Economische orde,economische politiek en sociale politiek

Naar aanleiding van een bundel opstellen van dr J. Zijlstra, Economische Orde en Economische Politiek, H. E. Stenfert Kroese N.V., Leiden 1956, 143 blz. en een bundel opstellen van dr G. M. J. Veldkamp, Economische Orde en Sociale Politiek, H. E. Stenfert Kroese N.V., Leiden 1957, 156 blz.     

Toegepaste welvaartseconomie en de marginale kostenregel

Enkele opmerkingen naar aanleiding van F. Hartog, Toegepaste welvaartseconomie, Stenfert Kroese N.V., Leiden 1964 216 blz     

Bijdrage tot de theorie van de commerciele prijspolitiek

Tweede lezing voor de Economische Faculteitsvereniging te Groningen, gehouden op 21 februari 1958. Zie voor de eerste lezing, Variaties op een thema van Böhm-Bawerk, De Economist, April 1957, blz. 292 e.v.     

De verantwoordelijkheid van de Staat als leningdebiteur met name in de onderontwikkelde gebieden

Het bovenstaande geeft de inhoud weer van een praeadvies uitgebracht voor het in september 1956 te Rome gehouden congres van het Institut International de Finances Publiques, gewijd aan Les effects économiques des dépenses publiques.     

ECB Foreign Exchange Intervention and the EURO: Institutional Framework,News, and Intervention

Using a unique intervention news data set, this paper investigates the impact of ECB intervention and intervention-related news (newswire reports) on the Euro exchange rate. A time-series study of news generated by ECB officials and market participants regarding intervention and the value of the Euro as well as an event study of firm reports of ECB intervention is conducted. Both studies find significant short-run effects on the Euro value, while only negative statements (official statements denying past intervention or ruling out future intervention) appear to have persistent effects.     

Het N.V.-Recht En De Zelfstandigheid Van De Ondernemer

Naar aanleiding van het door de Dr. Wiardi Beckman Stichting in 1959 gepubliceerde rapport getiteld De hervorming van de onderneming.     

The economics of dying: A misapplication of tools

Conclusions Unlike McKenzie and Tullock, we do not know how personsshould treat their bodily organs or what is an ideal exit. That depends upon their utility goals, which are defined in output terms specific to the decision maker. We contend that the body is an input into the utility production process, and therefore, as with any input, it must be maintained and repaired at a level consistent with the output goals for maximization of utility. Thus, from this framework, it is quite consistent for a person to die with healthy organs without any thought of belief in reincarnation or the desire to bequeath one's bodily organs to others, or religious values. Self interest is all that must prevail.Also, the fact that there are interrelationships between the organs in the system, and at points these relationships take on fixed factor characteristics such that reduced levels of operation in one organ can create disorientation or coma or damage to other organs, means that the body cannot die as M-T suggest. Zero capacity for all organs at death is a technical impossibility as well as being inconsistent with the output goals of utility maximizers.     

Shocks and the Viability of a Fixed Exchange Rate Commitment

The incentive to renege on a commitment to a fixed exchange rate is shown to be state contingent. A fixed exchange rate policy is not viable under unusual circumstances, and the incentive to violate the commitment is larger in the case of contractionary shocks than in the case of expansionary shocks. The possibility that the exchange rate regime is changed in unusual circumstances has significant effects also under normal circumstances, implying systematic devaluation expectations, excessive real wages and (ex post) real rates of interest, lower output and loss of reserves, which in turn reduces the incentive to initiate a fixed exchange rate policy. Moreover, policyshifts may be contagious among countries.     

A chaotic model of the exchange rate: The role of fundamentalists and chartists

A monetary model of the exchange rate is constructed in which fundamentalists and chartists interact. It is shown that the non-linearity of this speculative dynamics leads to chaotic motion of the exchange rate. The model is also capable of generating some of the stylized facts of exchange rate dynamics.     

De Europese Economische Gemeenschap en de Minder Ontwikkelde Wereld Buiten de Geassocieerde Landen

Voordracht gehouden op 2 november 1963 te Amsterdam voor de postdoctorale leergang Externe economische betrekkingen van de E.E.G. De tekst is op enkele plaatsen bijgewerkt.     

The Applied Cointegration Analysis for the Open Economy: A Critical Review

Most applied cointegration investigations for the open macro economy rely on error correction models to infer causality, predictability, market efficiency, dominance, and market segmentation. The error correction model is well defined only when cointegration is due to simultaneous common factors. When common factors are not explicitly described as in a latent common factor model, however, error correction models are misspecified. Researchers should therefore be careful in using the error correction model for cointegrated time series to ensure that they are indeed generated from simultaneous common factor models. Analysts should investigate the exact nature of both long-run and short-run relationships by presenting a full-fledged simultaneous equations model. Without such an explicit simultaneous equations model, the presence of cointegration will only uncover the existence of a long-run relationship, but not causality, predictability, market efficiency, dominance, or market segmentation. A best practice will be prescribed for the proper use and interpretation of cointegration application.     

Shall the New EU Members Introduce the Euro? Some Macroeconomic Policy Effects

After the EU enlargement in 2004, there is a clear commitment of the EU and the new member states to aim at an enlargement of the euro zone within the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) as well. This might have significant effects on the old EMU, the new members, and even on the global economy. The present paper analyzes some macroeconomic effects and particularly the impact on the effects of stabilization policies when switching to an enlarged euro zone under different assumptions about fiscal and monetary policy regimes in Europe and under alternative types of economic shocks. Also, the implications for the US of different European monetary regimes are evaluated. The results suggest that economic benefits for all countries are rather small. For the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), even disadvantages may dominate.     

Fundamentals,regime shifts,and dollar behavior in the 1980s

I provide an economic interpretation of the long swings of the dollar in the 1980s. I use the fully modified estimator method to analyze the long-run behavior of the dollar/sterling exchange rate over the period 1979–1989, detecting a structural shift in February–March 1985. In the 1979–1985 subperiod economic agents have reacted to a reduced set of fundamentals only, a finding that might corroborate the irrational behavior interpretation of the dollar upswing. In the 1985–1989 subperiod economic agents have associated the equilibrium value of the dollar with the behavior of a more balanced set of fundamentals.     

Tax reform: Chasing the elusive dream

The paper provides a bird's-eye view of the long and arduous task of reforming the federal individual income tax. As a starting point for reviewing the major reforms, the authors evaluate Secretary Simon's criteria that underlie his contention that the tax system was badly in need of a thorough overhaul. Principles that should guide tax reforms are spelled out. Conflicts that arise with the application of these principles are highlighted. An examination of reform efforts in light of the principles and criteria set in the Treasury Department's Blue Prints for Tax Reform forms the basis for evaluating reforms enacted over the period 1978–2001. The review suggests that we are partway towards achieving the tax man's dream of equity, efficiency, and simplicity.The task of comprehensive reform is monumental in its dimension and far reaching in itspotential impact on our economic well-being.[William E. Simon, 1977, p. 11]     

De teorie van Allais betreffende de onzekerheid en de definitie van rationeel handelen in de ekonomie

Dans ces dernières années, l'idée s'est répandue de plus en plus, parmi les économistes, que les décisions humaines engendrant la situation économique, étant basées sur des éléments aléatoires, il était nécessaire d'introduire la notion de probabilité dans les théories économiques.M. Fréchet, Econometrica, Vol. 23, no. 3, juli 1955.     

Betting on the EMS

Two speculative strategies within the European Monetary System are empirically evaluated. The potential profitability of speculating on a currency's devaluation at a realignment crucially depends on being able to predict timing and magnitude of the parity change. Such opportunity has been eliminated from the system since 1983. For the reverse strategy of borrowing low, investing high, the evidence since 1983 suggests significant profitable opportunities for the weaker EMS countries — Belgium, Denmark, France and Italy — unconditional on knowledge of the timing of realignments. We conclude that this is due to a peso problem type of premium.     

Purchasing Power Parity during Currency Crises: A Panel Unit Root Test under Structural Breaks

We investigate the stationarity of real exchange rates using a panel of Asian and South and Latin American countries by applying a new panel unit root test that is robust to structural breaks due to currency crises. It turns out that the long-run PPP relationship is relevant for the Asian countries, which experienced a flexible exchange rate, whereas for the South and Latin American countries, for which the exchange rate has been pegged to the U.S. dollar for a long time, the PPP relationship breaks down. In Asian countries PPP appears to hold before the 1997 crisis, which is not the case for the South and Latin American countries. This suggests that the Asian flu corresponds to a second-generation type of crises, whereas the 1995 Mexican tequila fits the first-generation models better. JEL no. C13, C33, E41     

Het Liquid Iteiskarakter Van Spaartegoeden

Summary Before 1964, the Netherlands Bank did not count savings balances at money-creating banks and savings banks as secondary liquid assets or secondary liquidity (that is, near-money). Secondary liquid assets comprise claims on the public authorities and money-creating institutions, so far as they are held by other than money-creating institutions, which can be converted in large amounts into money at relatively short term without much expense or great loss on the transaction, or which can be used at their par value to make payments in satisfaction of current tax assessments.However, towards the end of the 1950's it became apparent from the rising value of the velocity of circulation of savings balances at financial institutions that these assets were acquiring increased significance for current payments. In 1964, this phenomenon induced the Netherlands Bank to count a certain part of the savings balances — indicated as liquid savings balances — as secondary liquidity, whereas the remaining part (true savings balances) was not. The Bank did so for better being able to impute the responsibility for monetary disturbances to the various sectors of the economy.Savings balances acquiring increased significance for current payments is a result of increased competition among financial institutions for the savings of the households sector. This increased competition is due to the fact that the households feel the need of more services rendered by the financial institutions as their income rise. Nowadays those financial institutions whose balance sheets do not comprise an item Current Accounts permit households to use their savings balances for making current payments. On the other hand, there is a tendency towards creating new types of accounts that serve as current accounts for the households in particular. If this tendency is followed up, the liquid assets character of savings balances will grow weaker.Rede, uitgesproken bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van gewoon hoogleraar in de staathuishoudkunde aan de Nederlandse Economische Hogeschool te Rotterdam op 28 september 1967.     

William E. Simon's capacities' approach to liberty: An essay in economic citizenship

This paper discusses the philosophical underpinnings of William E. Simon's productive public service and his championing of liberty in economic citizenship and the furtherance of entrepreneurial capitalism in America. The discussion suggests that his understanding and advocacy of the instrumental role of liberty made him distinctive among policymakers and unique among political and social conservatives. Two central themes are highlighted: the principle of liberty and private initiatives to further the cause of liberty. Secretary Simon was a passionate advocate for individual liberty being ascribed the highest value in American political life and called for vigilance against the unnecessary intervention of the state in people's lives. He committed his intellectual and financial resources to the promotion of these ideals through significant initiatives in support of institutions including universities and colleges, foundations and community organizations, and groups that exhibited a strong belief in, and support of, the cause of liberty. This, Secretary Simon believed, would strengthen the free enterprise system and the spiritual values on which it rests.The overriding principle to be revived in American political life is that which sets individual liberty as the highest political value—that value to which all other values are subordinate and that which, at all times, is to be given the highest priority in policy discussions.William E. Simon A Time for Truth, 1978, p. 218.     

Charles Kindleberger: An Impressionist in a Minimalist World

Minimalist economists stubbornly resist Charles Kindlebergers characterization of investor expectations in a financial bubble as irrational. This paper seeks to resolve the controversy by imbedding Kindlebergers well-researched, impressionistic theory of financial crises into an expanded, but still-minimalist model of rational expectations. Introducing the concepts of malicious disinformation and rational overpromotion creates an informational environment in which it is time-consuming and costly to distinguish fact from fiction. Rationality still requires that expectations and market fundamentals move together over long periods of time, but dishonorable overpromoters can earn substantial profits in the interim.