MEASUREMENT AND DETERMINANTS OF MULTI-FACTOR PRODUCTIVITY: A SURVEY OF LITERATURE

This paper surveys and synthesizes fast-growing literature on the measurement and determinants of multi-factor productivity (MFP). We identify three strands of the literature to measure MFP: the first is growth accounting, which decomposes observed economic growth into the contribution of factor inputs and technological change, called the Solow Residual; the second is index number methods, accompanied by frontier techniques; the third is growth regressions and econometric methods used to estimate productivity across countries and regions. We keep our focus on assessing the major strengths and weaknesses of commonly used methods for MFP measurement and categorize existing literature on the determinants of MFP growth into macroeconomic and institutional factors. We attempt to provide a reassessment and thematic survey of literature on the drivers of aggregate productivity, enabling policymakers to formulate effective economic policy.     

Global risks and tourism industry in Turkey

Quality & Quantity - This study applies the World Economic Forum’s global risk report methodology at a country and industry specific level to understand how the national as well as the...     

Tensions between politico‐institutional factors and accounting regulation in a developing economy: insights from institutional theory

The study contributes to building an understanding of the impact of political forces on the information environment of listed firms in a developing economy. Specifically, it investigates the tensions between politico‐institutional factors and accounting regulation on the prolonged and incomplete implementation of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in Bangladesh from 1998 to 2010. Two phases of interviews were conducted in 2010–2011 and IFRS‐related enforcement documents from 1998 to 2010 were evaluated. The study contributes that IFRSs are being diffused to developing countries like Bangladesh, but they invariably interact with local institutions (political institutions in this case), with variable outcomes (i.e. negative outcomes of IFRS implementation). Coercive, normative and mimetic isomorphisms are low in Bangladesh. Notably, political forces have been undermining mimetic isomorphism because of the high level of government intervention and the high level of political lobbying. Political institutional pressures stand in the way of mimetic isomorphism and constitute negative forces that add further tension to accounting regulation (e.g. the implementation of IFRS) in Bangladesh. Regarding the low level of normative isomorphism, there is evidence of a ‘blame culture’, with state institutions and professional accountancy institutions in the country blaming each other for the poor progress in IFRS implementation. Although the study focuses on Bangladesh, its results have implications for international policy makers (the International Accounting Standards Board, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank), as well as the governments and regulators of other developing economies facing similar challenges in implementing IFRS.     

The Libertarian Character of the Islamic Economy

This article reviews the shari'a approach to markets and examines its treatment by certain twentieth‐century Islamic economists such as Nejatullah Siddiqui, Nawab Haider Naqvi, Umer Chapra and M.A. Mannan. It characterises the arguments of these economists as largely statist, redistributive and socialist, possibly reflecting post‐colonial intellectual experiences. Yet shari'a endorses negative freedom by proscribing price controls and guaranteeing consumer protection from coercion. Islamic law, this article argues, as evinced in both revealed knowledge and human exegesis, has endorsed a market‐friendly, libertarian and limited‐government philosophy.     

The Role of Middle Class in Economic Development: What Do Cross‐Country Data Show?

This paper investigates the channels through which the middle class may matter for consumption growth. Using several different middle‐class measures and a panel of 105 developing countries spanning the period 1985–2013, we find that a larger middle class influences consumption growth primarily through higher levels of human capital accumulation. There is also a significant direct effect of middle‐class size on consumption growth, which is more pronounced in the latter half of the sample, the 2000–2013 period.     

Foreign exchange rate exposure: Evidence from Canada

Using weekly data from 2003 to 2011, this paper examines the presence of exchange rate exposure in thirteen Canadian industry sectors. This study contributes to the literature in a number of ways: (i) it considers the presence of exposure not only in the full sample but also in the pre and post-Global Financial Crisis (GFC) periods, (ii) it considers both linear and nonlinear exposure and (iii) it makes use of the sign and size bias tests to investigate the presence of asymmetric exposure. In general, we find some evidence of linear and nonlinear exposure in the full sample as well as in the pre and post-GFC sub-samples. We also find weak evidence of an asymmetric exposure sign effect on stock returns in the full and pre-GFC sample periods. Stock returns are found to respond asymmetrically to the positive magnitude of exposure in both the-pre and post-GFC sample periods. In overall terms, the GFC appears to have weakly contributed to the overall strength of the exposure.     

The dominant borrower syndrome

The financing channel of a fiscal stimulus matters for the size and the sign of the fiscal multiplier. We develop a general equilibrium model where a fiscal stimulus is partially bank-funded and the government becomes the dominant borrower from banks relative to entrepreneurs. This leads to a negative impact on credit spreads, investment and a contraction in output. We support our story with a structural vector autoregression for a sample of developing countries featuring the dominant borrower syndrome.     

Early Smoking,Education, and Labor Market Performance

This study investigates the effects of early smoking on educational attainment and labor market performance by using mixed ordered and mixed proportional hazard models. The results show that early smoking adversely affects educational attainment and initial labor market performance, but only for males. The probability to finish a scientific degree is 4%-point lower for an early smoker. The effect of early smoking on initial labor market performance is indirect through educational attainment. Once the indirect effect is controlled for there is no direct effect. Moreover, for males only, early smoking has a negative effect on current labor market performance even after conditioning on educational attainment. The probability to have an academic job is 4%-point lower for an early smoker. For females neither education nor labor market performance is affected by early smoking.     

Access to financing and firm growth

Why do some firms grow faster than others? Although various observed and unobserved aspects of firms have been suggested as potential drivers of firm heterogeneity, economists disagree sharply on the role of financial structure in influencing firm growth. In this paper, I use a sample of quoted and unquoted firms to show that the effect of financial structure on firm growth is statistically significant and quantitatively important. In the presence of external financing constraints, firms rely more on internal funds to finance growth, but the effect of internal financing on firm growth decreases with an increase in the firm’s access to an external bank credit facility. As the external financing constraint is alleviated, the firm relies less on internal funds and switches to external financing as the primary source of financing for its growth. This pattern of transition between internal and external financing is particularly pronounced in small unquoted firms (conditional on their survival). These results suggest a real effect of financial structure on growth via the channel of an external financing constraint.