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

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

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

Merungkai logik erti keberkatan

MENJELANG kemunculan Syawal, umat Islam berlumba-lumba melakukan amal jariah dalam mencari keredhaan Ilahi dan keberkatan dalam kehidupan. Bersedekah dan mengeluarkan zakat merupakan anjuran utama Islam dalam membersihkan jiwa, harta dan seterusnya membawa keberkatan dalam hidup ini. Istilah berkat mungkin tidak asing buat umat Islam, namun ia sesuatu yang janggal dalam teori mahupun praktikal ekonomi konvensional. Konsep berkat itu sukar dijamah logika akal dan tidak mudah dijelaskan secara matematik. Soroti ayat 276 dari surah al-Baqarah ini: Allah susutkan (kebaikan harta yang dijalankan dengan mengambil) riba dan ia pula mengembangkan (berkat harta yang dikeluarkan) sedekah-sedekah dan zakatnya. Dan Allah tidak suka kepada tiap-tiap orang yang kekal terus dalam kekufuran dan selalu melakukan dosa. Ayat di atas mencabar logika kerana ia menolak idea pengembangan harta dek riba dan penyusutan harta dek sedekah. Logik akal akan melihat bagaimana simpanan berserta kadar faedah (riba) akan mengganda dalam tempoh tertentu. Dengan rumus matematik, kesan gandaan riba boleh dijelaskan

Memahami simptom-simptom stress dalam kewangan

TIADA ada belenggu yang lebih menjerat melainkan apabila seseorang itu hidup berlebih daripada kemampuannya. Asas utama dalam membina kestabilan kewangan adalah untuk berbelanja mengikut kadar kemampuan diri. Namun, dengan trend yang membudayakan hidup berhutang untuk berbelanja, ramai yang gagal pada perkara asas ini. Isu ini biasanya berlaku kepada golongan berpendapatan tengah di mana mereka mempunyai akses kepada kredit dan pada masa sama terpaksa mengimbangkan antara keinginan dan kemampuan