Augmented MCi: AN Indicator Of Monetary Policy Stance For ASEAN-5?

This paper uses quarterly data from 1980 to 2004 for ASEAN-5 founder countries to estimate the weight of the Augmented Monetary Conditions Index (AMCI), and identifies the key transmission mechanism paths using Pesaran and Pesaran’s (1997) ARDL procedure, and Pesaran et al.’s (2001) bounds procedure. The roles of credit and asset price channels are assessed for aggregate demand conditions and in the transmission of monetary policy. Results reveal evidence of cointegration for all the ASEAN-Five founder countries. The estimate of the interest and exchange rate elasticities of aggregate demand is used to determine the weight of the exchange rate in the AMCI, and ultimately the weight is then used to construct the AMCI ratio. Exchange rate, asset price, and interest rate channels are three key transmission mechanisms in the conduct of monetary policy in Indonesia and Thailand. Meanwhile in Malaysia and Singapore, exchange rate, both the long and short term interest rate, and credit channels are three key transmission mechanisms in the conduct of monetary policy. In the Philippines, four key transmission mechanisms take place, namely the interest rate, exchange rate, credit, and asset price channels, with short rate relatively weaker than the long rate at the margin. The estimated weights of real interest rates and real exchange rate are used to estimate the AMCI ratios. The AMCI ratios range from 0.052 to 0.664 [0.052:1 for Philippines, 0.056:1 for Thailand, 0.073:1 for Indonesia, 0.109:1 for Malaysia; and 0.664 for Singapore]. Monetary conditions during the period under-study are found to be reflected in each of the central banks’ reaction to the prevailing economic situation, which implies that AMCI tracks the movements of the real GDP plausibly on the average, particularly after 1997.Augmented Monetary Conditions Index; monetary policy; transmission mechanism

A monetary policy rule: The augmented Monetary Conditions Index for Philippines using UECM and bounds tests

This paper constructs the augmented monetary conditions index (AMCI) over 1982:1-2004:4 using UECM and bounds test approach for the Philippines data. Results reveal evidence of cointegration between the real GDP and its determinants, namely short-term interest rate, exchange rate and claims on private sectors that take into account three key transmission mechanisms channels in the conduct of monetary policy, namely the interest rate, exchange rate and credit channels. While asset price channel is found to be insignificant. The monetary conditions during the study periods is reflected in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’s reaction to the prevailing economic situation, imply that the AMCI tracks the inverse movements of the real GDP growth reasonably well after 1990s. Possible light of policy implications have put forward.AMCI, monetary policy, cointegration, bounds test, UECM, transmission mechanisms

An Application Of Augmented Monetary Conditions Index On The ASEAN-Five

Previous studies have suggested Monetary Conditions Index (hereafter MCI) serves as an indicator of the monetary policy stance to capture the degree of tightness of the monetary policy. The weights of the MCI in the model reflect long-term effects of the interest rate and the exchange rate on the economic activity and ultimately the inflation. Nevertheless, MCIs may not be used as an operational target as it has heavily been documented in the mainstream literature since it is not resilient to the problem of shock identification. Recognizing the caveats upon its usage empirically, the augmented MCI (AMCI) is contemplated by incorporating more informative ‘other variables’ into the conventional model which consists of two major variables i.e., the interest rate and the exchange rate. Since monetary policy affects the price level through a number of transmission mechanisms, other potential variables need to be incorporated to AMCI to account for possible channels in the transmission mechanisms. The details of “other variables” are as follows: 1) government bonds yield as proxy for long-term interest rate; 2) the real share price as proxy for asset price channel, and 3) real claims on private sectors for credit channel. However, the lag effects of the examined determinant variables on output are dynamics and vary, at least in the short-term. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is to estimate the weight of the AMCI, and identify the lag effect on the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) using Autoregression Distribution Lags (ARDL) bounds test approach for cointegration analysis as proposed by Pesaran et al., (2001). Bounds test reveals an evidence of the long-run cointegration for all the ASEAN-Five founder countries. This has verified the stability of the country’s GDP demand function which is used to construct the AMCI ratio. In Indonesia, the bounds test reveals an evidence of the long-run cointegration between the real GDP and its determinants, namely the bond rate, the exchange rate, and the share prices from 1983:2-2004:4. Nevertheless, the claim of private sector (COPS, the proxy of credit channel) does not appear to be a significant variable in the model. Meanwhile for both Malaysia and Singapore, the ARDL approach validates the existence of long-run cointegration between the GDP and the exchange rate, the bond and the short-term interest rate, as well as the COPS over the quarterly period of 1980:1-2004:4 and 1981:1-2004:4 respectively. Nevertheless, the asset price channel does not fit into the model significantly. While in Thailand, the bounds test reveals an evidence of the cointegration between the real GDP and its determinants, i.e., the interest rate, the exchange rate, and the share price over the quarterly period of 1980:1-2004:4). However, the credit channel does not reveal any significant result in the model. In the Philippines, the bounds test reveals an evidence of a cointegration between the real GDP and the bond rate, the short-term interest rate, the exchange rate, the COPS, and the share price that address all the key transmission mechanisms channels in the conduct of the monetary policy, namely the interest rate channel, the exchange rate channel, the credit channel, and the asset price channel over the quarterly period of 1982:1-2004:4 Monetary conditions during the period under-study are found to be reflected in each of the central banks’ reaction to the prevailing economic situation, which implies that AMCI tracks the inversed movements of the real GDP plausibly on the average, except during the onset of Asian financial crisis in 1997

A Bibliometric Analysis of Biodegradable Products in Circular Economy and Consumer Perception

The transition towards a global circular economy is widely acknowledged as one of the most promising solutions to counteract resource depletion and environmental deterioration. In alignment with this perspective, there has been a rise in the availability of environmentally friendly products in the consumer market. This shift towards sustainable production and consumption patterns has led to a surge in scholarly interest surrounding biodegradable studies, particularly from the consumer viewpoint, within the context of the circular economy. However, the exploration of this topic, especially concerning the consumer perspective and its role in the circular economy, remains limited in the existing literature search. With the ongoing progression towards a circular economy, there is an evident need for a deeper understanding, extracted from available literature. Utilizing a bibliometric analysis approach, this study aims to enhance comprehension of the present knowledge landscape and delineate potential future research directions linked to consumers’ roles in the transition from a linear to a circular economy, as well as their intent to adopt biodegradable products. Employing boolean operators and wildcard searches, a topic exploration was conducted within the Web of Science (WoS) core collection database on August 22, 2022. The study spanned from the first publication in the field in 2017 to the current date. A total of 51 documents were retrieved for comprehensive bibliometric analysis. To visualize research productivity and bibliometric insights, Tableau and VOSviewer were employed as presentation tools. The findings unveil the involvement of 223 authors hailing from 26 countries. The top three research areas encompass Environmental Sciences Ecology (35.3%), Science Technology Other Topics (33.3%), and Engineering (29.4%). Notably, the majority of significant contributors originated from the United States. Leading the pack of core publication journals is the Journal of Cleaner Production, cited 129 times in WoS. Co-authorship and country collaboration networks indicate a minimal level of partnerships. Through keywork co-occurrence network analysis, three prominent themes were identified: process, materials, and consumers. This analysis distinctly elucidates various developmental stages as well as nascent dimensions that constitute potential focal points for future research agendas in the field. Keywords: bibliometric, biodegradable, circular economy, consumer, Wo

Predictive Power of Output Growth, Inflation, and Interest Rate on Stock Return and Volatility: A Comparison

Using monthly data from seven mature and emerging markets and a battery of GARCH and EGARCH models, the study of Davis and Kutan (2003) on inflation and output on stock returns and volatility is extended by including interest rate to compare the effect between three mature markets (US, Japan, and Singapore) and four emerging markets who experienced a crisis before (Malaysia, India, Korea, and Philippines). It is found that economic volatility, as measured by movement in inflation, output growth, and interest rate, have a weak predictor power for stock market volatility and returns. In line with the evidence reported in Davis and Kutan (2003), the findings suggest that there is no support for the Fisher effect in stock returns among the seven mature and emerging markets.   Keywords: Predictive power; output; inflation; interest rate; stock return volatility.

Smart partnership and collaboration: A case study on Multimedia University

This paper aims to discuss the smart partnership between education and industry by using Multimedia University (MMU) as a focal point. Having identified various key niche areas, 25 centres of Excellence have been established in the university where academic staff and students collaborate on various research interests. To enhance research and development activities, MMU collaborates with leading international companies such as NTT, Alcatel, Fujitsu, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and many more. These companies collaborates with MMU in many ways such as joint R & D , joint venture, scholarships and scholarships .As a result, MMU was awarded the Excellence in Research and Development award at Private Education Nite 2003 by Malaysia’s Ministry of Education

e-Learning campus in Malaysia: A case study on Multimedia University

This paper aims to discuss the development of e-learning in Malaysia, with Multimedia University (MMU) as the focal point. MMU, the first private university in Malaysia that has emphasized on the usage of Information Communication Technology (ICT) has made some revolutions in Malaysia’s education frontier. Using the state-of-the-art internet-based technologies and instructional facilities, the Internet Based Degree Programme (IBDP) provides flexibility to students to meet their education goals at their own pace and time. All the students need to do is access to a computer and the Internet to take advantage of the high quality, convenient, and cost-effective education and training provided by the MMU e-learning campus. In unison, e-management is widely employed via the in-house developed Integrated Computerized Education Management System (ICEMS) that promotes a paperless-administration environment and dissemination of information electronically between communities in both Cyberjaya campus and Malacca campus. The methodology of this paper will be a qualitative research, which will be based mostly on secondary data

Monetary Conditions Index in Singapore.

This paper looks at bound test approach for cointegration analysis, to verify the stability of Singaporean real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), to construct the Monetary Conditions Index (MCI) over the quarterly period 1981:1-2004:4. The bounds test confirms a long-run equilibrium relationship between the output and its determinants, namely short-term and long-term interest rate, exchange rate, claims on private sector, and share prices. Results reveal evidence of cointegration between these variables in both short and long run. As such, this has further verified the stability of the Singaporean output demand function to construct the Monetary Conditions Index (MCI), and how the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) responds to exchange rate changes and whether the policy responses differ. The study has evidently showed that the actual monetary stance reacts corresponding to the MCIs

Genome-Wide Association Study of Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Southern Chinese Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection

One of the most relevant risk factors for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development is chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, but only a fraction of chronic HBV carriers develop HCC, indicating that complex interactions among viral, environmental and genetic factors lead to HCC in HBV-infected patients. So far, host genetic factors have incompletely been characterized. Therefore, we performed a genome-wide association (GWA) study in a Southern Chinese cohort consisting of 95 HBV-infected HCC patients (cases) and 97 HBV-infected patients without HCC (controls) using the Illumina Human610-Quad BeadChips. The top single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were then validated in an independent cohort of 500 cases and 728 controls. 4 SNPs (rs12682266, rs7821974, rs2275959, rs1573266) at chromosome 8p12 showed consistent association in both the GWA and replication phases (ORcombined = 1.31–1.39; pcombined = 2.71×10−5–5.19×10−4; PARcombined = 26–31%). We found a 2.3-kb expressed sequence tag (EST) in the region using in-silico data mining and verified the existence of the full-length EST experimentally. The expression level of the EST was significantly reduced in human HCC tumors in comparison to the corresponding non-tumorous liver tissues (P<0.001). Results from sequence analysis and in-vitro protein translation study suggest that the transcript might function as a long non-coding RNA. In summary, our study suggests that variations at chromosome 8p12 may promote HCC in patients with HBV. Further functional studies of this region may help understand HBV-associated hepatocarcinogenesis