SEARCH ARTICLE

39 Pages : 392 - 405

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-II).39      10.31703/gssr.2021(VI-II).39      Published : Jun 2021

Do the Investment Distortions Affect the Performance of Non-financial Firms of Pakistan?

    The investment decisions are very important for investors as it directly affects the firm's future profitability and shareholder's wealth. Firm managers are involved in making inefficient investment decisions in imperfect capital markets. This study aims to examine how the inefficient investment decisions influence the firm performance after controlling for the financial factors. The two steps System Generalized method of moments is used to examine the impact of investment distortion on firm performance. The empirical analysis is based on unbalanced annual panel data set of a sample of 324 non-financial firms listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange for the period 2015 to 2017. The results show that investment distortion is negatively affecting the performance of non-financial firms in Pakistan; irrespective of the proxy used to measure the firm performance. These results support the information asymmetry theory and agency theory, which explains why managers are involved in making sub-optimal investment decisions at the cost of shareholders' wealth and why their inefficient investment decisions can damage the value of the firm.

    Agency Theory, Information Asymmetry, Investment Distortions, Performance
    (1) Sameen Aftab
    Lecturer, Faculty of Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
    (2) Faisal Rizwan
    Associate Professor, Faculty of Management Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
    (3) Abdul Rashid
    Professor, International Institute of Islamic Economics (IIIE), International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan.

13 Pages : 126 - 136

http://dx.doi.org/10.31703/gssr.2022(VII-II).13      10.31703/gssr.2022(VII-II).13      Published : Jun 2022

FDI and Wage Nexus: Evidence from the Manufacturing Sector of Pakistan

    Foreign capital inflows resulted in overall economic growth in many countries, but there are many concerns about its distributive effects,especially on fluctuating wages, which are still being investigated. The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment on domestic industry wages using micro-level data from Pakistan from 1996-97 to 2007-08. Foreign firms are expected to pay higher wages than that domestic firms in order to attract more labor; thus, if foreign and domestic firms compete in the same labor market, domestic firms would pay higher wages to recruit jobs, resulting in rising average domestic industry wages. The empirical analysis also shows that in Pakistan, FDI inflows raise industry wage premiums.The findings of the study are robust by the inclusion of various globalization and sector-related variables. To reap higher wages, Pakistan's government should promote FDI at the industry level.

    Foreign Direct Investment; Wage Premium; Manufacturing Sector; Pakistan
    (1) Qamer un-Nisa
    Ph.D. Scholar, Institute of Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (2) Jabbar Ul-Haq
    Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan.
    (3) Nazia Nazeer
    Assistant Professor, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.