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This paper, using the model suggested by Cantor and Pecker (1996), aims to explore the relations between sovereign ratings and bond yield spreads in emerging markets.

The ordinary least square regression procedure administered on the most recent sovereign ratings of 46 countries demonstrates how the macroeconomic information embody in the sovereign rating scores predict their bond yield spreads relative to the yield on US Treasury bond.

The research finds that the assigned rating scores do not herald the complete elites of the macroeconomic conditions in emerging markets, and there is more incremental information in the publicly available macroeconomic variables, which is much useful in predicting bond yield spreads than that embedded into the sovereign ratings.

The outcomes of the research have strategic implications for global investors and policymakers. The use of credit rating scores along with the macroeconomic fundamentals in emerging economies produces better predictions than the benchmark predictions solely based on the rating scores suggested by the previous research.

This study is the first one to address the issues related to sovereign ratings and bond yield spread in developing and emerging markets using the most recent ratings during the period of the economic recoveries, following the global financial crisis of 2008.

The experience of rising trade imbalance between Nigeria and its key trading partners in recent years motivated this study. Previous studies on this issue either ignored bilateral level or assumed that the effect of crude oil price and/or exchange rate changes on trade balance is symmetric. Consequently, this study investigates whether Nigeria's bilateral trade balance with Belgium, China, United Kingdom (UK) and USA is responding symmetrically or asymmetrically to changes in oil price and exchange rate.

The authors used nonlinear autoregressive-distributed lag (NARDL) model that decomposed oil price and exchange rate into partial sum processes of positive and negative changes over the period 1999Q1–2019Q4.

The study finds that the effects of oil price hike and plunge asymmetrically influence Nigeria's trade balance with the UK and USA. Further evidence indicated that oil price plunge exerts greater influence than price hike in all the cases, except the UK in the long run. Furthermore, Nigeria's trade balance responds asymmetrically and significantly to changes in exchange rate with China in the long run and with China and the UK in the short run. Specifically, the depreciation effect is more prominent than appreciation.

Significant contributions to the existing literature in Nigeria include the recognition that the effects of oil price and exchange rate changes on trade are asymmetric and the disaggregation of trade into bilateral level to identify country-specific effect.

This paper aims to estimate the impact of the 2000s commodity boom in the major Latin American economies.

The author used a structural vector autorregresive analysis where the selection of variables is conditional on a New Keynesian Model for a small open economy.

The evidence indicates that the Argentinean nominal exchange rate appreciated less while its output and inflation grew more than those of the other nations when subjected to commodity shocks. These results are interpreted as a more aggressive leaning-against-the-wind intervention by Argentina, probably to avoid the Dutch disease. Although the effects with regard to output were indeed stronger in Argentina, this was only at the expense of higher inflation and volatility suffered during the boom.

At the time of the writing of this paper, no work had evaluated Argentinean underperformace to the manner in which its exchange rate policy was handled in comparison with the rest of the region during the boom. This paper intends to fill this gap.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact that foreign investment in existing houses and new housing development has on residential house prices and the growth of the housing construction sector.

The analysis is based on a panel cointegration method, estimated using annual data for all Australian states and territories spanning the period of 1990-2013.

The results indicate that increases in foreign investment in existing houses do not significantly lead to increases in house prices. On the other hand, a 10 per cent increase in foreign investment for housing development decreases house prices by 1.95 per cent. We also find that foreign real estate investments have a positive impact on housing construction activities in the long run.

Existing studies used aggregate foreign real estate investment in their analyses. As foreign investment in existing houses and foreign investment for housing development have different impacts on the demand and supply sides of housing market, it is crucial that the analysis of the effects of foreign investment in residential properties on real estate market is conducted for each type differently.

The modern company is having to become increasingly international, to look to overseas markets or even to set up operations within them. This internationalisation of the company means that some method must be found which lays down guidelines for formulating an overall international marketing strategy. If different international markets are seen as basic units of investment, the company should seek to obtain a balanced portfolio of markets, to enable it to allocate its scarce resources with maximum efficiency achieving stable growth in the long term.

This paper aims to investigate whether the interest rate differentials Granger cause expected change in the exchange rate during the COVID-19 period. The study examines if the investors in the international assets and exchange rate markets take advantages of the relevant information obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper used daily data ranging from January 31, 2020 to June 30, 2020 and considered BRIICS economies. The study implemented the Toda–Yamamoto’s Granger causality approach to identify the causality between interest rate differentials and exchange rates. For robustness checks, the study used ARLD short-run dynamics to infer causal relations.

Overall, the results indicate that the interest rate differentials improve the predictability of subsequent exchange rate changes in all six BRIICS economies during the COVID-19 period wherein investors are forward-looking. The empirical results pass the robustness checks.

There is a lack of studies exploring the relationship between interest rate differentials and exchange rates in the presence of an unanticipated event such as the current pandemic. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the causal linkages between interest rate differentials and expected change in exchange rates, focusing on the COVID-19 outbreak period.

This study aims to investigate Granger-causal relations between the Ringgit-USD exchange rate and selected domestic and international economic variables after the flotation of the Ringgit beginning with 25 July 2005.

The study uses lag-augmented vector autoregression (LA-VAR) developed by Toda and Yamamoto (1995) to test for Granger-causality. To visualize short-run dynamics in the Malaysian Ringgit (RM)-USD exchange rate to shocks in predictor variables, generalized impulse-response functions (Pesaran and Shin, 1998) are derived from the estimated LA-VAR models.

Results based on LA-VAR generalized impulse responses and data measured in daily frequency indicate strong Granger-causal relationships with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and oil prices. Evidence is also indicative for a causal relationship with the Shanghai Composite Index. Positive shocks in these three variables lead an appreciation of the Ringgit.

These results provide insights for policymakers in East Asia in their attempt to manage the floating of their currency.

The paper adds to existing empirical literature in three ways. First, it investigates the RM-USD exchange rate after its managed flotation beginning with 25 July 2005. Second, the study provides results for exchange rates measured in two frequencies, namely, daily and monthly. Third, the empirical LA-VAR model applied includes variables capturing economic and financial conditions in China. Prior literature puts a focus on macroeconomic conditions in the USA. Yet, since 2009, China has been the largest trading partner of Malaysia.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of real exchange rate misalignment on economy and economic sectors, namely construction, manufacturing and mining and quarrying in Malaysia.

The equilibrium real exchange rate and economic models are estimated using the autoregressive distributed lag approach.

An increase in productivity differential or reserve differential will lead to an appreciation of real exchange rate in the long run. An increase in positive (negative) real exchange rate misalignment will lead to an increase (decrease) in economy. An increase in long-run real exchange rate misalignment will lead to a decrease in economy. Real exchange rate misalignment or long-run real exchange rate misalignment can influence the manufacturing sector in Malaysia. More specifically, undervaluation will promote whereas overvaluation will hurt the manufacturing sector.

Real exchange rate misalignment can be a policy to influence economy but may not be the best choice.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of trade integration on Pakistan’s export performance (value of exports, number of exporters and number of products per exporter) during 2003 to 2010.

Data from the World Bank Exporters Dynamics Database are analysed using fixed effect panel data techniques.

The results suggest that trade integration with South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), China and Iran play remarkable role in improving export value by 73, 29 and 55 per cent, respectively. It is found that on average more than 140 and 339 exporters increase after integration with SAFTA and China, respectively, and during the study period, 1,605 and 606 exporters entered into SAFTA and Chinese market, respectively. Moreover, 182 and 146 additional exporters entered in Malaysian and Iranian export market after integration, which is 19 and 98 per cent, respectively, of initial year’s number of exporters. In addition, Malaysia and Mauritius show positive and considerable effect on diversification of product variety.

This is an original empirical research. The contributions of the paper are many fold: this paper is first to analyse the effect of Pakistan’s trade integration established during 2000s decade; pioneer contribution of this study is to use the number of exporters and number of products, as well as the value of exports to measure the export performance of Pakistan; and this study uses positive and negative discrepancies in export value data, number of HS6 products exported as a proxy of product diversification, share of industrial exports in total exports and share of textile exports in industrial exports.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze whether China's exports can effectively improve the global competitiveness of other BRICS countries' exports from the perspective of intra-BRICS export trade.

This paper extends the multinational trade model and analyzes the mechanism of the technological upgrading effect from the perspective of dynamic general equilibrium theory. In addition, this paper uses the export panel data of 217 products with three-digit SITC codes from China to other BRICS member countries from 2000 to 2016 and constructs a dynamic empirical model for parameter estimation.

The results show that China's exports to other BRICS member countries can effectively promote the technological improvement of other BRICS member countries' export products. In particular, the formal establishment of the BRICS organization in 2010 has significantly improved the efficiency of China's export technology optimization.

In the background of the prevalence of anti-globalization and the proliferation of protectionism, this paper proves that the deepening of trade cooperation between other BRICS members with China can help optimize their own international trade competitiveness and allow China's development dividend to benefit more countries and people.