The Political Economy of Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evaluating the Role of Institutions

Sub-Saharan Africa has recently witnessed rising growth rates, but the continent is still largely not industrialised. Mainstream empirical diagnosis has identified the paucity of physical and human capital as the main culprit. However, with the increasing inflow of capital into the continent, such arguments have become hackneyed. A possible culprit identified in the evolving development literature is the quality of institutions. How much has the quality of institutions, structured largely by the prevailing political economy of individual states, influenced Africa’s industrial performance? This study deploys descriptive and analytical methodologies to proffer answers to these questions. The estimates obtained from the Pool Mean Group Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) as well as the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) panel estimators point strongly to the fact that institutions are bane of industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Specifically, we find evidence that in the long run, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption all impact the manufacturing subsector negatively and significantly. The panacea is not only within the matrix of optimal resource allocation, but must integrate the entire political and sociological process, involving governments at all levels, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and faith-based groups.

Transformation of Digital Management in Enterprises Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study aims to examine changes in enterprise management during the COVID-19 pandemic and develop a universal mechanism for managing digital transformation. Its methodological basis is represented by a terminological analysis of the concepts of automation, digitalisation and digital transformation. Their close consideration enables us to form a conceptual scheme of business digitalisation. In sum, the study process shows that full-fledged and fruitful digital transformation can be achieved through restructuring a company’s business process management system. By comparing the outcomes of using digital platform-based business models, the most promising one was selected for use. Its practical application was studied in Azerbaijan, Russia, and Switzerland using the Network Readiness Index (NRI). The analysis made it possible to form business development strategies for each country reviewed and to develop a universal mechanism for digital transformation management by means of optimisation and modelling. The findings suggest that in pandemic settings, digital enterprise management concentrates on survival, self-learning and cooperation without intermediaries through innovation and the transformation of business processes. The strategies can be used to adopt digital technologies and attract investment. Further research can be directed at detailing the proposed mechanism.

The Post-COVID-19 Future: State Capability in Ensuring Shared Prosperity

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has caused profound upheavals in national communities, from humanitarian disasters to unprecedented economic downturns. All the consequences of COVID-19 have made it necessary to understand the reasons for state inefficiency and its traditional functions of ensuring economic balance and financial stability in the period before COVID-19. In fact, inefficiency is a fundamental problem of modern socioeconomic systems. Only a violation of societal integrity can explain why economic isolation and social distancing managed to instantly destroy economic structures, cause a loss in confidence in governments by citizens and increase the potential for protest against the extraordinary actions of nation-states in the fight against COVID-19. At the end of 2020, there was universal agreement about a fundamentally uncertain post-COVID-19 reality. Many progressive specialists have expressed the opinion that the degree of future socioeconomic progress directly depends on the abilities of policymakers to prioritise societal integrity in solving economic problems and achieving the goal of shared prosperity in the future

The Impact of Monetary Policy on Bank Profitability and the Moderating Role of Funding Patterns in Vietnam

The study investigates the effect of monetary policy on bank profitability while also taking into account the moderating role of bank funding patterns. Uniquely, the study focuses on disaggregate components of bank profits in an environment containing various monetary policy tools. Using a dataset of commercial banks in Vietnam, the results show that monetary policy drives bank profitability asymmetrically. Concretely, interest rates (i.e., lending rates and policy rates) exert positive effects on net interest income, but negative impacts on non-interest income. For quantitative-based policy tools, including the central bank’s security purchases and foreign exchange reserves, monetary policy is positively correlated with non-interest income but negatively associated with net interest income. The reaction of banks’ net interest income to monetary policy adjustments is translated into overall bank profits. Further analysis indicates that the monetary policy/bank profitability nexus across different proxies is less pronounced at banks with more diversified funding patterns. This finding sheds light on prior arguments attributing financially weaker banks’ greater sensitivity in facing monetary shocks to the limited alternative funding.

Foucauldian Biopolitics, Irregular Immigrants and COVID-19 in Malaysia

This paper addresses issues related to irregular immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of providing a better understanding of the migration process in Malaysia. This article uses Foucauldian biopolitics as a theoretical framework to explain state practices on immigrant bodies. Firstly, it provides a general picture of irregular immigration in Southeast Asia and Malaysia; secondly, it summarises the effects of the pandemic; and lastly it provides an overall outlook of irregular immigrants and the practices they were exposed to at this time. This study adopts exploratory and explanatory qualitative research design and data collection techniques such as document analysis of non-governmental reports on immigrants, official statistics, declarations and articles produced by third party organisations and interviews with experts. This paper then adopts a post-structuralist perspective within an interpretative paradigm to comprehend the main problems, social arrangements and rationality of institutional dynamics of the management of irregular immigrants. The main findings show that increasing human rights violations of irregular migrants generate from a biopolitical mentality.

Divorce in Malaysia: Historical Trends and Contemporary Issues

Divorce rates in Malaysia have risen substantially in the first two decades of the 21st century. The main upsurge was between 2007 and 2010, after which the rates levelled off. The Muslim divorce rate remains at a level more than double that of non-Muslims, though the trends in divorce have moved in the same direction for both groups. East Malaysia has its own patterns. Muslim divorce rates in Sabah are only half those in Peninsular Malaysia, as are non-Muslim divorce rates in both Sabah and Sarawak. Although information is not available for Malaysia about the proportion of Muslim divorces initiated by wives, for both Indonesia and Singapore, more than two thirds of Muslim divorces are initiated by the wife. Clearly, many similar forces are influencing divorce for both Muslims and non-Muslims in the predominantly urban populations of these three countries. “Modern divorce” is related to the pressures of urban living; pressures of balancing work responsibilities and household arrangements when both partners are working; decreasing tolerance for remaining in an unsatisfactory marriage; and increasing community acceptance of divorce in such circumstances. As similar pressures have been experienced by both Muslim and non-Muslim populations, the tendency for Muslim and non-Muslim divorce rates in Malaysia to move in parallel directions is not surprising.

The Changing Educational Gradient in Marriage: Evidence from Malaysia

The rising age at marriage and non-marriage has been occurring concurrently with the rising educational level in many developing countries. This paper examines the changing relationship between educational attainment and the marriage rate (per cent ever married) and timing (age at marriage) in Malaysia over the past four decades, using multiple waves of Labour Force Survey data. Bivariate analyses show significant educational differentials in the proportion ever married and mean age at marriage for males and females, across ethnic groups and urban-rural locations. The educational effect on the rate and timing of marriage varied over time. Results from binary logistic regression show that controlling for ethnicity, urban-rural location, and age, the negative educational effect on the rate of marriage has turned positive in recent years. The change in the direction of the relationship between education and marriage rate was more pronounced for males than for females. The reduction in the educational gradient and a shift from negative to positive effect means that the conventional hypothesis of the education-marriage nexus needs to be re-assessed. The effects of rising education on the rate and timing of marriage should be considered in the implementation of the National Family Policy.

Correlates and Consequences of Delayed Marriage in Malaysia

This paper aims to examine the correlates of age at first marriage and the consequences of late marriage. Data for this paper were drawn from the 2014 Malaysian Population and Family Survey. Simple cross-tabulation and multiple classification analysis were used for the analysis. Age at marriage of women varied across socio-economic groups. Among the ethnic groups, the Other Bumiputera entered marriage earliest, followed by the Malays, Indians and Chinese. Age at marriage was positively associated with urbanisation, educational level, and women’s autonomy in marriage. The assumption of modern norms and ideas, and escalating cost of marriage are important determinants of marriage postponement. Late marriage has a direct impact on demographic outcomes, resulting in ultra-low fertility for some groups of the population. Marriage postponement has positive socio-economic outcomes for individuals. However, postponing marriage beyond the prime reproductive age may result in some reproductive health problems.

Family Social Reproduction: Conflict and Compromise in Cross-Border Marriages between Chinese Malaysian Men and Vietnamese Women

In this paper, we use the framework of family social reproduction to investigate care relationships within cross-border marriages in Malaysia. Examining the narratives of Chinese Malaysian men and their Vietnamese spouses, we find that (i) the Malaysian men’s labour migration during their twenties and thirties leads to the deferment as well as enablement of marriage, reconfiguring social reproduction temporally and spatially within their life courses, while (ii) the Vietnamese women’s aspirations for migration, work, and marriage interlink with their desire to seek a better life, and their motivations to secure better options to contribute to the social reproduction of their natal families. Tensions in cross-border marriage arise from unmet expectations of care and sustenance, leading to frictions over contested roles and responsibilities in daily household maintenance and care activities, and compromises as marriage partners formulate social reproductive strategies. Exchanges of care, reproductive labour, and money within these marriages are embedded in relational meanings, pointing to the significance of recognising that the care work that shapes and sustains marital relationships is bidirectional, reciprocal, and undertaken by husbands as much as wives.

The Changing Spousal Differentials in Socio-demographic Characteristics in Malaysia

This paper uses matched couple data from the 1991, 2000, and 2010 population censuses to examine the changes in spousal differentials in age, education, and work status, as well as inter-ethnic and international marriages. The general trend is one of decreasing spousal age and educational gaps between 1991 and 2010. Although older-man younger-woman marriages still predominated, the spousal age gap decreased from 4.6 years to 3.9 years, and the proportion of marriages in which the husband was more than 6 years older than the wife declined from 30% to 24%. Educational homogamy (couples having the same educational level) rose from 53% to 64%, while the proportion of women marrying someone of higher education declined from 33% to 21%. Inter-ethnic marriage hovered around 4.2% throughout the study period, after rising from less than 1% in the 1980s. International marriages made up about 1.2% of all marriages in 2010, up from 0.8% in 1991. The labour force participation rate of married women had increased significantly, resulting in the rise of dual-income households. The changing spousal differentials in socio-demographic characteristics are bound to alter gender roles and relations that will impact Malaysia’s family institution and demographic outcomes.