Research

Woei Chyuan Wong · Abd Halim Ahmad · Shamsul Bahrain Mohamed-Arshad · Sabariah Nordin · Azira Abdul Adzis ·Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies ·2022 ·JEL: G32

This paper examines the determinants of Malaysian listed firms’ environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance during the period 2005–2018. We focus on individual firms’ continuous efforts to improve their ESG scores once they are ESG rated. Panel fixed effect results reveal that the number of years since a firm was first included in Bloomberg’s ESG score is positive and significantly related to its ESG performance. We interpret this as evidence of firms’ deliberate efforts to improve their ESG scores once they fall under the radar of a third-party ESG rating agency. This finding underscores the importance of third-party rating agency in fostering greater corporate sustainability. We contribute to the literature that posits that ESG third-party rating agency can lead to higher level of ESG practices of the rated firms.

Tamat Sarmidi · Nurul Aishah Khairuddin · Muhamad Rias K V Zainuddin ·Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies ·2021 ·JEL: D67, L93, R41

In 2019, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) from tier one to tier two. Existing research has revealed that downgrading air safety ratings has a detrimental effect on the aviation sector. Although extensive research has been carried out on air safety downgrading, limited studies have delved into the backward and forward linkages and inter-industries framework. By employing a difference-in-differences (DID) panel data econometric and input-output (I-O) analysis to a modified sectoral aggregation of Malaysia’s I-O Table 2015, this study is able to simulate the impact of air safety downgrading. The findings show that, apart from being a “key” industry, air safety downgrades could result in a RM722.5 million loss to Malaysia’s GDP. A more in-depth inspection of the results indicates that the reduction in GDP mainly results from the air transport industry (RM252.0 million), other transportation services (RM107.0 million), and wholesale and retail trade (RM66.2 million). The findings complement earlier related studies that air safety rating downgrades could be a severe threat to sustainable economic growth.

Harn Shian Boo ·Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities ·2021

This article explores how gender norms rooted in culture and religion influence gender inequality among Malay couples in Malaysia. Studies on the unbalanced division of unpaid domestic work are pivotal because they negatively affect women’s economic status, wellbeing and life. Many studies have indicated that gender inequality in the division of household labour persists even after accounting for paid work time and resources, suggesting that gender norms lead to the unequal division in unpaid domestic work. By using gender perspective as the theoretical perspective, this study explores how men and women behave according to cultural and religious defined gender roles and are expected to behave as such. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine Malay couples in Malaysia. The study suggests that women shoulder a disproportionate amount of housework and childcare due to the cultural and religious gender norms that foster the prescribed roles, emphasising men’s role as the primary breadwinners and women’s role as the homemakers. This study highlights that gender norms rooted in culture and religion plays vital roles in creating gender inequality among Malay couples. Moreover, this study adds support to the gender perspective that not only gender role ideology matter, but also highlights that religiosity matters when accounting for gender norms in Malay society. This study implies that recognising the importance of cultural and religious gender norms around domestic work as women’s work is crucial in narrowing the gender gap in unpaid domestic work.

Muzafar Shah Habibullah · Mohd Yusof Saari · Badariah Haji Din · Sugiharso Safuan · Chakrin Utit ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2021 ·JEL: H30, I18, J64

In this empirical note, we examine the relationship between the loss of employment and lockdown measures undertaken by the Malaysian government during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak over the period from 25 January 2020 to 10 September 2020. By using cointegration analysis, our results suggest that there are both long-run and short-run relationships between loss of employment and lockdown measures in Malaysia. Lockdown measures show positive impact on the number of workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic. The loss of employment increases by 0.35% to 1.1% for every 1% increase in the lockdown measures.

Cai Yunchao · Selamah Abdullah Yusof · Ruzita Mohd Amin · Mohd Nahar Mohd Arshad ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2020

Using data collected from urban households in the Klang Valley, Malaysia, this study examined the impact of household debt on urban household consumption decisions. The findings revealed that household debt does not generally affect consumption decisions, except in the case of expenditure on vacation, which tends to be reduced for households facing high levels of debt. Furthermore, general financial wellness tends to be the main factor affecting consumption rather than debt. Households with poorer financial wellness make more frequent cuts to daily meals, fruit, utility, transportation, clothing, medical care, vacations, and leisure activities. Although the impact of debt on consumption is not extensive, it must be closely monitored to ensure that the risk is contained and that the wellbeing of households is not adversely affected.

Nur Syazwani Mazlan · Farah Yushanis Fadzilah · Saifuzzaman Ibrahim ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2019

This paper examines the impact of globalisation on the level of human development in Malaysia. It also investigates the roles of other potential determinants of human development such as foreign direct investment (FDI), trade openness and international migration on Human Development Index (HDI) in Malaysia. We employ the method of Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) on the annual time series data covering the period from 1980 to 2017. The results confrm a positive and signifcant long run relationship between globalisation and FDI with HDI in Malaysia. However, the results imply a negative short and long run relationship of both trade openness and international migration with HDI. Therefore, the results suggest for policies to be focused and geared towards fostering globalisation and attracting the infows of FDI if the country’s main agenda is to improve the level of human development.

Vickie Siew-Hoon Yew · Abul Quasem Al-Amin · Evelyn S Devadason ·Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies ·2020 ·JEL: F14, F10, F19

The import intensive food processing sector in Malaysia is highly regulated with non-tariff measures (NTMs) from the import side. However, the ad-valorem equivalents (AVEs) of those NTMs vary substantially across the subsectors of food processing. To assess the trade costs or plausible protection effects associated with NTMs, the computable general equilibrium (CGE) model is employed with partial removal of NTMs from the baseline scenario with NTMs. The disaggregated impact of a reduction in NTMs indicate disproportionate gains in trade (both imports and exports) across the various subsectors, with highest gains derived by the subsectors with relatively high AVEs, namely dairy products, bakery products and animal feeds. The simulation findings further show that the overall impact of a reduction in NTMs on trade is larger in the long run relative to the short run, suggesting slow responses to such policy changes, as NTMs present themselves as a package and not as an instrument.

Siew-Pong Cheah · Lin-Sea Lau · Chee-Keong Choong ·International Journal of Economics and Management ·2021 ·JEL: D3, D63, G51

Most past studies have assumed a symmetric relationship between income distribution and household indebtedness. Therefore, linear or symmetric modelling would miss possible asymmetric relationships between income distribution and household debt, resulting in misleading conclusions and policy suggestions. Thus, this study has explored the potential asymmetries between household debt and income inequality within long-run and short-run relationships. This study discovered that the association between income inequality and household debt was asymmetric in the long and short run using the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag model. The results showed that only decreases in income inequality had a significant and positive effect on household debt, while increases in income inequality did not have a significant effect. The findings emphasised the need for policies to reduce income inequality to lessen debt among Malaysian households.

Siti Marsila Mhd Ruslan · Kasypi Mokhtar ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2020

This study examines the price differences between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah from 2004 using quantitative and qualitative methods. For quantitative research, we employ disaggregate monthly consumer price indices for nine types of goods and services. Based on the Johansen co-integration test, the results reveal that the long-run relationship only exists for transport group. The findings using Granger pair-wise causality test indicated that the prices in Peninsular Malaysia do not determined the price in Sabah. Qualitative research was further conducted via interviews with stakeholders of shipping providers, port authority, government and special interest group show that the price disparity between Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah occurred due to trade imbalance, sluggish economic activities, poor accessibility between port and retailers, insufficient infrastructure and technical facilities and political sentiment.

Tharshini Sivabalan · Faizah Haji Mas’ud · Dolly Paul Carlo ·Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities ·2022

Individuals with disabilities are highly exposed to mate crime victimisation than their non-disabled counterparts. This research aims to identify mate crime victimisation among people with disabilities in Sarawak, Malaysia. Data was quantitatively collected among 151 respondents from various governmental and non-governmental organisations in Kuching, Kota Samarahan, and Asajaya that provide residential care, medical attention, training, work opportunities, basic education, and rehabilitation for individuals with disabilities. It was found that most respondents (females between 18 and 28 years old) experienced mate crime victimisation, particularly financial abuse (F₂‚₁₄₈ = 5.905, p = .003) and sexual abuse (F₂‚₁₄₈ = 10.234, p = .001). It is deemed important to identify mate crime victimisation against such individuals with sufficient proof to enable law enforcement agencies and policymakers to develop optimal approaches and programmes that complement the needs of individuals with disabilities and alleviate potential mate crime victimisations.

Siti `Aisyah Baharudin · Hayyan Nassar Waked · Mohd Shah Paimen ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2021 ·JEL: A1, D1, E7

This research attempts to analyze households’ responses to Movement Control Orders (MCO) and assess the impact of MCO on consumer confidence based on the potential disproportionate impact on various income groups in Malaysia. Households’ responses and consumer confidence are measured through an online survey to collect the targeted groups’ financial situation and household information and expectations during MCO. A total of 660 respondents from all over Malaysia were involved in this study. Analysis of the MCO responses showed that households were able to comply with MCO rules with the highest positive response of 99.7%. In comparison, the households’ responses to the implementation of MCO showed the highest negative response of 18.4%, with the majority represented by the B40 income category (65.2%). The consumer confidence present index is operating at six times higher than the expectation index, which indicates that the implementation of MCO in the short-run has a moderate impact on households’ economic status than in the long-run involving the COVID-19 pandemic effect on the overall economy. According to the people’s confidence to the government in the long-run, current political developments are essential to influence the people’s confidence in the economy. The consumer confidence index gives an overview of two policies that need to be emphasized by the government. Based on the short-run status of food consumption, this study strongly recommends that the policymakers consider establishing a National Food Stockpile in light of the nation’s food security and moving on to food-based agriculture that considers the targeted groups in the long-run.

Muhamad Rias K V Zainuddin · Md Shafiin Shukor · Muhamad Solehuddin Zulkifli · Amirul Hamza Abdullah ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2021 ·JEL: F10, F14

The recent pandemic outbreak has distorted international trade flows as the global economic activity reaches a nearstandstill due to stricter movement control imposed by most countries worldwide. Despite gaining the researcher’s attention, the impact of Covid-19 on trade performances are still relatively understudied. Hence, this study aims to analyse the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak on the bilateral sectoral export for Malaysia. This study employs Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) regressions to analyse the sectoral impact in gravity models. The findings provide new perspectives on the varying impacts of the current pandemic outbreak on sectoral trade performances. The dummy variables that represent the existence of Covid-19 have significantly reduced bilateral exports for 11 sectors while increased the exports for seven sectors. Meanwhile, the severity of the Covid-19 outbreak (measured by the number of new cases and death cases) in Malaysia has negative impacts on 14 sectors. The reason for this is that when the current pandemic outbreak in Malaysia is more severe, the government has to enforce stricter movement controls that affect productions and reduce exports. On the other hand, the severity of the Covid-19 outbreak in trading partners has positive impacts on the export for 13 sectors in Malaysia. This is because the more severe pandemic outbreak in trading nations causes lower production capacities and thus higher dependence on imported goods. Differences between the impact of Covid-19 existence and severity by sectors should serve as a red flag for Malaysia’s policymakers to take immediate actions to minimise the impact of the ongoing pandemic outbreak and maximise gains from sectors that have higher demand post Covid-19. The net negative impact on the export performance further reiterates the need for government intervention policies to ensure domestic firms can withstand the current tide, which then minimises the social and economic impacts and helps the economy to recover.

Hasnan Baber ·Malaysian Journal of Consumer and Family Economics ·2019

The study is aimed to investigate the gap between the level of service quality expectations and perception and its impact on customer satisfaction in Islamic banks of Malaysia. Shariah Compliance dimension was included in the SERVQUAL model of service quality. A 29 item questionnaire was employed to collect data from 721 customers of selected banks of Malaysia. In this study, data were statistically analysed through reliability analysis, paired sample t-test, exploratory factor analysis, regression analysis and followed by confirmed factor analysis. Structural equation modelling was used to measure service quality perception and customer satisfaction. This study revealed that there is a partial significant gap between expected and perceived service quality level except in Shariah Compliance and tangibility. The study suggested that there is a positive and significant impact of modified multidimensional SERVQUAL quality scale on customer satisfaction. Addition of Shariah compliance dimension showed the highest contributing factor among all dimensions and thus its inclusion was justified. The study was original and novel to find a quality gap and its impact on Malaysian Islamic bank customers and it will help policymakers of Malaysia and other countries to improve to meet customer expectations.

Farah Ajlaa Julaihi · Asmah Alia Mohamad Bohari · Mohd Azrai Azman · Kuryati Kipli · Sharifah Rahama Amirul ·Pertanika Journal of Social Science and Humanities ·2022

Many countries are witnessing a rise in the ageing population, which has become a global phenomenon that all nations must address. As the population of greying people is expected to increase in Malaysia, the demand for senior citizen accommodation is predicted to have experienced a major rise by 2030. However, although studies related to retirement villages (RV) are highly important to understand how to provide a better ambience for the elderly, research on the development of retirement villages in Malaysia is yet to gather pace fully. Thus, this paper aims to explore the potential of the retirement village in Malaysia by focusing on the push factors for the elderly to move to retirement villages in the local Malaysian context. The outcome of this paper presents the initial findings derived from a literature review and pilot survey. Eight potential push factors were identified after questions were posed to potential respondents through a pilot survey questionnaire. The research revealed that the main potential reason why the elderly relocate to retirement villages was related to social factors, with the elderly preferring better access to healthcare and support due to their unique requirements. The findings of this study are relevant to Chapter 11, as underlined in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which call on all governments to offer access to a secure, green environment for everyone, especially the elderly. Theoretically, this research provides the first findings on the elements that encourage the elderly to relocate to an RV when they retire in Malaysia.

Ke-Chyn Ng · Mui-Yin Chin ·International Journal of Economics and Management ·2021 ·JEL: F14, F31

This study examined the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on the level of international trade between Malaysia and China using 45 observations spanning from 2010 quarter 1 to 2021 quarter 1. The Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH) model was adopted to compute the exchange rate fluctuations. International trade between Malaysia and China was selected in this study as, since 2009, China has consistently been Malaysia's top trading partner. Besides, to produce precise output, this study employed two models: the export and import models. The empirical results, derived from Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) modelling, suggested that exchange rate fluctuations had a negative but statistically insignificant impact on exports. In contrast, exchange rate fluctuations had a positive and statistically significant impact on imports. This result implied that importers from Malaysia were generally risk-takers, as they tended to trade significantly during periods of high exchange rate fluctuation. However, to avoid losses for both exporters and importers due to exchange rate fluctuations, policymakers from both countries should ensure that facilities for exchange rate hedging become more convenient and straightforward for traders so that international trade continues to bloom for both countries.