EFFECTS OF REMITTANCES ON POVERTY REDUCTION: THE CASE OF INDONESIA

Remittances have been reported as a tool for fighting poverty in some selected countries, such as Indonesia. An increase of income through remittances tends to improve the economic status of the migrant’s household. Once they get a high salary, they will remit money (a remittance) to their household in Indonesia via formal institutions, such as banks.  The migrant’s household can fulfil their basic needs and can use the remittance for educational investment and productive activities. The education investment aims to educate the children or grandchildren of migrants, which will be beneficial for the future generations of the family, allowing them the chance of a more prosperous life. The poverty rate would be reduced gradually, and economic welfare can be achieved. The main objectives of this paper are first to estimate the effects of remittances on poverty in Indonesia from 1983 to 2015 and second, to propose several strategic policies related to remittances and poverty reduction. Other variables considered include inflation, exchange rates, income, income inequality and the labor force participation rate. An Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method was used to explore the econometric and estimated results. The study found that an increase in remittances led to a reduction in poverty by 2.56%. Inflation and the exchange rate have positive and negative effects on poverty, respectively. The small effect of remittances on poverty’s reduction could possibly be explained by the low educational background of the migrants, low wage jobs, expensive remittance costs, and migrants not knowing how to remit money through formal financial institutions. Hence, to reduce the poverty level, the government needs to first facilitate skills training for the workers so that they could get a better job and earn more, second, lower the transaction costs of remittances, and lastly, provide agents at Indonesian banks overseas to provide better facilities to Indonesian workers to remit money back to their home country

How efficient is Malaysia’s secondary education?

The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of technical efficiency of Malaysia’s secondary education in comparison with other countries. Education efficiency has become an important issue given the pressing levels of public deficit and debt of many countries. Since the educational sector always receives high priority in budget allocations, an evaluation of whether the allocations made for education has been technically efficient is important. With budget constraints and high expectation by the public to see a continuous improvement in students’ academic achievement, the educational sector has been put under pressure to deliver. The study employs TIMSS 2007 data, involving 44 countries. The technique used to calculate the level of technical efficiency is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Malaysia is found technically inefficient in terms of utilising its educational resources to achieve better TIMSS results in comparison with the other countries. Even after controlling for the environmental variable, Malaysia’s secondary education remains technically inefficient

Treatment of municipal solid waste odour using electron beam irradiation technique / Mohd. Nahar Othman

Environmental Quality, Clean Air Regulation was enforced since 1st October 1978 in Malaysia. However, it does not contain any standard parameters for odour control and discharge to the environment. In order to respond to various odour complaints and handle odour problems in Malaysia, a regulation for odour control is necessary. Since Malaysia will be declared a developed country in the year 2020, environmental legislations of the country have to be improved to the standards of a developed country. The objective of this research is to study the odour problems in Malaysia, specifically for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) odour, to identified the sources of odour from MSW, odour measurement and analytical by olfactometer, correlation between odour unit and concentration in ppmv and ppbv, odour treatment using electron beam irradiation technique, odour kinetic and dispersion modeling. In this study, the odorous gas such as Benzene (aromatic odour), Dimethylsulfide (rubbish odour) and Trimethylamine (fishy odour) are also used as odours samples. Odorous gas samples were treated by using the powerful energy produced by electron beam. Ambient and odorous gas samples were also collected from Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) factory and in surrounding area in Semenyih, Selangor and these samples were analyzed by using DynaScent Digital Olfactometer. The results of the emission measurement and the ambient air collected around the study area showed that there are various factors that affect the distribution of odorous gas to the complaint area that is only less than 1.5 km from the factory. The result also shows that there is great potential in using the electron beam irradiation technique in order to solve the odour problem

Energy Efficiency In Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning And Refrigeration (HVAC & R) Operation Through Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) Application

As the cost of energy is increasing,the understanding of energy efficiency and how it could be achieved is vital. Energy efficiency on Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning & Refrigeration (HVAC & R) system at the industries building is important in order to increase the understanding of particular topics involved in this research study.In order to reduce energy consumption for sustainable and energy efficient,an energy audit is needed to identify major energy problems in any condition areas at the building.It involves analyzing the actual consumption of electrical energy and measures energy conservation.Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) is a control device to regulate the speed and rotation force or output torque of mechanical equipment an alternating current (AC) by adjusting the frequency.The objective of this study is to verify the benefit of VFD in saving energy in the HVAC & R system effectiveness of VFD throughout its service life and also to verify energy performance annually at the building and determine the changes between pre-retrofit and post-retrofit measurement for the building power consumption which can be declared as the energy savings.The research survey was conducted at GCH Fresh Distribution Centre in Kajang,Selangor.The study will discuss equipment system used and building modification,electrical rate system and the energy usage. Based on the analysis results and observations,some steps for reducing power consumption without affecting the comfort and satisfaction were recommended along with their cost analysis.The main focus of this research is on the electrical properties of both VFD application and without VFD (constant speed) application at the building. The analysis from data collection consists of power consumption (kWh),system current (A),system power (kW) and system volt amp (kVa) is clear that show the trend pattern of the saving using VFD application.By analyzing the energy consumption before and after the implementation of the retrofit,the effectiveness of the VFD in reducing energy consumption will be verified. Monitoring and Verification (M& V) plan for this building is proven it reduces operational HVAC & R costs by 7%

The informal economy: A neglected area in Islamic economics

The informal economy has been neglected by Islamic economists. The neglect means the Islamic economic system being rebuilt is confined only to state and market domains. That existing paradigm is myopic. To understand and solve the real-world economic problems, we need to recalibrate and also focus on the informal economy. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to review the conception of the informal economy. With a better understanding of the concept, we hope that rebuilding of Islamic economics can become more holistic in approach. The informal economy is unique according to countries. The economic, political and cultural aspects have a strong influence on the dimensions of the informal economy. Based on the extant literature we also have identified the determinants of informal employment. The evaluation of the factors identified in this study reveals that government policies and efficiency, poverty issues, gender inequality, education and religiosity are the determinants of the informal sector employment. We then call for future research in Islamic economics to be geared toward understanding and addressing issues in the informal economy

Transformasi perumahan negara

MEMILIKI rumah sendiri adalah idaman setiap rakyat Malaysia. Rumah bukan sahaja satu keperluan asas tetapi dengan perancangan pembelian yang baik, ia menjadi aset penting dalam membina nilai bersih positif kepada kewangan individu. Sebelum kita dapat berbicara tentang memiliki rumah idaman, persoalan berkenaan kemampuan untuk memiliki rumah adalah isu pokok yang menuntut perhatian pihak berwajib. Harga rumah idaman, terutamanya di kawansan bandar, mutakhir ini semakin mahal. Lepasan universiti misalnya, terpaksa menangguhkan pembelian rumah idaman ekoran harga yang terlalu tinggi. Dengan pendapatan awal sekitar RM2,500 sebulan, adalah satu keputusan kewangan yang besar untuk memperunukkan antara RM1,000 hingga RM1,500 untuk bayaran pinjaman perumahan saban bulan. Ya, kerajaan telah memperkenalkan Skim Rumah Pertamaku (SRP) dalam Bajet 2011 di mana golongan muda yang berpendapatan tidak lebih daripada RM3,000 sebulan boleh mendapat pembiayaan RM200,000 sehingga 100 peratus daripada institusi-institusi kewangan. Jumlah ini kemudiannya dinaikkan kepada RM400,000 dalam Bajet 2012

Komponen utama gaji kehidupan wajar

The objective of this article is to understand the main components of living wage. The assessment of the determination of wage through the market mechanism is first discussed. It is argued that the valuation of living wage via the labor market mechanism alone is not sufficient. Thus, the estimation of living wage needs to take into account religious and cultural elements since living wage components include the normative understanding of such concepts as fair wage, equitable wage, deserving wage and decent wage. At the same time, the estimation of living wage requires consultation and feedback from employers, workers, labour union and policy-makers. Issues pertaining to the implementation of living wage are also discussed in this article