Survey Evidence on the Rationality of Business Expectations: Implications from the Malaysian Agricultural Sector

The rational expectations hypothesis (REH) serves as an appealing mechanism in forming expectations compared to that of extrapolative or adaptive frameworks because of its consistency with the basic principles of maximizing behavior. This argument is particularly true as the basic idea of REH maintains that expectations in an uncertain world are formed under assumptions where no systematic errors and information are fully utilized. However, empirical findings from the present study showed diverse evidence of rationality in business operational forecasts formed by Malaysian agriculture firms, as capital expenditure expectations were found to be irrational but gross revenue expectations were supportive of the REH proposition. This implies that the survey of business forecasts may not work well in reflecting the true business outlook, specifically in value-related operational forecasts, which in turn would directly influence investment decisions as well as the capital budgeting process.Rational Expectations Hypothesis; Unbiasedness Test; Non-serial Correlation Test; Weak-form Efficiency Test

Forecasting malaysian business cycle movement: empirical evidence from composite leading indicator

Early detection of a turning point in a business cycle is crucial, as information about the changing phases in business cycles enables policy makers, the business community, and investors to cope better with unexpected events brought about by economic and business situations. The Malaysian economy is fortunate to own a publicly accessible composite of leading indicator (CLI) that is presumed capable of tracing the business cycle movement and thus contributes to the creation of an early signaling tool for short-term economic forecasting. Certainly, the usefulness of this CLI in monitoring the contemporary economic and business condition in Malaysia will be empirically appealing to the nation. Even though the present study can display the ability of the Malaysian CLI to trace the business cycle and offers advanced detection of business cycle turning points, the evidence of diminishing lead times foreseen by the CLI significantly weaken the fundamental function of a leading index as an early tool to signal economic vulnerability.Business Cycle; Composite Leading Indicator; Early Signaling Tool

Money Influence on Real Economy Activity: Evidences Review on Japanese Context

Over the past few decades, voluminous studies have been carried out to find out the money influence on real economy activity. Various models and methodologies have been employed to empirically examine the precision of monetary neutrality proposition as well as the money validity in order to generate the answer on whether money is posited a viable variable of monetary policy. This paper discussed some varied empirical findings in general as well as in Japanese context out of these numerous literature

Revisiting the Oil-Growth Nexus : Evidence from Selected Oil Importing and Oil Exporting Countries

This study investigates the impact of oil prices on economic growth in oil importing countries (China, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain and Thailand) and oil exporting countries (Brazil, Canada, Iran, Kuwait, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates), covering the period of 1995- 2021. Under the panel estimation approach, we can postulate that oil price is exerting a significantly positive impact towards economic growth for oil exporting nations, regardless of whether the time horizon is in short run or long-run contexts. On the other hand, oil importing nations tend to experience negative impact from the oscillatory fluctuations in the oil price. It is proposed that policy makers in oil importing nations can respond to the positive oil price shock can be lessened by hedging product purchases using futures contracts on net oil-importing nations with poor exports of other commodities. Alternatively, for net oil-importers, pricing-based policies such as transferring price increases to consumers and providing subsidies can be implemented to reduce the negative effect of oil prices hikes towards the economy

HYPERDONTIA IN CHILDREN AT THE PAEDIATRIC DENTAL CLINIC: HIPERDONSIA PADA PASIEN KLINIK GIGI ANAK

This was a retrospective study that looked at the prevalence, characteristics, gender predilection and common problems associated with supernumerary teeth found in children at the Paediatric Dental Clinic, National University of Malaysia (UKM). Four hundred ninety clinical records of children with relevant radiographs, mean age of 8 years (range 6-12 yearsold) were analyzed. The result showed that the prevalence of supernumerary teeth was found to be 3.1%. One hundred percent of the supernumerary teeth were found among patients of Mongoloid descendents (Malay and Chinese). Males were more frequently affected than females with a ratio of 4.1:1. Of the 22 supernumerary teeth found, 75.0% of the teeth were unerupted, 91.0% were located at the anterior maxillary region, 77.3% were conical in shape and 72.7% were of mesiodens type. Uneruption of permanent tooth and crowding were the common problems associated with the supernumerary teeth. All patients with supernumerary teeth were in the mixed dentition stage. In conclusion, majority of supernumerary teeth found were unerupted, located at the anterior maxillary region, mesiodens in conical shape and commonly seen in Mongoloid males

Assessing the Relationship between Socio-demographic, Clinical Profile and Financial Toxicity: Evidence from Cancer Survivors in Sarawak

Background: Patient’s financial ability is always the most critical imputes to treatment choice and adherence; as it translates into health outcomes such as survival rate and quality of life. Cancer care is likely to affect the patient’s financial well-being, putting huge financial pressure to the families. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the confounding factors of financial toxicity among cancer survivors along the course of survivorship. Methods: This study was designed in the form of cross-sectional analysis, in which, cancer survivors were recruited from the Sarawak General Hospital, the largest tertiary and referral public hospital in Sarawak. To capture the financial toxicity of the cancer survivors, the Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST) instrument in its validated form was adopted. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was applied to determine the relationship between financial toxicity (FT) and its predictors. Results: The median age of the 461 cancer survivors was 56 while the median score of COST was 22.0. Besides, finding from multivariable logistic regression revealed that low income households (OR: 6.893, 95% CI, 3.109-15.281) were susceptible to higher risk of financial toxicity, while elderly survivors above 50 years old reported a lower risk in financial toxicity. Also, survivors with secondary schooling (OR:0.240; 95%CI, 0.110-0.519) and above [College or university (OR: 0.242; 95% CI, 0.090-0.646)] suffer a lower risk of FT. Conclusion: Financial toxicity was found to be associated with survivors age, household income and educational level. In the context of cancer treatment within public health facility, younger survivors, households from B40 group and individual with educational attainment below the first level schooling in the Malaysian system of education are prone to greater financial toxicity. Therefore, it is crucial for healthcare policymakers and clinicians to deliberate the plausible risk of financial toxicity borne by the patient amidst the treatment process

The Pandemic Paradox : Unfolding the Impact Of COVID-19 Twin Crises on Domestic Violence in Malaysia

The coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is truly a stunning global experience that deepened economic, social, and health-related disparities, mercilessly pushing all aspects of livelihood into vulnerability state. The scale of the COVID-19 impact is more than just a health crisis or economic crisis. When the virus sail through the territory, health containment measures necessary to reduce the speed of virus transmission such as social isolation, mandatory quarantines, border closures, school closures and working from home have worsened personal and collective vulnerabilities, resulting in unintended consequences on domestic violence. The upsurge of family victimization has enormously affected those who were already most likely to experience disaster-related instability, steep losses in employment, economic stress as well as those who are living in exploitative relationships and ill health. In view of this, the recovery of the nation is surrounded by a trio of interlocking crises that worth empirical investigation. Using panel analysis on family violence data extracted from the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP), the study uncovered the presence of worsened the structural factors in the society that contribute to the escalating domestic violence in Malaysia

Effect of Garlic and Turmeric Powders on In Vitro Digestibility of the Cooked Rice

Consumers nowadays are interested in foods with low glycemic index (GI) and high indigestible carbohydrate content. In Asia, white rice is the staple food and is generally considered as a readily digestible and high GI food. Occasionally, white rice is cooked by mixing with other ingredients such as herbs and spices. This study is carried out to determine the total phenolic content and the effect of in vitro digestibility on cooked white rice with added garlic and turmeric powders. Rice cooked with addition of turmeric powder (3 % w/w) showed the highest total phenolic content (92.02 mg GAE/100 g) among all the cooked rice samples. The effect of incorporating garlic powder (3 % w/w) and turmeric powder (3 % w/w) into the rice preparation was determined using an in vitro digestion protocol. Results show that by incorporating either garlic or turmeric powder into the rice, starch digestibility was significantly reduced. Rice with added turmeric powder showed a greater reduction in digestibility with significantly lower fraction of rapidly digestible starch (41.5 %; white rice 57.6 %) beside higher fraction of slowly digestible starch (36.1 %; white rice 28.4 %) and resistant starch fraction (22.6 %; white rice 14%). Overall, both spices were able to inhibit starch digestion which can be considered as a potential ingredient in lowering starch digestibility in the cooked rice

Chemical analysis on the honey of Heterotrigona itama and Tetrigona binghami from Sarawak, Malaysia

This study aims to compare the chemical composition of honey samples produced by Heterotrigona itama and Tetrigona binghami which originated from Sarawak, Malaysia. One hundred and six (106) honey samples were collected from local bee farms and analysed in terms of their chemical profiles. The chemical analysis conducted includes physicochemical composition such as moisture, total phenolic content, sugar, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), pH and organic acids and proximate analysis which included ash, protein, carbohydrates and energy. Independent T-test was used as a statistical tool to investigate the significant difference between the composition of both honey samples. The results showed that honey samples of Heterotrigona itama and Tetrigona binghami possessed significant difference (p<0.05) in moisture, total phenolic content, fructose, glucose, pH, protein, gluconic acid, acetic acid, ash, carbohydrates and energy. The honey samples of Heterotrigona itama exhibited significantly higher fructose and glucose at the average of 22.00 ± 3.48 g/ 100 g and 23.45 ± 3.23 g/100 g, respectively. Besides, the honey samples also possessed higher pH value, gluconic acid, ash, carbohydrates and energy. Meanwhile, Tetrigona binghami honey samples possessed significantly (p< 0.05) higher moisture content, total phenolic content, protein and acetic acid compared to the Heterotrigona itama’s honey samples. To conclude, the geographical and floral origins of honey are the two important quality parameters which fundamentally affect the physical-chemical properties as well as biological activities of honey samples

Rationality of business operational forecasts: evidence from Malaysian distributive trade sector

The underlying nature of forecast optimization makes the rational expectations hypothesis (REH) a framework that is theoretically consistent with the expectations formation produced by economic agents under well-defined assumptions of unbiased forecasts and efficient utilization of available information. Most of the recent literature on REH testing has favored a direct procedure based on survey data to validate the theoretical soundness of REH. However, the ability of survey materials to reflect the economic agent’s true expectations remains unconvincing, as previous empirical studies on survey-based expectations have offered mixed evidence of forecast rationality. The present study involved an attempt to evaluate the forecast rationality of survey materials from the Malaysian perspective, as empirical evidence from the view of a developing nation is clearly limited. An expectational series on gross revenue and capital expenditure, spanning 1978 through 2007, was subjected to tests of unbiasedness, non-serial correlation, and efficiency to observe whether the business operational forecasts contributed by the distributive trade sector in Malaysia can be accepted as rational forecasts of the actual realized values. We found that both operational variables are being irrationally constructed, suggesting that forecasters in the distributive trade sector are not rational when they formulate business expectations. Thus, business firms in the examined sector are encouraged to incorporate more relevant information into their business operational forecasts to facilitate more accurate and realistic business forecasting