Agglomeration Economies and Productivity Growth in Manufacturing Industry: Empirical Evidence from Indonesia

This study examines the effect of agglomeration economies on productivity growth in Indonesian manufacturing industries during the first decade of this century. Productivity growth is measured at the firm level using the Färe‐Primont Productivity Index. Each firm's productivity growth is then regressed against a set of firm and industry characteristics, including three measures of agglomeration representing the effects of specialisation, diversity and competition. The results show evidence of a positive specialisation effect and a negative diversity effect for aggregate manufacturing and sub‐sectors. Furthermore, there are mixed effects across industries, suggesting that Porter's competition externalities stimulate firm productivity growth under some conditions but not others.     

Collusion,Co-option and Capture: Social Accountability and Social Audits in Karnataka,India

The concept of accountability has generated extensive discussion in studies of international development, linking it with good governance, democratisation, participatory development and empowerment. India's national rural employment guarantee scheme, which aims to improve the rural infrastructure and reduce poverty by providing wage work to the rural poor, involves mandatory social audit by the beneficiaries of the scheme, in order to ensure accountability of those implementing the scheme. In this paper, we examine the social audit process in a district in the state of Karnataka to ascertain the role played by the beneficiaries in achieving such accountability. We find that Vigilance and Monitoring Committees, entrusted to spearhead the social audit process in villages, consist mainly of males and cultivators, some of whom are large landowners. We also find that social audits are dominated by the local elite who stifle “voices” from below.     

The effects of corporate governance and audit and non-audit fees on IPO Value

This paper examines the effects of non-executive board members, audit committee composition and financial expertise, and fees paid to audit firms on the value of 375 UK initial public offerings (IPOs). Empirical findings show that underpricing decreases in audit fees whereas it increases in non-audit fees. A higher proportion of non-executive directors on the firm’s board and audit committees with a higher proportion of non-executive directors and financial accounting expertise of their members positively moderate the inter-relationships between underpricing and both audit and non-audit fees paid by companies going through an IPO. Further investigations using the adjusted price-to-book value as a proxy for firm value at IPO confirm our main findings that internal governance mechanisms may complement services provided by the auditors in terms of generating higher valuations. Controlling for the simultaneous determination of audit and non-audit fees, our results remain consistent.     

Economy-wide benefits from water-intensive industries in South Africa: Quasi-input-output analysis of the contribution of irrigation agriculture and cultivated plantations in the Crocodile River catchment

A quasi-input-output framework was employed to measure and compare economy-wide benefits from irrigated crops and cultivated plantations in the Crocodile River catchment. The results of the analysis showed that it makes a huge difference to consider not only direct economic benefits from water-using activities, but also their economy-wide benefits and multisector linkages for evaluating water allocation regimes and policies. A completely opposite ranking of the compared activities was obtained when economy-wide effects (including indirect multipliers) were taken into account, compared with considering only direct benefits.     

Long-run abnormal return after IPOs and optimistic analysts' forecasts

This empirical study examines whether the optimistic forecasts of analysts explain the long-run abnormal return following initial public offerings (IPOs). Consistent with prior research, this paper concludes that the analysis of earning forecasts for firms going public has an upward bias. While the usually calculated buy-and-hold abnormal return is not significantly negative on average, a proper control for risk confirms the long-run underperformance hypothesis for the 1-year period following IPOs. The risk-adjusted return is positively correlated to the surprise effect and earning forecast revisions, and appears to be the response to new information about the true earnings perspectives.     

Comparative accuracy of forecasts of inflation: a Canadian study

An inaccurate forecast of inflation is costlier to economic agents when the inflation rate is high and volatile. In this situation, the use of more sophisticated and information-oriented forecasting models become economically efficient. We test this hypothesis by analysing the forecasting accuracy of vector auto-regressive (VAR), auto-regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and static expectation models. We use Canadian data and divide the post-sample forecasting period into four sub-periods, based on high/low and volatile/stable inflation. Prediction errors are compared for both short-term and long-term forecasts. Finally, the paper proposes a portfolio approach for obtaining a more accurate forecast of inflation.     

Declining rates of return to education: evidence for Indonesia

In 1977, American labour economist Richard Freeman documented a fall in the return to education in the US, and attributed it to the expansion of the country's education sector. This article shows, similarly, that the returns to education in Indonesia generally declined between 1993 and 2007–08, following the large-scale expansion of the sector. The changes, however, were reasonably modest, and sometimes differed between males and females. This suggests that both recent growth in the education sector (which by itself could depress the return to education) and uneven growth across the Indonesian economy (which could differentially increase demand for graduates at various levels of education) have played a role in determining the pattern of change over time in the profitability of education in Indonesia.     

Eco‐efficiency of high‐yielding variety rice cultivation after accounting for on‐farm environmental damage as an undesirable output: an empirical analysis from Bangladesh

This study computes the eco‐efficiency of high‐yielding variety (HYV) rice production by including an on‐farm environmental damage index (OFEDI) as an undesirable output using data envelopment analysis. It then identifies its determinants by applying an interval regression procedure on a sample of 317 farmers from north‐western Bangladesh. Results reveal that the mean level of the OFEDI‐adjusted production efficiency (i.e. eco‐efficiency) is 89 per cent, whereas ignoring OFEDI adjustment (i.e. with OFEDI = 0) reduces the mean level of efficiency to 69 per cent, implying that the production of undesirable output or on‐farm environmental damage induces an efficiency loss of 20 per cent with significant differences across regions. The proportion of farmers’ income from HYV rice agriculture, land ownership, extension services and socio‐environmental living standard are the significant determinants of improving eco‐efficiency. Policy implications include investments in extension services and land reform measures to increase land ownership, which will synergistically improve eco‐efficiency of HYV rice production in Bangladesh.     

Does a “Blue Revolution” help the poor? Evidence from Bangladesh

The rapid growth in aquaculture production, globally and in Bangladesh is well documented. Over 2000–2010, per capita production of aquaculture grew 76%, while the consumer price of fish declined 45%. Previous studies have suggested pro‐poor effects of aquaculture based on fish production and consumption patterns. This study attempts to quantify the contribution of aquaculture to income growth and poverty reduction in Bangladesh, using household survey data and a microsimulation approach based on an expanded version of Deaton's concept of net benefit ratio. We estimate that aquaculture's contribution to income growth between 2000 and 2010 was 2.1%, including both price and quantity effects. This income growth was translated into poverty reduction of 1.7 percentage points. Although these estimates seem small, they represent almost 10% of the overall poverty reduction in Bangladesh during the first decade of the 21st century. Put differently, of the 18 million Bengalis who escaped poverty during 2000–2010, about 1.8 million of them managed to do so because of the rapid growth in aquaculture, which contributed to rural income while making fish more accessible to consumers.     

Agriculture,trade openness and emissions: an empirical analysis and policy options

This article investigates the impact of sectoral production allocation, energy usage patterns and trade openness on pollutant emissions in a panel consisting of high‐, medium‐ and low‐income countries. Extended STIRPAT (Stochastic Impact by Regression on Population, Affluence and Technology) and EKC (Environmental Kuznets Curve) models are conducted to systematically identify these factors driving CO2 emissions in these countries during the period 1980–2010. To this end, the study employs three different heterogeneous, dynamic mean group‐type linear panel models and one nonlinear panel data estimation procedure that allows for cross‐sectional dependence. While affluence, nonrenewable energy consumption and energy intensity variables are found to drive pollutant emissions in linear models, population is also found to be a significant driver in the nonlinear model. Both service sector and agricultural value‐added levels play a significant role in reducing pollution levels, whereas industrialisation increases pollution levels. Although the linear model fails to track any significant impact of trade openness, the nonlinear model finds trade liberalisation to significantly affect emission reduction levels. All of these results suggest that economic development, and especially industrialisation strategies and environmental policies, need to be coordinated to play a greater role in emission reduction due to trade liberalisation.