Is energy consumption effective to spur economic growth in Pakistan? New evidence from bounds test to level relationships and Granger causality tests

The present study investigates the relationship between energy (renewable and nonrenewable) consumption and economic growth using Cobb–Douglas production function in case of Pakistan over the period of 1972–2011. We have used the ARDL bounds testing and Gregory and Hansen (1990) structural break cointegration approaches for long run while stationarity properties of the variables have been tested applying Clemente-Montanes-Reyes (1998) structural break unit root test.Our results confirm cointegration between renewable energy consumption, nonrenewable energy consumption, economic growth, capital and labor in case of Pakistan. The findings show that both renewable and nonrenewable energy consumption add in economic growth. Capital and labor are also important determinants of economic growth. The VECM Granger causality analysis validates the existence of feedback hypotheses between renewable energy consumption and economic growth, nonrenewable energy consumption and economic growth, economic growth and capital.     

An exploratory study of organizational flexibility in Malaysia: a research note

This note reports on an exploratory study examining the relationships between rules on employee behaviour and on management discretion and other aspects of organizations in Malaysia. Using the data from thirty-five Malaysian organizations, the authors highlight the differences between the implications of the rules for the two groups and their relationships with company performance.     

Incentives and Disincentives of Corporate Environmental Disclosure: Evidence from Listed Companies in China and Malaysia

Previous studies on motivations for corporate environmental disclosure (CED) in emerging countries are generally undertheorized and have neglected to investigate disincentives. This study addresses this gap using legitimacy theory to determine whether differences exist between Chinese and Malaysian managers in relation to incentives and disincentives for CED. Our findings reveal that differences exist suggesting that legitimization strategies, if employed, vary and perceptions of legitimacy threat differ between countries. The study also reports that the dominating incentive for managers in both countries is to appear reputable; implying a strategic CED approach is undertaken in an attempt to alter public perceptions about the legitimacy of an organization. Interestingly, the incentive of regulatory pressure was found insignificant in both countries in persuading companies to engage in CED. Finally, potential damage to a company's reputation received considerable support from all respondents revealing a degree of uncertainty about CED. Overall, the study contributes to the literature on CED practices in emerging economies and points to some policy suggestions. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The idiosyncratic risks of a Shariah compliant REIT investor

This paper investigates the impact of Shariah compliant investment principles on the idiosyncratic risks of a Shariah compliant REIT investor. The importance of idiosyncratic risks in explaining cross-sectional returns of a constructed Shariah compliant REIT investor’s portfolio is further examined in this paper. In all constructed portfolios examined, there is a positive and significant relationship between expected idiosyncratic volatility and expected REIT returns of the constructed Shariah compliant portfolio (GCC Shariah compliance standards). This result is consistent and persistent after robustness tests are carried out. As such, idiosyncratic risks are an important factor to consider in the pricing of Shariah compliant REIT stock returns. On further examination, the significant relationship as seen in the constructed Shariah compliant portfolio can be explained from the firm-specific risks of the residential REIT sector which is the most dominant sector during the period of investigation. The implications of these results also point to the importance of Shariah compliance standards and screening methods which is a significant feature associated with the understanding of the relationship of idiosyncratic risks on expected REIT returns of Shariah portfolios. Results show contrasting results between a less-restrictive and restrictive Shariah compliant portfolio. We find a significant relationship between expected returns and the idiosyncratic risks specifically in the restrictive Shariah compliant portfolio.     

The impact of increasing non-agricultural market access on EU demand for imported fish: implications for Lake Victoria chilled fillet exports

Import demand functions for origin-specific chilled fish filletsto the EU using a Rotterdam-type production model are estimated.Results are used to project the impact of the EU expanding marketaccess to non-African countries. The preference erosion argumentsuggests that the lower tariffs will erode the competitive positionof African countries; however, when the total impact of pricesis considered, expanding preferential access may result in increasedimports from African countries. If tariffs are reduced to zero,the total EU imports are projected to increase by 4.1 per centresulting in a 2.2 per cent increase in chilled fillet importsfrom Lake Victoria.     

A Cramér-type large deviation theorem for sums of functions of higher order non-overlapping spacings

Let U ₁, U ₂, . . . , U _n–1 be an ordered sample from a Uniform [0,1] distribution. The non-overlapping uniform spacings of order s are defined as \({G_{i}^{(s)} =U_{is} -U_{(i-1)s}, i=1,2,\ldots,N^\prime, G_{N^\prime+1}^{(s)} =1-U_{N^\prime s}}\) with notation U ₀ = 0, U _n = 1, where \({N^\prime=\left\lfloor n/s\right\rfloor}\) is the integer part of n/s. Let \({ N=\left\lceil n/s\right\rceil}\) be the smallest integer greater than or equal to n/s, f _m (u), m = 1, 2, . . . , N, be a sequence of real-valued Borel-measurable functions. In this article a Cramér type large deviation theorem for the statistic \({f_{1,n} (nG_{1}^{(s)})+\cdots+f_{N,n} (nG_{N}^{(s)} )}\) is proved.     

Consequences of extended work hours: A comparison of moonlighters,overtimers, and modal employees

Stringent corporate controls on employee moonlighting and/or overtime are not uncommon. But are they necessary? Even the concept of overtime may need to be rethought—what about the “normal working hours” of managers and professionals who work hours at home or on the road—hours typically uncompensated?     

Market structure and competitive conditions in the Arab GCC banking system

This paper investigates the market structure of Arab GCC banking industry during the years of 1993–2002 using the most frequently applied measures of concentration k-bank concentration ratio (CRk) and Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) and evaluates the monopoly power of banks over the ten years period using the ‘H-statistic’ by Panzar and Rosse. The results show that Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and UAE have moderately concentrated markets and are moving to less concentrated positions. The measures of concentration also show that Qatar, Bahrain and Oman are highly concentrated markets. The Panzar–Rosse H-statistics suggest that banks in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE operate under perfect competition; banks in Bahrain and Qatar operate under conditions of monopolistic competition; and we are unable to reject monopolistic competition for the banking market in Oman.     

Management and Accounting Developments in Executive Agencies

The executive agency programme has moved ahead rapidly since its introduction in 1988 and by 1996 over 70% of all civil servants were working under executive agency conditions. This has resulted in a major change in the structure of the civil service and in the management of the activities of central government. The question that then emerges concerns the benefits, if any, that these changes have brought about. This paper reports the results of a survey of a sample of senior managers in executive agencies. The survey attempted to ascertain the extent to which agencification was felt to have led to increases in autonomy and freedom to manage and also to obtain the views of managers on a range of issues including changes in operational effectiveness and quality of service delivery. These, after all, are some of the key measures of the success or otherwise of the agencification programme. The survey also examined changes in specific management accounting practices and a broad overview of the findings is provided in the paper. In general, it seems that the senior managers of executive agencies do feel that agencification has achieved many of the benefits hoped for and that is has brought about changes and improvements in management and management accounting practices.