Examining the asymmetric behaviour of macroeconomic aggregates in Asian economies

The goal of this paper is to test for asymmetric behaviour of macroeconomic aggregates for three Asian economies; namely, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Korea. Whether macroeconomic aggregates can be characterised as asymmetric has important implications for policy-making and econometric modelling including forecasting. We examine two forms of asymmetries; specifically deepness, which arises when a detrended time series contains an asymmetric distribution, and steepness, which arises when the first difference of a series contains an asymmetric distribution. Overall, our findings suggest that for all three countries, the bulk of the series display asymmetry behaviour.

On the relationship between technology transfer and economic growth in Asian economies

In this paper, FDI and licensing are incorporated using a model where increasing the international transmission of technology adds to efficient production in the receiving country and results in higher welfare. The model is then tested with data from a selection of 11 Asian economies and a strong positive relationship is found between FDI, licensing and economic growth. The policy recommendations from both our theoretical model and empirical results are that Asian economies should improve their production efficiency to host international technologies to maximise the benefits of international technology transfers.

Oil price uncertainty and sovereign risk: evidence from Asian economies

In this paper, we test whether oil price uncertainty predicts credit default swap (CDS) returns for eight Asian countries. We use the Westerlund and Narayan, 2011 and Westerlund and Narayan, 2012 predictability test that accounts for any persistence in and endogeneity of the predictor variable. The estimator also accounts for any heteroskedasticity in the regression model. In-sample evidence reveals that oil price uncertainty predicts CDS returns for three Asian countries, whereas out-of-sample evidence suggests that oil price uncertainty predicts CDS returns for six countries.

Cross-border travellers and parallel trade: implications for Asian economies

This paper explores the impact of parallel trade in an export market by cross-border travellers on welfare of the home country in a model with heterogeneous consumers' perceptions. We show that such parallel trade when it is organised trading always hurts the home-country welfare. However, when parallel trade is unorganised trading, it might benefit the home-country welfare provided that the size of the export market is relatively small. Along these lines, we suggest optimal policy responses in the home country to parallel trade by cross-border travellers. The results of the paper yield insightful policy implications for Asian economies.

Estimating the equity risk premium for economies in the Asian region

The Equity Risk Premium (ERP) is widely used in economic and financial analysis, yet it is difficult to find empirical estimates of the ERP that are generally accepted. The paucity of data in Asian economies exacerbates the problems of estimation. This study estimates the ERP for the larger market-orientated Asian economies and compares the estimates with those of the United States. Surprisingly, of the seven economies examined, the ERP of four cannot be statistically differentiated from that of the United States.

TESOL professional standards in the "Asian century": dilemmas facing Australian TESOL teacher education

Australian teacher education programmes that prepare teachers of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) are confronting the nexus of two facets of globalization: transformations in the Asian region, captured in the notion of the "Asian century", and shifting conceptions of professionalism in TESOL in non-compulsory education. In booming Asian economies, English language learning is integral to the demand for high-quality education. This has produced increases in TESOL Teacher Education Programme (TTEP) enrolments of both domestic Australian students and international students from Asia. Growth in demand for TTEPs has necessitated that they cater to student diversity, and the intended contexts of practice. This demand has coincided with a concurrent movement towards professional standards for TESOL that, we argue, confronts complexities around quality, accountability, and professional identity and achieving conceptual and contextual coherence. Drawing on discourses of managerialism and performativity, this paper explores tensions between increased student demands for TTEPs, professional standards discourses which are part of the global policy discourses on teacher quality, and the achievement of programmatic conceptual and contextual coherence from the perspective of Australian TTEPs.

Does oil price volatility matter for Asian emerging economies?

This article investigates the impact of oil price volatility on six major emerging economies in Asia using time-series cross-section and time-series econometric techniques. To assess the robustness of the findings, we further implement such heterogeneous panel data estimation methods as Mean Group (MG), Common Correlated Effects Mean Group (CCEMG) and Augmented Mean Group (AMG) estimators to allow for cross-sectional dependence. The empirical results reveal that oil price volatility has a detrimental effect on these emerging economies. In the short run, oil price volatility influenced output growth in China and affected both GDP growth and inflation in India. In the Philippines, oil price volatility impacted on inflation, but in Indonesia, it impacted on both GDP growth and inflation before and after the Asian financial crisis. In Malaysia, oil price volatility impacted on GDP growth, although there is notably little feedback from the opposite side. For Thailand, oil price volatility influenced output growth prior to the Asian financial crisis, but the impact disappeared after the crisis. It appears that oil subsidization by the Thai Government via introduction of the oil fund played a significant role in improving the economic performance by lessening the adverse effects of oil price volatility on macroeconomic indicators.

Future Asian space : introduction

At the turn of this century, the rise of urban development had become a global phenomenon. Rapid urbanization had been at its most dramatic since the Industrial Revolution. With the emergence of global economies, innovative technologies, communication, global migration, rise of population, etc., as well as growing awareness of climate and environmental issues, our world is once again challenged to rethink its future with great urgency. All aspects of our lives are unpredictably becoming altered at an incredible pace and complexity that, indeed, one may argue that "nothing about cities in the 21st century is insignificant. These numerous and unpredictable changes affect everyone, both in the developed and developing regions of the world. In fact, as David N. Buck argues, the speed of change is so rapid that old definitions of developed and developing worlds do not seem to be relevant anymore.

Asia literate schooling in the Asian century

Globalization, migration, transnational movements and the development of the tiger economies of Asia have led education leaders and policy makers around the world but particularly in Australia, the USA, Canada, and New Zealand to view schools as key sites for developing ‘globally competent’, ‘Asia literate’ citizens who have the capabilities to live, work and interact with the peoples, cultures and societies of Asia. In what has been dubbed the ‘Asian Century’, nations are increasingly seeking to transform their schooling policies, curricula, and teaching workforces to engage with the growing influence of the peoples, cultures and societies both within and beyond Asia. This is the first book to subject to critical scrutiny and analysis the concepts, policies and practices of schooling involved in building intercultural relations with the diverse contemporary manifestations of ‘Asia’. It brings into dialogue scholars who are at the forefront of current thinking, policy and practice on Asia-related schooling, and contributes to a broader, international debate about the future shape of intercultural schooling in a global world. Asia Literate Schooling in the Asian Century offers chapters on:• Learning Asia: In search of a new narrative • Asia Literacy as Experiential Learning • Professional Standards and Ethics in Teaching Asia Literacy• The Feasibility of Implementing Cross-Curricular Studies of Asia • Deparochialising Education and the Asian Priority: A Curriculum (Re)ImaginationThis book will appeal to scholars and practitioners in Education, and is suitable as a reference for teacher education courses. It will also interest scholars specialising in Asian Studies.

Energy consumption and income in six Asian developing countries: a multivariate cointegration analysis

 This article examines the short- and long-run causal relationship between energy consumption and GDP of six emerging economies of Asia. Based on cointegration and vector error correction modeling the empirical results show that there exists unidirectional short- and long-run causality running from energy consumption to GDP for China, uni-directional short-run causality from output to energy consumption for India, whilst bi-directional short-run causality for Thailand. Neutrality between energy consumption and income is found for Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines. Both the generalized variance decompositions and impulse response functions confirm the direction of causality. These findings have important policy implications for the countries concerned. The results suggest that while India may directly initiate energy conservation measures, China and Thailand may opt for a balanced combination of alternative polices.