The Dynamic Relationship Between Technology Innovation and Human Development in Technologically Advanced Countries: Fresh Insights from Quantiles-on-Quantile Approach

Our study investigates the relationship between technology innovation and human development in technologically advanced countries using data from quarterly observations from the last decade of the twentieth century to the first two decades of the twenty-first century. This objective of this study is to implement Quantile-on-Quantile regression (QQ) technique that as formulated by Sim and Zhou (J Bank Finance 55:1–8, 2015) and the renowned Granger-causality in quantiles as proposed by Troster (Econom Rev 37(8):850–866, 2018) examine the basic relationship between the given quantiles of technology innovation and their effects on the quantiles of human development. Therefore, the outcomes of this study explain the overall interdependence of technology innovation and affect the overall human development index. It is enumerated that the empirical results indicate that a significant positive relationship exists between technology innovation and human development in all selected technologically advanced countries, predominantly in both low and high tails. Moreover, the outcomes of Granger causality quantiles indicate a bi-directional fundamental relationship between these two variables in the dataset of all countries. The outcomes of the observations are extended to the recent findings on these two variables’ nexus and imply a differential impact on the technologically advanced countries. This causality guides us to offer some specific policy recommendations to each group of countries.

     

In Good Times but Not in Bad: The Role of Managerial Discretion in Moderating the Stakeholder Management and Financial Performance Relationship

We examine the role of managers in controlling the positive impact of stakeholder management (SM) on firm financial performance (FP) in the long term. We develop and test competing hypotheses on whether managers act as “good citizens” or engage in “self‐dealing” when allowed greater discretion. We test our assertions using dynamic panel data analysis of a sample of 806 U.S. public firms operating in 34 industries over 5 years (2005–2009). Our results indicate a nuanced influence of managerial discretion contexts on the SM‐FP relationship. We infer that given more latitude in decision making, as long as the “going is good” managers act as good citizens, but otherwise they revert to managerial self‐dealing. In light of our results, firms designing governance mechanisms to encourage managers to balance the needs of both shareholders and stakeholders must remain cognizant of contextual contingencies.     

Fertility and Financial Development in South Asia

The paper empirically examines old-age security hypothesis to explain fertility rates in South Asia. Panel data is used for the period 1972–2013 for seven South Asian countries which include Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The estimated results reveal that in South Asia fertility rate decreases with the increase in financial development. Thus, the findings support old-age security hypothesis that parents use children as financial instruments to secure their old age. This paper validates the theory that the availability of alternative financial tools reduces the incentives of households to have large offspring. Infant mortality is also shown an important factor for high fertility rate in South Asia. This implies that households cover their risk from losing children by producing more children. The results also reveal that fertility rate decreases with the increase in per capita income, which implies that households treat children as inferior good in this region. In other words, households prefer quality of children over quantity of children when their income level increases. The results have also shown that fertility decreases with the increase in education, urbanization, agriculture productivity and industrialization. The study has some important policy implications.     

Performance Evaluation of Different Tests for Location Parameters

In this article, our objective is to evaluate the performance of different tests which are used to compare the equality of more than two location parameters. We have considered six tests (including some commonly used) in this study, one of which is parametric and the others are nonparametric. These tests include the usual F test (Fisher and Mackenzie, 1923 Fisher , R. A. , Mackenzie , M. A. ( 1923 ). Studies in crop variation. II. The manurial response of different potato . Journal of Agricultural Science 13 : 311 – 320 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), Kruskal–Wallis test (Kruskall and Wallis, 1952 Kruskall , W. H. , Wallis , W. A. ( 1952 ). Use of ranks in one-criterion variance analysis . Journal of American Statistical Association 47 : 583 – 621 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (David, 1958 David , H. T. ( 1958 ). Three-sample Kolnogorov–Smirnov test . The Annals of Mathematical Statistics 29 : 842 – 851 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), the g test (Stekler, 1987 Stekler , H. O. ( 1987 ). Who forecasters better? Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 5 : 155 – 158 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), f test (Batchelor, 1990 Batchelor , R. A. ( 1990 ). All forecasters are equal . Journal of Business and Economic Statistics 8 : 143 – 144 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and Extension of Median test (as given in Daniel, 1990 Daniel , W. W. ( 1990 ). Applied Nonparametric Statistics. , 2nd ed. Duxbury Classic Series , Boston . [Google Scholar]). Performance of these tests are compared under different symmetric, skewed and contaminated probability distributions that include Normal, Cauchy, Uniform, Laplace, Lognormal, Exponential, Weibull, Gamma, t, Chi-square, Half Normal, Mixed Weibull, and Mixed Normal. Performances of these tests are measured in terms of power. We have suggested appropriate tests which may perform better under different situations. It is expected that researchers will find these results useful in decision making.     

Islamic Religious Organizations Across Borders: The Case of the Pakistani Migrant Muslim Community in Korea (South)

With the formation of small migrant communities in foreign lands, some religious organizations migrate along with the migrants and play a part in shaping and reshaping the socio-religious experiences of respective migrants. This paper looks into how Islamic religious organizations have been established in South Korea; how the socio-religious experience of the Pakistani Muslim minority community in Korea is mediated by these organizations; and what is the impact of this mediation on the daily socio-religious lives of the migrants. Two Islamic religious organizations—Dawat-e-Islami and Minhaj-ul-Quran—have been discussed here which originated in Pakistan and have been working around the world including Korea. Using the conceptual framework of social capital, we elaborate on three stages for establishment and working of these religious institutions: deployment of social capital for initiation; reinforcement of social capital for establishment; and sustenance with social capital over a course of time. This paper proposes that these religious organizations are established by the migrant community because of the social capital created within, as opposed to any master plan from the respective parent organizations in the country of origin. Further, these organizations become connected to mainstream organizations as a result of community efforts.     

The Performance of Gaussian and non Gaussian dynamic models in assessing market risk: The Implications for risk management

The developing markets are more volatile, unstable illiquid, and more prone to the external shocks. The non Gaussian VaR model gives more accurate risk models than Gaussian VaR models. Hence, the purpose of this study is to test if and how non Gaussian VaR models are comparatively better fit for risk modeling of developing markets than the Gaussian VaR models. The study measures the market risk for the daily closing price of Karachi Stock Exchange 100 index over the period of 2004–2016. The evaluation of VaR models suggests that non Gaussian dynamic model outperformed the Gaussian VaR models in developing markets.     

On evaluating the performance of different forecasters

In this article, we have evaluated the performance of different forecasters and tested association between their performances for different pairs of variables. We have used three data sets of track records of professional U.S. economic forecasters participating in the Blue Chip consensus forecasting service (the data sets contain the root mean square errors (RMSE) of different forecasters for different years). To evaluate the performance of forecasters we have covered three well-known tests, namely the usual F test (cf. Fisher (1923 Fisher, R. A., Mackenzie, M. A. (1923). Studied in crop variation II. The manurial response of different potato. Journal of Agricultural Science 13:311–320. [Google Scholar])), Kruskal Wallis test (cf. Kruskal and Wallis (1952 Kruskall, W. H., Wallis, W. A. (1952). Use of ranks in one-criterion variance analysis. Journal of American Statistical Association 47:583–621. [Google Scholar])), and Extension of Median test (cf. Daniel (1990 Daniel, W. W. (1990). Applied Nonparametric Statistics. Duxbury Classic Series. (2nd Ed.), Boston. [Google Scholar])). To test the association between the forecaster's performances for different pairs of variables, we have considered Gini mean correlation coefficient r_g1 (cf. Yitzhaki, S., and Olkin, I. (1991 Yitzhaki, S., Olkin, I. (1991). Concentration indices and concentration curves, in K. Mosler and M. Scarsini (eds.), Stochastic Orders and Decisions under Risk, Institute of Mathematical Statistics: Lecture-Notes Monograph Series, 19, 1991, 380–392. [Google Scholar]) and Yitzhaki (2003 Yitzaki, S. (2003). Gini mean difference: A superior measure of variability for non normal distribution. Metron-International Journal of Statistics, LXI:285–316. [Google Scholar])), Modified rank correlation coefficient (cf. Zimmerman (1994 Zimmerman, D. W. (1994). A Note on modified rank correlation. Journal of educational and Behavioral Statistics 19:357–362. [Google Scholar])) and three modifications of Spearman rank correlation coefficient. We have observed that different forecasters do not necessarily offer same average performance. Moreover, an evidence of association between two criteria does not always lead us reaching at the same decision. The outcomes of the study may help the practitioners in selecting the best forecaster(s) for policymaking purposes.     

Comparative Analysis of Entrepreneurship and Franchising: CSR and Voluntarism Perspective

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations - Growth in businesses affects economic development. Over the last decade, the people looking for business...     

Impacts of USAID and development assistance toward counterterrorism efforts: Empirical evidence in context of Pakistan

This article studies whether the pursuit of foreign aid for counterterrorism purposes militarizes or mitigates terrorism. It focuses on the USAID and official development assistance (ODA) flows to Pakistan, which recently has experienced an increase due to the presence of deadliest terrorist organizations. By using the time series data from 1985 to 2016, the paper investigated the foreign aid and terrorism nexus for pre‐9/11 and post‐9/11 periods. The empirical estimations of autoregressive distributed lag bound testing approach reported that an increase in military expenditures fuels terrorism in post‐9/11 period and the ODA helps to control terrorism from the country. On the contrary, USAID reported insignificant response toward terrorist attacks in pre‐ and post‐9/11 periods, suggesting that the foreign aid from the United States has no significant impact on counterterrorism policies for Pakistan. The outcomes of the current study can be utilized in policymaking of counterterrorism and to explore the nexus between foreign aid, terrorism, and military expenditures. The paper concludes that the concerns about the use of foreign aid as counterterrorism tool are warranted, but that actual manifestations are nuanced.