Urban, Rural and Regional Economics

Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling ·Institutions and Economies ·2019 ·JEL: P48; D23; D02; D62; H4; K11

Within a housing estate, neighbourhood public open spaces (NPOS) are typically governed and managed under the state property regime. However, issues of NPOS overexploitation, mismanagement, and underinvestment persist, which consequently compromise community neighbourhood sustainability. Underpinned by Lin Ostrom’s self-organising-and-governing collective action as a third alternative to addressing theneighbourhoodcommonsissues, this paper examines the applicability and feasibility of the modified Ostromeight design principles (DPs) to the institutional-social-physical system of local public open spaces (POS) andshowcaseshowthecurrentlocalstate-owned common-pool-resource (CPR) can potentially be shifted to a polycentric common property club good NPOS. The residential Country Lease (CL) NPOS and Native Title (NT) NPOS of two districts, namely Kota Kinabalu and Penampang in Sabah, Malaysia, were chosen. The local institutional-social-NPOS performanceis validated and assessed, using a systematic coding system that expresses the extent of absence and presence of DPs. The modified DPs are valid in curbing the existing local NPOS dilemmas as the former may minimise the enforcement costsand perverse incentives (opportunism) of the social-NPOS system, and they are likely to be feasibly adapted into the local NPOS system since the spatial and institutional attributes of some NPOS (especially CL NPOS) highly resemble and adhere to the modified DPs.Thisstudy provides awareness and insights to policymakers that the integrated, adaptive self-governing and organising collective action system is a potential solution, creating a liveable, resilient and sustainable community neighbourhood

Ahmad Fahme Mohd Ali · Naziatul Aziah Mohd Radzi · Ruzanifah Kosnin · Suchi Hassan · Siti Salina Saidin ·Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia ·2021 ·JEL: B10, D15, D31, E21

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the consumption function among households in Kelantan Malaysia based on the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH). This study used secondary data obtained from annual reports, as well as from published and non-published data between 2000 and 2016. The ARDL bound testing approach to deal with cointegration was applied to estimate the long run correlation between the variables. Meanwhile, the error correction method (ECM) was used to determine any short run correlation. This study found a large disparity between the elasticity to consume from current income and the elasticity to consume from permanent income among households in Kelantan. Therefore, it can be concluded that in the case of Kelantan, the PIH is valid.

Tamat Sarmidi · Nurul Aishah Khairuddin · Muhamad Rias K V Zainuddin ·Malaysian Journal of Economic Studies ·2021 ·JEL: D67, L93, R41

In 2019, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) from tier one to tier two. Existing research has revealed that downgrading air safety ratings has a detrimental effect on the aviation sector. Although extensive research has been carried out on air safety downgrading, limited studies have delved into the backward and forward linkages and inter-industries framework. By employing a difference-in-differences (DID) panel data econometric and input-output (I-O) analysis to a modified sectoral aggregation of Malaysia’s I-O Table 2015, this study is able to simulate the impact of air safety downgrading. The findings show that, apart from being a “key” industry, air safety downgrades could result in a RM722.5 million loss to Malaysia’s GDP. A more in-depth inspection of the results indicates that the reduction in GDP mainly results from the air transport industry (RM252.0 million), other transportation services (RM107.0 million), and wholesale and retail trade (RM66.2 million). The findings complement earlier related studies that air safety rating downgrades could be a severe threat to sustainable economic growth.

Sotheeswari Somasundram · Murali Sambasivan · Ratneswary Rasiah · Tee Pei-Leng ·Institutions and Economies ·2018 ·JEL: 053; R11; C43; J130; 018

The urban community in Malaysia is facing rapid urbanisation and have been the beneficiary of urban development policies. The key purpose of these policies has been to enhance and improve the well-being of the urban community. However, given the diverse nature of urban planning, literature has highlighted the possibility of a mismatch between policy directions and the outcomes desired by society. The aim of this study is therefore, to determine whether urban policy measures currently implemented in Malaysia are in sync with the needs of society. This study applied the relative importance index (RII) method tounderstand the challenges faced by urban residents in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malacca and Penang. The results revealed five challenges which are of concern to the urban community: prevalence of crime, rising cost of living, lack of employment opportunities, air pollutionandtraffic congestion. The findings indicate Government policies are addressing these concerns. However, for a more effective outcome, the study recommends designing urban policies in consultation with civil society.

Ahmad Fakrul Ramli · Zarina Ab Muis · Wai Shin Ho · Ahmad Muzammil Idris · Aminullah Mohtar ·Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy ·2019

The energy sector has grown significantly over the years, causing an increase in carbon emission that has led to serious global warming problems. Consequently, electric vehicles (EVs) have become a favourable solution in the transportation sector due to their green technology attributes. This paper aims to apply the Carbon Emission Pinch Analysis (CEPA) method to the transportation sector in Iskandar Malaysia. The modified CEPA method is applied by constructing a composite curve for transportation modes and the total carbon emission was plotted in order to study the minimum electricity requirement that needs to be generated to implement the use of EVs. Road and rail transportation were considered in the transport composite curve based on the current policies available and to achieve the new carbon emission target by the year 2025. The alternatives available to reduce carbon emission in Iskandar Malaysia include increasing public transport modal share; fuel switching from petrol and diesel to natural gas and biofuels; and increasing transport efficiency via plug-in hybrid and EVs. Four scenarios were established and evaluated based on economic and environmental aspects. As a result, Scenario 4 which considered all policies available (transport management, fuel switching and fuel efficiency) have showed the most promising fuel mix for future transportation demands. An estimated total amount of 0.25 TJ of electricity is needed for EV implementation with a total estimated cost of RM 1.3 billion. The total carbon emission for this scenario is 1101.96 kt-CO2. This research can benefit the Government, town planners, or policy makers, for preliminary energy planning.

Gabriel Hoh Teck Ling · Pau Chung Leng and Chin Siong Ho ·Economies ·2019 ·JEL: D01; D02; D23; D62; K11; O21; P25; Q24; Q26

There are severe issues of public open space (POS) underinvestment and overexploitation. However, few studies have been conducted on the property rights structure and its impacts on rural commons governance, specifically concerning local neighbourhood residential POS quality and sustainability. The social-ecological system framework and the new institutional economics theory were employed to examine the local diverse property rights system and its e_x000B_ects on the emergence of POS dilemmas. Rural commons covering neighbourhood residential Country Lease (CL) and Native Title (NT) POS from the districts of Kota Kinabalu and Penampang, Sabah Malaysia were selected. A mixed-method phenomenological case study, involving multi-stakeholders’ perspectives across public-private-user sectors, was employed. This study revealed four main interconnected property rights issues, including attenuated rights, incomplete rights, maladaptive rights, and security-based de facto perceptive rights, under the complex state-private regime, which incentivise the opportunistic behaviour of individuals in externalising POS commons dilemmas. The findings further inferred that the local diverse property rights issues and POS dilemmas caused, and are associated with, other rights issues and dilemmas, forming a rights-dilemmas nexus. Not only do the institutional failures actuate POS dilemmas, but the former also engender other forms of property rights failures, while the latter cause other POS dilemmas. This paper suggests policy and management insights to public o_x000E_cials, in which the importance of the institutional-social-POS behavioural factor and the re-engineering of POS governance via adaptive property rights realignment are emphasised.

Johannes Machiel Dreyer · Noor Azlin Yahya · Nik Azyyati Abd Kadir ·Environment, Development and Sustainability ·2019

The campus of the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) is forest plantation research site established since 1926. Urbanization and other development affecting Kuala Lumpur led to FRIM being one of the few remaining green open spaces near the capital city area. To share the benefits of the green space, FRIM opened its grounds to visitors, and it is now a popular site for educational and recreational use by the urbanized population. However, visitor’s opinion may vary about the utilization of FRIM’s facilities as FRIM’s ground is also used for other activities. A study was done to determine what the perceptions of visitors’ were regarding FRIM’s suitability as a natural open space with its associated benefits such as health, quality of life and environmental sustainability and whether it offers a suitable site for environmental learning. From a qualitative study conducted at three sites within FRIM, it was found that FRIM provides in the needs of the surrounding urban population as a natural open space for escape from the city and a very suitable site for environmental learning. Some participants actually expressed a need to introduce further opportunities for environmental learning.

NurulHuda Mohd Satar · Md. Khaled Saifullah · Muhammad Mehedi Masud · Fatimah Binti Kari ·International Journal of Social Economics ·2021

In light of the rapid evolution of information and communication technology (ICT), every society is faced with many issues such as social exclusion, inequality and the digital divide. Hence, there is need to solve these complex challenges without comprising any development objective. A practical solution in this regard includes establishment of a sustainable model of community development. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the role of education in promoting the awareness on the use of ICT-based infrastructure among the general public to enhance their socioeconomic status. In addition, this study sets out to establish the nexus between socioeconomic status, ICT programme as well as the awareness of Kemaman Smart Community (KSC) development project.