Financial globalization and income inequality nexus: panel quantile regression approach

PurposeThe general purpose of the paper is to examine the effect of financial globalization on income inequality. The specific purposes are: 1) To examine the effect of overall financial globalization on income inequality. 2) To analyze whether de facto and de jure financial globalization have differential effects on income inequality. 3) To scrutinize whether the effect of financial globalization on income inequality varies across countries of different income groups and quantiles of income inequality.Design/methodology/approachThe authors employed panel quantile regression using 73 countries over 2000–2016 to examine the effect of financial globalization on income inequality. The authors employed fixed effect and panel quantile regressions and classified the countries into income groups to compare differential effects of financial globalization across different income groups. Further, the authors unbundled financial globalization into de facto and de jure financial globalizations to investigate whether their effects on income inequality vary.FindingsOverall financial globalization raises income inequality more at lower quantiles of inequality. De jure financial globalization reduces income inequality in high-income countries. In high-income countries, de jure financial globalization has more favorable income distribution at lower quantiles of inequality. In contrast, de facto financial globalization raises inequality regardless of income classification of the countries.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, the authors for the first time employed panel quantile regression to analyze whether financial globalization affects income inequality across different quantiles. In addition to de facto globalization, the authors used the newly developed de jure financial globalization index to examine its impact on income inequality. The de jure dimension is largely neglected in the literature. The authors provide empirical evidence on how the different dimensions of financial globalization, de facto and de jure, impact inequality in high-income, middle-income and low-income countries.

The Shadow Economy-Environmental Quality Nexus In OECD Countries: Empirical Evidence From Panel Quantile Regression

This study explores the determinants of ecological footprint by integrating the influence of the shadow economy. The findings based on the panel quantile regression indicate that the environmental effects of the shadow economy, trade openness, energy intensity, renewable energy, and income are not homogeneous across various levels of ecological footprint. The shadow economy-ecological footprint nexus follows an inverted U-shaped pattern. Initially, the higher size of the informal economy leads to more ecosystem degradation. When the shadow economy increases to certain thresholds, its environmental impact reverts to benefit. Such threshold changes with the evolution of ecological footprint. Specifically, it first rises then decreases along with the degradation of the ecosystem. Moreover, the heterogeneous panel causality test reports the one-way directional running from the shadow economy to the ecological footprint in OECD countries. The significant and heterogeneous relationships between ecological footprint and its determining factors are also established.

Islamic securities (Sukuk) and economic growth: New empirical investigation from Southeast Asia using non-parametric analysis of MCMC panel quantile regression

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate empirically whether Islamic securities enhance economic growth in the Southeast Asian region based on the endogenous growth theory using the non-parametric analysis.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applies panel quantile regression with Markov chain Monte Carlo optimization as an optimal non-parametric approach to investigate the effect of Islamic securities on economic growth starting from 2013Q4 to 2019Q4 in Southeast Asia. Total issued Islamic securities holdings are employed as a measure for Islamic securities, while the gross domestic product is employed as a proxy for economic growth. The sample includes all working Islamic financial foundations in the top progressive Islamic securities markets' countries of Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam).FindingsThe findings confirm that the increase of issuing Islamic securities in Islamic capital markets of Southeast Asia is increasing the levels of economic growth, reflecting the weighty role of the Islamic capital market development as an active contributor to economic growth.Practical implicationsThis research would fill the literature gap by exploring Islamic securities–economic growth nexus in Southeast Asia using a robust non-parametric approach based on the endogenous growth theory for better estimation results. The findings of this review serve as a roadmap for financial analysts, policymakers and decision makers to stimulate the Islamic securities markets as another source of finance which can promote the economic growth.Originality/valueThis research is the first that investigates empirically the Islamic securities–economic growth nexus in Southeast Asia using a new empirical investigation built on the non-parametric analysis and outlined within the theoretical context of the endogenous growth model to gain robust evidence about this nexus.

Exploring the relationship between corruption, income inequality and informal sector in developing countries: a panel quantile approach

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the impact of corruption (CP) on income inequality (IN) by considering the size of informal sector (IFS) at different levels of percentiles.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a panel quantile regression approach for a sample of 50 developing countries. The study also applies panel co-integration (Kao residual co-integration test) in order to examine the long-run relationship between CP and IN.FindingsThis paper using a panel quantile regression approach shows that the high incidence of IFS in an economy marginalizes CP's positive effect because it works as a source of poor peoples' livelihood and skillful individuals. The spread of IFSs in the developing economies may raise earnings among groups and individuals who remain unemployed. Moreover, the results show that CP creates asymmetry in income distribution; fascinatingly, the asymmetric income distribution is high when CP is at higher percentiles.Research limitations/implicationsDue to non-availability of IFS, we restrict our analysis up to 50 developing countries.Practical implicationsCP devastates the effectiveness of institutions over time. Therefore, the government should have to take bold steps to reduce CP in society. Another policy implication of this study is that the government should reduce CP to decrease IN in less developing countries. Moreover, to increase the net base, the authorities need to bring IFS under the umbrella of regulation to avoid inequality in society. In developing economies, a higher part of labor force is related to IFS; therefore, our findings suggest a dire need to reduce labor exploitation in IFS. The policymakers can reduce labor exploitation by reducing the size of IFS, which ultimately reduces IN.Social implicationsOn the basis of the authors’ findings, this paper further suggests that it is mandatory for government to reduce CP in order to reduce IN. Moreover, to reduce IN, one needs to reduce the size of IFS.Originality/valueThis study is unique as it is the first that examined the role of IFS in establishing the effect of CP on IN for developing countries at different percentiles.

ON THE IMPACT OF REAL ESTATE PRICES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL ECONOMY IN CHINA–AN ESTIMATION BASED ON PANEL QUANTILE REGRESSION MODEL

The paper analyzes the mechanism of real estate prices on economic development with panel quantile regression model. It is found that real estate prices can significantly promote economic development. Generally speaking, the contribution of real estate prices to economic development in regions with higher level of economic development is higher than that in regions with lower level. With the continuous improvement of the quantile, the impact of real estate prices has generally increased gradually, and the impact of urbanization level basically shows the law of diminishing marginal effect.

Analysis of Difference in Household Debt across Regions of Thailand

This study analyzed the determinants of household debt in Thailand at both the regional and the national levels using the panel data of 76 provinces over the years 2009–2017. The Panel Quantile Regression Model was employed to enable the analysis of the formation of household debt ranging from low to high levels. The findings indicate that household indebtedness in different regions has been shaped by a variety of factors, and that households in the same region with different levels of debt burden would experience different impacts or outcomes. We also tested the convergence of household debt, which produced the thought-provoking finding that household debt convergence failed to occur at both the national and the regional levels, while household debt divergence was found instead at the statistical significance level in some regions. The growing debt divergence phenomenon might be an outcome indicator of the unequal access to credit sources among different households in Thai society.