MONETARY POLICY IN A SMALL OPEN ECONOMY: THE CASE OF MALAYSIA

This paper provides a case study to characterize the monetary policy regime in Malaysia, from a medium‐ and long‐term perspective. Specifically, we ask how the Central Bank of Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), has structured its monetary policy regime, and how it has conducted monetary and exchange rate policy under the regime. By conducting three empirical analyses, we characterize the monetary and exchange rate policy regime in Malaysia by three intermediate solutions on three vectors: the degree of autonomy in monetary policy, the degree of variability of the exchange rate, and the degree of capital mobility.     

METHOD OF ANALYZING BUSINESS CYCLES IN A TRANSITION ECONOMY: THE CASE OF SLOVENIA

In this paper, we studied cyclical patterns in a transition economy. We introduced a dynamic perspective into the analysis by applying multivariate wavelet analysis. The wavelet covariance and wavelet correlation were defined and applied to the analysis of business cycles as an alternative to the traditional cross‐spectrum analysis. The main findings indicated that there is a significant business cycle component in aggregate economic activity and that business cycles are asymmetric and highly synchronized with the EU cycle. Additionally, it was found that three distinctive periods of business cycle synchronization exert an important impact on the properties of a business cycle.     

FISCAL POLICY AND ENDOGENOUS GROWTH IN A BEQUEST-CONSTRAINED ECONOMY

Evidence suggests that the vast majority of planned altruistictransfers between generations are human capital investmentsin children (households are generally bequest-constrained).This paper demonstrates that empirically-based calibrationsof simple overlapping generations models with altruism generatebinding bequest constraints with realistic endogenous growthrates and returns to capital. We also show how intergenerationaland intragenerational redistributions of wealth affect long-rungrowth in bequest-constrained economies. Redistribution is afeature of fiscal policy abstracted away from by the standardinfinitely-lived representative agent models used to analyzeendogenous growth.     

IMPACT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH OF DIFFERENTIAL POPULATION GROWTH IN AN ECONOMY WITH HIGH INEQUALITY

The economic growth of South Africa has been disappointing over the last quarter century. This note addresses a conceptual problem that arises because of composition effects. Two important features of the South African economy are, first, its extreme inequality (primarily between the white population and the African population). Additionally, the African population has been growing rapidly, while the white population has experienced a declining share. This note derives an explicit equation for the impact of inequality and population-growth differences on the growth of per capita GDP. It shows that the combination of divergent population growth and high inequality can lead to an apparent drag on measured economic growth even though the components, and a more adequate measure of economic welfare, are growing at a healthy rate.     

DO REAL WAGES MATTER IN AN OPEN ECONOMY? THE CASE OF SINGAPORE 1966-1987

The functioning of labour markets, especially the wage-settingmechanism, is a causal factor determining the success or failureof export-led growth. Fields, 1984 Unemployment reflects an economy's failure to adjust to thecircumstances and opportunities of today, to the changing pattern,to new competition from abroad; to innovation and technologicaldevelopment; and to world economic pressures The countries thathave met this challenge successfully are those with efficient,competitive, innovative and responsive labour and goods markets.Improving the working of the labour market is particularly important. Department of Employment, 1985     

长三角经济遇上"阵痛"

2005年以来，长三角地区的生产总值、规模以上的工业增加值、固定资产投资、外商直接投资、信贷等5大核心经济指标的增长速度，均出现回落趋势，有的甚至低于全国平均水平。总体来看，这是近10年来，长三角地区经济首次出现整体增速“滑落”的迹象。对此，业内专家们指出：拼土地、拼劳力、靠投资拉动的粗放型经济增长方式已经难以支撑经济的持续高速发展。