Sunday, January 31, 2021

Malaysia's Trade Performance, 2020

Malaysia's external trade performed fairly well in 2020 despite the pandemic. May 2021 be better.









Image from the Star.

Saturday, January 30, 2021

WolfWalkers - Apple TV

The trailer below. How long do you think it takes to produce this 2.03 minutes trailer? Amazing skills and creativity.




Graphic Designs Trend 2021 Part 1

Watch the video below (14.29 minutes). I especially like the creative illustration from China. 

Happy watching. Stay Safe.



Friday, January 29, 2021

Appy Pie AppMkr

Now you can create you own app for free using Appy Pie. Thanks to the Seminar I have attended. Let us learn a new skill today.

https://www.appypie.com/how-to-create-an-app#Step8






Image from the Internet.


Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Literasi Kewangan Bumiputera

Financial literacy is important nowadays, more so in the digital era. The article below (in Malay language) looks at the ASNB.

https://www.bernama.com/bm/tintaminda/news.php?id=1923530#abc






Image: Tinta Minda.

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Pros and Cons of Digital Currency

Excerpt:

"Central bank digital currencies

Pros
  • Address decline in use of cash, likely to accelerate amidst Covid-19 – help central banks maintain control over currency’s circulation and support financial inclusion
  • Challenge threat posed by cryptocurrency or other digital coins launched by private companies like Facebook’s Libra
  • Fast, efficient method of payment and exchange
Cons
  • Potential competition between central banks and commercial banks for consumer deposits, interest and lending
  • Questions over CBDC requiring central bank to undertake KYC/AML etc and other operational burdens usually handled by commercial banks
  • Necessary tradeoffs in technological infrastructure between security and efficiency"
https://www.finextra.com/the-long-read/37/the-pros-and-cons-of-cbdcs









Image: FinExtra

Sunday, January 24, 2021

Friday, January 22, 2021

Making an Epic Teaser


 If you are planning to produce a short teaser for your project, watch the 15-minutes video below. Use 'deep voice.'

Video-copilot - http://www.videocopilot.net/


Thursday, January 21, 2021

China is the Only Major Economy Reporting Positive Growth in 2020

Excerpt:

"The pandemic "dealt a much larger blow to the U.S. economy than to China's economy," the Nomura report said. "Time will tell, but in our view there is a high likelihood that 2026 will be the milestone at which China re-emerges as the world's largest economy."




Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Ohitorisama

Ohitorisama” refers to people living and doing things alone and “herbivore men” refers to men who have no interest in getting married or finding a girlfriend. In fact, Japan's “ohitorisama” market is much bigger than Korea's... This led to the development of the third phase of Japan's ohitorisama culture boom, - Internet.

The article below (in Malay, from Tinta Minda) talks about how the concept of 'Ohitorisama' helps Japanese survive Covid-19. The Japanese art of doing it alone. Alone together.  Interesting point of view.















Image: AP

Saturday, January 16, 2021

Wealth Effects and Macroeconomic Dynamics

An article written by Cooper and Dynan (2014). Excerpt:

"...a great deal of empirical research over the last 25 years has focused on the so‐called wealth effects – the impact of changes in wealth on household consumption and the overall macroeconomy. Such studies have used different types of data and frameworks to examine the relationship between wealth and spending, including macroeconomic time series, cross‐country comparisons, within‐country regional comparisons, household survey results, and credit bureau records. The existing literature also considers how the wealth effects vary across countries. Overall, the research has yielded some important findings about the nature of household wealth effects, but consensus has yet to be reached on many important issues."

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joes.12090







Image: Sage Publications - Smartonomics

Friday, January 15, 2021

Stock Market Wealth and Consumption

Article by James Poterba, 2000 published in Journal of Economic Perspectives. Complimentary of JSTOR.

https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.14.2.99







Image: Slide Share.

Image: Cartoon Stock


Thursday, January 7, 2021

Sukuk Amid the Pandemic

Excerpt:

"However, the sukuk market is more concentrated, smaller and less liquid than its conventional counterpart. In addition, the process for issuance remains relatively complex and time-consuming, and involves higher transaction costs.

As such, it is expected that the overall volume of issuance will be muted this year, even if a slight recovery follows on from the steep decline seen in recent months. S&P anticipates that the volume of issuance will reach $10bn in 2020, against the $162bn seen in 2019."




Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

On the Low Interest Rate - Mankiw

Excerpt:

"Several hypotheses might explain the decline in the natural rate of interest:
  • As income inequality has risen over the past few decades, resources have shifted from poorer households to richer ones. To the extent that the rich have higher propensities to save, more money flows into capital markets to fund investment.
  • The Chinese economy has grown rapidly in recent years, and China has a high saving rate. As this vast pool of savings flows into capital markets, interest rates around the world fall.
  • Events like the financial crisis of 2008 and the current pandemic are vivid reminders of how uncertain life is and may have increased people’s aversion to risk. Their increased precautionary saving and especially their greater demand for safe assets drive down interest rates.
  • Since the 1970s, average economic growth has slowed, perhaps because of a slower technological advance. A decline in growth reduces the demand for new capital investment, pushing down interest rates.
  • Old technologies, such as railroads and auto factories, required large capital investments. New technologies, like those developed in Silicon Valley, may be less capital-intensive. Reduced demand for capital lowers interest rates.
  • Some economists, most notably the New York University professor Thomas Philippon, have suggested that the economy is less competitive than it once was. Businesses with increasing market power not only raise their prices but also invest less. Again, reduced demand for capital puts downward pressure on interest rates."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/04/business/low-interest-rates-puzzle.html

I would propose another one. The rise of Islamic finance, where interest rate is forbidden.

Image from Internet.


Monday, January 4, 2021

Monetary-Fiscal Nexus Post-Pandemic


Monetary-Fiscal Nexus OR Fiscal-Monetary Nexus?

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2020/658202/IPOL_STU(2020)658202_EN.pdf

Saturday, January 2, 2021

Fiscal Multipliers and Growth Cycle

According to the article, fiscal policy in Malaysia is pro-cyclical, especially after the 1998 East Asian financial crisis (1981 to 2010 sample period)

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/3268/WPS5982.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y


“Rafiq, Sohrab; Zeufack, Albert. 2012. Fiscal Multipliers over the Growth Cycle : Evidence from Malaysia. Policy Research working paper; no. WPS 5982. World Bank. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/3268 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”


The Ringgit Rebound

As of 23 September 2024, the ringgit ringgit has risen more than 12% against the dollar this quarter, making it the best performing emerging...