An empirical analysis of monetary and multidimensional poverty: evidence from a household survey in Pakistan

ABSTRACT

The present study computes multidimensional poverty and compares it with unidimensional estimates of poverty for the district of Mandi Bahuddin in the Punjab province of Pakistan for the years 2010 and 2014. By employing the Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) and Alkire-Foster Methods, the incidence, severity and depth of unidimensional and multidimensionality poverty was estimated. We found an increase in absolute and relative poverty levels in 2014 as compared to 2010. The multidimensional poverty in terms of household assets has also increased over time. However, the relative proportion of educational and health poverty towards MPI remains higher, thereby calling for a holistic approach to identify multidimensional poverty in the social sector. A comprehensive policy dossier needs to be framed for designing effective poverty alleviation and social welfare programmes in the Punjab, Pakistan.     

When the Name Matters: An Experimental Investigation of Ethnic Discrimination in the Finnish Labor Market

This article considers the possibilities and limits of human-capital credentials in entering the labor market for immigrants in Finland. It reports findings of a correspondence study on how employers respond to job applicants of five different backgrounds who were otherwise equivalently matched on various demographic and human-capital characteristics. The findings strongly indicate the continuing salience of ethnicity in securing employment opportunities in the Finnish labor market. Employers significantly prefer Finnish applicants over ethnic candidates, and within ethnic applicants, they prefer candidates with a European name over a non-European name. They further show that locally acquired human capital provides a better payoff only when the job candidate belongs to a group that is placed higher on the ethnic preference ladder. Drawing on the empirical observations, the article thus suggests that a recruitment process driven by abstract or impersonal criteria and governed by mere considerations of human capital in real-life situations is much less prevalent than often claimed.     

Multiple dependent state repetitive sampling plans with or without auxiliary variable

In this article, a new variable acceptance sampling plan has been developed using the multiple dependent state repetitive sampling scheme for the normal distribution. The plan parameters have been determined so as to minimize the average sample number while satisfying the producer's and the consumer's risks under the operating characteristic function. The multiple dependent state repetitive sampling scheme has also been extended to the case of utilizing an auxiliary variable. The proposed sampling plans are compared with the existing sampling plans.     

Repercussions of exchange rate depreciation on the economy of Pakistan: Simulation analysis using macroeconometric model

Expansionary and contractionary effects of exchange rate shock in developing economies has been the subject of an extensive debate but the results are inconclusive. This study has been conducted to examine the repercussions of unexpected exchange rate depreciation in the Pakistan economy. Unlike the previous literature, this study utilizes a fairly large macroeconometric model constructed on the basis of Cowles Commission structural approach. The study explores that expansionary effect of exchange rate depreciation explained by the traditional theories of open economy macroeconomics persists only for one fiscal year but these theories don’t work in the long-run as contractionary phase starts in the subsequent years. Monetary and fiscal authorities are not neutral and contractionary policy is taken in response to depreciation which pushes the economy into recession. Stagflationary effects are clearly observed. However, improvement in foreign sector prolongs for a number of years and policy makers would have to face a trade-off between opposite response of output and current account balance. Hence, unexpected depreciation generates sharp cyclical fluctuations on demand which immediately transmit to supply side of the economy. In line with the views of “New Structuralists”, exchange rate depreciation may be considered as a source of shock rather than shock absorber in the case of Pakistan economy. Although this study is specifically estimated for the Pakistan economy, authors believe that their methodological contributions and results are of wider importance for policy makers in developing countries.     

Supporting Asian Deaf Young People and their Families: the role of professionals and services

This paper discusses how Asian deaf young people and their families engage with welfare provision. Our findings, based on group and individual interviews with young deaf people and individual interviews with their parents, explore the assumptions underlying current provision and how they influence the options available to young people and their families. The paper suggests that the welfare state exerts a form of social control where professional help, although well intended, may disempowers Asian deaf people by privileging 'oralism' over sign language, and western norms over other cultural values. On the other hand, positive constructions of deafness privilege Deaf identity while failing to accommodate ethnic or religious diversity, resulting in Asian deaf young people and their families having an ambivalent relationship with the Deaf community. We argue that services need to recognise and address the reasons for this ambivalence if they are to adequately engage Asian deaf people and their families.     

Impacts of institutional pressures and the strength of market supporting institutions in the host country on the ownership strategy of multinational enterprises: theoretical discussion and propositions

The ownership strategy of multinational enterprises (MNEs) i.e. the choice between wholly owned subsidiary (WOS) or international joint venture (IJV) is an extensively studied topic in international business studies. Many past studies concentrated on transactional, economic, location attraction, resource seeking and learning rationales for the ownership strategy of MNEs. However, it is important to note that MNEs enter a new institutional environment also when they enter new international markets. Therefore, the ownership strategy of MNEs is also influenced by the external as well as internal institutions. This paper attempts to address the impacts of different institutional pressures on ownership strategy of MNEs using the arguments from institutional theory. The paper also includes discussion about the strength of market supporting institutions in the host country and its impacts on the ownership strategy of MNEs. On the basis of the theoretical discussion, several propositions are developed in this paper. These propositions relate the ownership strategy of MNEs with the impacts of internal and external institutional pressures on it. It is also proposed to consider the impact of strength of market supporting institutions in the host country on the ownership strategy specifically. When the host country has well developed institutions supporting market conforming values, they can moderate the impacts of coercive and normative pressures from external institutions on the MNEs.     

Bayesian and robust Bayesian analysis in a general setting

In this paper we introduce a broad family of loss functions based on the concept of Bregman divergence. We deal with both Bayesian estimation and prediction problems and show that all Bayes solutions associated with loss functions belonging to the introduced family of losses satisfy the same equation. We further concentrate on the concept of robust Bayesian analysis and provide one equation that explicitly leads to robust Bayes solutions. The results are model-free and include many existing results in Bayesian and robust Bayesian contexts in the literature.