scholarly journals Global economic fluctuations and human development: how is the impact transmitted in Egypt?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amira Mohamed Emara ◽  
Nashwa Mostafa Ali Mohamed

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the relationship between global economic fluctuations and human development through four transmission channels (foreign direct investment (FDI), official development aid (ODA), remittances and export earnings) in Egypt as an open developing economy, in the period 1990–2015. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a vector autoregressive model, which implies examining the impulse response functions and variance decompositions. Findings The results indicate that human development is negatively affected by global economic fluctuations through the four channels, namely, ODA, FDI, export earnings and remittances. In addition, the most effective transmission channels are FDI in the short run and export earnings in the long run. Originality/value While a large body of literature addresses the direct impact of business cycles and economic shocks on human development, only some studies focus on the indirect impact. The contribution is to identify the indirect impact of global economic fluctuations on human development in a developing economy, considering four transmission channels and to determine the most important of these channels. Moreover, using the human development index is an addition in this paper as most previous literature depends on other human development indicators such as children’s health, employment and schooling.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Ayinde Olatunde ◽  
Imoleayo Abraham Awodele ◽  
Bosede Olajumoke Adebayo

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on indigenous contractors in a developing economy with a view to enhancing their performance. Design/methodology/approach The study used a purposive sampling technique to select 37 indigenous contractors with ongoing construction contracts in Osun State, Nigeria who provided data for the study. A structured interview protocol was used to elicit the required information from the interviewees and frequency, percentage and content analysis were used for data analysis. Findings The results showed that the critical impact of COVID-19 on indigenous contractors in a developing economy is: time overrun, loss of profit and creation of dispute. Further results showed that other impacts are a disruption in supply of labour, locally sourced materials are with additional cost, the additional cost of implementing COVID-19 protocols, difficulty in sourcing imported materials and absence of new jobs with the corresponding retrenchment of workers. Practical implications The study recommended special palliatives for the indigenous contractors from the government so as to cushion the impact of the pandemic on them, thereby enhance their survival and performance. A special arbitration panel is set up in each state of the federation to look at disputes arising from the aftermath of the pandemic, this is with a view to adequately compensate indigenous contractors with genuine and properly compiled claims. inferring from the findings of the study, it suffices to say that the severity of the impact of the pandemic is very high on indigenous contractors in developing economies, as such a better preparedness strategy could lessen the impact of such pandemic in the future. Originality/value The study is an attempt to unearth the impact of COVID-19 on indigenous contractors with ongoing construction contracts in a developing economy. The study will be of value to construction stakeholders in providing the information needed to devise strategies to minimise the impact of a pandemic on indigenous contractors in future projects thereby enhance their performance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-605 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shamsun Nahar ◽  
Mohammad Istiaq Azim ◽  
Md Moazzem Hossain

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore to what extent risk disclosure is associated with banks’ governance characteristics. The research also focuses on how the business environment and culture may create a bank’s awareness of risk management and its disclosure. This study is conducted in a setting where banks are not mandated to follow international standards for their risk disclosures. Design/methodology/approach Using 300 bank-year observations comprising hand-collected private commercial bank data, the study uses regression analysis to investigate the influence of risk governance characteristics on risk disclosure. Findings This paper reports a positive relationship between risk disclosure and banks’ governance characteristics, such as the presence of various risk committees and a risk management unit. Practical implications Because studies are lacking on risk disclosure and risk governance conducted in developing countries, it is expected that this research will make a significant contribution to the literature and provide a foundation for further research in this field. Social implications This study complements the corporate governance literature, more specifically the risk governance literature, by incorporating agency theory, institutional theory and proprietary cost theory to provide robust evidence of the impact of risk governance practices in the context of a developing economy. Originality/value Previous studies on risk disclosure and governance determinants primarily involve developed countries. This paper’s contribution is to examine risk disclosure and risk governance characteristics in a developing country in which reporting according to international standards is effectively voluntary.


2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-61
Author(s):  
Belay Seyoum

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of state fragility on select indicators of human development and identify aspects of state fragility that have the greatest impact on poverty reduction and sustainable development. The paper also explores the impact of social cohesion on human development as well as the mediating role of state legitimacy in mediating the relationship between social cohesion and human development.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on data from 180 countries and uses ordinary least squares regression and mediation analysis to explore the effects of social cohesion on human development.FindingsThe findings show a significant relationship between state fragility and human development. It suggests that policies and efforts aimed at enhancing social cohesion would have the most significant impact on human development. The findings also show that social cohesion not only has a direct effect on human development but it also has an indirect effect on human development through state legitimacy (mediator).Practical implicationsEven though state fragility has been largely associated with low income countries, different facets of fragility are manifested in various countries regardless of levels of economic development.Originality/valueThe study is timely in view of the evidence of increasing state fragility in many countries. Furthermore, this is the first scholarly work linking lack of social cohesion, state fragility and human development.


Significance Mali’s economy has suffered a double blow in recent months from ECOWAS sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic, amidst political turbulence and ongoing insecurity. The country ranks 184th out of 189 countries, according to the most recent Human Development Index. Impacts Economic hardship could lead to renewed unrest. Labour unions are already ratcheting up pressure; several are planning to strike from October 19 over pay and working conditions. The transition may allow the resumption of development aid, although the United States has suspended military aid until elections.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivica Petrikova

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to existing literature by examining whether development aid has any measurable impact on food security, whether the impact is conditioned on the quality of governance and whether it differs based on the type of aid provided. Design/methodology/approach – Panel-data analysis of 85 developing countries between 1994 and 2011, using generalized method of moments and two-stage least squares estimators. Findings – The paper finds that aid in general has a small positive impact on food security; that multilateral aid, grants and social and economic aid have a positive effect on food security in their own right, and that bilateral aid, loans and agricultural aid are more conditioned on the quality of governance that other aid. Research limitations/implications – The main limitations rest with the imperfect nature of cross-country data on food security and governance, which I have tried to overcome through a series of robustness tests. Practical implications – The findings suggest that aid, despite its many deficiencies, can play a positive role in strengthening food security. Furthermore, they indicate that concessional loans, bilateral aid and agricultural aid are likely to foster food security only in countries with better governance. Originality/value – The paper constitutes a novel contribution to existing literature because it is one of the first to use cross-country data to explore the impact of aid on food security and because it utilizes a relatively complex aid categorization, which allows its conclusions to be more nuanced.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (10) ◽  
pp. 1173-1185
Author(s):  
Chong Siew Huay ◽  
Jonathan Winterton ◽  
Yasmin Bani ◽  
Bolaji Tunde Matemilola

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of remittances on human development in developing countries using panel data from 1980 to 2014 and to address the critical question of whether the increasing trend of remittances has any impact on human development in a broad range of developing countries. Design/methodology/approach Usual panel estimates, such as pooled OLS, fixed or random effects model, possess specification issues such as endogeneity, heterogeneity and measurement errors. In this paper, we, therefore, apply dynamic panel estimates – System generalised method of moment (Sys-GMM) developed by Arellano and Bond (1991) and Arellano and Bover (1995). This estimator is able to control for the endogeneity of all the explanatory variables, account for unobserved country-specific effects that cannot be done using country dummies due to the dynamic structure of the model (Azman-Saini et al., 2010). Findings The effect of remittances is statistically significant with positive coefficients in developing countries. The significant coefficient of remittances means that, holding other variables constant, a rise in remittance inflows is associated with improvements in human development. A 10 per cent increase in remittances will lead to an increase of approximately 0.016 per cent in human development. These findings are consistent with Üstubuci and Irdam (2012) and Adenutsi (2010), who found evidence that remittances are positively correlated with human development. Practical implications The paper considers implications for policymakers to justify the need for more effective approaches. Policymakers need to consider indicators of human development and to devise public policies that promote income, health and education, to enhance human development. Originality/value The question of whether remittances affect human development has rarely been subject to systematic empirical study. Extant research does not resolve the endogeneity problem, whereas the present study provides empirical evidence by utilising dynamic panel estimators such as Sys-GMM to tackle the specification issues of endogeneity, measurement errors and heterogeneity. The present study provides a benchmark for future research on the effect of remittances on human development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (8) ◽  
pp. 1062-1075
Author(s):  
Chiou-Fa Lin ◽  
Cheng-Huei Chiao ◽  
Bin Wang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of post-trade transparency on price efficiency and price discovery. Design/methodology/approach The authors use an exogeneous change in market transparency in the Taiwan Stock Exchange that mandates the disclosure of unexecuted orders of the five best bid and ask prices after each trade, and conduct an event study analysis. Findings After the change, price efficiency enhances for both large and small firms, although the impact on stock prices is greater when the firm is larger. The authors also find that post-change trading reveals more private information for large firms but more public information for small firms. The findings support the view that transparency has a positive impact on market quality. Originality/value The paper adds to a large body of literature investigating the relationship between transparency and market behavior, especially the ongoing debate about whether trading transparency positively affects price dynamics. The findings also have important policy implications for the regulators.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 274-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Fernandes ◽  
Mariana Moreira

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand differences in consumer brand engagement (CBE) according to the functional or emotional nature of consumer–brand relationships and its direct and/or indirect impact on brand loyalty (BL). Additionally, the study aims to compare CBE and Satisfaction as predictors of BL, considering the two types of consumer–brand relationships. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional survey was applied to two independent samples. Respondents of one of the samples were asked to recall a brand with which they had a functional relationship, while the other respondents were asked to consider a brand with which they had an emotional relationship. To test research hypotheses, a causal model using SEM was developed. Findings Results validate CBE as a three-dimensional construct, stronger for emotional than functional brand relationships and show its significant direct and indirect impact on BL. Through a comparative analysis, findings also prove that the effects of CBE on BL, directly or indirectly through Satisfaction, are stronger for emotional relationships, while Satisfaction is a stronger direct predictor of BL for functional brand relationships. Originality/value Addressing calls to focus on the impact of specific brand types on engagement, this study allows a better understanding of the moderating role of functional and emotional relationships on CBE. This study further adds to the existing body of knowledge by establishing the mediating role of Satisfaction and comparing the contribution of CBE and Satisfaction to BL according to the nature of consumer–brand relationships. Overall, our findings enhance knowledge on how consumers engage with and become loyal to brands, offering important implications for brand managers.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose V. Gavidia

Purpose – In spite of the large body of literature on success factors of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation, there is a need to explore its multinational dimension. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of the conflict between parent and subsidiary on the process of ERP implementation in a multinational enterprise (MNE). Design/methodology/approach – Using an interpretive case study methodology, this paper analyses the theoretical frameworks of parent-subsidiary conflict and applies them to interpret an in-depth case study and generate a set of managerial prescriptions. Findings – Theoretical analysis and case evidence suggest that managing parent-subsidiary conflict is a critical success factor of ERP implementation in MNEs. Research limitations/implications – This case relates to a diversified multinational group producing a variety of materials through subsidiaries. The data collection includes multiple sources in the company, and strong theoretical development provides a high level of generalizability. The paper shows that managers should consider the impact of conflict from the planning stages of any multinational ERP implementation. Practical implications – A detailed set of practical managerial prescriptions is derived from case and theoretical analysis. These prescriptions provide guidance to multinational managers planning a successful global ERP rollout. Originality/value – Although parent-subsidiary conflict is clearly a major factor in multinational ERP implementations, this topic has never been analysed in detail in the literature. This paper breaks new ground applying grounded theoretical frameworks of parent-subsidiary conflict to an implementation case, and providing managerial guidance for implementation decisions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (5) ◽  
pp. 380-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Godfrey Chidozie Uzonwanne

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to propose a framework for conceptualizing the finance-growth theory in developing economies. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses a cointegration and error correction model to investigate the possible influence of key socio-political characters of a state on the causal relationship between financial development and economic growth. A developing economy (Nigeria) which had experienced decades of autocratic military governance was studied. Three characters of the state (ethnicity, civil war and military governance) were derived from a historical review and were introduced into the cointegration analysis as dummy variables. Findings – Evidence of a causal relationship was found to exist from financial development to economic growth and the characters of the state were found to have no significant impact on this relationship. Research limitations/implications – The research limitations were based on the reliability of data recorded between 1960 and 2007. Practical implications – This study is practical from the point of view of the integration of qualitative social disturbances into a quantitative model targeted at exploring the practical developmental impact these disturbances may have had and continue to have on economic growth. Social implications – The social implication of this study stems from the impact that adverse socio-political influences may have on financial development and economic growth. Originality/value – This is an original piece of research focused at understanding the unique social, political and macroeconomic circumstance of a strategically relevant developing economy.


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