scholarly journals Trade Liberalization and Labor Demand Elasticities: A Firm-Level Analysis of Pakistan’s Manufacturing Sector

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
Muhammad Ramzan Sheikh ◽  
Misbah Rauf ◽  
Irfan Hussain ◽  
Asad Abbas
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Trade Liberalization ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Labor Demand ◽  
Demand Elasticity ◽  
Policy Recommendations ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Demand Elasticities ◽  
Level Analysis

The study investigates the linkage of trade liberalization and labor demand elasticities in Pakistan. The panel data are used by selecting 13 industries in Pakistan's manufacturing sector for the years 1995-1996, 2000-2001, and 2005-2006. The Pooled OLS technique is applied to get the estimates at an aggregated level and disaggregated levels. Overall findings support the positive relationship between trade liberalization and labor demand elasticity in production workers but in the case of non-production workers, the findings show the weak relationship between trade liberalization and labor demand elasticity. The study is also furnished with some policy recommendations.

scholarly journals Trade Openness: New Evidence for Labor-Demand Elasticity in Pakistan’s Manufacturing Sector

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bushra Yasmin ◽  
Aliya H. Khan
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Trade Liberalization ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Labor Demand ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Demand Elasticity ◽  
Fixed Effects Model ◽  
Trade Theory ◽  
Employment Conditions

This study is an attempt to investigate trade–labor market linkages in Pakistan. Our main hypothesis that trade liberalization leads to an increase in labor-demand elasticity is empirically verified using a panel data approach for the period 1970/71–2000/01 for 22 selected manufacturing industries in Pakistan. We use ordinary least squares to estimate models in levels and first-differences, in addition to a fixed effects model. Overall, our findings suggest weak evidence of increased labor-demand elasticity as a result of trade liberalization in Pakistan’s manufacturing sector. Nor does the study find support for a positive labor market and trade linkage from an employment point of view—as otherwise suggested by standard trade theory. This may be due to increased capital intensity in the manufacturing sector by time, and the infusion of new technology. It could also be attributed to labor market imperfections preventing trade liberalization from favorably influencing employment conditions in Pakistan. Our policy recommendations based on the study’s results stress the need for skill enhancement measures to increase labor productivity, helping it become competitive according to the demands of globalization.

Dividend Behaviour of Indian-listed Manufacturing and Service Sector Firms

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-193
Author(s):  
Sanjeev Kumar ◽  
K. S. Ranjani
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Firm Size ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Dynamic Panel Data ◽  
Working Capital ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Fixed And Random Effects ◽  
Dynamic Panel Data Analysis

The purpose of the study is to explore dividend behaviour of Indian manufacturing and service sector firms and to investigate similarities/differences between the same. First, the analysis is conducted using pooled, fixed and random effects OLS regression for panel data on 452 manufacturing and service sector firms for the period of 2007–2015. Further, dynamic panel data analysis has been used to deal with the heteroscedasticity and endogeneity issues among the variables for the study to capture asymptotic efficient estimates. The result refutes significant differences in terms of firm-level factors that determines dividend policy. However, manufacturing sector is significantly efficient in declaring dividends (59.63 per cent) in comparison to service sector (34.33 per cent). Further analysis suggests that firm size and cash holdings have significant positive relationship to dividend paid, whereas age and net working capital are negatively significant for dividend declarations in the service sector. However, the analysis of manufacturing sector suggests that profitability and firm size and profitability are positively significant, while net working capital is negatively significant for dividend decisions.

scholarly journals Trade Liberalization and Productivity Growth: Firm-Level Analysis from Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-460
Author(s):  
Stephen Esaku ◽  
Waldo Krugell
Keyword(s):  
Trade Liberalization ◽  
Productivity Growth ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Industrial Performance ◽  
Unit Reduction ◽  
Heterogeneous Effect ◽  
The Impact

We analyze the impact of trade liberalization on firm productivity growth in Kenya’s manufacturing sector, using a panel spanning 8 years; 1992-1999. Our analysis reveals that liberalizing trade generates high productivity improvements in the manufacturing sector. We find that a one-unit reduction in import duties as a percentage of total imports significantly increases firm-level productivity in the manufacturing sector by 5.7%. When we examine this effect on the firm’s share of exported output, we find that lowering of import duties significantly increases the share of output exported by 0.7%. Further, we sought to assess how the effect of import duties varied across the different industries in our sample. Examining the effect of import duties on industrial performance, we find a negative and statistically significant relationship in some of the industries. Our results show heterogeneous effect of reduction of import duties on industrial performance. Not all industries benefited from the lowering of import duties, especially the food and bakery, and garment industry, where productivity did not increase. These findings have important policy implications for improving the manufacturing sector. Consequently, formulating policies that effectively relax restrictive barriers to trade in the economy could speed up firm-level productivity in the manufacturing sector.

DISPERSION IN INPUT AND OUTPUT PRICES: A FIRM-LEVEL ANALYSIS

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
SONAM CHOUDHRY
Keyword(s):  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Plant Size ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Quality Differentiation ◽  
Input And Output ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Rich Data ◽  
Level Analysis ◽  
Material Input

Analyzing representative and rich data on the Indian formal manufacturing sector, this paper tries to establish an empirical relationship between prices of input, output and firm size of the plant. The firm-level data reflect tremendous dispersion in prices that firms pay to purchase material input even within an industry. Price heterogeneity is also observed for prices that firms charge for their output even for narrowly defined products. The paper constructs a model using information on output and input choices by firms to analyze the observed patterns. The paper finds that on average, bigger plants not only pay a premium for the inputs used in the production process, but also charge a premium for their outputs. After documenting the empirical relationship, the paper discusses the possible sources for price dispersion. The paper highlights sectoral variations in the correlation between plant size and prices, which are consistent with the findings in the literature related to the scope for quality differentiation in output as well as inputs. The empirical pattern observed supports the hypothesis that correlation between plant size and price can be driven by market power.

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