Wealth and the demand for money: Empirical evidence for the Netherlands and Belgium

Summary This paper examines the impact of wealth on the demand for money in The Netherlands and Belgium. The empirical analysis reveals a substantial influence of wealth on the demand for money. For The Netherlands, incorporating wealth effects mitigates the volatility of the monetary picture. For Belgium this is not the case, indicating that interest and inflation rates are very important for understanding the monetary developments.We are indebted to Michel Dombrecht of De Nationale Bank van België for providing the data on wealth for Belgium. Helpful comments by Professors S.K. Kuipers and F.C. Palm are gratefully acknowledged.     

Enrolment for degrees in agriculture and implications for agricultural development∗

The proportion of students who enrol for agricultural degrees at black universities??? is low, and only a few females enrol for these degrees. This has severe implications for agricultural development in the less developed areas. In order to increase enrolment for degrees in agriculture, it is suggested that improvements be made in the following: the society's image of agriculture, salaries of qualified agriculturalists, land tenure, vocational guidance at schools, quality of teaching of agriculture at schools, provision of bursaries and availability of jobs for agricultural graduates.     

Deterring Rearrests for Drinking and Driving

This study assesses why some individuals are rearrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI). Using longitudinal data from North Carolina containing information on arrests and arrest outcomes, we test hypotheses that individuals prosecuted and convicted of DWI are less likely to be rearrested for DWI. We allow for possible endogeneity of prosecution and conviction outcomes by using instrumental variables for the prosecutor's prosecution rate and the judge's conviction rate. With a three‐year follow‐up, the probability of DWI rearrest was reduced by 6.6% if the person was prosecuted for DWI and, for those prosecuted, by 24.5% if convicted on this charge. Prosecution and conviction for DWI deters rearrest for DWI.     

Accounting for Social and Cultural Values

Economic reasoning heavily relies on an outdated accounting scheme. This article contains a proposal to reconsider the conceptualisation of the traditional notions of 'goods' and 'capital.' The point is that to account for crucial goods in the life of humans, communities, organisations, and societies, we need to go beyond the accounting for economic capital alone, and include forms of social and cultural capital. These are the capitals that generate the values that really count, i.e. social and cultural values. The issue of measurement remains acute. The argument calls furthermore for a reconsideration of the concepts of property and ownership.     

Communists and the Fight for Jobs and Revolution

Winning in the battle for jobs is two-fold: making gains in jobs and relief, and making gains in the development of anti-racist revolutionary class consciousness. Marxists and institutionalists have shown theoretically that unemployment is endemic to capitalism. The global experience of the 20th century validates this view. Efforts to ease the negative social effects of unemployment can modestly and temporarily assist distressed unemployed workers and their families, but only when there is a significant grassroots mobilization??at both local and national levels??to struggle for such improvements. Communist organizers have often been the most effective leaders of struggles against unemployment and its effects by relying on mobilizations of unemployed, employed, and unionized workers. Communist organizations have often combined efforts to win ??survival?? reforms (i.e., attempts to keep unemployed workers?? heads above water) with agitation and education about the need to end unemployment permanently with socialist and/or communist revolution. Two examples of these struggles are described: the Unemployed Council of St. Petersburg in 1905?C06 and the unemployed councils initiated by the Communist International (the Comintern) during the early 1930s, with an emphasis on the U.S. experience. Lessons for today??s global struggle against unemployment are drawn from these earlier experiences.     

Responsible Research and Innovation and Its Implications for China

Responsible research and innovation (RRI) represents a new evolving approach to governing research and innovation that takes into account potential impacts on the environment and society. Most published studies on RRI focus on the social benefits of research and innovation through examining RRI's definitions and approaches for its implementation. In contrast, the present study addresses the influence of RRI on economic growth, and discusses the situations in which RRI will benefit economies. Our study finds that for its implementation to be successful, RRI needs to meet certain conditions, and that its implementation is not always beneficial to economic growth. To achieve a better result from RRI as part of an innovation policy, each country should balance the push and pull power of RRI to make sure that it becomes a building block rather than a stumbling block for innovation, economic growth and social welfare. To assure that RRI can be successfully implemented, China needs to strengthen and improve the participation mechanisms for stakeholders in major scientific and technological innovative activities.     

Considerations for the definitions and classification of households and families and related variables for the 1990 round of censuses

Questions related to the definition and classification of households and families in the 1990 census round in the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) region are discussed. The author concludes that "the recommendations for the 1980 censuses of population and housing in the ECE region were largely adequate and should not be substantially revised other than a need to more precisely and concisely state the definition....While there is a demonstrated need to close some information gaps, such as through the provision of longitudinal family data using retrospective surveys, there is also a great need to more effectively use currently available cross-sectional data bases."     

俄罗斯教育竞争力指标与管理

教育竞争力是国家竞争力的基础。提高教育竞争力是俄罗斯国家发展战略的核心任务。俄罗斯通过制定国家发展战略和联邦教育发展纲要规定了教育竞争力纲要指标,通过联邦政府决议规定了简称为“5-100”的纲要外指标,并为实现纲要外目标成立了专门的咨议机构。本文依据指标的功能属性,对纲要指标进行分类,介绍了俄罗斯教育竞争力指标的赋值方法,较详尽介绍和分析了纲要外指标的内容和管理,并以最新数据说明了俄罗斯大学教育竞争力进展情况。在实证分析的基础上,概括了纲要管理法和目标管理法在提高教育竞争力方面各自的有效性。本文对俄罗斯在教育竞争力指标设计及为提高教育竞争力所做努力的分析和研究,可为国际教育比较研究提供了参考。     

Macroeconomic impacts and implications for business

Conclusion The human toll of September 11 is immeasurable. Obviously, there was lost human and physical capital, but the implications for the long-term GDP effects may not be significant with respect to reallocation of private sector capital to unproductive uses. In our model, we feel there will be a one time reduction of the capital stock in the private sector that does not have implications for productivity growth, but it will have a permanent effect on the level of productivity. Finally, higher government consumption and gross investment has a similar effect. It lowers the national savings rate, crowds out private investment, leads to capital shallowing, and lowers again the level of productivity rather than the growth of productivity. But still in present value terms, the attacks of September 11 have been a big hit to our well being.     

A Letter for Authors and Readers

New dreams and beautiful hopes come with a joyful new year! On the arrival of the New Year, please allow us to extend all our wishes for your perfect health, lasting prosperity and our sincere thanks to you.     

政府因素与中国对FDI的需求偏好

当今世界上大多数发展中国家都对外商直接投资(FDI)存在着明显的强烈需求偏好。中国之所以也对FDI存在着强烈的需求偏好,政府因素是其中一个极其重要的原因     

Marginal and Average Tax Rates and the Incentive for Self-Employment

The paper examines how the incentives for individuals to take up self-employment, rather than paid employment, are influenced by the marginal and average income tax rate. A model is developed in which an individual optimally chooses the supply of labor effort and the amount of tax to evade. Assuming that remuneration is more responsive to effort but that the opportunities for evasion are greater in self-employment, we find a negative relationship between self-employment and the marginal tax rate but a positive relationship with the average rate. This is supported by empirical evidence for 15 OECD countries over the 1980s.     

Analytical methods for environmental and energy policies

Summary The article focuses on new techniques for effective decision making in the field of energy use and environmental quality. Special attention is paid to the solution of conflicts between different options for economic development. A multi-sector model is constructed which links the use of different energy inputs to production and consumption. This model is further extended with a pollution model which describes the waste discharges associated with a given pattern of energy consumption. Next, substitution between various energy alternatives (induced by price changes resulting from scarcity) are analysed. The conflicts between different options are further analysed by means of learning strategies for conflicting objectives based on the concept of displaced ideals. Finally, the model is applied to Dutch economic-environmental-energy interactions by means of a structural model describing environmental pollution and energy use in relation to production and employment. Some empirical results concerning price reactions from producers induced by external conditions are presented as well.     

Inequality,poverty and prospects for redistribution

This paper demonstrates that poverty and inequality trends can diverge. It then discusses inequality trends and shows that, despite measurement issues, there is consensus that inequality is very high and has been rising over much of the post-transition period. Due to rising inequality within all groups, and particularly the black population, and lower inequality between race groups, within-group inequality has become the dominant form of inequality. That does not, however, detract from the fact that inequality between groups is still very large. High income inequality largely stems from inequality in access to wage income, due more to wage inequality than to unemployment. A Gini coefficient for wage income amongst the employed of above 0.60 effectively sets a floor to overall income inequality. The high wage premium to educated workers derives from a combination of a skills shortage at the top end of the educational spectrum, driving up their wages, and a surfeit of poorly-educated workers competing for scarce unskilled jobs dampening unskilled wages; if the unemployed were to find jobs, it would be in this bottom part of the wage distribution, and consequently this would not much reduce wage inequality. A continuation of the historical pattern whereby only a small segment of the population obtained good schooling would leave the structures underlying the large wage premium unaltered. The time frame for substantial inequality reduction is thus necessarily a long one, while poverty reduction efforts should not wait for this to occur.     

The demand for M3 and inflation forecasts: An empirical analysis for Switzerland

The Demand for M3 and Inflation Forecasts: An Empirical Analysis for Switzerland. — This paper argues that money should continue to play an important role in monetary policy even if a central bank pursues a strategy based on inflation forecasts. Within the context of an error correction model, the paper delivers empirical evidence that both the growth rate of the monetary aggregate M3 and the size of excess M3 incorporate useful information with regard to future inflation in Switzerland. This evidence strongly suggests that money should remain an important indicator for monetary policy.     

Financing Alternatives for Chinese Small and Medium Enterprises： The Case for a Small and Medium Enterprise Stock Market

Financing alternatives for small and medium enterprises in China are discussed in the present study. In particular, we analyze the significant changes and developments in China s “second board” stock market. China s extensive network of regional assets and equity exchanges, which were set up to facilitate private equity transfer, and non‐performing loan transactions seem to partially fill the void for small and medium enterprises, which cannot easily obtain approval for listing on the stock exchanges. Foreign investors can identify investment opportunities in non‐listed domestic state‐owned and private businesses through these regional assets and equity exchanges. At the same time, foreign stock markets are now attracting the young Chinese enterprises to list their stocks on their exchanges. (Edited by Zhinan Zhang)     

中美第一阶段经贸协议目标、现实挑战与未来展望

中美第一阶段经贸协议的签订缓解了全球经济压力,稳定了金融市场预期。跟一般国际经贸协议不同的是,这份协议载有具体的商品与服务清单及采购数量。以协议所指定的商品与服务基准年(2017年)出口贸易为出发点,从数量目标的实现基本条件和难易程度看,商品出口的数量目标尚可实现,但服务数量目标难度较大。第二轮谈判将重点讨论降低双边关税水平,但谈判时机和进程存在着许多不确定性。     

文化旅游地产的建设思考——以中国工艺文化城为例

随着旅游业的不断发展,旅游产业链条也在不断的延长,旅游地产的兴起正是产业链逐步完善的表现。同时旅游文化地产给予了文化产业一个全新的载体和平台。通过对中国工艺文化城作为案例进行研究,试图总结出旅游文化地产规划开发中的得失,为今后的开发建设提供参考。     

Public‐private partnerships for waste management: Challenges for policies and procedures

Recently, all essential services in South Africa have been the focus of major efforts to ensure equitable access. This focus is quickly intensifying at all levels of government, as greater attention is directed at global environmental issues and at removing the imbalances in the socio‐economic conditions of the past. Unfortunately for solid waste management, unlike other essential services, this is happening at a time of declining financial resources, fewer national programmes and increasing regulation. Many municipalities in South Africa are turning to public‐private partnerships (PPPs) as a way of addressing the growing municipal solid waste management problem, especially with regard to extending services to previously disadvantaged, low‐income communities. This article seeks to define relevant issues, clarify the use of PPPs and generally suggest a way forward for local municipalities committed to meeting the challenges of maintaining and expanding solid waste management services.     

Digitization and data frames for card index records

We develop a methodology for converting card index archival records into usable data frames for statistical and textual analyses. Leveraging machine learning and natural-language processing tools from Amazon Web Services (AWS), we overcome hurdles associated with character recognition, inconsistent data reporting, column misalignment, and irregular naming. In this article, we detail the step-by-step conversion process and discuss remedies for common problems and edge cases, using historical records from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.