Gender discrimination,inflation, and the business cycle

Empirical evidence suggests that women are discriminated against in the labor market. We analyze the effects of taste-based and statistical gender discrimination on business cycle and inflation dynamics by including unpaid household production, two-agent households, and discriminatory firm behavior in a tractable New Keynesian model. After a negative demand shock, we find that the economic downturn is more severe in comparison to a non-discriminatory environment, as the shock implies an increase in the inefficient utilization of female and male productivity. Furthermore, the working time allocation between women and men becomes more inefficient. Moreover, we show that discrimination implies a lower transmission of expansionary monetary policy shocks on inflation. Overall, taste-based discrimination leads to larger macroeconomic distortions, while statistical discrimination implies higher intra-household inefficiencies.     

双支柱调控的金融稳定效应研究*

本文基于全球42个主要经济体1991—2016年的面板数据，系统考察了双支柱政策框架的金融稳定效应。实证结果表明：（1）货币政策和宏观审慎政策在抑制家庭信贷增长上具有显著作用，双支柱政策在缓解金融风险顺周期性上具有显著的金融稳定效应；（2）盯住贷款的宏观审慎工具和针对借款人、贷款人的宏观审慎组合具有更为显著的金融稳定效应；（3）新兴经济体的货币政策在抑制家庭信贷扩张上的作用不显著，但其宏观审慎政策的金融稳定效应相较发达经济体更为显著，发达经济体双支柱政策的金融稳定效应总体显著，其中货币政策效应更为突出；（4）发达经济体的货币政策效应在下行周期优于上行周期，宏观审慎政策及其与货币政策的交互效应在上行周期优于下行周期；（5）只有个别宏观审慎工具会对失业率、消费和物价产生微弱的负效应。     

近10年国外远程办公研究进展与本土化启示——基于CiteSpace的可视化分析

新冠肺炎疫情严重影响了企业经营活动，但在一定程度上也推动了远程办公这种新型工作方式。为探究该领域研究进展，收集近10年Web of Science（科学引文索引）数据库中收录的“远程办公”或“线上办公”为主题的242篇核心文献，通过文献计量软件CiteSpace分析国外远程办公研究文献间的关联关系，探寻国外远程办公领域的发展脉络和研究前沿。在此基础上，对近10年国内中国知网数据库20篇中文核心文献进行综述，希望为未来国内远程办公的本土化研究提供参考。     

Terrorism and international economic policy

We add to the ongoing discussion regarding the policy consequences of terrorism by analyzing the effect of terrorism on international economic policy for a panel of 170 countries between 1970 and 2016. We find that countries resort to less liberal international economic policies when facing the threat of terrorism. This effect is especially relevant to smaller (less populated) countries. Our main finding is robust to an instrumental-variable approach. We argue that governments pursue less liberal international economic policies in response to terrorism to interrupt the organization and financing of terrorism, limit capital flight, stabilize public finances and signal political resolve.     

Unconventional monetary policy announcements and information shocks in the U.S.

We study unconventional policy shocks and information shocks associated with central bank announcements in the U.S. While unconventional policy shocks capture the direct influence of announced monetary policy actions, information shocks are associated with central bank information conveyed with the announcement. To disentangle these two types of shocks, we impose sign restrictions on high frequency changes in interest rates and stock prices around announcements. We find that information shocks lead to persistent declines in the 10-year government bond yield, whereas the actual unconventional policy shock induces only small interest rate responses. We also find that expansionary output effects of unconventional monetary policy are to some extent counteracted by the information shock.     

The role of financial journalists in the expectations channel of the monetary transmission mechanism

Monetary policy relies on managing the inflation expectations of the public in order to influence prices (inflation). Relying on the South African experience, we argue that most of the general public are exposed to the communication of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) only via the media. This state of affairs is fairly typical around the globe. We explored the role and biases of the journalists in transmitting the SARB’s communications to the rationally inattentive general public. Our aim was to obtain insights about the factors that influence media articles that deal with monetary policy issues. Using interviews and qualitative content analysis, we explored the extent of the journalists’ knowledge about inflation and monetary policy, their views concerning the credibility of the SARB, the sources of information they use, and the constraints and incentives they face in writing their articles.     

Environmental regulations in private and mixed duopolies: Taxes on emissions versus green R&D subsidies

In this article, we compare two kinds of environmental regulations—emissions taxes and green R&D subsidies—in private and mixed-duopoly markets in the presence of R&D spillovers. We show that a green R&D subsidy is better (worse) than an emissions tax when the green R&D is efficient (inefficient), irrespective of R&D spillovers, whereas the existence of a publicly owned firm encourages the government to adopt a subsidy policy. We also show that the optimal policy choice depends on R&D efficiency and spillovers. In particular, when green R&D is inefficient and the spillover rate is low (high), the government should choose an emissions tax and (not) privatize the state-owned firm. When green R&D is efficient, however, an R&D subsidy is better, but a privatization policy is not desirable for society, irrespective of spillovers.     

Household savings constraints,uncertainty and macroprudential policy

We investigate the impact of macroprudential policy on Irish households' perception of savings adequacy, with a particular focus on households intending to purchase a home. These measures tighten loan-to-value ratios and raise the entry cost for home purchase. We find that the measures have had a significant impact on savings constraints. Indeed, constrained potential buyers, who are planning to purchase, but not presently saving to buy a home, are the group most affected as the macroprudential rules increase the downpayment size required. Heterogeneous effects across households indicate younger, private renting households, and those with relatively uncertain cash flows.     

我国农作物秸秆综合利用产业促进政策研究

［目的］深入地分析了我国秸秆综合利用产业现行促进政策，阐述了存在的主要问题，并提出针对性解决方法，以期为促进秸秆综合利用政策体系建设提供政策建议。［方法］按照法律法规、目标引导和考核、财税补贴、技术研发和推广、信息统计等进行分类，综合评述各类现行政策的特点、使用范围和有效性，并采用相关者利益分析等方法分析存在问题，提出政策建议。［结果］随着我国秸秆露天焚烧问题日益突出，国家加大了对秸秆综合利用重视的程度，出台一系列关于秸秆综合利用等方面的法律、法规和激励政策等，初步构建了秸秆综合利用政策体系，呈现出聚焦关键环节、关键技术和重点地区的趋势。但是，还存在着政策的有效性有限，未形成合力； 农民参与度低； 使用环节缺乏激励政策等问题。［结论］建议出台区域生态补偿制度，落实耕地地力保护补贴政策，鼓励终端产品使用和消费等政策。     

释放正定片区红利,助推河北医药行业新发展

医药产业作为河北省重点发展的支柱产业之一,近年来发展形势不容乐观,正位于产业发展拐点之上。正定片区的建立释放了大量的红利,对于河北省医药产业的转型升级具有重要意义。本文在客观分析河北省医药行业发展现状的基础上提出了其存在的问题,并结合正定片区在医药方面的优势做出了有针对性的对策建议,助推河北省医药行业新发展。