The Macroeconomic Effects of Public Debt: An Empirical Analysis of Evidence from Canada

Public debt refers to the amount of money which a particular country owes to the lenders either inside the country or outside the country. The lenders might be the individuals, businesses or even governments of the other countries. It might also be called as national debt or sovereign debt. Several types are associated with public debt such as domestic debt, external debt and the total debt. Public debt has critical relations with different macroeconomic factors such as economic growth, price levels and exchange rate. In this context, the current study has been conducted with the motive to explore the impact casted by public domestic debt, public external debt and total debt on the macroeconomic factors i.e. economic growth and general price level. As the study has been conducted in the context of Canada, therefore the researcher collected secondary and time series data for Canada. The collected data comprised the time of 28 years. The data regarding the variables of the study was analyzed by using different techniques and tools so that the objective of the study can be fulfilled. The results obtained from the analysis provide information that PDD has negative impact on the economic growth and positive impact on price level in short run as well. In addition, the impact of PED and TD on economic growth is positive only for shorter run and in longer run, this result is not applicable. However, the impact of PED and TD on price levels is too ambiguous to draw any conclusion

Assessing the spatial distribution of methadone clinic clients and their access to treatment

Using Geographic Information System (GIS), the spatial distribution of methadone clinic clients and their utilization of a treatment service in Hong Kong was analysed. A majority (93.7%) of the 63 methadone users recruited were residing in the same district, of which 84.1% spent not more than 15 minutes for traveling. Walking (55.6%) was the commonest transport mode followed by cycling (30.2%). There was no distance decay effect on traveling time, but an association between distance and transport selection could be demonstrated. The residence locations displayed a compact distribution, merging with the general population without any evidence of clustering. Though the distribution of methadone users could have been shaped by the location of clinic, it can also be concluded that methadone clinics at convenient locations are needed if maintenance is a key determinant of service effectiveness

Markowitz portfolio theory and capital asset pricing model for Kuala Lumpur stock exchange: a case revisited

Capital Asset Pricing Model is widely used by investors to estimate the return or the moving behavior of the stock and Markowitz Model is employed to achieve portfolio diversification. This study examine whether CAPM is valid to forecast the behaviour of the each individual stock and its return as well as its validity in the portfolio with stocks listed in Malaysia. Second, it evaluates the suitability of Markowitz Model to evaluate the performance of the Malaysia investment portfolio. This is done within the framework of 2010 to 2014 using weekly data of 60 companies. OLS unbiased estimator, autocorrelation and heterodasticity problems are to be conducted to test the validity of the model. It is concluded that CAPM is reasonable to be the indicator of stock prices in Malaysia as well as in portfolio basket. It proves that there is linearity in CAPM but unique risk and systematic do not need to be captured. Managers can use CAPM as a proxy to estimate their stock return and diversify the portfolio to reduce the unsystematic risk to enable them to execute the right policy in their management in order to maximise profit at the same time increase shareholder wealth maximisation. Furthermore, it is suggested to apply Markowitz portfolio diversification to reduce the unsystematic risk. Overall, portfolio diversification could build up the investors’ confidence towards the investment decision and to develop a sound investment financial market in assisting Malaysia to achieve its mission to be a developed country in 2020

An Evaluation of Container Development Strategies in the Port of Taichung

AbstractThe objective of this study is to examine the container development strategies in the port of Taichung from the viewpoints of carriers, port authorities and shipping academics. The six most important strategic attributes from the all respondents perceptions are Enhancing the services of direct shipping with Mainland China, simplified customs procedures, simplified administrative procedures, developing service routes with Hong Kong and Mainland China, improving port information systems, and flexible rate to response market change. Based on a factor analysis, the findings reflect that price and incentive strategic dimension was the most import strategic dimension, followed by marketing and direct shipping with Mainland China as well as reorganization and information service strategic dimensions. In addition, the perceived implemented period for container development strategic attributes for the Taichung Port was also investigated in this study. Results indicated that four development strategies stood out as being short-term need to perform to all respondents were providing one-stop shopping services for carriers, flexible rate to response market change, enhancing employee training and knowledge, and strengthening port marketing and promotion. Theoretical and managerial implications of the research findings are discussed

Working Capital Management Effect on the Performance of Wholesale and Property Industry in Malaysia

This paper provides the influence of working capital management (WCM) on the performance of public listed wholesale & retail industry and property industry in Malaysia from 2002 to 2011. Regression model is employed by using two measures of companies’ performance namely Return on Assets, ROA (proxy to gauge the firm’s profitability) and Tobin’s Q, TQ (proxy to gauge the firm’s market value) as the dependant variables. WCM components include Current Liabilities to Total Assets Ratio and Current Assets to Total Assets Ratio with three control variables which include of Firm Size (SIZE), Sales Growth (SLGR) and Financial Leverage (LEV) as the independent variables. The results to a very large extent indicate that CATAR and SIZE have significant positive effect on the performance of firm. It suggests that wholesale & retail industry and property industry in Malaysia should pursue unadventurous investment strategy by implementing high altitude of short term investment in order to make profit and create value for their shareholders. It also reveals that the larger the firms are, the more profitable they are; recommending the firms shall expand their business to achieve higher profit and accomplish shareholder wealth maximisation

Influence of macroeconomics factors and legal stability to the insurance growth in the ASEAN-5 countries

This paper examines the influence of legal stability and macroeconomics factor to the non-life insurance development. In light of the growing significance of foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade that stimulate insurance sector, and the stress placed on legal stability of the countries, investigating the role of legal stability is crucial to sustain a country’s financial development. This study employs a panel data analysis spanning 20 years in the selected developing countries. The findings suggest that higher trade, higher income, higher stock market trading activities and higher availability of finance credit will enhance the non-life insurance development. Legal stability such as enhancement on the property right and government integrity will improve the non-life insurance development. When the legal environments in emerging countries are more stable, the FDI and stocks market will become more encouraging and stimulate non-life insurance development. The policy makers should improve the legal stability in emerging countries to improve the financial development for minimizing the gap with developed countries. This study includes the institutional factors components in addition to the macroeconomics factors could provide a complete picture towards the improvement of non-life insurance development in emerging and transition countries

Forecasting stock market volatility on Bursa Malaysia Plantation Index

This research applies the Bursa Malaysia Plantation Index to examine the most suitable forecasting model. The Plantation Index is studied because Malaysia is the world second largest in oil palm producer. Additionally, volatile crude palm oil price has resulted in the Plantation Index becoming more volatile as earnings of plantation companies depend heavily on crude palm oil prices. The forecasting techniques applied were random walk, moving average, simple regression and historical mean. The error in forecasting was measured by symmetric and asymmetric error statistics. The most suitable volatility forecasting technique for Bursa Malaysia Plantation Index was simple regression technique. The findings to a very large extent indicate that although there are different sophisticated forecasting technique, investor, managers and regulators could employ the less costly simple regression method to forecast oil palm related stocks and make their wise decision in investment, management and regulation in oil palm industry

Impacts of risk based capital regulation in Malaysian Islamic insurers (Takaful)

Risk Based Capital framework for Takaful operators (RBCT) is enforced by the Central Bank of Malaysia with the aim to ensure that Takaful operators have adequate capital to provide sound financial service. The objectives of this article is to examine the impacts of RBCT on efficiency, productivity and competitiveness level of Family Takaful Operators (FTO) and the relationship between efficiency and competitiveness in FTO in Malaysia. This study employs three methods namely Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) and Panzar Rosse (PR) to investigate the impacts of RBC on the efficiency, productivity and competitiveness of FTO in Malaysia. The efficiency results indicate that after RBCT comes into effect, the cost efficiency has achieved higher efficient level. Although the productivity efficiency are improving, the technological systems of FTO are yet to achieve a reasonable level. From competitiveness results, the FTO are less competitive prior the implementation of RBCT, but has become more competitive after the regulation of RBCT framework. Furthermore, the more efficient of a Takaful market, the more competitive the market is. The implication of this study is that regulators need to impose prudent risk based capital regulation because it will improve the efficiency and competitiveness of Islamic insurers

Serum selenium concentration is associated with metabolic factors in the elderly: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Selenium is an essential micronutrient known for its antioxidant function. However, the association of serum selenium with lipid profiles and fasting glucose are inconsistent in populations with average intake of selenium. Furthermore, there were few studies conducted specifically for the elderly. This study examined the relationship of serum selenium concentration with serum lipids and fasting glucose in the Taiwanese elderly population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a cross-sectional study of 200 males and females aged 65-85 years (mean 71.5 ± 4.6 years) from Taipei, Taiwan. Serum selenium was measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer. The association between serum selenium and metabolic factors was examined using a multivariate linear regression analysis after controlling several confounders.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean serum selenium concentration was 1.14 μmol/L, without significant difference between sexes. Total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol increased significantly with serum selenium concentration (<it>P </it>< 0.001, <it>P </it>< 0.05 and <it>P </it>< 0.001, respectively) after adjusting for age, gender, anthropometric indices, lifestyle factors, and cardio-vascular risk factors in several linear regression models. Furthermore, there was a significantly positive association between serum selenium and serum fasting glucose concentrations (<it>P </it>< 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol, and fasting serum glucose concentrations increased significantly with serum selenium concentration in the Taiwanese elderly. The underlying mechanism warrants further research.</p