Is the 2008 financial turmoil increasing the risk of a bank run？ An empirical research in Geneva

In this paper, the authors present the results of an empirical study that attempts to analyse the risk of bank run in Geneva, Switzerland. Two similar surveys have been conducted upon two independent samples of Geneva population （June 2008 and February 2009） to detect the existence of predictive signals leading to a bank run within the selected area. The authors discover that Geneva inhabitants are generally confident in Swiss banks; the risk of a bank run in the area is low. However, reliance to the national banking system is worsening： The number of people fearing about their savings and those thinking the default of a major Swiss bank as ＂possible＂ has significantly risen. Also, more and more people keep updated about the current financial crisis; overall trust in Swiss banks has slightly decreased.     

Love thy children or money

This paper presents a simple OLG model which is consistent with observed consumer behavior, capital accumulation and wealth distribution, and yields some new conclusions about fiscal policy. By considering a society in which individuals are distinguished according to two characteristics, altruism and wealth preference, we show that those who in the long run hold the bulk of private capital are not so much motivated by dynastic altruism as by preference for wealth. In this setting, estate taxation is a questionable instrument of redistribution: it penalizes the wealthy, but favors the top wealthy. On the other hand, even though Ricardian equivalence holds, both public debt and PAYG pensions lead to a transfer of resources from the top wealthy to the other individuals.     

Purchasing power parity: Evidence from developing Countries

This paper utilizes the dynamic error-correction model (DECM) to examine the issue of purchasing power parity (PPP) for 11 developing countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Guatemala, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru, South Africa, and Venezuela). For comparison purposes, evidence from the traditional unit root methods of the augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron is presented. The results from the conventional unit root tests failed to find evidence of PPP in all of the cases. However, the results from the generalized error-correction model detected evidence of PPP for nine out of the 11 countries under consideration. Based on these results, it was concluded that PPP holds in the long-run for the sample countries and that the implicit restrictions associated with unit root tests prevented earlier studies from finding evidence in support of PPP theory.The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors only. They do not reflect the views of the World Bank.     

Urban squatting and community organization in developing countries

It is estimated that up to 30–35 percent of the total urban population of the Third World (about 185 million people) live in squatter settlements. This paper presents, from an economic perspective of tenure choice under uncertainty, a unified and consistent theoretical framework of this phenomenon, which has heretofore been studied mainly by other social scientists. The model is able to explain why land invasions occur. Furthermore, it provides some insights as to why the number of squatters in an urban area depends on a squatter community's ability to form coalitions to fully protect its members' rights. It is shown in the paper that, if a community is successful in controlling its size, government efforts which are meant to reduce the number of squatters may lead to the opposite results. In particular, the imposition of heavier fines or the increase of government expenditures on eviction activity (threat campaigns, eviction in other jurisdictions, etc.) will likely lead to an increase in the optimal number of squatters, unless the decline in expected utility caused by these efforts is so great that squatting no longer becomes viable at any community size.     

Existence and specific characters of rentiers: a savers-spenders theory approach

Summary. Using the savers-spenders theory developed by Mankiw (2000, AER), we propose microfoundations to the existence of rentiers in macroeconomic growth models. From an OLG model which acknowledges the great heterogeneity of consumer behavior apparent in the data, we capture the dynamic considerations of potential rentiers as a natural consequence of intertemporal utility maximization and we analyze realistic characteristics (proportion, wealth, propensity to save) of rentiers.JEL Classification Numbers: E13, D64, J22.This paper is adapted from the fourth chapter of my Ph.D Thesis. Then, I thank Alain VENDITTI, my Ph.D Supervisor and Antoine dAUTUME and Pierre PESTIEAU my Ph.D Referees. Earlier version of this paper were presented at the International conference: New perspectives on (un)stability: the role of heterogeneity at Marseille, June 7-9, 2001 and at the X-th Spring School of the Associated European Laboratory (CNRS-FNRS/CORE-GREC-GREQAM) at Aix, 2001. I thank conference participants, in particular Olivier CHARLOT, Christian GHIGLINO, Kiminori MATSUYAMA and Philippe MICHEL for suggestions, helpful comments and discussions. I also thank a referee of this journal for his constructive comments.     

Malmquist Indexes Using a Geometric Distance Function (GDF). Application to a Sample of Portuguese Bank Branches

Traditional approaches to calculate total factor productivity (TFP) change through Malmquist indexes rely on distance functions. In this paper we show that the use of distance functions as a means to calculate TFP change may introduce some bias in the analysis, and therefore we propose a procedure that calculates TFP change through observed values only. Our total TFP change is then decomposed into efficiency change, technological change, and a residual effect. This decomposition makes use of a non-oriented measure in order to avoid problems associated with the traditional use of radial oriented measures, especially when variable returns to scale technologies are to be compared. The proposed approach is applied in this paper to a sample of Portuguese bank branches.     

The adoption and use of information technology: a longitudinal study of a mature family firm

Through a longitudinal study of a mature family firm, this paper investigates the adoption and use of information technology in a family business. It is argued that the adoption and use of information technology is influenced by five key factors. These factors are discussed, leading to a presentation of a series of implications and conclusions.