The Emergency Land Fund: Robert S. Browne, the Idea and the Man

This article offers a snap shot of one of the several black institutions founded in 1972, by the late Robert S. Browne—the Emergency Land Fund (ELF). The idea of ELF—land ownership by blacks as an asset to build upon for economic well being, a cultural and social glue to ground a sense of family, place and community—was but another strategic and timely insight on the part of Robert S. Browne. The article is the story about the journey of ELF, a southern black-belt African American led institution, lead by Robert S. Browne it’s Chair, and it’s political, economic and policy impact on both public and private institutions, which for the most part, restricted and undermined the aspirations of black’s to own and benefit from landownership. It is also about the positive impact ELF had on rural black landowners, taking the form of organized networks challenging the discriminatory and land grabbing practices of both public and private sector actors. Robert S. Browne was a Man ahead of his time and a giant in the eyes of many who have follow his example today with asset development strategies that benefit communities of color.     

A Note on the Contribution of the African Development Bank to Economic Knowledge and Policy in Africa

While the African Development Bank Group strives to be the leading development finance institution in Africa, the link between research and development policy in an international financial intermediary is not always obvious. This paper expounds the logic of this crucial relationship and makes the case for enhancing the role of the ADB as a knowledge and information centre, providing sound intellectual leadership within the context of African development issues. The development process includes the fostering of research and intellectual ideas, which not only support the Bank's traditional lending activity but also promote discussion and inquiry into the socio‐economic problems and challenges of the region. Multilateral Development Banks including the ADB have increasingly recognized that to tackle these challenges, they must play a major role as knowledge intermediaries in addition to their financial intermediation functions based on the need to explore the causes, dimensions and inter‐linkages of economic growth, poverty, population growth, as well as ensuring that operational policies constitute a relevant and effective response to the problems of its member states. In this respect the Bank has made modest contributions to economic knowledge and policy in Africa in three key areas: (1) policy co‐ordination through country policy dialogue and sectoral policy formulation as well as post‐evaluation studies; (2) development research and dissemination encompassing the African Development Report, an annual survey of economic and social progress in Africa; the African Development Review, a journal for the study and analysis of development policy issues with particular reference to Africa; the Economic Research Paper series, which aims to stimulate discussions on Bank sponsored research findings and Statistical Information; and (3) support for research institutions and capacity building in the form of training and scholarships among the regional member countries (RMCs). However, despite the Bank's best efforts, research functions have not attained their potential, hindered significantly by weaknesses that derive fundamentally from structural causes, notably the organization and location of research, its leadership, scarcity of resources, and the corporate environment and support for a vibrant research culture. The paper concludes by outlining ways of enhancing the Bank's role as a knowledge centre on African development policy issues in the short to medium term within the existing framework. Bien que le Groupe de la Banque africaine de développement s'emploie àêtre la première institution de financement du développement en Afrique, il n'est pas toujours aisé, pour autant, d'établir une relation entre la recherche et la politique de développement au sein d'une institution qui sert d'intermédiaire financier international. Ce document présente la logique qui sous‐tend cette relation vitale et préconise le renforcement du rôle de la BAD en tant que centre de savoir et d'information, chargé de donner des orientations intellectuelles fiables pour résoudre les problèmes de développement auxquels l'Afrique est confrontée. Le processus de développement inclut la promotion de la recherche et de concepts intellectuels qui, non seulement, viennent soutenir les activités de prét traditionnelles de la Banque, mais favorisent également les échanges de vues et l'analyse des problèmes et des défis socio‐économiques régionaux. Les banques multilatérales de développement, y compris la BAD, reconnaissent de plus en plus que pour relever de tels défis, outre leurs fonctions d'intermédiaires financiers, elles doivent jouer un rôle important d'intermédiaires du savoir, en raison de la nécessité d'étudier les causes, l'ampleur et les relations qui existent entre la croissance économique, la pauvreté et la croissance démographique. Par ailleurs, il leur incombe de veiller à ce que les politiques opérationnelles apportent une solution pertinente et efficace aux problèmes de leurs États membres. À cet égard, la Banque a un peu contribuéà l'amélioration des connaissances et des politiques économiques en Afrique dans trois domaines clefs: (1) la coordination des politiques, à travers la concertation sur l'action à mener, la formulation des politiques sectorielles et les études d'évaluation rétrospective; (2) la recherche sur le développement et sa diffusion, qui inclut le Rapport sur le développement en Afrique, revue annuelle des progrès économiques et sociaux de l'Afrique; la Revue africaine de développement, journal spécialisé dans l'étude et l'analyse des questions relatives aux politiques de développement, qui met un accent particulier sur l'Afrique; les Documents de recherche économique, qui visent à stimuler les discussions sur les conclusions des recherches financées par la Banque et les Informations statistiques; et (3) l'appui aux institutions de recherche et au renforcement des capacités, par le biais de programmes de formation et de bourses en faveur des pays membres régionaux. Toutefois, en dépit des efforts déployés par la Banque, le potentiel de recherche n'a pas été pleinement exploité en raison des gros obstacles que constituent les faiblesses liées, pour l'essentiel, à des lacunes structurelles, notamment, l'organisation de la recherche et les lieux où elle s'effectue, les chefs de file en la matière, la rareté des ressources, l'environnement institutionnel et le manque d'appui à une culture dynamique de recherche. Pour conclure, le document définit les voies et moyens propres à renforcer le rôle de centre de savoir joué par la Banque dans le contexte actuel, s'agissant des questions de politique africaine de développement à court et à moyen terme.     

African Social Sciences and Development in the New Century: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract: This paper examines the travails of the social sciences in Africa since the post‐colonial era. It pinpoints the fact that the ability of the social sciences to be really meaningful to the delusive development quest by Africa has been undermined by a combination of structural and epistemological problems. These problems range from the dismal economic environment in the continent, the structural limitations imposed on research, poor conditions of service to laziness and epistemological inferiority among African social scientists. However, the paper posits that the current wind of change blowing across Africa, a re‐examination of the epistemology of the field and a conscientious self‐reappraisal will ultimately reposition the social sciences to play significant roles in the development of Africa.     

African Education Challenges and Policy Responses: Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the African Development Bank's Assistance*

Abstract: From marginal access to school before 1960, African modern education systems expanded steadily during the 1960s and 1970s, prompted by high priority given to education. The 1980s experienced stagnation and decline due to a drastic decrease in education financing further to the balance of payment and budget deficits, and the ensuing structural adjustment programmes. Since 1990, there have been intensified efforts to reverse the trend through national and international efforts. The African education sector continues to face serious challenges of low and inequitable access to education, irrelevant curriculum and poor learning outcomes, inadequate political commitment and financing, weak education system capacity, and weak link with the world of work. Drawing on relevant documents and data, the paper discusses briefly those challenges and the education policy measures taken to address them. It also assesses to what extent the Bank response was relevant and effective in addressing the African education challenges. While progress has been made in bringing more children to schools, the results in terms of quantity and quality have been far from the targets, particularly in sub‐Saharan Africa. The paper concludes with a call for a greater effort to keep the promise for education for all and for quality education. This may require an invitation for a new forum on education to take stock and try again more realistic policies and better defined means to effectively implement them. The forum's resolutions should not be limited to the primary education but consider the education sector as a whole in the context of a globalized economy and labor market.     

Political Development,Agriculture, and Ethnic Divisions: An African Perspective

Abstract: In this paper it is argued that political development is the key to long‐run growth in developing nations. Political development is seen to be dependent on the extent to which a state or ruling elite's income is earned or unearned. The availability of earned income is linked to the structure and productivity of the agricultural sector. Applying the analysis to the sub‐Saharan African experience involves taking into account three factors: the international environment, the ethnic division of societies as a result of colonization, and the urban bias which characterized the economic strategy of the newly independent African states. As a result, agriculture collapsed, the ruling elite became increasingly dependent on unearned income, political underdevelopment occurred. The collapse of state authority significantly impoverished the region and resulted in significant civil conflict. Any long‐run solution must incorporate a broad‐based expansion in agricultural productivity.     

银行危机KLR早期预警系统的开发与构建

银行危机预警一直是研究的难点,KLR信号分析法是研究银行危机预警的标准方法之一.银行危机频繁爆发,损失巨大,研究银行危机预警的意义不言而喻.本文探讨了利用KLR信号法构建银行危机预警系统的一般框架:确认危机事件,选择银行危机先行指标,提取预警信号,确定最优临界值,构建综合指标,预测危机.     

The Population Challenge in Africa and the Prospects for the African Development Bank's Intervention

Abstract: The paper advocates that unchecked population growth may lead to serious social and economic burdens in developing countries in general, and particularly in Africa. This position does not stem from the neo-Malthusian perspective according to which population is mainly responsible for economic stagnation, nor does it derives from the «developmentalist» approach which perceives population as a neutral variable and development as the «best contraceptive». The theoretical stand advocated here is that population and development are intimately linked and strongly influence each other. Therefore, an attempt to foster economic growth and hopefully improve the standard of living of the people without taking into consideration the population factor would be as illusory as an attempt to control population without involving economic variables. Based on this epistemological perspective, prospects for the ADB's intervention in population sector have been assessed and suggestions for its sector policy made. Résumé: Le document preconise que la croissance demographique non maitrisee peut imposer de lourdes contraintes sociales et economiques sur les pays en voie de developpement en general et l'Afrique en particulier. Cette attitude ne resulte pas de la perspective neo-malthusienne selon laquelle la population est principalement responsable de la stagnation economique, ni de l'approche « developpementaliste » qui percoit la population comme une variable neutre et developpement comme le « meilleur contraceptif ». Le point de vue theorique exprime ici est que population et developpement sont intimement lies et exercent une grande influence l'une sur l'autre. En consequence, une action visant a promouvoir la croissance economique et ameliorer, peut-Ctre, le niveau de vie des populations sans tenir compte du facteur demographique serait aussi illusoire qu'une action visant la regulation de la population sans prendre en consideration les variables economiques. Sur la base de cette perspective epistemologique, les perspectives pour l'intervention de la BAD dans le secteur de la population ont ete evaluees et des recommandations faites pour sa politique sectorielle.     

美国金融监管改革及其面临的挑战

美国金融监管制度的改革方案及其实施效果,将是影响全球金融监管改革、全球金融市场稳定、国际金融体系重构等问题的主要因素,对21世纪世界经济和金融的稳定健康发展具有重要意义。本文分析了当前全球金融经济危机的根源,揭示了以金融证券化与美国金融监管放松等为主要特征的金融自由化浪潮在此次全球金融经济危机中的作用;详细阐述了美国金融监管改革方案的主要内容,并从金融监管框架、美联储职能以及金融业薪酬激励制度等层面,深入评价了美国金融监管改革方案;最后,从国内金融利益集团、国际金融监管竞争和现代金融发展模式等3个方面研究了美国进一步推行金融监管改革将面临的主要挑战。     

银行信贷风险管理和预警体系研究——以建设银行某支行为例（上）

建设银行是我国四大历史悠久的国有银行之一,为研究防范商业银行在经济发展中一般支行面临的最广泛的业务——信贷业务可能引起的风险,而对银行信贷风险预警体系进行研究进而改进。通过对现行适用系统的研究,建立了新的适用评定信贷风险模型。结合实际工作中的经验侧重设计了新的财务指标标准,并进行检验,获得了理论检验上的成功。     

从双“S”曲线模型看满洲里市的经济发展

内蒙古满洲里市由于处于中俄边境地区，第三产业极其发达，使其经济过早的出现了缓慢发展的态势。因此，根据双“S”型曲线模型，满洲里市要寻求新的经济增长点，使其经济达到真正意义上的发达水平。     

Inflation and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Southern African Development Community

In this paper, we investigate the role of inflation rates in determining economic growth in 15 sub‐Saharan African countries, which are all members of the Southern African Development Community, between 1980 and 2009. The results, based on panel time‐series data and analysis (we use the fixed effects and fixed effects with instrumental variables estimators to account for heterogeneity and endogeneity in thin panels), suggest that inflation has had a detrimental effect to growth in the community. We highlight that inflation has offset the Mundell–Tobin effect and consequently reduced the much needed economic activity in the community, and also the importance of an institutional framework conducive to a stable macroeconomic environment as a precondition for development and prosperity in the community.     

The Impact of Legislative Tenure and Seniority on General Election Success: Econometric Evidence from U.S. House Races

The last four election-cycles in the U.S. House of Representatives (2004–2010) witnessed two shifts in political party control of that legislative body—from the Republicans to the Democrats in 2006 and then back to the Republicans in 2010. Nevertheless, U.S. House incumbents of both parties running for re-election tended to enjoy a sizeable advantage over their general-election challengers during the period. The advantage is even greater for incumbents who are members of the leadership, key committees, or have lengthy tenure. Our results show that, ceteris paribus, membership in the House leadership is worth on average 6.8 percentage points towards the incumbent’s expected vote-share, and that membership in either of the two top committees is worth an additional 1.3 such percentage points. A ten-term incumbent can expect another 2.0 percentage points of vote share. Lastly, our results also indicate the existence of a wave effect favoring Democratic incumbents in 2006, and a slightly smaller wave effect favoring Republican incumbents in 2010.     

Taking Advantage of an Untapped Pool: Assessing the Success of African American Head Coaches in the National Football League

Noting that only five African American coaches had been hired to lead National Football League (NFL) teams from 1989–2002, Madden (J of Sports Econ, 5(1):6–19 2004) found that teams coached by African Americans in the NFL outperformed their counterparts in the regular season but were significantly below average in the playoffs. This analysis, with data that includes nine African American coaches and extends through 2007, reconfirms Madden’s finding that African American head coaches outperform their rivals in the regular season, but also finds that African American coaches no longer suffer from poor playoff performance. Using fixed effects pooled cross section time series models, this analysis confirms that teams with African American head coaches can expect more wins in the regular season than their peers, other things equal. However, there is some evidence that as the pool of African American coaching talent diminishes from additional hires their extraordinary performance may be slightly regressing. The playoff analysis shows that that when controlling for seeding, organizational strength and regular season wins, African American coaches perform at the same level as their counterparts.

Inflation and Inflation Expectations in South Africa: an Attempt at Explanation

This paper examines the relationship between inflation and inflation expectations in South Africa. We use inflation expectations derived from the quarterly surveys conducted by the Bureau of Economic Research from 2001Q1 to 2011Q4 . Using these data, we estimate the model assuming that private sector expectations are a linear function of the inflation target and lagged inflation. The results indicate that economic agents' expectations largely depend on lagged inflation. This suggests that the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has not been successful in anchoring expectations of the private sector since the adoption of the inflation targeting (IT) regime in 2000. We also find evidence indicating that the SARB's implicit inflation target lies above the upper bound of the official IT band. Finally, it appears that the SARB has been more concerned about output stabilisation than inflation stabilisation.     

金融生态、信用与商业银行发展

“金融生态”是中国人民银行行长周小川于2004年提出的，他认为金融生态是金融业运行的外部环境和金融运行的一些基础条件，主要包括经济环境、法治环境、信用环境和制度环境，甚至包括历史文化环境。