Covid-19 Aftermath: Rebuilding the economy – Criteria for selection of projects

This paper proposes two-stage evaluation criteria to prioritize projects that to rebuild the economy, promote inclusive growth, reduce poverty, and income inequality and deploy certain standards to ensure environmental sustainability.  First, we propose a categorization of projects based on the maqasid shariah. The five (5) original maqasid include faith, human self, intellect, posterity and wealth.  Then we extended the maqasid and formed eight (8) elements from the maqasid with a quantitative maqasid score. Second, five (5) thrusts are recommended for further filtration. Finally, the first and second stages are combined to generate specific scores which are used for selection purposes.     Keywords: COVID-19 aftermath; selection criteria; economic recovery; maqasid eISSN: 2398-4287© 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI

Agriculture Exports Performance In Malaysia / Zubir Azhar and Noor Zahirah Mohd Sidek

This paper examines the impact of exchange rate risk on the agriculture exports in the era of recurring financial crises and global economic instability. Exchange rate risk is captured by misalignments in the real bilateral US-RM exchange rate. This paper is divided into two parts. First, the incidence of exchange rate misalignment is observed using price-based approach (purchasing power parity) and model-based approach (behavioural equilibrium exchange rate). Then, the estimated exchange rate misalignment is used as a variable in the export model to capture the impact of risks. In addition, the estimated misalignments are segregated into events of overvaluation and undervaluation to further comprehend their individual impact. Results suggest that in the long run, overvaluation has a significant negative impact on palm oil exports. The opposite however, could not be construed in the case of undervaluation which suggests asymmetries in the impact of over and undervaluation of the exchange rate. Other agriculture exports do not exhibit significant long run relationship with exchange rate misalignment. In summary, it is imperative that policy-makers avoid both over- and under-valuation and keep the real exchange rate in line with the economic fundamentals especially in the case of palm oil exports

Calendar Anomalies and the Islamic Stock Market Returns: Evidences on day of the week effect

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impacts of calendar anomalies specifically on day of the week effect (DOW) on 10 Islamic stock markets’ returns such as Dow Jones Islamic Market (DJIM), Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Qatar, Turkey, Indonesia, Bahrain, Pakistan—for 20 years from 25 September 2000 to 24 September 2020. The methods of study using Generalized AutoRegressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (GARCH) and Exponential Generalized AutoRegressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) as a robustness test. The findings revealed that calendar anomalies had considerable impacts on returns for the following Islamic stock markets: DJIM, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Keywords: Calendar anomalies; day of the week effect; GARCH; EMH. eISSN: 2398-4287© 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7iSI9.424

An empirical analysis of Malaysian ringgit equilibrium exchange rate and misalignment

Following the reinstatement to managed floating exchange rate regime in July 2005, the real effective exchange rate (REER) of Malaysian ringgit (RM) has been fluctuating, albeit, slightly, which raises the question whether the current trend is consistent with the economic fundamentals. This paper attempts to ascertain the degree of misalignment of the ringgit by estimating the long run equilibrium real effective exchange rate of the currency. Based on Johansen vector cointegration technique, we have identified productivity, government consumption expenditure, and trade openness as important determinants of the ringgit long run equilibrium value. Results suggest that the ringgit was persistently overvalued prior to the 1997 crisis. After the crisis, the ringgit fluctuates around its long run equilibrium and the misalignments are eliminated over a relatively short period

The impact of Islamic finance on economic growth and income distribution: a bootstrap rolling windows (BRW) approach / Noor Zahirah Mohd Sidek

This paper revisits existing literature on how financial development promotes growth and income distribution focusing on the role of Islamic finance in Malaysia. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the causal nexus between Islamic finance and growth using a bootstrap causality test applied to both full sample and rolling window sub-samples. BRW allows time-varying causal links between Islamic finance and growth, which is the novel contribution of this paper. The trickle-down effect of economic growth is examined via the same method using Islamic finance and income distribution. Islamic finance is represented by Islamic banking assets, loans by Islamic banks and sukuk issuance from 1990Q1: 2017Q4. Economic growth is captured by GDP per capita, GDP and GDP growth whilst income distribution is captured using data income inequality database from WIID. Preliminary results indicate evidence that Islamic finance has spurred financial inclusion which transpires in the reduction of income inequality over the period of study. The recent introduction of value-based intermediation (VBI) by Bank Negara Malaysia in 2017 is the way forward to further develop the role of Islamic finance as a social tool to reduce income inequality

Exchange rate misalignment and capital inflows: an endogenous threshold analysis for Malaysia

This study presents an attempt to investigate the impact of exchange rate misalignment on capital inflows in Malaysia. Specifically, a precise threshold value is estimated to examine when exchange rate misalignment suppresses capital inflows. To pursue these objectives, this study relies on the endogenous threshold analysis as of Hansen (1996, 2000). Results suggest that misalignment in terms of currency overvaluation, has a negative and significant effect when overvaluation is more than 15 percent. This estimate is consistent and robust despite the changes in the choice of explanatory variables. Keywords: Exchange rate misalignment, Capital inflows competitiveness, Threshold effect

Inequality and the Environment: Impact and Way Forward

Economic and financial crisis thwarts the process of global economic growth, development, integration, and efforts to promote a sustainable environment. The onset of the recent crisis aggravates the problem of inequality and more resources need to be channeled for economic recovery. This study attempts to examine the impact of income inequality on environmental pollution in a sample of an unbalanced panel of 120 countries which consist of 42 high-income, 35 upper-middle-income, and 43 lower-middle- and low-income countries. The sample period runs from 1985 to 2019. The empirical results are quantitatively robust to a different alternative of proxy. Results affirmed an inverted U-shaped relationship between income inequality and environmental pollution for lower-middle- and low-income countries. The Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is present in the case of upper-middle, lower-middle- and low-income countries but not for high-income countries. The policy implication based on these findings is policies must be coordinated to cushion the impact of income inequality to enable more allocation for environmental protection such as measures to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Despite the crisis and economic slowdown, countries should take the opportunity to review their recovery plans by incorporating environmental concerns

Determinants of Malaysia’s Expenditure on Security and Its Impact towards Economic Growth

This paper aims to better understand the relationship between security expenses and their impact on economic growth for Malaysia. Using time-series data from 1971 to 2020, this study adopts the AK and Barro’s (1990) Model as the basis of the empirical model and employs ARDL estimation regression. The results suggest significant short-run and long-run relationships between security expenditure and economic growth in Malaysia. We recommend that the Malaysian government improve its method of allocating national expenses by appointing an independent group of experts in economics and security to incorporate technology when devising the budget for security. Keywords: Determinants; Expenditure; Security; Economic Growth   eISSN: 2398-4287© 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI

COVID-19 and the Palm Oil Industry: Navigating recovery

This article unfolds the current state of the palm oil industry following the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the industry being allowed to operate given strict standard operating procedures, palm oil production has depicted a declining trend since 2018. One of the contributing factors is foreign worker shortages for maintenance and palm oil harvesting. Therefore, this article proposes the mechanization and mobilization of local workers, as well as the challenges and the way forward for Malaysia. Keywords: 2M-mobilization and mechanization; palm oil plantation; challenges; way forward eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2023. The Authors. Published for AMER and cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), College of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v8iSI15.507

Does exchange rate risks matter for exports? a case of Malaysia

This paper attempts to estimate the impact of exchange rate risks on exports using Pesaran et al. (2001) bounds testing procedure to establish cointegration. The long run coefficients are estimated via the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. Results suggest that exchange rate risks depress exports in the long run with the impact of exchange rate misalignment being stronger than exchange rate volatility