An empirical testing of informational efficiency in Bangladesh capital market

We investigate how efficiently the stock market participants incorporate the information contained in money supply changes into stock prices in an emerging economy like Bangladesh. Of particular interest is to test how the changes in monetary aggregates directly affect the stock prices through asset changes and indirectly through their effects on real economic activity. We have considered the monthly series of the real stock returns (P) and examine the relationship between stock returns and monetary aggregates from 1980 to 2008. We also include the exchange rate of US dollar against Bangladeshi Taka and industrial production index. The presence of cointegration between stock prices and monetary aggregates indicate long-run predictability of the Bangladesh stock market. The short-run dynamics between monetary aggregates and real stock return, relied on theoretically motivated long-run restrictions, are analyzed using an empirical structural VAR model. The dynamic response of the real stock returns to changes in macroeconomic variables (such as broad money supply, exchange rates), particularly its lagged responses to real economic activity generates inefficiency in the Dhaka Stock Exchange. The findings of this article indicate that informational inefficiency exists in the stock market of Bangladesh due to the presence of unidirectional causality. To be efficient, the infrastructure of the SEC should be modernized, revaluation of the net asset value of the companies should be audited by the affiliated firms of the SEC, demutualization should be done as early as possible, private placement, issue of preference share and book building methods must be under rule based. Insider trading should be strictly prohibited.     

Can Demographic Characteristics Influence Perception on Internal Control System？

The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid construct for internal control system and to assess the association between respondents＇ demographic factors and their perception on internal control system. The fraud triangle theory underpins the development of the survey instrument. Survey questionnaires were administered to 553 respondents out of which 334 were usable responses in the Malaysian financial sector, using face to face data collection procedure. Cochran＇s method was adopted for sample size determination. The confirmatory factor analysis （chi square = 3.09; AGFI = 0.81; NFI = 0.89; TLI = 0.91; CFI = 0.92; RMSEA = 0.08）, normality （skewness 〈 1.50） and reliability （composite reliability = 0.95; average variance extracted = 0.46） results were convincing. It was found that respondents＇ age （p = 0.02） and working experience （p = 0.01） had significant bearings toward their perception on internal control system within the Malaysian financial sector.     

recovering the past in Jodhaa Akbar: masculinities,femininities and cultural politics in Bombay cinema

As the dominant media institution in South Asia, Bombay cinema's cultural production of narratives, images and spectacle plays a crucial role in the effort to consolidate and project definitions of the nation. Moreover, such images are exported to the South Asian diaspora worldwide as part of the processes associated with the globalized cultural product referred to as Bollywood. This discussion examines the production and reception of the 2008 film Jodhaa Akbar both as process and product of complex historical, cultural and political nation-building projects in which gender plays a central role.     

Suicide on the Indian subcontinent

The Indian subcontinent comprises eight countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bhutan, and the Maldives) and a collective population of more than 1.3 billion people. 10% of the world's suicides (more than 100,000 people) take place in just three of these countries, viz. India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. There is very little information on suicides from the other four countries. Some differences from suicides in Western countries include the high use of organophosphate insecticides, larger numbers of married women, fewer elderly subjects, and interpersonal relationship problems and life events as important causative factors. There is need for more and better information regarding suicide in the countries of the Indian subcontinent. In particular, studies must address culture-specific risk factors associated with suicide in these countries. The prevention of this important public health problem in an area of the world with myriad socio-economic problems, meager resources, and stigmatization of mental illness poses a formidable challenge to mental health professionals, policy makers, and governments of these countries.     

Research capacity building through twinning: experiences from a Danish–Malaysian twinning project

Twinning and its contribution to institutional capacity building in developing countries is the theme of an ongoing debate in Public Administration and Development. Unlike earlier contributions this article focuses on twinning in the context of research capacity enhancement. Using a 3 year Danish–Malaysian twinning research project as case our objective is to evaluate whether the general premises regarding a twinning project, as formulated by the Danish Development Cooperation Agency (Danida), appropriately support the twinning ambitions when the capacities in focus concern research. Besides institutional capacity building, twinning is expected to favour local ownership, involvement of the Danish resource base and continuing of cooperation after termination of funding. From 21 semi‐structured interviews with project participants it was found that although new research capacities had been gained, the prospects on continued cooperation are rather discouraging, both sides pointing to the lack of truly joint research experiences as the main reason. To care for this important incentive, the twinning premises are recommended to be modified to allow for the Northern resource base to advance its own research, and for Southern partner to demonstrate in‐house research capacities. Further, the North–South balance in project management needs to be more equal. This apart, the twinning premises appear sound. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

New challenges for a post‐Cold War Japan

Najmul Saqib Khan was Pakistan's ambassador to Japan from 1985 to 1988. He says of Japan, “The country made a profound and lasting impact on me. The economic achievements of a resource‐poor country, the retention of cultural identity by a synthesis of tradition and modernity, and the innovativeness and communitarian values of Japanese society were genuinely impressive. Japan showed a virtually untapped potential to play a more active and independent role in the world.” Khan subsequently wrote a book that distilled the lessons that Southwest Asia could learn from Japan.’ He argued that countries undergoing modernization should shed their elitism and concentrate on attaining a high standard of capability for the average citizen. In this essay, he analyzes the challenges facing Japan in the post‐Cold War era.     

Politics of administrative reform and reorganization in Bangladesh

The present military government in Bangladesh has implemented a number of major administrative reform and reorganization measures. The government claims that effectuation of such measures has led to the decentralization of power and authority to the grass-root level ensuring increasing popular participation in administration; the achievement of cost-effectiveness by reducing the number of ministries, divisions and personnel from the public pay roll and by quickening of the pace of decision-making due to elimination of redundant bureaucratic layers. But the implementation, in reality, has contributed among other things to the legitimization and strengthening of the military government, and a weakening of the democratically organized political opposition. It also enables generalist civil servants to preserve, and to some extent strengthen, their position within the civil service system.     

C. Reviews and notes: bibliographies and works of reference

i. ISLAMIC BOOK REVIEW INDEX. Compiled by Wolfgang H. Behn Berlin, Adiyok. Vol.2, 1983, pp.239; Vol.3, 1984, pp.234. Each DM 60.

ii. L'ORIENT DES PROVENÇAUX DMNS L'HISTOIRE. Marseille, Archives Departementales, Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie, 1982. pp.472.

iii. TUNISIA. By Allan M. Findlay, Anne M.Findlay & R.I.Lawless. (World Bibliographical Series, 33). Oxford & Santa Barbara, Clio Press, 1982. pp.xxviii, 251, map. £28.

iv. INDEX ISLAMICUS 1976–1980. Part 1: ARTICLES, compiled by J.D.Pearson. Part 2: MONOGRAPHS, compiled by J.D.Pearson & Wolfgang BEHN London, Mansell, 1983. 2 vols. pp.xliii, 539, xii, 348. Pt.1 £45; Pt.2 £30.

v. EXPOSITION: LETTRES ET VISAGES DU LIBAN ET DE L'ORIENT, organisée par PHILIPPE DUVOLLET avec la collaboration de la Délégation Permanente du Liban auprès de l'UNESCO. Paris, AGECOOP, 1983. pp.137.

vi. DAS ARABISCHE BUCH: THE ARAB BOOK. EINE AUSSTELLUNG ARABISCHER HANDSCHRIFTEN DER CHESTER BEATTY LIBRARY, DUBLIN...AUS ANLASS DES EURO‐ARABISCHEN DIALOGES, KULTURELLES SYMPOSIUM 1983: AN EXHIBITION OF ARABIC MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE CHESTER BEATYY LIBRARY, DUBLIN...ON THE OCCASION OF THE EURO‐ARAB DIALOGUE, CULTURAL SYMPOSIUM APRIL 1983. By David James. Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, 1983. pp.34.

vii. SAUDI MEDICAL BIBLIOGRAPHY. By M.Monir Madkour and Aida J. Kudwah. Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone, 1983. Vol.I, 1887–1980, pp.284, £35.00; Vol.II, 1981 & 1982, pp.269, £30.00.

viii. LUCHTMANS & BRILL: DRIEHONDERD JAAR UTTGEVERS EN DRUKKERS IN LEIDEN 1683–1983: CATALOGUS VAN DE TENTOONSTELLING GEHOUDEN VAN l SEPTEMBER TOT 1 OKTOBER 1983 IN BET GEMEENTE‐ARCHIEF TE LEIDEN. Leiden, Brill, 1983. pp.74. Plates & illustrations.

ix. PHILOLOGIA ORIENTALIS: A DESCRIPTION OF BOOKS ILLUSTRATING THE STUDY AND PRINTING OF ORIENTAL LANGUAGES IN EUROPE. II. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. (Catalogue 524.) Leiden, Brill, 1983. pp.220. Facsimiles & type‐specimens.

x. ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS IN EGYPT, PAKISTAN AND IRAN: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY. By Asaf Hussain. London, Mansell, 1983. pp.xiv, 168. £16.50.

xi. THE SUBLIME QUR'AN AND ORIENTALISM. By Mohammad Khalifa. London, Longman, 1983. pp.xviii, 262. £11.95.

xii. THE UNIVERSALITY OF ISLAM: a REFUTATION OF HOSTILE CRITICISM By ORIENTALISTS. By Nur‐Ud‐Din Muneer. London, London Mosque, 1983. pp.iv, 26.

xiii. ISLAMIC STUDIES, ORIENTALISTS AND MUSLIM SCHOLARS. By S.Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi. Translated by Mohiuddin Ahmad. Lucknow, Academy of Islamic Research and Publications, 1983. pp.11, 64. Indian Rs.6.

xiv. FAHARIS MAKHTUTAT AL‐KHIZANA AL‐HASANIYYA HASABA ARQAMI‐HA ‘ALA AL‐RUFUF (1). Tasnif MUHAMMAD AL‐MANUUNI. Rabat, al‐Matba'a al‐Malakiyya, 1403/1983. pp.23 + 315.

xv. L'ÉGYPTIEN TEL QU'ON L'ÉCRIT: GLOSSAIRE ÉTABLI D'APRES UN CHOIX D'OEUVRES LITTÉRAIRES ÉGYPTIENNES CONTEMPORAINES. Compiled by Charles Vial. (Textes Arabes et Études Islamiques, Tome XVIII) Cairo, Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire, 1983. pp.xxiii, 382.

xvii. IMMIGRANTS, MINORITIES AND RACE RELATIONS: A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THESES AND DISSERTATIONS PRESENTED AT BRITISH AND IRISH UNIVERSITIES 1900–1981. By Victor F. Gilbert and Darshan Singh Tatla, with an introduction by Colin Holmes. London and New York, Mansell, 1984. pp.153. £13.50.

xviii. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: A BIBLIOGRAPHIC SURVEY. By Ali Banuazizi, with the assistance of Prouchestia Goodarzi. London and New York, Mansell Publishing Ltd., 1984. xviii, pp.248. £18.00.

xix. THE YEMENS. Compiled by G.Rex Smith. (World Bibliographical Series, 50). Oxford, Clio Press, 1984. pp.161, 1 map. Price £20.75.

xx. THE ROLE OF NATIONAL LIBRARIES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SAUDI ARABIA. By Abdulaziz Mohamed Al‐Nahari. London & New York, Mansell, 1984. pp.166. £18.50.