Flexibility between market-led and government-led economies

The 1997-98 East Asia financial crisis has raised doubts over the roles of two economic-systems: market-led and government-led economies. This paper deliberates on the two opposing economic systems: the choice of which are continually debated. There is a need for governments to look at economic flexibility and determine whether the countries affected by the financial crisis could reposition themselves fast enough. More specifically, this paper evaluates the performance of government-led economies such as those in Malaysia,Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia when compared to marketled economies as practised in the United Kingdom, United States, and Japan.A compilation of an index method based on Angresano (1996) consisting of the quantitative performance measure for an identified country was computed over the average period 1980-2003. The findings of this study suggest that the approaches to a market-led or government-led economy is a matter of degree and are not mutually exclusive

The displaced plantation workers: A case study of rubber estates in Kedah

Eviction of plantation workers, due to the development of estate lands and changing land ownerships, has been a big and unresolved issue. Many plantation areas have been sold to make way either for housing projects or industrial sites. When an estate is sold, the estate workers lose not only their jobs, but also their homes and additional sources of income from farming and animal husbandry. They are also entitled to receive termination benefits. The majority of these displaced workers have skills only in the agricultural sector and many of them are old aged. The main objective of this study was to analysis the socioeconomic situations of the displaced workers due to the development of the rubber estate lands in Kedah. The snowball sampling method was used to identify the respondents. The survey was based on 11 estates and 349 ex-workers of these estates were interviewed. The areas of this study were in Sungai Petani and Kulim. The results clearly showed that the majority of the evicted workers migrated to locations that were on average around 3km from their original estates. The majority of them worked with private sector companies upon their evictions. However, many of them are still in their estate houses, waiting for better compensation to be paid in the form of new houses elsewhere. It is suggested in this paper that the compensation should be in terms of home ownership, provided jointly by the government and firms. There have also been some suggestions to solve the issue through programmes provided by the Ministry of Agriculture

Advertizing, concentration and profitability in Malaysian manufacturing revisited: A simultaneous equation approach

The original Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm that postulates a unidirectional relationship between concentration, advertizing and profitability had been used as the theoretical framework for many empirical works in industrial organizations before the mid seventies. Thereafter, doubts had begun to surface over the unidirectional postulate and there is new theory suggesting simultaneous interdependence. Unfortunately, not only are Malaysian studies in this area few and far between (exhaustive literature review yields only three published studies namely, Gan and Tham, 1977; Gan, 1978; and Rugayah, 1992), they also failed to incorporate the more recent theoretical development on the simultaneity of effects. This paper revisits the SCP paradigm as applied to the relationship among concentration, advertizing and profitability by conducting an empirical test that allows for simultaneous interdependence among variables. A set of three equations was estimated using three stage least squares (3SLS). The results provide considerable support to the feed forward and feedback effects between the three variables. Advertizing intensity exerts a significant influence on profit and concentration in the industry and there exists a feedback effect running from concentration to advertizing intensity. This finding suggests that advertizing does have an anti-competitive impact on the industry and therefore has a direct bearing on competition policy analysis

Flexibility between Market-Led and Government-Led Economies

The 1997-98 East Asia financial crisis has raised doubts over the roles of two economic-systems: market-led and government-led economies. This paper deliberates on the two opposing economic systems: the choice of which are continually debated. There is a need for governments to look at economic flexibility and determine whether the countries affected by the financial crisis could reposition themselves fast enough. More specifically, this paper evaluates the performance of government-led economies such as those in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, and Indonesia when compared to marketled economies as practised in the United Kingdom, United States, and Japan. A compilation of an index method based on Angresano (1996) consisting of the quantitative performance measure for an identified country was computed over the average period 1980-2003. The findings of this study suggest that the approaches to a market-led or government-led economy is a matter of degree and are not mutually exclusive.

The impact of export instability on Malaysia's economic growth

This study examines the relationship between export stability and economic growth in Malaysia using time series analysis techniques that address the problem of nonstationarity.The Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and residual based tests are used to test for stationarity of all variables and cointegration, respectively. Findings from this study show that in Malaysia's case, all variables involved are non-stationary in levels but stationary in first dzferences and are cointegrated. The export instability has a deleterious efect on Malaysia's economic growth. Instability in export earnings can cause economic reprisals, which will afect the economic performance of the country. The balance of payment positions will be jeopardized, unemployment levels would increase and individuals' income levels may decrease

Advertizing, Concentration and Profitability in Malaysian Manufacturing Revisited: A Simultaneous Equation Approach

The original Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm that postulates a unidirectional relationship between concentration, advertizing and profitability had been used as the theoretical framework for many empirical works in industrial organizations before the mid seventies. Thereafter, doubts had begun to surface over the unidirectional postulate and there is new theory suggesting simultaneous interdependence. Unfortunately, not only are Malaysian studies in this area few and far between (exhaustive literature review yields only three published studies namely, Gan and Tham, 1977; Gan, 1978; and Rugayah, 1992), they also failed to incorporate the more recent theoretical development on the simultaneity of effects. This paper revisits the SCP paradigm as applied to the relationship among concentration, advertizing and profitability by conducting an empirical test that allows for simultaneous interdependence among variables. A set of three equations was estimated using three stage least squares (3SLS). The results provide considerable support to the feedforward and feedback effects between the three variables. Advertizing intensity exerts a significant influence on profit and concentration in the industry and there exists a feedback effect running from concentration to advertizing intensity. This finding suggests that advertizing does have an anti-competitive impact on the industry and therefore has a direct bearing on competition policy analysis.

The Displaced Plantation Workers : A Case Study of Ruber Estates in Kedah

Eviction of plantation workers, due to the development of estate lands and changing land ownerships, has been a big and unresolved issue. Many plantation areas have been sold to make way either for housing projects or industrial sites. When an estate is sold, the estate workers lose not only their jobs, but also their homes and additional sources of income from farming and animal husbandry. They are also entitled to receive termination benefits. The majority of these displaced workers have skills only in the agricultural sector and many of them are old aged. The main objective of this study was to analyse the socio-economic situations of the displaced workers due to the development of the rubber estate lands in Kedah. The snowball sampling method was used to identify the respondents. The survey was based on 11 estates and 349 ex-workers of these estates were interviewed. The areas of this study were in Sungai Petani and Kulim. The results clearly showed that the majority of the evicted workers migrated to locations that were on average around 3km from their original estates. The majority of them worked with private sector companies upon their evictions. However, many of them are still in their estate houses, waiting for better compensation to be paid in the form of new houses elsewhere. It is suggested in this paper that the compensation should be in terms of home ownership, provided jointly by the government and firms. There have also been some suggestions to solve the issue through programmes provided by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Variasi kadar pertukaran matawang dan harga minyak sawit

Artikel ini meneliti secara empirik kesan variasi dalam kadarpertukaran matawang terhadap pembolehubah endogen utama industri minyak sawit Malaysia, khususnya harga minyak sawit, dan penggunaan dalam negeri. Satu model ekonometrik struktur yang mewakili industri minyak sawit dibentuk. Model struktur yang dibentuk adalah dalam satu famili model komoditi utama seperti dalam Mohammad et al. (2001a,b), Mad Nasir et al. (1997) dan Mohammed (1988). Data tahunan bagi tempoh 1970-1999 digunakan dalam penganggaran. Kaedah penganggaran Kuasa Dua Terkecil Dua Peringkat (2SLS) tak linear digunakan. Dapatan kajian mendapati penawaran dipengaruhi oleh pembolehubah P E M B , T dan CPOQt-1. Respon penawaran jangka pendek dan jangka panjang adalah tidak anjal. Penggunaan domestik dipengaruhi secara signifikan oleh pembolehubah T, CPOPt, dan GDP95 Manakala permintaan eskport dipengaruhi oleh POWPt, dan OECDYt, pada aras keertian satu peratus. Keanjalan permintaan eksport jangka panjang terhadap harga dunia adalah tidak anjal iaitu 4.1339. Harga dunia minyak sawit (POWP) dipengaruhi oleh PSB, pada aras keertian satu peratus dan OECDYt, pada aras keertian 10 peratus. Analisis counterfactual dilakukan untuk melihat kesan depresiasi matawang kepada beberapa pembolehubah endogen yang lain dalam pasaran minyak kelapa sawit Malaysia. Dengan mengambil contoh, depresiasi sebanyak 10 peratus dalam kadar pertukaran matawang. Kesannya harga minyak sawit telah meningkat sebanyak 10.02 peratus. la memberi kesan negatif ke atas penggunaan dalam negeri. Namun begitu kesan negatif tersebut hanyalah kecil iaitu sebanyak 1.22 peratus kerana permintaan dalam negeri tidak anjal terhadap harga sendiri. Peningkatan harga domestik ini tidak membawa sebarang perubahan kepada penawaran, eksport serta harga dunia. Ini disebabkan tidak wujud timbal balas