Business Commons^™

A Soft Landing, Steady Growth, And Accelerating Farm Income, John Austin, Chris Decker, Tom Doering, Ernie Goss, Nick Hernandez, Bruce Johnson, Ken Lemke, Franz Schwarz, Scott Strain, Eric Thompson, Keith Turner

Economics Faculty Publications

After years of accelerating growth, the U.S. economy achieved a soft landing in 2006. The rate of economic growth remained positive but slowed sufficiently to reduce inflation pressures and the need for further interest rate increases. At the same time the economy remained strong enough to continue the current expansion which has been in place since late 2001. Such a soft landing is vital because it should allow the economy to continue to expand for years to come, but with moderate inflation.

Manufacturing Rebounds, John Austin, Chris Decker, Tom Doering, Ernie Goss, Nick Hernandez, Bruce Johnson, Ken Lemke, Donis Petersan, Franz Schwarz, Eric Thompson, Keith Turner

Economics Faculty Publications

National economic conditions will continue to favor growth over the next three years, including sustained increases in manufacturing employment. Higher energy prices, particularly for oil, gasoline, and natural gas, will impact the economy, but probably only will moderate economic growth rather than cause a significant slowdown.

After rapid growth in 2004 and 2005, growth in real gross domestic product is expected to moderate in 2006-2008, due to higher long-term interest rates as well as higher energy prices. Real gross domestic product will grow 3 percent in 2006 and fall to 2.5 percent growth in later years. The housing market will …

'Financial Derivatives: The New Gold?, Michael Rafferty, Dick Bryan

Sydney Business School - Papers

For many economists, the current period of globalized finance lacks an apparent material anchor such as gold once was. This paper contends that in an important way the anchoring function is currently undertaken by financial derivatives. These contracts are not just about risk management and speculation. Critically also, they are commensurating the values of different financial assests, including different currencies.

Financial Liberalization Index For Nepal, Min B Shrestha, Khorshed Chowdhury

Faculty of Business - Papers (Archive)

A financial liberalization index (FLI) for Nepal is constructed in order to show the degree or the level of financial liberalization at a particular time. FLI is calculated on the basis of principal components method following Demetriades and Luintel (1997), Bandiera, Caprio et al. (2000), Laeven (2003), and Laurenceson and Chai (2003). The index comprises eight policy components, viz, (1) interest rate deregulation (IRD), (2) removal of entry barriers (REB), (3) reduction in reserve requirement (RRR), (4) easing in credit control (ECC), (5) implementation of prudential rules (IPR), (6) stock market reform (SMR), (7) privatization of state-owned banks (PSB), and …

A Semiparametric Model Approach For Financial Bankruptcy Prediction, Maria H. Kim, Paul Yoo

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

In this study, we propose a model that achieves both accurate modeling and sustainable model stability for corporate bankruptcy prediction. This model is to model the given samples accurately as well as to respond adequately to the unknown inputs by employing semiparametric approach where parametric model and nonparametric Neural Networks (NNs) are combined. By exploring the structural relationships within the available sample data, the proposed model is assumed to retain the advantages of both parametric and nonparametric models. The proposed model is compared to pure parametric models such as Multivariate Discriminant Analysis (MDA) and Logistic Regression (LR), and pure nonparametric …

Financial Literacy: A Growing Concern In Modern Society, Sonia Marcolin, Anne Abraham

Faculty of Commerce - Papers (Archive)

This paper highlights the ongoing need for financial literacy research in a rapidly changing society with deregulated markets, new financial products, .ready availability of credit and an emphasis on self-reliance. A discussion of the importance of financial literacy for both individuals and the economy is followed by a review of studies conducted in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The studies are compared and analysed to determine areas of both commonality and inconsistency. As a result of this analysis, the paper presents recurrent themes that could be extended, together with potential new areas for financial literacy research.