Emerging Challenges in Rural Non-Farm Sector and Inequality in Rural India

Purpose: This paper highlights the changing patterns of income diversification and the effects of various socio-economic factors influencing the non-farm (NF) income of rural households in India. The study also explores the inequality effects of the non-farm earnings of the households by using the Fields inequality decomposition. Method: The study compares and evaluates the determinants and trends of inequality in 2004-2005 and 2011-2012 in the NF sector. It uses nationally representative data from two rounds of the Indian Household Development Survey (IHDS), which includes a panel of 36,278 households at all levels in India. The Censored Least Absolute Deviation (CLAD) model is used to estimate household determinants for non-farm income. The Fields decomposition decomposes total income inequality by considering the socio-economic factors. Results: The study finds that variations in non-farm earnings have increased. Field's Income Inequality Decomposition estimates show that income inequalities between households are significantly high due to factors such as education, level of the household head, land ownership, and population density, but also appear to be declining in 2011-12. Also, the earning gaps based on gender, age, and geographical zones have increased. Implications: Overall, the non-farm income during the studied period was observed to be biased towards the better-off households. However, it opened up opportunities for underprivileged households as well. The non-farm sector has huge potential in augmenting incomes for unprivileged rural households. Therefore, the government should pay attention to this sector as a means of reducing income inequality and alleviating poverty.

Effect of Gender Diversity on the Association between Corporate Sustainability Practices and Financial Performance of Firms

Purpose: The objective of this research is to examine the effect of corporate sustainability practices (CSP) on financial performance (FP) as well as the moderating effect of gender diversity (GENDIV) in the board on the relationship between CSP and FP of firms in Malaysia. Methods: The sample of the study is 312 firm-year observations from 2015 to 2017 of 104 firms listed in Bursa Malaysia. The theoretical framework of the study is underpinned by the Stakeholder theory and the Agency theory. To test the hypotheses, with the help of STATA software, the panel corrected standard errors (PCSE) estimator model and the hierarchical moderated multiple regression model have been used. Results: The findings of the study reveal that CSP significantly and positively affects the FP of firms. The empirical results also show that gender diversity in boards significantly moderates the relationship between CSP and FP of Firms in Malaysia. Implications: Based on the empirical findings, the study recommends that the policymakers and regulatory bodies should follow up the mandatory corporate sustainability practices of the firms as well as revise the codes of corporate governance regarding gender diversity of the boards to ensure their long-term sustainability as well as to reduce the risk of financial distress, or bankruptcies in the future.

Impact of Economic and Noneconomic Factors on Inflow of Remittances into Bangladesh

Purpose: Remittance plays an important role in the economy of Bangladesh. It also contributes to the change in the social structure and standard of living. The purpose of the study is to identify the economic and non-economic determinants of the remittance inflow into Bangladesh. Methodology: The study considered two types of variables as the determinants of the remittance inflow: economic and non-economic. Economic determinants of remittances inflows included exchange rate, education, economic growth rate, and market interest rate. The non-economic determinants covered control of corruption, government effectiveness, and political stability. Monthly data were used for the case of economic determinants from 2014 to 2020 and annual data were used in the case of non-economic determinants from 1996 to 2018. The marginal effect of each variable has been analyzed by using the Robust Least Squares (RLS) method. Results: The estimated results of this study state that, economic determinants like capital formation and education factors have a positive and significant impact on remittances inflows in both static and dynamic cases. However, the exchange rate does not create a positive impact due to volatility. The RLS estimation shows the control of corruption has a positive impact on remittances inflows whereas government effectiveness and political stability hurt remittances inflows in Bangladesh. Implications: The current study identified the significant determinates of remittances inflows in Bangladesh. The findings have implications for policy formulation as regard remittances and non-resident Bangladeshis.

Mergers and Acquisitions in Brazilian Higher Education Companies

Purpose: The objective of this study is to detect and measure the occurrence of extraordinary returns to the shareholders of private higher education companies, listed on the Brazilian stock market, B3, when mergers and acquisitions occur. Methods: This study uses the Event Study technique on process data from 46 merger and acquisition events, that occurred in the period of 2007- 2015, involving the three main Brazilian private higher education companies, and applies the Z-statistic to test the accumulated standard abnormal returns. Results: Based on the results, it is possible to affirm that the presence of abnormal returns was not detected after merger and acquisition events. Events of this nature do not promote changes in the short-term value of the company, in the cases of large and publicly traded Brazilian private higher education companies. Implications: The announcement of a merger or acquisition process has wide repercussions in the media and attracts the attention of investors that aims to gain abnormal earnings from anticipated post-merger value creation. This study showed that the potential gain in value does not always occur or is reflected in the stock prices of the companies involved, in the short term.

The Capital Flow Volatility Spillover in Some Selected African Economies

Purpose: The study conducted an empirical examination of the link between capital flows and exchange rate by examining the relative influence of FDI and FPI on the exchange rates. Method: The study proceeded with the EGARCH model and the data sample covering the period from 1990-2016. The data were subjected to cross-country screening. The screening criteria are such that all the data that constitute capital in all sampled countries must have equal sample sizes. The measurement of capital flow in each of the sampled countries was restricted to two categories capital, namely, foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and foreign direct investment (FDI). Results: The research establishes that the behavior of capital flow volatility spillover of the sample countries' currencies exchange rate differs, with only South Africa's and Morocco's currencies revealing some slight similarity and existence of asymmetric volatility spillover from capital flows to exchange rate. Additionally, the study discloses that capital flows spillover has a considerable effect on exchange rate volatility than harmful spillover. The study also observed that positive shocks associated with capital flow volatility affect exchange rate value in Botswana more than capital outflow. Further positive capital flow spillover impending from capital inflow has a considerable effect on exchange rate volatility than the harmful spillover impending from the capital outflow. Further, the positive capital flow spill over impending from capital inflow significantly affects exchange rate volatility more than the negative spillovers that emanate from the capital outflow. Implications: This suggests that the monetary policy should consider options that can accelerate capital flow into the Moroccan economy. However, in South Africa for any given quantum of capital flow into the economy, the South African Reserve Bank must use instruments to affect stability; otherwise, the currency exchange rate could remain unstable. Thus, capital withdrawals out of the Egyptian economy will create domestic currency instability. Keywords: Spill-over, Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), Portfolio Investments (PI), asymmetric, capital flow volatility, Exchange rate volatility.

Non-Oil Exports and Manufacturing Sector Growth in an Oil-Rich Country in Africa

Purpose: This paper presents an analysis of the effect of non-oil exports on the manufacturing sector growth in an oil-rich country in Africa – Nigeria from 1986 to 2018. In clear terms, we evaluated how manufacturing sector capacity utilization is affected by non-oil exports. Methods: The Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimation technique was applied in estimating the model and was lagged by two years. The long-run relationship was determined using the traditional Johansen co-integration methodology. How manufacturing sector growth is affected by non-oil exports was evaluated using the Granger Causality technique. The Augmented Dicky-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron tests were applied to check the stationarity properties of the data. Results: The growth in the manufacturing sector in Nigeria has not been significantly affected by non-oil export despite the various non-oil export promotion strategies initiated by the government. Implication: A major implication of the finding is that the cost and access to financial services for non-oil exporters should be reduced or relaxed by the Central Bank of Nigeria. High-interest rates charged by commercial banks and little disbursement characterized by the volume of commercial banks credit affect manufacturing firms concerning acquiring modern plants and machinery which results in a poor quality of non-oil exports.

Fiscal Policy and Stock Market Development in an Emerging West African Economy

Purpose: This article presents a study on the effect of fiscal policy on stock market development in an emerging West African economy with an emphasis on Nigeria for the period of 1986 to 2018. Specifically, we evaluated the effect of fiscal deficit on all share index including government total expenditure on market capitalization ratio, the value of stock traded, and turnover ratio using data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). Methods: The Auto-regressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) was the estimation technique employed in ascertaining the nature of the short-run relationship between fiscal policy and stock market development indices, whereas the effect of fiscal policy on stock market development was actualized under the granger causality analysis. Results: The result of the analysis revealed that fiscal deficit has no significant effect on all share index; government total expenditure has no significant effect on stock market capitalization ratio; government total expenditure has a significant effect on the value of stock traded ratio; government total expenditure has no significant effect on the stock market turnover ratio. Implication: Government should implement its fiscal policies to carefully accommodate the development of the stock market, as changes in fiscal policy affect the overall activities in the market and ultimately the economy.

Profitability Determinants of Palm Oil Marketing in Umuahia Agricultural Zone of Abia State, Nigeria

Purpose: This study aims to ascertain the profitability determinants of palm oil marketing in Umuahia Agricultural Zone of Abia State, Nigeria. Methods: Data on socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, cost, and returns of palm oil marketing in the area were collected using a multi-stage sampling technique from 60 palm oil marketers in Abia State. A descriptive statistical technique, marketing margin, profitability models, and the ordinary least squares multiple regression techniques were used to analyze the data obtained. Results: The empirical analysis showed that palm oil marketers mean age to be 47 years with a household size of 5 persons. 77% of the palm oil marketers were males while only 23% were females. The mean marketing experience of the palm oil marketers was estimated to be 16 years. The gross and net marketing margins were estimated at N55, 288.91, and N54, 076.91 respectively. The marketing margin was found to be ₦81,221.22 and profitability was estimated at 0.33. Age, household size, education, and marketing experience were statistically significant at 5% and influenced the profitability of palm oil marketing in the area. Implications: Considering the net profit obtained from palm oil marketing in the area, there is a need to intensify its management and marketing strategies to further harness more profitable outcomes in the future. Also enabling environment should be created to make production and marketing of the product less stressful, especially for women entrepreneurs.

Does Fiscal Policy Tools have the Potential to Stimulate Performance of Manufacturing Sector in Nigeria?

Purpose: There is no denying the fact that the Nigerian manufacturing sector is not performing up to the expectation. The poor performance of the manufacturing sector is attributed largely to the poor state of basic infrastructures, especially power supply, and good road networks. To this end, this study examined the potential of fiscal policy to stimulate manufacturing sector performance in Nigeria. Methods: The model estimation employed the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) estimation technique, while the effect of estimation was carried out using the Granger causality test based on the data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) for the period of 1986 to 2019. Results: The result of the analysis revealed that recurrent expenditure has no significant effect on manufacturing sector performance. However, capital expenditure, fiscal deficit, and the company’s income tax significantly affect manufacturing sector performance. Implications: The Federal, State, and Local governments should stop wasteful expenditure on unnecessary entertainment on meetings, seminars, workshops, foreign trips, etc. to increase spending on basic industrial infrastructures, most importantly on the power supply and road network to stimulate the manufacturing sector performance.

Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion as Tools to Enhance Small Scale Businesses’ Performance in Southwest, Nigeria

Purpose: The study sought to examine the impact of financial literacy and financial inclusion on small businesses’ overall performance with special reference to Southwest Nigeria. Methods: Descriptive survey research sketch was adopted for this study, while the purposive sampling method was employed to choose forty small scale businesses registered with SMEDAN from each state capital of South Western of Nigeria that engaged in petty trading, bakeries, block-making, soup-making, tailoring, and agro-allied, totaling 240 participants as a sample size for the study. Data were collected by using a closed-ended questionnaire designed for the study, while simple percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC), and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) was used to analyze the data. Results: The findings disclose that financial literacy and financial inclusion jointly and independently affect small businesses’ performance. It revealed a positive and significant relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion. However, the study depicts that majority of business operators did not have financial knowledge such as working capital management, accounting records system, financial reporting, cashbook maintenance, income statement, daily cash reconciliation, internal control on cash, and cash budget. Also, the study confirmed that the majority of small business entrepreneurs are financially excluded from micro-financing, emergency loans, employ purchase financing, business bank loans, and micro-insurance plan Services. Implications: The implication of this study is that if the Central Bank of Nigeria partnership with other professional organizations to promote financial literacy and inclusion programs to all business entrepreneurs across the nation, it will motivate more business entrepreneurs in Nigeria to have access to finance.