Asia-Pacific Economies Research Articles

Outsiderness and socialisation bump: first year perspectives of international university research students

ABSTRACT Australia has among the highest percentages of international English as an additional language background (EAL) university students worldwide and this is steadily increasing. These students contribute immensely to Australia’s and the Asia-Pacific regional economy, research and cultural creativity. Despite this, EAL students face serious academic and social challenges and have increasingly negative views on their research degree in Australian universities. This paper is concerned with understanding the first year experiences of EAL research students in a major Australian university, particularly their concerns and proposed solutions. Fifty seven student datasets were collected from students and analysed using a hybrid methodology of interpretative phenomenological analysis and case study. The findings were analysed across two themes: degree of outsiderness, and socialization bump. The degree of outsiderness emerged through perceived research students’ practices that fostered work in isolation. The socialization bump was regarded as a paradox: the most beneficial research degree experiences appeared to be profoundly social, however participants found a shortage of opportunities to socialize. The article sets forth recommendations for universities internationally to provide a clear, well-communicated and inclusive framework to allow meaningful social interactions for EAL research students to succeed in their academic and social integration.

The Choice of Fiscal Year and the Earnings–Return Relationship

AbstractThe positive earnings–return relationship is weaker for US‐listed firms with a calendar fiscal year. Furthermore, stock returns for these firms are more positively related to industry earnings, as a common fiscal year‐end improves comparability of earnings. December fiscal year‐ends are more frequent among large and low market‐to‐book industries and firms, consistent with firms trading off the benefits of better comparability against the associated higher accounting and auditing costs. Our results imply that the prevalence of a single standard for fiscal year‐ends in other Asia–Pacific economies is indeed beneficial, as it promotes market transparency.

Universities in the National Innovation Systems: Emerging Innovation Landscapes in Asia-Pacific

Historically, universities and institutions of higher learning have gone through three academic revolutions, namely, teaching, research, and innovation. Universities and Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) in the last two decades have come to occupy an important part in the national innovation systems (NIS), which is a complex of ‘all important economic, social, political, organizational, institutional and other factors that influence the development, diffusion and use of innovations’. From a broader perspective, universities, together with public Research and Development (R&D) labs and science agencies, public policies (on industry, research, innovation and higher education, etc.) and business enterprises are now considered as important actors in the NIS of Asia-Pacific economies. The rise of Asia in the global knowledge-based economy from mid-1990s is closely associated with the rise of knowledge institutions of higher learning and scientific research output. Every Asia-Pacific country embraced and introduced policies relating to innovation in varying forms. Consultancy and collaborative links with industry being traditional forms of engagement, new policy and institutional measures in technology transfer and innovation to engage with society and business enterprises are gaining prominence. Policies for incubation, start-ups, and spin-offs, technology transfer offices (TTOs), and science and technology parks have gained tremendous prominence in leading Asia-Pacific universities. Different national innovation systems in the Asia-Pacific region have given rise to varying roles of universities. Whilst universities in Southeast Asian countries and India continue to play a traditional role of teaching and generating human capital, there are countries such as Singapore, China, Taiwan, and Japan, wherein universities are being transformed as entrepreneurial universities. Science and innovation policies in these countries have orchestrated the goal direction of universities as frontiers of innovation. Universities in Australia and New Zealand have so far been quite successful in marketing higher education to neighboring Asian countries. They have in recent years begun to embark on innovation and commercialization of research. The paper focuses on South East Asia and draws some comparison with more dynamic university ecosystems in East Asia. In doing so, the paper brings into focus the emerging innovation landscapes across the region.

Excessive electricity intensity of Vietnam: Evidence from a comparative study of Asia-Pacific countries

As electricity consumption in Vietnam has continued to increase much faster than has GDP, electricity intensity (EI) in the country has risen to levels far exceeding those of other Asia-Pacific economies (APEs). By analyzing evidence from a comparative study of other APEs through using the World Bank data, this study proves that EI in Vietnam is excessive and that its escalation over the last few decades cannot be justified as being due to supporting the country's policy of high economic growth. Factor analysis of the economic and electricity indicators for 22 APEs was used to track the shortcomings of the economic structure leading to the EI escalation in Vietnam. Electricity tariff, service share of GDP, and level of institution were identified as determinants of EI across the region. Given the weak performance regarding these indicators, Vietnam has highest EI among APEs followed by China and Mongolia. To reduce EI, Vietnam should consider diversifying away from the electricity-intensive industry sector toward economic activities such as service and information technology. The economic reform should be accelerated to complete the competitive electricity market and reduce the inefficiency of electricity usage through poorly managed state-owned enterprises and inefficient public investment projects.

How might sovereign bond yields in Asia Pacific react to US monetary normalisation under turbulent market conditions?

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the potential impact of US monetary normalisation on sovereign bond yields in Asia Pacific. We apply the quantile vector autoregressive model with principal component analysis to the assessment of tail risk of sovereign debt, which may not be detectable using traditional OLS-based analysis. Our empirical evidence suggests that US Treasury bond yields can have a significant impact on sovereign bond yields in the region, an important channel through which monetary normalisation by the Fed can affect Asia-Pacific economies. Increases in sovereign bond yields will not only compromise the ability of the sovereigns in the region to service their debt but also translate into higher costs of borrowing for the rest of economy. The results show how much the outsized impact could potentially be if US monetary normalisation somehow turns out to be much more disorderly than expected.

Convergence of Defence Burdens in Asia-Pacific Economies: A Residual Augmented Least Squares Approach

AbstractThis paper investigates convergence of military burdens in the Asia-Pacific countries. Two different datasets of military expenditure have been used in the analysis including the datasets from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers (WMEAT). Unlike the existing papers on convergence of military burdens, we adopt a two-step method that allows the identification of countries that contribute to both stochastic and beta convergence. In the course of investigating the stochastic convergence, we use a residual augmented least squares (RALS) unit root test. The results suggest a weak evidence for convergence of military burdens in Asia-Pacific region, which is a departure from the majority of the existing studies that have provided substantial evidence of convergence. We further examine sigma convergence and the results suggest mixed evidence for convergence of military burdens. The policy implications of the results are discussed in the conclusion section.

Asia-Pacific Stock Market Connectedness: A Network Approach

This paper addresses network connectedness in stock returns and volatilities across the Asia-Pacific economies over the pre- and post-GFC periods. This study also uses the MSCI-classified group-specific latent factors to examine their connectedness among the developed and emerging markets in different Asia-Pacific regions. We find that (i) based on the return connectedness measures, global financial hubs - Singapore and Hong Kong - and Australia play an important role as efficient return information transmitters across stock markets, (ii) the United States is an overwhelming volatility transmitter as a net source of shocks during the global financial crisis, and subsequent volatility spillovers spread the crisis shock to each other in the region, (iii) comparing the results between the pre- and post-GFC periods, Canada was a net volatility transmitter before the GFC but has changed to a net volatility receiver after the GFC, and Korea has magnified the position of a net volatility receiver after the GFC, and (iv) in terms of the degree of total spillovers in returns and volatilities at large, stock market connectedness in the Pacific Rim was reinforced after the GFC. These findings support the potential feasibility of financial cooperation and uphold a cause of regionally coordinated macro-financial policies against systemic risk vulnerability.

RTAs Network and Market Factor Effects on Trade: Evidence from Taiwan’s Major Electronics Industry

This study aims to examine the impact of evolution process of regional trade agreements (RTAs), focusing on the dynamics of regional networks formed by RTAs at different stages of participation in Asia-Pacific economies, and the impact of changes in market factors on Taiwan’s major electronics industry’s export. Trade effects research is divided into three levels: country, industry and product, estimated period is 2001- 2017. Estimated findings imply that market factors have impacts on the exports of EPCM and IC products to major trading partners, particularly China and ASEAN. RTAs have no significant impacts on the exports of EPCM and IC products.

Drivers of Broadband Connectivity in Asia-Pacific Developing Economies

Broadband connectivity continues to be an important component of a digital economy. More so today with advanced Asia-Pacific economies gradually adopting emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, Internet of things (IoT), and cloud computing) for increasing productivity and welfare gains. High income countries have higher broadband connectivity access which enable emerging technologies to improve efficiency and innovation. Japan and the Republic of Korea are global leaders in access to broadband connectivity (fixed and mobile services). At the same time, these two advanced economies are also ranked highly in terms of the number of AI-related patent applications and cloud readiness (Japan was ranked 5th and Republic of Korea 7th in the world on cloud readiness) (ESCAP, 2017). Singapore’s ‘smart nation’ initiative which leverages on using technology to improve society’s welfare is effective due to majority of its citizens’ having access to broadband connectivity. As a result, the opportunities to leverage emerging technologies has significant socio-economic opportunities to Asia-Pacific developing economies. Yet, broadband connectivity continues to be a significant challenge in many Asia-Pacific developing economies. According to ITU data, 18 Asia-Pacific economies have less than 1⁄3 of their total population having access to mobile-broadband subscriptions, while 18 Asia-Pacific economies have less than 2 per cent of total population having access to fixed-broadband subscriptions (ITU, 2017). Consequently, if majority of a population does not have access to broadband connectivity, government services delivered online are effectively hindered. In addition, private sectors that rely on the Internet for delivering its core business services (such as online banking and e-commerce) will be severely constrained. Without connectivity, Asia-Pacific developing countries risk encountering a new emerging-technology divide, thereby severely hindering potential future development prospects. It therefore pegs the question, what is the most appropriate policy intervention to increasing access to affordable broadband connectivity in Asia-Pacific countries?

Spillovers from foreign direct investment in services: Evidence at sub-sectoral level for the Asia-Pacific

We take a sectoral level approach to analyzing the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows. We disaggregate FDI first by manufacturing versus services, then within services by financial services, trade services, and business services. We consider the effects of FDI inflows on growth of GDP per capita, then distinguish between growth in manufacturing and services value added per capita. Our data sample comprises 14 Asia Pacific economies for the period 1985–2012 to which we apply a dynamic panel generalized method of moments estimation technique. Services FDI as a whole is found to have a significantly positive impact on GDP growth while manufacturing FDI is found to have no effect. The impetus for growth from services FDI traces to financial services in particular, acting not only directly on service sector output but through manufacturing sector output as well. By contrast, trade services FDI is found to have a significantly negative effect on manufacturing output with no significant effect on services output. Foreign participation in trade services may act to expose domestic manufacturers to international competition and may also lead to domestic consolidation to take advantage of economies of scale.

Dynamics between stock market movements and fiscal policy: Empirical evidence from emerging Asian economies

Pro-cyclical fiscal policy has raised concern in many emerging economies due to its adverse consequences to the economic activities. This paper takes a different approach to the issue, which aims to examine the bidirectional relationships between fiscal policy and stock market activities, using a panel of 12 emerging Asia-Pacific economies from 1990 to 2015. We estimate a variety of Panel Vector Autoregressive models to test for the consistence of the results. The empirical results show that fiscal policies in these countries tend to a pro-cyclical path in responding to stock market movements. The pro-cyclical behavior is found with both government expenditure and government revenue. On the other hand, a fiscal consolidation attempt has a rewarding effect on stock prices.

Mental health and integration in Asia Pacific.

This brief report examines the extent to which community-based treatment and integration support are provided for people living with mental illness across 15 selected Asia-Pacific economies. Some of the key findings are discussed in light of the diversity of economies and cultural contexts.

The quality and quantity of bank intermediation and economic growth: evidence from Asia Pacific

ABSTRACTWe investigate the impact of the quantity and quality of bank intermediation on economic growth across 14 Asia-Pacific economies over 2003–2015. Measures of bank shareholder value efficiency as well as profit and cost efficiency are used as indicators of intermediation quality. We also employ measures of liquidity creation (fat and nonfat) as a proxy for the quantity of bank intermediation. Our main finding is that the quality of bank intermediation (enhanced credit allocation) is a driver of economic growth in developed Asia-Pacific economies, whereas it is the quantity of bank intermediation (capital accumulation) that positively influences growth in developing nations. From a policy perspective, our findings suggest that policymakers in developed nations should concentrate their efforts on reforms that enhance bank efficiency. Second, reforms that stimulate capital accumulation should be encouraged in developing economies because this is the main channel that spurs economic growth.

Graduate work-readiness challenges in the Asia-Pacific region and the role of HRM

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on graduate work-readiness challenges in three Asia Pacific economies (Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia), and the roles of three main stakeholders (government, employers and industry) in the process. The intention of the paper is to design a stakeholder-oriented HRM model to address the identified graduate work-readiness challenges.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative triangulation method comprising interviews and focus groups was used with participant samples for each country – Australia (19), Indonesia (19) and Malaysia (15). Stakeholder-oriented HRM theory underpins the conceptual framework for the paper.FindingsAll three countries are currently experiencing difficulties attracting graduates with the required portfolio of qualifications, skills and personal capabilities. The reported effects include: constraints on national economic growth, future production structures, and long-term socio-economic development. Based on a review of the work-readiness and stakeholder-oriented HRM theory literature, it is posited that graduate work-readiness challenges can be effectively addressed by HR professionals in partnership with other key stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsThe study sought the input of only three stakeholder groups for ascertaining graduate work readiness challenges, there is a strong case to include other groups including students/parents and secondary schools.Social implicationsBridging the graduate skills gap between government, employers and educational institutions is an important area in which HR professionals can contribute by reducing the mismatch between demand and supply through influencing and balancing the interests and goals of key stakeholders.Originality/valueThis study makes a contribution to the extant literature as it explores the role of HR professionals in relation to a multiple stakeholder strategy to address these challenges in the less-explored Asia Pacific region.

International trade and the transmission of shocks: The case of ASEAN-4 and NIE-4 economies

We investigate the effects of the increasing importance of ASEAN-4 and NIE-4 economies in global trade for the transmission of shocks using a structural VAR framework. We specifically account for time variation, using the changing trade links to provide a means of identifying the propagation of economic shocks and spillovers across the US, EU and Asia Pacific economies from 1978 to 2015. The results include evidence of China's emergence as a major driver of growth in Asian markets. The identification mechanism highlights the relative importance of changing trade relationships versus changing shocks in propagating shocks between global markets, and shows that the international transmission mechanisms have changed substantially over the sample period.

Carbon emissions, energy consumption, trade openness and economic growth in 12 Asia-Pacific economies: evidence from panel co-integration results

This article analyses the relationships among carbon emissions, energy consumption, trade and economic growth in 12 Asia-Pacific economies. The results indicate the existence of four long-run equilibrium relationships among carbon emissions, energy consumption, trade and economic growth. These four variables are causally related to each other. The inverted-U environment Kuznets hypothesis is supported. The long-run elasticity of carbon emissions with respect to trade and energy consumption were 0.21 and 1.13, respectively. Furthermore, the empirical evidence from a dynamic panel error-correction model revealed two short-run unidirectional causalities: from trade to energy consumption and from energy consumption to GDP growth. The short-run results also showed two bidirectional causal relationships between energy consumption and carbon emissions and between economic growth and carbon emissions. These results suggest that Asia-Pacific economies undertake energy policy to reduce carbon emissions by increasing the energy efficiency and substantially increasing the share of renewable energy in the overall energy usage.

Carbon emissions, energy consumption, trade openness and economic growth in 12 Asia-Pacific economies: evidence from panel co-integration results

This article analyses the relationships among carbon emissions, energy consumption, trade and economic growth in 12 Asia-Pacific economies. The results indicate the existence of four long-run equilibrium relationships among carbon emissions, energy consumption, trade and economic growth. These four variables are causally related to each other. The inverted-U environment Kuznets hypothesis is supported. The long-run elasticity of carbon emissions with respect to trade and energy consumption were 0.21 and 1.13, respectively. Furthermore, the empirical evidence from a dynamic panel error-correction model revealed two short-run unidirectional causalities: from trade to energy consumption and from energy consumption to GDP growth. The short-run results also showed two bidirectional causal relationships between energy consumption and carbon emissions and between economic growth and carbon emissions. These results suggest that Asia-Pacific economies undertake energy policy to reduce carbon emissions by increasing the energy efficiency and substantially increasing the share of renewable energy in the overall energy usage.

Post-harvest loss reduction in Asia-Pacific developing economies

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the post-harvest loss experience of several Asia-Pacific economies to analyse the potential impacts of reduction of such losses using a range of remedial measures.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework has been developed and then applied to a case study based on several Asia-Pacific economies to provide an empirical basis for the analysis in the paper.FindingsLimited access to vital farm inputs and credit, poor infrastructure and lack of technical and market information are some of the critical challenges confronting many small farmers in developing economies including those in the selected case-study countries. The estimated “food savings” are considerable if Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s pledge to reduce food losses and waste by 10 per cent by 2020, relative to the 2011-2012 levels is realised in the case-study economies.Research limitations/implicationsFurther work is urgently required to collect more up-to-date data on food losses along the food supply chain, including post-harvest losses, in many economies across the world, including the Asia-Pacific region.Originality/valueThe analysis of post-harvest losses is underpinned by a conceptual framework that has been developed and applied to several Asia-Pacific economies.

Tail Risk Spillover in Asia Pacific Stock Market

This paper examines financial linkages among Asia-Pacific stock markets and those between these markets and other global markets. By studying the mean and tail dependences of the 37 stock market indices, we find that while Asia-Pacific stock markets is mainly driven by shocks within the Asia-Pacific region under mean dependence, shocks from regional and non-regional markets are equally considerable to Asia Pacific in the tail. In particular, shocks from Latin America and EMEA have increased notably after the taper tantrum. Moreover, we find that price-earnings ratios can explain the sensitivity of individual Asia-Pacific economy to shocks under the tail dependence, but does not seem to offer any explanatory power under mean dependence.

Money supply and inflation dynamics in the Asia-Pacific economies: a time-frequency approach

Abstract:We examine the relationship between money supply growth and inflation in 3 Asian Economies which are India, Malaysia and Japan using a time-frequency approach. The application of a unified multi-scale analysis allows us to provide a continuous assessment of the link between money supply growth and inflation, unlike most of the existing literature studying this relationship. We also employ a bivariate frequency-domain causality test to determine the nature and direction of interdependence between money supply growth and inflation dynamics. Our findings provide a better understanding of their lead-lag linkages and causal relationship in the selected countries of the Asia-Pacific region.