Regime-specific impact of financial reforms on economic growth in Pakistan

This study uses and proposes a new methodological approach to construct a financial liberalization index on the basis of the dynamic factor model technique. The resulting index is used to investigate the impact of the financial sector reforms in Pakistan on economic growth. Using the Markov regime-switching model over the period 1972–2015, the empirical results showed that the examined relationship is nonlinear, nonmonotonic, state-dependent, and better described by the two-state Markov switching model characterized by the high growth regime and low growth regime. Despite the positive impact of financial liberalization on economic growth in both the high and low growth regimes, financial liberalization relatively strongly affects real GDP growth in the high growth regime. The results further demonstrate that transition probabilities establish an inordinate episode of the low growth regime. Furthermore, the high growth regime is relatively short-lived than the low growth regime. Among the other variables, trade openness and physical capital stock have a positive impact on economic growth, while labor force and government expenditure exert a negative effect on economic growth. Several economic policies are proposed and discussed for better functioning of financial sector development in Pakistan.     

Suicide prevention in Bangladesh: The current state and the way forward

Despite the World Health Organization's (WHO) call to adopt a national action plan on suicide, Bangladesh is yet to respond proactively to prevent this serious public health problem. The existing government and non‐government prevention interventions are very limited, segmented and almost invisible. Suicide (including attempted suicide) is currently a criminal offense under the Bangladeshi legal framework. The aim of this paper is to propose a framing toward a national suicide prevention action plan in Bangladesh based on a situational analysis of local existing suicide prevention interventions. International policy documents, empirical and review works, and legal documents that speak to suicide interventions were reviewed. Critical analysis of these interventions suggests that Bangladesh should prioritize the adoption of a multi‐sectoral suicide prevention action plan. The issue of decriminalization suicide should be carefully considered and policies harmonized before adopting the plan. Obtaining commitment from the policymakers to launch such intervention may be challenging. Considering the seriousness of the problem, Bangladeshi policymakers should be proactive in adopting a suicide prevention action plan. Neighboring countries provide useful lessons of the implementation measures that may assist with developing a suicide prevention action plan.     

On moments of dual generalized order statistics from Topp-Leone distribution

In this paper, we have derived exact and explicit expressions for the ratio and inverse moments of dual generalized order statistics from Topp-Leone distribution. This result includes the single and product moments of order statistics and lower records . Further, based on n dual generalized order statistics, we have deduced the expression for Maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) and Uniformly minimum variance unbiased estimator (UMVUE) for the shape parameter of Topp-Leone distribution. Finally, based on order statistics and lower records, a simulation study is being carried out to check the efficiency of these estimators.     

COVID-19 and business failures: The paradoxes of experience,scale, and scope for theory and practice

In light of growing scholarly works on business failure, across the social science domains, it is surprising that past studies have largely overlooked how extreme environmental shocks and ‘black swan’ events such as those caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and other global crises, can precipitate business failures. Drawing insights from the current literature on business failure and the unfolding event of COVID-19, we highlight the paradoxes posed by novel exogenous shocks (that is, shocks that transcend past experiences) and the implications for SMEs. The pandemic has accelerated the reconfiguration of the relationship between states and markets, increasing the divide between those with political connections and those without, and it may pose new legitimacy challenges for some players even as others seem less concerned by such matters, whilst experiential knowledge resources may be both an advantage and a burden.     

Developing an African research network and research agenda on work–family interface

In this article we aim to provide a narrative of the critical engagement on work–family issues in Africa that took place during the inaugural workshop of the African Research Network on Work–Family held at the University of Pretoria, South Africa in September 2015. The inter-disciplinary experts at the workshop agreed that with funding and appropriate local data, the Network has the potential to make a substantial contribution to strengthening and amplifying African voices in the global work–family discourse, which is currently dominated by research findings and literature from the Global North. A future research agenda was also proposed.     

Trade Dependence and Fertility in Hispanic America, 1950–1990

This paper explores Hout's (1980) conceptual model of the development–fertility relationship under trade dependency of Hispanic America, 1950–1990. The results of this study are that the effects of development and dependency on fertility are consistent with Hout's (1980) theory and his findings and that his positive development × dependency interaction term is not replicated. Thus, the well-known long-term negative effect of development might have been misspecified in Hout's model. In contrast to Hout's findings, our results based on all models support that as dependency increased, the long-term negative effect of development on fertility increased in magnitude for Hispanic America. Hence, the findings of this study suggest that the fertility transition for Hispanic America can occur based on an explanation that is alternative to what world system theorists' have so far offered.     

Media Action Research Group: toward an antiauthoritarian profeminist media research methodology

The Media Action Research Group (MARG) is an antiauthoritarian, profeminist (antiracist, anticolonial, queer, trans and anti-capitalist) group of activist-researchers both inside and outside the university, studying autonomous social movement media activism in Canada and beyond. In this article we map a taxonomy of activist-research, illustrating how MARG brings together five specific methodologies—activist-led issue-based research, militant participatory ethnography, feminist community research, prefigurative antiauthoritarian feminist participatory action research (PAFPAR), and autonomous media research—to study how women, people of colour, queer and trans people, and Indigenous people in antiauthoritarian or anarchist-leaning social movements are using grassroots media to support and report on these movements. We find that although MARG set out to create an antiauthoritarian research-activist collective, we are restricted in some ways by the intensification of neoliberalism in the university institution. Nonetheless we are able to conduct transgressive research at the intersection between antiauthoritarian activism and the academy, producing three direct and immediate impacts: within social movements, within media activism, and within the university.     

Does the Minimum Wage Bite into Fast-Food Prices?

We study the effect of increases in effective minimum wages on the prices of several fast-food items using quarterly city-level data from 1993–2014, a period during much of which the federal minimum wage declined in real value while state-level legislation flourished. For one product, a burger, we find a robust price elasticity of 9 % with respect to the minimum wage. This estimate indicates substantial cost pass-through when contextualized by the effect of minimum-wage increases on restaurant wage bills. Our estimate for pizza is suggestive of a similarly large pass-through rate but is less precisely estimated, and our estimate for fried chicken is near zero, but estimated even less precisely. Taken as a whole, our estimates point toward sizable cost pass-through of minimum wage increases to consumer prices. These results contribute to a mixed literature on the consumer burden of minimum wage increases.     

Does Demographic Transition with Human Capital Dynamics Matter for Economic Growth? A Dynamic Panel Data Approach to GMM

Social Indicators Research - This study seeks to empirically investigate whether demographic transition with dynamics of human capital matters for economic growth for a representative sample of...     

Impact of Political Risk and Uncertainty on FDI in South Asia

This study examines the potential effect of political risk and macroeconomic policy uncertainty on FDI in South Asia. To highlight the affect of political risk and macro policy uncertainty on FDI, we setup a theoretical framework based on oligopolistic and imperfect competition environment in host country. Autoregressive distributed lags (ARDL) is used to examine the impact of political risk and macro economic policy uncertainty index on FDI inflows. Macroeconomic policy uncertainty and political risk indices are constructed for this purpose. The long run results show negative affect of political risk and macroeconomic policy uncertainty indices on FDI inflows. Trade openness shows positive effect on FDI inflows only in short run while in long run it has negative impact on due lack of creditability regarding consistent trade liberalization policy and high trade cost. Furthermore, the market size significantly affects the inflow of FDI both in long run and short run which shows that FDI inflows in South Asia are mainly depend on market size. South Asian economies need to focus on political and macroeconomic factors along with FDI incentives policies to attract more FDI.