International Migration,Remittances Inflow and Household Welfare: An Intra Village Comparison from Pakistan

This study explores the financial costs, time involved in migration and benefits at household level. A household survey has been conducted to investigate about characteristics of migrants, transaction costs and sources of financing by which overseas migration is financed. Results of PSM technique explored that overseas migration conveys worthwhile benefits as measured by their total expenditures, food expenditures, non-food expenditures, clothing expenditures, expenditures on pots and pans, expenditures on vehicles and saving levels. Establishment of technical training institutions, creation of micro-finance institutions and enhancing their functioning as well as sensitization about ‘Pakistan Remittance Initiative’ would be some of the policy options in order to tackle with the problem.     

Recent trends in the union wage premium

Estimates of union-nonunion wage differentials are updated by examining a wide variety of subgroups in the general population. Variations in union wage premiums are tracked over a 15-year period, allowing inter-temporal comparisons that are not usually available. One important finding is that union wage premiums have been generally rising since 1972–1973. It also appears that females and nonwhites no longer gain the huge payoffs from unionism that evidence has suggested. The impact of race and education on union wage premiums is weighed, and there is an examination of how levels of education, association with blue-collar or white-collar occupations, and employment in specific industries affect union premiums. The author thanks Professor Jack Skeels for invaluable comments and Northern Illinois University for financial support.     

Social Health Indicators and Economic Growth: Evidence from East Asia and Pacific,Middle East and North Africa,South Asia,and Sub-Saharan Africa

The objective of this study is to empirically investigate a two-way statistical relationship between the social health indicators and economic growth in the context of four major regions of the world i.e., East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa (MENA), South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. To recognize the relationship between the two variables, a time series, co-integration and Granger causality tests have been employed. Aggregate secondary data pertaining to these four regions from 1975 to 2011 on economic growth and social health indicators i.e., infant mortality, child abuse, child poverty, unemployment, weekly wages, health insurance coverage, teenage suicide, teenage drug abuse, high school dropouts, poverty, out-of-pocket health costs, homicides, alcohol related traffic fatalities, food insecurity, income inequality, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, basic health units and rural health centers has been used for analysis. This study evaluates four alternative but equally plausible hypotheses, each with different policy implications. These are: (1) social health indicators Granger cause economic growth, (2) economic growth Granger cause social health indicators (the conventional view), (3) There is a bi-directional causality between the two variables and (4) Both variables are causality independent (although highly correlated). The empirical results only moderately support the conventional view that economic growth has significant long run casual effect on social health indicators in East Asia and Pacific, MENA, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. The present study find evident of unidirectional causality running towards economic growth to social health indicators, although, there are some bidirectional causality also exists between the variables. The percentage of unidirectional causality between economic growth and social health indicators is larger than bidirectional or neutrality hypothesis.     

The effect of unions on professors’ salaries: The evidence over twenty years

No study has recently examined how unions affect professors’ salaries. In the only studies using micro-level data, both Ashraf (1992) and Barbezat (1989) used data from 1977. I update earlier work by using data from 1988. In conjunction with data from 1969 and 1977, the effect of faculty unions over a twenty-year period is examined. While faculty at unionized colleges earned significantly less than their counterparts at nonunion institutions in 1969, they earned marginally more in 1977 and 1988. The author is currently on leave from the University of West Florida and is serving as Professor and Vice-President of the Textile University of Pakistan. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Southern Economic Association meetings in New Orleans, November 21–23, 1993. The author thanks some of the participants for very useful suggestions.     

Optimized estimation for population mean using conventional and non-conventional measures under the joint influence of measurement error and non-response

Most of the research work in the theory of survey sampling only deals with the sampling errors under the assumptions: (i) there is a complete response and (ii) recorded information from individuals is correct but in practice it is not always true. Non-sampling errors like non-response and measurement errors (MEs) mostly creep into the survey and become more influential for estimators than sampling errors. Considering this practical situation of non-response and MEs jointly, we proposed an optimum class of estimators for population mean under simple random sampling using conventional and non-conventional measures. Bias and mean square error of the proposed estimators are derived up to first degree of approximation. Moreover, a simulation study is conducted to assess the performance of new estimators which proves that proposed estimators are more efficient than the traditional Hansen and Hurwitz estimator and other competing estimators.     

An extension of Franklin's randomized response technique for multi-proportions

ABSTRACT

In this article, we introduce six estimators, three based on row averages and the remaining three on column averages of population proportions for trichotomous population when randomized response sampling with a normal randomizing distribution is used. The estimators have been obtained using the method of moments. All the proposed estimators are shown to be unbiased and their variances have been worked out. The percent relative efficiencies of the column total based estimators with respect to row total based estimators are investigated through empirical study.     

Poverty as Functioning Deprivation: Global Estimates

Poverty alleviation and eradication have always remained a major challenge for the political leadership at the national and international level. However, no consensus exists about the definition and measurement of poverty. Recent understanding sees poverty as much more than lack of income. Hunger, unemployment and ill heath are just some of many dimensions of poverty. We have contributed to the existing debate by defining poverty as a deprivation of a number of functionings (actual achievements), considered vital but not equally important for human wellbeing, caused by an inadequate command over market or nonmarket resources. We have identified nine basic functionings and corresponding indicators that best reflect these nine basic functionings and develop a composite index of poverty for 193 countries of the world for cross country comparison. We have analyzed poverty for two periods 1990–2000 and 2001–2010 to make an inter-temporal comparison in global poverty. According to our estimates, the global poverty has only modestly come down by 4 percentage points from 35% in 1990–2000 to 31% in 2001–2010. This contrasts sharply with the estimates based on the poverty line of the World Bank that the proportion of population living in extreme poverty has nearly halved from 47% in 1990 to 24% in 2015.     

Some new augmented fractional Box–Behnken designs

The augmented Box–Behnken designs are used in the situations in which Box–Behnken designs (BBDs) could not estimate the response surface model due to the presence of third-order terms in the response surface models. These designs are too large for experimental use. Usually experimenters prefer small response surface designs in order to save time, cost, and resources; therefore, using combinations of fractional BBD points, factorial design points, axial design points, and complementary design points, we augment these designs and develop new third-order response surface designs known as augmented fractional BBDs (AFBBDs). These AFBBDs have less design points and are more efficient than augmented BBDs.     

Higher order moments of the estimated tangency portfolio weights

In this paper, we consider the estimated weights of the tangency portfolio. We derive analytical expressions for the higher order non-central and central moments of these weights when the returns are assumed to be independently and multivariate normally distributed. Moreover, the expressions for mean, variance, skewness and kurtosis of the estimated weights are obtained in closed forms. Later, we complement our results with a simulation study where data from the multivariate normal and t-distributions are simulated, and the first four moments of estimated weights are computed by using the Monte Carlo experiment. It is noteworthy to mention that the distributional assumption of returns is found to be important, especially for the first two moments. Finally, through an empirical illustration utilizing returns of four financial indices listed in NASDAQ stock exchange, we observe the presence of time dynamics in higher moments.     

GARCH-Type Models and Performance of Information Criteria

This article discusses the ability of information criteria toward the correct selection of different especially higher-order generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) processes, based on their probability of correct selection as a measure of performance. Each of the considered GARCH processes is further simulated at different parameter combinations to study the possible effect of different volatility structures on these information criteria. We notice an impact from the volatility structure of time series on the performance of these criteria. Moreover, the influence of sample size, having an impact on the performance of these criteria toward correct selection, is observed.