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This chapter re-examines the determinants of health care expenditure (HCE), using a panel of 32 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries from 1990 to 2012. In particular, a panel semiparametric technique (i.e., a partially linear model) is employed, with cross-sectional dependence allowed. Beside the study of coefficients, this chapter investigates the trending functions of HCE. After the common and individual trends of HCE are estimated via semiparametric methods, the authors calibrate them with polynomial specifications, leading to out-of-sample forecasting. The validities of the calibration are tested as well. Contrary to those studies that do not take into account time series properties, our finding suggests that medical care is not a luxury commodity. Other determinants, such as public financing, and the supply of doctors, are all positively related to HCE. Moreover, the calibrated trending models perform well in out-of-sample forecasting.

In this study, we analyze the power of the individual return-to-volatility security performance heuristic (ri/stdi) to simplify the identification of securities to buy and, consequently, to form the optimal no short sales mean–variance portfolios. The heuristic ri/stdi is powerful enough to identify the long and shorts sets. This is due to the positive definiteness of the variance–covariance matrix – the key is to use the heuristic sequentially. At the investor level, the heuristic helps investors to decide what securities to consider first. At the portfolio level, the heuristic may help us find out whether it is a good idea to invest in equity to begin with. Our research may also help to integrate individual security analysis into portfolio optimization through improved security rankings.

Ng (2002), and Lim and McAleer (2003) explained that if the national economies are not converging, or if the responses of national economies to random shocks are asymmetric, the cost of premature monetary integration would be high. This chapter investigates the feasibility of adopting a single currency for ASEAN-5 countries. The research uses the Kalman Filter procedure to test the economic convergence among ASEAN-5 countries, relative to Japan and the US. In addition, the symmetry of underlying structural shocks is also examined by applying a structural vector autoregression (SVAR) model. The research findings showed that Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand (ASEAN-3) appear to be relatively suitable for forming an Optimum Currency Area. However, the results did not show significance evidence whether the Japanese Yen or the US dollar will be a suitable currency for the ASEAN-3 countries to adopt commonly.

In recent years, theory and research have been increasingly devoted to understanding organizational behavior in cross-cultural and global contexts, with particular attention being paid to the appropriateness of various human resources management (HRM) practices because practices that may be effective within one cultural context may not be effective in other cultural contexts. This chapter argues that a multi-level perspective is needed to explain the interplay between HRM practices and employee responses across cultural contexts. Specifically, the multi-level framework developed in this chapter elucidates the importance of fit between HRM practices, individual values, organizational values, and societal values. Societal values play a key role in the adoption of HRM practices, and the effectiveness of these HRM practices will depend largely on “fit” or alignment with the values of the societal culture in which the organization is operating. HRM practices also shape the collective responses of employees through organizational climate at the organizational level and through psychological climate at the individual level. For positive employee attitudes and responses to emerge, the climate created by the HRM practices must be aligned with societal and individual values. Building on these notions, the strength of the societal culture in which the organization is operating serves as a mechanism that links relationships between climate, value fit, and attitudes across levels of analysis. The chapter concludes with some recommendations for future research and implications for practice.

In this chapter, we apply an efficient subset of vector error correction model (VECM) using the forgetting factor to examine the cointegration under climate change of the time series of the gross domestic product (GDP) and the industrial production and that of the utilization and consumption of important metals such as copper and steel in some important OECD countries as well as some selected newly industrialized Asian and Latin American countries. Both the long-term and the short-term dynamic relations among these variables are examined and the implications are discussed.