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on South East Asia |
| By: | Rao, B. Bhaskara; Singh, Rup |
| Abstract: | Panel data methods are used to estimate the contribution of openness of trade to the long term or the steady state rate of growth of output (SSGR) of selected East Asia countries viz., Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea and the Philippines. Since SSGR is unobservable, its estimates are derived by estimating modified production functions and by imposing the equilibrium conditions of the Solow (1956) growth model. Panel cointegration tests showed that there is a well defined long run relation between output, trade ratio and capital. Growth accounting exercise showed that factor accumulation is the dominant contributor to the SSGR of this region. Openness of trade, however, has made a significant contribution to SSGR by 1999-2003. |
| Keywords: | Panel unit root and cointegration tests; Trade Openness; Total Factor Productivity and East Asian Countries. |
| JEL: | C13 C21 C01 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:9726&r=sea |
| By: | Rao, B. Bhaskara |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an extended version of the Solow (1956) growth model in which total factor productivity is assumed a function of two important externalities viz., learning by doing and openness to trade. Using this framework we show that these externalities have played an important role to improve the long run growth rats of six Asian countries viz., Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea and the Philippines. A few broad policies to improve their long run growth rates are suggested. |
| Keywords: | Solow Growth Model; Endogenous Growth; Learning by Doing; Trade Openness; Steady State Growth Rate; Newly Developing Asian Countries. |
| JEL: | O11 C22 O19 C01 |
| Date: | 2008–07–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:9724&r=sea |
| By: | Anderson, Kym |
| Abstract: | Earnings from farming in many low-income countries have been depressed by a pro-urban bias in own-country policies, as well as by governments of richer countries favoring their farmers with import barriers and subsidies. Both sets of policies reduce national and global economic welfare. The rapid development of many Asian emerging economies has been accompanied by a gradual reduction in their anti-agricultural policies, but many distortions remain and some countries have moved from negative to positive assistance for farmers, following the earlier examples of first Japan and then Korea and Taiwan. Drawing on results from a new multi-country research project, this paper examines the extent of these changes relative to those of other developing countries over the past five decades. It concludes by pointing to prospects for further policy reform in Asia. |
| Keywords: | agricultural and trade policy reforms; Asian agricultural development; Distorted incentives |
| JEL: | F13 F14 Q17 Q18 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6914&r=sea |
| By: | Mansoob Murshed (Institute of Social Studies, The Hague); Zulfan Tadjoeddin (Institute of Social Studies, The Hague) |
| Abstract: | Utilising a newly created data set we examine the relationship between routine/everyday violence and fiscal decentralization in 98 districts of the Indonesian island of Java. By examining possible relationships between fiscal decentralization and routine violence, this paper fills a gap in the literature where the analysis of the relation between fiscal decentralization and violence is relatively scant. Routine violence, which is different from both civil war and ethno-communal conflict, centres around group brawls, popular justice or vigilante violence. Despite the uniform implementation of fiscal decentralization, sub-national entities exhibit varying experiences with decentralization, but a common consequence is the increased size of local government. Fiscal decentralization, and the increased size of local government, can alleviate pent-up frustrations with a centralized state, as local government expenditure is seen to satisfy the needs of communities that people identify with more closely. Our results show that this is indeed the case, but the capacity to do so mainly lies with richer districts. |
| Keywords: | Asia, Indonesia, routine violence, fiscal decentralization |
| JEL: | D74 H71 H72 |
| Date: | 2008 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcn:rwpapr:7&r=sea |
| By: | Karligash Kenjegalieva (Dept of Economics, Loughborough University); Maximilian J. B. Hall (Dept of Economics, Loughborough University); Richard Simper (Dept of Economics, Loughborough University) |
| Abstract: | Within the banking efficiency analysis literature there is a dearth of studies which have considered how banks have ‘survived’ the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. Considering the profound changes that have occurred in the region’s financial systems since then, such an analysis is both timely and warranted. This paper examines the evolution of Hong Kong’s banking industry’s efficiency and its macroeconomic determinants through the prism of two alternative approaches to banking production based on the intermediation and services-producing goals of bank management over the post-crisis period. Within this research strategy we employ Tone’s (2001) Slacks-Based Model (SBM) combining it with recent bootstrapping techniques, namely the non-parametric truncated regression analysis suggested by Simar and Wilson (2007) and Simar and Zelenyuk’s (2007) group-wise heterogeneous sub-sampling approach. We find that there was a significant negative effect on Hong Kong bank efficiency in 2001, which we ascribe to the fallout from the terrorist attacks in America in 9/11 and to the completion of deposit rate deregulation that year. However, post 2001 most banks have reported a steady increase in efficiency leading to a better ‘intermediation’ and ‘production’ of activities than in the base year of 2000, with the SARS epidemic having surprisingly little effect in 2003. It was also interesting to find that the smaller banks were more efficient than the larger banks, but the latter were also able to enjoy economies of scale. This size factor was linked to the exportability of financial services. Other environmental factors found to be significantly impacting on bank efficiency were private consumption and housing rent. |
| Keywords: | Finance and Banking; Productivity; Efficiency. |
| JEL: | C23 C52 G21 |
| Date: | 2008–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lbo:lbowps:2008-01&r=sea |
| By: | Febrian, Erie; Herwany, Aldrin |
| Abstract: | For both risk management and portfolio selection purposes, modeling the linkage across financial markets is crucial, especially among neighboring stock markets. In investigating the dependence or co-movement of three or more stock markets in different countries, researchers frequently use co-integration and causality analysis. Nevertheless, they conducted the causality in mean tests but not the causality in variance tests. This paper examines the co-integration and causal relations among three major stock exchanges in Southeast Asia, i.e Jakarta Stock Exchange, Singapore Stock Exchange, and Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. It employs the recently developed techniques for investigating unit roots, co-integration, time-varying volatility, and causality in variance. For estimating market risk of portfolio, this paper employs Value-at-Risk with delta-normal approach. |
| Keywords: | Risk Management, Causality, Co-integration, Stock Markets |
| JEL: | G1 D53 |
| Date: | 2007–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:9632&r=sea |
| By: | Chikako Yamauchi |
| Abstract: | Under Indonesia's anti-poverty program, IDT, the government provided selected poor villages with grants of the same value, regardless of population size. Exploiting the variation in per household grant value that is caused by this program design, I estimate the returns to public grants, which are designated for investment loans. Results show that the returns are heterogeneous. Villages with pre-existing market facilities demonstrate increases in male labor supply, per capita income (PCI) and per capita expenditure (PCE). However, villages not accessible by land exhibit few changes in labor supply or PCI and yet an increase in PCE, particularly on festivals. These results suggest that the returns to investment capital are limited without a basic economic infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | poverty, labor supply, investment, IDT, Indonesia |
| JEL: | D1 H3 J2 O1 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:dpaper:582&r=sea |
| By: | Amador, João; Cabral, Sónia |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates a specific aspect of international production linkages that, following Hummels et al. (2001), is commonly designated as vertical specialization (VS) - the use of imported inputs to produce goods that are afterwards exported. We propose a relative measure of VS-based trade that combines information from Input-Output matrices and international trade data, producing results for a large sample of individual countries and geographical areas with a detailed product breakdown over the 1967-2005 period. This measure identifies a country’s trade flow as associated with VS activities when the share of exports of a good relatively to the world average is above a given threshold and it is accompanied by a relative share of imports of a related intermediate product that is also above the threshold. The quantification of VS-based trade for each country/product pair in each period is made in a relative and conservative manner, since it includes only the value of intermediate imports that surpasses what is implied by the chosen international threshold. The detailed results can be subsequently added up to get any product or geographical breakdown desired. We illustrate this measure by showing the evolution of VS activities at the world level over the last four decades using a product breakdown by technological intensity and a geographical breakdown by main areas. The results point to a substantial increase of VS in high-technology products over the last two decades. There is also empirical evidence on the sharp increase of VS activities in East Asia. |
| Keywords: | International Trade; International Fragmentation of Production; Vertical Specialization; Globalization |
| JEL: | F15 F14 O50 F1 |
| Date: | 2008–07–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:9618&r=sea |
| By: | Mottaleb, Khondoker Abdul |
| Abstract: | Abstract: More than 30 percent of total population in Bangladesh is extremely poor. Halving the existing poverty level as per the millennium development goals of the UN by 2015 is the major challenge of the country. The question arises as to how to eradicate extreme poverty quickly? Successful experience of the East Asian countries reveals that creation of employment opportunities in the non-farm industrial sector for the rural poor is instrumental to eradicate poverty. Due to stagnant large and medium scales industrial sector and sole dependence on agriculture sector for employment and income, Bangladesh suffers from huge unemployment and disguised unemployment, which has been further worsening due to high population growth rate. Since the long past, rural informal income generating activities, such as traditional bamboo craftsmanship, however, has created enormous employment and income opportunities in the country especially for the rural poor and distress women. Empirical studies though recognize the contribution of rural informal activities to poverty alleviation, seldom focuses on who are the craftsmen, how they produce and market their products. Using primary data collected from more than 200 bamboo craftsmen from four districts in Bangladesh, this study tries to examine the role of rural informal activities and characterizes who are the craftsmen. The study finds that bamboo craftsmen are mostly uneducated and inherited the skills and businesses from their parents. The study also finds that all of the workers in the bamboo industry are family members and nearly 50 percent of total workers in the bamboo sector are female. Thus, the traditional bamboo sector contributes enormously to the creation of employment opportunities for the rural women. Finally, based on the opinions of the craftsmen, the study recommends some suggestions for the development of the bamboo industry in Bangladesh. |
| Keywords: | industrial cluster; industrial development; craftsmanship; bamboo |
| JEL: | O15 J24 E26 M13 O14 |
| Date: | 2008–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:9616&r=sea |
| By: | TAUSCH, Arno |
| Abstract: | Ever since the path-breaking empirical studies by Schott (1998) world systems scholars start from the well-established assumption that world science is a single gigantic center-periphery relationship. The strategic and tactical practical conclusions for individual scholars and their agenda in the scientific periphery and the semi-periphery, to which Europe increasingly belongs, are much harder to draw than the general diagnosis. Where can scholars from outside the US attractively publish their manuscripts for the world market? How does the European Union make its point in the global scientific arena in the field of the debates about social policies and globalization? Is there a way, especially for scholars from the new member countries of the European Union, and from the newly formed “Union for the Mediterranean”, to effectively publish their works on the world market? Only three European social affairs ministries (France, Poland, Spain) afford themselves the luxury to publish their own scientific journal, while others must rely on international publishing to make their expertise heard internationally. This article tries to answer tentatively such a difficult and strategic question, and quantitatively compares the performance of Amsterdam University Press (EU); Ashgate (EU); Blackwell (EU); Cambridge UP (EU); Campus (Frankfurt/Ann Arbor) (EU); Cornell UP (USA); Edward Elgar (EU); Houghton/Mifflin (US); IOS Press (EU); Lexington (US); Monthly Review Press (US); Nova Science Publishers (US); Oxford University Press (EU); Palgrave Macmillan (EU); Praeger Publishers (EU); Routledge (EU); Rowman/Littlefield (US); Sage Publications (US); Springer-Verlag (US); St. Martin's Press (US); and Transaction Publishers (US), which in between them control a sizeable share of the social science academic book publishing market in such fields of political science as globalization or European Union studies, with up to nineteen quantitative performance criteria, ranging from market success rates on global markets both in North America as well as mainly in the Asia-Pacific and European region, comparative library presence rates at international organizations libraries, such as the European Union and the United Nations, and the quantitative impact of published titles on combined indices of peer reviewed journals and the international daily and weekly press. In addition, our study evaluates the impact of the companies’ books and journals on the literature, contained in “Google book search” and “Google scholar”, all per total company book and serials output. In terms of their ability to place books on the markets of now 100+ countries well in comparison to total production, the American companies in our sample hold an unparalleled power. The relative market leaders, which get a large percentage of their total book output to more than 50 global libraries each, are: • Lexington (US) • St. Martin's Press (US) • Rowman/Littlefield (US) • Monthly Review Press (US) • Praeger Publishers (US) • Cornell UP (US) • Ashgate (UK) • Transaction Publishers (US) • Edward Elgar (UK) • Nova Science Publishers (US) Our results, based on simple combined ranks and more sophisticated non-parametric and parametric, multivariate SPSS XV factor analytical evaluations of indicator performance are a further sign of the fact that Europe would do well to further learn from the culture of major US Universities. |
| Keywords: | JEL classification: F5 - International Relations and International Political Economy; F50 – General; M3 - Marketing and Advertising; M30 - General |
| JEL: | F15 F50 M3 F5 M30 |
| Date: | 2008–07–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:9613&r=sea |
| By: | Michael Ahlheim; Benchaphun Ekasingh; Oliver Frör; Jirawan Kitchaicharoen; Andreas Neef; Chapika Sangkapitux; Nopasom Sinphurmsukskul |
| Abstract: | Though contingent valuation is the dominant technique for the valuation of public projects, especially in the environmental sector, the high costs of contingent valuation surveys prevent the use of this method for the assessment of relatively small projects. The reason for this cost problem is that typically only contingent valuation studies which are based on face-to-face interviews are accepted as leading to valid results. Especially in countries with high wages face-to-face surveys are extremely costly considering that for a valid contingent valuation study a minimum of 1,000 completed face-to-face interviews is required. In this paper we try a rehabilitation of mail surveys as low-budget substitutes for costly face-to-face surveys. Based on an empirical contingent valuation study in Northern Thailand we show that the validity of mail surveys can be improved significantly if so-called citizen expert groups are employed for a thorough survey design. |
| Keywords: | contingent valuation; Environmental Valuation; Equity |
| JEL: | D6 H4 L3 Q25 Q51 |
| Date: | 2008–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hoh:hohdip:297&r=sea |