The research analyses the determinants of FDI inflow in Asia for the period 1993-2013 and is based on the fixed effect model. The macroeconomic factors included are lending rate, GDP per capita, trade openness, debt, exchange rate, money supply and unemployment rate. The country specific factors included are adult literacy rate, gross fixed capital formation, domestic credit provided by the financial sector, environmental pollution and natural resources rents. The study applies panel unit root tests, panel cointegration analysis and panel regression analysis based on the fixed effect model to ascertain the significance of macroeconomic and country specific factors on FDI inflow in Asia. The study found that lending rate, trade openness and money supply have a positive significance to FDI per capita whereas debt, unemployment rate and environmental pollution have a negative significance to FDI per capita.

Abstract-Malaysia's national minimum wages were announced on 30 April 2012, and are enforced in stages. The Minimum Wage Order 2012 was gazetted on 16 July, 2012 which enforce the implementation of the minimum wage rates on 1 January, 2013 for employers with more than five workers and on 1 July, 2013 for employers employing five and less workers, excluding firms that provide professional services classified under the Malaysian Standard Classification of Occupation (MASCO). Despite the fact that the real labour productivity of Malaysia grew faster at 6.7 per cent between 2000 and 2008 compared to a mere 2.6 per cent increase in average wages, many employers still object to its implementation. This paper shed more light to the concept behind a statutory minimum wage policy and its application in the case of Malaysia. Its rationale and justification are reviewed and analysed. The objectives determined the dimensions, coverage and criteria considered in setting the minimum wages. The objectives of a minimum wages policy include addressing efficiency issues in labour markets, promoting productivity growth and reducing poverty or inequality. While the Malaysian government's concern to improve the living standards of the poor and vulnerable is valid and merit serious attention, it is not the most appropriate instrument to address poverty and inequality. Besides that, many of the poor people are unemployed or employed in the informal sector where wages are not binding. Hence, the main justification for introducing and implementing a minimum wage policy in Malaysia would be to address inefficiencies in the labour markets that preclude competition, which can lead to the suppression of wages, especially the low-skilled and low-income workers. Comparisons are made among countries that have implemented the statutory minimum wages policy. This will help many to understand the common and different features that Malaysia has with them.

Empirical evidence linking exports and productivity growth has been mixed and inconclusive. This study re-examines the direction of the causality between them for Malaysian industries by using the error-correction mechanism and Granger causality models. In a panel of 63 manufacturing industries, for the period of 1981 to 1999, it is found that these industries support the export-led growth and the growth-driven export hypotheses. A further look into the results indicates that there are possibilities of indirect causalities between productivity growth and export through size and capital intensity, as both exports and labor productivity have bidirectional causality with size and capital intensity.

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This study analyzes the influence of macroeconomic factors and country-specific factors on foreign direct investment of three countries: China, Singapore, and Malaysia. The macroeconomic factors included are the inflation rate, interest rate, gross domestic product, trade openness, debt, exchange rate, domestic money, and unemployment. The country-specific factors are labor quality, infrastructure, financial resources, stock market performance, environment, natural resources, and political risk. The study applies unit root tests and regression analysis to ascertain the significance of the macroeconomic and country-specific factors on foreign direct investment of each country. All the macroeconomic factors and country-specific factors are transformed to ensure that there will be no unit root problem. The period of study for each country is from 1980 to 2011. The regression analysis is employed based on the ordinary least square (OLS) method. The study found that unemployment, infrastructure, financial resources, and the stock market performance influence the inflow of FDI.