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on South East Asia |
| By: | Hal Hill; Jayant Menon |
| Abstract: | This paper provides an analytical review of World Trade Organization, Trade Policy Review: Cambodia, the first such report undertaken for the country. The report highlights Cambodia's rapid economic growth after one of the world's worst cases of genocide in the second half of the twentieth century. This growth has been underpinned by open trade and investment policies, in the context of dynamic neighbourhood growth effects. The trade regime is mainly tariff-based, with modest inter-sectoral variations in rates. Cambodia has limited trade policy space. It is a signatory to the 10-nation ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, soon to become the ASEAN Economic Community. Moreover, given its long and porous borders with the much larger, dynamic economies of Thailand and Vietnam, any major cross border price differences will quickly result in informal trade with these economies, and nearby China. Most of the country's trade policy challenges are to do with 'behind the border' issues, a legacy of its generation of civil war and conflict. These include weak bureaucratic capacity, high levels of corruption, poor infrastructure, and limited human capital. |
| Keywords: | Cambodia, trade policy, ASEAN, globalization, weak institutions. |
| JEL: | F14 O53 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pas:papers:2014-12&r=sea |
| By: | Nguyen Van, Phuong |
| Abstract: | Vietnam has been implementing the export-oriented economy, in which the central bank of Vietnam, well-known as the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), adopted the managed float exchange rate regime in 1990. Therefore, the exchange rate movement plays an important role in stimulating the Vietnamese export activities. By applying the long-run SVAR model, pioneered by Blanchard and Quah (1989), this research examines how the real and nominal shocks impact the nominal and real exchange rate (USD/VND) in Vietnam. Based on monthly data concerning USD/VND exchange rate and, the price levels in Vietnam and the United States from May 1995 to December 2013, our empirical results reveal that: the real shock primarily leads the real and nominal exchange rate (USD/VND) to fluctuate over time. Meanwhile, the nominal shock has a temporary effect on the movement in the real exchange rate in Vietnam. Our research also finds that the long-run Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) does not hold in Vietnam. |
| Keywords: | State Bank of Vietnam, the exchange rate, unit root test, SVAR |
| JEL: | E50 E58 E60 E69 |
| Date: | 2014–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:60565&r=sea |
| By: | Furuoka, Fumitaka |
| Abstract: | This paper chooses a Malaysian state in Borneo Island, Sarawak, as the case study to examine the relationship between population growth and economic development. The findings imply that there is no statistically significant long-run relationship, but a causal relationship between population growth and economic development in Sarawak. In other words, the empirical findings indicate that population can have neither positive nor negative impact on economic development. The findings also indicated that income expansion did cause the population expansion in Sarawak, Malaysia. |
| Keywords: | Population growth, Economic development, Sarawak, Malaysia |
| JEL: | J1 O53 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:60636&r=sea |
| By: | Pradumna B. Rana (Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI)); Binod Karmacharya |
| Abstract: | Nepal’s lackluster economic performance during the post-conflict period (that is, after November 2006) has been driven by remittances from the export of labor services and the improved performance of the agricultural sector, which is still very much weather dependent. The authors make the case for a connectivity-driven development strategy for the country. They argue that improved connectivity within Nepal and cross-border connectivity with its neighbors in South Asia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that are converting Nepal from a landlocked into a land-linked state, could be important “engines of growth†for the country. It is argued that such a development strategy is not a new one for Nepal as in the past the country was strategically located on the Southwestern Silk Road (SSR). A number of factors have revived the case for making Nepal a land-linked state in Asia. Nepal has adopted a multi-track approach to promoting regional cooperation and integration in connectivity with its neighbors. But a lot more needs to be done, especially in the context of the difficult political situation in the country, and donors have an important role to play in this regard. Ten priority projects to convert Nepal into a land-linked state are identified, but a detailed impact analysis of these projects is beyond the scope of this paper. |
| Keywords: | Nepal, connectivity, land-locked, land-linked, connectivity-driven, Development Strategy |
| JEL: | F15 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eab:develo:24422&r=sea |
| By: | Javorcik, Beata; Poelhekke, Steven |
| Abstract: | The literature has documented a positive effect of foreign ownership on firm performance. But is this effect due to a one-time knowledge transfer or does it rely on continuous injections of knowledge? To shed light on this question we focus on divestments, that is, foreign affiliates that are sold to local owners. To establish a causal effect of the ownership change we combine a difference-in-differences approach with propensity score matching. We use plant-level panel data from the Indonesian Census of Manufacturing covering the period 1990-2009. We consider 157 cases of divestment, where a large set of plant characteristics is available two years before and three years after the ownership change and for which observationally similar control plants exist. The results indicate that divestment is associated with a drop in total factor productivity accompanied by a decline in output, markups as well as export and import intensity. The findings are consistent with the benefits of foreign ownership being driven by continuous supply of headquarter services from the foreign parent. |
| Keywords: | divestment; foreign direct investment; Indonesia; productivity |
| JEL: | F23 |
| Date: | 2014–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10077&r=sea |
| By: | Voeten, J. (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management); de Haan, J.A.C. (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management); Roome, N. (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management); de Groot, G.A. (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management) |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiutis:c111d44f-b8ce-4885-837d-71ca7c97a2aa&r=sea |
| By: | Any Wahyuni; Yuzuru Miyata |
| Abstract: | Environmental Economic Efficiency for the Road Construction in Indonesia: An Analytic Hierarchy Process ANY WAHYUNI Graduate School of Environment and Life Science Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology YUZURU MIYATA, Hiroyuki Shibusawa Graduate School of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology In an environmental management, there is some uncertainty over the effects of actions on the environment, and of the impact on humans of subsequent environmental changes. The extent of this uncertainty is considerable. Conflicts often arise when should establish measures to fight the climate change to achieve certain economic goals. Society should take action before such uncertainty is resolved, since the costs of not taking action may well be greater than the costs of preventative or anticipatory action taken now, especially when the absence of action today leads to irreversible undesirable environmental consequences (Taylor, 1991). The methodology proposed enables the construction of a set of efficient policies in terms of economic growth and polluting emissions, at the same time it enlarges the set of policy goals. Maros-Watampone-Indonesia road passes through a critical geometric conservation area where it is a barrier to the development improvement. On the other hand, the Government has a limited budget to choose the best development program; therefore, we made an evaluation of the efficiency of economic resources based on: an analytic hierarchy process for selection of the best construction. Previous studies recommend that three proposed alternative constructions can be used: 1. Elevated Bridge, 2. Cut and Fill, 3. Tunnel system. The Government invited community members to participate in selection the best type of construction that can be applied at their region. By using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), the results showed that the criteria of benefits (0.300) as a major factor in determining the priority of construction and the second is environmental criteria (0.224). In fact; construction cost (0.081) and maintenance criteria (0.054) had no significant effect. An elevated bridge construction is the most suitable construction to be applied (0.528), followed by cut and fill construction (0.248) and the tunnel system (0.223) respectively. The higher contribution of benefit and environmental criteria are indicated that the community preferences cannot be measured with price system. The construction activity consumes fairly large energy and created CO2 emissions simultaneously. By using ?Life Cycle Assessment' (LCA), we estimate of the CO2 emissions indicates that the elevated bridge construction has the lowest (1.31 TonCO2/km) emissions than the tunnel construction (1.79 TonCO2/km). The decision-making process showed that the public started to pay attention for their quality of life, and the environmental effect caused by their development activity. Keywords: Analytic Hierarchy Process, CO2 Emissions, Economic Environmental Efficiency JEL codes: R, R00, R5 |
| JEL: | R R00 R5 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p1085&r=sea |
| By: | Kamaruzdin, Thaqif; Masih, Mansur |
| Abstract: | Islamic Finance as an industry in recent times has been celebrated for its stability and resilience. With the philosophy of risk sharing and strict rules governing its activities to be in line with Islamic Law (the Shariah), the industry is seen as an alternative to the conventional finance with its tainted image of profit maximizing at any cost causing the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 - 2009. Given this claim it would be interesting to investigate the stability of the Islamic Financial Services Institutions (IFSIs) in comparison to the conventional sector. The Malaysian IFSIs were chosen as a case study as the Malaysia‟s Islamic Finance industry developed in the world with strict Shariah screening. As such, the Malaysian IFSIs are investigated to gain insights into their performance in terms of volatility and correlations with the market and then compared to their competitors by employing an M-GARCH t-DCC and also MODWT Wavelet technique to further dissect this volatility into their contributions from the point of view of different time scales. The findings are that IFSIs are much more volatile than their competitors with seemingly independent spikes in volatility unique to themselves but are low in correlation to the market implying that IFSIs volatility may be independent of the market due to assets that require the risk taking in order to justify earnings. IFSIs may need to cooperate in developing risk management standards and practices to mitigate risk that are unique to themselves as well as review the contracts and assets that may expose the IFSIs to too much risk. |
| Keywords: | Islamic Finance, Islamic Financial Services Institutions, Volatility, Risk, Correlation, Diversification, M-GARCH t-DCC and MODWT Wavelet |
| JEL: | C22 C58 E44 G2 |
| Date: | 2014–07–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:60248&r=sea |
| By: | Mohd Shukri, Muhammad Hafiz; Hassan, Mohd Khairul Hisyam |
| Abstract: | Currently, more children fall victim to crime and go to court to give evidence. The key issues include the acceptability of children as witnesses, the weight to be given to their evidence and whether or not there should be special procedures to ease the stress of giving evidence in court. The main objective of this article is to discuss the position of child evidence under civil and Islamic laws in Malaysia. This article will focus on the provisions of laws relating to evidence given by a child witness and the procedures applicable in Malaysia. This study will ascertain whether or not the current laws are adequate to protect the rights of child as witness in trial based on analysis and evaluation to every aspect which is relevant to this topic. The issue of whether or not a child should be allowed to give evidence in court will also be clarified. |
| Keywords: | child evidence; child witness; corroboration; unsworn evidence; Islamic laws |
| JEL: | K4 |
| Date: | 2014–08–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:60173&r=sea |
| By: | Vaishnavi venkatesh (School of Public Policy,George Mason University,3351 N Fairfax Dr, Arlington, VA 22201, United States. phone-+1 703-993-2280); Ranajoy Bhattacharyya (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Kolkata, India) |
| Abstract: | A careful assessment of intra-regional and extra-regional ASEAN trade volumes from 1970 to 2010 reveals that there has been no significant change during the pre- and post-AFTA era. However, researchers working on the effectiveness of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement have consistently reported positive trade creationary effects of AFTA. By reassessing the impact of AFTA through the Balassa method of estimating trade creation and diversion, and applying it to traditional gravity estimates, we find that (a) while ASEAN countries have spent more money per dollar earned on foreign goods in the post-AFTA period, this is generally true for all countries in the world, and (b) being a small region with significant historic trade ties, ASEAN, as a whole has always traded more amongst themselves, when compared to the world average, and this fact has been misrepresented as the trade creationary effects of AFTA. By comparing the coefficients of the regionalism dummies of ASEAN, within the scope of the gravity model, we find that there has been no significant change in these coefficients, when the sample is divided into the pre-and post-AFTA years. We thus conclude that the free trade agreement in question has had no significant impact on intra-ASEAN trade. |
| Keywords: | ASEAN, Free trade agreement, Trade creation, trade diversion, Regional trade. |
| JEL: | F12 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ift:wpaper:1425&r=sea |
| By: | Liang Jiang (Singapore Management University); Peter C.B. Phillips (Yale University, University of Auckland, University of Southampton,Singapore Management University); Jun Yu (Singapore Management University) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a new hedonic method for constructing a real estate price index that utilizes all transaction price information that encompasses both single-sale and repeat-sale properties. The new method is less prone to specification errors than standard hedonic methods and uses all available data. Like the Case-Shiller repeat-sales method, the new method has the advantage of being computationally efficient. In an empirical analysis of the methodology, we fit the model to all transaction prices for private residential property holdings in Singapore between Q1 1995 and Q2 2014, covering several periods of major price fluctuation and changes in government macroprudential policy. Two new indices are created, one from all transaction prices and one from single-sales prices. The indices are compared with the S&P/Case-Shiller index. The result shows that the new indices slightly outperform the S&P/Case-Shiller index in predicting the price of single-sales homes out-of-sample. However, they underperform the S&P/Case-Shiller index in predicting the price of repeat-sales homes out-of-sample. The empirical findings indicate that specification bias can be more substantial than the sample selection bias when constructing a real estate price index. In a further empirical application, the recursive method of Phillips, Shi and Yu (2014) is used to detect explosive periods in real estate prices of Singapore. The results confirm the existence of an explosive period from Q4 2006 to Q1 2008. No explosive period is found after 2009, suggesting that the ten successive rounds of cooling measures implemented by Singapore government have been effective in changing price dynamics and preventing a subsequent outbreak of explosive behavior in Singapore real estate market. |
| Keywords: | Repeat sales, Hedonic models, Prediction, Index, Explosive, Cooling measures |
| JEL: | C58 R31 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:siu:wpaper:19-2014&r=sea |
| By: | Giglio, Stefano W; Maggiori, Matteo; Ströbel, Johannes |
| Abstract: | We provide direct estimates of how agents trade off immediate costs and uncertain future benefits that occur in the very long run, 100 or more years away. We exploit a unique feature of housing markets in the U.K. and Singapore, where residential property ownership takes the form of either leaseholds or freeholds. Leaseholds are temporary, pre-paid, and tradable ownership contracts with maturities between 99 and 999 years, while freeholds are perpetual ownership contracts. The difference between leasehold and freehold prices reflects the present value of perpetual rental income starting at leasehold expiry, and is thus informative about very long-run discount rates. We estimate the price discounts for varying leasehold maturities compared to freeholds and extremely long-run leaseholds via hedonic regressions using proprietary datasets of the universe of transactions in each country. Agents discount very long-run cash flows at low rates, assigning high present values to cash flows hundreds of years in the future. For example, 100-year leaseholds are valued at more than 10% less than otherwise identical freeholds, implying discount rates below 2.6% for 100-year claims. Given the riskiness of rents, this suggests that both long-run risk-free discount rates and long-run risk premia are low. We show how the estimated very long-run discount rates are informative for climate change policy. |
| Keywords: | Asset Pricing; Climate Change; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Environmental Economics; Housing Risk and Return.; Real Estate |
| JEL: | G11 G12 R30 |
| Date: | 2014–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:9978&r=sea |
| By: | Martin, Philip; Abella, Manolo |
| Abstract: | The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is moving towards closer economic integration among its Member States, including the free mobility of professionals and highly skilled workers. The freer flow of goods and capital will place path dependence, which encourages firms that already hire migrant workers to expand, in competition with wage convergence, which will reduce incentives for international labour migration. Most current AEC migrants are low skilled and most new migrants are likely to be low skilled. Governments need to acknowledge this reality and develop policies to liberalize and regularize the cross-border movements of labour. They cause mutual recognition agreements to promote the movement of professionals, and regulate the recruitment and employment of migrant workers, to ensure that migrant and local workers are treated equally. Demographic and economic realities suggest international labour migration within the AEC will increase making the implementation of the 2007 ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers imperative, to ensure that labour migration promotes cooperation rather than conflict between AEC Member States. |
| Keywords: | labour market, labour mobility, migrant worker, workers rights, social security, interindustry shift, trade agreement, economic implication, economic integration, regional cooperation, ASEAN countries, marché du travail, mobilité de la main-d'oeuvre, travailleur migrant, droits des travailleurs, sécurité sociale, mutation interindustrielle, accord commercial, conséquences économiques, intégration économique, coopération régionale, pays de l'ANASE, mercado de trabajo, movilidad de la mano de obra, trabajador migrante, derechos de los trabajadores, seguridad social, desplazamiento industrial, convenio comercial, consecuencias económicas, integración económica, cooperación regional, países del ASEAN |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ilo:ilowps:486521&r=sea |
| By: | Veronika Poreisz; Szabolcs Rámháp |
| Abstract: | Global cities' competitiveness factors among the Asian countries This article identifies the factors of global cities' competitiveness, focusing on Asian countries. First, it describes the importance of global cities in the economy, particularly those competiveness factors, which are originated from spatial concentration, which can be implemented in the development strategy, or considering the negative externalities, which should be avoided or at least handle them to reach sustainability. In the next phase we describe the various methodologies applied for measuring competitiveness. The third part of the study covers the detailed description of the Asian global cities' competitive characteristics. We focus on the globalization, the economics growth and competitiveness; we also mention key factors, like tourism. Considering history cities have always played a determining role in the economy of a country, so do they in nowadays society. The world population in cities keeps on growing, the metropolis areas have become the centers of innovation and development, that is why their analysis is appropriate. Regional economics has been dealing with the question of cities for a long time, which has become an emphasized research field. The focus is on the spatial concentration, their integrated economy, the capital and the information. In our century a determining part of the population is townsman, where the service sector is dominant. The concentration of consumer - and labor market can be experienced in megacities: the local extern effects generate economic advantages, while the transportation costs shrink. The competition between cities has become fierce: the biggest cities try to attract transnational companies and FDI. A complex analysis of the cities' competitiveness contributes to the establishment of economic, social and environmental sustainability. As there is a pattern of global cities the network of cities has divided into two parts: the global cities spatial relations are integrated into the world economy and loose contact with the local and traditional smaller cities in their region. The smaller cities tend to be smaller, they are out of the economic circulation, and they are endangered by depletion. This road leads to social and economic inequality, the differences between the cities in and out of the global network grows dramatically. The goal of our study is to describe the various methodologies applied for measuring competitiveness, and to bring awareness to the challenges of the near-future caused by the developing, emerging Asian cities. Key words: competitveness, Asian global cities, urban externalities JEL codes: R11, Q19, Q56 |
| Keywords: | competitveness; Asian global cities; urban externalities; |
| JEL: | R11 Q19 Q56 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p231&r=sea |
| By: | Roberto Alvarez (University of Chile); Jose De Gregorio (Peterson Institute for International Economics) |
| Abstract: | Latin American performance during the global financial crisis was unprecedented. Many developing and emerging countries successfully weathered the worst crisis since the Great Depression. Was it good luck? Was it good policies? In this paper we compare growth during the Asian and global financial crises and find that a looser monetary policy played an important role in mitigating crisis. We also find that higher private credit, more financial openness, less trade openness, and greater exchange rate intervention worsened economic performance. Our analysis of Latin American countries confirms that effective macroeconomic management was key to good economic performance. Finally, we present evidence from a sample of 31 emerging markets that high terms of trade had a positive impact on resilience. |
| Keywords: | Latin America, Emerging Markets, Developing Countries, Global Financial Crisis, Macroeconomic Policies |
| JEL: | E58 E63 F3 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iie:wpaper:wp14-11&r=sea |
| By: | Menon, Jayant (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | The rise of mega-regionals such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) suggests that the world trade system is fragmenting to the point it appears more like a jigsaw puzzle than a spaghetti bowl. There are both regional and global jigsaw puzzles to be solved—in that order—to clean up the world trade system. But is this even likely? The difficulties of free trade agreement (FTA) consolidation at the regional level are well known, while piecing together the blocs around the world to form a coherent whole is even more challenging. In this context, a way forward is to return to the most widely used modality of trade liberalization—unilateral actions—but this time involving the multilateralization of preferences rather than unreciprocated reductions in tariff rates. As more and more FTAs are negotiated, reference erosion sets in, reducing the resistance of FTA partners to multilateralization. Multilateralization of references may then present a practical way forward in addressing the disarray in the world trade system. |
| Keywords: | multilateralization of preferences; mega-regionals; FTA; TPP; RCEP; reciprocity |
| JEL: | F13 F14 F17 |
| Date: | 2014–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbrei:0140&r=sea |
| By: | Peter Arbo; Thuy Pham Thi Thanh |
| Abstract: | The missing link in marine ecosystem-based management Peter Arbo, University of Tromsø ? The Arctic University of Norway Phạm Thị Thanh Thủy, University of Nha Trang The Arctic region is receiving growing attention. There is increasing interest in exploiting the natural resources and the new sea routes that open as the sea ice is retreating and new technology and infrastructure make the Arctic Ocean more accessible. However, the environmental impacts of a melting Arctic and the consequences of increasing human activity also arouse serious concern. From many quarters, the need for a sustainable ecosystem-based management of the Arctic Ocean is therefore stressed. This paper takes a closer look at the shortcomings of the ecosystem approach. Environmental governance of the Arctic Ocean is not only facing the challenges of creating a common framework across highly different coastal states. The ecosystem approach itself has limitations that need to be addressed. Our contention is that so far the main focus has been on the natural ecosystems while the regulation of industrial activities, which is a prerequisite for balancing ocean uses with the maintenance of ecosystem integrity, has largely been ignored. The paper thus starts with a discussion of what we have called the missing link in ecosystem-based management. We point out that the attempts to establish this new governance framework primarily have been about identifying valuable and vulnerable habitats and species, assessing the cumulative impacts of human activity, and setting up monitoring systems for measuring the health of the ecosystems. The more complicated issues of how to regulate and coordinate expanding industrial activities have received more scant attention. After this, we analyze some of the challenges associated with including the patterns of human activity, regulating industries, and dealing with user conflicts. This is done by a comparative study of the relationship between the offshore oil and gas industry and the seafood industry in Norway and Vietnam. In the case study, we highlight, among other things, the importance of power asymmetries, transparency, differences in the level of development, and mechanisms for institutional coordination. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons to be learned for integrated marine governance. Keywords: Ecosystem-based management - the Arctic Ocean - regulation of industrial activity ? oil versus fisheries. JEL codes: Z13, Z18. |
| Keywords: | Ecosystem-based management; the Arctic Ocean; regulation of industrial acitivity; oil versus fisheries. |
| JEL: | Z13 Z18 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p248&r=sea |
| By: | Liangjun Su (School of Economics, Singapore Management University); Zhentao Shi (Chinese University Hong Kong); Peter C.B. Phillips (Cowles Foundation, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a novel mechanism for identifying and estimating latent group structures in panel data using penalized regression techniques. We focus on linear models where the slope parameters are heterogeneous across groups but homogenous within a group and the group membership is unknown. Two approaches are considered -- penalized least squares (PLS) for models without endogenous regressors, and penalized GMM (PGMM) for models with endogeneity. In both cases we develop a new variant of Lasso called classifier-Lasso (C-Lasso) that serves to shrink individual coefficients to the unknown group-specific coefficients. C-Lasso achieves simultaneous classification and consistent estimation in a single step and the classification exhibits the desirable property of uniform consistency. For PLS estimation C-Lasso also achieves the oracle property so that group-specific parameter estimators are asymptotically equivalent to infeasible estimators that use individual group identity information. For PGMM estimation the oracle property of C-Lasso is preserved in some special cases. Simulations demonstrate good finite-sample performance of the approach both in classification and estimation. An empirical application investigating the determinants of cross-country savings rates finds two latent groups among 56 countries, providing empirical confirmation that higher savings rates go in hand with higher income growth. |
| Keywords: | Classification, Cluster analysis, Convergence club, Dynamic panel, Group Lasso, High dimensionality, Oracle property, Panel structure model, Parameter heterogeneity, Penalized least squares, Penalized GMM |
| JEL: | C33 C36 C38 C51 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1965&r=sea |
| By: | Sandro Turina; Giuseppe Confessore; Maurizio Turina |
| Abstract: | In more than 130 years, the cooperative banks and rural banks, have become a best practice, widespread in all the Italian regions so as to become, through Federcasse, a federal system included among the 130 European banks, referents ECB. A model that today has about 400 local banks and that, discounting the guiding principles, interprets the function as a development bank for the area, responding to the economic and social needs of individual communities. Objective of a BCC-CR is, in fact, promote development from the bottom, making the protagonists subjects of the local economy through a process that is defined of circular subsidiarity because element of synthesis between the vertical subsidiarity (integration of the different levels expressed by territory) and horizontal subsidiarity (integration of factors of the local development). In order to analyze and deepen the best practice of the BCC -CR model is, therefore, interesting assess the sustainability of local finance through a relation of functionality that interconnects the level of performance expressed by some important national areas with the intensity of mission of the financial model. The research team has already developed a unique indicator of territorial performance, presented in the session ERSA, 2011 (Spain) and an indicator of intensity of the mission of the BCC -CR model presented in the Workshop RSAI 2012 (China) and in the annual conference PRSCO 2013 (Indonesia). This dimension of the subsidiarity has allowed the research team of assess the relative effectiveness of the model through the measurement of the level of integration between the horizontal subsidiarity and the vertical one by means the structuring of a function of two variables, that, represented by a spherical model in three-dimensional environment (the circular subsidiarity is expressed by level lines to shape of circumferences in two-dimensional level), expresses the intensity of the integration as a factor in the sustainability of local finance. Territorial cohesion and consistency with the orientations set by the different levels of governance is, in fact, a factor of local development able express the potentialities of the territory, the level of competitiveness and the ability to give concrete answers to the current critical issues. The study shows that there is room for improvement among the descriptors that express the intensity of the mission model BCC-CR (horizontal subsidiarity) and those that express the performance of the territory (vertical subsidiarity): on these areas should focus the attention of policy makers and the company management to improve the synchronization between demand of investment and the supply of savings in the territory. |
| Keywords: | Financial Institution; Financial Market; Financial Service. |
| JEL: | G21 G29 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p1386&r=sea |
| By: | Touria Abdelkader B. Conde; Fernando Barreiro-Pereira |
| Abstract: | The main aim of this paper is to observe the environmental behaviour in some cities of the word, by analyzing for each city the trends of several energy and emissions indicators that appear as explanatory variables in both energy and labour average productivity equations. At the same time we also consider the life expectancy at birth as an endogenous variable which be partially explained by these indicators to for observing the carbon dioxide (CO2) effects on the population health. To quantify how affect changes in carbon dioxide emissions, energy production and consumption on the some countries life expectancy, climate change, and labour and energy productivities, we used panel data techniques across some metropolitan areas with IEA annual data. Following the results concerning to the proposed indicators, the energy consumption per inhabitant and CO2 emissions by Km2 are highest around the oil producer countries like Qatar, Emirates and Kuwait, and among the High-Tech user countries like China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. The more high energy productivity is in Japan, Singapore and Turkey. Only carbon dioxide emissions are addressed in this paper, but it does not address other emmissions such as NOx or SOx. In other hand, we assume by simplicity perfect competition in the good markets to can calculate an energy price indicator for the renewable and non-renewable energies in each city. The paper relates issues to central questions of international politics and theoretical debates concerning to the levels of consumption per head, carbon dioxide emissions/surface and the role of the renewable energies on the climate change and the wellbeing of the consumers. We classify the cities in Oil producers, Coal producers, High-Tech users, and Poor cities. Assumming perfect rationality in the energy producers, we can calculate the costs for change the use of fossil energies by renewable energies. |
| Keywords: | Emissions; Renewable Energy; Cities; Economic Conflicts; Political Conflicts. Class: |
| JEL: | Q01 Q42 Q47 Q53 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwrsa:ersa14p1630&r=sea |
| By: | James B. ANG (Division of Economics, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological Univer- sity. Address: 14 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637332.) |
| Abstract: | This paper tests Jared Diamond’s influential theory that an earlier transition from a hunter-gatherer society to agricultural production induces higher levels of technology adoption. Using a proxy for the geographic diffusion barriers of Neolithic technology and an index of biogeographic endowments to isolate the exogenous component of the timing of agricultural transition, the findings indicate that countries that experienced earlier transitions to agriculture were subsequently more capable of adopting new technologies in 1000 BC, 1 AD and 1500 AD. These results lend strong support to Diamond’s hypothesis. |
| Keywords: | technology adoption; agricultural transition; early economic development |
| JEL: | O30 O40 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nan:wpaper:1412&r=sea |