Labour use efficiency in the Indian and Pakistani commercial banks

The Indian and Pakistani banking industry is said to have an excessive use of labour due to the significant market share of government owned banks. Both countries have undertaken a process of regulatory reform to bring about market discipline in the usage of inputs and to increase the labour use efficiency and productivity. The focus of this paper is the estimation of productivity and efficiency of labour use in the banking sectors of the Indian sub-continent. The results show that the efficiency of labour use across the Indian sub-continent is improving over time and that foreign banks are more efficient compared to domestically owned banks in their usage of labour.     

Surplus men and scarce women: The impact of mating competition on the desire for sons in China*

We conducted this research to explore the possible factors shaping son preference, with a view to understanding the persistently high male/female sex ratio. Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) and the Population Census of China, we find a significant impact of regional sex ratio on people's preferences for the sex of their future children. Specifically, the extent of son preference decreases with the increase in the male/female sex imbalance in the local area. We also find that sex imbalance has a positive impact on a wide range of outcomes that capture the pressure on males to enter marriage markets, such as regional housing prices, the number of houses owned, and family economic status. This result is consistent with the view that greater sex imbalance exerts larger pressure on men in the marriage market, leading to changes in son preference. Omitted variable bias is addressed by using climate changes in the month preceding the fertilization period as an instrument for sex ratio. Instrumental sex ratio negatively impacts son preference, offering strong support for our hypothesis.     

The Determinants of Time‐Varying Exchange Rate Pass‐Through in South Africa

The pass‐through of shifts in the rand exchange rate to consumer price inflation has been well documented for South Africa. Although estimates of the absolute level of pass‐through vary, some studies document a decline in pass‐through over time. In order to better illuminate the policy implications of pass‐through, this paper seeks to add to the literature by decomposing pass‐through into a number of time‐varying impulses. This has the advantage of providing deeper insights of pass‐through over time and across various monetary policy regimes. We then analyse the determinants of time‐varying pass‐through. Our results confirm that pass‐through has declined over time but is subject to a stable and low inflation environment. We also show that a volatile exchange rate leads to higher pass‐through.     

Does Zero Tillage Improve the Livelihoods of Smallholder Cropping Farmers?

The biophysical benefits of zero tillage (ZT) are well documented in the literature. However, the literature on its economic benefits, especially in the context of small and medium‐scale farmers in the temperate developing world is scanty. Using a study of 621 wheat farmers in Syria, we provide empirical evidence on the impacts of adoption of ZT on farm income and wheat consumption. We use propensity score matching (PSM) and endogenous switching regression (ESR) approaches to account for potential selection biases. After controlling for confounding factors, we find that adoption of the ZT technology leads to a US$ 189/ha (33%) increase in net crop income and a 26 kg (34%) gain in per capita wheat consumption per year (adult equivalent) – an indication of meaningful changes in the livelihoods of the farm households. Besides the biophysical and environmental benefits documented elsewhere, our results suggest that adoption of ZT can also be justified on economic and food security grounds. Therefore, ZT can have sizeable impacts in transforming the agricultural sector in the temperate developing world provided that the technology is well promoted and adopted.     

Exploring efficiency differentials between Saudi higher education institutions

There have been considerable public debates surrounding the efficiency of Saudi higher education institutions, specifically after Vision 2030. We explore the efficiency of institutions of higher learning in Saudi Arabia. Panel data from 61 higher education institutions are employed for the academic years 2008–2014 to estimate efficiency scores. Also, second stage regression analysis was employed to identify the main determinants of efficiency scores. We conclude that despite exponential growth in government funding for the higher education sector, technical efficiencies remained almost stagnant over the study period along with a persistence of inefficiencies. Second stage regression results confirm that institution ownership itself does not have a significant effect on efficiency scores. However, being a university and acquiring more than 20 years of experience have a positive impact on efficiency scores. An increase in both lower secondary completion rates and percentage of female students in secondary general education increases efficiencies, whereas higher employment to population ratio and increasing female academic staff ratio in tertiary education reduces institutional efficiencies.     

Is It a Few Days of Good Times and then Darkness Ensues? Long-Term Performance of an Industry after Broad Reforms and Privatisation

ABSTRACT

The long-run financial performances of privatised firms have rarely been investigated. This study examines the financial and operational performance within the Pakistani cement industry utilising two decades of post-privatisation data. Broadly speaking, regression analyses confirm that long-term positive impacts of reforms and privatisation on profitability, output and investment are uncertain. After controlling for firm, industry and economic factors, our estimates show that privatised firms initially improved their profitability but recorded a statistically significant decline over a longer period. The sale efficiency, capacity utilisation, and leverage indicators, however, improved over a considerably long post-ownership change period.     

Cross-listing in the home market after going public in the U.S.

This study analyzes the impact of cross-listing on the abnormal returns of a unique sample of 34 Israeli stocks that went public in the U.S. and then cross-listed in their home market, Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE). The behavior of abnormal returns around cross-listing date implies that cross-listing in TASE is an effective mechanism in reducing market segmentation between the U.S. and the Israeli capital markets. Risk assessment following cross-listing suggests a decline in the risk exposure, which further supports a higher degree of integration between the two markets due to cross-listing.     

EFFECT OF PRIVATIZATION AND BROADER REFORMS ON LABOUR USE ADJUSTMENTS AND EFFICIENCY

State‐owned firms were said to have an excessive use of labour. The cost of job losses after privatization was debated but ignored due to perceived efficiency gains in the utilization of labour. We estimate longer time employment risk, labour use adjustment and the efficiency of labour utilization in the Pakistani cement industry. We conclude that firms have made significant adjustments in labour use and employment risks have indeed reduced. Our estimates however, show that long run labour use efficiency in the industry and in the privatized firms has not improved, but that, surprisingly, firms set‐up and operated privately have experienced a decrease in labour efficiency.