The determinants of global bank lending: Evidence from bilateral cross-country data

This paper finds that factors determined outside of a country, at the quarterly frequency and especially after 2008, are more closely related to the global bank loans it receives. These loans are generally more stable when global banks face more competition and have a higher presence in the recipient country. We obtain our results by using bilateral lending data from 15 countries and a unique methodology to identify and compare the independent effects of external and internal factors. We identify theoretical mechanisms that can explain our empirical findings and draw more detailed inferences for competition and global bank presence by solving a simple model of global banking.     

Ageing and public capital accumulation

We have examined the effects of ageing on the balanced-growth-maximizing public investment policy in an overlapping generations model with growth engines of public capital accumulation. Extended life expectancy tends to increase individual savings, while the increased old-age dependency requires more resources to be allocated to consumption in the economy. Declining working population makes for a severe trade-off between private and public capital accumulation. It is shown that as ageing proceeds, not only the income tax rate must be raised to accelerate public capital formation but the expenditure share of maintenance should be increased in order to maximize the balanced-growth rate.      

How important is variability in consumer credit limits?

Using a large panel this paper first demonstrates that individuals gain and lose access to credit frequently. The estimated credit limit volatility is larger than most estimates of income volatility and varies over the business cycle. Within a model, variable credit limits create a reason for households to hold both high interest debts and low interest savings at the same time. Using the estimated credit volatility, the model explains why around one third of American households engage in this credit card puzzle. The approach also offers an important new channel through which financial system uncertainty can affect household decisions.     

An examination of the relative economic efficiency of mutual vs. stock savings institutions

This article employs a nonlinear system of Cobb-Douglas profit and input demand equations to analyze price and technical efficiency in a sample of presumably not-for-profit mutual and presumably profit-maximizing stock savings institutions. Theories of property rights and agency are reviewed to provide predictions of price efficiency (i.e., profit maximization and cost minimization behavior), and technical efficiency. The study makes several contributions to the literature. First, it examines the effect of ownership form on both price and technical efficiency. Second, it separately examines the effect of regulatory form on both price and technical efficiency. The model enables us to analyze the separate effects of ownership and regulatory form across a heterogeneous sample of firms. We also analyze the effects of risk in the form of two separate regulatory variables and the effect of market share on economic efficiency.     

Financial literacy and voluntary savings for retirement: novel causal evidence

ABSTRACT

We utilise recent Household Finance and Consumption Survey microdata to report first causal effects of financial literacy on voluntary private pension schemes participation for a Central and Eastern European (CEE) country, namely Slovakia. Savings for retirement in the supplementary pension schemes are positively associated with financial literacy after controlling for a set of relevant socio-economic variables. One additional correctly answered financial literacy question leads to a 5.6 percentage points increase in the probability of having a voluntary pension savings plan in our ordinary least squares estimates. The causal impact of financial literacy increases to 19.5 percentage points when we address potential endogeneity problems by novel to the literature instrumental variables.     

Asset allocation and age effects in retirement savings choices

We examine the asset allocation decisions of members of three large Australian retirement savings funds. Superannuation Guarantee legislation in 1992 made Australian employees compulsory investors by requiring employers to contribute a fixed proportion of earnings to a superannuation fund on behalf of employees. A majority of these employees can choose an investment strategy for these contributions. We examine how actual investment strategy and asset allocation choices of members change with age in view of the conventional wisdom that individuals allocate less to risky assets as they age and investments theory which provides conflicting advice on the issue.     

“中国储蓄率之谜”的再探讨

本文针对“中国储蓄率之谜”问题进行研究,探究中国储蓄率如此之高的原因。文中构建了一个生命周期模型,并利用面板VAR模型得出了影响中国家户储蓄率如此之高的原因。文中构建了一个生命周期模型,并利用面板VAR模型得出了影响中国家庭储蓄率的因素。研究认为,储蓄率具有一个滞后效应,即本期储蓄率很大程度上受上一期储蓄率影响。家庭中子女数与储蓄率具有正相关关系,而教育成本的增加则会对储蓄率产生一个负向影响。此外,工资增长率的增加会使储蓄率上升,而人均资本率的增加会使储蓄率下降。     

When does a central bank׳s balance sheet require fiscal support?

Using a simple, general equilibrium model, we argue that it would be appropriate for a central bank with a large balance sheet composed of long-duration nominal assets to have access to, and be willing to ask for, support for its balance sheet by the fiscal authority. Otherwise its ability to control inflation may be at risk. This need for balance sheet support — a within-government transaction — is distinct from the need for fiscal backing of inflation policy that arises even in models where the central bank׳s balance sheet is merged with that of the rest of the government.     

对中国的超额货币需求成因的经济分析

美国经济学家罗纳德·麦金农教授提出的"中国之谜"现象已经成为中国经济发展过程中的一个常态.本文发现中国经济转轨过程中释放出的超额货币需求可以更好地解释这一现象,证明我国经济中确实存在超额的货币需求.本文最后对超额的货币需求成因进行了经济解释.     

Junior must pay: pricing the implicit put in privatizing Social Security

Summary. Proposals that a portion of the Social Security Trust Fund assets be invested in equities entail the possibility that a severe decline in equity prices will render the Funds assets insufficient to provide the currently mandated level of benefits. In this event, existing taxpayers may be compelled to act as insurers of last resort. The cost to taxpayers of such an implicit commitment equals the value of a put option with payoff equal to the benefits shortfall. We calibrate an OLG model that generates realistic equity premia and value the put. With 20 percent of the Funds assets invested in equities, the highest level currently under serious discussion, we value a put that guarantees the currently mandated level of benefits at one percent of GDP, or a temporary increase in Social Security taxation of, at most, 20 percent. We value a put that guarantees 90 percent of benefits at .03 percent of GDP. In contrast to the earlier literature, our results account for the significant changes in the distribution of security returns resulting from Trust Fund purchases.We thank Henning Bohn for his insightful comments. We also thank Kenneth Arrow, Jean Boivin, John Campbell, Kenn Judd, Narayana Kocherlakota, Mordecai Kurz, Rick Mishkin, Nobu Kiyotaki, Ed Prescott, Steve Ross, Andrei Shleifer, Kent Smetters, Luis Viceira, David Webb, Steve Zeldes and the seminar participants at Columbia, Harvard, LSE, Minnesota, MIT, NYU, Oslo, Stanford, Stockholm School of Economics, UCLA, USC, Wharton, Wisconsin and Yale for helpful discussions.     

Intergenerational risk sharing and fiscal policy

Risk-sharing implications of alternative fiscal policies are compared in a stochastic production economy with overlapping generations. Ex ante efficiency is shown to be achievable with optimal transfers, regardless of distributional concerns. For CRRA preferences, stylized real-world policies (notably safe debt and safe pensions) are found inefficient in the direction of imposing not enough productivity risk on retirees and too much on future generations. Safe transfers can be rationalized as efficient if preferences display age-increasing risk aversion, such as habit formation. The ubiquity of safe transfers suggests that governments treat the young as more risk tolerant than older cohorts.     

External constraints and endogenous growth: Why didn't some countries benefit from capital flows?

Empirical evidence on the growth benefits of capital inflows is mixed. The growth benefits accruing from capital inflows also appear to be larger for high savings countries. We explain this phenomenon using an OLG model of endogenous growth in open economies with borrowing constraints that can generate both positive and negative growth effects of capital inflows. The amount an economy can borrow is restricted by an endogenous enforcement constraint. In our setting, with physical capital and a pay-as-you-go pensions system, the steady state is unique. However, it can either be constrained or unconstrained. In a constrained economy, opening up to equity and FDI inflows can be bad for growth because it makes the domestic interest rate too low, which endogenously tightens borrowing constraints. Agents decrease savings and investment in productivity-enhancing activities resulting in lower growth. Results are reversed in an unconstrained economy. We also provide a quantitative analysis of these constraints and some policy implications.     

The dynamic effects of monetary policy: A structural factor model approach

A structural factor model for 112 US monthly macroeconomic series is used to study the effects of monetary policy. Monetary policy shocks are identified using a standard recursive scheme, in which the impact effects on both industrial production and prices are zero. The main findings are the following. First, the maximal effect on bilateral real exchange rates is observed on impact, so that the “delayed overshooting” puzzle disappears. Second, after a contractionary shock prices fall at all horizons, so that the price puzzle is not there. Finally, monetary policy has a sizable effect on both real and nominal variables.     

我国地方政府债务可持续性的综合分析框架

本文首先从地方政府的或有负债、债务安全性指标、资产负债表视角对当前我国地方政府的债务可持续性现状进行了静态分析,其次从跨期预算约束角度对政府债务可持续性进行了动态评估,最后根据地方政府债务性风险产生的原因,提出防范、化解和处置我国地方政府债务风险的建议.     

The Economics of Housing Savings Plans

Housing Savings Plans (HSP) are contractual savings products in which a household is granted a mortgage at preferential terms (or option for such) in exchange for accumulating savings in the plan and in the institution offering it. As such, they represent a bundle of savings and borrowing financial services. While such plans are common in some countries, the reasons for their use have not been fully explored. In some cases, HSPs are used because financial markets and institutions have not reached sufficient levels of development to attract savings or raise capital for housing finance, and in other cases, tax and subsidy incentives may be at play. Here, we ask under which circumstances households and financial institutions will voluntarily contract to participate in HSPs even in advanced capital markets and in the absence of tax/subsidy incentives. We argue that the HSPs may be chosen by households because of their hedging qualities. We model HSPs and show how changes in variables affect the willingness of households to join the HSP and the characteristics of any HSP chosen.     

浅析我国税收制度对国民储蓄倾向的影响

税收与国民储蓄间的关系表现在税收对储蓄的动员性上。所得税和财产税抑制储蓄,商品税则有可能相对提高国民储蓄倾向。当前,我国受税制安排的特殊性、收入分配的非公平性及特殊国情的影响,税收制度与国民储蓄间的关系具有某种特性。这种特性表明,在我国税制改革中税制的设计既要保证国民储蓄的合理增长,又要兼顾公平,从而使我国国民经济在适度储蓄规模的基础上得以健康协调发展。