Fiscal Policy Coordination in Asia: East Asian Infrastructure Investment Fund

East Asian countries were seriously affected by the 2008 global crisis through a steep fall in exports. This experience exposed the vulnerability of the East Asian growth model and emphasized the importance of generating regional growth by expanding domestic demand and enlarging intra-regional trade. A key factor to achieving higher regional economic growth and enlarging intra-regional trade is the better connectivity of infrastructure such as roads, ports, airports, and rail links. Although some East Asian countries have made large investments in improving their infrastructures, others still lag behind. In response to the global crisis, East Asian countries have allocated a significant proportion of their stimulus packages to infrastructure development. While these investments have improved national facilities, East Asian countries will only be well connected when there are good cross-border infrastructures in place. This requires a large amount of funding, and funds from both within and outside the region could be mobilized to fulfill these huge financing needs. Hence, an East Asian Infrastructure Investment Fund (EAIIF) is proposed to provide a mechanism to organize this funding and to be a platform for deciding on cross-border infrastructure projects. The EAIIF would be anchored to the existing Association of Southeast Asian Nations+3 mechanism with the leader's summit being the apex of the decision making process. A four-level mechanism is proposed, consisting of cooperation amongst political leadership; a steering committee and secretariat for executing the decisions of the leaders; fund mobilization; and the implementation and monitoring of projects. Projects chosen could be those with a high rate of commercial returns or those with the highest social benefits. The EAIIF would invite the private sector to participate by setting a framework for the sharing of risks between the public and private sectors. Likewise, there would also be a sharing of risks between countries.East Asian Infrastructure Investment Fund; regional crossborder infrastructure investment

Alternative industrial strategies and effects of fiscal incentives and trade policy in achieving employment objectives in Malaysian industrialisation.

This study is concerned with alternative industrial strategies for employment creation. The two strategies are export-oriented and import substitution industrialisation. Malaysia tried the import substitution strategy and achieved some degree of success in the period 1957 to 1970. But with high unemployment and the limitation of the domestic market, another strategy then had to be pursued. So in the early 1970s, (emulating the newly industrialised countries) Malaysia embarked on an export-oriented industrialisation strategy. Two instruments are used by the Malaysian government to promote those strategies; fiscal incentives and trade policy. The study finds that fiscal incentives have promoted export-oriented industrialisation. Trade policy initially helped import substitution but in later years the policy was liberialised to approach a free trade regime. The effects of these two instruments are examined through their influence on the cost of capital to manufacturers. The study finds that fiscal incentives have reduced capital cost much more than trade policy. The study then examines the manufacturing sector's ability to generate employment. Two methods are used; an estimation of elasticity of substitution and a case study of the characteristics of export-oriented and domestic-oriented establishments. The elasticity of substitution measures flexibility to absorb labour. The estimates show that export-oriented establishments have greater substitution possibilities than domestic-oriented ones. These estimates are substantiated by qualitative information, namely establishments responses to policy changes. This information is obtained through a detailed study of establishments characteristics. Two industries - textiles and electrical/electronics - were chosen as case studies. The characteristics show that in general export-oriented establishments can absorb more labour through high growth rates and employment size. Thus, export-oriented industrialisation can generate more employment than import substitution because its elasticity of substitution is larger and there is higher absorption of labour by export-oriented establishments. The thesis suggests two ways to increase employment: first, to promote EOI because its employment potential is greater than ISI, and second, to increase the proportion of labour used through changes in relative factor price because capital-labour substitution exists. The labour coefficient can be increased by 8 - 25 per cent if factor market distortions are eliminated. This increase represents 120,000 to 360,000 new jobs in the Malaysian manufacturing sector. Two policy thrusts are suggested for the promotion of EOI: (1) Liberalisation of trade policy, namely the reduction not only of average tariff but also its dispersion. The present low and stable exchange rate regime should be maintained, because it encourages exports. (2) Reform of the fiscal incentive system. More direct and indirect exporting industries should be added to the list of promoted industries/activities. In addition, new export incentives should be introduced such as providing utilities for exporters at levels equal to other competing countries and benefits of existing ones increased. Relative factor prices can be changed through trade policy and fiscal incentives. The import duty (tariff) on machinery and equipment should be reduced and exemption of import duty withdrawn, so that capital prices move closer to world levels. One of the fiscal incentives, the Investment Tax Allowance, should stop because its benefits directly favour capital users. On the other hand, benefits to labour users should be introduced, for example the government should offer an abatement of income for labour incentive to support labour use

Problem based learning through mobile application

Thinking skills involve the manipulation of knowledge rather than memorizing the input is defined as High order thinking skills (HOTS) [7]. This thinking skills require comprehension, analysis, synthesis, application, and evaluation. HOTS involves more than just receiving a knowledge but further action in cognitive thinking is required so that students will achieve deeper understanding on the learning material, create new knowledge, solve the problems that require more than one possible answer, create original material, or make decisions [6]. The formal lecturing that is still applied in most teaching is a conventional learning method that only offers the formal learning environment. This formal learning shows weaknesses when it does not promote higher order thinking skills, dependent on teachers, lack in students' engagement, and student are bored. Therefore, the researchers developed a mobile app to change the formal learning environment into informal learning environment

Políticas industriales y comerciales de Malasia en el marco del nuevo sistema internacional de comercio

Incluye Bibliografí

Malasia: políticas industriales y comerciales en el marco del nuevo sistema internacional de comercio

Incluye Bibliografí

Malaysian industrial and trade policies under the new international trading system

Includes bibliograph

The Current Global Crisis: The Perils Of Economic Globalisation

  The basic foundation of this crisis actually lies with the global economic system which is based on the globalisation of the economyand financial systems. That is the foundation of the current problem.However, if we actually look at the system, this crisis is not abouta specific country or specific factor. It is actually about the globalsystem which is based on the economic globalisation system. Thequestion that comes to mind with that statement is that, will thishappen again? In my opinion it will happen again. So, this is not the final crisis, and since it is not the first crisis, it will happen again. Based on the one that we had, let us get to the content. There will be three parts to this discussion. The first one is the causes of the crisis. The second one is the impact, and the third one is the future of the economic globalisation. Is the 2008 crisis a repeat of the 1998 crisis? In fact yes, and in between, the world has seen so many crises but the big crisis happen in 1932 when the whole world was in depression. Then, we have the present crisis. These are the two major crises that involved the whole world. In between we have many crises. For example in 1992, we had the Mexican crisis, in 1998 we had the Asian crisis, in 2001 we had dot com bubble crisis, and so forth. The difference between all the crises is the degree of the sovereignity. For some, it is restricted to some countries and some of it is regional. The only noticeable characteristic is that a crisis now occurs more often. Previously every 12 years, and then every 10 years. Now it is happening more often because the global economy is so integrated. So, if you look back and you see this pattern, this is what is going to happen.  

Technocracy in Economic Policy-Making in Malaysia

This article looks at the role of the technocracy in economic policy-making in Malaysia. The analysis was conducted across two phases, namely the period before and after the 1997-98 economic and financial crises, and during the premiership of four prime ministers namely Tun Razak, Dr Mahathir, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and Najib Razak. It is claimed that the technocrats played an important role in helping the political leadership achieve their objectives. The article traces the changing fortunes of the technocracy from the 1970s to the present. Under the premiership of Tun Razak, technocrats played an important role in ensuring the success of his programs. However, under Dr Mahathir, the technocrats sometimes took a back seat because their approach was not in line with some of his more visionary ventures and his unconventional approach particularly in managing the 1997-98 financial crisis. Under the leadership of both Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak, the technocrats regain their previous position of prominence in policy-making. In conclusion, the technocracy with their expert knowledge, have served as an important force in Malaysia. Although their approach is based on economic rationality, their skills have been effectively negotiated with the demands of the political leadership, because of which Malaysia is able to maintain both economic growth and political stability