Because Guanxi has received significant attention both conceptually and empirically, the research started by conducting in-depth interviews in Saudi Arabia to further explore the concept of Et-Moone. Survey data was collected from 401 businesses in China and Saudi Arabia. Using structural equation modelling, the model has been supported in both samples. The findings show that interpersonal liking plays a crucial role in the development of Guanxi and Et-Moone. Managerial implications and future research are discussed.     

Sterilised Interventions within a Heterogeneous Expectation Exchange Rate Model: Evidence from the Reserve Bank of Australia

In this article, we study the effectiveness of central bank intervention within a heterogeneous expectation exchange rate model for the Reserve Bank of Australia. The empirical evidence is gathered by applying a Markov‐switching approach to daily A$/US$ exchange data from December 1983 to April 2008. Our results support both chartist and fundamentalist regimes. It is shown that the two regimes are persistent and that the fundamentalist regime is riskier. Moreover, interventions when the chartist regime prevails increase the proportion of fundamentalists and thus exert a stabilising effect on the foreign exchange market.     

The fragmented politics of sugarcane contract farming in Uganda

In the last decade, contract farming has regained momentum among policymakers and global development agencies as a tool to promote inclusive rural development and responsible investments. Integrating smallholders within global, regional and national agricultural value chains, we are told, represents the sine qua non for alleviating rural poverty. In Uganda, under the label of out-grower schemes, contract farming is currently undergoing massive expansion, driven especially by the boom in sugarcane cultivation. Drawing from three case studies of sugarcane contract farming in Uganda, the paper re-politicizes the debate around contract farming by looking at the power relations within which these schemes are embedded. We argue, what is seen in Uganda's expansion is a political dynamic derived both from the major dislocations and dispossessions required to establish the plantation estate and its work force, as well as from the effort to bring many smallholders using unimproved methods on land with sometimes unclear tenure arrangements into contracted arrangements for supplying sugarcane. The result has been highly contentious politics around sugar's expansion, where struggles over land dispossession merge with those around exploitative wage labour, around the loss and transformation of livelihoods, and around debt, power inequalities and environmental harm, a matrix in which state violence and co-optation are ever-present.