All Research

Shankaran Nambiar ·The European Journal of Development Research ·2021

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the capability approach can benefit from thinking in institutional economics. If the locus of the capability approach is moved from the individual to groups or communities, then it is imperative that institutions (conceived as formal and informal rules) be explicitly considered when applying the framework, particularly when social relations matter, as in microcredit or poverty alleviation. Rules underpin transactions and behaviour in society, so it stands to reason that capability improvement, or its lack, be examined from the vantage point of rules as understood by institutional economics. Applying institutional economics to the capability approach will open up different ways of analysing capabilities in communities.

Zubair Hassan · Muneeb Khan Lashari · Abdul Basit ·Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review ·2021 ·JEL: O15, P47, Q01, Z12

This study contributes to the existing literature on promoting entrepreneurial culture among students by establishing the key determinants of entrepreneurial culture through risk-taking behaviour, innovation, creativity, and empowerment. One of the unique aspects of this research is that these four factors are studied together and tested based on what academic institutions in Malaysia do to cultivate entrepreneurial culture among the students.

Rosmaria Jaffar · Chek Derashid · Roshaiza Taha ·Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business ·2021 ·JEL: H25, H26, M41

The purpose of this study is to examine the level of aggressive tax planning (ATP) among companies listed in the Access, Certainty, Efficiency (ACE) Market of Bursa Malaysia. On top of that, this study also investigates the relationship between company characteristics, ethnicity, and ATP. This study uses a balanced pooled sample of 105 firm years-observations for the period from 2014 to 2018. These samples were selected to provide new insight into this market and to explore the attitude of small firms toward ATP in Malaysia. The data was retrieved from DataStream and the downloaded annual reports. The finding shows that profitability and financial distress have a significant relationship with ATP. Other variables including size, capital intensity, inventory intensity, leverage, and ethnicity, were not determinants of ATP. The result in this study may assist the reader in understanding the nature of companies in the ACE market, particularly on its behavior toward tax planning. A strict requirement is needed to be adopted in the sample selection process, thus limiting the sample size. Further, since the previous study focused on large companies, the discussion of this paper will provide new insight into the nature of tax planning within the small- and medium-sized companies in Malaysia.

NurulHuda Mohd Satar · Md. Khaled Saifullah · Muhammad Mehedi Masud · Fatimah Binti Kari ·International Journal of Social Economics ·2021

In light of the rapid evolution of information and communication technology (ICT), every society is faced with many issues such as social exclusion, inequality and the digital divide. Hence, there is need to solve these complex challenges without comprising any development objective. A practical solution in this regard includes establishment of a sustainable model of community development. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the role of education in promoting the awareness on the use of ICT-based infrastructure among the general public to enhance their socioeconomic status. In addition, this study sets out to establish the nexus between socioeconomic status, ICT programme as well as the awareness of Kemaman Smart Community (KSC) development project.

Ibnu Qizam ·Entrepreneurial Business and Economics Review ·2021

The objective of the article is to investigate two issues. First, whether the Islamic bond (sukuk) ratings are the key determinant in affecting stock returns and, second, whether firm-characteristic variables moderate the sukuk ratings effect on stock returns. This study applied the panel estimated generalized least squares (EGLS) regression for two samples (from Indonesia and Malaysia) spanning two years, 2015-2016, for all variables, except for the intrinsic-value variable which spanned eight years, 2009-2016. The results show that the direct and positive effect of sukuk ratings on stock returns are significantly present in Malaysia but not in Indonesia, while the positive and significant moderating effects of firm-characteristic variables – especially leverage and intrinsic value of the firm – are more pronounced in the positive sukuk rating-stock return relationship in Indonesia than in Malaysia.

Yuegang Song · Ruixian Huang · Sudharshan Reddy Paramati · Abdulrasheed Zakari ·Economic Analysis and Policy ·2021

This study empirically examines the impact of economic integration on stock market co-movements of India with major Asian markets such as China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. We collect daily data on stock market indices from September 1999 to December 2017. The asymmetric generalised dynamic conditional correlation GARCH model is applied to estimate the time-varying conditional correlations among the various stock markets. Next, the panel autoregressive distributed lag method is applied to investigate the impact of economic integration on stock market co-movements. Our results show that economic integration has a significant positive impact on stock market co-movements in the region. The results also provide supporting evidence that the global financial crisis positively contributed to stock market interdependence in the Asian region.

Julien Chaisse · Manfred Elsig · Sufian Jusoh · Andrew Lugg ·Journal of International Economic Law ·2021

The investment chapter in the recently signed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has the potential to affect investment decisions in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. Yet, we know relatively little about the pathways through which countries determine the content of investment law in preferential trade agreements (PTAs). In this article, we use quantitative text analysis to test theoretically informed conjectures about the negotiation process. We focus on which of the signatories’ past agreements most influenced RCEP, and whether countries chose to draw more from treaty practice through their previous PTAs or bilateral investment treaties (BITs). Our analyses yield several noteworthy findings. First, we show that no single country dominated the negotiation process, instead RCEP represents an effort to reconcile overlapping agreements around a more common template. Second, contrary to the fears of some observers, we show that larger powers such as China and Japan did not overwhelmingly impact the agreement, instead portions were influenced by Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreements, the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, and others. Finally, we show that, on average, countries drew more from PTAs than BITs, but that they switch strategically between them to reuse language that they deem important for the development of investment law.

Mahmood Mehraaein · Rafia Afroz · Mehe Zebunnesa Rahman · Md Muhibullah ·Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business ·2021 ·JEL: C22, E01, F18, P18, Q42

The objective of this paper is to investigate the impact of economic growth (per capita real GDP), the square of per capita real GDP, energy use, financial development (FD), and foreign direct investment (FDI) on ecological footprint (EF) in the case of Malaysia over the period 1971–2014, by employing the ARDL approach. The long-run results revealed that economic growth has a significant positive impact on the ecological footprint and it implies that the economic growth deteriorates the environmental quality in Malaysia. Conversely, the square of GDP showed a negative and significant impact on the EF in the long run. As the coefficient of GDP in our study is positive and statistically significant while the coefficient of squared GDP is negatively significant, thus, this study supports the presence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the case of Malaysia. Furthermore, the result indicates that FDI has a positive and significant impact on the EF in the long run, which means a rise in FDI will enhance the environmental pollution level. Thus, it confirms the pollution haven hypothesis. Hence, it suggests that Malaysia imposes stricter environmental policies. Further, FDI and FD are causing GDP in Malaysia, but through increasing EF.

Filzah Md Isa · Nik Maheran Nik Muhammad · Azizah Ahmad · Shaista Noor ·Journal of Economics and Business ·2021

Women entrepreneur has gained utmost importance in the past few decades in Malaysia due to their significant contribution to the country's economic development. However, few business challenges create a constant obstruction for many women entrepreneurs such as lack of ICT knowledge, time constraint to learn ICT, lack of technological expertise, etc. The present study aims to identify the effect of ICT adoption on business performance and examine how ICT usage helped them handle operational business matters. The present study adopted the qualitative research strategy, and researchers interviewed ten (10) women entrepreneurs for this study. A semistructured interview technique was applied, and six Malay and four Chinese entrepreneurs made the study population. The result highlights that Malay and Chinese entrepreneurs use ICT in their business operation such as warehousing system, purchasing system, HRM software and accounting system, purchase order system, production system, internal communication, and AutoCAD. The present study may support the prospective entrepreneurs in considering the ICT usage to embark on technology and innovation and provide inputs to policymakers to design a proper support system for Malaysian women entrepreneurs, particularly those new entrepreneurs who are mostly young and inexperienced.

Suhal Kusairi · Suriyani Muhamad · Norizan Abdul Razak · Aji Purba Trapsila ·Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business ·2021 ·JEL: D21, D23, M13, M14

This study examines the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the role of Malaysian local wisdom called “Ugahari” in managing Work–Life Balance (WLB) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. Data was obtained through online and offline surveys which were distributed to the agencies in the public and private sectors spread across Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Pura Jaya. Overall 466 respondents were found to have given valid and complete responses. This research utilized the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling. It was found that the use of the ICT during Work from Home (WFH) helped workers to have relatively high flexibility where they could easily expand or contract one domain to meet the demands of another domain. At the same time it also offered high permeability where aspects of one domain entered another domain. This encourages workers to integrate their roles and achieve broad work autonomy. Furthermore, this situation then gives rise to a high level of interference at the boundary between work and family domains. On the other hand Ugahari reduces the level of interference caused by ICT use and encourages workers to compartmentalize their respective roles. Thus, ICT and Ugahari’s behavior can play a role and complement each other in the context of realizing worker well-being

Lee Hwok Aun ·Asian Economic Policy Review ·2021 ·JEL: D30, D63, I30, J15

The New Economic Policy (NEP) which focused on poverty reduction and social restructuring has transformed Malaysia since 1971. Pro-Bumiputera affirmative action was intensively pursued and has continuously faced pushback, with heightened debate at key junctures. The NEP was marred by gaps and omissions, notably its ambiguity on policy mechanisms and longterm implications, and inordinate emphasis on Bumiputera equity ownership. Broader discourses have imbibed these elements and tend to be more selective than systematic in policy critique. During the late 1980s, rousing deliberations on the successor to the NEP settled on a growth-oriented strategy that basically retained the NEP framework and extended ethnicitydriven compromises. Since 2010, notions of reform and alternatives to the NEP’s affirmative action programme have been propagated, which despite bold proclamations, again amount to partial and selective – not comprehensive – change. Affirmative action presently drifts along, with minor modifications and incoherent reform rhetoric stemming from conflation of the NEP’s two prongs.

Dung V. Dinh · Robert J. Powell · Duc H. Vo ·Journal of Asian Economics ·2021 ·JEL: G33, G28

This study is conducted to investigate the prediction of corporate financial distress based on the Merton (1974) market-based Distance to Default (DD) model over the period from 1997 to 2016 which covers a range of economic financial circumstances, including the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) and Global Financial Crisis (GFC). The study focusses on the six largest countries in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), comprising of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Unlike previous studies which focus mainly on bankruptcy, this paper focusses on early warning distress indicators that signal distress well before bankruptcy. This is when firms experience difficulty in servicing debt as measured by interest coverage ratio (ICR) at a firm level and non-performing loans (NPLs) at a country level. Key empirical findings from this paper indicate that the market-based distance-to-default (DD) model is generally a good early warning indicator of financial distress in the following year, particularly for ICR, but that prediction accuracy varies between individual countries in the Southeast Asian region.

Umar Ndako · Afees A. Salisu · Muritala O. Ogunsiji ·Asian Economics Letters ·2021

In this paper, the predictive value of geopolitical risk (GPR) for the return volatility of Islamic stocks in Indonesia and Malaysia is examined. GPR data, whether global or country-specific, heighten the return volatility of Islamic stocks in both countries, albeit with a greater impact on Indonesia. Additional analyses show improved out-of-sample forecast gains with the inclusion of GPR data in the predictive model of the return volatility of Islamic stocks

Muhammed Abdul Khalid · Li Yang ·Journal of Asian Economics ·2021

In this paper, by combining information obtained from national accounts, household surveys, and fiscal data, we document the evolution of income inequality in Malaysia, not only at the national level (for the period of 1984–2014) but also by ethnic group (for the period of 2002–2014). To our knowledge this is the first attempt to produce inequality measurements of Malaysia, which are fully consistent with the national accounts. Our research shows that despite Malaysia’s exceptional economic growth rate, its growth has been inclusive. For the period of 2002–2014, the real income growth for the bottom 50 % is the highest (5.2 %), followed by the middle 40 % (4.1 %), the top 10 % (2.7 %) and then the top 1 % (1.6 %). However, while average growth rates are positive across all ethnic groups (Bumiputera 4.9 %, Indians 4.8 %, and Chinese 2.7 %), the highest growth of real income per adult accrued to the Bumiputera in the top 1 % (at 8.3 %), which sharply contrasts the much lower growth rate of the Indians (at 3.4 %) and negative income growth rates of the Chinese (at −0.6 %). Despite the negative growth rate, the Chinese still account for the lion’s share in the top 1 %. In 2014, 60 % of the adults in the top 1 % income group are Chinese, while 33 % Bumiputera, and 6 % Indians. We conclude that in this period, Malaysia’s growth features an inclusive redistribution between income classes, but with a twist between racial groups.

Mengdie Ruan · Angathevar Baskaran · Shanshan Zhou ·Millennial Asia ·2021

This article explores the contributions of—and constraints faced by—small and medium enterprises (SMEs) owned by mainland Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs in Malaysia using qualitative research and primary data gathered from five cases. It was found that Chinese immigrant SMEs make significant contributions to the host economy in terms of employment, diverse products and services, exports, innovation, micro foreign direct investment (FDI) and global linkages. Of these, employment creation and exports appear to be their most important contributions. They face various constraints, some of which are largely the same as those faced by local entrepreneurs. However, they additionally face some specific constraints which local entrepreneurs do not, such as language barrier, lack of financial support in the growth stage, lack of government assistance, and onerous bureaucratic problems, such as tax and visa requirements. The findings suggest that the government should create a special department to formulate tailor-made policies and incentives to support immigrant-owned SMEs, so that their contribution to the future economic development of Malaysia can be further strengthened and monitored.