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This study examines the roles of cross-sectional dependence, asymmetric structure and country-to-country policy variations in the inflation-poverty reduction causal nexus in selected sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 1981 to 2019.

To account for cross-sectional dependence, heterogeneity and policy variations across countries in the inflation-poverty reduction causal nexus, this study uses robust Hatemi-J data decomposition procedures and a battery of second-generation techniques. These techniques include cross-sectional dependency tests, panel unit root tests, slope homogeneity tests and the Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel Granger non-causality approach.

Unlike existing studies, the panel and country-specific findings exhibit several dimensions of asymmetric causality in the inflation-poverty nexus. Positive inflationary shocks Granger-causes poverty reduction through investment and employment opportunities that benefit the impoverished in SSA. These findings align with country-specific analyses of Botswana, Cameroon, Gabon, Mauritania, South Africa and Togo. Also, a decline in poverty causes inflation to increase in the Congo Republic, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo. All panel and country-specific analyses reveal at least one dimension of asymmetric causality or another.

All stakeholders and policymakers must pay adequate attention to issues of asymmetric structures, nonlinearities and country-to-country policy variations to address country-specific issues and the socioeconomic problems in the probable causal nexus between the high incidence of extreme poverty and double-digit inflation rates in most SSA countries.

Studies on the inflation-poverty nexus are not uncommon in economic literature. Most existing studies focus on inflation’s effect on poverty. Existing studies that examine the inflation-poverty causal relationship covertly assume no asymmetric structure and nonlinearity. Also, the issues of cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity are unexplored in the causal link in existing studies. All panel studies covertly impose homogeneous policies on countries in the causality. This study relaxes this supposition by allowing policies to vary across countries in the panel framework. Thus, this study makes three-dimensional contributions to increasing understanding of the inflation-poverty nexus.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the pricing efficiency of the Malaysian crude palm oil (CPO) market before and after the structural break. This study uses the daily closing price of CPO and CPO futures (CPO-F) for the period ranging from June 2009 to August 2016 while taking structural breaks into account.

In this study, symmetric and asymmetric long-run relationship model are employed, such as the Johansen cointegration, VECM, TAR and M-TAR models, to examine the impact of structural breaks on the pricing efficiency of the Malaysian CPO market.

This finding establish that Malaysian CPO price is efficient before and after the structural break. The consistent efficiency of the Malaysian CPO market supports the trading of the CPO-F in Globex and the use of Malaysian CPO pricing as the reference price. This study establishes that a structural break in the Malaysian CPO price series does not affect the pricing efficiency of the market.

This study shows that using Malaysian CPO price as a reference price is sustainable even in the event of a structural break. Therefore, market participants in the Malaysian CPO market have less to worry about the CPO price as it supports the weak form of efficiency. Price deviation in the short run may not lead to arbitrage profit as transaction cost may not be covered.

This study implies that if there is distortion in the price due to shocks, both manufacturers and producers need to hedge their positions in the futures market (subject to their positions in the underlying market). By entering into the futures market, pricing is locked in advance; hence, price risk is eliminated. Such a distortion could also affect the efficiency of the CPO price, therefore this study also addresses the issue of efficiency of the local CPO market.

Previous studies on Malaysian CPO pricing efficiency did not take the effect of structural break into consideration, making it difficult for these studies to show consistency in the efficiency of the Malaysian CPO market.

This paper aims to define the class of fragment constructive heuristics used to compute feasible solutions for the traveling salesman problem (TSP) into edge-greedy and vertex-greedy subclasses. As these subclasses of heuristics can create subtours, two known methodologies for subtour elimination on symmetric instances are reviewed and are expanded to cover asymmetric problem instances. This paper introduces a third novel subtour elimination methodology, the greedy tracker (GT), and compares it to both known methodologies.

Computational results for all three subtour elimination methodologies are generated across 17 symmetric instances ranging in size from 29 vertices to 5,934 vertices, as well as 9 asymmetric instances ranging in size from 17 to 443 vertices.

The results demonstrate the GT is the fastest method for preventing subtours for instances below 400 vertices. Additionally, a distinction between fragment constructive heuristics and the subtour elimination methodology used to ensure the feasibility of resulting solutions enables the introduction of a new vertex-greedy fragment heuristic called ordered greedy.

This research has two main contributions: first, it introduces a novel subtour elimination methodology. Second, the research introduces the concept of ordered lists which remaps the TSP into a new space with promising initial computational results.

The objectives of this study are twofold. First, it intends to investigate the symmetric link between initial public offering (IPO) variability and the determinants of the stock market index, treasury bill rate, inflation, GDP growth rate and foreign direct investment. Second, this study intends to examine the asymmetric link between IPO variability and the aforementioned determinants, namely the stock market index, treasury bill rate, inflation, GDP growth rate and foreign direct investment.

Data from 1992 to 2018 were gathered from the country of Pakistan in order to achieve the above objectives. Augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) and Phillips Perron (PP) unit root tests were employed to determine the data's stationarity properties. The Auto Regressive Distributive Lags (ARDL) model was utilized to examine the symmetric links, and the Non-Linear Auto Regressive Distributive Lag Model (NARDL) was employed to determine the asymmetric links. While the long-run co-integration was examined using the ARDL bound test, the short-run dynamics were tested using the error correction method (ECM).

The macroeconomic variables of the stock market index, treasury bill rate, inflation, GDP growth rate and foreign direct investment are found to pose significant short-run and long-run symmetric and asymmetric effects on IPO variability. These results indicate the significance of the aforementioned variables in enhancing IPO variability. The findings also demonstrate the typical reactions of inflation, GDP and FDI towards negative and positive shocks in IPO variability and inflation. This evidence implies that Pakistan's poor capital market development is reflected in the country's weak macroeconomic factors. At the same time, the reduced IPO variability in the country also reflects the lack of confidence among prospective issuers and investors due to Pakistan's weak macroeconomic indicators.

This is the first study of its kind to properly investigate the symmetric and asymmetric effects of the macroeconomic variables on Pakistan's IPO variability.

Homeownership provides shelter and is a vital component of wealth, and house purchase signifies a lifetime achievement for many households. For South Africa confronted with social and structural challenges, homeownership by the low and lower middle-income household is pivotal for its structural transformation process. In spite of these potential benefits, research on the affordable housing market in the context of South Africa is limited. This study aims to contribute to this knowledge gap by answering the question “do changes in household income per capita have a symmetric or asymmetric effect on affordable house prices?”

A survey of the international literature on house prices and income revealed that linear modelling that assumes symmetric reaction of macroeconomic variables dominates the empirical strategy. This linearity assumption is restrictive and fails to capture possible asymmetric dynamics inherent in the housing market. The authors address this empirical limitation by using asymmetric non-linear autoregressive distributed lag models that can test and detect the existence of asymmetry in both the long and short run using data from 1985Q1 to 2016Q3.

The results revealed the presence of an asymmetric long-run relationship between affordable house prices and household income per capita. The estimated asymmetric long-run coefficients of logIncome[+] and logIncome[−] are 1.080 and −4.354, respectively, implying that a 1% increase/decrease in household income per capita induces a 1.08% rise/4.35% decline in affordable house prices everything being equal. The positive increase in affordable house prices creates wealth, helps low and middle-income household climb the property ladder and can reduce inequality, which provides support for the country’s structural transformation process. Conversely, a decline in affordable house prices tends to reduce wealth and widen inequality.

This paper recommends both supply- and demand-side policies to support affordable housing development. Supply-side stimulants should include incentives to attract developers to affordable markets such as municipal serviced land and tax credit. Demand-side policy should focus on asset-based welfare policy; for example, the current Finance Linked Income Subsidy Programme (FLISP). Efficient management and coordination of the FLISP are essential to enhance the affordability of first-time buyers. Given the enormous size of the affordable property market, the practice of mortgage securitization by financial institutions should be monitored, as a persistent decline in income can trigger a systemic risk to the economy.

The study results illustrate the importance of homeownership by low- and middle-income households and that the development of the affordable market segment can boost wealth creation and reduce residential segregation. This, in turn, provides support to the country’s structural transformation process.

The affordable housing market in South Africa is of strategic importance to the economy, accounting for 71.4% of all residential properties. Homeownership by low and lower middle-income households creates wealth, reduces wealth inequality and improves revenue collection for local governments. This paper contributes to the empirical literature by modelling the asymmetric behaviour of affordable house prices to changes in household income per capita and other macroeconomic fundamentals. Based on available evidence, this is the first attempt to examine the dynamic asymmetry between affordable house prices and household income per capita in South Africa.

This study aims to examine the symmetric and asymmetric impact of external debt on inflation in Sudan from 1970 to 2020 within a multivariate framework by including money supply and the nominal effective exchange rate as additional inflation determinants.

The authors utilize an Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model to examine the symmetric impact of external debt on inflation, while the asymmetric impact is examined using a Nonlinear ARDL (NARDL) model. The existence of a long-run relationship between inflation and external debt is tested using the bounds-testing approach to cointegration, and a vector error-correction model is estimated to determine the short parameters of equilibrium dynamics.

The linear ARDL model results show that external debt has no statistically significant impact on inflation in the long run. On the contrary, the results of the NARDL model show that positive and negative external debt shocks statistically affect inflation in the long run. The estimated long-run elasticity coefficients of the linear and nonlinear ARDL models reveal that the domestic money supply has a statistically significant positive impact on inflation. In contrast, the nominal effective exchange rate has a statistically significant negative impact on inflation.

The reliance on symmetric analysis may not be sufficient to uncover the existence of a linkage between external debt and inflation. Proper external debt management is crucial to control inflation rates in Sudan.

To date, no empirical study has assessed the external debt-inflation nexus and its potential asymmetry in Sudan, and the current study aims to fill this gap in the literature.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between economic policy uncertainty (EPU) and stock prices during the period from March 2003 to March 2021.

The study uses asymmetric and symmetric frequency domain causality tests and focuses on BRIC countries, namely, Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The findings of the symmetric causality test confirm unidirectional permanent causality from EPU to stock prices for Brazil and India and bidirectional causality for China. However, according to the asymmetric causality test, the findings for China show that there is no causality between the variables. The results for Brazil and India indicate that there is unidirectional permanent causality from positive components of EPU to positive components of stock prices. Moreover, for Brazil, there is unidirectional temporary causality from the negative components of EPU to the negative components of stock prices. For India, there is temporary causality in the opposite direction.

The reactions of financial markets to positive and negative shocks differ. In this context, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to examine the causal relationships between stock prices and uncertainty using an asymmetric frequency domain approach. Thus, the study enables the analysis of the effects of positive and negative shocks in the stock market separately.

This study examines the co-integration relationships between Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) stock indices as a way to assess the feasibility of policy initiatives to strengthen market integration in ASEAN and identify implications for portfolio investors.

The authors employ threshold co-integration tests and a non-linear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model to study the asymmetric dynamics of ASEAN equity markets. The study’s data cover the 2009–2022 period for seven member states: Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The authors find evidence supporting co-integration relationships; adjustment toward equilibrium is asymmetric in the short run and symmetric in the long run for these countries. While co-movement in ASEAN equity markets seems encouraging for initiatives seeking to foster financial integration in regional economies, the benefits for international portfolio diversification appear to be neutralized.

The issue of stock market integration is important among policymakers, investors and academics. This study examines the level of stock market integration in ASEAN during the 2009–2022 period. For this purpose, advanced co-integration techniques are applied to different frequencies of data (daily, weekly and monthly) for comparison and completeness. The empirical analysis of this study is conducted using the Enders and Siklos (2001) co-integration and threshold adjustment procedure. This advanced co-integration technique is superior compared to other co-integration techniques by permitting asymmetry in the adjustment toward equilibrium.

This paper investigates the asymmetric impact of the real effective exchange rate (REER) on Egypt's real domestic output from 1960 to 2020.

A Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model is utilized to isolate real currency depreciations from appreciations and account for the potential asymmetry in the impact of the REER. The analyses account for the various channels via which the REER could affect domestic output.

Results show evidence of a long-run asymmetry in the output effect of REER changes in which only real currency depreciations have a contractionary impact on output, while the REER has no impact on output in the short run.

The Egyptian monetary authority cannot rely on domestic currency depreciation as a policy instrument to boost domestic output.

Unlike most of the previous studies, which assume linearity in the impact of the REER on output, we relax this assumption and hypothesize that the REER changes have an asymmetric effect on the Egyptian domestic output in Egypt. We use a long time span from 1960 to 2020 and control for the potential structural breaks in the REER-output nexus and the various channels through which the REER can affect domestic output.

This study aims to analyze the influence of job autonomy and unscripted agility on ambidextrous innovation in startups in times of the Covid-19 pandemic.

A survey was conducted with founders and managers of Brazilian startups in the e-commerce segment, resulting in a sample of 84 startups. Symmetric (structural equation modeling) and asymmetric (fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis) analyses were performed. The variables' external financing and institutional ties were controlled.

The symmetric findings indicate that unscripted agility is a full mediator between job autonomy and ambidextrous innovation. The asymmetric findings offer two solutions for startups to achieve high ambidextrous innovation.

The implications of the research for the literature are discussing elements associated with ambidextrous innovation, exploring the context of innovation in startups in times of crisis, specifically in the Covid-19 pandemic, and considering the role of resilience in startups.

The study provides informational inputs to founders and managers of startups on how job autonomy and unscripted agility can propel incremental and radical innovations.

This study provides new insights and success factors into startups, based on the discussion of entrepreneurship in times of crisis, as in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic.