Journal Article

Lee (2020) provides a fairly crispy analysis of economic reforms underway in Malaysia subsequent to the dramatic regime change through the ballot box on May 9, 2018. As is often said, there is more to it than meets the eye. Economic reforms have long been overdue in Malaysia. There were no reforms even in the aftermath of the 1997-1998 Asian Financial Crisis. While many affected countries in the region, including South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia, undertook serious reforms with International Monetary Fund (IMF) guidance in the wake of currency meltdown and political upheaval, Malaysia remained in a denial mode, blaming currency speculators. Malaysia was able to desist IMF intervention, as its short-term external debt was small enough to be managed on its own, with no political fallout.

Asia's role and responsibilities in international and regional cooperation, depicted by Drysdale and Armstrong (2010), can be understood best in the context of the postcrisis trans-Pacific rebalancing. Asia has been in the thick of the global economic crisis, given its extensive financial and trade exposure to the West. Asia is an integral part of not only the problem but also the solution, for it can play a pivotal role in the postcrisis rebalancing exercise, just as it had contributed to the global imbalances in the first place.

The term "Modinomics" embodies the essence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic policies. Jha (2018) explains how Modinomics is reshaping the Indian economy through a slew of economic reforms and a series of bold measures aimed at "participatory development." All this sounds like music to the ears. Jha (2018) paints an overtly rosy picture of the Indian economy under Modi's leadership and administration. The narration is quite informative and fairly persuasive. However, it reads more like an official document than a scholarly piece, which gives the impression that it is not unbiased.

The USA under Trump has departed from its long-cherished tradition of being a leading proponent of liberal trade policies to a new norm that seeks comfort in protection-ism. Noland (2020) provides a deep insight into the political economy that explains the sudden reversal of US trade policies since 2016. In addition to furnishing an excel-lent literature survey which sheds considerable light on the issues at hand, Noland delves into an econometric analysis of the voter preferences, in which the explanatory variables are economic, demographic and cultural factors, with interaction terms.

Noland (2018) has done a remarkable service, not only putting the subject matter in perspective, but also pin-pointing some of the risks and pitfalls, and what these mean for the USA and the rest of the world, notably Asia. For starters, the US policy changes will affect all its trading partners, even if these are purely domestic, given the size of the US economy and its extensive connectivity, what more if it involves trade policy. For one thing, it is most unfortunate that the policy changes are premised on flimsy grounds, and for another, it is also questionable that such policy responses represent solutions.

The Kim and Lee (2015) paper on the innovation experiences of East Asia and Latin America represents a refreshing attempt at relating the economic impact of science and technology (S&T) in the two regions to the S&T policies pursued, using econometric techniques. The authors show that East Asia has been more successful than Latin America in the application of S&T knowledge to grow economically. They conclude that the differences in the contributions of S&T to economic growth in the two regions are largely due to the adoption of what appears to be diametrically opposite policy approaches toward S&T. While the S&T policy impact could help explain the differences in the pace of economic growth in East Asia and Latin America, there is no suggestion that it is all entirely due to S&T policies per se. There is also a need to explain why there is such a contrasting S&T policy in the first place. In the literature, there are references to “East Asian values” as a driver of growth in East Asia, which may not correspond to “Latin American values” or the Spanish/Portuguese cultural influences that prevail in Latin America, although there is no hard evidence to support these assertions.

Sato et al. (2013) represents a significant contribution to the literature. The novelty of their paper lies in the construction of a new dataset on industry-specific real effective exchange rates (REER) on a monthly basis from January 2005 to the present. The authors have convincingly demonstrated that REER differs not only between countries, but also across industries, a finding that would have slipped through the net of aggregate data analysis. The authors have used the industry-wise producer price index (PPI), instead of consumer price index (CPI), not only because the latter includes nontradables, but also because the former tends to vary across industries, reflecting interindustry differences in costs arising from differences in their exposure to exchange rate changes. In this context, industries with large import content are more sensitive to exchange rate changes than those with a large domestic content. It, thus, makes considerable sense to use the industry breakdown PPI data. However, exchange rate changes, in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms, can only be explained by the inflation differential. According to PPP, a currency with a relatively lower inflation rate would appreciate vis-à-vis currency with a higher inflation rate. Seen in these terms, one might still argue that CPI is more relevant for explaining exchange rate appreciations and depreciations, be they in nominal or real terms.

Korea’s growth track record is truly extraordinary by any measure. It is not easy to explore Korea’s astounding development trajectory amidst the many obstacles that stood in its way or to gaze into the crystal ball for a glimpse of its future, given the numerous challenges and uncertainties that stare in its face. Noland (2012) has skilfully carried out this task. His excellent analysis bears testimony to his deep understanding of Korea’s history, psyche, and growth strategy.

The Barfield paper (2009) is fascinating as it provides deep insights into the political processes that shape the US position on matters relating to trade policies.What makes it all the more interesting is the current context, now that the USA has a new president with high expectations staked on and that the USA and its trading partners are stuck in a serious recession. The paper confirms free traders’ worst fears that the USA will likely turn up the heat on its trading partners, with the Democratic Party at the helm and the domestic economy in the doldrums. The Democrats, who control both the presidency and Congress known to be tough on trade policies, are likely to succumb more readily to domestic protectionist pressures, which tend to rise during economic slumps.

It is not easy to write a scholarly paper on Myanmar economy given the scarcity of reliable statistics. The paper by Fumiharu Mieno (2013) represents a commendable effort to shed some light on the dark chapters of the traumatized Myanmar economy. The problems of Myanmar are primarily homegrown. The military regime overthrew the civilian government in 1962, drove out the foreigners, and went into self-imposed isolation. It is pertinent to underscore that Burma (now Myanmar) was a thriving economy in the 1950s, and Rangoon was the commercial capital of Southeast Asia, way ahead of Bangkok, Saigon, and Singapore. Myanmar has huge potentials that remain untapped. Again, Myanmar has only itself to blame. By a historical accident, the open economy of Burma was transformed abruptly into a closed economy with disastrous consequences.

This paper examines the determinants of bank margins' in the Yemeni banking sector for Islamic and conventional banks. The first objective is to investigate whether there is a significant difference between the margins of conventional and Islamic banks. The second objective is to examine whether efficiency represents an influential factor in determining bank margins for Islamic and conventional banks controlling for other micro and macro variables. The study finds that the overall bank margin in Yemen has steadily decreased during the observation period with the exception of the year 2011. The parametric and non parametric results show that the bank margins are significantly higher for conventional banks than for Islamic banks. The results provide evidence that bank margins are related to neither types of efficiency, but are affected by capitalisation, size, the opportunity cost of the reserve, and liquidity, although the impact is shaped differently for Islamic and conventional banks.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the banking industry’s efficiency using the case of Yemen. The paper utilises two-stage analysis to evaluate the efficiency adopting Data Envelopment Window Analysis (DEWA) in the first stage for the period 1996-2011. Furthermore, the paper addresses, in two-dimensional matrix, the stability and efficiency of the banking sector in order to assess their ability for survival. In the second stage, panel data analysis is applied to regress a set of bank-specific and macro-economic variables on the efficiency of the banking sector in Yemen in a comparative fashion between Islamic and conventional banks. The findings of the investigation indicate that the Yemeni banking industry in general was on a declining efficiency’s trend with increased instability during the later period of the investigation. In addition, the study shows that most conventional banks were relatively stable, though inefficient, while Islamic banks were more efficient over the time. The results of panel data regression further suggest that efficiency is related to a number of determinants. Loan/financing, and profitability are the common key determinants of efficiency for both Islamic and conventional banks. However, other determinants have impacted differently for Islamic and conventional banks, which could reflect the uniqueness of their operation and structure. The present study provides a basis for the regulators and bankers to assess the viability of the banking sector and proposes policies to restructure the industry in order to enhance the performance of the whole industry. The paper presents new empirical findings on the efficiency of Islamic and conventional banks in Yemen.

Malaysia practices a dual banking system, where conventional banks coexist with Islamic banks. While conventional banks are well established, Islamic banks are growing rapidly. Since Islamic banks consist of two types, namely stand-alone or wholesome Islamic banks and Islamic subsidiaries of conventional banks, it would be revealing to examine if Islamic subsidiaries of conventional banks differ from standalone Islamic banks in terms of efficiency, stability and assets quality. A few studies in the literature that examine the issue have focused on comparisons between Islamic banks and conventional banks, with no consideration given to the differentiation between the two categories of Islamic banks. In this paper, we attempt to examine the differences among the players in the banking sector in Malaysia. This paper extends the traditional analysis of conventional versus Islamic banks to comparisons between stand-alone Islamic banks and Islamic subsidiaries of conventional banks. Using dynamic panel data "generalized methods of moments" (GMM), the study reports that there are differences among different types of banks, viz. conventional banks, Islamic subsidiaries of conventional parents, and stand-alone Islamic banks. It shows that Islamic subsidiaries of conventional banks perform better than stand-alone Islamic banks as well as their own conventional parents. Furthermore, the results show that Islamic subsidiaries are more stable in term of their financing income compared to the rest of the banks, while the stand-alone banks have lower asset quality in comparison with both Islamic subsidiaries and their parents.

The banking industry in Malaysia is dominated by conventional banks, with Islamic banks accounting for roughly one-fifth. In addition, the Islamic banking sector is overwhelmingly in the hands of conventional banks, thanks to their Islamic subsidiaries which outnumber the "wholesome" Islamic banks whose market share of the Islamic banking business is on the decline. In this equation, the Islamic subsidiaries of conventional banks have an upper hand, as they can ride on the coattails of their parents which gives them a competitive edge - while the stand-alone domestic Islamic banks and foreign-owned full-fledged Islamic banks have to fend for themselves. The Islamic subsidiaries of conventional parents are in the driver's seat actively leading the industry, while the wholesome Islamic banks have apparently taken the backseat, which may not augur well for the future of Islamic banking that is currently stuck in the initial stage of product differentiation. It is likely that the Islamic subsidiaries of conventional banks will continue to "Islamise" their conventional products, with wholesome Islamic banks passively following suit, rendering the transition from Shari'ah-compliant products to Shari'ah-based products somewhat elusive.

Islamic banking is visibly on the rise across the globe, supported by a growing clientele, both Muslim and non-Muslim, although it has yet to demonstrate that it is a viable alternative to conventional banking. Islamic banking is still under the shadow of conventional banking, not only with products that are strikingly similar to those offered by conventional banks, but also with conventional banks having a strong presence as stakeholders in the Islamic banking industry. Islamic banking is still in the early phase of a presumably long evolutionary process, apparently stuck in the initial phase of product differentiation. Islamic banks are competing with conventional banks rather than among themselves, which does not augur well for innovations and creativity, as it tends to keep them preoccupied with modifications of conventional products with Shari'ah compliance. Islamic banks have arrived at a new crossroads. They could either continue on the same path of what may be termed as ‘head-on competition’ with conventional banks or change their direction in favour of a ‘niche market’ strategy.