Black rural land ownership: A matter of economic survival

Conclusion A vast majority of Blacks left the South to escape conditions of poverty. The fascination of big city life seduced many others. For whatever reasons, it is a widely accepted fact that the millions of Blacks who migrated from the South contributed significantly to the decline in black-owned rural land. However, the literature is beginning to more frequently reveal that the less than altruistic behavior patterns of land officials has possibly contributed most to the loss of rural land by Blacks.     

Black Americans’ business ownership factors: A theoretical perspective

The black American struggle in the United States continues to occur in the political, cultural and economic spheres with some measure of success. Regarding the economic sphere as the most critical because it is the source of real power in this country, and business ownership as the ultimate manifestation of economic liberation, this article examines black Americans’ business ownership and factors facilitating it. Defining successful business ownership in terms of: (1) increasing business formations by black Americans, (2) survival/longevity of the formed businesses, (3) their creation of jobs, and, (4) their profitability, this article identifies three factors facilitating it. The facilitating factor types are: (1) individual-specific, (2) group-specific, and (3) environment-consequent. It is suggested that the complex interaction of elements of these factors at any time, most likely determines the proportion of black ownership of American businesses.     

Asian economic integration: a perspective on South Asia

This paper argues in favor of open regionalism and continent-based integration in Asia. These are the effective instruments of outward-oriented development. The enlargement of trading blocs into continent-based integration also serves as a countervailing power to stem the excesses of economic globalism. The case made in the paper shows the need for institutional changes for promoting economic development. Institutional changes along with open regionalism are essential to enhancing outward-oriented development in South Asia. Respectable progress has been made in these areas across the continents in general, and in Asia in particular (ASEAN, SAARC, APEC). Efforts on these initiatives must be redoubled as we start the 21st century.     

Black women who head families: An economic struggle

Black families headed by women have much lower incomes and higher poverty rates than almost any other type of family. They are disproportionately dependent on welfare and are less likely to receive support from absent fathers. This is a very serious problem for the black community because of the increasing proportion of black families headed by women alone. This article outlines the dimensions of the economic problem and reviews the likely impact of recent policy changes on these families.     

Race and social organization: An economic perspective

Conclusion Improvements in the economic, political, and social status of Blacks are joint effects. Improvement in one is unlikely without concommitant improvements in the others; this is a multiedge sword.Success in any of the areas is correlated with improvement in the others—synergism. On the other hand, failure to realize the interdependencies makes success or improvement in any of the areas unlikely.     

Taxing Emerging Stock Markets: A Beneficial Policy? Evidence from the Stockholm Stock Exchange, 1907-1939

The question of whether financial markets should be taxed or not has been debated extensively. In this study, the gradual rise in public taxation of the Stockholm Stock Exchange during the first half of the 20th century is examined and evaluated. The empirical findings, focusing on trading volume and volatility, show that transaction taxes caused substantial crowding out of trading activity and led to lower asset prices. Hence, some support is given to the proponents of a more cautious policy of financial market taxation, especially in emerging stock markets.     

Assessing the role of economic globalization on energy efficiency: Evidence from a global perspective

There has been concern that economic globalization will increase energy consumption and reduce energy efficiency. A slew of studies investigating this assertion have used trade, foreign investment, or both as indicators of economic globalization, with mixed findings. A number of concerns challenge the empirical literature including measurement issues, infrequent temporal variations in the data, business cycle effects and heterogeneity bias, which affect the causal ability of economic globalization. This study used global data of 141 countries to assess the effects of economic globalization on energy efficiency. Our identification strategies involved using more refined measures of economic globalization and energy efficiency, addressing infrequent temporal variations as well as business cycle effects and concerns of heterogeneity bias. Largely, economic globalization positively drives energy efficiency, but this effect suffers from upward bias without controls. We note that infrequent temporal variations in the data and business cycle effects and heterogeneity bias drive the result. Concerning the latter, the result has shown that economic globalization improves energy efficiency only in upper-middle and lower-middle income countries and not in high and lower-income countries. Our results raise serious caution about the causal abilities of existing studies. And we discuss the policy implications.     

Stock Returns and Exchange Rate Nexus in Ghana: A Bayesian Quantile Regression Approach

This paper presents analysis of the relationship and dependence structure between stock returns and exchange rates in Ghana using data of daily periodicity from January 4, 2011 to July 31, 2014. Analyses are conducted by means of Bayesian quantile regression (QR) technique and multiple causality tests. Our findings suggest high dependence of the equity market on the foreign exchange market in Ghana, and that the link between the two markets follows the international trade‐oriented model more than the portfolio balance theory. We report that among the six exchange rates used, only the cedi–dollar registers instantaneous effect on the equity market.     

Black Market Exchange Rate Behaviour in African Countries: Evidence From an Eclectic Model

Abstract: The study analyzes black market exchange rate behaviour in 18 African countries with pooled quarterly data over 1980 (I)-1991 (IV) period. Ideas contained in the existing frameworks—“real trade”, monetary and currency substitution ones—are synthesized in identifying the possible determinants of black market exchange rate tested for. Our findings suggest that money stock: depreciation of domestic currency, in the official market; expected depreciation of parallel rate; expected domestic inflation; and domestic interest rate cause domestic currency to depreciate in the parallel market while expected world inflation; domestic real GDP, and availability of foreign reserves have opposite effects. Résumé: Cette étude analyse le comportement des taux dc change du marché noir dans 18 pays africains en utilisant des données trimcstrielles groupées, étalées sur la période allant de 1980 (I) a 1991 (IV). Les concepts utilisés dans les modèles existants—ceux des “échanges réels” et de la substitution entre monnaics—sont synthétisés pour identifier les déterminants possibles des taux de change du marché noir. Les résultats dc l'analyse portent à croire que la masse monétaire, la dépréciation dc la monnaie locale sur le marché officiel, les anticipations dc dépréciation du taux parallèle, les prévisions d'inflation intérieure et les taux d'intérêt sur le marché intérieur engendrent unc dépréciation de la monnaie locale sur le marché parallèle, tandis que lcs anticipations d'inflation mondiale, lc PIB réel et la disponibilité dc réserves extérieures engendrent l‘éffet inverse.