Analysing Potential Effects of Preferential Liberalisation in Some Asian Emerging Economies

This paper examines the ex-ante effects of possible trade liberalisation of some Asian emerging economies through forming a regional economic bloc called BIMSTEC by adopting SMART and GTAP models. Based on estimated export supply elasticity, the results of SMART simulation reveal that the highest net trade effect takes place for India, the biggest economy in the bloc, followed by Bangladesh for tariff elimination. The two countries also derive substantial welfare gains. The proportionate revenue loss is remarkably higher for smaller countries such as Nepal, Myanmar and Bangladesh. GTAP simulation suggests that Bangladesh incurs a net welfare loss by joining the FTA. The overall intra-bloc export is likely to increase. These results imply that there is a need for designing proper compensation mechanism and technical support for the smaller economies to offset the possible adverse effects.     

The cost of registering property: does legal origin matter?

There is a large literature that finds that common law countries perform better than civil law countries in various aspects of the institutional environment. This article extends these findings to another dimension of institutional quality??the cost of registering property. In a sample of 121 countries, we find that the cost of registering property is lower by 26 percent of the world average in common law compared with civil law countries, a result largely driven by differences in non-notary costs of registering property. We provide plausible explanations for these findings.     

Risk management and dynamic network performance: an illustration using a dual banking system

This study applies dynamic network data envelopment analysis to compare a dual banking system, namely conventional and Islamic banks, with emphasis on risk measures. Non-oriented, variable return-to-scale dynamic network slacks-based measure is used to model the banking performance for the period 2008–2012. Under the consideration of risk measures, the findings highlight that Islamic banks excel in managerial efficiency while conventional banks surpass in profitability efficiency. Furthermore, the regression results find that the number of directors on the risk management committee has a positive impact on banking performance. Meanwhile, the high number of independent directors improves the profitability efficiency but worsens the managerial efficiency.     

Correction to: Development of a Fuzzy Multi-Objective Heuristic Model for Optimum Water Allocation

Water Resources Management - The original version of this article unfortunately contains mistakes introduced during the publishing process. The mistakes and corrections are described in the...