Central bank asset purchase programs in emerging market economies

We investigate the impact of Asset Purchase Programs by 14 EME central banks during COVID-19, finding a statistically significant effect in compressing bond spreads vis-à-vis the US. A counterfactual analysis shows that without APPs, EME bond spreads would have been higher. Country-specific VAR impulse response functions indicate that a shock imposed on asset purchases becomes persistent on bond spreads after around 5 – 10 days, with a peak effect of around 40 basis points. Persistent stabilizing effects are also found on exchange rates and capital flow volatility, while stock markets and inflation expectations are overall not affected by the APPs. © 2023 The Author(s)

Skill redefinition and classification, capitalism, and labour process theory of work: evidence from Thailand

Purpose: This paper aims to apply a mixed-methods approach to redefine essential work skill sets, propose components of these skill sets that are necessary for workers in the contexts of emerging market economies (EMEs), examine potential selection tools that should be applied across firms and explain implications for the labour process theory (LPT) of work. Design/methodology/approach: During the first phase of this study, qualitative data was collected from methods, including semi-structured interviews with human resources (HR) experts from the Personnel Management Association of Thailand, top and HR executives and managers of firms across industries in Thailand. Non-participant observations were made during the pre-interview, interview and post-interview stages. Analysis of archival documents and Web-based resources was then conducted. The authors used the qualitative data obtained from the first phase to develop survey instruments for conducting quantitative research during the second phase of this study. Findings: The empirical findings demonstrate that essential work skill sets are "soft skills” that help workers survive and thrive in the business arena in EMEs. These essential work skill sets have implications for the LPT of work in that they play an important role in transferring the power of negotiation from employers to workers in the labour market. Essential work skill sets here can be divided into eight skill domains: (1) ideation and system thinking, (2) information and digital literacy, (3) social skills with appreciation for diversity and inclusion, (4) communication and language, (5) creativity and innovation, (6) emotional quotient (EQ) for self-management and development, (7) growth/outward mindset and (8) cognitive skills for the job role. Within each essential work skill set, there are several skills that workers in the current world of work need to possess (42 skills in total). Additionally, potential selection tools include behavioural observation, behavioural-based interviews, STAR (Situation, Task, Action and Results) interviews, role plays, case studies and simulations, high-pressure interview questions, project assignments, assessment centres, in-depth interview questions and special methods, such as face reading and fingerprint reading. Top and HR managers across industries strongly agree that the eight essential work skill sets and 42 skills are necessary for workers to survive in the business arena in EMEs. They also strongly agree that talent selection tools, especially behavioural-based interviews, are used by their firms to select high-skilled job candidates in the labour market. Research limitations/implications: Because the eight essential skill sets proposed in this paper are based primarily on the qualitative data obtained from top/HR managers in firms across some industries, generalization to respondents across other industries or across other EMEs may be limited. It is possible that the context of other EMEs may be different from that of Thailand. In this regard, some of the essential work skill sets that are suitable in the case of Thailand may not be suitable in the case of other EMEs. Future studies should thus explore how institutional contexts of other countries/economies shape the definition of essential skill sets and their components, as well as potential selection tools that shall be applied to select high-skilled labour in those contexts. Practical implications: This paper provides practical implications for top managers and/or HR managers of firms across various industries in EMEs. In particular, managers should internally train and develop their employees/workers to possess the eight essential skill sets: (1) ideation and system thinking, (2) information and digital literacy, (3) social skills with appreciation for diversity and inclusion, (4) communication and language, (5) creativity and innovation, (6) EQ for self-management and development, (7) growth/outward mindset and (8) cognitive skills for the specific job role so that their employees/workers can survi e and thrive in the era of the brittleness, anxiety, non-linearity and incomprehensibility of the business world under pandemic conditions. Additionally, top managers and/or HR managers of these firms should apply the potential selection tools proposed in this paper to probe into job candidates' past experience and behaviours to better predict such candidates' success at work. In this regard, job candidates/workers should prepare themselves to possess these essential work skill sets so that they can be successful in the business arena and should understand potential selection tools that firms may apply to recruit and select them. Social implications: This paper provides social/policy implications for the government and/or relevant public agencies of Thailand and of other EMEs. These governments should encourage firms across industries to invest resources in training and developing their employees/workers to possess those essential work skill sets so that these employees/workers are industry-ready, leading to the alleviation of the problems of skill and mismatch in the labour market. Originality/value: This paper contributes to the prior literature on human resource management (HRM), the comparative institutional perspective on employment systems based on the varieties of capitalism (VoC) framework and the LPT of work in the following ways: first, this paper fills in the research gap in the field of HRM that calls for studies that explore how the COVID-19 pandemic shapes essential skill sets and skills development among workers within firms (Cooke et al., 2021). Second, this paper provides implications for the LPT of work regarding how essential work skill sets are likely to return the power of negotiation from employers to workers in EMEs during the current situation. Third, the VoC framework tends to focus on only two types of economies, liberal market economies and coordinated market economies. However, this paper examines essential work skill sets and potential screening tools in the context of the underresearched country of Thailand, an EME. In fact, the Thai labour market is quite different from that of other EMEs labour markets, as it is impacted by an aging workforce. This paper contributes to the literature on comparative institutional perspectives on employment systems as it redefines essential work skill sets, proposes various components of these skill sets among workers and examines potential selection tools that are applied across firms located in EMEs. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Currency hierarchy and financial globalization in emerging economies: how far does Riese’s critique of growth by external debt still hold?

How has financial globalization changed the nature of the external vulnerability of emerging economies? The authors first present an overview of the changes in international capital flows and cross-border stocks involving emerging economies from the 1970s to the COVID-19 crisis, and then identify relevant recent shifts in financial globalization. They depart from the critique of growth by debt strategies, put forward, among others, by Riese, and the concept of currency hierarchy. Their question is whether this critique still holds when one considers the main recent features of financial globalization. They find that Riese’s contributions are still relevant when analysing the external vulnerability of emerging-market economies (EMEs), even with caveats that stem from his oversimplified view of the financial sector. They conclude that financial vulnerability overall has not decreased, but rather has changed its nature and the channels through which it affects EMEs, becoming more complex. © 2022 The Author.

Time-varying volatility spillovers between real exchange rate and real commodity prices for emerging market economies

This study aims to investigate real effective exchange rates and real commodity prices volatility transmission among Mexico, Indonesia and Turkey. According to the results, there is a bidirectional causality relationship between precious metals and the real exchange rate. However, this relationship varies over time. Especially in times of crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the transfer of volatility disappears. Precious metals have a safe haven feature against the exchange rate. On the other hand, the reverse is not true. During the Covid period, the bilateral risk transfer between crude oil and exchange rate disappears. The crude oil and exchange rate have safe haven feature during the Covid-19 period. Only for Indonesia, there is risk transfer from oil to exchange rates.

The COVID-19 shock and long-term interest rates in emerging market economies.

Motivated by a divergent behavior of long-term sovereign bond yields across emerging market economies in the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we employ the Bayesian model averaging to uncover the country-specific factors that explain those differences. The most pronounced determinants of a country's vulnerability to the COVID-19 shock were: (a) low GDP dynamics and (b) high sensitivity of bond yields to VIX in the period preceding the pandemic. Our results speak to the role of growth fundamentals in building-up the exposure to crises in emerging markets. They also signify a persistent differentiation of emerging economies by international investors.