Finance and other services sectors in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak: Testing for stochastic convergence

In the last four decades the financial services sector has becoming more important for the Malaysian economy. Despite gaining importance for enhancing economic growth, the contribution of the finance sector to the total services real GDP has been ranked second in Peninsular Malaysia, third in Sabah and fourth in Sarawak. The purpose of the present paper is to determine whether the contribution of the financial services sector in the three regions in Malaysia, namely Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak show any distinct pattern. In the jargon of economic development literature, we seek to determine whether there is “convergence” or similarity in the patterns of the performance of the financial services sector among the three regions. Generally, our results suggest divergence of the finance sector and other sub-sector of the services among the three regions.stochastic convergence; peninsular malaysia; sabah; sarawak

Military and Economic Growth in ASEAN-5 Countries

In this study we employ the bounds testing procedure suggested by Pesaran (2001) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) proposed by Stock and Watson (1993) to test the robustness of the causal effect and long-run relationships between military expenditure and economic growth in ASEAN-5 countries from the year 1965 to 2006. Generally, our results suggest that: (1) there are only three (Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore) out of five countries analyzed exhibit long–run relationship between military expenditure and economic growth; (2) While for the case of Singapore, the causality is bidirectional, for Indonesia and Thailand it is unidirectional from military expenditure to economic growth; and (3) For the remaining countries, (Malaysia and Philippines), no meaningful relationship could be detected. The results are robust, producing similar results employing both ARDL and DOLS.military expenditure; economic growth; Asean-5

Defense and Inequality: Evidence from Selected ASIAN Countries

This paper examines the causality between military expenditure and income inequality in selected Asian countries namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, India and South Korea for the period 1970-2005. Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing procedure is employed to (1) analyze the impact of military expenditure on income inequality and (2) the impact of income inequality on military expenditure as well. Interestingly our results indicate one way causality running from military expenditure to income inequality only for the case of Malaysia and bidirectional causality for the case of Singapore. As for the remaining countries, no meaningful relationship could be detected and it can be seen as sign of good governance in these countries.defense spending; ARDL; Income Inequality

Defense, Education and Health Expenditures in Selected Asian Countries

This study explores the inter-relationship between military expenditure, education expenditure and health expenditure in eight selected Asian countries namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and South Korea. Autoregressive Distributed Lag-Restricted Error Correction Model (ARDL-RECM) procedure was utilized in the analysis. The empirical results suggest that, except for the case of Malaysia and Sri Lanka, whereby no meaningful interrelationship was detected between these three variables, the results for the rest of the countries are mixed, with differing granger causality being detected among these variables. The mixed results obtained in this study is an indicator of differing policy being implemented and will result in varying implication. Generally the error correction term is significant. Implying there is long-run relationship between defense spending, education and health expenditure.defense spending; health expenditure; education

The Volatility of Thai Rice Price

This study was conducted to explore the varying volatility of world rice price for the period 1961 to 2008 using monthly data. The paper provides estimates of two GARCH models, namely, GARCH and EGARCH which were used to capture the stochastic variation and asymmetries in the world rice price. The results indicate that EGARCH model gives better estimate of the volatility of world rice price. Furthermore the EGARCH model was able to describe the asymmetric volatility in the world price of rice. It was further discovered that the positive shocks (good news) is more dominant than the negative shock (bad news).Keywords: Asymmetry, conditional heteroscedasticity, volatility,world rice price

Finance and other services sectors in Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak: Testing for stochastic convergence

In the last four decades the financial services sector has becoming more important for the Malaysian economy. Despite gaining importance for enhancing economic growth, the contribution of the finance sector to the total services real GDP has been ranked second in Peninsular Malaysia, third in Sabah and fourth in Sarawak. The purpose of the present paper is to determine whether the contribution of the financial services sector in the three regions in Malaysia, namely Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak show any distinct pattern. In the jargon of economic development literature, we seek to determine whether there is “convergence” or similarity in the patterns of the performance of the financial services sector among the three regions. Generally, our results suggest divergence of the finance sector and other sub-sector of the services among the three regions

Military and Economic Growth in ASEAN-5 Countries

In this study we employ the bounds testing procedure suggested by Pesaran (2001) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) proposed by Stock and Watson (1993) to test the robustness of the causal effect and long-run relationships between military expenditure and economic growth in ASEAN-5 countries from the year 1965 to 2006. Generally, our results suggest that: (1) there are only three (Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore) out of five countries analyzed exhibit long–run relationship between military expenditure and economic growth; (2) While for the case of Singapore, the causality is bidirectional, for Indonesia and Thailand it is unidirectional from military expenditure to economic growth; and (3) For the remaining countries, (Malaysia and Philippines), no meaningful relationship could be detected. The results are robust, producing similar results employing both ARDL and DOLS

Military and Economic Growth in ASEAN-5 Countries

In this study we employ the bounds testing procedure suggested by Pesaran (2001) and dynamic OLS (DOLS) proposed by Stock and Watson (1993) to test the robustness of the causal effect and long-run relationships between military expenditure and economic growth in ASEAN-5 countries from the year 1965 to 2006. Generally, our results suggest that: (1) there are only three (Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore) out of five countries analyzed exhibit long–run relationship between military expenditure and economic growth; (2) While for the case of Singapore, the causality is bidirectional, for Indonesia and Thailand it is unidirectional from military expenditure to economic growth; and (3) For the remaining countries, (Malaysia and Philippines), no meaningful relationship could be detected. The results are robust, producing similar results employing both ARDL and DOLS

Defense, Education and Health Expenditures in Selected Asian Countries

This study explores the inter-relationship between military expenditure, education expenditure and health expenditure in eight selected Asian countries namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and South Korea. Autoregressive Distributed Lag-Restricted Error Correction Model (ARDL-RECM) procedure was utilized in the analysis. The empirical results suggest that, except for the case of Malaysia and Sri Lanka, whereby no meaningful interrelationship was detected between these three variables, the results for the rest of the countries are mixed, with differing granger causality being detected among these variables. The mixed results obtained in this study is an indicator of differing policy being implemented and will result in varying implication. Generally the error correction term is significant. Implying there is long-run relationship between defense spending, education and health expenditure

Defense, Education and Health Expenditures in Selected Asian Countries

This study explores the inter-relationship between military expenditure, education expenditure and health expenditure in eight selected Asian countries namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and South Korea. Autoregressive Distributed Lag-Restricted Error Correction Model (ARDL-RECM) procedure was utilized in the analysis. The empirical results suggest that, except for the case of Malaysia and Sri Lanka, whereby no meaningful interrelationship was detected between these three variables, the results for the rest of the countries are mixed, with differing granger causality being detected among these variables. The mixed results obtained in this study is an indicator of differing policy being implemented and will result in varying implication. Generally the error correction term is significant. Implying there is long-run relationship between defense spending, education and health expenditure