The Weight of Economic Growth and Urbanization on Electricity Demand in UAE

This study aims to explore the relationship between economic growth, urbanization, financial development and electricity consumption in case of United Arab Emirates. The study covers the time period of 1975-2011. We have applied the ARDL bounds testing to examine long run relationship between the variables in the presence of structural breaks. The VECM Granger causality is applied to investigate the direction of causal relationship between the variables. Our empirical exercise found cointegration between the series in case of United Arab Emirates. Further, results reveal that inverted U-shaped relationship is found between economic growth and electricity consumption i.e. economic growth raises electricity consumption initially and declines it after a threshold level of income per capita. Financial development adds in electricity consumption. The relationship between urbanization and electricity consumption is also inverted U-shaped. This implies that urbanization increases electricity consumption initially and after a threshold level of urbanization, electricity demand falls. The causality analysis finds feedback hypothesis between economic growth and electricity consumption i.e. economic growth and electricity consumption are interdependent. The bidirectional causality is found between financial development and electricity consumption. Economic growth and urbanization Granger cause each other. The feedback hypothesis is also found between urbanization and financial development, financial development and economic growth and same is true for electricity consumption and urbanization.

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND SERVICES TRADE: EVIDENCE FROM MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE

Services trade is an important source of growth in Malaysia and Singapore. Both economies are export-oriented and actively court foreign direct investment (FDI) to advance their economic objectives of industrialisation and economic development. This paper examines the causal linkages between inward FDI and the country’s engagement in services trade in bi-variate and tri-variate VAR frameworks. The empirical findings for Singapore show evidence of bidirectional causality between inward FDI and the total trade volume in services (i.e. the absolute sum of payments and receipts) as well as between FDI and services imports (in the tri-variate specification). This may reflect her relative open foreign investment policy and free trade regime in services. For Malaysia, the evidence of causality is weaker and unidirectional, from inward FDI to services imports. These findings are consistent with the different stages of economic development and openness attained by the two sample countries, and they provide useful background for trade and foreign investment policies and development strategies.Causality; services trade; foreign direct investment

Telecommunication Infrastructure Development and Economic Growth: A Panel Data Approach

The present study empirically investigate the dynamic relationship between telecommunication infrastructure and economic growth, using data from twenty-four low income, middle income and high income countries for a 18 years period, from 1985– 2003. With a panel data set, this study uses dynamic fixed effect and random effect models for estimation, which allows us to test the relationship between country’s economic growth with initial economic condition, fixed investment, population growth, government consumption as well as telecommunication infrastructure. The results show that telecommunication is both statistically significant and positively correlated to the real GDP per capita of these countries included in the study. The results are robust even after controlling for investment, population growth, past level of GDP per capita and lagged growth. The results further indicate that the telecommunication investment is subject to increasing returns, suggesting thereby that countries gain more and more with the increase in telecommunication investment. The second test, Granger’s causality test confirms the causal relationship between telecommunication infrastructure and economic growth, but the relationship is significant from telecommunication to GDP per capita side but insignificant on GDP per capita to telecommunication development side.Telecommunication Growth, Panel Data, Fixed and Random Effect, Granger Causality

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND EMPLOYMENT IN MANUFACTURING AND SERVICES SECTORS: FRESH EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM SINGAPORE

Manufacturing and services have been regarded as the ???twin engines' of growth for Singapore economy. As the economy is moving up the value chain from downstream to upstream activities, a significant proportion of FDI (foreign direct investment) has been attracted to the manufacturing and services sectors. This paper examines the causal relationships between inward FDI and the host country's employment in these two sectors using tri-variate VAR (vector autoregressive) framework. The main findings show evidence of unidirectional causality, running from employment in manufacturing and services to FDI inflows. Furthermore, there is evidence showing strong employment linkages, predominantly from the manufacturing to services. The present study provides useful policy implications towards promoting foreign investment in emerging areas of and manpower development in both sectors of the economy.Causality; foreign direct investment; employment; Singapore.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) and the global food crisis. A study of the Windward Islands' agricultural sector.

Using panel data unit root tests and Johansen Co-integration tests, as well as the Engle-Granger -correction model to test for causality, this study examines the effect of FDI on agriculture sector productivity (x6), market size (x2), macroeconomic performance (x3), infrastructure (x4), competitiveness (x5), financial performance (x7) and governance (x8), in a sample of five Caribbean countries over the period 1970-2006. According to UNCTAD (2008), FDI is defined as investment made from outside of the economy of the investor with the objective of acquiring a lasting interest in or effective control over an enterprise. The results suggest that in general when evidence of causality is observed it runs from FDI to (x4). No causality was detected in either direction for (x2), (x5), (x6) and (x8). However, causality runs from FDI to (x3). A major policy implication of the findings is that the agriculture sector does not impact significantly on the attraction of FDI in these countries.FDI

Exploring the linkages between investment and employment in Moldova: A time-series analysis

After a prolonged period of economic decline during the 1990s, the Moldovan economy has been characterized by consumption-led growth, largely based on remittances. Due to the presence of excess labour in agriculture and under-utilized capacity in manufacturing, employment declined from 2000, with rural areas suffering the most. This paper presents an analysis of investment, economic growth and employment and it sheds some lights on employment-generating growth strategies using a vector autoregressive (VAR) approach.employment / economic growth / Moldova / VAR analysis/ Granger causality

Multilateral Development Banks and Private Sector Financing: The Case of IFC

IFC, private sector financing, multinational development banks, causality tests

Access Regulation, Financial Structure and Investment in Vertically Integrated Utilities: Evidence from EU Telecoms

We examine theoretically and empirically the relationship between access regulation, financial structure and investment decisions in network industries, analyzing if financial variables can be used as a strategic device to influence the regulator’s price setting decisions. Using a panel of 15 EU Public Telecommunication Operators (PTOs) over the period 1994-2005, we first investigate the determinants of regulated prices (both wholesale and retail), firm financial structure and investment, and then test the relationship between leverage, regulated charges and firm’s investment. However, our model suggests that if leverage influences the regulated access charges, then it will also impact competition in the downstream segment. Therefore, we also investigate the impact of the PTO’s leverage on market competition. Our results show that leverage positively affects regulated rates, as well as the PTOs’ investment rate, as predicted by Spiegel and Spulber (1994). Moreover, higher leverage also leads to higher access charges and an increase in leverage is followed by a decrease in the number of competitors and by an increase of the incumbent’s market share. This suggests that the strategic use of debt to discipline the regulator’s lack of commitment within a vertically integrated network industry may somewhat impair or delay competition in the retail segment, but has a favorable counterpart in mitigating the underinvestment problem.

Causal relationship between Indian ports' originated container traffic and total transshipments of port of Colombo : a Granger Causality analysis

India is both the number one port of destination for transshipments moving out of Colombo, and the number one port of origin for transshipments coming in the port. The port of Colombo is complementary to India’s growth aspirations. Today out of 4.7 million (TEUs) transshipment volumes of port of Colombo, close to 40% are Indian transshipments coming from East and West multiple ports of India and a major portion of the Indian transshipment container traffic handled by the port of Colombo is down to India. Using the Granger causality approach, this research investigates the causality relationship between Indian ports’ originated transshipments and total transshipments of port of Colombo based on monthly time series data (transshipments throughput in TEUs) from 2008 to 2017.It finds a unidirectional causality from total transshipments of Colombo to Indian ports’ originated transshipments in port of Colombo. It suggested that the ongoing port expansion projects, opening up for new markets and attracting new shipping lines in port of Colombo have been created a significant impact on Indian ports’ container traffic through port of Colombo. Key words: Unit root test, Granger causality, Total transshipments, Indian originated transshipments, Port of ColomboMaste

Telecommunications and economic growth: an empirical analysis of sub-saharan Africa

We examine the effect on economic growth of mobile cellular phones in sub-Saharan Africa where a marked asymmetry is present between land-line penetration and mobile telecommunications expansion. This study extends previous ones along two important dimensions. First, we allow for the potential endogeneity between economic growth and telecommunications expansion by employing a special linear generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator. Second, we explicitly model for varying degrees of substitutability between mobile cellular and land-line telephony, so that greater expansion of mobile telecommunications can have a different impact whenever the level of land-line penetration differs. We find that mobile cellular phone expansion is an important determinant of the rate of economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, we find that the contribution of mobile cellular phones to economic growth has been growing in importance in the region, and that the marginal impact of mobile telecommunication services is even greater wherever land-line phones are rare. Given the low cost of mobile telecommunications technology relative to other broad infrastructure projects, especially land-line infrastructure, we advocate that mobile telecommunication services be encouraged in the area.