A panel data analysis of the military expenditure-external debt nexus : evidence from six middle eastern countries

While a number of studies examine the nexus between military expenditure and economic growth, little consideration has been give to the effect of military expenditure on external debt. This article examines the impact of military expenditure and income on external debt for a panel of six Middle Eastern countries - Oman, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Iran, and Jordan - over the period 1988 to 2002. The Middle East represents an interesting study of the effect of military expenditure on external debt because it has one of the highest rates of arms imports in the world and it is one of the most indebted regions in the world. The study first establishes whether there is a long-run relationship between military expenditure, income, and external debt in the six countries using a panel unit root and panel cointegration framework and then proceeds to estimate the long-run and short-run effects of military expenditure and income on external debt. The study finds that external debt is elastic with respect to military expenditure in the long run and inelastic with respect to military expenditure in the short run. For the panel of six Middle Eastern countries, in the long run a 1% increase in military expenditure results in between a 1.1 % and 1.6% increase in external debt, while a 1% increase in income reduces external debt by between 0.6% and 0.8%, depending on the specific estimator employed. In the short run, a 1% increase in military expenditure increases external debt by 0.2%, while the effect of income on external debt is statistically insignificant.

A panel data analysis of the determinants of oil consumption : the case of Australia

The goal of this paper is to examine the determinants of oil consumption for a panel consisting of six Australian States and one territory, namely Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern territory, for the period 1985–2006. We find that oil consumption, oil prices and income are panel cointegrated. We estimate long-run elasticities and find that oil prices have had a statistically insignificant impact on oil consumption, while income has had a statistically significant positive effect on oil consumption.

Tourism and economic growth: a panel data analysis for Pacific Island countries

The contribution of tourism to the economic growth of Pacific Island countries (PICs) has achieved significance in the past decade. The shift in the economic policies of the PICs from the late 1980s has been decisively away from import substitution and agriculture to urban-based manufacturing and services sectors. Tourism is the main component of the services sector in the PICs. The contribution of tourism to economic growth in Fiji, Tonga, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea is expected to grow. The authors use panel data for the four PICs to test the long-run relationship between real GDP and real tourism exports. They find support for panel cointegration and the results suggest that a 1% increase in tourism exports increases GDP by 0.72% in the long run and by 0.24% in the short run.

The productivity-wage and productivity-employment nexus : a panel data analysis of Indian manufacturing

This article investigates the long-run relationship between labour productivity and employment, and between labour productivity and real wages in the case of the Indian manufacturing sector. The panel data set consists of 17 two-digit manufacturing industries for the period 1973–1974 to 1999–2001. We find that productivity-wages and productivity-employment are panel cointegrated for all industries. We find that both employment and real wages exert a positive effect on labour productivity. We argue that flexible labour market has a significant influence on manufacturing productivity, employment and real wages in the case of Indian manufacturing.

Farmland prices, structural breaks and panel data

Previous time series evidence has indicated that farmland prices and cash rents are not cointegrated, a finding at odds with the present value model of farmland prices. We argue that this failure to find cointegration may be due to low power of tests and to the presence of structural change representing a shifting risk premium on farmland investments. To accommodate this possibility, we use panel unit root and cointegration methods that are more powerful than conventional time series methods and allow for breaks in the cointegration relationship. Our results, based on a large panel covering 31 US states between 1960 and 2000, suggest that the present value model of farmland prices cannot be rejected. © Oxford University Press and Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics 2007; all rights reserved.

Farm-level efficiency and productivity measurement using panel data: wool production in south-west Victoria

In this article we explore some issues surrounding the use of farm-level efficiency and productivity estimates for benchmarking studies. Using an eight-year balanced panel of Victorian wool producers we analyse annual variation between estimates of farm-level technical efficiency derived using Data Envelopment Analysis and Malmquist estimates of Total Factor Productivity. We find that farms change their relative rank in terms of efficiency across years. Also, unlike aggregate studies of Total Factor Productivity, we find at best erratic and modest growth, a worrying result for this industry. However, caution is needed when interpreting these results, and for that matter, benchmarking analysis as currently practised when using frontier estimation techniques like Data Envelopment Analysis.

Carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth : panel data evidence from developing countries

In this paper we test the Environment Kuznet's Curve (EKC) hypothesis for 43 developing countries. We suggest examining the EKC hypothesis based on the short- and long-run income elasticities; that is, if the long-run income elasticity is smaller than the short-run income elasticity then it is evident that a country has reduced carbon dioxide emissions as its income has increased. Our empirical analysis based on individual countries suggests that Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen, Qatar, the UAE, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, Algeria, Kenya, Nigeria, Congo, Ghana, and South Africa—approximately 35 per cent of the sample—carbon dioxide emissions have fallen over the long run; that is, as these economies have grown emissions have fallen since the long-run income elasticity is smaller than the short-run elasticity. We also examine the EKC hypothesis for panels of countries constructed on the basis of regional location using the panel cointegration and the panel long-run estimation techniques. We find that only for the Middle Eastern and South Asian panels, the income elasticity in the long run is smaller than the short run, implying that carbon dioxide emission has fallen with a rise in income.

Research of the construction industry efficiency in China-based on DEA panel data approach

The efficiency of the construction industry is analyzed based on provinces panel data in China in this paper. The Mean Number of Employee and the Mean Completed Investment are used as inputs. The Mean Actual Sales of Commercial Houses and the Mean Net Profit are used as outputs. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model is used to measure the efficiency of the construction industry. Shanghai and Zhejiang are found technically efficient. Shandong is scale efficient but technology efficiency is lower. There are two provinces are decreasing returns to scale and other provinces are increasing returns to scale. On the whole, the technology efficiency of the construction industry of China is lower. Based on the conclusions, the paper proposes some suggestions to improve the efficiency of the construction industry in China.

A non-stationary panel data investigation of the unemployment–crime relationship

Many empirical studies of the economics of crime focus solely on the determinants thereof, and do not consider the dynamic and cross-sectional properties of their data. As a response to this, the current paper offers an in-depth analysis of this issue using data covering 21 Swedish counties from 1975 to 2010. The results suggest that the crimes considered are non-stationary, and that this cannot be attributed to county-specific disparities alone, but that there are also a small number of common stochastic trends to which groups of counties tend to revert. In an attempt to explain these common stochastic trends, we look for a long-run cointegrated relationship between unemployment and crime. Overall, the results do not support cointegration, and suggest that previous findings of a significant unemployment–crime relationship might be spurious.

Output and labor productivity in organized manufacturing: a panel cointegration analysis for India

One of the policy puzzles faced in India during the last two and half decades has been the weak association between output and labor markets, particularly in the manufacturing sector. In this research, we investigate the long-run relationship between output, labor productivity and real wages in the case of organized manufacturing. We adjust the measure of labor productivity incorporating bottlenecks, such as lack of infrastructure, access to external finance, and labor regulations, which all may influence labor market outcomes. Using panel data from seventeen manufacturing industries, we establish long-run dynamics for the output-labor productivity-real wages series over a period of nearly three decades. We employ recently developed panel unit root and cointegration tests for cross-sectional dependence to incorporate heterogeneity across industries. Long-run elasticities are generally found to be low for labor productivity compared to real wages due to the changes in manufacturing output. There are variations across industries within the manufacturing sector for the effects of the labor market on manufacturing output. In some industries, lower wages are associated with higher output, and the reason for the positive relationship in other industries could be due to workers' bargaining power.

There are always two sides to a story: the use of social dramas as a mode of data analysis in information systems

With the continually evolving social nature of information systems research there is a need to identify different “modes of analysis” (Myers, 1997) to uncover our understanding of the complex, messy and often chaotic nature of human factors. One suggested mode of analysis is that of social dramas, a tool developed in the anthropological discipline by Victor Turner. The use of social dramas also utilises the work by Goffman (1959; 1997) and enables the researcher to investigate events from the front stage, reporting obvious issues in systems implementation, and from the back stage, identifying the hidden aspects of systems implementation and the underpinning discourses. A case study exploring the social dramas involved in systems selection and implementation has been provided to support the use of this methodological tool.

Generating best evidence from qualitative research: the role of data analysis

Objective: To outline the importance of the clarity of data analysis in the doing and reporting of interview-based qualitative research.

Approach: We explore the clear links between data analysis and evidence. We argue that transparency in the data analysis process is integral to determining the evidence that is generated. Data analysis must occur concurrently with data collection and comprises an ongoing process of 'testing the fit' between the data collected and analysis. We discuss four steps in the process of thematic data analysis: immersion, coding, categorising and generation of themes.

Conclusion: Rigorous and systematic analysis of qualitative data is integral to the production of high-quality research. Studies that give an explicit account of the data analysis process provide insights into how conclusions are reached while studies that explain themes anchored to data and theory produce the strongest evidence.

A panel cointegration analysis of the demand for oil in the Middle East

This article applies recently developed panel unit root and panel cointegration techniques to estimate the long-run income and price elasticities for oil in the Middle East. The results for the panel indicate that demand for oil is highly price inelastic and slightly income elastic in the Middle East. There is considerable variation in the results for the income variable across countries, with the coefficient on the income variable statistically insignificant for several countries. The coefficient on the price variable is statistically significant in all cases with the expected sign and the price elasticity is uniformly low. While the results for the income variable differ across countries, the results for the panel as a whole suggest that the demand for oil in the Middle East is being driven largely by strong economic growth, while consumers are largely insensitive to price changes.