A Panel Data Analysis of FDI, Trade Openness, and Liberalization on Economic Growth of the ASEAN-5

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has contributed heavily to development of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). In this study, the concentration is on five ASEAN countries: namely Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines. FDI inflows into the ASEAN-5 multiplied spectacularly from 1980 to 1997, but the trend has reversed since the Asian financial crisis in 1997. This paper seeks to examine the contributions of FDI, trade openness, and liberalization to economic growth and development in the ASEAN-5

Impact of Technological Innovation Capabilities on the Market Value of Firms

In the era of globalisation and with the advent of knowledge economies, organisational innovation has assumed a critical role in enhancing economic performance of firms. Proponents of the Resource Based View of the firm and its more recent extensions such as the Knowledge Based View and Dynamic Capabilities Theory have suggested that generation, diffusion and application of organisational knowledge could be the source of sustained competitive advantage and superior performance of firms. While there is near unanimity in accepting the vital role of innovation in a firm\u27s performance, consensus on what constitutes organisational innovation and how to measure it has proven to be elusive so far. Most previous research in this area has conceptualised innovation through one or more dimensions of a firm\u27s innovative capability using R&D of a firm only. The measurement of the construct has thus reflected this narrow conceptualisation with a single measure of R&D expenditure being the most often used proxy. This study utilises a broader de¯nition of organisational innovation capabilities that includes the generation, dissemination and strength of innovative activity in a firm. The unique features of this study is that it uses multiple indicators of a firm\u27s innovation pro¯le along with lagged measures of market value using fixed effects panel data analysis

An Assessment of OECD Health Care System Using Panel Data Analysis

The health care delivery system of twenty five OECD nations is analyzed in this paper. This study seeks to assess the significance of various factors contributing to life expectancy and infant mortality for the 1990-2002 period. A fixed-effects panel data model was used to examine the factors influencing life expectancy and infant mortality. More specifically the impact of economic, institutional, and social factors in determining the dependent variables are measured and evaluated.Analysis of health care, Quality of life, OECD

US FDI flows to ASEAN-5: Do Geographic Neighbors Matter?

This paper investigates the possibility of interdependence between flows of US FDI to the ASEAN region. The study incorporates information asymmetry into an FDI model to examine the influence of geographic neighbors on new flows of FDI from the United States. Spillovers are modeled using the cost structure of a multinational investing in a region where US firms are already present. The results show that there are negative spillovers of US FDI in the ASEAN region affecting mostly the non-manufacturing sector.Foreign Direct Investment, Spillovers, ASEAN

A Monetary Approach to Exchange Rate Dynamics in Low-Income Countries: Evidence from Kenya

The flexible price monetary model assumes that both the purchasing power parity (PPP) and uncovered interest parity (UIP) hold continuously. In addition, the model posits that money market equilibrium exists, which helps to determine the exchange rate. This paper explores exchange rate determination in low-income economies by applying a monetary model to Kenya to examine the exchange rate dynamics in a post-float exchange rate regime. We apply a multivariate cointegration and error correction model (ECM) to investigate whether the long-run exchange rate equilibrium and the rate of adjustment to the long-run equilibrium hold, respectively. Finally, we evaluate the relative performance of ECM versus a random walk framework in the out-of-sample forecasting. We find that the random walk performs better than the restricted model.Exchange rate; volatility; regime changes; Kenyan Shilling

Institutions-Augmented Solow Model And Club Convergence

Growth economists still face challenges and limitations to incorporate institutions into the standard growth framework. This article develops a simple augmented Solow growth model that accounts for the interactions between institutions and factor-productivity and examine the impacts of the quality of institutions on levels and growth rates of output. The institutions augmented growth model shows that differences in the quality of institutions preclude convergence and determine both the level and the growth rate of output per worker. The model also shows that poor institutions induce poverty traps. Furthermore, the income gap between rich and poor countries will increase if poor countries’ institutions do not improve relative to their rich counterpart.Solow Model, Institutions, Club Convergence, Poverty Traps

Testing Export-led Growth Hypothesis in Kenya: An ADRL Bounds Test Approach

Over the years, there has been extensive research on the relationship between a country’s export and economic growth with ambiguous and mixed results. Instead of using the conventional cointegration approach, this paper re-examines the export-led growth hypothesis for Kenya using autoregressive distributed lag (ADRL) bounds technique. This approach is capable of testing for the existence of a long-run relationship regardless of whether the underlying time series are individually I(1) or I(0). This enhances the stability and robustness of our results. In addition, we examine the Granger causality between exports and economic growth over the sample period. The results indicate that there exists a long-term relationship between GDP growth and exports, and it is unidirectional, running from exports to GDP growth. Hence, in the case of Kenya, export enhancing policies are recommended in promoting and sustaining economic growth.Exports; economic growth and causality

Poverty, Geography and Institutional Path Dependence

Using seven alternative measures of the institutions, this study examines the impacts of the quality of institutions on poverty rates in developing countries. The estimates obtained using the instrumental variable method (2SLS) show that the quality of institutions is negatively related with poverty rates and explain a significant portion of the variation in poverty rates across countries. More precisely, the empirical results suggest that an economy with a robust system to control corruption, market-friendly policies, a working judiciary system, and in which people have freedom to exercise their citizenship will create the necessary conditions to promote economic development and reduce poverty. The results suggest that pro-poor policies aimed at reducing poverty should first consider improving the quality of institutions in developing countries as a pre-requisite for economic development and poverty eradication.Poverty Trap, Institutions, Development

Study of management of supracondylar femoral fracture using dynamic condylar screw

Background: Supracondylar femoral fracture poses a considerable therapeutic challenge. Operative treatment has become a standardized procedure. Stabilization has usually been achieved by an osteosynthesis with dynamic condylar screws or retrograde supracondylar nailing. In this article we are going to compare the results of surgical management of supracondylar nail and dynamic condylar screw. The aim is to study the effectiveness of dynamic condylar screw in surgical management of supracondylar fractures of femur.Methods: Prospective study of patients who had sustained supracondylar fracture of femur. The patients included in this study were those with supracondylar fractures of the femur with or without articular involvement and disruption of the joint surface. Study was done for a period of two and half years.Results: In our study of 21 cases, there were 8 patients (38%) who had associated fractures. Two patients were more than 50 yrs. 3 patients had compound injury which were grade-II of Gustilo Anderson classification. One of them developed post-operative infection and resulted in poor outcome. Other 2 patients had decrease range of movements resulted in fair outcome. Type C2 constituted highest number 8 (38%) followed by type A3 which was 28.5% i.e., 8 patients. Infection is observed in 9.5% of patients. 2 patients had implant failure and both were due to early weight bearing. In our study excellent and good results were found to be in 61.9%.Conclusions: Role of dynamic compression screw in the surgical management of supracondylar fractures of the femur minimizes the risk of complications

Chordwise Bending Vibration Analysis of Functionally Graded Beams with Concentrated Mass

AbstractThe natural frequencies of a rotating functionally graded cantilever beam with concentrated mass are studied in this paper. The beam made of a functionally graded material (FGM) consisting of metal and ceramic is considered for the study. The material properties of the FGM beam symmetrically vary continuously in thickness direction from core at mid section to the outer surfaces according to a power-law form. The equations of motion are derived from a modeling method which employs Rayleigh-Ritz method to estimate the natural frequencies of the beam. Dirac delta function is used to model the concentrated mass in to the system. The influence of the material variation, tip mass and its location on the natural frequencies of vibration of the functionally graded beam is investigated