The Impact of Social Capital on Household Well-being in Pakistan

Social Indicators Research - The main purpose is to check the impact of social capital on households’ objective well-being in the context of a developing country like Pakistan. The primary...     

A new estimator of finite population mean based on the dual use of the auxiliary information

When a sufficient correlation between the study variable and the auxiliary variable exists, the ranks of the auxiliary variable are also correlated with the study variable, and thus, these ranks can be used as an effective tool in increasing the precision of an estimator. In this paper, we propose a new improved estimator of the finite population mean that incorporates the supplementary information in forms of: (i) the auxiliary variable and (ii) ranks of the auxiliary variable. Mathematical expressions for the bias and the mean-squared error of the proposed estimator are derived under the first order of approximation. The theoretical and empirical studies reveal that the proposed estimator always performs better than the usual mean, ratio, product, exponential-ratio and -product, classical regression estimators, and Rao (1991 Rao, T.J. (1991). On certail methods of improving ration and regression estimators. Commun. Stat. Theory Methods 20(10):3325–3340.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), Singh et al. (2009 Singh, R., Chauhan, P., Sawan, N., Smarandache, F. (2009). Improvement in estimating the population mean using exponential estimator in simple random sampling. Int. J. Stat. Econ. 3(A09):13–18. [Google Scholar]), Shabbir and Gupta (2010 Shabbir, J., Gupta, S. (2010). On estimating finite population mean in simple and stratified random sampling. Commun. Stat. Theory Methods 40(2):199–212.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), Grover and Kaur (2011 Grover, L.K., Kaur, P. (2011). An improved estimator of the finite population mean in simple random sampling. Model Assisted Stat. Appl. 6(1):47–55. [Google Scholar], 2014) estimators.     

Estimation of inaccuracy measure for censored dependent data

In the present paper, we propose non parametric estimators for the inaccuracy measure for the lifetime distribution based on censored data. This measure plays important roles in reliability and survival analysis in connection with modeling and analysis of life time data. Asymptotic properties of the estimators are established under suitable regularity conditions. Monte Carlo simulation studies are carried out to compare the performance of the estimators using the mean-squared error. The methods are illustrated using a real data set.     

A new t-chart using process capability index

Control charts play a vital role to enhance the efficiency of the manufacturing process. In many situations, the quality characteristic of interest to be monitored follows a non-normal distribution. In this article, we propose a new control chart using the process capability index when the quality characteristic follows the exponential distribution. The performance of the proposed chart is evaluated using the Monte Carlo simulation. Tables are presented for various values of specified average run length and sample size. The use of the proposed control chart is discussed with the help of an example.     

A new sampling method for estimating the population mean

A double L ranked set sampling (DLRSS) method is suggested for estimating the population mean. The DLRSS is compared with the simple random sampling (SRS), ranked set sampling (RSS) and L ranked set sampling (LRSS) methods based on the same number of measured units. The conditions for which the suggested estimator performs better than the other estimators are derived. It is found that, the suggested DLRSS estimator is an unbiased of the population mean, and is more efficient than its counterparts using SRS, RSS, and LRSS methods. Real data sets are used for illustration.     

Weighted adaptive multivariate CUSUM charts with variable sampling intervals

The adaptive multivariate CUSUM (AMCUSUM) chart has received considerable attention because of its superior sensitivity against a range of mean shift sizes than that of the conventional non-adaptive multivariate CUSUM (MCUSUM) chart. Recently, weighted AMCUSUM (WAMCUSUM) charts with a fixed sampling interval (FSI) have been proposed, called the WAMCUSUM-FSI charts, which provide more sensitivity than the AMCUSUM-FSI charts. In this paper, we extend this work and propose WAMCUSUM charts with variable sampling interval (VSI), named the WAMCUSUM-VSI charts, for efficiently monitoring the mean of a multivariate normally distributed process. The Monte Carlo simulation method is used to compute the average time to signal (ATS) and the adjusted ATS (AATS) profiles of the existing and proposed charts. It is found that the WAMCUSUM-VSI charts perform substantially and nearly uniformly better than the WAMCUSUM-FSI charts in terms of the ATS and AATS performance criterion. An example is given to explain the implementation of the WAMCUSUM charts with fixed and VSIs.     

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.     

Evaluating barriers to implementing green supply chain management: An example from an emerging economy

Abstract

This study proposes a fuzzy-based VIKOR (VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) framework for evaluating barriers to implementing green supply chain management (GSCM) in the context of an emerging economy. The methodology uses a mix method approach combining literature review and opinions of some selected managers from the plastic industry of Bangladesh to identify four main-barriers and twenty-five sub-barriers relevant to GSCM implementation. Fuzzy-VIKOR approach was applied to aid in the analysis of the barriers in the plastic industry of Bangladesh. The findings of the study show the order/rank of intensity and severity of the main-barriers to implementing GSCM practices in the plastic industry of Bangladesh as follows: ‘inadequate knowledge and support’, ‘insufficient technology and infrastructure’, ‘financial constraints and unsupportive organizational’ and ‘operational policies’. The results also show the rankings of the sub-barriers under each main barriers. This research contributes to the literature in a number of ways. First, it identifies multi-levels of barriers to GSCM implementation. Secondly, it identifies and proposes alternative action plans (strategies) to help mitigate and implement GSCM practices. Though this study has significant contributions, a number of limitations do exist. The barriers in this study were identified using the extant literature review and industrial managers’ opinions. A more scientific approach and empirical validation is required, especially in the plastic manufacturing industry of Bangladesh to identify more new challenging barriers. However, this study can provide managers with a better understanding of the barriers to implementing GSCM practices and motivate the researchers to further extend the investigation on the insights for developing strategic plans for implementing GSCM practices in the plastic industry of Bangladesh.