An empirical procedure to evaluate monetary management under exogenous changes in the money supply

This article proposes an empirical procedure to evaluate central banks’ monetary management in a presence of exogenous changes in the money supply. Monetary shocks deviate the market interest rate from the target, and the monetary authority decides its optimal intervention in the money market, bearing in mind the benefits and costs of re-establishing its target interest rate. According to monetary management theory, typically a central bank will allow for variation in the interest rate within a range around the target interest rate, thereby intervening in the money market when the interest rate trends toward a point outside that range. In this context, we develop an empirical strategy to analyse central bank’s reactions to exogenous money changes by making a statistical comparison of the actual and the estimated intraday shift in the money supply. We also employ our method to test the reactions of the Brazilian Central Bank to liquidity shifts caused by changes in the Treasury Single Account (TSA) balance. Using different metrics of analysis, the applications of our procedure confirms the predictions of the optimal monetary management theory.     

PACIFIC RIM TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT: HISTORICAL ENVIRONMENT AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

Pacific Asia is deep rooted in its cultural heritage and historical background, which have set the tone for regions success. These same factors also have created rather different trading practices, compared with those of the West — practices that are less transparent and full of hidden private trade barriers.
Interdependence within the region suggests integration, but Pacific Asia has taken a course of non-exclusive cooperation rather than following the exclusive course of the European Community (EC) and of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The latter two trade blocs threaten the continued success and development of Pacific Asia. Although the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) sends relief, fostering a cooperative rather than a retaliative Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization offers the most promise.     

Mergers,Privatization and Environmental Considerations

The purpose of this paper is to analyze both merger sustainability and optimal privatization decisions, in an international mixed oligopoly model when it is explicitly assumed that firms’ production pollutes the environment. Contrary to traditional theory it is shown that both a merger between private firms and between one private and one public firm could be sustainable. Furthermore, the effects of environmental considerations on mixed firms’ optimal degree of privatization are analyzed.     

Mixed oligopoly,endogenous timing and mergers

The present paper discusses endogenous timing in a mixed oligopoly model, comprising one public firm and two private firms, assuming both a merger between the two private firms and between one private and one public firm. The paper proves that although a merger between the two private firms does not change the timing of the game, a merger between the public firm and the private firm into a mixed firm could change the market structure from Stackelberg to Cournot competition.     

Restructuring East Asian exchange rate regimes

This paper investigated the degree of misalignment of the East Asian currencies against the U.S. dollar and against the Japanese yen under a de facto dollar-pegged exchange rate regime (January 1995 to May 1997). We found that overvaluation against the yen started in the Malaysian ringgit and the Philippine peso from January 1996 and the Thai baht from June 1996. Although the Indonesian rupiah and the Korean won against the yen were still undervalued in May 1997, degree of misalignment of both currencies narrowed from April 1995. Large withdrawal of Japanese claims after the financial crisis reduced Japanese bank lendings from $123.8 billion to $85.9 billion in end-June 1998. In 1998, Japanese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to East Asia fell as much as 44% from the previous year. In conclusion the paper stresses the importance of the stability in yen/dollar exchange rate to avoid large volatility in Japanese capital flow.     

On the maximum number of balancing subsets

Let a₁,…,a_n be a finite sequence of n real numbers. A subset {i₁,…,i_r} of the set {1,…,n } is called a balancing subset for a₁,…,a_n if a_i1 + … + a_ir = 0. We discuss in this paper the maximum number of balancing subsets for given n.     

The investigation on dimensions of e-satisfaction for online shoes retailing

Purpose—Online retailing has become a standard component in companies' multi-channel structure. This trend also involves an increasing number of experience attribute dominated products, which traditionally rely on brick-and-mortar retailers. These manufacturers have started to open their own online retail stores. This study identifies the key determinants of e-satisfaction at different stages of shoes online shopping process.Design/methodology/approach—We collect consumers' reviews about their online shopping experiences from online review websites. We use both qualitative and quantitative approaches to analyze the dataset, and investigate the complete process of consumers' e-tailing experiences.Findings—this research identifies the two key factors driving e-satisfaction of purchasing experience attribute dominated products online: product selection and customer service. In particular, our findings show that product selection is critical for e-satisfaction in the pre-purchase stage, and that customer service is more important in the post-purchase stage. Lastly, the study finds that manufacturers' websites often receive more negative reviews because of their poor service recovery strategies in the post-purchase period.Research limitations/implications—This study emphasizes the importance of adopting a dynamic approach by considering various stages of the consumer's online shopping experience. This study focuses on one specific experience good; the shoe industry.Practical implications—The results of this study are invaluable to firms interested in providing experience attribute dominated products online. Our findings indicate that product selection and especially post-purchase service are critical for a successful e-tailing.Originality/value—This paper emphasizes the importance of taking a dynamic view to investigate consumer's e-tailing experience. We adopt both qualitative and quantitative approaches in our study.     

Bronchodilator reliever use and its association with the economic and humanistic burden of COPD: a propensity-matched study

Background and aims: Short-acting bronchodilators are normally used as supplemental relief medication for breakthrough symptoms in COPD patients. The objective of this cross-sectional study was to assess if more frequent vs infrequent use of relief medication in maintenance-treated COPD patients, split by the severity dyspnea, was associated with an increase in the overall disease burden.

Methods: A population-based cross-sectional survey (Adelphi DSP) was conducted among patients with COPD in five European countries. Information was collected on demographic and clinical characteristics, reliever inhaler use, dyspnea (mMRC), health status (CAT, EQ-5D), sleep quality (JSEQ) and healthcare resource use including moderate–severe COPD exacerbations, physician visits, COPD medications and other COPD related resources. The humanistic and economic burden was compared between patients with infrequent reliever use (<1 occasion/week) and more frequent use (≥ 1 occasion/week). The association between increased reliever use and economic burden was also examined after matching patients based on propensity-scores balancing demographic and disease burden characteristics.

Results: Among the 1373 COPD patients prescribed a reliever inhaler, 29% reported using reliever medication ≥1 occasion/week. In the unmatched cohort, more frequent reliever use (n?=?377) compared to infrequent use (n?=?996) was linked to poorer health status (CAT: 25.7 vs 20.0; p?p?p?p?p?=?.0001). In the propensity-score matched population, more frequent reliever use was also associated with significantly higher annual costs for COPD management (€5,034 vs €3,705, p?=?.0327) compared to patients with infrequent reliever use.

Conclusion: In moderate-to-severe COPD, more frequent reliever use is associated with increased exacerbation risk and increased management costs.