The political economy of the Malaysian subnational governments' fiscal behavior

This article attempts to shed light on the political economy of the Malaysian state governments’ budgetary behaviour by tailoring hypotheses drawn from recent theoretical literature to the Malaysian institutional context and testing them empirically. The main objective here was to examine whether state governments’ fiscal behaviour can partly be explained by the political attributes and the institutional characteristics of the government, and of the legislature. In particular, the study analysed whether the incentives for the state governments to observe a prudent spending behaviour have not been undermined by the fact that they have been able to influence relevant central government decisions regarding their finance. The estimation results showed that states that are over-represented at the executive level tend to have higher spending and deficits. However, no correlation was found between over-representation at the parliament and state governments’ fiscal outcomes. This can be explained by the fact that in Malaysia, as is frequently the case in developing nations, the legislature is peripheral to the executive in terms of decision-making power

Is There Any Role of Technological Inputs? A District-wise Analysis of Output Differential in Crop Sector

An investigation is performed to analyse the impact of technological inputs accompanied with traditional inputs over different periods of time on the output differential of four major crops including Wheat, Rice, Cotton and Sugarcane. Data related to different districts of the Punjab province have been used to conduct the study. A multivariate statistical analysis is applied for this purpose, in which principal component (factor) analyses is carried out as a first step to reduce the dimensionalities in the data and to obtain the ranking of districts in two phases of time i.e., 1971-75 and 2001-05. Further analysis is made by developing indices on the basis of few selected top and low ranked districts four each; along with one more district as a special case due to pronounced improvement in its ranking. Technological inputs showed consistency and significant contribution towards crop output over the time with some district wise differentials.Technological Inputs, Crop Output, Index, District

The political economics of the Malaysian subnational governments’ fiscal behavior

This paper attempts to shed light on the political economy of the Malaysian state governments’ budgetary behavior by tailoring hypotheses drawn from recent theoritical literature to the Malaysian institutional context and testing them empirically. Our main objective here is to examine whether state governments’ fiscal behavior can partly be explained by the political attributes and the institutional characteristics of the government and of the legislature. In particular, we will try to analyze whether the incentives for the state governments to observe a prudent spending behavior have not been undermined by the fact that they have been able to influence relevant central government decisions regarding their finance. Our estimations results show that states that are overrepresented at the executive level tend to have higher spending and deficits. However, we don’t find any correlation between overrepresentation at the Parliament and states governments’ fiscal outcomes. This can be explained by the fact that in Malaysia as is frequently the case in developing nations, the legislature is peripheral to the executive in terms of decision making power.State governments, Fiscal behavior, Political Economy

Understanding Malaysian State Governments Fiscal Behavior: The Role of Intergovernmental Transfers

As of late, several state governments in Malaysia have been identified as having serious difficulty in meeting their financial needs, to the extent of the government being qualified as on the verge of bankruptcy. One of the explanations put forward is that state governments have been acting irresponsibly in managing finances. Thus, the question that ensues is: why do state governments behave in such irresponsible manner fiscally and financially in the first place? In this paper, we relate the financial difficulties faced by these governments within the confines of the institutional and political environment currently in place within the country. We will examine one of the institutional features of the intergovernmental system in Malaysia – the intergovernmental grants systems. More precisely, there are two hypotheses that will be tested in this research.. First, federal transfers may stimulate more spending by state governments which leads them to increase spending beyond the means available to them. Second, financial problems may be the consequence of a state governments’ incapacity to utilize tax capacities to the fullest, which in turn may be explained by the disincentives effects that are embedded (whether intended or not) within the transfer system.State Governments, Fiscal Behavior, Intergovernmental Relations

Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC): Times series evidence from Portugal

The paper provides empirical evidence of an EKC – a relationship between income and environmental degradation for Portugal by applying autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) to times series data. In order to capture Portugal’s historical experience, demographic changes, and international trade on CO2 emissions, we assess the traditional income-emissions model with variables such as energy consumption, urbanization, and trade openness in time series framework. There is evidence of an EKC in both the short and long-run approaches. All variables carry the expected sign except trade openness which has the wrong sign and is statistically insignificant in both the short-run and long-run. Despite the success of Portugal in containing CO2 emissions so far, it is important to note that in recent years, emissions have risen. In order to comply with the 1992 Kyoto Protocol on CO2 emissions, there is need for policies that focus on the top five sectors responsible for about 55 percent of CO2 emissions are due to the extraction of crude petroleum, manufacturing of refined products, electricity distribution, construction, land transport and transport via pipeline services.Cointegration; Causality; Environmental Kuznets Curve

Real Exchange Rate Changes and Trade Balance in Pakistan: A Revisit

This study uses quarterly data from 1980.1 to 2006.4 to explore the relationship between changes in real exchange rate and the trade balance indicators of Pakistan. Applying Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration we examine the existence of a possible long run relationship. We find the following: (a) a long run relationship between the series exists; and b) the coefficient of elasticity is negative and statistically significant which does not support for the J-relation. Given this, the policymakers should take conservative approach in using currency devaluation to cure the fundamental disequilibrium in the balance of payments. It is likely that such policy may not produce the desired outcome—i.e., the trade balance may not improve.Real Exchange Rate Changes, Trade Balance

Industrial structure and concentration in Malaysian manufacturing industry

The study uses econometric analysis; the least square method is used to determine factors that influence changes in the level of concentration of the 103 Malaysian manufacturing industries. The result shows that the concentration ratio of the Malaysian industries are rather high when compared with those in most other countries. At the same time our analysis reveals that competition in certain sectors of the Malaysian manufacturing industry have increased over time. Most importantly, the analysis supports the hypothesis that economies of scale are the major source of concentration. Other variables use in determining the industrial concentration is barriers to entry, the size of industry and foreign ownership

Studi Historis Komparatif Tentang Metode Tahfiz Al-Qur'an

T;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-style:normal;fاهتم المسلمون بحفظ القرآن الكريم منذ عصر النبوة حتى عصرنا الحاضر، إلا أنالمناهج و الطرق اختلفت من عصر لآخر. يلقي هذا البحث نظرة على تعدد مناهجالتحفيظ تبعا لاختلاف الوسائل و شكل القرآن، ففي عصر النبي و الصحابة كانمنهج السماع و التلقي هو المستخدم في حفظ القرآن، و اختلف ذلك بعد عصر تدوينالمصاحف و طباعتها حيث يعتمد الطالب على القرآن المكتوب أو المصحف في حفظهثم يقرأه على الشيخ، و بعد تسجيل القرآن صوتيا استخدمه بعض الأفراد في عمليةالتحفيظ لسهولة حملها و استخدامها و سماعها. و مع تغير الأدوات و الوسائل إلا أنالتسميع و القراءة على الشيخ كعنصر مهم في التلقي و تحفيظ القرآن لازالت متبع