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on South East Asia |
| By: | Chan, Tze-Haw; Hooy, Chee-Wooi |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the long run dynamics of exchange rate and bilateral export-import flows between China and Malaysia. Our analysis contributed in using high frequency monthly data for the recent period from January 1990 to January 2008, based on the Autoregressive Distributed Lag bound testing procedure, the fully modified OLS, dynamic OLS and rolling estimations, as well as the generalised impulse response (IRF) and variance decomposition (VDC) analyses. Our empirical findings reveal that the Marshall-Lerner condition holds in the long run but the export-import demands do not adhere to the J-curve pattern. And, expansionary effect is of greater evidence for Malaysia due to real exchange shocks but inconclusive for China. More important, the VDC results imply that China-Malaysia trade is along the sustainable path. In brief, the study supports for the complementary role of China instead of conflicting (competing) features in the China-Malaysia bilateral trading |
| Keywords: | Exchange rates; J-curve; Marshall-Lerner Condition; ARDL Bound Test; Rolling; FMOLS; DOLS |
| JEL: | C51 F42 F31 |
| Date: | 2011–06–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33585&r=sea |
| By: | Chen, Dandan |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the key aspects of the practices of school-based management in Indonesia, and its effect on education quality. Using a conceptual framework of an accountability system of public service delivery, the paper explores the relations among Indonesian parents, school committees, schools, and government education supervisory bodies from three tenets: participation and voice; autonomy; and accountability. Using the data from a nationally representative survey of about 400 public primary schools in Indonesia, the paper finds that the level of parental participation and voice in school management is extremely low in Indonesia. While the role of school committees is still limited to community relations, school facilities, and other administrative areas of school management, school principals, together with teachers, are much more empowered to assert professional control of the schools. The accountability system has remained weak in Indonesia's school system, which is reflected by inadequate information flow to parents, as well as seemingly low parental awareness of the need to hold schools accountable. The accountability arrangement of the Indonesian school system currently puts more emphasis on top-down supervision and monitoring by government supervisory bodies. The findings show that although the scope of school-based management in Indonesia is limited, it has begun to help schools make the right decisions on allocation of resources and hiring additional (non-civil servant) teachers, and to create an enabling environment of learning, including increasing teacher attendance rates. These aspects are found to have significantly positive effects on student learning outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Education For All,Tertiary Education,Primary Education,Teaching and Learning,Disability |
| Date: | 2011–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5809&r=sea |
| By: | Anja Jetschke |
| Abstract: | Why do regional organizations share a number of key institutions and policies? Why do regional organizations like the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) or the Carribean Community (CARICOM) look like the European Union? And why do we find the norms of the Helsinki Final Act in treaties of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)? The simple answer is that policy solutions developed in the context of regional integration diffuse. The paper contends that regional integration efforts in Europe have had a decisive but often unacknowledged influence on regional cooperation outside of Europe. The influence of European integration on regional organizations beyond Europe will be illustrated with a case that is unsuspicious of having emulated the European integration experience: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Since 1957, Southeast Asian states have selectively taken over policies and institutions from the European context. The most recent adoption, it will be argued, is the ASEAN Charter, in effect since November 2008. In accounting for this adoption, the paper argues that ASEAN members’ decision is only partially driven by genuine regional or functional demands. Members borrowed from abroad expecting the Charter to provide a policy solution to the cooperation problems members faced. Thus, the paper makes an original general contribution to the existing literature on regional integration: It argues that a full account of regional integration processes needs to take diffusion processes into consideration. |
| Keywords: | Europeanization; Europeanization |
| Date: | 2010–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erp:kfgxxx:p0017&r=sea |
| By: | Kariastanto, Bayu |
| Abstract: | Currently, the Indonesian pension fund is prohibited from investing in international assets. In this paper, I quantitatively investigate the benefit and/or the cost, if any, caused by this constraint. Standard mean-variance techniques will be used along with Monte Carlo simulation to check the robustness of the findings. Under various assumptions, including international assets in the pension fund’s portfolio could potentially aid pension funds to have higher returns and accumulated wealth. Accordingly, the findings suggest possible reform to lessen these restrictions. Given the controversy over international diversification, a reasonable compromise that would help capture many of the potential benefits for risk-averse investors could be to create a ceiling of 20 percent for international assets. |
| Keywords: | Pension Fund; International Diversification; Asset Allocation; Hypothetical Worker; Indonesia |
| JEL: | G11 |
| Date: | 2011–09–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:33581&r=sea |
| By: | Grietjie Verhoef |
| Abstract: | The internationalisation of enterprises is one of the essential ways to strengthen the competitiveness of firms from developing countries (UNCTAD, 2005c: 3). Strong growth in outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from developing countries has become the distinguishing feature of the twenty-first century. This OFDI flows from state-owned enterprises, sovereign wealth funds (SWF) as well as private enterprises operating as multinational companies from a home base or as free-standing companies. Multinational corporations have commenced activities since the 1960s by moving operations to resource-rich, low-cost labour and capital markets (Wilkins, 1970; 1974; 1988; Jones, 1994; 2005). The first wave of OFDI during the 1960s and 1970s was motivated by efficiency and market-seeking factors. This wave was dominated by firms from Asia and Latin America. A second wave of OFDI followed in the 1980s, led by strategic assetseeking enterprises from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea (Dunning et al., 1996; UNCTAD, 2005b: 3s). Since the 1990s China, Brazil, India, Russia (the so-called BRIC countries) Malaysia, Turkey and South Africa are among the countries expected to add significantly to OFDI growth (UNCTAD, 2005c: 4). The flow of investment funds from developed countries was expected, but the reverse trend displayed the emerging capacities in countries and firms outside the core of the international economy, which challenged the dominance of developed countries and companies from developed countries. These developments have prompted several questions: how do developing country firms succeed in entering global markets? Do these firms improve their competitiveness through OFDI? This paper investigates this phenomenon from the experience of South Africa. The emergence of EMNC (Emerging Market Multinational Corporations) prompted extensive analysis and debates about the nature of and motives for EMNCs, but has also led to more in-depth analysis of specific country characteristics and firm-specific reasons for OFDI. |
| Keywords: | overseas foreign direct investment internationalisation business history conglomerates competitiveness industrial protection management strategy |
| JEL: | L14 L21 L32 N60 N67 N87 N97 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:238&r=sea |
| By: | Ahmed, Khalil |
| Abstract: | Online banking can provide a reliable service to the customers for which make them happy. Online banking service is a comparative advantage and can improve relationship with customers. The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of E-SERVQUAL model on customer satisfaction in Bank Islam Malaysia Brhd (BIMB). Four service quality dimensions namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy have been established based on the SERVQUAL model modified by Han and Beak (2004). These variables have been tested to explore the relationship between online service quality and the customer satisfaction. The data were gathered through a questionnaire with 21 customers. The study shows that these dimensions are good to measure the relationship between online service and customer satisfaction. The study also explores that empathy, reliability, and responsiveness have more contribution to satisfy the customers of Bank Islam online banking service. |
| Keywords: | Service quality dimensions; E-SERVQUAL model; and customer satisfaction |
| JEL: | G21 |
| Date: | 2011–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30782&r=sea |