AIUB Journal of Business and Economics

Impact of Monthly Repayment System on the Household Income and Food Expenditure of the Rural Women Borrowers: Evidence from Bangladesh

2022-10-17T08:54:59+00:00

The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of the Monthly Repayment System (MRS) on the living standard of the poor women borrowers in terms of household income and food expenditure. Primary data were collected from the women borrowers of NGOs under the Mymensingh district of Bangladesh using the Simple Random Sampling (SRS) technique. In this study, the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method was used to assess the impact of MRS on the household income and food expenditure of the women borrowers. This study demonstrated that MRS played a significant role in improving the women borrowers' household income and food expenditure. ‘Five-Point Likert Scale’ was also used to assess the borrowers’ opinions on whether they were economically better off under the MRS or not. The majority of the borrowers had opinions that they preferred MRS for their economic betterment. This study suggests that MRS should be practiced among the women borrowers who received loans for pursuing agricultural activities.

The Effects of Equity Market Liberalization on Economic Growth: Evidence from Bangladesh

2022-04-29T09:04:26+00:00

This paper focuses on making an investigation into how liberalization of the equity market of Bangladesh affected its economic performance. A large body of scholarly literature have speculated that equity market liberalization, that is to say, the opening up of the equity market to foreign investors, is likely to be beneficial for the economy because international integration of equity markets leads to a higher ability to hedge portfolio risks, thus, encouraging higher investment and, in turn, leading to increases in economic growth. The inflow of foreign capital is also conjectured to lead to a decrease in cost of capital resulting in further encouragement of domestic investment. Empirical analysis done in this paper yielded results that proved that following liberalization of Bangladesh’s equity market, there was a statistically significant structural break in the market capitalization of Dhaka Stock Exchange, signifying that the resulting inflow of new investment had positive growth effects on the market size and value. Additionally, the paper also tried to isolate the effect of liberalization on per Capita GDP growth and concluded that, on average, liberalization leads to a 1.2% rise in per Capita growth rate which is in line with results put forth by other researchers in this topic.

Image of Bangladesh through the Imageries of Bangladeshi Currency

2022-10-26T07:56:02+00:00

Purpose of the Research: This research tried to explore the trend of the images printed on Bangladeshi ‘Taka’ and tried to open up the probable reason behind selecting the significant images by identifying the chronological change of circulated images in Taka.

Methodology: In this research, analysis of transition of images on Taka in different time periods after independence (1971) in respect of the political and economic state of Bangladesh has been portrayed. Chronological developments of Taka and the comparisons with international currency images have been done to reveal the ‘image of Bangladesh’. To perform these, several instruments are applied like field survey, observation and literature review. Only paper notes have been considered for the research.

Core findings: There will hardly be a country in the world that does not have its own currency. Images on that currency definitely are the most applied advertisement for that country which we may overlook mostly. This paper addressed that our Taka not only represent our living heritage where we can discover agrarian society, uniqueness of landscape, architecture, national emblems, national heroes, but also reveal our culture, religion, economy and development with nationalist ideology.

Research Implications: Each country has its own unique currency. Inevitably we all have to use currency on a daily basis and willingly or not willingly have to glance at the note and the images on it. These images of the currency of each country represent their own history, identity, culture over time. Bangladesh is also not behind in this learning. These illustrations create an image on the user’s mind where they find the agrarian, riverine Bangladesh through the imageries of Bangladeshi currency. This analytical paper may reveal a new source to understand Bangladeshi culture and nationalistic sprit and can become a resource for the anthropologist and historian.

Limitation and future directions: It is a critical and theoretical analysis on an intriguing topic which we usually overlook mostly. Firsthand interviews with the decision makers, who are authorized to select the images on Taka could make the research deeper.

Keywords: Money, Taka, Image, Currency, Note, Culture.

Paper type: Research paper

An Empirical Investigation into the Demand for International Reserve using Precautionary and Mercantilist Approach

2022-11-18T02:42:59+00:00

The study aims at analyzing the determinants of the continuous accumulation of foreign reserves in Bangladesh like in other emerging and developing countries. The paper investigates the mercantilist and precautionary motive for hoarding reserves, taking monthly data from 2010:06 to 2019:12. To establish the long-run relationship between foreign reserves and their determinants, the ARDL model has been used. The result shows precautionary variables mainly contribute to accumulating the volume of reserves. The sterilization index results show no sterilization of the central bank to devaluate the exchange rate and the deviation of the real effective exchange rate, which captures the mercantilist motive, remains insignificant in the long run.

Customers’ Opinions on Voluntary Insurance as a New Product in Bank-led Digital-banking for Addressing Perceived Risk-factors

2022-11-06T05:39:53+00:00

In today’s digital-world, banking-services have been modernized where customers compete for comparative time-saving-options. However, many factors are unpredictable in digital-banking-services.

Furthermore, since customers do not exactly remember the total amount s/he currently has in account, receiving email confirmation of any transactions including deducting bank-account charges cause panic to corresponding accountholders. All these perceived risk-factors have been undermining the prospects of having cashless-society in world-economy country-wise such as Bangladesh. Banks can eliminate this issue by adopting Voluntary Insurance (VI) as a new product in bank-led digital-banking. It can ensure risk-free e-banking services. It raises question: how do customers feel about this probable new product in bank-led digital-banking? Answering the question posed, statistical analysis of customers’ opinions reveals that “age-group” and “occupation-group” of customers have different preferences on the proposed new product. The results also propose that demographic factors impact customers’ preferences for the new product. The findings can attract more users by improving customer’s satisfaction, customer-base, banks benefits including reduction of operational-cost and many more. Thus, this effort is to bring the findings to banking-authorities’ or policymakers’ attentions for ensuring secured digital-banking-services in Bangladesh.

Managerial Perspectives on Automation and Human Factors: Evidence from the Bangladeshi Garment Industry

2022-11-06T16:33:06+00:00

Purpose of the study: The aim of this paper is to understand the perception of the human resource managers of the Bangladeshi RMG sectors regarding automation-related displacement and management of related human factors. Overall views regarding automation, related training and compliance issues are investigated too.

Methodology: Data is mustered by face-to-face interviews using a semi-structured questionnaire, which is analyzed through manual interpretive content analysis. A convenience sampling method is pursued; nonetheless, a proper mix of varied levels of garment factories is assured.

Findings: Low-skilled workers are mostly displaced due to automation; however, in aggregate it does not decrease jobs. Management is mostly driven by international buyers and compliance requirements while catering to human factors; even if training is considered a vital factor for automation success, the majority of the sampled factories do not have (effective) in-house training facilities.

Implications (practical): These findings will be beneficial to the academic, HR managers of the Bangladeshi RMG industry, regulatory bodies, and related business associations.

Limitations and Future direction: This study has considered a few samples from the model, above average and average garment factories; hence, generalizations of the conclusion might be questionable.

Establishing Democracy in Bangladesh: Evaluating the Role of Media

2022-10-26T11:10:56+00:00

Purpose of the study: This paper aims to examine the role of media and its significance in a democratic society like Bangladesh. The paper is also an attempt to identify the major challenges of working of media in the way to establishing the democracy in Bangladesh.

Methodology: The study is mainly qualitative and descriptive in nature. The study is based on secondary data and archival resources. A comprehensive literature review was undertaken using current and historical materials relevant to media and democracy interface.

Findings: The paper finds that despite of having several measures for media and the existence of number of media, free working environment for media is still heavily obstructed in Bangladesh.

Implications: This study highlights, for the interest of democracy, the interface among the media, democracy, good governance, and the peaceful development of society. The identification of challenges of working of media freely can pave the way for establishing democracy in Bangladesh.

Limitations and Future direction: The paper is mainly based on secondary sources and analysis of existing literature. No primary data has been collected and utilized and as such future studies should adopt a holistic approach to portray the meaningful role of media in establishing democracy in Bangladesh.

Is Export-led Economic Growth Significant in LDCs?: Evidence from Bangladesh

2022-12-07T14:00:45+00:00

The purpose of this piece of work is to find out whether there persists any long-run relationship between the exports and economic growth in Bangladesh as a member of the LDCs. In this connection, the export-led growth hypothesis has been tested for the Bangladeshi economy for the last three decades of timeframe. Time-series econometric approach, the Johansen Cointegration test is followed in the study to find out the long-run relationship among the variable. The Granger casualty test was done to find the direction of the casualty. The Time-series data from the period 1991 to 2020 are analyzed through several econometric test procedures. The gross domestic product is regarded as the dependent variable, whereas the Exports of goods & services and the Gross Capital Formation are considered independent variables. The estimated model is examined for a structural break using the Chow Test. The Breusch–Godfrey and Durbin-Watson tests are performed to determine whether or not autocorrelation exists. It is recognized that export-led economic growth has no long-term significance for Bangladesh's economy. The findings are consistent with those of Li et al. (2010) on low-income nations. The R-squared value of the estimated model is 83%, indicating that the model fits the data quite well. As Bangladesh is likely to become a middle-income country very soon, the study is highly pertinent to the country's current development dynamics.

The Contribution of remittances on woman empowerment in Bangladesh

2022-12-06T12:13:03+00:00

Purpose of the study: This paper emphasizes on the impact of remittances on women empowerment in Bangladesh. The word women empowerment has been justified by using six variables that covers socio-economic aspects.

Methodology: To investigate the relationship this study mainly depends on time series data for the period of 1990 to 2021. The person correlation, regression analysis has been conducted to justify the proposition of contrition of remittances on women empowerment. The robustness check was done by employing fully modified OLS method.

Findings: The results of regression show that secondary and tertiary education level, women role as employers, women involvement in the services sectors and first marriage decision at the age of 18 have significant relationship with remittances received by individual family. Moreover, the results of FMOLS also in favor of regression findings.

Implications(practical): These findings are insightful and beneficial for the government bodies, policy makers to make strategic decision for women in the forthcoming days. This paper will also add to the existing literature on women's empowerment in Bangladesh and beyond.

Limitations and Future Directions: Quantitative analysis was used to complete the study, but additional interviews or focus groups would lend credibility and make the study more policy relevant. In the future, researchers may choose to employ a mixed method. Women's economic contributions as migrants will be discussed along with associated issues.

SIGNIFICANCE OF WEB 2.0 PLATFORMS IN SHAPING URBAN CONSUMERS TRAVEL CHOICE IN BANGLADESH

2022-12-15T12:57:31+00:00

Urban people in Bangladesh are being influenced through Web 2.0 platforms and this influence is leading them to take travel choice. Researchers witnessed Web 2 platforms are time convenient and cost-effective compared to the traditional travel agency (as people search, negotiate, look at the reviews, get the ratings, advise other people, share tour experiences, and take decisions to travel the specific place). This paper is thus aimed to find out whether the significance of Web 2.0 platforms in making travel decision is more effective than a traditional travel agency to the urban young consumers of Bangladesh with special reference to Dhaka city. To do this several published information has been assessed. To examine the opinions of the respondents a survey was commenced. Around 250 responses were used to gather reliable data by convenience sampling technique. Basic descriptive tools and factor analysis has been performed to analyze responses using SPSS 20.0. The investigation outcomes suggested performance credibility of traditional travel agency is abnormally poor. Possible incorporation of advanced technologies to aid business survival has thus investigated by the analysis. The analysis surmises with the challenges addressing feasible measures concerning Web 2.0 platforms.

Employability Skill required for Human Resource Graduates: A Literature Review

2022-12-20T11:31:41+00:00

Purpose of the study: Educational institutions need to evaluate the quality of education not only to prepare their graduates for the labor market but also for accreditation authorities. Additionally, there is evidence that a significant portion of graduates wait several years before joining the employment market. Moreover, the primary cause of unemployment, in the eyes of companies, is the wide disparity between graduate-level skills gained at university and those needed by employers. Thus, this study focuses on determining the employability skills necessary for Human Resource (HR) graduates because graduates joining different professional domains require various sets of abilities.

Methodology: In order to determine the essential competencies needed and the areas of mismatch, a total of 21 pertinent research on the abilities and characteristics of HR graduates were evaluated. The articles that were chosen were those that were published during the last ten years, had a high number of citations, and were relevant to the research topic.

Findings: The paper identified the most required skills for HR personnel, which includes communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to adapt, technical skills and comprehensive business knowledge.

Implications: This is a novel contribution to the body of knowledge on the employability abilities of recent HR majors. Students can use the article to better understand the demands of the labor market, and educational institutions can use it to rectify any gaps and adapt their curricula considering the discovered skill gap.

Limitations and Future direction: This study is limited to literature reviews which only identified the most researched skills using previous papers. Future quantitative studies can be developed to identify the skill set by taking into consideration the input of all stakeholders regarding graduates' employability.