A benchmark for wage growth through the lens of the Beveridge curve

Using an estimated Beveridge curve, we trace out the vacancy–unemployment ratio in the steady state. This steady-state measure for labour market tightness is embedded in a VAR framework to obtain a benchmark for wage growth reflecting a labour market equilibrium.     

乌鲁木齐市建设用地对经济增长的贡献及Logistic曲线极限点估计研究

[目的]为提高乌鲁木齐市各生产要素的利用效率,明确经济发展模式,同时也为促进土地资源节约集约利用提供科学依据。[方法]基于C-D生产函数,以2005—2015年乌鲁木齐市统计数据为样本,借助EViews6.0和SPSS20.0软件测算出建设用地对经济增长的贡献率以及Logistic曲线极限点。[结果](1)资本投入要素对经济增长的贡献率(56.72%)最大,建设用地投入要素贡献(32.81%)次之,然后是劳动力投入要素贡献(13.25%),技术进步投入要素贡献(-2.78%)最小,但拥有很大的挖掘空间;(2)建设用地对经济增长的Logistic曲线极限点位于第二、三产业产值为1 522亿元处,对应2011年产值,2005—2011年建设用地对经济增长的贡献呈递增趋势,2011年之后贡献速度呈递减趋势,逐渐趋于平缓。[结论]建设用地对经济增长的驱动作用是有限的,只有通过技术创新才能实现经济发展模式由"依资本型"向"技术驱动型"转变。     

External Debts,Institutions and Growth in SSA

The study investigates the impact of institutional quality on the external debt–growth nexus in SSA. Data from 36 SSA economies over the 1996–2013 periods were used. The results from the IV-System GMM imply that institutional quality has robust effects on the external debt–growth nexus. Thus, the impact of external debt on growth is through host nation’s institutional quality. However, the mediating effect of institutional quality on this nexus is up to a point. When a country is on the wrong side of the debt-laffer curve, external debt becomes irrelevant; and institutional quality can no longer help.     

Estimating yield curves of the U.S. Treasury securities: An interpolation approach

Following the approach of interpolation, this paper proposes the multiple exponential decay model to fit yield curves for both the U.S. TIPS market and the conventional Treasury security market. Several estimation methods, including the unconstrained/constrained nonlinear minimization, quadratic programming, and the iterative linear least squares, are applied to estimate the unknown parameters according to different curve‐fitting purposes. Comparisons between the proposed model and the alternatives show that the multiple exponential decay successfully (1) adapts to a variety of shapes associated with yield curves, (2) (partially) keeps in line with the economic interpretations of Nelson–Siegel summarized by Diebold and Li ( 2006 ), and (3) dominates the competing models in curve‐fitting performance measured by mean fitted‐price errors over the sample period. In addition, the exact specification of a nonparametric interpolation model is pinned down by applying three statistical tools, which enable us to jointly take into account validity, optimality, and parsimoniousness of the proposed model.     

Seven Fallacies Concerning Milton Friedman's “The Role of Monetary Policy”

This paper analyzes Milton Friedman's (1968a) article “The Role of Monetary Policy,” via a discussion of seven fallacies concerning the article. These fallacies are as follows: (i) “The Role of Monetary Policy” was Friedman's first public statement of the natural rate hypothesis. (ii) The Friedman–Phelps Phillips curve was already present in Samuelson and Solow's (1960) analysis. (iii) Friedman's specification of the Phillips curve was based on perfect competition and no nominal rigidities. (iv) Friedman's (1968a) account of monetary policy in the Great Depression contradicted the Monetary History’s version. (v) Friedman (1968a) stated that a monetary expansion will keep the unemployment rate and the real interest rate below their natural rates for two decades. (vi) The zero lower bound on nominal interest rates invalidates the natural rate hypothesis. (vii) Friedman's (1968a) treatment of an interest-rate peg was refuted by the rational expectations revolution. The discussion lays out the reasons why each of these seven items is a fallacy and infers key aspects of the framework underlying Friedman's (1968a) analysis.     

The Role of Inflation Target Adjustment in Stabilization Policy

How and under what circumstances can adjusting the inflation target serve as a stabilization-policy tool and contribute to welfare improvement? We answer these questions quantitatively with a standard New Keynesian model that includes cost-push-type shocks. Our proposed inflation target rule calls for the target to be adjusted in a persistent manner and in the opposite direction to the realization of a cost-push shock, which is essentially a makeup strategy. The inflation target rule, combined with a Taylor-type rule, significantly reduces inflation fluctuations originating from cost-push shocks and mitigates the stabilization trade-off, resulting in a similar level of welfare to that associated with the Ramsey optimal policy.     

The nature of trade,global production fragmentation and inflationary dynamics: Cross-country evidence

This study investigates under which circumstances trade has impact on inflation dynamics by examining the independent effects of trade intensity, intra-industry trade and trade on value added. Trade in goods is decomposed into consumption (final) goods and intermediate inputs to deepen the assessment of the role of the globalisation of production activities on inflation dynamics. Open-economy new Keynesian Phillips curve (NKPC) analyses suggest that inflation is sensitive to domestic factors and that the relevance of external factors changes with respect to the nature of trade, country groups and time. Vertical intra-industry trade in intermediate inputs and value-added trade play important role, whereas final goods trade has no statistically significant effect on inflation dynamics.     

Distributional effects of environmental taxes on transportation: evidence from Engel curves in the United States

Indirect taxes on transportation activities that pollute can correct externalities and close the gaps between private and social costs. However, policy makers often find such Pigou taxes difficult to implement because of political resistance due to possibly adverse affects on equity. For this reason it is important to assess the distributional aspects of environmental levies. This article estimates properties of the demand for transportation in parametric and non-parametric analyses of Consumer Expenditure Surveys for the United States and finds patterns in the resulting set of Engel curves. Private transportation using air flights and new cars has Engel elasticity above unity while public transportation via mass transit has Engel elasticity below unity. The findings can be interpreted in an important way since they show that a differentiated scheme of environmental taxes on transportation may function progressively. A Pigou scheme with larger taxes on modes of transportation that pollute more appears to coincide with larger levies on luxury modes preferred by richer households.     

广义供给定律与房地产投机

在复杂的市场中,商品供给量的变化主要受制于行业利润率与平均利润率的比较,呈现随平均利润率上下波动的趋势。广义供给定律从平均利润率与行业利润率的角度研究了商品供给与价格的关系,揭示了商品供给量变化的规律以及房地产投机的根源。     

基于“学习曲线”效应的长期质量成本模型

企业质量管理中存在“学习曲线”效应。在传统质量成本模型中引入累积产量和学习率 ,形成了长期质量成本模型。该模型长期质量成本随累积产量的增加而下降 ,而不同时期的最适宜质量水平随累积产量的增加而提高并趋近于零缺陷水平。该模型的结果与六西格玛管理实践一致