Discover Research Papers in
Economics and Related Fields

Syazreen Niza Shair, Thomas Sachi Purcal · 2021

This research compares the quality of life of Malaysian elderlies living in public formal long-term care institutions, including residential care and nursing home care. It provides evidence of the cost-effectiveness of both programs. The sample of Malaysian elderlies aged 60 years and above was collected from the World Health Survey, including five dimensions of health status: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain and discomfort, and anxiety and depression. Each of the dimensions has three levels, including 1 (“no problems”), 2 (“some problems”) and 3 (“major problem”). The quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) of elderlies living in both institutions are estimated using a generic health-related measurement method, EQ-5D. In addition, cost-utility analysis is adopted to compare the effectiveness of programs in allocating resources. The QALY of those living in nursing home care is reasonably lower than those in residential care due to their worse chronic health conditions. The majority are categorised as severely disabled. The cost-effectiveness evaluation of each public long-term care model suggests that the residential care program is cost-effective, with the cost per QALY being MYR22 945. At the same time, a nursing home for disabled people is not effective as the cost per QALY is MYR57 822, falls outside the willingness to pay (WTP) range between (MYR 19,929–MYR 28,470).

Chia-Guan Keh, Yan-Teng Tan · 2021

The exponential spread of the coronavirus in Malaysia has caused a significant majority of the economic activities to cease, resulting in poor stock market performance. This pandemic situation has in turn prompted the government to introduce policies to restart and improve economic activity and stock market performance. Hence, does the government’s interference in attempting to control the outbreak of COVID-19 disease, play an important part in affecting the level of economic activity and stock market performance? To resolve this doubt, the impact of government policy responses to COVID-19 in the case of Malaysia was investigated. The sample period of the study was from 28 January 2020 till 29 May 2020, amounting to a total of 84 observations. The findings reveal that the responses taken by the government, such as staying at home requirements, closure of workplaces and debt or contract relief for households, significantly affected both economic activity and stock market performance in the country. Based on the results, these responses appear to have significant policy implications, particularly in displaying that debt or contract relief for households have negative impacts on the economic activities, but a positive impact on the stock market.

Hong Kay Tze, Ng Siew Imm, Ho Jo Ann, Tan Houng Chien, Lim Chui Seong · 2021

It is commonly accepted that positive corporate social responsibility (CSR) image brings desirable outcomes, for instance, brand loyalty, improved brand image, enhanced store image, as well as increased visit intention; suggesting there are various direct outcomes of CSR image. Underpinned by the Persuasion Knowledge Model (PKM), this paper proposes that these outcomes are presented in a sequential manner, where there is a core mechanism that relates CSR image to store image and brand awareness, and in turn associate with consumers’ visit intention. A quantitative research methodology has been used where a structured questionnaire was distributed to consumers in selected states in Malaysia using the mall intercept method. Structural equation modelling was applied to examine the proposed model. The discoveries of the current study offer the observed evidence for the correlation between perceived CSR image and hypermarket visit intention, mediated by overall store image and brand awareness. The study emphasises a prominent role of CSR schemes, bringing together the overall hypermarket store image and the hypermarket brand awareness, which will enable hypermarket management to further boost visit intention from consumers

Muhamad Rias K V Zainuddin, Md Shafiin Shukor, Muhamad Solehuddin Zulkifli, Amirul Hamza Abdullah · 2021

The recent pandemic outbreak has distorted international trade flows as the global economic activity reaches a nearstandstill due to stricter movement control imposed by most countries worldwide. Despite gaining the researcher’s attention, the impact of Covid-19 on trade performances are still relatively understudied. Hence, this study aims to analyse the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak on the bilateral sectoral export for Malaysia. This study employs Poisson Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) regressions to analyse the sectoral impact in gravity models. The findings provide new perspectives on the varying impacts of the current pandemic outbreak on sectoral trade performances. The dummy variables that represent the existence of Covid-19 have significantly reduced bilateral exports for 11 sectors while increased the exports for seven sectors. Meanwhile, the severity of the Covid-19 outbreak (measured by the number of new cases and death cases) in Malaysia has negative impacts on 14 sectors. The reason for this is that when the current pandemic outbreak in Malaysia is more severe, the government has to enforce stricter movement controls that affect productions and reduce exports. On the other hand, the severity of the Covid-19 outbreak in trading partners has positive impacts on the export for 13 sectors in Malaysia. This is because the more severe pandemic outbreak in trading nations causes lower production capacities and thus higher dependence on imported goods. Differences between the impact of Covid-19 existence and severity by sectors should serve as a red flag for Malaysia’s policymakers to take immediate actions to minimise the impact of the ongoing pandemic outbreak and maximise gains from sectors that have higher demand post Covid-19. The net negative impact on the export performance further reiterates the need for government intervention policies to ensure domestic firms can withstand the current tide, which then minimises the social and economic impacts and helps the economy to recover.

Lian Kee Phua, Char-Lee Lok, Yong Xia Chua, Tan-Chin Lim · 2021

In the face of crises such as Covid-19, businesses become devastated by greater risk exposure, particularly in currency exchange, supply chain disruption, and fluctuation in commodity prices that cause volatile earnings trends. Higher earnings volatility is frequently associated with greater risk. Consequently, firms could be inspired to engage in earnings management or derivative use as attempts to mitigate earnings volatility. Using a sample of 169 of the largest non-financial firms with 507 firm-years observations from an emerging market, the researchers examined the relationship among derivative use, earnings volatility, and earnings management. The results of a panel regression analysis showed that derivative use by Malaysian public listed companies was positively connected with earnings volatility, inferring that the use of derivatives did not mitigate earnings volatility as intended. This study also found that both earnings volatility and derivative use have a positive relationship with earnings management. This implies that firms engage in earnings management to curb earnings volatility under circumstances where derivative use is associated with higher earnings volatility. Evidence derived from this study contributes to extant literature on financial risk management involving financial instruments, an area that is very much understudied in the contexts of emerging markets.

Kelvin Lee Yong Ming, Mohamad Jais · 2021

The COVID-19 outbreak significantly impacted the Malaysian stock market. To some extent, the Movement Control Order (MCO) implemented in the country affected the financial performance of listed companies. In consequence investors were quite uncertain of future movements of the stock market. Effective analysis techniques are thus required to study the market movements. Investors shall rely on signals emitted by technical indicators for their investment decisions making. The aim of this study is to examine the performance of the MA rules in Malaysian stock market during the different stages of the MCO. The sample used comprised 30 largest market capitalization stocks listed in the stock market. The period of study spanned 2 January 2020 to 30 August 2020. More than 50% of the buy signals emitted by (5,60,0.01) were found linked with positive returns in the next trading day during the MCO and CMCO subperiod respectively. Conversely, 41.28% and 34.78% of the sell signals emitted by (5,50,0.01) during the respective MCO and CMCO sub-period were linked with negative returns. Among all the MA rules, (5,60,0.01) generated the highest average return of 0.88% during the MCO and CMCO sub-period. Importantly, MA rules, (5,60,0.01) also generated positive returns during the out-of-sample period. The findings of this study shall contribute to the existing literature related to technical analysis. Besides that, the findings will benefit investors the most, inducing them to generate returns or avoid losses during the critical COVID-19 pandemic period. Investors are recommended to take the signals emitted by MA rules as alternative reference for their investments. Lastly, the relevant organizations should conduct more seminars to inform and enhance analytical skill of their clients, particularly retail investors.