Plant Defense and Counter Defense by Viruses

RNA silencing is a robust sequence-specific RNA degradation process triggered by the formation of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). RNA silencing was first discovered in transgenic plants, where it was termed co-suppression or post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS). In plants, it serves as an antiviral defense, and small RNA pathways serve as a defense against viruses and other invading nucleic acids. This chapter focuses on the interactions between host small RNA pathways and viral suppressors of silencing. Invading viruses carry genetic material that controls the host cell’s machinery and tricks it into producing proteins and new viruses. Through RNA silencing, plant cells recognize this viral genetic material, remember and copy it so that other cells in the organism can be warned to destroy the virus. All cells in microbes, fungi, plants and mammals employ RNA silencing. However, viruses are known to fight back using RNA silencing suppressors, proteins that inhibit this defense mechanism. RNA silencing suppressors have been reported recently in other forms of pathogens like bacteria and oomycetes, which suggest that these pathogens have this inherent capability of counter defense across various kingdoms. In this chapter, we discuss some of these phenomenal counter defense mechanisms by the viruses

Money, income and the Lucas critique: the case for Malaysia

The objective of this study is to determine the usefulness of the monetary aggregates in Malaysia for policy action purposes. Money MI and M2 were tested for weak exogeneity, strong erogeneity and superexogeneity (which implies Lucas critique) within a seasonal error-correction model framework. Our weak exogeneity and superexogeneity tests suggest that money MI and M2 are not subject to the Lucas critique and thus imply that both monetary awegates are useful intermediate targets for monetary policy purposes. The importance of money as intermediate targets is further strengthened as our seasonal error-correction model indicates that money (MI and M2) and income exhibit stable long-run relationships

Accounting for the Current Account Behavior in ASEAN-5

Current account are an endogenous variable that contain information about the behavior of the economics agents and is important for economic policymaking as it gives a broad reflection of the stance of macroeconomics policies. The imbalances in current account are a reflection of the forward-looking, dynamic saving and investment decisions in the intertemporal approach to current account modeling. This study empirically analyzed the anatomy of the dynamic current account behavior for the ASEAN-5 countries using present value model. Despite the simplicity, the statistical computations suggest that the agents behave as the forward-looking rational agents in the face of the shocks in the three out of five economies. This implies that the current account acts as a buffer to smooth the consumption in the presence of shock and optimally smoothing its consumption path for these countries.Current Account; Present Value Model; Consumption Smoothing; Consumption Tilting

Money, Output and Stock Prices in Malaysia: An Application of the Cointegration Tests

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether macroeconomic variables, in particular money supply and output are important in predicting stock prices in Malaysia. Monthly data on stock price indices, money supply and output were employed in this study. The stock price indexes used in this study are Composite, Industrial, Finance, Property, Plantation and Tin. For money supply we used both M1 and M2, and output is measured by real Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Our results suggest that Malaysia’s stock market is informationally efficient with respect to money supply as well as output

Testing the Law of One Price on Exports of Tropical Forest Products: A Co-integration Approach

Trade theory often postulates the existence of a representative price, that is, a single price that prevails in all markets. This is known as the Law of One Price (LOP). In this paper the empirical validity of LOP was tested using the recently developed co-integration method for timber exports. Monthly data for the period January 1985 to December 1992 were used to analyse the long-run equilibrium relationship. Empirically, we found the exchange rate pass-through on the exports to be complete for all timber products and markets. The results obtained suggest that the data are consistent with the LOP as a long-run relationship. We conclude that the markets for tropical forest products are generally competitive

Does PPP hold between Asian and Japanese economies? Evidence using panel unit root and panel cointegration

This paper presents an empirical analysis of panel unit root and panel cointegration tests of long-run absolute purchasing power parity (PPP) for seven Asian developing economies (ADE). The evidence shows that the panel parametric and non-parametric tests either with a trend term or without a trend term support the hypothesis of cointegration between the bilateral exchange rates and relative prices against the selected foreign country — Japan

Fiscal policy, institutions, and economic growth in Asian countries: Evidence from Pedroni’s Cointegration approach

This paper investigates the relationship between fiscal policy, institutions, and economic growth and also the role of the institution in Asian economies between 1982 and 2001 through the application of Pedroni’s Cointegration approach. It examined two different channels through which fiscal policy and institutions can affect long-run economic growth in Asian economies. The first channel is when aggregate of government expenditure, aggregate of other fiscal variables, and the institution affect the real per capita Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and the second channel is to determine the role of institutions on the real per capita GDP. The Pedroni Cointegration result established a long-run relationship between fiscal policy, institution, and economic growth. We found a positive and statistically significant impact of aggregate of government expenditure and aggregate of other fiscal variables and institution on real per capita GDP. We also found that there is a role of institutions on the real per capita GDP

Long-run relationship between fiscal policy and economic growth in Asia: Evidence using Pedroni’s Cointegration approach

This paper investigates the long-run relationship between fiscal policy and economic growth in Asia between 1982 and 2001 through the application of Pedroni’s Cointegration approach. It examines two different channels through which fiscal policy can affect long-run economic growth in Asian countries. The first channel is when components and aggregate government expenditure affect the real per capita GDP, and the second channel is when the distortionary taxation, budget balance, and aggregate of other fiscal variables affect the real per capita GDP. There is a positive and statistically significant impact of health and education expenditure, aggregate of government expenditure, and aggregate of other fiscal variables on real per capita GDP. It was found that the defence expenditure, distortionary taxation, and budget balance are significantly and negatively related to real per capita GDP. The Pedroni Cointegration result establishes a long-run relationship between fiscal policy and economic growth