My sincere thanks go to NTU for offering me the opportunity to stay and work in the beautiful campus, which no doubt will leave a pleasing memory in me for the rest of my life. I am tremendously grateful to the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Economics Division at NTU for all the amenable facilities and academic events that all contribute to the completion of my Ph.D. research while at NTU. The fulfillment of my Ph.D. research would be impossible without the guide and supervision from Professor Shahidur Rahman, whom I owe a special thank. I sincerely thank Professor Liu Yunhua and Professor Yothin Jinjarak for the constructive and helpful comments to my first draft. I am also deeply grateful to Professor Yothin Jinjarak and Professor Choy Keen Meng for the time I consulted them and their hints for developing my research ideas. Last but not least, I thank my family for all their love, support, and patience.