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1 – 10 of over 29000Ali Fakih and Pascal L. Ghazalian
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the export behaviour of manufacturing firms located in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region using data from the World Bank's…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the export behaviour of manufacturing firms located in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region using data from the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys Database.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines the factors influencing the export behaviour of manufacturing firms located in the MENA region through a probit model for export decision and through a fractional logit model for export intensity.
Findings
The empirical results show significant positive effects of private foreign ownership, information and communication technology, and firm size on the probability of exporting and on export intensity of MENA manufacturing firms. Government ownership tends to exert negative effects on firms’ propensity to export. The results underscore enhancing effects of national economic development levels on firms’ export performance. Also, they indicate that firms’ propensity to export decreases with larger domestic market size. The empirical analysis reveals considerable heterogeneity in the implications of firm characteristics for firms’ export behaviour through firm size categories and across MENA countries.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature by conducting overall and comparative cross-country empirical analyses of the factors influencing the export behaviour of manufacturing firms located in the MENA region. It also explores the specificities of small and large firms’ responses to the factors influencing firms’ export behaviour. The results have implications for policies intended to enhance industrial growth and international competitiveness of the manufacturing sector in the MENA region.
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Harry P. Bowen and Margarethe F. Wiersema
Research on strategic choices available to the firm are often modeled as a limited number of possible decision outcomes and leads to a discrete limited dependent variable. A…
Abstract
Research on strategic choices available to the firm are often modeled as a limited number of possible decision outcomes and leads to a discrete limited dependent variable. A limited dependent variable can also arise when values of a continuous dependent variable are partially or wholly unobserved. This chapter discusses the methodological issues associated with such phenomena and the appropriate statistical methods developed to allow for consistent and efficient estimation of models that involve a limited dependent variable. The chapter also provides a road map for selecting the appropriate statistical technique and it offers guidelines for consistent interpretation and reporting of the statistical results.
This chapter examines the impact of price fluctuations in foreign stock markets on the stock prices of domestic banks in Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Some studies…
Abstract
This chapter examines the impact of price fluctuations in foreign stock markets on the stock prices of domestic banks in Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Some studies have argued that the 2007–2009 global financial crisis (GFC) affected domestic banks less in East Asia, even though the supporting evidence is rather limited. Employing a multinomial logit model, we estimate how changes in the United States and Japanese stock markets affected the banking sectors in the sampled countries before the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and before and during the more recent GFC. We interpret the number of banks in a given country that experienced a large price shock on the same day (or “coexceedance”) as shocks to the domestic banking sector. The results suggest that fluctuations in foreign stock market indices exerted a larger impact on the prices of East Asian banking stocks during the 2000s than during the 1990s. In addition, although the shocks brought about by the deterioration of foreign stock markets were significant before the GFC, both increases and decreases in foreign stock prices significantly affected the banking sectors of the respective countries during the crisis. Lastly, we conclude that increasing foreign capital flows and foreign assets and liabilities greatly influenced domestic banking systems in East Asia during the 2000s.
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As a field, we should put more emphasis on interpreting the magnitude of coefficient estimates rather than only assessing statistical significance. To support this claim, I…
Abstract
As a field, we should put more emphasis on interpreting the magnitude of coefficient estimates rather than only assessing statistical significance. To support this claim, I demonstrate how focusing only on statistical significance can lead to incorrect and incomplete conclusions in many common applications of the linear regression model. Moreover, I demonstrate why interpreting coefficient estimates in common non-linear estimators (e.g., probit, logit, Poisson, and negative binomial estimators) requires additional care compared to the linear regression model.
In this paper, we study partial identification of the distribution of treatment effects of a binary treatment for ideal randomized experiments, ideal randomized experiments with a…
Abstract
In this paper, we study partial identification of the distribution of treatment effects of a binary treatment for ideal randomized experiments, ideal randomized experiments with a known value of a dependence measure, and for data satisfying the selection-on-observables assumption, respectively. For ideal randomized experiments, (i) we propose nonparametric estimators of the sharp bounds on the distribution of treatment effects and construct asymptotically valid confidence sets for the distribution of treatment effects; (ii) we propose bias-corrected estimators of the sharp bounds on the distribution of treatment effects; and (iii) we investigate finite sample performances of the proposed confidence sets and the bias-corrected estimators via simulation.
This chapter enquires whether family migration experience affects the probability of high school graduation of children once unobserved heterogeneity is properly accounted for…
Abstract
This chapter enquires whether family migration experience affects the probability of high school graduation of children once unobserved heterogeneity is properly accounted for. Bivariate dynamic random effects probit models for cluster data are estimated to control for the potential endogeneity of education and migration outcomes of elder members of a family in a regression for the education and migration of younger children. Correlation of unobservables across migration and education decisions as well as within groups of individuals such as the family are explicitly modeled. Results show that children from households headed by a migrant are less likely to graduate from high school than children from households headed by a non-migrant. However, as the number of migrants in the family increase, a larger number of migrants in the family is associated with a higher probability of graduation from high school in México. Negative migrant selection in unobservables is detected.
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Small businesses file taxes in accordance with the personal income tax code because they are considered flow-through entities. Thus, personal income tax reforms directly affect…
Abstract
Purpose
Small businesses file taxes in accordance with the personal income tax code because they are considered flow-through entities. Thus, personal income tax reforms directly affect the incentives small business owners face regarding employment and operations. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use the changes in personal income tax rates during the 1993 and 2001-2003 reforms and micro-level data to estimate the effect of statutory tax rate changes on small business employment decisions.
Findings
The authors add two contributions to the current literature: first, the author allow for intertemporal tax planning and second, the author allow the firm’s decision to employ labor to be correlated with the firm’s wage bill decision. Estimation of a Heckman selection model for wage bills shows that the probability that a business will employ labor is 1.18 percent higher when current tax rates increase by one percentage point and 0.70 percent lower when future rates are expected to increase by one percentage point. Among firms that already employ labor, the median wage bill elasticity with respect to current tax rates is −0.64. These estimates are larger than those reported in previous research because my model includes future taxes and allows for correlation between the firm’s employment and wage bill decisions. Omitting the intertemporal tax responses biases the estimates of previous researchers upwards, whereas assuming the two firm decisions are independent biases estimates towards zero.
Originality/value
This paper has been cited in publications published in Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy.
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The purpose of this paper is to decompose income inequality across various household income components and to estimate the marginal effects of changes in each of the income…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to decompose income inequality across various household income components and to estimate the marginal effects of changes in each of the income components on overall income inequality in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from the fifth and sixth rounds of the Ghana Living Standards Surveys. Gini coefficient was estimated and decomposed across structured income components. The marginal effects were obtained by computing the partial derivatives of the Gini coefficient with respect to a percentage change in a particular income source.
Findings
The results suggest that, in general, income inequality has increased marginally over the years (Gini coefficient of 0.66 in 2013 and 0.62 in 2006). Inequality was, however, higher in urban areas than in rural areas in 2013 with the reverse observed in 2006. The income component decomposition analysis suggests that wage employment income dominated household income in both rural and urban areas, even though the magnitude was higher in urban areas. Farm income was only dominant in rural communities in 2006. Self-employment and remittance income had consistent inequality reducing effects on total household income distribution.
Originality/value
The study goes beyond inequality studies in Ghana to estimate the marginal effect of income components on inequality. Such decomposition will allow for effective policy targeting in a resource-constrained developing country like Ghana.
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Md Ruhul Amin and Andre Varella Mollick
This paper aims to investigate how the relation between stock returns of US firms and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil prices is affected by leverage from 1990 to 2020.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate how the relation between stock returns of US firms and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil prices is affected by leverage from 1990 to 2020.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines how the relationship between stock returns of US firms and WTI oil prices is affected by leverage from 1990 to 2020 using a fixed-effect model estimation framework.
Findings
Results from the fixed-effect regression models suggest that leverage effects on stock returns are pervasive both in aggregate and cross-industry levels, while the mining industry is more sensitive. In addition to the positive oil price effects attenuated by leverage at the aggregate level, the authors observe stronger marginal effects of leverage only for the mining sector. Being more exposed to commodity prices, the positive effects of oil prices on stock returns in the mining sector are offset by large debt ratios. Asymmetries, effects of debt maturity structure and implications are also discussed.
Research limitations/implications
This study is grounded on the contemporary cash flow claim of leverage NOT on the long-run effect of leverage considering cash flow constraints. The oil price increase is assumed to represent an advancement of the overall economy. This study does not capture the oil prices response to some other economic forces and vice-versa.
Practical implications
Mining companies should therefore reduce the stock of debt with respect to their assets to make possible the “pass-through” from oil prices to the stock market.
Originality/value
Previously undocumented and the authors show that leverage reduces the total effect of oil prices on stock returns, consistent with the hypothesis. Asymmetric and debt maturity structures effects are also discussed.
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