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This paper empirically tests the impact of capital sudden stops on the economic growth using quarterly data from 49 emerging economies.

This paper applies the GMM dynamic panel estimation method.

The results show that capital sudden stops can significantly inhibit the economic growth of emerging economies. It was also found that the inhibiting effect on low-savings-rate economies is greater, but less on high-savings-rate economies. In addition, this paper examined the impact of different types of capital sudden stops on economic growth in emerging economies. The results reveal that the impact of sudden stops of direct investment is not significant.

Little existing research considers the impact of capital sudden stops through the perspective of savings rate differences. Based on our research using the GMM model, we argue that capital sudden stops will lead to a decline in investment kinetic energy in emerging economies, and therefore, a decline in economic growth. There are also few studies on the economic effects of capital sudden stops. And the time series model is generally used in a single economy. This paper, however, uses the data from 49 emerging economies and takes the panel approach to more comprehensively study the capital sudden stops of emerging economies.

This paper investigates the long‐ and short‐run determinants of aggregate private savings in Greece employing data over the period 1961‐2000. The long‐run savings function is estimated based on an extended life‐cycle hypothesis taking into account the economic and demographic developments during this period. A long‐run saving function sensitive to fertility changes, old dependency ratio, real interest rate, liquidity and public finances is found to exist and the importance of short‐run deviations is presented using vector error‐correction model estimation. The empirical evidence suggests the existence of a stable long‐run savings function in Greece both in the long‐ and short‐run periods and the policy implications of such a relationship are presented.

The motivation for conducting this research came from the current global economic crisis. One outcome of the crisis is the awareness of the need for a better understanding of what causes people to save. Low savings rates in Western countries in general and in the USA in particular are the roots of the crisis. Furthermore, saving is probably one of the most important economic variables that impact the local and global environment. The current economic literature neglects the crucial impact that culture has on saving as a consequence we do not fully understand the causes of different saving rates in different societies. The purpose of this paper is to explore the variable of cultural attitudes as an explanation for variations in national savings rates.

The phenomenon of diminishing personal savings cannot be explained simply by the variables studied in the current economic literature, such as interest rates, age of the population and wealth as expressed by GDP per capita. This paper explores the role that cultural attributes play in affecting the level of savings in different countries. The paper uses cross‐national data to determine the effect of cultural attributes on savings rates.

Cultural variables, particularly the level of uncertainty avoidance and collectivism, have a significant impact on the level of savings. As the level of uncertainty avoidance increases, the level of national savings increases. In addition, the more collectivist the society, the higher the savings rate.

Policy makers must realize that simply changing economic factors such as interest rates may not have the desired effect of raising savings rates. They must also take into account the cultural attributes of the country when making policy.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing literature of driving and impeding switching factors by operationalizing the catalyst factor of perceived power among customers. Acknowledging the importance of trust in a financial context, a trust-based framework for the analysis is used. The study explicitly analyzes factors of importance for subsequent switching of banks for empowered customers (i.e. savers) and low-on-power customers (i.e. borrowers).

The study measures factors driving or impeding switch of service provider, together with measures of trust and power using online survey methods. The sample is intended to focus on savers and borrowers, defined quantitatively as well as perception wise. Through a multi-group SEM analysis, differences between the samples of savers and borrowers are analyzed. The dependent variable was in both cases inclination to switch.

The paper manages to define differences between empowered and less empowered customers, such as borrowers and savers. The mediating effect of trust prevails only for borrowers: here, the only effect on switching behavior stems from a full mediation of stability through trust. For savers, direct influences of both service failure and lack of involvement on trust are of major importance. The importance of trust, however, is lacking; for the sample of savers, the link between trust and switching behavior is insignificant.

The results may be used as a tool box in order to address consumer switching behavior and mobility in the financial services market. The biggest obstacle for switching banks among savers is the low level of involvement. This has clear implications regarding how to increase switching, e.g., by raising interest. Focusing instead on borrowers, stability of the chosen financial institution turned out to be the most important factor.

This paper introduces a view on consumer switching behavior, taking into account differences regarding service provider relations (empowered savers vs less empowered borrowers) and the importance of trust in these two settings. The paper introduces trust as a mediator between switching behavior and four determinants: stability, personal relations, service failure and internet-related issues, and involvement.

Within the last two decades, the Japanese economic machine has caught up, if not overtaken, the US as the world′s leading economy. Japan has virtually conquered the American consumer electronics, semiconductor, and machine tool marketplace and, except for quotas, would have done the same for the automotive segment. One of the reasons given is of the Japanese innovative abilities. How truly innovative are the Japanese? In what ways do they innovatively prosper and struggle? Examines the innovative process in Japan, its advantages and disadvantages, and projects a future scenario for the Japanese.

With the growth of income at the global level, the World Bank data show that there are rising levels of income disparity across countries, groups, regions and within the countries. This fact otherwise hints at the inter-country divergence in incomes, particularly between the developed and developing countries of the world. This chapter, therefore, attempts to examine the convergence or divergence in credit, GDP and HDI across the 10 selected countries for the period of 1990–2019 applying the neoclassical growth approach and the time series approach. The results of the exercise in line with the neoclassical theories on absolute convergence and sigma convergence show that the countries are unquestionably converging in GDP and HDI with mixed results in case of credit. The results of convergence in GDP and HDI in all the countries and their developed and developing counterparts provide a possible explanation as to why the cross countries’ income inequalities as well as world inequality in income and development are reducing over time. On the other hand, the results of the time series approach display that credit and HDI are converging in both absolute and conditional terms but the countries are converging in conditional terms only for GDP. Thus, the claims of the World Bank are not valid for the selected countries in the chapter, rather, they can be verified by taking other countries and groups into consideration.

The authors investigate the impacts of international capital inflows on bank lending in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations-6 (ASEAN-6) countries on the dynamics of both bank loan volumes and credit risk-taking. The authors further explore the heterogenous impacts of different components of the foreign capital. As a robustness check, the authors also examine the role of crisis periods and agency problem on the relationship between international capital inflows and bank lending.

The authors explore the impacts of international capital inflows on bank lending in the ASEAN-6 countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. The authors employ quarterly data from 2005Q1 to 2021Q2 from 45 commercial banks in the ASEAN-6 countries. The article uses bank-fixed and time-fixed effects in the panel dataset to account for any unobserved heterogeneity.

The authors find that capital inflows to the ASEAN-6 countries are associated with higher bank loan growth and lower loan loss provisions to net interest income ratios. Moreover, the positive relationships between capital inflows to the bank loan growth and credit risk-taking are mainly driven by the dynamics in foreign direct investments (FDIs) and other inflow (OI) components. Contrary to the global financial crisis (GFC), the authors note that the mediating role of capital inflows on bank lending is of particular importance in the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study has some limitations that provide vendors for future research. First, while the authors focus on the impact of capital inflows on bank-level lending activities, future research can also explore the role of foreign capital on bank efficiency and financial stability. Second, although foreign capital fluctuates the most during crisis periods, the movement of capital inflows is also sensitive to other periods of heightened global uncertainty. Thus, rather than focus on the behavior of foreign capital during crisis periods, future research can examine and explore the impacts of capital inflows in different periods of “stop” and “surge” for sudden contraction and boom in capital inflows to the ASEAN-6 countries.

First, the authors provide a comprehensive analysis of international capital inflows' impact on bank lending in the ASEAN region on both bank loan volumes and credit risk-taking. Second, the authors provide evidence of the impact of different forms of foreign capital on the bank lending. Third, the authors investigate the heterogeneous impact of foreign capital on crisis periods and bank sizes, which the authors emphasize the unusual characteristics of the COVID-19 crisis compared with the GFC.

A recent study found state bond bank participants continually realize considerable interest cost savings. Savings were calculated as differences in interest costs of bond bank loans and the bond offerings participants would have sold as alternatives to loans, (alternative market offerings). The present evaluation determines the sources of the savings. Savings are generated by not only differences in issue characteristics of bond bank issues and alternative market offerings, but also differential impacts of the same market forces and institutional factors on the interest costs of both types of sales. These findings verify that bond bank issues and alternative market offerings sell in different sub-markets, and confirm municipal bond market segmentation.

A study of the price discounts granted by Morton Salt Company and other producers of table salt in the U.S. on their sales of table salt to grocery wholesalers and retailers. The discounts were found to be illegal under the Robinson-Patman Act by the Federal Trade Commission and the Supreme Court. The Commission and the Court believed that the discounts were unjustified price concessions granted to “large” buyers, consistent with the concerns of the Robinson-Patman Act. However, the evidence indicates that the most common discount – the “carload discount” – was received by virtually all buyers, regardless of the buyer’s size; the other discounts – “annual volume” discounts – though received primarily by “large” buyers, were likely cost based. The history of the discounts and likely reasons why they were granted are explored in detail.

The purpose of this study is to find out the effect of consumption tax on savings behavior especially on the people who are close to their retirement.

The authors analyze the response in spending and retirement saving using a difference-in-differences regression methodology. The authors use the year since the Public Provident Fund (PPF) enrollment date for each individual as a random assignment to identify the service tax policy's causal impact. Therefore, this variable is a continuous variable defined as an individual's age until the end of the restrictions when people can withdraw money from their retirement savings account PPF without any penalty. The treatment variable is the service tax shock (increase in service tax) that happened effective 1st April 2015.

The authors find a significant effect of a change in the service tax rate on individuals' spending and PPF saving behavior. On average, individuals lower their consumption by about 14% and increase their PPF savings by 16% in response to the increase in the service tax rate. The authors find substantial heterogeneity in effect across different types of individuals. The effect is more pronounced for people closer to their retirement and needy people (defined as individuals with low traditional savings account balances).

The authors studied the effect of consumption tax on one category of savings (PPF) only. There are other savings instruments available in India. The data for those were not available to us.

This paper not only throws light on the consumption and savings behaviour of the individuals, but will also help the policy maker for framing appropriate fiscal policy.

Using a unique and proprietary data from a large bank in India, the authors analyze the effect of a tax policy change on households' consumption and retirement savings behavior. The authors find that households reduce their consumption by 14% and increase their voluntary retirement savings (Public Provident Fund aka PPF) by 16% in response to an increase in the service tax policy. Individuals close to their retirement age (55 years of age and above) and without any withdrawal restrictions from their PPF account tend to reduce their expenditures more and save more. Individuals with financial constraints and withdrawal restrictions do not reduce their expenditures significantly. To the best of the authors’ knowledge no study was done on this.