Hyperpower Exceptionalism: Globalisation the American Way

We are in a unique position because of our unique assets, because of the character of our people, the strength of our ideals, the might of our military and the enormous economy that supports it. (Vice-President Dick Cheney, addressing the Council on Foreign Relations, February 2002) Today's era is dominated by American power, American culture, the American dollar and the American navy. (Thomas Friedman, 2000) In international affairs the USA displays growing unilateralism. International development policies have been constrained by the Washington consensus. The USA fails to sign on to international greening protocols. Until recently the USA was perennially in arrears in United Nations dues. On several occasions (such as Nicaragua, Panama) the USA has not followed international legal standards and it ignores the International Court if its verdict goes against it. American policies contribute to the enduring stalemate in the Middle East. Take any global problem and the USA is both the major player and the major bottleneck. It is a reasonable question to ask whether this is just a matter of the current US administration or whether more profound dynamics are at work.     

Dehkans,Diversification and Dependencies: Rural Transformation in Post‐Soviet Uzbekistan

This paper describes how political and economic transition has affected the system of agricultural production in Khorezm, Uzbekistan in terms of economic practices and relationships. Based on recent fieldwork, the paper argues that the local agricultural economy is a hybrid economy, where production for market, quasi‐market and subsistence merge into and co‐constitute one another. In order to keep the system going, and to make up for the uncertainties in the formal context of production, the relation between new private fermer and the peasant (dehkan) households is of particular importance. This relation resembles neo‐patrimonial patron–client relations, which are both personal and informal while also being based on formal, contractual relations. The relations are asymmetric and based on the limited and unevenly distributed resources. The division of power is unequal but not fixed, due to the ongoing transition of the economic system.     

Understanding Intellectual Capital in an Innovative Medium-sized Firm: The Case Of Maxon Telecom

In many firms and in many industrialised countries, innovation is regarded as fundamental to growth and wealth creation. However, it is not easy to define a measure of innovation that is a leading indicator for value creation. This would imply a linear model of knowledge as a simple input to value-creating processes. Instead, intellectual capital is suggested as an alternative, employing a (non-linear) narrative of how knowledge works. This is illustrated by the case of a medium-sized Danish firm which accounts for the relationship between knowledge and innovation by using a network of a knowledge narrative, management challenges, efforts and numbers.     

QUANTIFYING THE SCOPE FOR EFFICIENCY DEFENSE IN MERGER CONTROL: THE WERDEN‐FROEB‐INDEX*

This paper introduces the Werden‐Froeb Index (WFI) to assist in evaluating merger‐specific efficiencies in horizontal mergers. The index measures the weighted average reduction in marginal costs required to restore pre‐merger equilibrium prices and quantities after the (full or partial) merger is consummated. The WFI is well defined, objective and robust, and it has relatively low information requirements. We propose to use the index as a natural complement to concentration measures such as the Hirschmann‐Herfindahl Index in the assessment of horizontal mergers.     

Liquidity and Credit Risk

We develop a structural bond valuation model to simultaneously capture liquidity and credit risk. Our model implies that renegotiation in financial distress is influenced by the illiquidity of the market for distressed debt. As default becomes more likely, the components of bond yield spreads attributable to illiquidity increase. When we consider finite maturity debt, we find decreasing and convex term structures of liquidity spreads. Using bond price data spanning 15 years, we find evidence of a positive correlation between the illiquidity and default components of yield spreads as well as support for downward‐sloping term structures of liquidity spreads.     

DOES THE CLARITY OF CENTRAL BANK COMMUNICATION AFFECT VOLATILITY IN FINANCIAL MARKETS? EVIDENCE FROM HUMPHREY‐HAWKINS TESTIMONIES

By applying readability statistics to the Humphrey‐Hawkins testimonies given by the Federal Reserve Chairman, it is tested whether the clarity of central bank communication affects volatility in financial markets. There are three results. First, when clarity matters, it has a diminishing effect on volatility. Second, clarity of communication matters mostly for volatility of medium‐term interest rates. Third, the effects of clarity vary over time. Clarity mattered especially, but not exclusively during Alan Greenspan's Chairmanship. Overall, the analysis illustrates the importance of transparent communication on monetary policy. (JEL E44, E52, E58)     

Bond Covenants and Delegated Monitoring

This paper examines alternative contracting arrangements available to a firm seeking to finance an investment project. The authors consider the choice between loan contracts with covenants based on noisy indicators of the firm's financial health and loan contracts enforced by a monitoring specialist. In one interpretation, the specialist is a financial intermediary. The firm's choice is shown to depend upon the firm's credit rating, the accuracy of financial indicators of the firm's condition, the loss from premature liquidation of the firm's project, and the cost of monitoring.     

INTERNATIONAL TRADE REGIMES AND PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

Regimes such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which require constant management by diplomacy, must deteriorate over time. They are bound by precedent, but their precedents, created by negotiation rather than by law, are unprincipled and cumulatively erode the foundations of the regime. To enshrine the objectives of the GATT more precisely in national law would make private property rights more secure against arbitrary government manipulation, and would serve the logic of democratic constitutionalism. Finally, reform of the GATT should be directed to (a) reducing permissible protection to tariffs, (b) securing nondiscrimination, and (c) providing negotiating and legal opportunities for the binding of tariff schedules.