Foreign inflows and economic growth: An emiprical study of the SAARC region

The study examines and highlights the impact of selected foreign inflows (aid, trade, FDI, debt and remittances) on the economic growth of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. The existent literature lacks a comprehensive analysis of the SAARC countries as countries like Afghanistan, Bhutan and the Maldives have largely been ignored due to the shorter time periods of available data. The study is empirical in nature and utilizes panel data techniques on macroeconomic data for the period 2008–2015. Foreign aid and foreign direct investment are found to impact economic growth positively. Foreign debt and trade flows are found to adversely affect economic growth. No relationship is established between the flow of remittances and the economic growth of these countries. The obtained results are robust to different proxy variables and the addition of macroeconomic variables. For the first time, the study provides policy implications based on the data of all SAARC countries. The study recommends focusing on increasing the inflows of resources in the form of aid and foreign direct investment (FDI) from the developed world to achieve higher economic growth.     

Intertemporal substitution in import demand and the role of habit formation: an application of Euler equation approach for Pakistan

Introduction

The study examines the importance of intertemporal substitution in import demand considering the role of habit formation. A two-goods version of the permanent income model is used in which time-non-separability in consumers’s preferences is assumed. The model is estimated using annual data for Pakistan at disaggregated level covering the period from 1977 to 2017.

Objectives

The objective of the study is to estimate elasticities of substitution along with parameters of habit formation for consumption goods at a disaggregated level.

Method

The study employs co-integration for the estimation of parameters of elasticities of substitution and generalized method of moments (GMM) for the estimation of the parameters of habit formation from Euler equations.

Findings

The estimates of intertempral elasticity of substitution suggest that the nature of commodity group (necessity/luxury) plays an important role when consumers are making intertemporal choices. Moreover, the study finds that intratemporal elasticity of substitution is larger than intertempral elasticity of substitution in almost all cases in Pakistan, suggesting that imported and domestic goods are best described as substitutes in Edgeworth-Pareto sense. In addition, the inclusion of habit formation delivers results with plausible signs and the habit formation process seems significant for certain commodity groups including tea, beverages, tobacco products and drugs.

Conclusion

The study concludes that there is a possibility of crowding out effect on domestic consumption and the depreciation of local currency may improve Pakistan’s balance of trade.

     

Investigating the link between managers' green knowledge and leadership style,and their firms' environmental performance: The mediation role of green creativity

Despite extensive literature on green hotel management and sustainability, scant attention has been given on the role of managers to solve environmental related issues. This study's aim is to assess the effects of managers' green knowledge and green transformational leadership on firms' environmental performance with the mediating effect of green creativity. The study analyzes the perceptions of 363 employees in different managerial positions of the hotel industry employing Partial Last Square Structural Equation Modeling. The findings of the study show a positive effect of green knowledge and green transformational leadership on green creativity and green transformational leadership on environmental performance. Furthermore, green creativity is also found to have significant mediating effect between green knowledge and environmental performance, and green transformational leadership and environmental performance relations. The main implication of the current research is that managers' green concerns might help the stakeholders in the hotel industry to respond through appropriate green initiatives for their organizations. Further suggestions for literature and practice are discussed.     

Productivity impacts of infrastructure development in Asia

This study investigates the impact of infrastructure capital on total factor productivity in selected Asian countries. The scope of the assessment is broadened by exploring the effect of infrastructure development on sectoral differences in total factor productivity. The study calculated the total factor productivity over the period 2006–2016 for 16 manufacturing industries in 19 Asian countries. Further, the impact of lagged infrastructure and endowment is also explored with an eye toward improving different infrastructural measures. The empirical findings show that lagged infrastructure and endowment exert a positive and significant impact on infrastructural improvement. The impact of telecommunications, road, and power infrastructure on sectoral productivity is investigated by applying the fully modified ordinary least squares estimation technique to control the endogeneity problem associated with infrastructure provision. Overall, the empirical findings show that infrastructure provision, particularly the provision of telecommunications and power, is an important factor for explaining patterns of comparative advantage, whereas the provision of roads is important to explain patterns of absolute advantage. The results further indicate that road infrastructure is more important for low technology-intensive industries, while power infrastructure is crucial for high technology-intensive industries.     

Internet Adoption Among Malaysian Companies

The Internet technology is prevalently used in companies for business purposes. This research attempts to investigate the characteristics that are thought to influence such strategic decision of Internet adoption among the companies. Understanding the characteristics of Internet strategy in the business world helps the management to efficiently and effectively invest in Internet adoption plan. A survey was conducted to gather information from Malaysian companies. One hundred and fifteen usable responses were obtained for analysis. The findings of the study suggest the firms that wish to adopt higher level of Internet adoption should take account the support of information technology employees, overseas investment, and participation in international markets.     

Terrorism and its Determinants in the Sub‐Saharan Africa Region: Some New Insights

Terrorism is undesirable as it adversely affects the economic development of countries. This study explores the determinants of terrorism in 29 countries of sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). The data is extracted from reliable sources spanning over 2005 to 2016. Econometric techniques relevant for panel data that control for unobserved heterogeneity (fixed effects) and endogeneity (generalized method of moment) are employed to estimate the specified models. The results indicated that low growth in per capita incomes along with political instability are the main driving forces responsible for terrorism. Similarly, military expenditures are influencing terrorism positively whereas corruption has impacted terrorism negatively in the SSA region. Further, the growth of both physical as well as human capital reduces terrorism. The paper suggests that the region should take appropriate steps for increasing income of the population, education and capital stock, along with ensuring political stability to eradicate terrorism from the region.     

Offshoring and occupational wages: Some empirical evidence

Offshoring has changed the pattern of international competition; labor in specific occupations rather than whole firms and sectors are now facing competition. Accordingly, wages in offshorable occupations are affected in new ways. In this article, we investigate the effects of offshoring on relative occupational wages in 13 countries for 1990–2003. Our findings show that offshoring competiveness is associated with higher relative wages in offshorable occupations, and that export growth of IT-related services leads to higher relative wages in offshorable occupations, whereas import growth of such services reduces them.     

Designing effective transfers: Lessons from India’s school meal program

We estimate attendance gains for primary school children from a cost‐neutral change in the design of India’s school meal program. Municipal schools in the capital region of Delhi shifted from packaged food to cooked meals in 2003, with no change in payments to meal providers. Using the staggered implementation of this transition and child‐level panel data, we estimate a 3 percentage point increase in average monthly attendance, with large effects for early grades. We also find that girls are more responsive to the cooked meals, but because they attend morning schools, whereas boys attend afternoon schools, this may simply reflect benefits from better‐timed meals. Our study illustrates how better‐designed transfers can improve outcomes within tightly constrained budgets.