Macroeconomics Commons^™

Fossil Fuel Subsidies: Impacts And Reform Strategies, Jennifer E. Good

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis uses cross-country panel regressions to identify the effects of fossil-fuel subsidies for both oil importers and oil exporters on GDP growth, industry growth, crowding out of government expenditures in education, health, and infrastructure, government debt, carbon dioxide emissions, inequality and poverty. Fossil-fuel subsidies are found to be associated with lower levels of growth and industry growth, less government expenditure on health and education, poorer infrastructure quality, more government debt, and higher rates of carbon dioxide emissions. No relationship is found between fossil fuel subsidies and poverty and inequality. These results confirm the arguments of those that argue that …

Consumer Attitudes And Labeling Regime Key To The Market Potential Of Food Nanotechnology, Miah Tran, Amalia Yiannaka, Konstantinos Giannakas

CAFIO: Policy Research Group Policy Pagers

Research shows that, even though most consumers lack knowledge and understanding of the technology, they nevertheless have strong opinions as to its potential risks and benefits. Advocates are determined to not repeat the mistakes of biotechnology. Understanding the factors determining the market acceptance of food nanotechnology and its potential impact on the different interest groups involved can inform the design of effective policies and strategies governing food nanotechnology innovations.

Country-Of-Origin-Labeling Creates Winners And Losers Among Consumers, Producers, And Retailers, Konstantinos Giannakas, Alejandro Plastina, Daniel Pick

CAFIO: Policy Research Group Policy Pagers

Public Law 107-171, the United States Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, required country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for beef, lamb, pork, fish, perishable agricultural commodities, and peanuts. While the aim is to benefit domestic consumers by allowing them to make informed decisions, the effects of COOL have been the subject of a heated on-going debate. Advocates of COOL argue the existence of an “overwhelming” consumer support for country of origin information and benefits that substantially outweigh the costs of this labeling regime. Opposing groups have expressed concerns about the potential competitive disadvantage that non-integrated producers might face due to …

Consumer-Oriented Gm Products Can Hurt Producers, Konstantinos Giannakas, Rim Lassoued

CAFIO: Policy Research Group Policy Pagers

Despite their important agronomic benefits to agricultural producers, GM products (GMPs) have been facing a, rather strong, consumer opposition. This opposition varies significantly between countries and so does the countries’ regulatory response to products of biotechnology. While the US treats biotech products as substantially equivalent to their conventional counterparts and does not require their segregation and labeling, the European Union (EU), based on its “precautionary principle” and consumers’ “right to know,” has instituted a mandatory labeling regime that is regarded as the strictest in the world.

Food Labeling Standards Have Significant Welfare And Distributional Impacts, Konstantinos Giannakas, Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, Alexandre Magnier

CAFIO: Policy Research Group Policy Pagers

Discussions on the appropriate regulatory norms for genetically modified (GM) foods date back to the early 1980s. Thirty years later, a consensus on what such norms should be remains elusive. Some countries, including the United States and Canada, consider GM foods substantially equivalent to their conventional counterparts and do not require segregation and labeling of these products. Others, including the European Union, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, and China have introduced mandatory labeling regimes.

Empathy Nudging Increases Conservation Of Farming Land, Natalia V. Czap, Hans J. Czap, Gary D. Lynne, Mark E. Burbach

CAFIO: Policy Research Group Policy Pagers

One of the major challenges of environmental policy with regard to conservation is that it must often rely on voluntary and non-selfish actions of individuals. Traditionally policy makers rely on direct regulation and financial incentives, but both approaches face problems. Regulations may lead to resentment and the costs of perfect enforcement are prohibitively high. Financial incentives can be perverse and may lead to unintended consequences, including crowding out of intrinsic motivation. In addition, behavioral economics and economic psychology studies demonstrate that the assumptions of the neoclassical economic models (such as self-interest only, rationality, and willpower) on which the policy design …

2013 Farm Bill: An Experimental Test Of The Senate And House Proposals, Natalia V. Czap, Hans J. Czap, Gary Lynne, Mark E. Burbach

CAFIO: Policy Research Group Policy Pagers

The 2008 Farm Bill currently guides agricultural and related environmental/conservation policy. Versions proposed by the United States Senate and the House of Representatives, to be implemented in the 2013 Farm Bill after differences are resolved, aim to achieve environmental (and other food related) goals, while also seeking significant spending cuts. While both versions propose to eliminate the Direct Payments program, they differ with respect to how other crop supports should work and whether crop insurance subsidies should be linked to conservation practices. The Senate Bill supports a policy design based on cross‐compliance, that is, crop insurance subsidies are conditional on …

Does Exchange Market React To Central Bank Governor Replacements: Evidence From A New Dataset Using Narrative Approach, Siyang Xu

Honors Theses

This paper contributes to the literature that analyzes the exchange market reaction to the event of a central bank governor replacement. In order to solve the endogeneity problem, we develop a narrative approach-based on reports from credible newspapers-that classifies central bank governor replacements by their nature and causes. Using this new dataset on central bank independence for 31 countries over the period 1967-2012, we decompose all replacements into endogenous and exogenous cases with respect to inflation and financial market performance. We find that such a distinction is critical in understanding the exchange market reactions. We show that i) endogenous replacements, …

Argentina Talk, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2013). Argentina talk CB: Session I (with Jaime Galbraith) (Unpublished manuscript) (22-20_Arge... pp. 1-2).
• Shaikh, A. (2010). Crisis and distribution. New School Economic Review, 4(1), 72–76. New School for Social Research (22-20_Arge... p. 3).
• Shaikh, A. (2010). Revised figures (Unpublished dataset) (22-20_Arge... p. 8).
• Shaikh, A. (2012). Notes on conference presentations by John Weeks, Javier Iguíñiz, and Bill Lazonick (Unpublished manuscript) (22-20_Arge... p. 13).
• Shaikh, A. (2012). Notes on conference presentations by James K. Galbraith, Stuart Holland, and Romain Rancière (Unpublished manuscript) (22-20_Arge... p. 15).

Essays On Capital Controls And Exchange Rate Regimes, Yu You

Theses and Dissertations--Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays on capital controls and exchange rate regimes. The first essay, under the background of international monetary policy trilemma, empirically investigates the validity of the proposition that holding the degree of exchange rate stability constant, a decrease in capital mobility through imposition of capital controls will enhance monetary independence. Using a panel dataset covering 88 countries for the 1995-2010 period and system GMM estimation, this paper finds that 1) capital controls help improve a country’s monetary independence; 2) the effectiveness of capital controls depends on the types of assets and the direction of flows they …

Commodity Prices (Chapter 10), Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Ch 10 commodity prices / industrial prices (Unpublished manuscript notes) (p. 1).
• Shaikh, A. (2011, January 11). Fixcapesample.xmcd (Unpublished manuscript notes) (p. 2).
• Shaikh, A. (n.d.). Production function notes.docx (Unpublished manuscript notes) (p. 4).
• Shaikh, A. (2010, August 28). Petri reswitching.xmcd (Unpublished manuscript notes) (p. 22).
• Shaikh, A. (2013, November 24). Price and value aggregates (Unpublished manuscript notes) (p. 26).
• Shaikh, A. (2009, January 6). Three lines of inquiry w/r linear std prices (Unpublished manuscript notes) (p. 27).
• Shaikh, A. (2010, January 20). Subdominant eigenvalues of a (Unpublished manuscript notes) (p. 28).
• Shaikh, A. …

The Impact Of Participatory Notes On The Indian Rupee Exchange Rate, Rohan Kothari

CMC Senior Theses

Since 1992, India has grown as a global player in the finance world. In spite of its success, India has not been able to rid itself of potentially harmful practices. One such practice is the issuing of Participatory Notes (PN) to foreign investors, so that they can anonymously purchase securities or derivatives listed on the Indian Stock Exchanges. This instrument came into public view when it accounted for approximately 50% of all foreign portfolio assets in India. Since then, the laws regarding PNs have evolved to become a more transparent version of the old rules. Although PN levels are not …

Eminent Economist Galleys, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2013). Order in and through disorder: the invisible hand as a turbulent regulator (Unpublished manuscript) (p. 2).
• Shaikh, A. (2013). No question market (Handwritten note) (p. 2).
• Shaikh, A. (2013). Up (Handwritten note) (p. 4).
• Shaikh, A. (2013). S(?) (Handwritten note) (p. 5).
• Shaikh, A. (2013). And more recently of rob johnson and the institute for new economic thinking (inet) (Handwritten note) (p. 7).
• Shaikh, A. (2013). Le (Handwritten note) (p. 9).
• Shaikh, A. (2013). E (Handwritten note) (p. 9).
• Becker, G. S. (1962). Irrational behavior and economic theory. Journal of Political Economy, …

The Organization Of Banking And Supervision, Introduction And Overview, Clas Wihlborg

Business Faculty Articles and Research

"The focus of this Special Issue is on organizational reforms in the financial sector in the aftermath of the financial crisis 2007-2009 and the subsequent euro-zone crisis. In particular, the perception that many banks were too big and too complex to fail during the crisis, which led to very costly bailouts at tax-payers expense in several countries, has fueled a number of proposals to limit the size and the complexity of financial institutions, as well as proposals to reorganize public authorities responsible for supervision and crisis management."

A Study Of Corruption, Foreign Aid, And Economic Growth, Amanda Deerfield

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Foreign aid donors increasingly demand that aid is used efficiently and effectively. This study examines the effect of corruption levels, measured by the Corruption Perceptions Index, within a recipient country on the levels of economic growth. A growing literature outlines the mechanisms through which corruption impedes economic growth and is summarized within. Additionally, as longevity gains may result from foreign aid but are not captured in economic growth, this study computes a variable called the Life Quality Indicator (LQI) that combines such gains with economic growth and examines corruption’s effect on LQI growth. As any windfall, foreign aid has been …

The Macroeconomic Effect Of Currency Union Dissolution: Evidence From The Narrative, Marcus Josefsson

Honors Theses

In the face of the growing importance of alternative monetary arrangements throughout the world, the economics literature contains contradictory explanations for the impact of currency union dissolution. Some argue that dissolving a union removes limitations to growth, while others contend that the ensuing uncertainty drives weaker macroeconomic performance. In this paper, I present empirical analysis of the macroeconomic effect of dissolving currency unions. I utilize a narrative approach to address asymmetries in the underlying motivations for different dissolutions, and find that the absence of economic concerns driving dissolution leads to improved growth in the post dissolution period. Further, evidence for …

The Role Of Islamic Banking In Economic Growth, Katherine Johnson

CMC Senior Theses

Islamic banking is currently one of the fastest growing segments of the financial market industry, operating in over 75 countries through 300 institutions. While past literature has established the development of financial institutions as a determinant of economic growth, research on the correlation of the diffusion of Islamic banking with economic growth is limited. This study seeks to add to the literature by empirically analyzing the economic growth determinative power of Islamic banks. Confirming past research, Muslim prevalence in a population is found to be the most significant determinant of the diffusion of Islamic banks. Using this exogenous instrument in …

Inet Grant, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A. (2011). Book on Turbulent Dynamics in Advanced Economies (Unpublished manuscript) (pp. 2, 4). Institute for New Economic Thinking (p. 2).
• Institute for New Economic Thinking. (2011, September 8). Grant award letter to Ms. Janine Cibellis, New School University (RE: INO11-00056) (Manuscript) (p. 2). New School University Archives (p. 2).
• Shaikh, A., & Pressey, N. (2011, July 26). Institute for New Economic Thinking grant terms and conditions agreement (Grant ID #3232) (Manuscript) (pp. 4, 6). New School University Archives (p. 4).
• Cibellis, J. (2011, July 12). Domestic wire transfer payment instructions for the New School (Grant …

Housing, The Neighborhood Environment, And Physical Activity Among Older African Americans, Lonnie Hannon Iii, Patricia Sawyer, Richard M. Allman

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Abstract

This study examines the association of neighborhood environment, as measured by housing factors, with physical activity among older African Americans. Context is provided on the effects of structural inequality as an inhibitor of health enhancing neighborhood environments. The study population included African Americans participating in the UAB Study of Aging (n=433). Participants demonstrated the ability to walk during a baseline in-home assessment. The strength and independence of housing factors were assessed using neighborhood walking for exercise as the outcome variable. Sociodemographic data, co-morbid medical conditions, and rural/urban residence were included as independent control factors. Homeownership, occupancy, and length of …

Macro-Prudential Regulation And Effective Monetary Policy, Moses K. Tule

Economic and Financial Review

This paper makes a bold attempt to examine some of the issues within the narrow context of monetary policy. Following the introduction, Section 2 examines some conceptual issues including the institutional framework for monetary and macro-prudential policy. Section 3 discusses the objectives and instruments of monetary and macro-prudential policy including indicators of systemic risk, while Section 4 examines at the interaction of macro-prudential with monetary policy and how this could be enhanced. In Section 5, the experiences of other countries with macro-prudential regulation are presented and lessons drawn for Nigeria. Section 6 concludes the paper and provides insights for an …