Economies, Volume 10, Issue 10 (October 2022) – 31 articles

The issue of valuable government policy interventions has not been fully addressed. Therefore, this paper analyzes the impact of government capital expenditure on production efficiency in the G7 countries. Two models are estimated with different dependent variables: the Human Development Index (HDI) as a dependent variable to capture the socio-economic impact and the gross domestic product (GDP) as a dependent variable to capture the physical impact. The paper uses a set of panel data for the G7 countries spanning the years 2000–2018, which were obtained from the World Development Indicators (WDI) database. The paper applies stochastic production frontier analysis (SFA) to estimate each country’s yearly efficiency and to estimate the impact of government expenditure on the overall technical inefficiency for both models. The results demonstrate that increasing government expenditure boosts the inefficiency in the G7 countries in the HDI model, but it depresses inefficiency in the GDP model. This may suggest that government capital expenditure in the G7 countries was directed toward increasing physical output—not toward socio-economic outputs such as health and educational output—during the study period. Furthermore, the results show that the estimated average technical efficiency over the study period was 93.4% for the HDI model and 81.2% for the GDP model. Finally, the results show that the G7 countries’ objectives were not similar in this area, with some countries using socioeconomic-oriented policies and others using physical-capital-oriented policies. Full article

Palm oil is one of the most traded vegetable oils in the global market due to its versatile usage and having a lower price than competitor products. Trade is related to logistics performance as it connects the exporter and importer countries; thus, improving the indicators of logistics also improves the performance of trade, especially in agricultural export. Currently, no study has revealed the effect of logistics performance on palm oil export by considering all the indicators. This study investigates the impact of all the indicators of the logistics performance index on palm oil and palm-based products. Using a panel data regression approach, the extended gravity model is applied in this study to examine Indonesia and Malaysia as the leading exporters of palm oil and palm-based products. The results reveal that all the Logistics Performance Index indicators affect palm oil and palm-based products export in Indonesia and Malaysia. The critical indicators of the Logistics Performance Index in Indonesia are timeliness and tracking and tracing. However, competence and quality of trade infrastructure are the main indicators of Malaysia’s palm oil and palm-based products. The future direction of this research is to explore other agricultural commodities and extend the period of the analysis. Full article

Okun’s law is formulated as the ratio between GDP and unemployment (UE): β = f(GDP/UE). It is used to investigate the relations between output and labor input across regions or across business cycles. Based on results by James D. Hamilton we replaced the United States UE with employment (EM) for the years 1977 to 2021 and examined how employment changed relative to output during recessions and recoveries. We found that (i) EM was leading GDP before and lagging GDP after all recessions, except the 2020 recession. (ii) The β_E(9) = GDP/EM for rolling ordinary linear regression over 9 months decreases just after a recession and then recovers over 2- to 4-year periods. (iii) The two series showing that EM → GDP and β_E(9) < 0.5 coincided in the 34 months that partly preceded and partly followed five of six NBER recession dates, providing a probability of ≈0.0002 to coincide with the recessions by chance. Thus, the two series may be used to support forecasts of coming recessions. Since EM precedes GDP and labor productivity declines before recessions, a policy recommendation for avoiding “jobless recovery” is that employment should not increase more rapidly than the real economy. Full article

This study explores the challenges facing the current e-payment systems and investigates the main factors that support using the e-payment system. This study used a cross-sectional approach. An online survey was conducted on Yemeni consumers as part of the collection of data. The data from 486 questionnaires were analyzed using smartPLS4 and Jamovi software for structural model analysis and statistical analysis. According to the PLS-SEM results, the structural model shows that R² is 0.757, which explains the variances in behavioral intention via all the constructs. Statistically, the intention to use e-payment systems is significantly and positively influenced by performance and effort expectancies and social influence. In contrast, facilitation conditions are significantly and negatively correlated with behavioral intention. This is attributed to consumers’ view of the infrastructure of Internet services, which does not contribute to the behavioral intention and acceptance of using electronic payment in Yemen. Contrary to expectations, age does not moderate the relationship between performance expectancy, social influence, and intention to use e-payment systems; hence, the related hypothesis was not supported. This study provides valuable suggestions for policymakers, designers, developers, and researchers, enabling them to better understand the critical aspects of using the electronic payment system. This study developed a model for predicting the likelihood of acceptance of electronic payments in a country that has not given adequate attention to this issue. An application and evaluation of the UTAUT model in Yemen are presented in this study. Full article

The aim of this paper is to analyze the participation in the global textile and apparel value chain with special attention, first, to the case of three dynamic and interrelated economies (Mexico, the United States, and China); and second, to a general approach to a larger sample of countries through the analysis of trade in value added. From the descriptive analysis, a high domestic share in each country’s exports is found. However, China is the leading exporter in the industry, accounting for around a third of the domestic value added in the global textile final demand. An econometric estimation has also been carried out to observe the effects of tariffs, FDI, and labor costs on the total and backward participation in the textile GVC. In this case, the sample has been extended to 39 developed and 22 developing countries. The results reveal tariff protection as a determinant of the degree of participation of the sector, especially when backward participation and developing economies are considered. However, FDI and labor costs only show the expected results in the case of developing countries. This may be due to the different tasks performed by developing economies (primarily manufacturing) versus developed economies (branding, design) within the sector’s value chain. Full article

In a Ramsey policy regime, heterogeneity in beliefs about the potential costs of climate change is shown to produce policy ambiguities that alter carbon prices and taxation. Three sources of ambiguity are considered: (i) the private sector is skeptical, with beliefs that are unknown to the government, (ii) private agents have pessimistic doubts about the model, or (iii) the policy authority itself does not trust the extant scientific climate model and fears the worst. These three sources of ambiguity give rise to four potential belief regimes characterized by differentials between the government’s and the private sector’s inter-temporal rates of substitutions, with implications for the prices of carbon and capital, framed in terms of distorted Arrow–Debreu pricing theory that establishes an equivalence between the optimal carbon tax and the permit price of an underlying asset—the government-imposed limit on emissions in economies with cap and trade. This paper shows that in most instances, skeptical beliefs and resulting ambiguities justify higher carbon taxes and lower capital taxes to offset the private sector’s increased myopia compared with rational expectations. Conversely, ambiguities created by worst-case fears in either the private sector or in government tend produce forces in the opposite direction. Full article

Family businesses form an inseparable part of each national economy. Therefore, it is necessary to pay significant attention to the aspects that will affect their growth and sustainability in the future. The main aim of this paper is to verify the implementation of key aspects within the entrepreneurial practice of family businesses that considerably affect their growth. Those aspects were identified while processing theoretical input data. On the basis of such knowledge, the research assumptions were determined, and their validity was subsequently verified through the Mann–Whitney U test, the non-parametric Kruskal–Wallis test and the χ² test of independence. Afterwards, we were able to say that key determinants, such as a formal organisational structure, finance, a constituted family council and a proper code of ethics, have a considerable effect on the growth of family businesses in Slovakia. However, proper legislation that would be a fundamental pillar that family businesses may lean on in any of their operations and activities still needs to be enacted and put into practice. Full article

University-industry cooperation is associated with the transfer of knowledge and technology. This collaboration is an extremely important field of study for the world’s economies, helping companies to become more competitive. The present research aims to explore and analyze the literature related to university-industry cooperation, using a bibliometric analysis as a methodology. This study intends to use an unlike approach to conduct the literature review and map the most relevant research studies, using a rigorous research protocol based on scientific documents published in the Web of Science database, using the keyword “University-Industry Cooperation”. The 256 articles collected are situated in a time base between 1970 and 2020 and were submitted to content analysis in R Bibliometrix. This systematic literature review revealed that companies are increasingly focusing on cooperation with universities. The research of these publications points to a growing trend in publications of articles with the topic “University-Industry Cooperation”. From the bibliometric analysis of the global research results, we highlight the most cited authors and the authors’ publications over time, and we also highlight the main research topics and countries where studies were conducted. On the other hand, we also highlight the collaboration network between institutions, authors, and countries over time. The University-Industry cooperation is explored here as an added value for advancing scientific knowledge on the relationship between these two important stakeholders, opening the way for future research in this area. With this article, we hope to contribute to the evolution of scientific knowledge in this area, providing future researchers with a detailed radiography overview of the literature related to University-Industry cooperation, contributing to filling an existing gap related to the scarcity of SLR studies that focus on this scientific theme. Full article

The short- and long-term effects of public debt on economic growth in EU countries is analyzed in this paper, using data that covers a period of 25 years (1995–2019). For public debt, we used a proxy general government gross debt (as a percentage of GDP), while for economic growth, we used the real GDP per capita growth rate. In addition, our models include a set of control variables to highlight the impact of other determinants on economic growth. We utilized several econometric methodologies related to ARDL (autoregressive distributed lag models), such as the pooled mean group (PMG), the mean group (MG), and the dynamic fixed effects (DFE) models. The results of the study show that in both the short and long term, an increase in public debt is negatively and significantly associated with economic growth. Specifically, in both the short- and long-term analyses, the estimated coefficients of public debt were statistically significant and negative, while the magnitude of the negative impact on economic growth differed. In view of these findings, we consider both the rigorous monitoring of the level of public debt and the control of public allocation to support economic growth to be of major importance. Full article

Policymakers concur that social investments are crucial, and that inequality must be decreased to accomplish long-term poverty reduction. Nigeria, one of the 20 poorest countries in the world, has a severely unequal society at the moment, with over 80% of the people living in deep, severe, and pervasive poverty, with an estimated 5% of the population possessing 85% of the country’s resources. This article’s focus is on how benefits are dispersed among various demographic groups. Previous data collection does not reflect the present realities of this topic. For this analysis, in southeast Nigeria, data sets from government agencies and for-profit service providers were utilized. The benefits of distinct quintiles were estimated using a marginal benefit incidence analysis. The results show that governmental spending in Nigeria is not pro-poor and that the country’s southeast governments supported spending for the wealthy rather than the poor. The results show, among other things, that investment in health is not well directed; benefits from primary education and primary healthcare appear to be disproportionately dispersed to the upper class in the states studied, as they are throughout Nigeria. The paper serves as an example of the value of benefit incidence analysis (BIA). This article recommends effective targeted discretionary spending to lower systemic poverty and inequality. If education and health spending were more pro-poor, better education and health outcomes, strong governance, high per capita income, and wider access to information would all be more likely. Full article

Despite the wealth of micro–macro data on short-term demographic dynamics, the impact of metropolitan growth and economic downturns on local fertility is still under-investigated in advanced economies. Recent studies in low-fertility contexts have assumed suburban birth rates as being systematically higher than urban and rural rates. This assumption (hereafter, known as the ‘suburban fertility hypothesis’) was grounded on stylized facts and spatial regularities that imply a significant role of both macro (contextual) and micro (behavioral) factors positively influencing fertility in suburban locations. To verify such a hypothesis from a macro (contextual) perspective, the present study compares the general fertility rate of urban, suburban, and rural settlements of the Athens’ metropolitan region (Greece) at various observation years between 1860 and 2020. Long-term Athens’ growth represented a sort of ‘quasi-experiment’ for Mediterranean Europe, linking sequential urban stages and distinctive waves of economic expansion and recession. Using multivariate exploratory analysis and global/local econometric models, a dominant ‘rural’ fertility regime was recorded for 1860 and 1884. A characteristic ‘urban’ fertility regime was, instead, found over a relatively long, intermediate period between 1956 and 1990. Higher fertility in suburban settlements (10 km away from downtown Athens, on average) was, finally, observed since 2000. Considering a sufficiently long-time interval, the existence of multiple fertility regimes along the distance gradient has demonstrated how fertility dynamics are intrinsically bonded with metropolitan growth, economic downturns, and social transformations in Mediterranean Europe. Full article

This study examines the investment efficiency of firms engaging in tax avoidance in Indonesia. We test 2064 firm-year observations of Indonesian listed firms from 2010–2019 and document a positive relationship between tax avoidance and investment efficiency. This study also considers a unique setting of Indonesia as one of the few developing countries that implement tax amnesty. Thus, we test the variables in the period of prime tax amnesty implementation in Indonesia. We document significant results only in the firms that did not participate in tax amnesty during the implementation period. Nevertheless, the results are consistent in several alternative measurements and robust to the Propensity Score Matching regression to handle potential endogeneity. In addition, we discover that the investment efficiency of tax avoidance is salient in both firms prone to underinvestment and overinvestment. These findings extend the literature on tax avoidance and corporate investment. Based on the results, tax authorities should be stricter in handling tax avoidance practices because this practice has a cost-benefit trade-off that allows firms to obtain benefits at the expense of the state’s income if not managed properly. Full article

This paper uses firm-level data from the Flash Eurobarometer 421 survey conducted in June 2015 in 34 European countries to investigate the link between having a website and international firm activities in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We find that firms that are present on the web more often export, import, engage in research and development cooperation with international partners, work as subcontractors for firms from other countries, use firms in other countries as subcontractors, and perform foreign direct investments—both inside and outside the European Union. The estimated website premia are statistically highly significant after controlling for firm size, country, and sector of economic activity. Furthermore, the size of these premia can be considered to be large. Internationally active firms tend to have a website. Full article

This paper presents the bibliometrics of a Keynesian and neoclassical discussion about the multiplier–accelerator effect. Having its oldest roots in the 1930s, there was a special emphasis in the 1960s and 1970s on discussions regarding the dependence of current investment on economic growth (the accelerator effect). Through a bibliometric analysis, we also consider the Hicks–Samuelson contribution, also known as the multiplier–accelerator model. We identified, among other things, the most relevant authors on the topics, the economic areas that have been contributed to the most through keyword analysis, and the most notable contributions through citation analysis. We concluded that several areas in economics have taken advantage of the discussion around the multiplier–accelerator effect, especially the discussion on the business cycle, structural dynamics, and public finance. Full article

This article studies how electoral processes and internal factors of the Ecuadorian economy affect the dynamics of the country’s business expectations. The hypothesis that the free market and socialist political models in an economy generate different reactions in the expectations of the agents, according to the prevailing macroeconomic context, is tested. The empirical analysis is based on time series tools on quarterly data between 2006 and 2021. The results show that the dynamics of investment adjustment to the relationships of internal factors, electoral processes, and other variables explain 84% of this behavior. This is more accelerated in political contexts that promote the free market and maintain social, political, and economic stability, showing an overreaction of agents to negative economic news following the loss-aversion hypothesis. Full article

Despite evidence on the social and economic importance of financial inclusion (FI), the relationship between FI and bank profitability remains unclear. In this research, we evaluated the association between financial inclusion and the performance of banks in Palestine using dynamic panel analysis applied to a sample of 11 banks, with two econometric models representing profitability indicators over a nine-year period (2012–2020). In addition to linear regression models, the generalized method of moments estimator was utilized. The results showed that access to financial services (e.g., the number of automated teller machines (ATMs) and the number of bank branches), service delivery (including the average costs to maintain a current account), and the quality of the products improve banks’ profitability. However, point-of-sale terminals have no impact on profitability. Additionally, financial service utilization reflected in bank account number sand credit to small and medium-sized enterprises do not affect bank profitability, and among bank-specific variables, the nonperforming loan ratios, the cost-to-income ratios, and liquidity were found to be the main drivers of profitability. Policymakers in Palestine must prioritize FI by adopting rules that encourage lending to practices of financial institutions. Full article

The current article summarizes the main properties of stablecoins and explores their potential use in digital platforms to solve problems of supporting foreign trade and investment processes in countries subjected to restrictions on a wide range of its interactions with foreign countries, companies and international markets. Empirical results show that gold-backed stablecoins, being effective at hedging assets in certain situations, provide countries with the opportunity to distance themselves from traditional financial institutions and reserve currencies in the context of external operations. Digital trading and investment platforms created on its basis do not exclude the risks inherent to the instrument. Moreover, they are exacerbated by continuing and increasing sanctions pressure on the economy integrated with such platforms. However, at the same time, these assets remain one of the most effective ways to support foreign trade and investment processes in these countries. The thesis is proven using an informalized method based on expert evaluations regarding the possibility of digital platforms overcoming trade and investment sanctions, the effects of which on the Russian economy cannot yet be accurately predicted. The study proposes two scenarios for the development of these platforms, potentially expanding the boundaries of foreign trade and investment interaction of the country subjected to sanctions with international markets. Full article

This paper systematizes the theoretical foundation and empirical evidence of the impact of leadership behavior on entrepreneurship in state-owned enterprises, and the difference between state-owned enterprises that applied management based on the accountability of leaders, and those that did not. The paper uses the OLS regression model to identify the impact of leadership behavior on the entrepreneurship of state-owned enterprises by using data from a survey of 259 civil servants in Vietnamese state-owned enterprises. In our sample, 109 respondents belonged to the category of state-owned enterprises that did not apply management based on accountability, and 140 were state-owned enterprises that applied management based on accountability. The findings show that leadership behavior has a positive impact on the entrepreneurship of state-owned enterprises that do and do not apply management based on accountability, with results of 0.305 and 0.022, respectively. Moreover, the regression model is used to identify the factors that influence leadership behavior, including vision and wage policy having a statistical significance and positive impact on the leadership behaviors in all the state-owned enterprises. Additionally, some factors, including policy building, hi-tech usage, culture, teamwork, and training policy have positive impacts on leadership behavior in Model 1, and encouragement, monitoring, responsibility, and recruitment policy had positive impacts in Model 2 among the state enterprises. Additionally, this paper recommends some policies to promote leadership behavior in state enterprises in Vietnam. Full article

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected economic development in countries around the world. It has deepened existing problems and increased the need for economic transformation, modernisation, and qualitative development, and launched new technological reforms that have led to the emergence of new economic forms of business models, consumption, as well as policies at the level of the state or local governments. The impacts of the pandemic are still visible in many aspects of life, including economic activity and the individual decisions of economic subjects at the level of households, enterprises, and governments. In this article, we present the results of the impact analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic with an emphasis mainly on the SMEs segment focusing on the tourist, hotel, and gastro industry (generally as one of the most affected by the pandemic). We also analyse the impact of the pandemic on the automotive industry because it is the most important manufacturing industry in Slovakia. Regardless of which industries of the national economy they are operating in, SMEs are assumed to be a driving force of structural changes, increasing employment, and economic growth. SMEs in Slovakia represent approx. 99% of all active enterprises and significantly participate in the success of the national economy. They are also an important factor in cooperation with large enterprises; in the case of Slovakia, the automotive industry should be highlighted (it is an important part of the secondary sector). The analysis and evaluation of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are carried out as a temporal and comparative analysis of the selected economic and industrial indicators relevant to the assessment of the impact of the pandemic on the Slovak business environment. It is an overview study of development; the impact of the pandemic is expressed mostly through the ratio indicators. The basis for time analysis and comparison is data representing the economic status quo before the pandemic (2019), and the ordinary period is represented by data distinctive of the pandemic period (2020, 2021). The results of the analysis indicate that the pandemic had a strong impact on employment and the sales of enterprises operating in the accommodation and catering industries; on the other hand, it did not reflect in the number of defunct enterprises, which points to the potential effectiveness of anti-pandemic measures in terms of state aid for the business sector. The results of this study may serve as a basis for the evaluation of introduced support programs (the evaluation of optimal combination and the impact of fiscal policies during a national/global economic crisis between assisting households, companies, state, and local governments) immediately mitigating the consequences of anti-pandemic measures, but also programs to eliminate the long-term consequences of the pandemic in the business environment in Slovakia. Assessing the situation is also a prerequisite for evaluating the impact of current crises (problems such as the global failure of logistics chains due to the pandemic, inflation, the environmental and energy crisis, and migration due to war conflict and applied sanction measures). In general, it is possible to claim that the pandemic was a huge burden for Slovakia; on the other hand, it was a lesson learned. Full article

This study proposes a subjective poverty line for each household to quantify the vulnerability to poverty in urban and rural households by considering residents’ expectations and their propensity to compare their perceived welfare level with those of other community members. The findings show that the overall vulnerability incidence in urban households is lower than in rural households. The regional differential in terms of vulnerability to poverty continues to exist, but the western province in both urban and rural households has not shown a significantly higher vulnerability rate than in other regions. Educational qualification is a determinant of the vulnerability of rural residents, whereas it does not have remarkable positive effects on urban households. Meanwhile, the impacts of welfare systems upon both urban and rural households are larger than expected, while the coverage of them is incomplete and calls for government to implement more social reforms in order to mitigate the risk and buffer the vulnerability, and to adopt a more equalising approach (instead of unrestrained growth). Full article

This study investigates the effects of ESG factors on stock return volatility from 2012 to 2020 using linear regression, GLE algorithm, and neural network models. This paper used the ESG factors and main control variables (ROA, EPS, and year) as independent variables. The regression model results showed that both year and E scores significantly positively affected Saudi banks’ stock return volatility. However, the S score and ROA significantly negatively impacted the volatility. The results indicated that the prediction models were more efficient in analysing the volatility and building an accurate prediction model using all independent variables. The results of the GLE algorithm model showed that the level of importance of the variables was sorted from highest to least significant as follows: S score, ROA, E score, and then G score. While the result of the neural network was sorted as ROA, ROE, and EPS, then the E score, S score, and G score factors all had the same minor importance in predicting the stock return volatility. Linear regression and prediction models indicated that the S score was the most crucial variable in predicting stock return volatility. Both policymakers and investors can benefit from our findings. Full article

The objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between public expenditure for education and human capital on economic growth in Honduras from 1990 to 2020, using the instrumental variables (IV) method, which incorporates the components of public spending on education and human capital, in addition to a set of control variables. The time series were extracted from the World Bank online databases. The results show that there is no correlation between public expenditure for education and economic growth; they also suggest that human capital is not contributing to economic growth, confirming that human capital accumulation is not fully developing. Finally, of the set of control variables considered key by the literature and on which social and economic development depends to a large extent, these would be preventing sustained economic growth, so the government and the population have enormous challenges to overcome. Full article

Low productivity and farmer business competitiveness are central issues for agricultural development and rural poverty alleviation. This study aimed to determine the influence of agricultural development on rural poverty alleviation. Data were obtained from farmers’ groups in the North Buton Regency in 2019 using questionnaires and analyzed using AMOS. The results showed that agricultural development improves farm business performance and influences rural poverty alleviation. Farm business performance leads to rural poverty alleviation. The influence of agricultural development on rural poverty alleviation was magnified when supported by improved farm enterprise performance. Therefore, agricultural development is the flagship program for poverty alleviation of rural farmers in the North Buton Regency. Full article

Most, if not all, of the studies in the existing literature that have examined the impacts of monetary policy implications on macroeconomic aggregates suffered from misleading impulse responses. To overcome the limitations in the existing literature and to fill the gap in the literature, this study applies the new Keynesian model by imposing the sign and parametric restrictions to investigate the effects of policy shocks on the economic aggregates for Russia by implementing SVARs, yielding a better understanding of the impacts of monetary policy shocks on the Russian economy and proving superior to other existing methods. Our approach avoids impulse response anomalies such as the price puzzle and eludes implausible overshooting responses to the subjected innovations by using prior information. Our findings indicate that although monetary policy shocks create a significant decrease in inflation in the short run within both median target responses and median responses, they have a tolerable negative effect on the output gap. On the other hand, demand shocks do not generate a significant rise in output but create inflation, while cost–push shocks generate significantly detrimental results in both inflation and output. The results draw a further step towards validating the new Keynesian theory in the Russian case by revealing the short-run nonneutrality of monetary policy intervention. Our findings also showed that the cost–push shocks have significant damaging effects on both inflation and output and that interest rates strongly respond to both cost–push and demand shocks. Our findings successfully solve the price puzzle problem, justify the new Keynesian theory that holds that monetary policy shocks only have a short-run effect, and imply that Volcker–Greenspan’s rule could be a useful guide for policy makers to solve the problem efficiently. In addition, our findings can be used to make important policy recommendations for policy makers as discussed in the conclusion section. Full article

In this article, we study corporate behavior and develop a model for trends and factors in Japanese Multinational Corporations (MNCs) in the electrical and electronic industry that have played an important role in the economic development of East and Southeast Asia. We focus on Thailand, where Japanese MNCs are still increasing, and examine the practical applicability of the model. Basically, the model will be developed based on the existing flying geese model and regional agglomeration, but it will also be developed to explain new events such as progress in the division of labor by fragmentation and intra-regional agglomeration in East and Southeast Asia. Japanese MNCs in the electrical and electronic industry have shifted their production bases to developing countries one after another, as a variant of the third type of flying geese model. While the network of the international division of labor is forming with the development of fragmentation, the area around the eastern seaboard from Bangkok is playing an increasingly important role in the network of Japanese companies. In that sense, this study contributes to the body of literature on flying geese models with a modified model embodied with dynamic and systematic features of the ASEAN integrated economies. Full article

This paper investigates the impact of soybean and crude oil futures on palm oil indexes by utilising monthly data from three palm oil indexes listed in Bursa Malaysia, i.e., the Asian palm index, Malaysian palm index, and Plantation index, spanning from January 2010 to June 2020. The impacts were analysed using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds test approach and causality test. The statistical findings revealed that the Asian palm index has a long-run relationship with crude oil futures and crude palm oil, and a short-run relationship with soybean futures, crude oil futures, and crude palm oil. On the other hand, the Malaysian palm index has a short-run relationship with soybean futures and crude palm oil, whereas the Plantation index has a short-run relationship with crude oil futures, crude palm oil, and exchange rate. For the long-run strategy, this study recommends close monitoring of crude oil futures. Meanwhile, the short-run strategy requires close monitoring of the crude oil and soybean futures. Eventually, the empirical findings proposed that interested parties such as fund managers, investors, and traders should pay attention to crude oil and soybean futures to mitigate risk and diversify their portfolios with greater emphasis on crude oil futures. Full article

This study re-examined the effect of official development assistance (ODA) of five major donor countries (France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States) on foreign direct investment (FDI) using panel data from 2003 to 2020. In addition to the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) with the gravity model, the Granger causality test and impulse response analysis with the panel VAR model was conducted. It was concluded that ODA did not necessarily have an effect on FDI since the 2000s. It is also suggested that the vanguard effect of Japanese ODA, as indicated by some previous studies, appeared mainly in the 1990s and may not be sustainable. The novelty of this study is to verify the effects of the ODA of major donors on FDI using new data from the 2000s onward, especially to reveal that the vanguard effect of Japanese ODA has not been observed since the 2000s. A limitation of this study is to determine only the presence or absence of a general trend at a statistically significant level. Therefore, further research on individual cases is expected to find how ODA has affected the investment decisions of individual companies. Full article

Upper-middle-income economies (UMIE) are experiencing an economic slowdown, partly due to weak regulatory performance. This issue leads to slow growth in private sector participation, thus limiting the ability to achieve higher economic growth. At this critical point, the government’s role is to inject funds into economies, hoping that growth can be increased and sustained for an extended period. Nevertheless, injecting more funds through borrowings from external debt exposes economies to vulnerable conditions. Thus, this study aimed to examine how regulatory performance affects economic growth and moderates the debt–growth relationship in UMIE. By using the generalized method of moments (GMM) as an estimation method for 32 countries from 2004 to 2020, regulatory performance was found to adversely affect economic growth. Moreover, as regulatory performance improves, public debt is expected to enhance the economic growth of UMIE. These findings are novel, as they provide significant evidence for the importance of improving the regulatory performance of UMIE. Weak regulatory performance might force a government to become the engine of growth instead of the private sector, thus leading to the adverse effect of debt on growth in UMIE. These findings have to several policy implications, particularly regarding reducing bureaucracy and improving regulatory performance in UMIE. Future researchers could extend this study by comparing the results from different groups of economies or countries. Full article

The purpose of this research is to estimate the dynamic impacts of foreign direct investments (FDI) and exports on economic growth in Peru (1970–2020) using annual series. Starting with the theoretical Mundell–Fleming static model with assumptions, we find that the change in exports does not affect GDP, and the effect of FDI on GDP can be positive or negative depending on the comparison between the slopes of the IS and LM curves. The variables are foreign direct investment net flow (% of GDP), exports of goods and services (% of GDP), and GDP growth rate (%). FDI and exports constitute first-order integrated processes; meanwhile, the GDP growth rate is a stationary process. The Granger causality evidences feedback between GDP and exports and the FDI-led growth hypothesis. Considering the dependent variable GDP growth rate, the autoregressive distributed lag cointegration bound test shows the findings regarding the cointegration consist of positive long-term equilibrium impacts from exports and FDI on GDP. Estimating an error correction model, in the short-term, the FDI explains to GDP and the exports have an insignificant impact on economic growth in Peru. Finally, we conclude that Peru’s economic policy path should continue to attract foreign capital to increase FDI. Full article

When the government creates state-owned enterprises (SOEs), one of the primary purposes is to reduce its financial burden in the long run, also called financial sustainability. Nonetheless, previous research has pointed out that SOEs struggle to achieve financial sustainability due to government intervention. In this study, we examine the relationship between the financial sustainability of SOEs and government intervention in Malaysia. We take a novel approach, using share ownership to measure government intervention. Our results show that the threshold effect of government ownership on financial sustainability in Malaysia is around 27%. The findings prove that the SOEs of an emerging country could reach financial sustainability only if the government ownership is below the threshold. Finally, this study discusses the policy implications of our findings for SOEs. The government of Malaysia should propose a road map to gradually reduce its ownership of SOEs below the threshold. Full article