{"title":"The chronic illness of poverty: the effects of microfinance on the severity of poverty and the cost of its eradication","authors":"M. Hailat, M. Alomari, Ala G. Bashayreh","doi":"10.1108/jes-01-2024-0048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jes-01-2024-0048","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis paper investigates the impact of microfinance on poverty gap which is the shortfall in income or consumption expenditures below $1.90, $3.20 and $5.50 per day. The paper’s primary goal is to investigate how microloans have impacted the severity of poverty and influenced the cost of poverty eradication in Latin America, empirically evaluate these effects and offer appropriate policy recommendations.Design/methodology/approachThis paper used panel data for 13 Latin American countries from world bank spanning the period 2001–2019 and Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares model for heterogeneous cointegrated panels. This study used Gross Loan Portfolio per active borrowers, gross domestic product per capita, Gini index, Inflation and Unemployment rate as independent variables and poverty gaps as dependent variables.FindingsPoverty gaps narrow as the loan per borrower increases, and the degree of effect differs with the poverty line, with the magnitude increasing as the poverty line falls, underscoring microloans as an effective tool in closing poverty gaps and lowering the cost of poverty eradication. Growth of GDP per capita is helpful reducing the poverty gap, especially for the less poor of the poor. Inflation and unemployment have no to little impact on the severe poverty gaps, but they start to matter when the poverty line is $5.5 per day. Finally, income distribution inequality widens the poverty gap regardless of the poverty line used.Originality/valueThis study suggests several implications. For example, Latin American nations need to embrace tangible policies that encourage economic growth while reducing inequalities in income distribution to effectively eradicate poverty. More supportive environment is necessary to increase the effectiveness of microfinance operations, particularly for the poorest populations. Microfinance institutions need to set less stringent conditions for loan accessibility and repayment schedules that are commensurate with different levels of poverty. Finally, strengthening microfinance as a strategic policy to gradually close poverty gaps and reduce the cost of poverty eradication.","PeriodicalId":506715,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Studies","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141099433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Competition law enforcement and digital platforms non-price competition","authors":"Svetlana Golovanova, Eduardo Pontual Ribeiro","doi":"10.1108/jes-01-2024-0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jes-01-2024-0005","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeExplore the effects of competition policy on an important competitive dimension of digital platforms, namely quality.Design/methodology/approachThe deterrence effect of competition policy should induce firms to compete on merits, with lower prices and higher quality for consumers. Deterrence, or the inducement not to infringe competition law, may depend on the harshness of penalties and/or the likelihood of conviction. We use competition policy indicators that are associated with these deterrence dimensions, allowing for non-linearities and interactions of the indicators. We use a unique data survey of digital gig platform users, that covers at least two dozen platforms and more than 50 countries. Quality is measured using multidimensional indicators of the level of satisfaction of platform users with different platform services. We control for platform user and country characteristics, including other regulatory indicators such as labor laws, to recover different effects.FindingsResults suggest that competition policy is relevant for differences in product quality across platforms and countries. Important non-linearities are uncovered, where substantive rules of competition policy interact with competition authority power. The effects depend on either level of the indicators, suggesting that deterrence effects depend upon a combination of both law in the books and competition policy practice.Practical implicationsThe estimates suggest a need to balance both dimension of deterrence, namely, strictness and effectiveness to expand the effects of competition policy on competition.Originality/valueThis is the first paper that explores the effect of competition policy on non-price or non-margin competition dimension. It is the first to study the effect on a sample of digital platforms. It contributes to the literature of deterrence effects of competition policy.","PeriodicalId":506715,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Studies","volume":"13 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141105531","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Climate change-stock return volatility nexus in advanced economies: the role of technology shocks","authors":"D. J. Penzin, Kazeem O. Isah, Afees A. Salisu","doi":"10.1108/jes-08-2023-0419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jes-08-2023-0419","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeGiven the systemic nature of climate change, there are many interdependencies between its primary components and feedback loops, emphasising the need to simultaneously consider the stock market implications of physical and transitional climate-related risks. More importantly, carbon emissions are expected to be reduced through various transition pathways. However, transitional climate risks have been validated as capable of predicting stock market behaviour, hence the motivation for the role of technology shocks.Design/methodology/approachWe use a GARCH-MIDAS model to examine the relationship between climate change and stock return volatility since it enables data analysis at various frequencies within the same framework. We employ a novel dataset to track technology shocks, and the study spans decades of data from 1880 to 2018.FindingsWe find that the relationship between climate change and stock return volatility is episodic and varies with different degrees of intensity of high-temperature anomalies and technology shocks. Our results suggest that policy actions should include investing in climate technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encouraging investment in eco-friendly assets.Originality/valueThere has been little or no consideration for the probable complementary effects of physical and transition climate-related risks on stock markets. Hence, the novelty in the context of this study is the hypothesis that transitional risks, if explored from the point of view of technological innovations, can moderate the stock market’s vulnerability to physical climate risks.","PeriodicalId":506715,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Studies","volume":"49 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141102920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Socio-economic dimensions and human centricity in Industry 5.0: a study on manufacturing sectors in central and Eastern European economies","authors":"Devesh Singh, Viktorija Cohen","doi":"10.1108/jes-02-2024-0067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jes-02-2024-0067","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis study aims to quantify the concept of Industry 5.0, with a focus on human-centricity in the manufacturing sector.Design/methodology/approachThe panel nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag method is applied to assess asymmetry and vulnerability in the food, textile, chemical manufacturing, high-tech and transportation sectors. The robustness of the results is tested using a panel Granger non-causality test and panel vector autoregressive models.FindingsThis study finds that financial unions, fair internal markets, gender and youth participation are significant factors for human centricity in the manufacturing sectors. The NARDL results suggest that both the chemical and high-tech industries human participation are insignificant in both the long run and short run. The results of the food industry are significant in both the sort run and the long run.Research limitations/implicationsManufacturing sectors need to create sustainable employment strategies that lead to stable, enduring and satisfying jobs in order to achieve human centricity. Involve skilled workers in important decision-making processes and empower them with technology.Originality/valueThis study differed from prior research in several ways. Firstly, it incorporates the social dimension as a control variable in the pursuit of I5.0 implementation across various manufacturing sectors. Secondly, it quantifies the human-centricity aspect of I5.0 within these sectors.","PeriodicalId":506715,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Studies","volume":"129 13","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141115099","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Examining the impact of geopolitical risk on foreign remittances: evidence from top remittances receiving countries","authors":"Namarta Kumari Bajaj, Ghulam Abbas, Suresh Kumar Rajput Oad, Tariq Aziz Siyal","doi":"10.1108/jes-09-2023-0480","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jes-09-2023-0480","url":null,"abstract":"Purpose This study investigates the impact of geopolitical risk (GPR) on foreign remittances (FRs) for the top remittance-receiving countries.Design/methodology/approach The sample includes Mexico, France, Egypt, China, the Philippines, India, Vietnam, Ukraine, Germany and Belgium for the annual period of 1998–2022 using the nonlinear panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to determine the asymmetry in the relationship.Findings The results suggest that, in the short term, positive GPR shocks have a positive and significant impact on FRs received. On the other hand, the long-run results suggest that adverse GPR shocks negatively affect FRs received in the sampled countries. Additionally, the study confirms the asymmetric impact of GPR on top remittances received in countries.Research limitations/implications The policymakers, migrants and recipients should consider the asymmetric nature of GPR while making decisions regarding policies and the transfer of remittances. This information can be used to create more effective policies for controlling and reducing the effects of GPR on overseas remittances, such as assisting migrant workers and developing methods to lessen the volatility of these flows.Originality/value Acknowledging the potential fluctuations and uncertainties associated with GPR is crucial to make informed choices regarding remittance-related matters.","PeriodicalId":506715,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Studies","volume":" October","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141127809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Returns to different levels of education in Russia","authors":"S. Dolgikh, B. Potanin","doi":"10.1108/jes-09-2023-0501","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jes-09-2023-0501","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeEducation system stimulates the development of human capital and provides informative signaling allowing to differentiate productivity of individuals. If education system is efficient then higher levels of education usually associated with greater returns on labor market. To evaluate the efficiency of Russian education system we aim to estimate the effect of vocational education and different levels of higher education on wages.Design/methodology/approachWe use data on 8,764 individuals in the years 2019–2021. Our statistical approach addresses two critical issues: nonrandom selection into employment and the endogeneity of education choice. To tackle these problems, we employed Heckman’s method and its extension that is a structural model which addresses the issue of self-selection into different levels of education.FindingsThe results of the analysis suggest that there is a significant heterogeneity in the returns to different levels of education. First, higher education, in general, offers substantial wage premiums when compared to vocational education. Specifically, individuals with specialist’s and bachelor’s degrees enjoy higher wage premiums of approximately 23.59–24.04% and 16.43–16.49%, respectively, compared to those with vocational education. Furthermore, we observe a significant dis-parity in returns among the various levels of higher education. Master’s degree provides a substantial wage premium in comparison to both bachelor’s (19.79–20.96%) and specialist’s (12.64–13.41%) degrees. Moreover, specialist degree offers a 7.16–7.55% higher wage premium than bachelor’s degree.Practical implicationsWe identify a hierarchical pattern in the returns associated with different levels of higher education in Russia, specifically “bachelor-specialist-master.” These findings indicate that each level of education in Russia serves as a distinct signal in the labor market, facilitating employers' ability to differentiate between workers. From a policy perspective, our results suggest the potential benefits of offering opportunities to transition from specialist’s to master’s degrees on a tuition-free basis. Such a policy may enhance access to advanced education and potentially lead to higher returns for individuals in the labor market.Originality/valueThere are many studies on returns to higher education in Russia. However, just few of them estimate the returns to different levels of higher education. Also, these studies usually do not address the issue of the endogeneity arising because of self-selection into different levels of education. Our structural econometric model allows addressing for this issue and provides consistent estimates of returns to different levels of education under the assumption that individuals with higher propensity to education obtain higher levels of education.","PeriodicalId":506715,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Studies","volume":"25 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140352430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Benchmarking asset pricing models in emerging markets: evidence from Borsa Istanbul","authors":"F. Gökgöz, Canan Seyhan","doi":"10.1108/jes-07-2023-0357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/jes-07-2023-0357","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeInvestors who can transfer their savings to investments in a well-regulated market benefit not only themselves but also economic development. Hence, it is crucial for fund owners to evaluate their stock market investment decisions. The goal of the study is to understand which model determines the asset returns most efficiently. In this regard, the validity of single and multi-index asset pricing models (capital asset pricing model-CAPM and Fama–French models) has been examined in the Turkish Stock Exchange for 2009–2020, with the quantile regression (QR) approach.Design/methodology/approachOn 18 portfolios comprised of quoted stocks in the Istanbul Stock Exchange 100 (ISE-100/BIST-100), we test the CAPM, the Fama and French three factor model (FF3) and the Fama and French five factor model (FF5). Empirical analyses have been carried out via QR approach regressing the portfolios' average weekly excess returns on risk premium/market factor (Rm-Rf), firm size, book value/market value (B/M), profitability and investments factors. QR estimation has been employed since QR is more effective and provides a better definition of the distribution’s tails.FindingsOur empirical findings have revealed that the average excess weekly returns can be explained more strongly via CAPM. Moreover, Fama and French models are expected to give more reliable result with more data, whereas the market premium would give robust results for the Turkish Capital Market.Practical implicationsIndividuals investing in financial assets must find the price model that best fits the market. The return can be approximated in the most appropriate manner using the right variables.Originality/valueThe study differs from other research by comparing the asset pricing models via examining the assets' weekly returns with QR in the Istanbul Stock Exchange 100 (ISE-100).","PeriodicalId":506715,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Studies","volume":"15 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140367241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Empirical Analysis of Substitution between Clean and Dirty Energy Inputs: Focusing on KEPCO's Power Generation Subsidiaries","authors":"GyeongGeun Park, Youngduk Kim","doi":"10.30776/jes.42.1.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30776/jes.42.1.4","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":506715,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Studies","volume":"11 15","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140410390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effects of R&D investment on export market exit","authors":"Minjung Kim","doi":"10.30776/jes.42.1.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30776/jes.42.1.1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":506715,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Studies","volume":"17 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140413067","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An Empirical Analysis of the Effects of the 2018 Minimum Wage Hike on Firm-Level Wage, Employment and Profitability","authors":"Razakov Khurshid Mansur Ugli, Gi-Hoon Hong","doi":"10.30776/jes.42.1.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.30776/jes.42.1.3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":506715,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Studies","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-02-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140414995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}