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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Southern African Economic Integration: Evidence From An Augmented Gravity Model, Kirsten Wandschneider, Thierry Warren, Phanindra Wunnava, Optat Tengia
Southern African Economic Integration: Evidence From An Augmented Gravity Model, Kirsten Wandschneider, Thierry Warren, Phanindra Wunnava, Optat Tengia
Kirsten Wandschneider
This paper investigates the feasibility of creating a common-currency union consisting of 16 countries in Southern Africa. We estimate an augmented-gravity model that includes public deficit, public debt, public expenditure, inflation, and the foreign reserves position. We also integrate Africa-specific variables such as existing economic blocs in the region, colonial heritage, and the convergence of living standards. Our analysis shows that the prospect for further integration in Southern Africa is promising, but many challenges still persist. The existing economic blocs can provide a first stepping stone to a larger currency union, but countries continuously have to cultivate good governance and …
Military Conquest And Sovereign Debt: Chile, Peru And The London Bond Market, 1876–1890, Kirsten Wandschneider, Richard Sicotte, Catalina Vizcarra
Military Conquest And Sovereign Debt: Chile, Peru And The London Bond Market, 1876–1890, Kirsten Wandschneider, Richard Sicotte, Catalina Vizcarra
Kirsten Wandschneider
As a result of the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Chile conquered Peruvian and Bolivian territories rich in nitrates and guano. We conduct econometric tests for structural breaks in the time series of the government bonds for Chile and Peru between 1876 and 1890 in order to examine the effects of the changes in resource endowments on the investors’ perceptions of the risk premia of Chilean and Peruvian securities. Our results reveal that investors were extremely pessimistic about the prospects of Chilean, and especially Peruvian debt prior to the war. Early Chilean victories that anticipated the transfer of the richly …
Shooting On A Moving Target: Explaining European Bank Rates During The Interwar Period, Kirsten Wandschneider
Shooting On A Moving Target: Explaining European Bank Rates During The Interwar Period, Kirsten Wandschneider
Kirsten Wandschneider
This paper describes the monetary policy response of countries during the inter-war period. How did central banks react to the Great Depression? How did countries balance the externals demands of the gold standard with domestic policy pressures? What was the optimal level of international policy coordination? We use weekly data over the period 1925-1936 to estimate central bank rate reaction functions for a panel of 22 countries during the inter-war gold standard. The estimates suggest to us changing objectives for monetary policy. Countries moved away from the sole objective of convertibility and towards a more ‘modern’ monetary policy based on …
The Fiscal Impact Of The War Of The Pacific, Kirsten Wandschneider, Richard Sicotte, Catalina Vizcarra
The Fiscal Impact Of The War Of The Pacific, Kirsten Wandschneider, Richard Sicotte, Catalina Vizcarra
Kirsten Wandschneider
In the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Chile defeated Peru and Bolivia, and acquired territories that contained vast deposits of sodium nitrate, a leading fertilizer. Chile’s export tax on nitrates later accounted for at least one half of all government revenue. We employ a multi-country model of export taxation in order to simulate the potential government revenues that Bolivia, Chile and Peru could have earned under the counterfactual scenario that Chile did not conquer the nitrate-rich provinces of its adversaries. Our results are that Peruvian and Bolivian government revenues could have been at least double their historical levels. We estimate …
Central Bank Reaction Functions During The Interwar Gold Standard: A View From The Periphery, Kirsten Wandschneider
Central Bank Reaction Functions During The Interwar Gold Standard: A View From The Periphery, Kirsten Wandschneider
Kirsten Wandschneider
The years between the two World Wars were ones of economic turmoil and crisis. The inter-war gold standard, created as an attempt to rebuild the pre-1914 gold standard, lasted a mere six years from 1925–1931 and failed to generate economic growth and prosperity. Many scholars have attempted to explain the fragility of the inter-war gold standard, focusing on different aspects of the regime, such as structural problems within the system, gold imbalances, the lack of an international hegemonic power, persistent deflation, and the changing social and political structures in the inter-war years. One particular area of focus with regard to …
The Stability Of The Interwar Gold Exchange Standard: Did Politics Matter?, Kirsten Wandschneider
The Stability Of The Interwar Gold Exchange Standard: Did Politics Matter?, Kirsten Wandschneider
Kirsten Wandschneider
Economic historians have devoted enormous attention to the collapse of the interwar gold standard. This article proposes a discrete time duration model (using a panel data set of 24 countries for 1928–1936) to analyze how economic and political indicators affected a country's term on the gold standard. High per capita income, international creditor status, and prior hyperinflation increased the probability of continuation. In contrast, democratic regimes left early. Unemployment, sterling group membership, higher inflation, and the experience of banking crises reduced the time a country remained on the gold standard. This study also predicts sample countries' survival probabilities.
The Effect Of Political Regimes And Technology On Economic Growth, Kirsten Wandschneider, Khurram Jamali, Phanindra Wunnava
The Effect Of Political Regimes And Technology On Economic Growth, Kirsten Wandschneider, Khurram Jamali, Phanindra Wunnava
Kirsten Wandschneider
Do political regimes have a significant effect on economic growth? This study builds on the new neoclassical growth model to identify economic determinants of growth, and explicitly tests for the influence of political variables on economic performance for the 1990s. The results suggest that democracies and bureaucracies significantly outperform autocracies. Economic growth is also promoted by increased protection of property rights, and higher investment in education. Moreover, technology has become a requirement for efficient production, and hence, is crucial in promoting growth. Countries can therefore increase the level of economic growth by increasing the levels of education and technology in …
Peace And Economic Interdependence In The Middle East, Kirsten Wandschneider, Jeffrey Cason, Amichai Kilchevsky
Peace And Economic Interdependence In The Middle East, Kirsten Wandschneider, Jeffrey Cason, Amichai Kilchevsky
Kirsten Wandschneider
Can economic interdependence pacify the Middle East? While Middle Eastern countries have, for the most part, avoided the global trend of regionalism, this study provides empirical evidence that Middle Eastern countries with significant trade ties to other countries in the region do cooperate more and fight less. In addition to confirming the liberal notion of peace through trade, this study shows that several conditions outlined by the selectorate theory of political survival must be fulfilled if economic interdependence in the Middle East is to be achieved. A case study outlining Israeli and Turkish economic cooperation is used to show the …
The Baring Crisis And The Brazilian Encilhamento, 1889-1891: An Early Example Of Contagion Among Emerging Capital Markets, Kirsten Wandschneider, Gail Triner
The Baring Crisis And The Brazilian Encilhamento, 1889-1891: An Early Example Of Contagion Among Emerging Capital Markets, Kirsten Wandschneider, Gail Triner
Kirsten Wandschneider
This article assesses the role of international markets in the brazilian financial crisis of 1890 91 (the crash of the encilhamento). it looks for the impact of the argentine financial crisis in 1890 (the baring crisis) on brazilian access to capital markets. the history of bond yield fluctuations in london for brazilian and argentine debt, exchange rates, data on investment flows and archival and journalistic accounts reveal a close congruence between the argentine and brazilian crises. the effects of the argentine experience carried over to brazil because the open capital and money markets of the period easily transmitted crisis from …