Macroeconomics Commons^™

The Bank Of Tanzania (Bot) As The Custodian Of The Tanzanian Economy: Opportunities And Challenges, Conrad John Masabo Mr.

Conrad John Masabo Mr.

When Tanzania embarked on fundamental transformation of its economy almost two decades ago one of the top agenda in the economic reforms was the need to overhaul the financial system. And in view of pivotal role it plays in the country’s economy, the banking sector was the first to undergo reforms. Implementation of the reforms followed recommendations of the Presidential Commission on the need to modernize the banking sector dubbed the Nyirabu Commission. The BOT Act of 1995 was a landmark in Tanzania’s monetary history by adopting a single policy objective, i.e. price stability and moving away from multiple-policy objectives. …

U.S. Monetary Policy: Qe3, Warren Coats

Warren Coats

The Federal Reserve’s latest round of quantitative easing (QE3) is not likely to help the U.S. economy’s recovery, which is already underway, but increases the risks of new asset bubbles and inflation.

Credit And Debt In Economic Theory: Which Way Forward?, Thorvald Grung Moe

Thorvald Grung Moe

Background paper for INET workshop on Debt and finance in economics in Waterloo, Toronto nov. 2012

Financial Liberalization And Saving In Turkey, Sumru G. Altug

SUMRU G ALTUG

No abstract provided.

Challenges Of Development In 21st Century By Dr. Ruby Ojha, Professor Vibhuti Patel

Professor Vibhuti Patel

This book makes a path-breaking contribution to encourage discourse on some of the most neglected areas in the mainstream economics. This scholarly contribution towards understanding of the macroeconomic parameters affecting development economics goes beyond economic history and examines wide range of contemporary development problems. The book provides up-to-date reference material for development economics, gender economics, International Trade and Economics of infrastructure. The scholar has examined wide range of contemporary concerns in development studies using prism of economics. She has touched specialised areas such as gender economics, environmental economics and inter-disciplinary work on social sector of the economy. International Trade and …

Decomposing The Sources Of Earnings Inequality: Assessing The Role Of Reallocation, Fredrik Andersson, Elizabeth Davis, Matthew Freedman, Julia Lane, Brian Mccall, L. Kristin Sandusky

Matthew Freedman

Demographic Transition In Resource Rich Countries: A Bonus Or A Curse?, Kjetil Bjorvatn, Mohammad Reza Farzanegan

Prof. Dr. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan

While East Asia benefited significantly from its demographic transition in the 1970s and 1980s, the youth wave that we currently observe in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has not had a similar impact on economic development. The present study argues that resource wealth is an important reason for understanding why. We develop a simple model highlighting how the income effect of increased labor supply may depend on resource rents, and provide empirical evidence that support the theoretical predictions. Using panel data covering the period from 1970–2006 for more than 120 countries, we find a negative interaction effect between …

Comparative Advantage, Scale Economy And Regional Specialization：An Empirical Analysis On China’S Industries, Zheng Lu, Xiang Deng

Zheng Lu (Chinese: 路征)

Current empirical studies on regional specialization mainly focused on measurement of China’s overall regional specialization level, while determinants of industrial geographical distribution, namely the regional specialization pattern, are just paid few attentions. This paper analyzed the regional specialization pattern empirically by employing statistical data of China two-digit industries from 1987 to 2007 through estimating a model which takes comparative advantage and scale economy as driven factors of industrial geographical concentration. Conclusions show that the overall regional specialization of Chinese industries increased between 1987 and 2007, however, it decreased obviously in 1990s. And, scale economy rather than comparative advantage arising from …

Flexibility At The Margin And Labor Market Volatility In Oecd Countries, Hector Sala, José Ignacio Silva, Manuel Toledo

José Ignacio Silva

We study the business cycle behavior of segmented labor markets with flexibility at the margin (e.g., just affecting fixed-term contracts). We present a matching model with temporary and permanent jobs where (i) there is a gap in the firing costs associated with these types of jobs, and (ii) there are restrictions in the creation and duration of fixed-term contracts. We show that a labor market with flexibility at the margin increases the unemployment volatility with respect to a fully regulated one. This analysis yields new insights into the interpretation of the recent volatility changes witnessed in the OECD area.

Ma Thesis - Migration And Development: The Development Impacts Of Short-Term Labour Migration Of Ni-Vanuatu Workers To New Zealand, Ronald R. Kumar

Dr Ronald R Kumar

The New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme is a New Zealand Government initiative that officially commenced in 2007. In this programme, five developing Pacific Island countries (PICs), namely Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, and Vanuatu – referred to as the kick start countries, participated in short-term labour migration. The objectives of this Scheme are at least two fold. Firstly, the scheme was initiated to address seasonal labour shortage in New Zealand and second, to give employment opportunity to selected PICs. Since 2007, the RSE Scheme has undergone significant changes primarily addressing issues and concerns that emerged along the way. …

Does Small And Medium Enterprises’ (Smes) Understand The Concept Of Intellectual Property Rights (Ip) On Their Business?:, Johansein L. Rutaihwa Mr.

Johansein Rutaihwa

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Treasury Auction Announcements On Interest Rates: 1990-1999, James Forest

James J Forest

In this study we examine the secondary-market response of U.S. Treasury interest rates to both the release of pre-auction auction supply announcements and post-auction details from U.S. Treasury auctions during the period of the 1990s. Rate changes are found to differ significantly on auction days. Pre-auction announcements of auction volumes are shown to affect rates significantly, in contrast with the findings of Wachtel and Young (1987) with respect to deficit announcements. We find that surprises in the release of bid-to-cover ratios affect Treasury rates significantly, while the surprises in the volume of noncompetitive bids appears to have little affect on …

The Effect Of Treasury Auction Announcements On Interest Rates: 1990-1999, James J. Forest

James J Forest

In this study we examine the secondary-market response of U.S. Treasury interest rates to both the release of pre-auction auction supply announcements and post-auction details from U.S. Treasury auctions during the period of the 1990s. Rate changes are found to differ significantly on auction days. Pre-auction announcements of auction volumes are shown to affect rates significantly, in contrast with the findings of Wachtel and Young (1987) with respect to deficit announcements. We find that surprises in the release of bid-to-cover ratios affect Treasury rates significantly, while the surprises in the volume of noncompetitive bids appears to have little affect on …

Income Inequality And Economic Incentives: Is There An Equity-Efficiency Tradeoff?, Lonnie K. Stevans

Lonnie K. Stevans

What is the basis and direction of relationship between income inequality and economic growth? The equity versus efficiency dictum which predicts a positive relationship between inequality, capital formation, and real GDP growth—emphasizes the importance of economic incentives. Subsequently, this was challenged by the incomplete markets and political outcomes theories, because of increasing empirical evidence of an inverse relationship between income inequality and economic growth. In this paper, a further explanation of the basis and nature of the inequality–capital–growth relationship is presented, which emphasizes the divergence between savings and investment. For the United States, over the period 1970–2006, we have found …

Information Insensitive Securities: The Benefits Of Central Counterparties, David C. Mills Jr, Francesca Carapella

David C Mills Jr

This paper combines the idea that securities should be information insensitive in order to be liquid, with the idea that an infrastructure which performs clearing of trades, and offers additional services to the counterparties, facilitates securities to be liquid. In a recent paper, Gorton et al.\cite{DGH} argue that securities that serve as a transaction medium should be the least information-sensitive, and derive sufficient conditions for such security to be debt. Also, a few recent papers\footnote{Acharya and Bisin \cite{AB}, Duffie and Zhu \cite{DuffieZhu} and Koeppl and Monnet \cite{KoepplMonnet} among others.} emphasize the role of a Central Counterparty (CCP) in internalizing externalities …

Default Risk And Collateral In The Absence Of Commitment, David C. Mills, Robert R. Reed

David C Mills Jr

Default risk is an important concern for lenders and is a main reason they require borrowers to pledge collateral. There are two reasons for this. The first is that collateral provides some incentive for the borrower to not strategically default. The second is that, in the event of default, the lender can liquidate the collateral and salvage some value from the failed credit relationship. This paper provides a model to study properties of allocations that arise when collateral is part of an optimal lending contract that looks much like a repurchase agreement. In particular, a lack of commitment to future …

Human Capital Formation And Economic Development In Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis, Muhammad Irfan Chani, Mahboob Ul Hassan, Muhammad Shahid

Muhammad Irfan Chani

This study investigates the casual relationship between economic development and formation of human capital in Pakistan. Based on endogenous growth theory, this study empirically tests the standard growth model consisting of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita as a dependent variable and human capital formation, investment in physical capital and labor force as independent variables. Autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) bound testing approach to cointegration is used to check the long-run equilibrium relationship between the variables included in the model. For checking the causal relationship between economic development and human capital formation, pair-wise Granger causality test is used for time series …

All The Incentives Are Here, David Thomas

David Chandler Thomas, PhD

A book review of the Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera 2010 book, All the Devils Are Here.

Reform Of The Federal Reserve System - Notes From A Congressional Hearing May 8, 2012, Thorvald Grung Moe

Thorvald Grung Moe

Informal notes from a hearing in Congress headed by Rep. Ron Paul

Dynamics Of The Current Crisis, Howard Sherman, Mike Meeropol

HOWARD J SHERMAN

Sometimes, it is useful to take a step back and remind ourselves why recessions occur and why recoveries usually follow shortly thereafter. Having done that, we can try to understand the causes of far more serious recessions and what must be done to recover. The authors point out how such severe recessions, including the Great Recession of 2007 to 2009, differ profoundly from most others

Some Socio Economic Determinants Of Fertility In Pakistan: An Empirical Analysis, Muhammad Irfan Chani, Muhammad Shahid, Mahboob Ul Hassan

Muhammad Irfan Chani

This study aims to investigate the role that various socioeconomic factors like female education, urbanization and female labour force participation play in determining fertility of women in Pakistan. ARDL bound test approach to cointegration is used to analyze the long-run relationship of the variables by using the data for the period from 1980 to 2009. The empirical results show that there exists a long-run as well as short-run relationship between fertility and urbanization, female labour force participation and female education in Pakistan. The analysis indicates there is a negative relationship between all 3 determinants with fertility. Female education and urbanization …

A High-Frequency Analysis Of Trading Activity In The Corporate Bond Market: Do Macro Announcements Drive Activity?, James Forest, Brian Berry

James J Forest

Herein we explore whether macroeconomic announcements are a driving factor in the trading activity of US corporate bond market. Prior studies have documented a strong response of bond returns and interest rates to surprises in macroeconomic data in the US Treasury and Treasury futures markets. Likewise, studies have also documented that trading activity changes sharply, based on informational impulses provided by the release of economic data. We contribute to the existing literature by examining how both daily and intraday measures of trading activity are impacted by surprises in macro data. Our main findings are that the thinly-traded market for corporate …

The Urban Density Premium Across Establishments, R. Jason Faberman, Matthew Freedman

Matthew Freedman

We use longitudinal micro data to estimate the urban density premium for U.S. establishments, controlling for observed establishment characteristics and dynamic establishment behavior. We find that a doubling of urban density increases the average earnings of establishments by between 6 and 10 percent. The result holds after controlling for endogeneity issues and with the use of alternative measures of density. We find strong evidence against accumulated knowledge spillovers over time at the establishment level—that is, the density premium is realized at birth and is constant over the life of establishments. We find little evidence that the endogenous entry or exit …

History Lessons: Understanding The Decline In Manufacturing, Louis D. Johnston

Louis D. Johnston

No abstract provided.

The Upside Of Government Default, Jeffrey Rogers Hummel

Jeffrey Rogers Hummel

No abstract provided.

Exploring Sectoral Elasticity Vis-À-Vis Per Worker Income With A Focus To Agriculture: A Study Of Sub-Saharan Africa, Ronald R. Kumar, Radika Kumar

Dr Ronald R Kumar

No abstract provided.

A Colossal Muddle: Understanding Our Current Economic Woes, Louis D. Johnston

Louis D. Johnston

I provide an overview of the current economic situation and show that the current recession is fundamentally different from other post-World War II downturns.

The Myth Behind Lowering Capital-Gains Taxes, Louis Johnston

Louis D. Johnston

Capital gains taxation has been in the news. Contrary to popular belief, lower capital gains taxes do not spur economic growth.

Midday (Last Eichten Broadcast), Louis Johnston

Louis D. Johnston

Chris Farrell and I discussed the economic situation with Gary Eichten. This was Gary's next-to-last show; we were the warm-up act for Governor Dayton.

Bank Credit And Economic Growth: A Dynamic Panel Analysis, Nuno Carlos Leitão

Nuno Carlos Leitão

This study examines the link between bank lending and economic growth for European Union (EU-27) for the period 1990 to 2010. We apply a dynamic panel data (GMM-system estimator). This estimator permits to solve the problems of serial correlation, heteroskedasticity and endogeneity for some explanatory variables. As the results show, savings promotes growth. The inflation and bank credit have a negative impact on economic growth as previous studies.