International Economic Studies

China has become the world’s high-growth and second largest economy since its socialist- orientation opening-up reforms in the early 1980s. Due also to its geographical, cultural and historical attractions, the country has become the world’s fourth largest tourism destination and tenth largest tourism earner in 2018 according to the World Tourist Organization. The important role played by tourism in the Chinese economy has been officially recognized by China’s National Development and Reform Commission as a strategic pillar industry development priority. In spite of these, rigorous policy-related studies on China’s tourism have been limited. The paper is a serious econometric study to investigate the determination of China’s tourism and its contribution to the country during the period 1996-2018 for credible data-based policy analysis.  Significantly, the study is carried out appropriately from an economic integration (globalization) growth framework, which is also the expenditure (as opposed to production or income) perspective of the United Nations System of National Accounts 1998/2003. Specifically, a multi-simultaneous equation model of endogenous growth and China’s tourism determination is developed. The model innovatively incorporates gravity theory and classical consumer demand contributors, Ironmonger-Lancaster new commodity attributes and Johansen policy impact add- and sub-factors (i.e., reforms and crises) explicitly in its economic integration structure. The model is then estimated by system methods with official economic and tourism 1996-2018 data from the World Tourism Organization and international databases. The research will contribute to advances in the literature and the findings provide useful insights and appropriate and much needed evidence-based inputs on the determination and contributors of tourism to China’s growth. Recommendations will be provided to key stake-holders such as tourism policy-makers, academic researchers, business analysts and tourism operators for national strategic policy analysis and practical implementation. JEL Classification: C54, F15, F62, Z32, Z38

This paper examines the gap between marginal cost and the price of 22 manufacturing industries in Iran at ISIC 2-digit level and 32 industries at a 3-digit level during 1995-2015 compared to selected countries. It examines the gap by using the Hall-Roeger model. We found that in garments, basic chemicals, non-metallic mining, and refined petroleum products, the price and marginal cost difference are high and in tobacco industries are low. In 3 out of 22 industries at ISIC 2- digit level and in 11 out of 32 industries at 3-digit level, Iranian industries have higher markups and a significant gap between price and marginal cost than Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Also from 32 industries in ISIC 3-digit level and 22 industries in 2-digit level, Iran has the lowest mark-up in the tobacco industry with 1.03 and in chemical products with 2,33, has the highest markup. JEL Classification:   , , 

As one of the most important components of the financial market, the stock market plays a significant role in facilitating the transfer of financial resources to the productive sector; therefore, identifying the factors that influence this market and the response of this market to shocks that occur has always attracted the interest of policymakers and analysts. The present study focuses on the response of stock market returns of major oil-importing countries to the oil price shock, oil supply shock, and aggregate demand shock over the period 2010-2019 using the Panel Vector Autoregressive (PVAR) method. Based on the extracted impulse response functions (IRFs), the response of the stock market index to the oil price shock and the oil supply shock is negative, while the response of the stock market index to the aggregate demand shock is generally positive. The results of variance analysis show that the oil price shock, oil supply shock, and aggregate demand shock have the largest impact on the fluctuations of the stock market index, and indicate the selected oil-importing countries have taken measures to hedge their stock market against the oil price shock during the crisis period. JEL Classification: C58, E44, G10, Q43

The present study aimed to answer the question of how personalization affects customer loyalty with the moderating role of technology experience consistency in the field of the e-banking industry in Iran. To achieve this goal, the statistical population of active users of e-banking of Refah Kargaran Bank including physicians, social security retirees, and employees working in Tabriz branches were determined and 502 customers were selected by the random sampling method. Content, convergent, and divergent validity, as well as the reliability of the questionnaire, have been confirmed by methods such as Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability. Furthermore, structural equation modeling techniques with AMOS software have been used to test the research hypotheses. Based on research findings, personalization has a positive effect on performance expectancy, effort expectancy, relationship quality, and intention to use e-banking services. The present study indicates that personalization is the main intention for using e-banking services that should be given special attention because it can be considered a link between customers’ attitudes and behavior in e-banking services. This model helps electronic banking managers to identify essential points of attitude that lead to the emergence of using electronic banking services behavior and outlines better guidance for the electronic banking industry.   JEL Classification: G21, L84, M31.

According to the literature, macroeconomic variables have significant effects on financial markets. In addition to investors and traders in these markets, researchers have also paid special attention and sensitivity to these changes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the macro-structural determinants affecting the price index of the Tehran Stock Exchange in the period 1991-2019. To this purpose, the fully modified ordinary least squares estimator (FMOLS) and the Hudrick Prescott filter (HP) were used. Based on the estimation results of the econometric model, economic growth, government budget deficit, and exchange rate have had positive and significant effects on the total price index of the Tehran Stock Exchange, while negative effects on money supply (liquidity) and oil revenue uncertainty index (extracted by HP filter). Economic growth has had a significant effect on the total price index of the Tehran Stock Exchange resulting in negative returns. JEL Classification: G12, C50, C22, E44

Given that changes in interest rates can only partly empower financial authorities to enhance the country’s economy, there has been a major shift toward outcomes of fiscal policies, particularly after the big financial crises and the global recession. Thus, the government’s spending plans are implemented to motivate the economy. The present study aims to investigate government expenditure shocks on consumption spending, private investment, and financial cycles during 2005-2018 using the Structural Vector Auto Regression (SVAR) model. The findings indicate that there is no significant relationship between government expenditure shocks and consumption spending and private investment. The findings show a crowding out effect between government spending shock and the private sector in Iran. However, you can see a positive relationship between GDP and the private sector. Moreover, these shocks can lead to a positive impact on GDP accordingly. However, government expenditure shocks may only have short-term effects on business cycles because of the instabilities and uncertainties in government spending. JEL Classification: H11, H3, H5 .