Fundamental and behavioural determinants of stock return volatility in ASEAN-5 countries

Fundamental and behavioural factors are the two determinants of stock prices but are rarely investigated simultaneously. This paper examines the role of fundamental and behavioural factors in stock return volatility in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-5 countries (ASEAN-5) for the period of January 1995 to December 2018 comprising three regimes (before Asian, between Asian and Global, and after Global financial crises). We find that fundamental factors play crucial roles in influencing stock market volatility in Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore; whereas, behavioural factors affect stock market volatility more significantly than fundamental factors in Indonesia and the Philippines. We find distinctive differences across the three regimes supporting the above findings. Further our results suggest that ASEAN-5 has made encouraging progress of integration with Malaysia and Thailand being closer to Singapore in terms of economic development, corporate values, and political stability; however, Indonesia and the Philippines are much behind showing economic instability and their vulnerabilities are especially associated with the timing of the Asian and global financial crises. Our findings also suggest that monetary policies play a more important role than fiscal policies in the region and highlight a number of policy implications

Mangroves and sediment dynamics along the coasts of southern Thailand; Proefschrift Wageningen Universiteit en UNECO-IHE Institute for Water Education.

Mangroves inhabit tropical coastlines and are particularly abundant along deltas and bays where rivers bring freshwater and sediment to the sea. This habitat witnesses great variability in sedimentation and erosion rates, partly governed by variation in hydrodynamics of rivers as well as the sea. Sedimentation and hydrodynamics have a great impact on coastal and mangroves dynamics. Sediment accretion creates new mud flats for colonization whilst exposure to waves and currents may strongly hinder colonization and promote coastal erosion. This study has experimentally quantified responses of mangroves to sedimentation and hydrodynamics. It integrated these findings with demographic and phenological data to develop a simple models and predict mangrove colonization success. Three common Southern Thailand mangrove genera were investigated: Avicennia, Rhizophora and Sonneratia. Responses of the three species were quite different. In sheltered coastal bays, mangroves were able to colonize newly-formed mudflats. Abrupt high sedimentation, however, led to vast mortality in Avicennia but it had less impact on survival and growth of Rhizophora and Sonneratia. Water turbulence had great impact on Rhizophora seedling growth and survival. In contrast, Avicennia and Sonneratia were able to survive and grow well in exposure condition. The integrating models showed that water turbulence and seedling herbivory had the most important impacts on mangrove colonization success. In 30-year simulations, Avicennia was the most successfully colonizing species followed by Sonneratia. Probable sea level rise scenarios seriously reduced colonization success of all species

Mangroves mitigate tsunami damage: A further response

This is a contribution to the discussion on the potential mitigating effect of mangroves to tsunami damage. Kathiresan and Rajendran (2005) were criticised by Kerr et al. (2006). We re-analysed of the original data with an ANOVA-model with covariates. We conclude: (a) the original conclusion of Kathiresan and Rajendran (2005) holds, mortality and property loss were less behind mangroves, and literature suggests that this can be generalised beyond the investigated area; (b) relocation of human settlements 1 km inland is not practical, instead a combination of societal preparedness with early warning and disaster response systems is to be preferred. Furthermore, we deduce that mortality was most strongly, and significantly reduced with increasing elevation above mean sea level, whereas property loss was governed by distance to the shore. This could improve coastal risk assessments. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Carbon neutrality targets, optimal environmental management strategies & the role of financial development: New evidence incorporating non-linear effects and different income levels

Financial development has been found to have mixed effects on CO2 emissions. One reason appears to be the relationship is not linear, as is assumed in most earlier studies. This paper re-examines the relationship between financial development and CO2 emissions based on a panel data of 61 countries categorised as high- and middle-income economies, from 1990 to 2018. This study uses the linear ARDL and nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) cointegration methods to analyse the impact of positive and negative shocks in financial development on CO2 emissions. Additionally, the symmetric and asymmetric panel causality between the variables is also investigated. The analyses from ARDL and NARDL reveal the relationship between financial development and CO2 emissions is asymmetric. In contrast, the positive shocks of financial development from NARDL have a more profound effect than the negative ones, indicating that financial development plays a crucial role in reducing CO2 emissions and achieving carbon neutrality targets. In particular, the findings suggest that the impacts of financial development on CO2 emissions are distinctive in high- and middle-income economies, leading to useful policy implications, including the suggestion that international development bodies help middle-income countries to incorporate consideration of environmental effects into the operation of their financial institutions and systems at an earlier stage of development than would generally be the case