THE ROLE OF CENTRAL BANKS IN FINANCIAL SUPERVISION AND REGULATION

This article describes thinking on the institutions of financial supervision and regulation prior to the current crisis and goes on to examine what lessons have been learnt subsequently. It concludes that the problem is not so much that central banks needed to be more closely involved in supervision at the outset but that many countries did not have satisfactory schemes in place for resolving problems in large institutions. Central banks and governments were then forced into ad hoc measures that could have unfortunate implications for moral hazard in the future unless fundamental problems are addressed.     

THE TREASURY SELECT COMMITTEE: ITS REACH AND ITS ROLE IN THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

The Treasury Select Committee's role has evolved in recent years. Since the banking crisis it has undertaken important work in holding government bodies to account and in helping to influence the policy agenda.     

A SURVEY OF RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LITERATURE OF FINANCE AND GROWTH

Abstract.  This paper provides a survey of the recent progress in the literature of financial development and economic growth. The survey highlights that most empirical studies focus on either testing the role of financial development in stimulating economic growth or examining the direction of causality between these two variables. Although the positive role of finance on growth has become a stylized fact, there are some methodological reservations about the results from these empirical studies. Several key issues unresolved in the literature are highlighted. The paper also points to several directions for future research.     

BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS AND BEHAVIORAL FINANCE: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF THE SCIENTIFIC FIELDS

The aim of the study is to conduct a bibliometric analysis of the scientific field of Behavioral Economics and Behavioral Finance. The research was conducted using the Web of Science database, which returned 2617 articles, revealing that the amount of research within these fields has grown over time. Furthermore, the results also prove the relevance of the works of Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky for the field of Behavioral Economics and Finance, and Steven Hursh to Behavioral Economics. It is still possible to note that the field of Behavioral Economics encompasses subjects that connect human behavior with demand, consumption and price, with investments and with managerial decisions, as well as with the role played by heuristics and cognitive biases in decision‐making processes. In turn, the field of Behavioral Finance is more focused on the study of errors of judgment and of decision‐making characteristics in financial investments. Additionally, it is inferred that the field of Behavioral Economics is more wide‐ranging than the field of Behavioral Finance, as the latter is a byproduct of Behavioral Economics. Finally, a conclusion is then reached, demonstrating that the fields of Behavioral Economics and Finance have turned into an important field of study.     

AN ALGORITHMIC INFORMATION THEORETIC APPROACH TO THE BEHAVIOUR OF FINANCIAL MARKETS

Using frequency distributions of daily closing price time series of several financial market indices, we investigate whether the bias away from an equiprobable sequence distribution found in the data, predicted by algorithmic information theory, may account for some of the deviation of financial markets from log‐normal, and if so for how much of said deviation and over what sequence lengths. We do so by comparing the distributions of binary sequences from actual time series of financial markets and series built up from purely algorithmic means. Our discussion is a starting point for a further investigation of the market as a rule‐based system with an algorithmic component, despite its apparent randomness, and the use of the theory of algorithmic probability with new tools that can be applied to the study of the market price phenomenon. The main discussion is cast in terms of assumptions common to areas of economics in agreement with an algorithmic view of the market.     

THE ROLE OF PATENTS IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES: A SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE

During the last few decades, the number of patents in information and communication technologies has increased considerably. An increasing number of patents and the associated fragmentation of IP rights have generated a series of potentially problematic consequences. Patent thickets, royalty stacking, the emergence of patent assertion entities, increased patent litigation – particularly around standard essential patents – and the difficulties with defining fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory licensing terms are some of the most debated issues in the literature that we review in this paper. We devote a specific section of our survey to patent quality, currently one of the most debated issues surrounding the patent system. In our analysis, we mix theoretical and empirical arguments with a more policy‐oriented reasoning. This allows us to better position the different issues in the relevant political and economic context.     

THE ROLE OF MANAGEMENT CONSULTANTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: THE INDISSOLUBLE NATURE OF SOCIO-POLITICAL AND TECHNICAL SKILLS*

This paper explores the role of management consultants in the development of information technology (IT) in organizations. Contending that the process of IT systems development is characterized by the exercise of power, the central theme of the argument concerns the indissoluble nature of the technical and socio-political skills inherent in IT consultancy practice. IT consultancy practice is not just socio-political when winning a contract - the sales pitch - and technical when developing an IT system. Rather, socio-political skills centred on the mobilization of discursive and symbolic resources are an inherent part of the construction of such systems.     

SCHOOLING FOR MONEY: SWEDISH EDUCATION REFORM AND THE ROLE OF THE PROFIT MOTIVE

This paper analyses quantitative evidence on the performance of for‐profit schools in Sweden. It finds that school competition improved educational attainment and conditions for teachers. The benefits of competition were enhanced by the high number of for‐profit schools that were established.     

IMPACT OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF REVIEWS

Financial inclusion programmes seek to increase access to financial services such as credit, savings, insurance and money transfers. Despite a wealth of systematic review evidence, the impacts of financial inclusion are inconclusive. Hence, the first systematic review of systematic reviews was undertaken to synthesize the impacts of financial inclusion interventions on economic, social, gender and behavioural outcomes. Thirty-two systematic reviews were identified. The headline finding is that impacts are more likely to be positive than negative, but the effects vary, and appear not to be transformative in scope or scale, as they largely occur in the early stages of the causal chain. The effects of financial services on core economic and social poverty indicators are small and inconsistent. There is no evidence for meaningful behaviour-change outcomes. The effects on women's empowerment appear generally positive, but they depend upon programme features that are often peripheral to the financial service, and cultural and geographical context. Accessing savings opportunities has small but more consistently positive effects for poor people, and bears fewer downside risks for clients than credit. The inconsistent quality of the primary evidence base that formed the basis of their syntheses raises concerns about the reliability of the overall findings.     

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND THE QUANTITY AND DISTRIBUTION OF EDUCATION: A SURVEY

Abstract The focus of this survey is to discuss different attempts at incorporating the distributional dimension of human capital into the theoretical and empirical growth framework. We present a series of models which deviate from the direct link between the aggregate or average level of human capital and economic growth in that they introduce the distribution of education as a new element in explaining the relationship under investigation. After surveying the theoretical literature, we present recent empirical work on the relation between economic performance and the average level, as well as the distribution of education, respectively.     

CHINESE EXPERIENCE IN THE INTRODUCTION OF A MARKET MECHANISM INTO A PLANNED ECONOMY: THE ROLE OF PRICING

Abstract. A brief review is first presented of the changes in pricing institutions in China since 1949, with particular emphasis on the shift from an equilibrium price system to a distorted price system. The authors argue that distorted prices are harmful to economic growth even in a planned economy, since even an experienced economic planner can never escape from the full implications of a distorted price system. Examples are given showing the detrimental results of such a system. The central point of China's economic reform is the extension of decision-making power to enterprises and the introduction of a market mechanism so as to improve microeconomic efficiency. But such a goal cannot easily be achieved due to the false information provided by the distorted price system. So price adjustment becomes an issue of primary importance, and the authors discuss the difficulties for price adjustment posed by various interest groups.     

THE CAUSAL LINK BETWEEN FINANCIAL INCENTIVES AND WEIGHT LOSS: AN EVIDENCE‐BASED SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE

Obesity and overweight are linked to diseases that cost society a significant amount of resources. While behavior modification can reduce the problem, instigating such lifestyle changes is an uneasy task. One potential way to reduce the problem is through the use of financial incentives. In this survey, we review the available evidence, properly emphasizing studies that credibly yield meaningful estimates of the effect of financial incentives on weight loss. We find that the scientific literature on the subject has not yet satisfactorily settled whether such a mechanism is effective at eliciting the desired behavioral and health outcomes. We therefore advocate a rigorous large‐scale randomized experiment to provide reliable estimates of the effect.     

THE ROLE OF FEES IN PATENT SYSTEMS: THEORY AND EVIDENCE

This paper reviews the economic literature on the role of fees in patent systems. Two main research questions are usually addressed: the impact of patent fees on the behavior of applicants and the question of optimal fees. Studies in the former group confirm that a range of fees affect the behavior of applicants and suggest that a patent is an inelastic good. Studies in the latter group provide grounds for both low and high application (or pre‐grant) fees and renewal (or post‐grant) fees, depending on the structural context and policy objectives. The paper also presents new stylized facts on patent fees of 30 patent offices worldwide. It is shown that application fees are generally lower than renewal fees, and renewal fees increase more than proportionally with patent age.     

PROBLEMS OF PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE USA: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

High costs and low graduation rates characteristic of 21^st‐century US public higher education stem from the bout of rent‐seeking attributable to the post‐Sputnik explosion in research spending and the consequent crusade to enrol new students, with diminishing concern for academic aptitude. New policies that tighten admission standards, encourage earlier graduation and enhance financial aid for the truly needy would constructively address these problems, as would incentives for faculty members to curtail outside consulting.     

AUTOREGRESSIVE CONDITIONAL DURATION MODELS IN FINANCE: A SURVEY OF THE THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL LITERATURE

Abstract.  This paper provides an up-to-date survey of the main theoretical developments in autoregressive conditional duration (ACD) modeling and empirical studies using financial data. First, we discuss the properties of the standard ACD specification and its extensions, existing diagnostic tests, and joint models for the arrival times of events and some market characteristics. Then, we present the empirical applications of ACD models to different types of events, and identify possible directions for future research.     

QUALITATIVE EASING IN SUPPORT OF A TUMBLING FINANCIAL SYSTEM: A LOOK AT THE EUROSYSTEM'S RECENT BALANCE SHEET POLICIES

Attention has recently been drawn to compositional changes in the Federal Reserve System's asset holdings and in particular the deterioration of the balance sheet of the Fed in the face of the current crisis. However, an analysis of the balance sheet policies of the Eurosystem is still missing. In this article we fill this gap by analysing the Eurosystem's balance sheet during the recent subprime crisis. The calculation of certain balance sheet ratios supports the assessment that a significant decrease in the quality of money has occurred.     

THE EVOLUTION PROCESS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP STUDIES IN THE 21ST CENTURY: RESEARCH INSIGHTS FROM TOP BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS JOURNALS

The present study involves a literature survey of 1710 entrepreneurship papers published in 28 top business and economics journals in 12 research disciplines. This paper finds that despite increased recognition of the importance of entrepreneurship, the research literature on entrepreneurship remains fragmented. Studies of entrepreneurship processes have been the dominant theme, but new issues of entrepreneurship are emerging. Based on the entrepreneurship reviewed, this paper summarizes potential research directions.     

MAPPING THE EVOLUTION OF ENERGY‐GROWTH NEXUS: SYNERGIES AND TRADE‐OFFS

The study explores the intellectual structure, development and evolution of energy crisis and economic growth research through bibliometric analysis of research articles on energy‐growth nexus from 2000 to 2017 by using Citespace where Gephi is used to analyse the authors collaboration. The analysis incorporates 27,152 references cited by 344 authors, in 1165 articles and from 330 journals. The results of study quantitatively present the most cited articles, authors, countries, institutions and intellectual structure with data visualization in the knowledge domain of energy‐growth nexus. The study categorizes the major research areas in energy‐growth nexus research as carbon dioxide emission, electricity consumption, heterogeneous Panel, real income, renewable energy and financial development. The study discusses emerging trends which provide the future research fronts and intellectual development within the framework of energy‐growth nexus.     

SHIFTING BOUNDARIES IN ECONOMICS: THE INSTITUTIONAL COGNITIVE STRAND AND THE FUTURE OF INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS

This paper aims at contributing to the debate on the future of institutional economics and of the field as a whole by starting from the literature that discusses the relationship between Old‐Original Institutional Economics and New Institutional Economics. It suggests that the process of reunifying OIE and NIE (and evolutionary economics) prompted by part of the literature could be improved by the contribution of the Cognitive Institutional Economics. The paper follows a two‐stage pathway: first, it frames the debate on the relationships between NIE and the OIE and it concentrates on a subset of the literature that shows that NIE's recent developments complicate the distinction between NIE and OIE, and it explores the possibility that NIE and OIE may merge so that an amalgam of NIE, OIE and Evolutionary Economics becomes the next economic paradigm. Secondly, the paper argues that a step forward in the direction outlined by the literature has been made by CIE, which is a research stream that developed from cross‐fertilization among NIE, OIE and the Hayekian contributions to the analysis of institutions. In the concluding remarks, the possible emergence of a single institutional paradigm is discussed in the light of the literature about change in economics.