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Gazi M . Hassan

North-South University of Bangladesh, Department of economics, Faculty Member

The Australian National University, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis (CAMA), Research Associate

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A seasoned economist with twenty-five years of experience in applied research, teaching, and administration. Specialised in experimental and behavioural economics, macroeconomic and mathematical modelling, development macroeconomics and finance, energy, and sustainable development goals (SDGs), with a proven track record in supervising academic research and contributing to impactful projects globally. Teaching experience in five countries including Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates. Research experience in multiple developing countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam.
Phone: +880-2-55668200x6117
Address: Room NAC 831(C), Department of Economics, North South University, Bashundhara, Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Papers by Gazi M . Hassan

Public Programs and Remittances Influence on Private Storm-Protection Actions: Is Crowding Out Effect Most Likely Outcome?

A panel data analysis of the growth effects of remittances

Economic Modelling, 2011

Many development economists believe that remittances by the migrant workers are an important sour... more Many development economists believe that remittances by the migrant workers are an important source of long rum growth. Therefore, recent studies have investigated the indirect and direct effects remittances on the growth rates of the recipient countries. This paper analyses the strength of these effects with a common data set and with alternative methods of estimation. It is found that while the evidence supports the indirect effects of remittances, the direct growth effects of remittances seem to be insignificant.

Do Remittances Facilitate a Sustainable Current Account

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Jun 30, 2014

Although the World Bank points out these costs remain high, especially in Africa and in small nat... more Although the World Bank points out these costs remain high, especially in Africa and in small nations. Globally, migrants pay an average cost of 9 per cent to send money home. 2 For example, deposits by the non-residents in India attract higher interest rates and are exempt from income tax. Similarly, Pakistan and Bangladesh give incentives to increase remittances. In 2008, India's remittance receipts were the highest at US$52 billion. Other countries with high remittances include China and Mexico.

How Do Workers' Remittances Respond to Lending Rates?

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Feb 22, 2017

The literature on migrants' motivation to remit ranges from self-interest to altruism where studi... more The literature on migrants' motivation to remit ranges from self-interest to altruism where studies analyse the impact from home country interest rates or interest differentials between home and host countries. We reinterpret the interest rate elasticity of remittances as a form of debt-repayment responsiveness rather than based on opportunistic motivation. Modelling altruistic transfer and debt-repayment, we find that, for a panel of countries, the long-run responsiveness of remittances to changes in real lending rates is negative. This suggests that an expansionary (contractionary) monetary policy is most likely to lead to an increase (reduction) in remittances in the long-run. In contrast to this, the short-run impact of interest rate changes on remittances is positive.

How to Increase the Long Run Growth Rate of Bangladesh

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Apr 4, 2009

This paper develops a framework to analyse the determinants of the long term growth rate of Bangl... more This paper develops a framework to analyse the determinants of the long term growth rate of Bangladesh. It is based on the Solow (1956) growth model and its extension by and follows growth accounting procedure to estimate total factor productivity ( ). Our growth accounting exercise showed that growth rate in Bangladesh, until 1990, was due to factor accumulation. Since then, however, made a small positive contribution to growth. An analysis of the determinants of showed that remittances by emigrant workers have negative effects which seem to be due to the loss of skilled labour force. Using these results policy options, to double per capita income of Bangladesh in about 15 years, are discussed.

Are the Direct and Indirect Growth Effects of Remittances Significant

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Nov 15, 2009

Development economists believe that migrant workers' remittances are an important source of funds... more Development economists believe that migrant workers' remittances are an important source of funds for long run growth. Therefore, recent studies have investigated the growth effects of remittances and reached different conclusions. In many such studies the growth of output is simply regressed on both remittances and the channels through which remittances affect growth. Thus there is no distinction between the indirect and direct growth effects of remittances and such specifications may give unreliable estimates because of the correlation between the channels and remittances. In this paper we make a distinction between the indirect and direct effects of remittances. Our model is estimated with panel data of 40 high remittance recipient countries and a system GMM panel data estimation method.

Can Macroeconomic Factors Explain Equity Returns in the Long Run? The Case of Jordan

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, May 15, 2010

There is a growing literature on how macroeconomic variables can have effects on equity returns i... more There is a growing literature on how macroeconomic variables can have effects on equity returns in both developed and emerging stock markets. We test for the long run relationship between some key macroeconomic indicators and equity returns in Jordan. Using both GETS methodology and the ARDL approach to cointegration, we find that the trade surplus, foreign exchange reserves, the money supply and oil prices are important macroeconomic variables which have long run effects on the Jordanian stock market. The results are broadly consistent with similar studies carried out for other emerging economies.

Nonlinear Effects of Remittances on Per Capita GDP Growth in Bangladesh

Economies, Jul 17, 2017

This paper examines the impact of inward remittances flows on per capita gross domestic product (... more This paper examines the impact of inward remittances flows on per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Bangladesh during 1976-2012. We find that the growth effect of remittances is negative at first but becomes positive at a later stage, evidence of a non-linear relationship. Unproductive use of remittances was rampant in the beginning when they were received by migrant families, but better social and economic investments led to more productive utilization of remittances receipts at later periods. This suggests a U-shaped relationship between remittances and per capita GDP growth. Unlike what is suggested in the literature, that the effect of remittances is more pronounced in a less financially developed economy, our evidence does not show that the effect of remittances on per capita GDP growth in Bangladesh is conditional on the level of financial development.

Are There Significant Externality Effects of Remittances in Asian Economic Growth?

Applied Economics Quarterly, Mar 1, 2018

This paper estimates the externality effects of remittances for selected Asian countries. Accordi... more This paper estimates the externality effects of remittances for selected Asian countries. According to , externality generated by the education sector can raise nationwide productivity. Because a portion of remittances income is invested on education, remittances stock can also generate such externalities. Using a Romer-type production function and panel cointegration, we find that the externality effects of remittances are small but highly significant.

The Causal Impact of Solid Fuel Use on Mortality – A Cross- Country Panel Analysis

International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Jan 22, 2023

Biomass consumption causes indoor air pollution which impairs health and environment. In this pap... more Biomass consumption causes indoor air pollution which impairs health and environment. In this paper, we examine the causal relationship between biomass fuel consumption and measures of life expectancy and infant and child mortality. Using 13 years of cross-country panel data which covers 105 countries over the period 2000-2012, we applied fixed effect model and instrumental variable regression. We find that solid fuel combustion causes increase in infant and child mortality and decreases in male and female life expectancy. A back-of-the envelope calculation suggests that, if the solid fuel consumption gap between low-income and lower-middle income countries were reduced by 50%, infant and child mortality in the lowincome countries decrease by 16.5 and 29.8 per thousand respectively, and life expectancy would increase by 1.0 and 1.5 years for males and females respectively. Our findings suggest that governments, particularly of developing countries, should focus efforts to reduce solid fuel use.

Are Remittances a Source of Finance for Private Adaptation Strategy? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in the Cyclone Sidr Hit Regions of Southern Bangladesh

Social Science Research Network, 2018

We model household responses to storm protection actions in an endogenous risk framework and then... more We model household responses to storm protection actions in an endogenous risk framework and then test the predictions based on a recently concluded survey from southern Bangladesh hit by the category-5 Cyclone-Sidr in 2007. Households decide on the margin how to finance private adaptive expenditures and foreign remittances come into play a pivotal role in shaping private adaptive behaviour. For our empirical analysis, we use IV method to harness a random assignment of treatment of remittances by exploiting a natural shock wherein some households suffered damages from another second Cyclone-Roanu in the same area just prior to the survey period in 2016. Using natural experiment as an identification strategy, we find that for every 1,000 Taka increase in remittances receipts, private adaptive expenditures increase by 20.95 Taka. The IV results are generalizable because the control and treatment groups do not differ in their pretreatment observable characteristics.

Growth effects of remittances : cross-country and time series analysis

This thesis explores the growth effects of remittances by using some extensions to the growth mod... more This thesis explores the growth effects of remittances by using some extensions to the growth model. Using a recent approach popularised by Rao, we estimate an extended production function to analyse the long run growth effects of remittances with both the cross country and country specific estimation methods. Our cross country estimates use data from a panel of 40 high remittance recipient countries. In this process we found that, it is necessary to make a distinction between the direct and indirect growth effects of remittances. Existing studies do not make this distinction and estimate only the direct growth effects. Furthermore, they also fail to make a distinction between the transitionary and permanent growth effects of remittances although they clearly state that their main objective is to estimate the latter. We find that the direct growth effects of remittances, as in the existing studies, are insignificant or even negative. However, many development economists believe that the growth effects of remittances are positive and remittances are an important source of funds to invest in human and physical capital. Therefore, the findings by several econometric studies that the direct growth effects of remittances are negligible have become somewhat controversial. This controversy has become more acute because to the best of our knowledge development economists did not produce any econometric results that support their belief. To resolve this controversy, we made the distinction between the direct and indirect growth effects of remittances. Remittances may have large or small indirect growth effects through their effects on a few intermediate variables that have permanent growth effects. Examples of these intermediate channel variables are investment ratio, development of the financial sector, exchange rate and volatility in output etc. We find that such indirect growth effects of remittances are small but positive. However, these indirect growth effects may be country specific. Therefore, we also estimate these indirect growth effects with the country specific data. There is convincing and uncontroversial evidence that remittances are pro poor as iii they help to reduce poverty in the recipient economies. Therefore, we also estimate these welfare effects of remittances with alternative measures of poverty. Our results show that these welfare effects are significant. The thesis raises some methodological issues on estimating the growth effects of remittances or any other growth enhancing variables like trade openness and investment ratio etc. Although it is difficult to resolve these methodological issues in this thesis, the main contribution of this thesis is to show that Rao's approach for estimating the permanent growth effects is a pragmatic option. Needless to say, like all other methodological issues, this issue cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of all. Therefore, further analysis and research is necessary into these methodological issues, which is beyond the scope of a single contribution.

The Impact of Market-wide Volatility on Time-varying Risk: Evidence from Qatar Stock Exchange

Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Jun 8, 2018

This study examines the impact of market-wide volatility on time-varying risk using the heterosce... more This study examines the impact of market-wide volatility on time-varying risk using the heteroscedastic market model with EGARCH (1,1) specification. Using daily sector returns from the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) market over the period 2007-2015, we find that in terms of systematic risk, the large sectors are as vulnerable to overall market volatility as the small ones. In addition, the results reveal evidence for asymmetry in time-varying risk due to the impact of market-wide shocks on sector returns. Specifically, we find that market-wide upswings reduce the systematic risk for industrials, while market-wide downswings increase the systematic risk for real estate, telecommunication and transportation. Our modified model survives a battery of robustness checks. Schwert and Seguin (1990) model, time-varying risk, asymmetric volatility, EGARCH model, Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE).

Towards a comprehensive scale of social network index: A study from investors perspectives

Computers in Human Behavior

Clean Energy and Household Remittances in Bangladesh: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

SSRN Electronic Journal

Using a natural experiment of a rainfall-driven remittances, I provide experimental measures of h... more Using a natural experiment of a rainfall-driven remittances, I provide experimental measures of how remittances affect rural household's choice of cylinder gas (LPG) as a cooking fuel over other alternative fuels in southern Bangladesh. Household choice of LPG and remittances are jointly related; therefore, I use the instrumental variable probit (IV-Probit) approach. The treatment of remittances is randomly assigned to households who suffered losses due to a natural shock from the cyclone-Roanu enabling the instrument -exogenous variation in rainfall interacted with cyclone-affected migrant household's distance to the local weather stations -to identify the average treatment effect for the treatment group (cyclone-affected remittances recipient households). I find that an exogenous increase in remittances by 1,000 Taka causes the probability of using LPG to rise by 1%. In terms of percentage change, the implied elasticity shows that a 10% increase in remittances income can raise the probability of using LPG by 2%. I also find the impact of remittances is conditional on household's health expenditures. In particular, controlling for the household's health expenditures interacted with the provision for clean water and sanitary toilet in the dwelling, the marginal effects of remittances get stronger, i.e. households are more likely to use LPG as cooking fuel. These findings counter some existing case studies and views of many policy makers that economic factors are less significant in promoting cleaner energy for the household. The results of the paper are robust to potential violations of the exclusion restriction, to alternative specifications and instruments, and possible omitted variable bias.

To what extent do network effects moderate the relationship between social media propagated news and investors’ perceptions?

Research in Economics

A veil of ignorance: uncertain and ambiguous individual productivity supports stable contributions to a public good

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2021

An Empirical Examination of the J-Curve: New Zealand's Bilateral Trade with Selected Countries

The J-curve hypothesis holds that the devaluation or depreciation of a country’s currency worsens... more The J-curve hypothesis holds that the devaluation or depreciation of a country’s currency worsens the trade balance in the short run before improving the balance in the long run. This study investigates the short-run and long-run effects of nominal exchange rate changes on the bilateral trade balance between New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK, China, India, Japan and Singapore using quarterly data from 1990 to 2014. The results show some evidence of J-curve effects in the case of New Zealand and China and New Zealand and Japan but with no evidence to support J-curve effects in the case of New Zealand and Australia, USA, UK, India and Singapore. Diagnostic tests, however, suggest that there are some omitted variables in the models.

Is the Democratisation Process Responsive to Remittance Flows? Evidence from Bangladesh

This paper examines how remittances relate to democratisation process in Bangladesh. Using Struct... more This paper examines how remittances relate to democratisation process in Bangladesh. Using Structural VAR (SVAR) methods, we are able to compensate for the endogeneity issue. While remittances respond to innovations in the macro-political variables, remittances also have important impact on these variables. Our results build a synergy between two opposing findings in the political science literature which find on one hand that remittances stabilise autocracies and also, on the other hand that it fosters the prospect of democratisation. We show that a shock in remittances will have a negative but transitory effect on democracy. Initially there will be a bout of autocratic episodes which will be eventually eliminated and democracy restored to its original level in three to five years. Using an alternative measure of democracy we also show that for a shock in remittances, a small permanent positive effect on democracy is observed after the fifth year which does not revert to zero at en...

Interventions to mitigate indoor air pollution: A cost-benefit analysis

PLOS ONE, 2021

Globally, around three billion people depend upon solid fuels such as firewood, dry animal dung, ... more Globally, around three billion people depend upon solid fuels such as firewood, dry animal dung, crop residues, or coal, and use traditional stoves for cooking and heating purposes. This solid fuel combustion causes indoor air pollution (IAP) and severely impairs health and the environment, especially in developing countries like Pakistan. A number of alternative household energy strategies can be adopted to mitigate IAP, such as using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), natural gas, biogas, electric stoves, or improved cook stoves (ICS). In this study, we estimate the benefit-cost ratios and net present value of these interventions over a ten-year period in Pakistan. Annual costs include both fixed and operating costs, whereas benefits cover health, productivity gains, time savings, and fuel savings. We find that LPG has the highest benefit-cost ratio, followed by natural gas, while ICS has the lowest benefit-cost ratio. Electric stoves and biogas have moderate benefit-cost ratios that ...

Public Programs and Remittances Influence on Private Storm-Protection Actions: Is Crowding Out Effect Most Likely Outcome?

A panel data analysis of the growth effects of remittances

Economic Modelling, 2011

Many development economists believe that remittances by the migrant workers are an important sour... more Many development economists believe that remittances by the migrant workers are an important source of long rum growth. Therefore, recent studies have investigated the indirect and direct effects remittances on the growth rates of the recipient countries. This paper analyses the strength of these effects with a common data set and with alternative methods of estimation. It is found that while the evidence supports the indirect effects of remittances, the direct growth effects of remittances seem to be insignificant.

Do Remittances Facilitate a Sustainable Current Account

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Jun 30, 2014

Although the World Bank points out these costs remain high, especially in Africa and in small nat... more Although the World Bank points out these costs remain high, especially in Africa and in small nations. Globally, migrants pay an average cost of 9 per cent to send money home. 2 For example, deposits by the non-residents in India attract higher interest rates and are exempt from income tax. Similarly, Pakistan and Bangladesh give incentives to increase remittances. In 2008, India's remittance receipts were the highest at US$52 billion. Other countries with high remittances include China and Mexico.

How Do Workers' Remittances Respond to Lending Rates?

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Feb 22, 2017

The literature on migrants' motivation to remit ranges from self-interest to altruism where studi... more The literature on migrants' motivation to remit ranges from self-interest to altruism where studies analyse the impact from home country interest rates or interest differentials between home and host countries. We reinterpret the interest rate elasticity of remittances as a form of debt-repayment responsiveness rather than based on opportunistic motivation. Modelling altruistic transfer and debt-repayment, we find that, for a panel of countries, the long-run responsiveness of remittances to changes in real lending rates is negative. This suggests that an expansionary (contractionary) monetary policy is most likely to lead to an increase (reduction) in remittances in the long-run. In contrast to this, the short-run impact of interest rate changes on remittances is positive.

How to Increase the Long Run Growth Rate of Bangladesh

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Apr 4, 2009

This paper develops a framework to analyse the determinants of the long term growth rate of Bangl... more This paper develops a framework to analyse the determinants of the long term growth rate of Bangladesh. It is based on the Solow (1956) growth model and its extension by and follows growth accounting procedure to estimate total factor productivity ( ). Our growth accounting exercise showed that growth rate in Bangladesh, until 1990, was due to factor accumulation. Since then, however, made a small positive contribution to growth. An analysis of the determinants of showed that remittances by emigrant workers have negative effects which seem to be due to the loss of skilled labour force. Using these results policy options, to double per capita income of Bangladesh in about 15 years, are discussed.

Are the Direct and Indirect Growth Effects of Remittances Significant

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Nov 15, 2009

Development economists believe that migrant workers' remittances are an important source of funds... more Development economists believe that migrant workers' remittances are an important source of funds for long run growth. Therefore, recent studies have investigated the growth effects of remittances and reached different conclusions. In many such studies the growth of output is simply regressed on both remittances and the channels through which remittances affect growth. Thus there is no distinction between the indirect and direct growth effects of remittances and such specifications may give unreliable estimates because of the correlation between the channels and remittances. In this paper we make a distinction between the indirect and direct effects of remittances. Our model is estimated with panel data of 40 high remittance recipient countries and a system GMM panel data estimation method.

Can Macroeconomic Factors Explain Equity Returns in the Long Run? The Case of Jordan

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, May 15, 2010

There is a growing literature on how macroeconomic variables can have effects on equity returns i... more There is a growing literature on how macroeconomic variables can have effects on equity returns in both developed and emerging stock markets. We test for the long run relationship between some key macroeconomic indicators and equity returns in Jordan. Using both GETS methodology and the ARDL approach to cointegration, we find that the trade surplus, foreign exchange reserves, the money supply and oil prices are important macroeconomic variables which have long run effects on the Jordanian stock market. The results are broadly consistent with similar studies carried out for other emerging economies.

Nonlinear Effects of Remittances on Per Capita GDP Growth in Bangladesh

Economies, Jul 17, 2017

This paper examines the impact of inward remittances flows on per capita gross domestic product (... more This paper examines the impact of inward remittances flows on per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth in Bangladesh during 1976-2012. We find that the growth effect of remittances is negative at first but becomes positive at a later stage, evidence of a non-linear relationship. Unproductive use of remittances was rampant in the beginning when they were received by migrant families, but better social and economic investments led to more productive utilization of remittances receipts at later periods. This suggests a U-shaped relationship between remittances and per capita GDP growth. Unlike what is suggested in the literature, that the effect of remittances is more pronounced in a less financially developed economy, our evidence does not show that the effect of remittances on per capita GDP growth in Bangladesh is conditional on the level of financial development.

Are There Significant Externality Effects of Remittances in Asian Economic Growth?

Applied Economics Quarterly, Mar 1, 2018

This paper estimates the externality effects of remittances for selected Asian countries. Accordi... more This paper estimates the externality effects of remittances for selected Asian countries. According to , externality generated by the education sector can raise nationwide productivity. Because a portion of remittances income is invested on education, remittances stock can also generate such externalities. Using a Romer-type production function and panel cointegration, we find that the externality effects of remittances are small but highly significant.

The Causal Impact of Solid Fuel Use on Mortality – A Cross- Country Panel Analysis

International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Jan 22, 2023

Biomass consumption causes indoor air pollution which impairs health and environment. In this pap... more Biomass consumption causes indoor air pollution which impairs health and environment. In this paper, we examine the causal relationship between biomass fuel consumption and measures of life expectancy and infant and child mortality. Using 13 years of cross-country panel data which covers 105 countries over the period 2000-2012, we applied fixed effect model and instrumental variable regression. We find that solid fuel combustion causes increase in infant and child mortality and decreases in male and female life expectancy. A back-of-the envelope calculation suggests that, if the solid fuel consumption gap between low-income and lower-middle income countries were reduced by 50%, infant and child mortality in the lowincome countries decrease by 16.5 and 29.8 per thousand respectively, and life expectancy would increase by 1.0 and 1.5 years for males and females respectively. Our findings suggest that governments, particularly of developing countries, should focus efforts to reduce solid fuel use.

Are Remittances a Source of Finance for Private Adaptation Strategy? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in the Cyclone Sidr Hit Regions of Southern Bangladesh

Social Science Research Network, 2018

We model household responses to storm protection actions in an endogenous risk framework and then... more We model household responses to storm protection actions in an endogenous risk framework and then test the predictions based on a recently concluded survey from southern Bangladesh hit by the category-5 Cyclone-Sidr in 2007. Households decide on the margin how to finance private adaptive expenditures and foreign remittances come into play a pivotal role in shaping private adaptive behaviour. For our empirical analysis, we use IV method to harness a random assignment of treatment of remittances by exploiting a natural shock wherein some households suffered damages from another second Cyclone-Roanu in the same area just prior to the survey period in 2016. Using natural experiment as an identification strategy, we find that for every 1,000 Taka increase in remittances receipts, private adaptive expenditures increase by 20.95 Taka. The IV results are generalizable because the control and treatment groups do not differ in their pretreatment observable characteristics.

Growth effects of remittances : cross-country and time series analysis

This thesis explores the growth effects of remittances by using some extensions to the growth mod... more This thesis explores the growth effects of remittances by using some extensions to the growth model. Using a recent approach popularised by Rao, we estimate an extended production function to analyse the long run growth effects of remittances with both the cross country and country specific estimation methods. Our cross country estimates use data from a panel of 40 high remittance recipient countries. In this process we found that, it is necessary to make a distinction between the direct and indirect growth effects of remittances. Existing studies do not make this distinction and estimate only the direct growth effects. Furthermore, they also fail to make a distinction between the transitionary and permanent growth effects of remittances although they clearly state that their main objective is to estimate the latter. We find that the direct growth effects of remittances, as in the existing studies, are insignificant or even negative. However, many development economists believe that the growth effects of remittances are positive and remittances are an important source of funds to invest in human and physical capital. Therefore, the findings by several econometric studies that the direct growth effects of remittances are negligible have become somewhat controversial. This controversy has become more acute because to the best of our knowledge development economists did not produce any econometric results that support their belief. To resolve this controversy, we made the distinction between the direct and indirect growth effects of remittances. Remittances may have large or small indirect growth effects through their effects on a few intermediate variables that have permanent growth effects. Examples of these intermediate channel variables are investment ratio, development of the financial sector, exchange rate and volatility in output etc. We find that such indirect growth effects of remittances are small but positive. However, these indirect growth effects may be country specific. Therefore, we also estimate these indirect growth effects with the country specific data. There is convincing and uncontroversial evidence that remittances are pro poor as iii they help to reduce poverty in the recipient economies. Therefore, we also estimate these welfare effects of remittances with alternative measures of poverty. Our results show that these welfare effects are significant. The thesis raises some methodological issues on estimating the growth effects of remittances or any other growth enhancing variables like trade openness and investment ratio etc. Although it is difficult to resolve these methodological issues in this thesis, the main contribution of this thesis is to show that Rao's approach for estimating the permanent growth effects is a pragmatic option. Needless to say, like all other methodological issues, this issue cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of all. Therefore, further analysis and research is necessary into these methodological issues, which is beyond the scope of a single contribution.

The Impact of Market-wide Volatility on Time-varying Risk: Evidence from Qatar Stock Exchange

Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Jun 8, 2018

This study examines the impact of market-wide volatility on time-varying risk using the heterosce... more This study examines the impact of market-wide volatility on time-varying risk using the heteroscedastic market model with EGARCH (1,1) specification. Using daily sector returns from the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) market over the period 2007-2015, we find that in terms of systematic risk, the large sectors are as vulnerable to overall market volatility as the small ones. In addition, the results reveal evidence for asymmetry in time-varying risk due to the impact of market-wide shocks on sector returns. Specifically, we find that market-wide upswings reduce the systematic risk for industrials, while market-wide downswings increase the systematic risk for real estate, telecommunication and transportation. Our modified model survives a battery of robustness checks. Schwert and Seguin (1990) model, time-varying risk, asymmetric volatility, EGARCH model, Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE).

Towards a comprehensive scale of social network index: A study from investors perspectives

Computers in Human Behavior

Clean Energy and Household Remittances in Bangladesh: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

SSRN Electronic Journal

Using a natural experiment of a rainfall-driven remittances, I provide experimental measures of h... more Using a natural experiment of a rainfall-driven remittances, I provide experimental measures of how remittances affect rural household's choice of cylinder gas (LPG) as a cooking fuel over other alternative fuels in southern Bangladesh. Household choice of LPG and remittances are jointly related; therefore, I use the instrumental variable probit (IV-Probit) approach. The treatment of remittances is randomly assigned to households who suffered losses due to a natural shock from the cyclone-Roanu enabling the instrument -exogenous variation in rainfall interacted with cyclone-affected migrant household's distance to the local weather stations -to identify the average treatment effect for the treatment group (cyclone-affected remittances recipient households). I find that an exogenous increase in remittances by 1,000 Taka causes the probability of using LPG to rise by 1%. In terms of percentage change, the implied elasticity shows that a 10% increase in remittances income can raise the probability of using LPG by 2%. I also find the impact of remittances is conditional on household's health expenditures. In particular, controlling for the household's health expenditures interacted with the provision for clean water and sanitary toilet in the dwelling, the marginal effects of remittances get stronger, i.e. households are more likely to use LPG as cooking fuel. These findings counter some existing case studies and views of many policy makers that economic factors are less significant in promoting cleaner energy for the household. The results of the paper are robust to potential violations of the exclusion restriction, to alternative specifications and instruments, and possible omitted variable bias.

To what extent do network effects moderate the relationship between social media propagated news and investors’ perceptions?

Research in Economics

A veil of ignorance: uncertain and ambiguous individual productivity supports stable contributions to a public good

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2021

An Empirical Examination of the J-Curve: New Zealand's Bilateral Trade with Selected Countries

The J-curve hypothesis holds that the devaluation or depreciation of a country’s currency worsens... more The J-curve hypothesis holds that the devaluation or depreciation of a country’s currency worsens the trade balance in the short run before improving the balance in the long run. This study investigates the short-run and long-run effects of nominal exchange rate changes on the bilateral trade balance between New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK, China, India, Japan and Singapore using quarterly data from 1990 to 2014. The results show some evidence of J-curve effects in the case of New Zealand and China and New Zealand and Japan but with no evidence to support J-curve effects in the case of New Zealand and Australia, USA, UK, India and Singapore. Diagnostic tests, however, suggest that there are some omitted variables in the models.

Is the Democratisation Process Responsive to Remittance Flows? Evidence from Bangladesh

This paper examines how remittances relate to democratisation process in Bangladesh. Using Struct... more This paper examines how remittances relate to democratisation process in Bangladesh. Using Structural VAR (SVAR) methods, we are able to compensate for the endogeneity issue. While remittances respond to innovations in the macro-political variables, remittances also have important impact on these variables. Our results build a synergy between two opposing findings in the political science literature which find on one hand that remittances stabilise autocracies and also, on the other hand that it fosters the prospect of democratisation. We show that a shock in remittances will have a negative but transitory effect on democracy. Initially there will be a bout of autocratic episodes which will be eventually eliminated and democracy restored to its original level in three to five years. Using an alternative measure of democracy we also show that for a shock in remittances, a small permanent positive effect on democracy is observed after the fifth year which does not revert to zero at en...

Interventions to mitigate indoor air pollution: A cost-benefit analysis

PLOS ONE, 2021

Globally, around three billion people depend upon solid fuels such as firewood, dry animal dung, ... more Globally, around three billion people depend upon solid fuels such as firewood, dry animal dung, crop residues, or coal, and use traditional stoves for cooking and heating purposes. This solid fuel combustion causes indoor air pollution (IAP) and severely impairs health and the environment, especially in developing countries like Pakistan. A number of alternative household energy strategies can be adopted to mitigate IAP, such as using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), natural gas, biogas, electric stoves, or improved cook stoves (ICS). In this study, we estimate the benefit-cost ratios and net present value of these interventions over a ten-year period in Pakistan. Annual costs include both fixed and operating costs, whereas benefits cover health, productivity gains, time savings, and fuel savings. We find that LPG has the highest benefit-cost ratio, followed by natural gas, while ICS has the lowest benefit-cost ratio. Electric stoves and biogas have moderate benefit-cost ratios that ...