Tajul Ariffin Masron

Real estate market factors and foreign real estate investment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of real estate market factors on foreign real estate investment (FREI). Design/methodology/approach – Applying panel data technique, this paper uses related observations from 31 countries (inclusive of developed countries and emerging market economies) between 2000 and 2008 to investigate the relationships between real estate market factors and FREI. Findings – Controlling for market size, infrastructure and political stability, the results for all countries indicate that lower financing costs and higher levels of transparency in real estate market attract greater amounts of FREI. Moreover, the paper finds that foreign real estate investors favor countries with higher property prices. Interestingly, when the paper splits the sample in developed countries and emerging market economies the paper finds that there are some differences in results in terms of determinants of FREI. Originality/value – While FREI is a large component of service FDI, currently there are no analyses of FREI determinants across a broad set of countries over time. Therefore, the present study has filled this gap.

The Effect of Tourism Agglomeration on Foreign Real Estate Investment: Evidence from Selected Oecd Countries

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of tourism agglomeration on foreign real estate investment (FREI). Using a panel of 19 OECD countries over a period of 10 years (1999-2008) and controlling for some relevant factors, econometric analysis indicates that tourism agglomeration is a significant determinant of FREI. The result has some implications for policymakers in order to recover their real estate sectors which were hit in recent financial crisis.

FDI in ASEAN-8: Does institutional quality matter?

The importance of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as a driver of economic development is no longer a secret. As a result, the competition to attract FDI is getting stiffer as any economy in the world is currently eyeing for FDI, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). With the emergence of China as a new attractive location for FDI, and as part of the alternatives to further enhance the attractiveness of ASEAN, this study analyses the role of institutional quality on FDI inflows into ASEAN.

The effects of FDI on voice and accountability in the MENA region

Purpose - Several scholars, policymakers and international development agencies have been suggesting that trade and capital openness would bring better governance, in particular higher level of voice and accountability (VA), for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on VA in the MENA region. Design/methodology/approach - Applying two different panel models (fixed-effects and dynamic), this paper uses related observations from 19 MENA countries between 2000 and 2008 to analyze the impacts of FDI inflows on VA. Findings - The results reveal that FDI inflows do not contribute to the higher level of VA in the MENA region. Originality/value - With no previous studies of the linkage between FDI inflows and VA in the MENA region, the paper makes a significant contribution in this regard.

AFTA, Income Growth, and Income Convergence in ASEAN

The rapid economic growth experienced by the core ASEAN members (comprised of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia) since the 70s was generally attributed to openness policies adopted by the respective governments. Despite this contention, however, there is little evidence to suggest that greater openness will eventually lead to a convergence of the member countries, particularly with the present of external shocks. The introduction of ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in 1992 was also partly an attempt to hedge the region from external shock, while possibly further promoting economic development in the region. This study, therefore, is an attempt at examining in greater detail the impact of AFTA and openness on ASEAN economic growth, in the present of external shock. The results indicate that convergence in ASEAN is conditional upon several control variables taking place, in addition to openness. Additionally, while AFTA has a positive effect on economic growth, its impact on convergence is somewhat ambiguous in the presence of external shocks.

Relative institutional quality and FDI inflows in ASEAN countries

Purpose Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into any country, especially ASEAN countries, is affected by any improvement in the institutional quality (IQ) of competitors such as China. As generally investors make decisions by comparing two countries’ IQ, the ratio of two countries’ IQ matters more than a single country’s IQ. The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the role of IQ on FDI inflows in ASEAN countries for the period 1996-2013. Design/methodology/approach With limited information on IQ, this study pools eight ASEAN countries as the sample for analysis from 1996 until 2013. A panel dynamic approach – namely, dynamic ordinary least square and fully modified ordinary least square – is utilized. Findings This study confirmed that relative IQ significantly affects FDI inflows into ASEAN countries. The low effect is more reflective of the small portion of world FDI inflows into the ASEAN region. Research limitations/implications This study observes the crucial relationship between IQ and FDI – that the relative effectiveness of IQ in attracting FDI inflows depends heavily on the changes in both countries’ IQ. Hence, the effort of ASEAN countries to improve IQ and use it as a means to lure FDI inflows should go beyond a mere improvement. Focus should be on significant improvement of IQ so that multinational corporations will comfortably remain or inject new FDI into the country. Practical implications Every ASEAN country should double their efforts toward improving their IQ in order to attract future FDI. Originality/value Several studies have confirmed the role of IQ on FDI inflows. However, the majority of these studies have investigated the effect of IQ exclusively for a specific country even though some of them have used a panel of several countries’ data. On the other hand, investors normally evaluate their decision on whether or not to invest based on the relative terms, comparing several potential locations of investment at once. This study can be considered the first to explore the potential effect of IQ after taking into account the possibility of each ASEAN country’s IQ being easily offset by changes in the IQ of China.

Regional Effects of Monetary Policy in China: Evidence from China's Provinces

This study examines the provincial effects of monetary policy from 1978 to 2011 in China. We used the SVAR method to measure the magnitude and timing of each provinces response to monetary policy shocks when considering the influences of spillover effects among provinces. Then we also explored the regional effects of monetary policy employing multiple linear regressions. The results confirm that provinces respond differently to monetary policy actions. It was found that in the short run, the influence of spillover effects on a provinces response is very important, but in the long run, the negative influence of deposit transfers overtake the positive impact of the spillover effect. For the factors causing the regional effects on monetary policy, the results show that the interest rate channel is rather weak at the regional level in China. The bank lending channel can explain the regional effects of monetary policy to some extent. Thus in China, the bank lending channel is more effective than the interest rate channel at the regional level.

The environmental Kuznets curve in the presence of corruption in developing countries

Environmental degradation is at an alarming level in developing economies. The present paper examines the direct and indirect impacts of corruption on environmental deterioration using the panel data of 64 developing countries. Adopting the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique, the paper finds evidence that corruption exhibits a positive impact on pollution. Subsequently, there is also evidence indicating that the level of pollution tends to be higher in countries with a higher level of corruption, eliminating the effectiveness of income effect on environmental preservation. These results also suggest that environmental degradation is monotonically increasing with higher corruption and invalidate the presence of the EKC. Hence, a policy focuses that an anti-corruption particularly in the environmental and natural resources sector needs to be emphasized and enforced in order to reduce or possibly to totally eliminate the rent for corruption.

Reserve Pooling And Its Implication On Optimum Currency Area In Asean

Regional economic integration in ASEAN, ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), is expected to produce positive outcomes on economic growth in ASEAN especially through its impact on trade and investment. This idea can be strengthened if regional monetary integration is followed. Therefore, focusing on reserve pooling, which is one of the proxy for Optimum Currency Area (OCA) variables, this study intends to examine the feasibility of a common currency in ASEAN. In addition, this study also investigates this idea in the presence of external shock.

Openness, productivity and allocation efficiency in ASEAN-4

One of the important elements related to the variation in the efficiency of investment and productivity is the role of openness. The relationships between openness and allocation efficiency as well as openness and productivity are linked with the adverse selection phenomenon in the developing countries and it has resulted in inefficient resource allocation and low TFP. Therefore, this paper is intended to investigate the impact of openness on allocation efficiency (Incremental Capital-Output Ratio (ICOR)) and productivity growth (TFP growth). Applying the Unrestricted Error Correction Model (UECM), it is found that openness has led to improvement in allocation efficiency, except for Indonesia. Openness has also contributed to technological upgrading for most of the countries in the study.