Browsing by Author "Islam, Shahidul"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    A game-theoretic analysis of Canada’s entry for LNG exports in the Asia-Pacific market
    (2023) Ghosh, Subhadip; Islam, Shahidul
    The import demand for energy resources, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), has been steadily increasing in the Asia-Pacific region. Australia, the Middle East (Qatar), the Russian Federation, and the U.S. are the major players who compete strategically to capture this ever-growing market for LNG. The objective of this paper is to examine the potential for Canada’s entry into this market as another LNG exporter and what impact that can have on the existing suppliers. Using a game-theoretic LNG export competition model, we explore the conditions under which Canada can make a profitable entry. We also investigate the effect of Canada’s entry on the profitability of the four incumbent exporters. Employing a multi-leader Stackelberg model, we found that Canada’s entry could be a Pareto superior outcome under certain conditions because it benefits all competing firms and consumers. Further, Canada’s entry into the LNG export market always helps the low-cost incumbent firms by increasing their output and profit. However, the high-cost incumbent firms’ output falls, while their profit may increase or decrease depending on the unit cost and market size parameters. With differential export costs between Canada and the U.S., the latter has an incentive to act strategically to affect the entrance of the former.
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    Block grants and education expenditure
    (2016) Ferede, Ergete; Islam, Shahidul
    This article investigates the effects of block grants on education expenditures using panel data from Canadian provinces over the period 1982 to 2008. Our main empirical identification strategy relies on the use of the allocation formula for equalization grant—a component of the Canadian federal block grant. The results indicate that block grants have stimulative effects on provincial education expenditure. Our results suggest that a one dollar increase in per capita federal grants is associated with an increase in per capita education expenditure of about Can$0.21, which is roughly proportional to the share of education in total provincial spending. The results are robust to various sensitivity checks.
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    Data on retail price differential between organic and conventional foods
    (2019) Islam, Shahidul; Colonescu, Constantin
    The objective of this dataset is to find out retail price differences between organic and conventional food items. Organic foods are often considered healthier and better quality than conventional foods and are sold at premium prices. However, first-hand data on retail price levels to substantiate that argument is meager. With a view to filling up that gap, we collected retail prices for pairs of conventional and organic food items in three supermarket chains (Save On Foods, Superstore, and Sobeys) in Edmonton, Alberta, for seven consecutive weeks in spring 2011. We find that the average prices significantly vary among supermarkets and among different food groups. Organic food prices show a different pattern than conventional food prices.
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    Determinants of willingness to pay for organic foods: evidence from a primary survey of conventional consumers
    (2018) Islam, Shahidul
    This study explores why conventional consumers choose to pay premium prices for organic foods. A structured interview was conducted with 750 randomly selected shoppers to collect consumers’ perception, purchasing decision and WTP for organic foods. Results suggest that the perception, purchase decision and WTP are highly related. Common attributes motivating consumers to pay higher prices are: organic foods are healthier, tastier, better quality and have more human touch than conventional foods. These variables are important as a group and not as an individual as these are linked in consumer’s perception, purchasing decision and WTP.
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    Fifty years of agricultural development in Bangladesh: a comparison with India and Pakistan
    (2022) Islam, Shahidul; Ghosh, Subhadip; Podder, Mohua
    Since its independence in 1971, Bangladesh has made remarkable economic progress, evolving from a low-income to a lower-middle-income country. Its agricultural sector remains essential for the economy and food and nutrition requirements despite having a gradually declining share of GDP and employment. This paper examines various aspects of the agricultural growth of Bangladesh using different forms of analysis, including the use of a log-linear Cobb–Douglas production function. Empirical models include the ordinary least-squares method for investigating the agricultural growth in Bangladesh since independence and the generalized least square method for the cross-country comparison with India and Pakistan. We observe that Bangladesh underwent a typical sectoral transformation in employment and GDP growth, transferring labor from the low-productive agriculture sector to the high-productive manufacturing and service sectors. Such a transformation was due to the declining labor demand in the agriculture sector because of growing mechanization as well as the increased labor demand from rural off-farm activities and manufacturing and service sectors, resulting in enhanced rural wages and standard of living. The agriculture sector of Bangladesh, despite its continuously declining contribution to GDP, remains vital for sustained food and nutrition security and economic growth. The low values of calculated output elasticities from our regression results imply a limited growth possibility with the existing technology. Despite this and several other constraints, the agriculture sector has potential for growth by developing and adopting appropriate technology and realizing efficiency gains from proper input and output mixes. These need to be supported by appropriate policies and institutions. As land is a major constraint, less land-intensive subsectors like livestock and poultry should also be explored among the possible policy recommendations.
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    Impact of lottery incentive on response rate and data quality: evidence from organic food consumption survey of conventional shoppers
    (2021) Islam, Shahidul
    Incentives of different forms and at different stages are used for motivating people to participate in human subject research. Although it is widely accepted that incentives, in general, play a positive role in increasing participation rate and are widely used, there are exceptions that they may not increase response rate and may even contaminate the quality of data resulting in poor research findings. This study examines the impact of pre- and post-disclosed committed lottery incentives on response rate and data quality in a face-to-face survey of conventional consumers for organic food consumption. A survey was conducted at the premises of four conventional grocery stores in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Half of the randomly approached and agreed upon respondents were disclosed the lottery incentives at the beginning, and the rest half were told at the end. Data quality was measured using three indicators – edit occurrences, imputation occurrences, and proportion of incomplete answers. Our study finds little difference in response rate between pre- and post-disclosed committed lottery payments. However, the useability of incomplete questionnaires among post-disclosed lottery was significantly higher than those of pre-disclosed. Our study also shows that people with likings of organic food and buying organic food more frequently are likely to offer a better quality of information.
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    Millets for food and nutrition security in India: determinants and policy implications
    (2021) Islam, Shahidul; Manaloor, Varghese
    Background: Food security has been a target in India since its independence; the primary aim of food security is to ensure enough staple food for the entire population. Although substantial progress was made through the adoption of green revolution (GR) technologies and implementation of the food public distribution system (PDS), desirable food and nutrition security, as defined by the food and agriculture organization (FAO), is far from being realized. This paper scrutinized the potential contribution of millets in achieving food and nutrition security in India. Methods: The present study was conducted based on the secondary data obtained from FAO Corporate Statistical Database and published literature on food and nutrition security. The impact of the GR technologies and the PDS on food and nutrition security was examined using 58 years of acreage, production, and yield of rice, wheat, and millet, as well as comprehensive information on relevant issues including climate. Results: Both GR technologies and PDS unduly favored two principal crops, namely rice and wheat, marginalizing all other crops cultivated for thousands of years to meet the food and nutrition requirement of mostly developing countries including India. Millets constitute one such neglected group of crops in India, which have tremendous potential for contributing to food and nutrition security. Conclusions: Millets are to be included in the PDS alongside rice and wheat so that they receive an appropriate Minimum Price Support. Appropriate implementation of relevant regulations, continued research and development, and adequate support for cultivation and marketing of millets are necessary in this regard.
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    Teaching introductory economics to students of different majors: challenges and opportunities
    (2012) Islam, Shahidul; Manaloor, Varghese
    Introductory economics courses have a diverse pool of students with varied objectives. The programs offering introductory economics also have specific objectives in mind. This variation deserves attention to find appropriate content, teaching method and resources. This paper explores (i) the appropriateness of content, breadth and depth of economic concept provided to different disciplines, (ii) mode of delivery and teaching techniques with varying objectives and (iii) the suitability of resource materials. It is concluded that different programs need to adapt the content and teaching techniques to satisfy student needs, and a collaborative approach led by the economics instructor would be the way to go.
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    Trends and dynamics of inequality in Alberta
    (2018) Al-Zyoud, Hussein; Islam, Shahidul; Leblanc, Carolyn
    The gender wage gap has been a subject of conversation for decades. Over the past 30 years, many authors have examined the gender wage gap and income inequality in Canada, but few have investigated the unique circumstances which impact the various regions of the nation. Using the Canadian Labour Force Survey data for the period 1976–2004, this study examines the trends in earnings of males and females in Alberta, Canada by investigating the impact of differences in productivity, education, age, and industry on the gender wage gap. Previous literature suggests that differences in labour force participation rate, education level, skill achievement, age, and type of industry are the key variables for explaining gender income differences in employment. These variables are investigated using a linear regression to determine impact on the gender wage gap. Results suggest that the gender wage gap increases due to differing productivity levels and increases in relation to changes in employment participation of females aged 25–44 years. Two interesting results were identified from the data of this study. Specifically, an increase of women in the goods producing industry reduced the gender wage gap for that population; while, an increase of women in the service industry resulted in an increase of the gender wage gap. These findings are significant for understanding how legislation regarding wage, work week, and social benefits impact the gender wage gap.