Search results

We study the empirical determinants of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) covered interest differential. The canonical macroeconomic variables including capital flight and the factors that affect country risk, and a few China-specific regulatory and institutional factors are considered. It is found that the effects of these canonical macroeconomic variables on the RMB covered interest differential are largely consistent with those reported in the literature. Further, the covered interest differential was affected by China's general capital control policy and its exchange rate reform program, but not its political risk index. The effects of these explanatory variables on the covered interest differential appear to work mainly via the forward premium rather than the interest rate differential component. The results are largely the same across the onshore and offshore RMB forward rates that cover different sample periods.

This paper explores the feelings of loneliness, insecurity and vulnerability among Indonesian mothers who lived away from their children while they were working overseas – outside of Indonesia – as domestic workers. I accomplish this exploration by conducting open-ended, in-depth interviews in the tradition of feminist methodology with 38 respondents, including the mothers and daughters in relation to long-distance mothering, were from West and Central Java. In my research, I uncovered three distinct themes that the previous literature had not explored, these are: (a) leaving her own children behind; (b) who takes care of her children; and (c) the work of taking care of another woman’s children. I have found in my study that narratives were strongly informed by my respondents’ educational backgrounds, occupations, marital status, economic situations, and the overall well-being of their children (especially daughters) at the time of the interviews.

The purpose of this paper is to test the export‐led growth hypothesis for South Asia, a diverse region consisting of one large country, India, surrounded by a number of medium and small countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.

To test this, the study employs cointegration and error‐correction modelling, using data from the International Financial Statistics of the IMF.

The study produces fairly mixed results, and does not find any conclusive evidence in favour of export‐led growth. While India, Maldives and Nepal exhibit export‐led growth, Bangladesh and Bhutan show the opposite result of growth‐led exports. In Pakistan and Sri Lanka no causality in either direction was found. The mixed nature of the results is further confirmed by taking a common time period since 1980.

South Asia is one of the poorest regions of the world; so success or otherwise of export‐led growth is of great interest for policy purposes. For example, the finding of export‐led growth for the largest economy of the region, India, is particularly heartening as, by opening up its markets further to the other countries of the region, it can fuel growth in the entire region.

This study tries to fill an important gap in the literature as it is the first comprehensive study of the region as a whole.

Reviews the literature on trade union membership in OECD countries. After considering the ways in which trade union membership is measured, trends in both membership and density since 1970 are examined. When cross‐sectional determinants are considered, density is found to be unrelated to size of employment in the manufacturing sector and the share of female employment, but it is related to the level of collective bargaining and the size of the public sector. An examination of individual and job‐related characteristics finds membership is higher among males, those with family responsibilities, those with lower occupational status and those with low educational achievements and that job dissatisfaction and left‐wing views are also important. Time‐series studies find that while union growth and decline are linked to the business cycle, with wages, prices and unemployment affecting membership, economic factors are not the sole explanation. Concludes by surveying the causes of union decline since 1980, together with recent error‐correction and cointegration approaches to modelling trade union membership.