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The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was promulgated by China in order to increase economic integration with BRI countries. The validity of purchasing power parity (PPP) implies well-integrated goods markets and further economic cooperation for building an economic union. This study aims to examine validity of the PPP between China and the sampled post-Soviet BRI countries. Empirical results of rank tests favour strong support for nonlinear PPP relationships during the sample period. However, the Russia-Ukraine War may have disrupted the economic integration process via BRI, which may diminish China’s economic integration process in the post-Soviet region in the future. Keywords: PPP, Belt and Road, Nonlinear Cointegration JEL Classification Number: C10, F41

This paper investigates one of the key factors of sustainable development in the tourism sector: productive efficiency. A firm is technically inefficient when it can produce a higher output level w...

The Chinese Government has proposed the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) in order to increase trade flows and economic prosperity among the Belt and Road (BR) member countries. The BRI may call for enlargement of economic cooperation as manifested by forming an economic or monetary union in the long term. It is therefore essential to choose a subset of member countries that fulfils the criteria for joining the potential economic or monetary union. The validity of purchasing power parity (PPP) implies well-integrated goods markets and is a pre-condition for further economic convergence. While the presence of transaction costs causes nonlinearities in the adjustment mechanism, our empirical study applies a three-regime threshold autoregressive (TAR) cointegration method for analysis. Our results support the existence of a PPP relationship with China for 12 sampled Asian member countries. Chinese policymakers can prioritize these BR countries for closer economic cooperation. Also, this TAR cointegration method can estimate the unobservable proportional transaction costs from the thresholds. The results reveal BR countries with large thresholds as targets to curtail transaction costs of trading in order to enhance the efficiency in international goods arbitrage and the degree of trade integration along the BR routes.

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between the consumer price index (CPI) and the producer price index (PPI) in the UK, France and Germany from 1997 to 2013. We employ the momentum-threshold autoregressive (MTAR) cointegration model for empirical analysis. The results show that the CPI and the PPI are cointegrated with bi-directional long-run Granger causality between CPI and PPI, signifying the existence of both demand-pull and the cost-push nature of inflation. The estimates of threshold vector error correction models (TVECMs) indicate asymmetric adjustments to equilibrium, where upward adjustments are statistically significant but downward adjustments are sluggish and insignificant. Moreover, we generate the unconditional half-life estimates as a measure of persistence, which reveal robust evidence of complex non-linearities in the adjustment process. Our overall results provide valuable information for policymakers to formulate inflation-control policies and optimal policy horizons under a non-linear framework.

This article examines the price convergence of beverage products within Australia in order to assess the efficacy of intranational cross-border movements of products under the Australia’s Mutual Recognition Agreement. Since the cointegrating relationship between product prices may not be exact or linear, we adopt the rank tests for analysis which do not require prior knowledge and specification of the linear or nonlinear functional form. Our results validate the price convergence of all beverage products within Australia, with the exception of a few regions in the milk market. Furthermore, a subset of the cointegration relationships exhibits nonlinear long-run price co-movements.

High market concentration in the Hong Kong grocery industry has been prevalent over many years with the domination of a few large supermarket chains. However, no research has been conducted on the price dynamics between the supermarket and non-supermarket sectors to investigate whether the non-supermarket sector can impose competitive discipline on the dominating supermarket chains. We argue that standard cointegration tests cannot allow for transaction costs and distinguish whether the price co-movement is attributable to price competition or collusion. Our study therefore fills this research gap by adopting the threshold cointegration tests in a three-regime threshold vector error-correction model to account for the asymmetric price adjustment dynamics between supermarket and non-supermarket sectors of Hong Kong and evaluate the market power of the supermarket sectors in the presence of transaction costs. Our results favour the presence of cointegration between the supermarket and non-supermarke...

According to the study by Hawkins et al. (2002), in Western context, father involvement was found to consist of nine factors while in the Mainland Chinese context, father involvement was found to consist of four factors (Yin, Li, & Yang, 2012). The current study was grounded on the Chinese version of the Inventory of Father Involvement (IFI-C; Yin et al., 2012) to examine the factorial structure of father involvement in Hong Kong Chinese context. To extend the generalizability of the IFI-C from fathers to mothers, 591 couples were recruited and multitrait-multimethod model: a multiple-indicator CT-C(M-1) model (Eid, Lischetzke, Nussbeck, & Trierweiler, 2003) was employed. The results indicated that Hong Kong Chinese father involvement father was comparable to Hawkins' 9-factor model. To study the differences between mothers' perception and fathers' self-perceptions of father involvement, differential item functioning (DIF) was examined. There were significant differences in the area of “school encouragement”, “mother support”, “providing”, “time and talking together” and “developing talents and future concerns”. The results also suggested that maternal gatekeeping was unlikely to exist in the sampled Hong Kong Chinese families. On the other hand, transgenerational schemata, especially gender stereotypes, might be active.

This paper examines the dynamic relationship between the consumer price index (CPI) and the producer price index (PPI) in the UK, France and Germany from 1997 to 2013. We employ the momentum-threshold autoregressive (MTAR) cointegration model for empirical analysis. The results show that the CPI and the PPI are cointegrated with bi-directional long-run Granger causality between CPI and PPI, signifying the existence of both demand-pull and the cost-push nature of inflation. The estimates of threshold vector error correction models (TVECMs) indicate asymmetric adjustments to equilibrium, where upward adjustments are statistically significant but downward adjustments are sluggish and insignificant. Moreover, we generate the unconditional half-life estimates as a measure of persistence, which reveal robust evidence of complex nonlinearities in the adjustment process. Our overall results provide valuable information for policymakers to formulate inflation-control policies and optimal policy horizons under a nonlinear framework.

Problem and pathological gambling are currently known as gambling disorder as listed in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association in Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. American Psychiatric Association, Washington, DC, 2013). Nevertheless, in Hong Kong, the development of gambling disorder treatment and research is still at an infant stage (Shek, Chan & Wong in Int J Child Health Hum Dev 6(1):125–144, 2013). This article will discuss the diagnostic criteria gambling disorder listed in DSM-5 in Hong Kong context. With confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and item response theory (IRT), the diagnostic criteria of gambling disorder listed in DSM-5 were found to be a reliable and valid assessment. With differential item function (DIF) analysis, it was found that the diagnostic criteria of gambling disorder listed in DSM-5 could discriminate those who experience and demonstrate gambling disorder. Hence, the aforementioned criteria could serve as a screening tool differentiating those who have or do not have gambling disorder. To facilitate the clinical procedure, the IRT results suggested a procedure of interviewing potential clients with the diagnostic criteria of gambling disorder for screening purpose.

We study the intranational purchasing power parity (PPP) between 17 pairs of Canadian cities for the period 1984–2010, using multivariate tests of threshold cointegration in a threshold vector error correction model. Our results confirm the existence of cointegration with threshold symmetric and asymmetric adjustment processes toward PPP equilibrium. We also estimate the unconditional half-lives for non-linear PPP deviations to measure PPP persistence. We find that the speed of non-linear mean reversion may be faster than previously thought when allowing non-linear adjustments. In addition, we measure the absorption of shocks and suggest that different types of shocks are absorbed at different rates by different variables in the system. The evidence reveals that there are complex non-linearities in the price data and these justify the use of non-linear methods to study adjustments to intranational PPP.

Purpose – This paper aims to characterize those who take part in three different type religious activities (prayers, monetary donations and worship attendances) in the USA using 1972-2010 General Social Survey pooled data. Design/methodology/approach – The authors have identified factors that affect each activity using Tobit analysis. Findings – There are only three common factors (marriage, race and parental background) that influence all of these three activities and the directions of impacts are not the same. Black churchgoers are more engaging in all of these three activities, the same is true for those whose parents attend church regularly. However, marriage has positive impacts on both worship attendances and monetary donations, but has negative impacts on prayers. Originality/value – This paper contributes by breaking down giving into three categories and using 38 years of pooled data in the US General Social Survey.

Supermarket chain is an important sector of the UK grocery stores and the growing dominance of supermarket chains has brought public concern over exploitation of market power in the UK retail grocery industry. This paper therefore aims to examine the price convergence of the UK supermarket products. Since the cointegrating relationship between supermarket prices may not be exact or linear, we adopt the rank tests for analysis which do not require prior knowledge and specification of the linear or nonlinear functional form. Our results confirm the evidence of the price convergence of all grocery products and then validate the price competition between the UK supermarket chains. Furthermore, a subset of the cointegration relationships exhibits nonlinear long-run price co-movements.

This paper analyses post-90s teenagers in Hong Kong for their willingness to communicate their educational plans, personal challenges and academic difficulties to their parents, their teachers and their peers. Through logistic regression methods, this paper identifies demographic characteristics of those who are willing to share and those who are not, from a dataset of 308 students. Characteristics of those who are reluctant to share with anyone about any problems are also identified. This paper finds out a direct relationship between relationship closeness and the teenager's willingness to self-disclose. We conclude by discussing potential social policies that can possibly promote family and social harmony.

This study applies the Order Tobit Regression approach to estimate volunteer engagement and retention. Using a sample of 14, 059 participants, this inquiry draws on the 2010 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating (CSGVP) and ascertains that compensation (both direct and indirect) can have a significant impact on volunteerism. The findings indicate that direct (honorariums and payments) and indirect compensations (opportunity to network and develop skills) empower volunteers in engagement and retention. Youth experience aids in volunteer engagement, but not in retention. Youth experience and religiosity foster volunteering in later life. The analysis concludes that effective training, family support, and recognition play strategic roles in promoting volunteerism.

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine the relationship between board committees and firm performance and the moderating effect of family ownership for public companies in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs publicly available data from financial databases and annual reports of a sample of 346 firm‐year observations of public companies in Hong Kong for the periods 2001‐2003.FindingsThe empirical evidence indicates that a nomination (remuneration) committee is positively (negatively) related to firm performance, depending on the independence of its composition. Furthermore, family ownership does have an adverse effect on the relationship between board committees, specifically the remuneration committee, and the performance of public companies in Hong Kong.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is based on publicly available data and the board process is not actually observed.Practical implicationsThe effectiveness of a board committee is contingent on its independence and family ownership.Originality/valueThis paper provides empirical evidence that an independent board committee could enhance the corporate governance of public companies in Hong Kong and would be of interest to regulatory bodies, business practitioners, and academic researchers.

This article adopts a time-varying parameter model to investigate whether the economic downturn has affected convergence of the consumer price index. The dynamic patterns of the intranational purchasing-power parity coefficients in mainland China before and after the financial tsunami are found to differ, indicating that the convergence has indeed been adversely affected by the downturn.

This paper studies the speed of price adjustments toward the intra-national PPP level within China based on half-life measurement. We calculate the point estimates of half-lives and the corresponding confidence intervals using median-unbiased estimation methods to correct for downward bias in least squares estimates. The point estimates of half-lives indicate that the speed of mean reversion toward convergence between region pairs is fast. A strong conclusion about the high speed of adjustments is, however, unwarranted in some regions where the confidence intervals for half-life estimates are much wider than others.

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine the relationship between chief executive officer (CEO) duality and firm performance and the moderating effects of the family control factor on this relationship with respect to public companies in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs publicly available data from financial databases and the annual reports of a sample of 128 publicly‐listed companies in Hong Kong in 2003.FindingsNeither agency theory nor stewardship theory alone can adequately explain the duality‐performance relationship. The empirical evidence suggests that the relationship between CEO duality and accounting performance is contingent on the presence of the family control factor. CEO duality is good for non‐family firms, while non‐duality is good for family‐controlled firms.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is based on publicly available financial data, and actual board processes are not observed.Practical implicationsThe design of board leadership structure is contingent on corporate ownership and control (family control or not).Originality/valueThe paper provides empirical evidence that CEO duality is not necessarily bad for public companies in Hong Kong and would be of interest to regulatory bodies, business practitioners, and academic researchers.

This study examines whether there are changes to the inter-influence between the economic positions of Guangdong and Hong Kong. We use the Granger causality test to determine the mutual influence of Guangdong and Hong Kong in their economic positions. Our result indicates that there is a long-term cointegrating and stable economic relationship between Guangdong and Hong Kong. In addition, the result of the ECM Granger causality test suggests that the economies of Guangdong and Hong Kong are substitutes for each other but not complementary. Our analyses of the structural changes before and after 1997 show that the lead economic position between Guangdong and Hong Kong changes before and after 1997.

Focuses on the economic changes necessary and the present state of business ethics in China. Explores the ethical precepts held by a sample of Chinese professionals enrolled in a management development program in mainland China. A benchmark is created that not only measures the present state of business ethics, but looks at perceived change over the last five years. From these data, guidelines are developed which are of use to policy makers and to executives who wish to employ, or to conduct business with Chinese nationals.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impacts of rationing on firm behavior. A virtual price approach is adopted to derive the rationed elasticities of variable input demands and output s...

This paper attempts to conduct an empirical study for detecting misspecification errors and rational bubbles in the residential housing markets of Hong Kong. We focus on a fundamental model that defines market fundamental price as a sum of the expected present value of rental income, discounted at a constant rate of return. Testable implications for detecting misspecification errors and/or price bubbles are explored through the flow and stock approaches. In addition, the paper attempts to identify the amount of misspecification and bubble components in the property price data of Hong Kong.

In contrast with developed countries, coal is the major energy source of China. In view of its importance, this paper attempts to analyse and forecast the country's demand for coal as it moves towards the next century. To do this, we have applied three different methods to contrast their performances in fitting the Chinese data: Engle-Granger's error correction model, Hendry's error correction model and Hendry's general-to-specific approach. It is found that the Engle-Granger approach outperforms the other two in terms of having the smallest ex post forecast errors. Using the Engle-Granger approach, the model predicts that the Chinese economy will experience a 5% shortage in the year 2000.

In this paper we use a cointegration and vector error-correction model to analyze the energy consumption behavior of China. Informulating a model Z suitable to China, it is found that not only conventional variables such as energy price and income are important, but the share of heavy industry output in the national income is also a significant factor. With the help of a vector error-correction model, we predict that China will need approximately 1.42 billion tons of standard coal equivalent by the end of this century, representing a 44 percent increase compared with 1990.

Purpose – Church giving and attendance are two important indicators of church health and performance. In the literature, they are usually understood to be simultaneously determined. The purpose of this paper is to estimate if there a sustainable church congregation size using Wintrobe’s (1998) dictatorship model. The authors want to examine the impact of youth and adult ministry as well. Design/methodology/approach – Using the data collected from among Canadian Baptist churches in Eastern Canada, this study investigates the factors affecting the level of the two indicators by the panel-instrumental variable technique. Applying Wintrobe’s (1998) political economy model on dictatorship, the equilibrium level of worship attendance and giving is predicted. Findings – Through various simulation exercises, the actual church congregation sizes is approximately 50 percent of the predicted value, implying inefficiency and misallocation of church resources. The paper concludes with insights on effective ways church leaders can allocate scarce resources to promote growth within churches. Originality/value – The authors are the only researchers getting the permission from the Atlantic Canada Baptist Convention to use their mega data set on church giving and congregation sizes as per the authors’ knowledge. The authors are also applying a theoretical model on dictatorship to religious/not for profits organizations.