The Asian financial crisis of 1997~1998 was the catalyst for the movement toward regional cooperation between Asian countries, having triggered the common interests and vulnerabilities among the affected nations. As a result, policymakers have resorted to financial integration to unleash their potentials. Nevertheless, this approach is still in its infancy, largely underpinned by the heterogeneity in institutional and structural characteristics of the financial systems between countries. The authorities are cautious, as there is a trade-off between liquidity of capital markets and financial/economic stability. Considering these scenarios, the present study attempts to examine the dynamic relationship between financial integration and growth in Asian regions. Specifically, this study aims to investigate the financial-growth nexus pre-crisis (1980~1995) and post-crisis (1998~2015) as well as throughout the study period (1980~2015). The results of this study show a significant financial-growth relationship pre-crisis, but the impact wanes in the post-crisis and overall time periods. The results indicate to policymakers the heterogeneous characteristics of each country and to what extent financial integration should be emulated from their European counterparts.

Abstract:The aim of this paper is to investigate how efficient the performance of the Malaysian banking market is, using a data envelopment analysis approach, in the context of the increasing presence of foreign banks. Specifically, two measures of efficiency are constructed, cost and profit efficiency, by utilizing bank-level data from Malaysian commercial banks, over the period from 2003 to 2014. The results obtained show the domestic banks are more efficient than their foreign banking counterparts for both measures of efficiency. Next, the Lerner index approach was employed to measure competition and finally, Granger causality tests were undertaken to answer the question, does competition foster efficiency? The results of the causality tests support a positive effect of competition on the cost and profit efficiency of Malaysian banks. With regard to the financial liberalization, the findings imply that higher competitive pressure may offset the market power of individual banks; however, eventually it will result in efficiency gains for the Malaysian banks.

-This study investigates the determinants of carbon dioxide emissions in ASEAN+3 countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Japan and South Korea) during the period of 1991 to 2010. The methodologies employed in this study include the Im, Pesaran, and Shin Panel Unit Root test, the Pedroni (Engle-Granger based) Cointegration Test, and the Granger-Causality based on the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). Results from the panel unit root test show that all the variables are integrated of order one, I (1). For the cointegration test, the results indicate that there is a long relationship between carbon dioxide emissions, energy consumption, economic growth, urbanisation, trade openness, and transportation. The empirical results show that economic growth, energy consumption, and trade openness are the determinants of CO 2 emissions in ASEAN+3.

Purpose -The main purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the market structure and financial performance of Malaysian commercial banks over the period of 2000 to 2011 by testing the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) and efficient-structure (ESH) hypotheses. Design/methodology/approach -Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is employed to measure the efficiency of banks, while concentration ratio is used to assess the market structure of Malaysian banks. Next, utilizing the least squares method, both variables -market structure and efficiency of banksamong other explanatory variables (market share, operating expenses, loans ratio and size of banks) are regressed upon the dependent variable, namely financial performance of banks represented by return on asset (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and net interest margin (NIMTA). Findings -The concentration of Malaysian banking industry is at a declining trend; structurally speaking, Malaysian banks are more competitive due to less market concentration. In terms of efficiency, the DEA results reveal that Malaysian banks are operating below their capacity at 40 per cent of efficiency. Thus, Malaysian banks could reduce their utilization of inputs by 60 per cent to operate on the efficient frontier. Next, the results offer support to ESH, which implies that market concentration and banking efficiency determines the profitability performance of Malaysian commercial banks. Originality/value -Past studies on Malaysian banking sector had tended to focus either on measuring the performance or assessing the market structure of banks. Thus, this study attempts to fill the gap in the literature by testing the nexus between the market structure and the performance of banks.

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This paper aims to investigate the pro-poor tourism impact of the capacity building, stakeholders' support and infrastructure development on poverty alleviation. This study focused on Malay, Iban, Bidayuh, Chinese, Kelabit, Penan, Berawan and others local communities; draws upon a sample of 520 from the Kuching and Miri division of Sarawak, Malaysia. Quantitative primary data method is used, and the data analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) software. The findings showed the positive effect for capacity building on poverty alleviation (H1), stakeholders' support on poverty alleviation (H2) and infrastructure development on poverty alleviation (H3). This study makes a significant theoretical contribution to human development theory by investigating how pro-poor tourism impact rise wage, food, education, healthcare, voice and securities in humans' daily life. Furthermore, this study discussed several practical solutions for the local communities to benefit from pro-poor tourism. Especially on the formal and informal way of regular communication among the local government, private tourism organizations and semi-government tourism departments with local communities to increase the livelihood benefits. Contribution/ Originality: This study is one of few studies which have investigated pro-poor tourism along with Human Development theory. The empirical results show the capacity building, stakeholders' support and infrastructure development improves the well-being of local communities. 1. INTRODUCTION The definition of pro-poor tourism is referred as positioning of tourism growth to produce livelihood opportunities between tourism and impoverished people (Mowforth and Munt, 2016). Pro-poor tourism is an approach and it is not a type of tourism or product (Ashley et al., 2000). However, any type and size of tourism business such as volunteer tourism, philanthropic tourism, community-based tourism, cultural tourism, eco-tourism, rural tourism, responsible tourism, urban tourism, sustainable tourism, homestay, bed and breakfast, an urban hotel, tour operator, food and beverage provider, souvenir outlet and infrastructure developer can be categorized under pro-poor tourism (Mitchell and Ashley, 2010). Even though there are several types of tourism under the pro-poor tourism approach, the only objective pro-poor tourism has is to contribute the benefits perceived through tourism to the local community at any tourist destination. Therefore, capacity building, stakeholders' support, and infrastructure development plays an important role in increasing local peoples' well-being.