Narrow Results

Trading in commodity derivatives on exchange platforms is an instrument to achieve price discovery and better price-risk management besides helping the macroeconomy with better resource allocation. In the 2008–2009 budget, the Indian government proposed to impose a commodity transaction tax (CTT) amounting to 0.017% of trading value. In this context, we examine the relationship between trading activity, volatility and transaction cost for five most traded commodities in India. Results suggest that there exists a negative relationship between transaction cost and liquidity and a positive relationship between transaction cost and volatility. Further, the results of structural model support the results of VAR analysis. Therefore, if the government imposes CTT, it would lead to higher volatility and lower trading activity affecting market efficiency and liquidity.

This paper investigates the link between stock market liquidity and firm value in an important emerging market, Vietnam. Specially, we examine this relationship using a sample of firms listed on the Ho Chi Minh City stock exchange for the period 2006–2014. We show that there is a negative relation between liquidity and firm value. This outcome is contrary to previous results for many developed countries. Further, we demonstrate that this result may be explained by differences in leverage effects and pricing-based theories, where stock liquidity influences firm performance via an illiquidity premium or mispricing.

A growing volume of studies indicate that the information asymmetry problem is a serious issue which significantly hinders stock market development. This problem is more pronounced in emerging markets with weak institutions. The domination of large shareholders in a firm might be a cause of information asymmetry because they are commonly believed to have access to private and value-relevant information. The current paper offers insight into the relationship between multiple large shareholder ownership and stock market information asymmetry in the context of Vietnam, an important emerging market. Employing fixed effects and GMM estimators for a panel data sample of firms listed on the Ho Chi Minh City stock exchange covering the period 2007–2015, the results suggest that the concentration of large shareholder ownership is positively and significantly associated with information asymmetry. This finding has strong implications for policy making process in promoting stock market development.

At the macro-level, whether US dollar (USD) spillover could sustain the prosperity and stability of international economic and financial systems should become a key basis for judging the rationality of the current USD standard international monetary system. As the main contributor to USD liquidity externalities, US Treasury securities have long been favored by major economies worldwide due to their perceived safety and reliability, and their yield should be a key indicator for measuring the effect of USD liquidity spillover and the rationality of the international monetary system. However, the discussion in previous studies concerning the efficiency of holding US Treasury securities on the microeconomic level is insufficient. This study considers the negative externality of asset allocation behavior when analyzing its rationality at the macro-level. According to the empirical results, we find a clear negative relationship between the efficiency and the risk of USD assets and the holding scale of USD foreign exchange reserves. This finding indicates the dilemma faced by major economies in managing international liquidity without a sound replacement for USD assets. We argue that the current USD standard monetary system needs to be reformed and diversified to optimize the benefit of liquidity holdings globally. An internationalized RMB could play a more important role on the global and regional stages in strengthening and reforming the current monetary ecosystem.

In view of the interaction between demand and supply shocks and the nature of the disparity in business cycles between Advanced Economies (AEs) and Emerging Market Economies (EMEs), we reinvigorate policy “silver bullets” that ascertain a sustainable growth revival in the aftermath of the COVID-19 shock. Using a novel business cycle dating algorithm, we identify up-cycle and down-cycle phases in India’s gross domestic product growth rate and use dynamic factor analysis using several high-frequency indicators for tracking private investment activity in India. On the demand side, our empirical results indicate that a boost to private investment can arrest a growth deceleration during a down-cycle, via consumption and output channels. We also observe that both the quantum and quality of public expenditure play an important role in arresting the growth deceleration. On the supply side, however, global supply chain disruptions could dampen the pace of investment during the post-COVID investment-led recovery. For both channels to work, credit offtake is necessary for a bank-dominated EME like India. Finally, despite low-capacity utilization rates, we draw several policy conclusions to jump-start economic activity levels.

G-20 originally a grouping of Finance Ministers under the aegis of IMF was elevated to the summit level and used quite effectively during the global financial and economic crisis of 2008–2009. Starting from the Seoul summit, G-20 leaders sought to make a transition from responding to a contingent situation to deal with the structural problems of the world economy. These included the problems of development, IMF reforms, international reserve currency and financial regulation. G-20 summit deliberations since then have not led to any significant progress in any of these areas. Objectives and policy measures agreed upon in almost all major areas of concern to G-20 are platitudinous in nature, having little operational significance. Moreover, they are couched in terms which makes it impossible to hold any government accountable for success or failure. G-20 has a very tenuous legal justification to play the role assigned to it. A vast majority of the members of the United Nations are outside it. Besides, given the composition of the G-20, emerging economies like India, China, and Brazil cannot in any effective manner that influence the outcome of G-20 deliberations. G-20 represents a significant institutionalization of the ongoing process of the erosion of the economic functions of the United Nations. In view of the above, interests of India, Brazil and other emerging economies can be best served through cooperation within the United Nations. However, the G-20 in its new role is firmly established and is likely to remain active in the near future. Therefore, a principal challenge for countries like India is to seek to reconcile their role in the wider forums of the United Nations with that in the G-20.