Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Regulation Of Government Agencies Through Limitation Riders, Neal Devins

Neal E. Devins

Congress often attaches limitation riders to appropriations bills to establish its policy directives. Professor Devins argues that the appropriations process is not the proper vehicle for substantive policymaking. In this article, he analyzes institutional characteristics that prevent the full consideration or articulation of policy in appropriations bills. Professor Devins also considers the extent to which Congress's use of limitation riders inhibits the effectiveness of the other branches of the federal government. Professor Devins concludes that, while Congress's use of limitation riders is sometimes necessary, Congress should be aware of the significant risks associated with policymaking through the appropriations process.

Book Review Of Toxic Debts And The Superfund Dilemma, Ronald H. Rosenberg

Ronald H. Rosenberg

No abstract provided.

Thinking Finance - The Comic Book, Dimitrios V. Siskos

Dimitrios V. Siskos

Thinking financially results in the best possible outcome and establishes a secure foundation for the future as an independent man. In contrast, thinking emotionally leads to short-sighted financial decisions and usually, deep regrets. However, thinking financially is not pleasant for the people around us. This comic book presents a guy, whose dream is to become an accountant. When he finally succeeds in this, he realizes that thinking financially may be effective for his boss but it is irritating for everyone else, even for his family.

Motivated Markets: Instruments And Ideologies Of Clean Energy In The United Kingdom , Joshua Reno

Joshua Reno

This article examines efforts to reconcile capitalist and ecological values, focusing in particular on the instruments and ideologies that pervade the United Kingdom's developing renewable energy sector. In keeping with neoliberal models of economic knowledge and practice, renewable energy instruments target the motivations of individuals by using incentive programs to reach environmental policy goals. The argument focuses especially on the way newly implemented market devices shape and represent the motivations of energy producers, suppliers, and traders. The centerpiece of the U.K. government's initiative is the creation of an artificial market in renewability, bought and sold as a virtual commodity. Although …

The Ghana National Economic Forum In May 2014, Another Implementation Curse?, George E. Ekeha

George E Ekeha

More than one year after the above consensus was developed and read to the whole world, which was subsequently followed by the full report, many are of the view that little efforts have been done to implement the consensus. In this article, I decided to choose just about five of the Senchi Consensus that in my opinion can change the country very much and place her on the international radar for reckoning when implemented with the seriousness that they deserve. It is my strongest belief that many Ghanaians and other development partners are aware of many issues raised in this …

Public Actors In Private Markets: Toward A Developmental Finance State, Robert Hockett, Saule Omarova

Saule T. Omarova

The recent financial crisis brought into sharp relief fundamental questions about the social function and purpose of the financial system, including its relation to the “real” economy. This Article argues that, to answer these questions, we must recapture a distinctively American view of the proper relations among state, financial market, and development. This programmatic vision – captured in what we call a “developmental finance state” – is based on three key propositions: (1) that economic and social development is not an “end-state” but a continuing national policy priority; (2) that the modalities of finance are the most potent means of …

Financing Asean Connectivity, Fauziah Zen, Michael Regan

Michael Regan

In line with the globalisation trend, it becomes inevitable for the South East Asian economies to prepare themselves to move towards the path of a more border-less and well-connected world. Evidence has shown that countries can gain a lot from internationalisation, especially from trade, knowledge and information exchanges, and flows of people and goods. One of the key targets of ASEAN in achieving a dynamic, vibrant, globally connected and strong region is to fully realise ASEAN Connectivity which consists of three pillars, namely, physical connectivity, people-to-people connectivity, and institutional connectivity. Physical connectivity is especially important because it is not only …

Alternative Measures Of State Ui Systems, Christopher J. O'Leary, Robert Tannenwald, Wei-Jang Huang, Pei Zhu

Christopher J. O'Leary

Comparisons among state unemployment insurance (UI) systems can be misleading. Frequently quoted indicators of benefit generosity, tax cost, and adherence to the experience-rating principle are influenced by the relative economic conditions of states. Such comparisons thereby obscure underlying structural differences in state UI systems. A business considering alternative states in which to locate a production facility should be cautious when interpreting UI information in an economic developer's marketing pitch. This paper offers alternative indicators based on how representative firms, with a well specified unemployment experience, would fare in different states. The authors use a micro-simulation approach to model the experiences …

Loansharking

Robert Mayer

Raising The Stakes: The Impact Of Hakie Limu’S Advocacy Work On Education Policy And Budget In Tanzania, Ruth Carlitz, Rosie Mcgee, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

Tanzania has invested heavily in ensuring that all children have access to education. Civil society group HakiElimu stepped in to take the political commitment beyond enrollment and graduation targets to meaningful policy decisions that lead to higher quality schooling. This case study examines the issues, campaign, and impact.

The full version of this case study are available in English. The short summary case study is available in English, French, and Spanish.

LINK: http://internationalbudget.org/publications/raising-the-stakes-the-impact-of-hakielimus-advocacy-work-on-education-policy-and-budget-in-tanzania/

South African Legal Resources Centre Successfully Advocates For Adequate Education Facilities, Alison Hickey Tshangana, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

The Legal Resources Centre (LRC) is a South African nonprofit human rights organisation that conducts public interest litigation. In response to the South African government’s delays to remove mud schools in the Eastern Cape Province, LRC took the government to court in August 2010. As a result of the mounting legal pressures, in January 2011 the Eastern Cape Department of Education signed an agreement with LRC. According to the agreement, the national government would introduce a new three-year grant to address infrastructure backlogs, of which Eastern Cape would receive 78 percent of the total. In the interim, the provincial education …

Finanzkapital In The Twenty-First Century, Nikhilesh Dholakia

Nikhilesh Dholakia

Purpose – Drawing inspiration from the 1910 book Finanzkapital by Rudolf Hilferding, this paper seeks to explore the nature of financial capital in the early twenty-first century from a political-economic and culture theory perspective. It aims to offer suggestions for transcending the crises-prone contemporary economic systems.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper reconceptualises the notions of Finanzkapital in the contemporary context, drawing selective evidence from current and twentieth century economic and business history.

Findings – The nature of contemporaneous Finanzkapital is elaborated by presenting seven “theses” that probe the nature of Finanzkapital prior to, during, and after the Great Recession of 2007-9. …

Impact Of Affect Heuristic, Fear And Anger On Decision Making Of Individual Investor: A Conceptual Study, Ehsan Ul Hassan, Fahad Shahzeb, Maryum Shaheen, Qamar Abbas, Zahid Hameed, Ahmed Imran Hunjra

Ahmed Imran Hunjra (PhD)

Financial theories support the efficient market hypothesis, which assumes that prices are fair in the market and investors behave rationally while taking any investment decision. Individual Investors of the stock market are therefore thought to take rational decisions while making judgments and investment decisions. However, a lot of studies on behavioral finance have criticized the phenomenon of market efficiency and investor’s rationality. The empirical evidences of these studies conclude the involvement of behavioral biases and psychological impacts on investor’s judgments and decision making. Keeping this in mind the present study has focused on studying the impact of affect heuristic, fear …

Weekly Column, Patricia Lamberti

Patricia Lamberti

Determinants Of Ownership Concentration And Tender Offer Law In The Chilean Stock Market, Marco Morales, Maria Jose Melendez, Vanessa Ramirez

Marco Morales

No abstract provided.

Time Series, Unit Roots, And Cointegration: An Introduction, Lonnie K. Stevans

Lonnie K. Stevans

The econometric literature on unit roots took off after the publication of the paper by Nelson and Plosser (1982) that argued that most macroeconomic series have unit roots and that this is important for the analysis of macroeconomic policy. Yule (1926) suggested that regressions based on trending time series data can be spurious. This problem of spurious correlation was further pursued by Granger and Newbold (1974) and this also led to the development of the concept of cointegration (lack of cointegration implies spurious regression). The pathbreaking paper by Granger (1981), first presented at a conference at the University of Florida …

Impact Of Psychological Factors On Investment Decision Making Mediating By Risk Perception: A Conceptual Study, Lubna Riaz, Ahmed Imran Hunjra, Rauf I. Azam

Ahmed Imran Hunjra (PhD)

Every individual is different from others due to various factors which include demographic factors, age, race and sex, education level, social and economic background; same is the situation with the investors. The most critical challenge faced by them is the investment decision; they act in a rational manner and usually follow their instincts and emotional biases while making investment decisions. The investigation of previous studies reveals the importance of various psychological factors which affect their investment decision. Keeping this in view, a study model has been developed to describe the impact of risk propensity, asymmetric information and problem framing on …

Capitalizing A Future Unsustainable: Finance, Energy And The Fate Of Market Civilization, Timothy Dimuzio

Timothy DiMuzio

Liberal capitalist polities are being held up as the ultimate civilizational achievement precisely at a point in time when the energy-demanding built environments and growth imperatives of these societies are threatened by global climate change and the coming end of cheap and abundant carbon energy. Throughout the twentieth century, this pattern of energy-intensive social reproduction was largely shaped by the oil and gas sector creating what I call a petro-market civilization. However, given the challenges presented by peak oil and global warming, transitioning to a low-carbon or green energy future has gathered increasing attention and investment. In this paper, I …

State Aid To Public Schools: An Analysis Of State Responsiveness To School District Needs, John P. Pelissero, David R. Morgan

John P. Pelissero

Despite decades of attempted fiscal reforms throughout virtually every state, most state school aid is still allocated on a per pupil basis. The chance exists, nonetheless, that the remaining funds are at least somewhat targeted to socioeconomic or fiscal need. This research, covering two recent time periods, finds little evidence that non-enrollment-based state aid is targeted to need.

Local Government Fiscal Burden In Nonmetropolitan America, Kenneth M. Johnson, John P. Pelissero, David B. Holian, Michael T. Maly

John P. Pelissero

Rising fiscal pressure on local governments in rural areas of the United States is documented in this study. The level of fiscal burden on taxpayers to support local governments in nonmetropolitan areas is found to be higher than that in metropolitan areas between 1977 and 1987. Using a model from the urban fiscal literature, the level of fiscal burden in nonmetropolitan areas is found to be influenced by a combination of demographic, socioeconomic, intergovernmental, and historical factors. Intergovernmental revenue transfers from the state and federal government play a critical role in determining the level of fiscal burden rural taxpayers bear. …

Implementing Dodd-Frank: A Review Of The Cftc‟S Rulemaking Process: Testimony, Michael Greenberger

Michael Greenberger

The Relationship of Unregulated OTC Derivatives to the Meltdown. It is now accepted wisdom that it was the non-transparent, poorly capitalized, and almost wholly unregulated over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives market that lit the fuse that exploded the highly vulnerable worldwide economy in the fall of 2008. Because tens of trillions of dollars of these financial products were pegged to the economic performance of an overheated and highly inflated housing market, the sudden collapse of that market triggered under-capitalized or non-capitalized OTC derivative guarantees of the subprime housing investments. Moreover, the many undercapitalized insurers of that collapsing market had other multi-trillion dollar …

An Empirical Case Against The Use Of Genetic-Based Learning Classifier Systems As Forecasting Devices, Jaqueson Galimberti, Sergio Da Silva

Sergio Da Silva

We adapt a genetic-based learning classifier system to a forecast evaluation exercise by making its key parameters endogenous and taking into account the need of convergence of the learning algorithm, an issue usually neglected in the literature. Doing so, we find it hard for the algorithm to beat simpler ones based on recursive regressions and on the random walk in forecasting stock returns. We then argue that our results cast doubts on the plausibility of using learning classifier systems to represent agents process of expectations formation, an approach commonly found into the agent-based computational finance literature.

Gender Audit Of Budgets In India (2001-2002 To 2009-2010), Professor Vibhuti Patel

Professor Vibhuti Patel

Budget is an important tool in the hands of state for affirmative action for improvement of gender relations through reduction of gender gap in the development process. It can help to reduce economic inequalities, between men and women as well as between the rich and the poor Hence, the budgetary policies need to keep into considerations the gender dynamics operating in the economy and in the civil society. There is a need to highlight participatory approaches bottom up budget, child budget, green budgeting, local and global implications of propoor and pro-women budgeting and inter-linkages between gendersensitive budgeting and women’s empowerment. …

Financial Stability, Trade Openness And The Structure Of Banks’ Shareholders, Claudiu T. Albulescu

Claudiu T Albulescu

The adverse effect of financial crises upon the world’s economies represented the background for the development of a wide economic literature on financial stability. The assessment of this phenomenon stands for a complex exercise, as many techniques can be used for this purpose. Such a technique is the construction of an aggregate financial stability index which allows for a comparison between financial systems stability. Based on an aggregate index and on a panel of data, we show that, for several Eastern European Countries, the financial stability is largely influenced by the trade openness and by the quality of banks’ shareholders. …

Quashing The Financial Firestorm, Aaron S. Edlin

Aaron Edlin

Start the financial rescue with containment, establish unlimited deposit insurance and continuous access to funds, then move to a well thought-out plan to quash the financial flames.

Pre-Test Assessment, Thomas D. Berry

Thomas D Berry

Is The Brazilian Stockmarket Efficient?, Caio Guttler, Roberto Meurer, Sergio Da Silva

Sergio Da Silva

Employing both cointegration analysis and a variety of Granger causality tests, we examine whether the Brazilian stockmarket is efficient in processing new information about public macroeconomic data (semi-strong efficiency). We find the stockmarket to be inefficient, which is in line with most results for other emerging markets.

Closed End Fund Discounts As Sentiment Indicies, Thomas Berry

Thomas D Berry

No abstract provided.

The Disposition Effect And Individual Investor Decisions: The Role Of Regret And Counterfactual Alternatives, Thomas Berry, Suzanne Fogel

Thomas D Berry

Recent studies have documented a strong tendency for individual investors to delay realizing capital losses, while realizing gains prematurely (Odean [1996], Shefrin and Statman [1985], Weber and Camerer [1996]). This tendency has been termed the “disposition effect.” The disposition effect is inconsistent with normative approaches to stock sales, such as those based on tax losses (see, for example, Constantinides [1983]). We surveyed individual investors, and found that more respondents reported regret about holding on to a losing stock too long than about selling a winning stock too soon. This finding suggests that individual investors are consistently engaging in behavior that …

Evaluating Brazilian Mutual Funds With Stochastic Frontiers, Andre Santos, Joao Tusi, Newton Da Costa Jr, Sergio Da Silva

Sergio Da Silva

We evaluate the performance of 307 Brazilian stock mutual funds employing stochastic frontiers. We list the top ten actively managed funds and the bottom ten for the period April 2001−July 2003, and show that a fund’s efficiency increases with management skill to beat the market. We also find that portfolios with low volatility tend to be more efficient. Yet we find no relationship between fund size and performance, though this might be blurred by a survivorship bias.