90 research outputs found
Foreign Debt, Dependency, and Economic Growth in South Asia
No full textMany developing countries are following a policy to attract foreign capital through loans and other means to enhance investment. The inflow of these resources is seen as an addition to investment for accelerating economic growth. However, there are only a few success stories where such resources have made any significant contribution to improve the economic conditions of recipient country. Pakistan and other South Asian countries have received significant amount of foreign loans2 but its role is critical [Chaudhary and Ali (1993, 1996)]. In spite of increasing foreign aid, South Asia has emerged one of the poorest and illiterate regions of the world, having more than 500 million poor living below poverty line and about 46 percent of the world’s illiterate live in the South Asia [UNDP/MHHDC*(1997)]. This is the region, which has 22 percent of the world’s population, while having only 3 percent of the world’s income. It also appears one of the most indebted regions of the world [Anwar (1995)]. In spite of a significant inflow of foreign aid, the economic conditions remained poor in this region. Such a situation calls for an in depth analysis of the contribution of foreign aid. Therefore, this paper is focused to analyse the role and implications of international debt in South Asia. Besides, South Asia’s dependency upon foreign debt is also analysed. In addition, tendency of resources outflow from South Asia to other countries, in terms of debt services, is also identified.
Tax sensitivity of foreign direct investment : an empirical assessment
No full textTax sensitivity of foreign direct investment (FDI) has important policy implications. If FDI is not responsive to taxation, then it may be an appropriate target for taxation by the host country, which can raise revenue without sacrificing any economic benefits FDI produces. This paper examines the effects of taxation on FDI in Mexico. The empirical model used for this purpose distinguishes FDI finance by transfers and retained earnings and incorporates host and home country tax and non-tax factors including host country risk factors and credit status of multinationals. The paper concludes that empirical evidence on tax sensitivity of FDI in Mexico is quite strong. It suggests that FDI transfers and reinvested earnings respond negatively to the Mexican effective tax rate and to regulations. It is further dampened by the excess credit status of multinationals. It is encouraged by a favorable economic and political climate in Mexico, as indicated by the country credit rating of The Institutional Investor and by tariffs.International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research
Yugoslavia - How redistribution hurts productivity in a socialist economy
No full textSocialism as practiced in Eastern Europe is characterized by massive income redistribution. This paper focuses on: (a) interfirm redistribution, consisting of taxing profitable firms in order to subsidize unprofitable ones; and (b) intrafirm redistribution, consisting of the compression of personal income differentials within a firm. The author constructs a theoretical model of redistribution of income as practiced in Yugoslav firms. Empirical results lead to the conclusions that efficiency in production could be improved at no cost if such redistribution were abolished. Furthermore, economies in which much of the GNP is redistributed through bargaining are also bound to be inefficient in distribution because some groups are less able to represent their common interests than others. Contrary to a common belief, socialist countries can not be praised on the count of equity either. This paper presents the estimating framework and the results of the empirical analysis obtained on the basis of a sample of Slovenian enterprises and a brief discussion of policy implications concludes the paper.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Inequality,Health Economics&Finance,Work&Working Conditions
A Review of Electronic Transport in Superconducting Sr2RuO4 Junctions
No full textWe review electronic transport in superconducting junctions with Sr2RuO4. Transport measurements provide evidence for chiral domain walls and, therefore, chiral superconductivity in superconducting Sr2RuO4, but so far, the symmetry of the underlying superconducting state remains inconclusive. Further studies involving density of states measurements and spin-polarised transport in local/non-local Sr2RuO4 junctions with magnetic materials could lead to fundamental discoveries and a better understanding of the superconducting state
Image Colorization: A Survey and Dataset
No full textImage colorization estimates RGB colors for grayscale images or video frames to improve their aesthetic and perceptual quality. Over the last decade, deep learning techniques for image colorization have significantly progressed, necessitating a systematic survey and benchmarking of these techniques. This article presents a comprehensive survey of recent state-of-the-art deep learning-based image colorization techniques, describing their fundamental block architectures, inputs, optimizers, loss functions, training protocols, training data, etc. It categorizes the existing colorization techniques into seven classes and discusses important factors governing their performance, such as benchmark datasets and evaluation metrics. We highlight the limitations of existing datasets and introduce a new dataset specific to colorization. We perform an extensive experimental evaluation of existing image colorization methods using both existing datasets and our proposed one. Finally, we discuss the limitations of existing methods and recommend possible solutions and future research directions for this rapidly evolving topic of deep image colorization. The dataset and codes for evaluation are publicly available at https://github.com/saeed-anwar/ColorSurvey
Corporate Governance Performance Relationship and the Role of Institutions and Culture: New Evidence from Asian Microfinance Institutions
No full textPurpose: In a globalized world today, Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are concerned about their corporate governance mechanism to enhance financial and social performance. However, it largely depends on the existing institutional, cultural and economic factors. This paper furthers the debate on the impact of corporate governance on the financial and social performance of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Asian Context.
Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper utilizes a panel cross-country data set comprised of 183 MFIs in 18 Asian countries over the period of 2010-2018. For empirical analysis, it applies GMM regression technique to control for the endogeniety issue.
Findings: The results show that generally corporate governance mechanism contributes more towards social performance of MFIs than the financial performance and a conducive institutional environment enhances both financial and social performance. However, good cultural and economic values contribute only towards the social performance of MFIs.
Implications/Originality/Value: Since majority of MFIs irrespective of their status are socially oriented. Therefore, good corporate governance mechanism is more effective in enhancing social performance in particular. Progress towards human development contributes to both financial and social performance of MFIs
EFFICIENT REMOVAL OF HEAVY METALS BY PHYTOREMEDIATION TECHNIQUES
No full textDirect and indirect disposal of different wastes either due to some accidental spillage or due to practicing of sewage sludge to agricultural fields for diverse reasons in the water reservoirs contributes towards contamination of our ecosystem. Physical removal or immobilization is required for making soil and water contaminant-free from such kind of heavy metals. The Earth crust is mainly composed of these heavy metals and as they are non-degradable in nature, so there is a greater risk of their entrance into the food web and lead to various health hazards. Phytoremediation is an innovative, environment friendly, cost-effective, and aesthetically pleasing approach to remove/immobilize heavy metals. Processes mainly involves the detoxification, removal, or stabilization of retentive pollutants via utilization of vegetation and is a green environmental-friendly tool for cleaning polluted soils. It is a broad-spectrum remediation mechanism in which several processes are involved as mentioned here includes phyto-stabilization, rhizo-filtration, rhizo-degradation, phyto-degradation, phyto-extraction, and phyto-volatilization. Use of aromatic non-edible plants is sustainable and the best treatment approach for the elimination of toxic metals. These plants are not removed directly by humans or animals like non-aromatic edible crops such as cereals, pulses, or vegetables. This research is entirely based on qualitative analysis with descriptive approach. The crops like mustard plant, sunflower, rapeseed etc. are effectively put in an application at sites with superficial contamination of organic or inorganic contaminants via the above-mentioned six techniques. Phytoremediation is a reliable reclaiming treatment and hence the most demanding remediation technology in the world
The Energy-Growth Nexus in Thailand: Does Trade Openness Boost up Energy Consumption?
No full textThe nexus between trade openness and energy demand is hot topic of discussion among academicians and researchers, and numerous studies are available in existing literature while investigating the nexus between trade openness and energy demand. This paper explores the relationship between energy consumption, trade openness and economic growth in case of Thailand. In doing so, we have applied Bayer and Hanck cointegration approach to test whether the long run relationship exists between the variables. Our results confirm the presence of cointegration between the variables. Energy consumption stimulates economic growth. Trade openness adds in economic growth. The causality analysis reveals that energy consumption Granger causes economic growth and in resulting, economic growth Granger causes energy consumption. Trade openness and energy consumption are interdependent i.e. trade openness Granger causes energy consumption and in return, energy consumption Granger causes trade openness. This paper openness up new directions for policy making authorities in Thailand to design a comprehensive energy and trade policies to sustain economic growth for long run
Author Correction: Spontaneous superconducting diode effect in non-magnetic Nb/Ru/Sr2RuO4 topological junctions
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