International Journal of Business and Development Studies
Volume:3 Issue: 1, Autumn 2011

The objective of this paper is to explore the effect of financial crisis on trade flows of steel industries in the major Asian-Pacific steel producing countries. Using a static and dynamic panel data analysis, we test the hypothesis that the global financial crisis has a negative effect on Asia-Pacific bilateral steel trade flows. We also examine the role of regional trade integration in bilateral steel trade in Asia and Pacific. The underlying assumption is that such integration contributes to increase trade relations and possibly adjust the imposed costs of financial crisis on the sector. To this end, we use cross-sectional data on steel trade flows of the selected Asian-Pacific countries over a specific period (2002-2006). The study is based on an extended gravitational model, in order to incorporate the main gravity variables and qualitative factors as well. The implication of this study can be towards implementation of an integrating block of steel industry by collaborating different countries in Asia and Pacific. This creates a larger regional steel trade market, and leading possibly to reduce the global or regional crisis.

One of the most important concepts in financial statement analysis and evaluation is conservatism. Thus recognition of the factors which influence conservatism can considerably help the investor in managing the selection of more conservative assets properly and avoiding the untrue exposure of financial statements. This research is about to consider the relation of effective factors on organizations’ conservatism that one of them is the portion of shares’ market value to shares’ book value. Data was collected from annual reports of listed companies on Tehran Stock Exchange during 2003-2009. The results of the study revealed that there was no significant relationship between earnings conservatism and price to book ratio.

This paper aims to investigate the effect of budget deficit shock on government spending in Indonesia. For this propose, this reasearch uses an alternative error correction model based on loss function of government spending. The model assumes the short run disequilibrium, in which shock variables may play an important role. A spesific loss function model is applied to develop the long run government hypothetical model. Using data of the period 1970-2010, the empirical model shows that real GDP, tax revenue and multi period shock of budget deficit are statistically significant in determining the government spending, both for operating and development spending. In other words, this finding also shows the significant impact of unanticipated of budget deficit on the government spending. It implies a weaknes of government finance management, in which government spending has not created new tax sources.

Resources’ scarcity, especially in developing countries, has caused allocation essentially among competing activities to create value. The importance of resource allocation would be more understood if we pay attention to growing complexity in societies and economic development problems they face. In the context of the national economic development literature, the notion of “Key or Critical Sectors” has become an accepted component of development strategy. By and large, key sector analysis is an attempt to determine the economic effect of a sector in a given economy. From macroeconomic point of view, Agriculture and Non Agricultural Manufacturing (NA-Manufacturing) as two parts of production sector, compete for absorbing limited resources. This paper with using 31 indices; factor analysis; numerical taxonomic analysis; and three level of assessment aims to answer the question of which one of these two is the key sector, and be a completion to previous studies which their common deficiency is the lack of indices. Results of this study for Iran economy show that Agriculture sector is preferred to NA-Manufacturing sector.

The increase of greenhouse gases (GHG) in which CO2 emissions constitute the principal component, is of major environmental problems of all societies. Economic growth impels intensive use of resources and as a result, more residues and wastes thrown in the nature that could lead to environmental degradation. This article tries to trace the eventual relationship between trade openness and environmental degradation in Iran. For this purpose, a multivarate model is employed in which economic growth and trade openness are related to CO2 emissions for the period of 1971-2006. By carring out the Granger causality test, there appeared a unidirectional relation from trade openness to CO2 emissions. To analyze the variables’ relationships, the approach of GMM is applied. Results indicate that economic growth has a significant negative effect on carbon dioxcide emissions. But, the impact of trade openness on carbon dioxcide emissions is significantly positive.

This study analyses the concept of cost functions for semi-automated Straddle Carrier (SC), Rubber Tyred Gantry (RTG) and automated Rail Mounted Gantry (RMG) container yard operating cranes. It develops a generic cost based model for a pair-wise comparison, analysis and evaluation of economic efficiency and effectiveness of container yard equipment to be used for decision-making by terminal planners and designers. The cost function analysis of this study incorporates major cost attributes used in modern container terminal operations and discussed in the literature. They play a determining role over the total cost of advanced operating systems in a container terminal. The cost model in this study enables the planner and designer of container terminals to make a pair-wise comparison of handling systems to help determine the most appropriate container yard operating system for a port, based on the required technological capabilities and functions. The sensitivity analysis proposed in this study compares and demonstrates the magnitude and intensity of the selected attributes which determine preference of one system over another. The analysis assists a terminal planner in decision-making and selecting a container yard operating system with a minimum operating cost and a maximum annual throughput.

This paper investigates the relationship between inflation and growth uncertainty in Iran for the period of 1988-2008 by using quarterly data. We employ Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity in Mean (GARCH-M) model to estimate time-varying conditional residual variance of growth, as a standard measures of growth uncertainty. The empirical evidence shows that growth uncertainty affects the level of inflation. This result is in line with Feizi Yengjeh (2010), supporting Deveraux (1989) hypothesis.