Does Crude Oil Price, Financial Development, and Trade Openness Reflect on African Oil-Rich Countries’ Economic Growth?

This study investigates empirically the long- and short-run impact of crude oil price and financial globalization on economic growth and financial development in selected oil-rich African countries. The data usage covers 1980 to 2021 by applying the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) modeling to determine the short- and the long-run estimates, and the ARDL-ECM Granger causality to discover the causalities direction. The empirical results reveal that crude oil price and financial globalization have no significant effect on restructuring the economic sustainability patterns in either the long or the short run. There are various causality directions found for those countries involved in this study within the short- and long-run periods. This study recommends that the Republic of Congo and Nigeria should always maximize oil revenue during periods of oil price boom to offset the economic severity during periods of oil price reduction. Further, Algeria and Nigeria’s policymakers should avoid protectionism against financial globalization, economic growth, and trade to mobilize the resources required to be at the fulcrum of future economic restructuring. The empirical findings will be useful for policymakers to design a suitable growth model for African countries that highly depend on crude oil resources as an engine of economic growth

Cross-talk between 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-3 and Transforming Growth Factor-beta Signaling requires Binding of VDR and Smad3 Proteins to their cognate DNA Recognition Elements

1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D-3 (vitamin D) and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) regulate diverse biological processes including cell proliferation and differentiation through modulation of the expression of target genes. Members of the Smad family of proteins function as effecters of TGF-beta signaling pathways whereas the vitamin D receptor (VDR) confers vitamin D signaling. We investigated the molecular mechanisms by which TGF-beta and vitamin D signaling pathways interact in the regulation of the human osteocalcin promoter. Synergistic activation of the osteocalcin gene promoter by TGF-beta and vitamin D was observed in transient transfection experiments. However, in contrast to a previous report by Yanagisawa, J., Yanagi, Y., Masuhiro, Y., Suzawa, M., Watanabe, M., Kashiwagi, K., Toriyabe, T., Rawabata, M., Miyazono, K., and Kato, S. (1999) Science, 283, 1317-1321, synergistic activation was not detectable when the osteocalcin vitamin D response element (VDRE) alone was linked to a heterologous promoter. Inclusion of the Smad binding elements (SBEs) with the VDRE in the heterologous promoter restored synergistic activation. Furthermore, this synergy was dependent on the spacing between VDRE and SBEs. The Smad3-Smad4 heterodimer was found to bind in gel shift assay to two distinct DNA segments of the osteocalcin promoter: -1030 to -989 (SBE3) and -418 to -349 (SBE1). Deletion of SBE1, which is proximal to the VDRE, brit not the distal SBE3 in this promoter reporter abolished TGF-beta responsiveness and eliminated synergistic co-activation with vitamin D. Thus the molecular mechanism, whereby Smad3 and VDR mediate cross-talk between the TGF-beta acid vitamin D signaling pathways, requires both a VDRE and a SBE located in close proximity to the target promoter

Determinants of Infant Mortality in Older ASEAN Economies

Infant mortality in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been declining, yet disparities remain between the nations. This paper therefore explores the determinants of infant mortality in the older ASEAN-4 economies, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines using an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Error Correction Model framework. The key findings of the study are: First, there is evidence of long-run relationships among infant mortality, education, female fertility, income and access to healthcare. Second, the determinants of infant mortality vary between countries. Female fertility emerged as the main determinant of infant mortality in Malaysia, while access to healthcare matter for infant mortality in Indonesia, and to a lesser extent for the Philippines. The income effect is significant for reducing infant mortality in Malaysia, while female education is important for Indonesia and Thailand. Third, the speed of adjustment of infant mortality rate is comparatively low in ASEAN-4

Transcription factors involved in negative and positive gene regulation by glucocorticoids

Steroid hormones, including glucocorticoids (GCs), control a wide variety of developmental and physiological responses in higher eukaryotic organisms. They pass through the plasma membrane and bind to specific receptor proteins inside the cell. Ligand binding promotes a conformational change, homodimerization and activation of the receptor to a DNA binding form. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR) translocates into the nucleus upon GC binding, where it stimulates or represses transcriptional activity of specific genes, either by binding to specific DNA sequences known as glucocorticoid response elements (GREs) or by interacting with other proteins. A key question is how the GR is able to both stimulate and repress transcription. To investigate some of these aspects, we studied (Papers I & II) a negative GRE (nGRE) from the bovine prolactin (PRL) gene promoter (PRL3), which mediates GC repression of the endogenous gene or a heterologous promoter. In the absence of GCs the PRL3nGRE confers an increased expression in both rat pituitary cells (GH3) and non-pituitary cells. We demonstrated that the Pit-1/GHF-1 from GH3 cells and the Oct-1 from non-pituitary cells were the main factors responsible for this enhanced activity. In addition, a second ubiquitously expressed protein, Pbx, was found to contribute to the augmented activity. We showed that binding of both the GR and the Pbx proteins to the PRO element were required for GC repression. Furthermore, only one GR moiety contacted the PRL3nGRE, which could explain the inability of GR to transactivate from this element. Finally, it was demonstrated that the GR displaced Pit-1/Pbx or Oct-1/Pbx binding to the PRL3nGRE element. As this displacement did not take place in the absence of Pbx, this protein has an important function in the mechanism of GC repression. In a subsequent study (Paper III), we examined whether M interfere with the transcriptional control of other promoter elements regulated by Pbx. We demonstrated that GCs potentiated RA-induced transcription from the Hoxb-1 gene promoter autoregulatory element (bl-ARE) recognized by Pbx1 and HOXB1 in P1 9 cells. The GR did not bind directly to the bl -ARE element. Instead we showed that the Pbxl/HOXB1 heterodimer was the target for the GC effect. Furthermore, we also demonstrated that the DNA-binding domain (DBD) but not the transactivating function of the GR was required for the synergism. GCs did not stimulate the expression of the Pbx1 or HOXB1 proteins in this cell line. In addition, RA was able to enhance GR-mediated transactivation via a GRE-controlled reporter gene in the same cell line. GR physically interacted with Pbx1 and HOXB1 proteins in vitro in GST-pull down assays, which may explain the mutual GC/RA synergy. In paper IV, we investigated the role of one of the recently discovered array of cofactors, RIP140, whose role as a coactivator has been questioned, in gene regulation by the GR. In our study this cofactor antagonized all GR mediated responses tested, including repression through a negative GRE, cross-talk with NF-[kappa]B (ReIA), activation through a classical GRE and the synergistic effects of glucocorticoids on AP-1 and Pbxl/HOXB1 responsive elements. The repressive activity of RIP140 required the ligand binding domain (LBD) of GR and did not occur when the GR was bound to the antagonist RU486. We also demonstrated a GR-RIP140 interaction in vitro by a GST-pull down assay. Overexpression of a coactivator, TIF-2, was able to partly restore the GR-dependent transactivation, suggesting that RIP140 may compete with other coactivators for interaction with the GR

Determinants of female fertility in ASEAN-5: empirical evidence from bounds cointegration test

The ASEAN countries have been experiencing drastic declines in fertility of more than 10 percent, particularly since the 1990s. Though the literature on fertility has clearly delineated the importance of income, female labor force participation and infant mortality as key determinants of fertility rates (FRs), the empirical findings from previous studies remains at best mixed. This study therefore identifies the determinants of female fertility for the countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand (ASEAN-5 countries), spanning the period 1980–2010. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration and causality techniques, the main findings of the study are summarized as follows: First, a long-run (LR) stable relationship is evident between female fertility, female labor force participation, income and infant mortality for ASEAN-5. Second, there is a deviation of FRs from the short-run (SR) to the LR equilibrium for ASEAN-5, with the highest and lowest speed of adjustment recorded for Malaysia and Thailand, respectively. Third, FR and economic stability are found to be complementary in the LR for ASEAN-5. When the joint LR and SR causalities are considered, we found that female labor force participation, income and infant mortality have dynamic relationships with FR for all the five ASEAN countries

Cross-talk between glucocorticoid and retinoic acid signals involving glucocorticoid receptor interaction with the homoeodomain protein Pbx1.

Glucocorticoid (GC) signalling influences the response of the cell to a number of other signals via a mechanism referred to as 'cross-talk'. This cross-talk may act at several levels, including an interaction between the transcription factors involved in the signalling pathways. In the present paper, we demonstrate a novel functional interaction between GC and all- trans -retinoic acid (RA) signalling. We show that, in P19 embryonal carcinoma cells, GCs potentiate RA-induced expression of the murine Hoxb -1 gene through an autoregulatory element, b1-ARE, recognized by the Pbx1 and HOXB1 homoeodomain proteins. The synergistic effect of GC did not involve GC receptor (GR) binding to the b1-ARE, and the GC-GR complex alone was unable to activate transcription via the element. Furthermore, the ability of the GR to transactivate was not required, excluding expression of a GC-induced protein as the mechanism for the GC/RA synergy. Additional transfection experiments showed that the Pbx1/HOXB1 heterodimer was the target for the GC effect. Furthermore, functional dissection of the GR demonstrated that the DNA-binding domain (DBD) of the GR was required for the synergy. A physical interaction between the GR and Pbx1 proteins was demonstrated in vivo by co-immunoprecipitation experiments. These results are compatible with a model in which the GC/RA synergy is mediated by a direct interaction between the GR and Pbx1. On the basis of the ubiquitous expression of both GR and Pbx1, a number of genes regulated by Pbx are likely to be important targets for GC-mediated 'cross-talk'

Taxation, growth and the stock traded nexus in emerging Asian countries: heterogeneous and semi-parametric panel estimates

This study attempts to investigate the impact of economic growth and stock traded on taxation for emerging Asian countries, namely China, India, Indonesia, Republic of Korea, Malaysia and Thailand. To examine the plausible links between these indicators, we used semi-parametric, heterogeneous and panel causality analysis by employing data covering the period 1990–2014. The semi-parametric estimates indicate a U-shape effect between growth and taxation, along with elastic opposite direction effects of stock traded on taxation. This suggests that higher growth will have a positive influence on taxation in emerging Asian countries. The findings of the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (DH) heterogeneous Granger causality test revealed that there is a bi-directional causality running between growth and taxation, and a uni-directional causality running from stock traded to taxation,and from growth to stock traded.This confirms the presence of a growth-led taxation nexus in emerging Asian countries

Permintaan pelancongan bilateral antara Malaysia dan Indonesia

Malaysia dan Indonesia merupakan dua buah negara serumpun di rantau Asia Tenggara yang mempunyai hubungan akrab sekian lama melalui persamaan budaya dan sosioekonomi. Statistik kehadiran pelancong bagi kedua-dua negara menunjukkan saling pergantungan antara satu sama lain dalam penerimaan jumlah pelancong sepanjang tempoh masa kajian. Secara tradisinya, Malaysia dan Indonesia agak popular dengan pelancongan yang memberi fokus kepada keindahan alam sekitar, kekayaaan warisan budaya serta tarikan pelancongan agama yang kini mula mendapat tempat dalam kalangan pelancong-pelancong antarabangsa. Kajian ini menggunakan data bulanan sepanjang tempoh 1995-2016 dengan mengaplikasikan konsep Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) untuk melihat sejauh mana harga pelancongan dan kemeruapan harga minyak dunia mencorakkan trend permintaan pelancongan bilateral antara kedua-dua buah negara. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan pelancong Malaysia ke Indonesia memiliki hubungan penyebab Granger secara bilateral dengan kesan keanjalan harga minyak. Manakala, kehadiran pelancong Indonesia ke Malaysia yang memiliki hubungan penyebab Granger sehala terhadap keanjalan permintaan harga pelancongan Thailand. Kedua-dua negara mencapai tahap penyelarasan keseimbangan yang berbeza dari tahap jangka masa pendek ke jangka masa panjang masing-masing dengan magnitud sekitar 10.8% (pelancong Malaysia ke Indonesia) dan 33% (pelancong Indonesia ke Malaysia).Jelas di sini bahawa, perkembangan sektor pelancongan di antara dua negara serumpun ini berkembang pesat dan memberi impak terhadap pertumbuhan ekonomi kedua-dua negara berkenaan. Dengan itu dapat disimpulkan bahawa permintaan pelancongan bilateral antara Malaysia ke Indonesia tidak mempunyai sebarang pengaruh keanjalan harga permintaan pelancongan. Tambahan, hasil penemuan kajian ini berguna kepada para pembuat dasar dalam merangka strategi untuk meningkatkan permintaan pelancongan bilateral sebagai strategi jangka masa panjangkhususnya dalam usaha mentransformasi rantau Asia Tenggara yang memiliki keunikan yang tersendiri sebagai destinasi pilihan pelancong antarabangsa

Causality between female fertility and female labour force participation in Asean-5

The ASEAN countries have been experiencing drastic declines in fertility of more than 10 percent, particularly since the 1990s. Though the literature on fertility has clearly delineated the importance of income, female labor force participation and infant mortality as key determinants of fertility rates (FRs), the empirical findings from previous studies remains at best mixed. This study therefore identifies the determinants of female fertility for the countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand (ASEAN-5 countries), spanning the period 1980-2010. Using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) cointegration and causality techniques, the main findings of the study are summarized as follows: First, a long-run (LR) stable relationship is evident between female fertility, female labor force participation, income and infant mortality for ASEAN-5. Second, there is a deviation of FRs from the short-run (SR) to the LR equilibrium for ASEAN-5, with the highest and lowest speed of adjustment recorded for Malaysia and Thailand, respectively. Third, FR and economic stability are found to be complementary in the LR for ASEAN-5. When the joint LR and SR causalities are considered, we found that female labor force participation, income and infant mortality have dynamic relationships with FR for all the five ASEAN countries

Does Crude Oil Price, Financial Development, and Trade Openness Reflect on African Oil-Rich Countries’ Economic Growth?

This study investigates empirically the long- and short-run impact of crude oil price and financial globalization on economic growth and financial development in selected oil-rich African countries. The data usage covers 1980 to 2021 by applying the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) modeling to determine the short- and the long-run estimates, and the ARDL-ECM Granger causality to discover the causalities direction. The empirical results reveal that crude oil price and financial globalization have no significant effect on restructuring the economic sustainability patterns in either the long or the short run. There are various causality directions found for those countries involved in this study within the short- and long-run periods. This study recommends that the Republic of Congo and Nigeria should always maximize oil revenue during periods of oil price boom to offset the economic severity during periods of oil price reduction. Further, Algeria and Nigeria’s policymakers should avoid protectionism against financial globalization, economic growth, and trade to mobilize the resources required to be at the fulcrum of future economic restructuring. The empirical findings will be useful for policymakers to design a suitable growth model for African countries that highly depend on crude oil resources as an engine of economic growth