Regulatory regimes and efficiency in US local telephony

The paper assesses the efficiency consequences of differentregulatory regimes for US local telephony. Specifically, alternativeregulatory regimens (price-cap regulation and incentive regulation)are contrasted with traditional rate-of-return regulation (ROR).Relative efficiency scores are obtained from the Data EnvelopmentAnalysis (DEA) approach. The regression analysis on the determinantsof efficiency, after controlling for technical change effects,indicates that alternative forms of regulation appear to inducea higher level of efficiency for the regulated firms than ROR.     

Japanese money demand: evidence from regional monthly data

This study estimates the Japanese money demand function by household using seasonally adjusted panel data following Fujiki and Mulligan (Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 14(1–2), 1996a, 1996b, pp. 65–103, 53–78). The most plausible estimates of the income elasticity of money demand are in the range from 1.28 to 1.35 for the period from 1990 to 1995. These results are robust with respect to the choice of scale variables, and consistent with the estimates based on seasonally unadjusted monthly data and annual data. The stable relationship obtained from regional panel data provides useful information with which to judge the stability of the money demand function for the central bankers.     

The role of federal funding on the demand for state and local government spending

Federal aid to state and local governments lowers the perceived tax price of state and local government output and, in this way, affects the demand for state and local government. After reviewing some theoretical models, an empirical investigation using data from 1960–89 shows that federal aid makes the demand for state and local government spending more income-elastic. State and local government expenditures have grown more rapidly than federal government expenditures since 1960 and there is some empirical support for the idea that federal aid was an important contributing factor.     

Increasing returns: evidence from local wage rates in Great Britain

This paper shows that wage rate variations among local areasof Great Britain are significantly positively related to employmentdensity, and argues that this is due to the presence of increasingreturns deriving from more varied producer services in denserareas, controlling for the effect on wages of good access toan efficient workforce, either locally or as a result of in-commuting.The higher wages in Greater London in particular are seen tobe linked to increasing returns and enhanced worker efficiency,although other central city areas show similar influences toa lesser degree, with in-commuting a significant factor.     

The demand for foreign workers by foreign firms: evidence from Africa

Foreign workers play a crucial role in channelling resources and information flows both within the boundaries of firms and between foreign firms and the host country economy. In this study we employ a novel firm-level database (UNIDO Africa Investor Survey 2010) in order to investigate the factors that determine the employment of foreign workers by foreign firms in Sub-Saharan African countries. We shed light on important firm-level as well as host–home country characteristics which shape the demand of foreign workers in developing countries. We show that differences between investors are largely explained by the role played by economic and institutional distance between home–host countries as well as by firm-level heterogeneity in the degrees of knowledge intensity and local embeddedness.     

Supply and demand macro-econometric model of a small economy: evidence from Namibia

This study develops a macro-econometric model for the Namibian economy. This macro-econometric model estimates both the demand and supply sides of the Namibian economy. This model incorporates the price sector, in order to serve as a link between the supply and demand sides of the economy. The model consists of behavioural equations, linked by identities and definitions. These behavioural equations were estimated and simulated individually. They were then combined together to form a full macro-econometric model of the Namibian economy. The full macro-econometric model was closed using two models. The first model activates the supply side and marginalises the demand side. The second model is demand side orientated, which activates the demand side and marginalises the supply side. The results indicate that the estimated values closely approximate the actual values. This macro-econometric model can be used to apply policy simulations, in order to determine appropriate economic policies for Namibia.     

Wealth and the demand for life insurance: evidence from Ontario, 1892

Our analysis of the life insurance holdings of male probated decedents in Ontario in 1892 demonstrates a negative correlation between the level of personal wealth and the demand for life insurance. Consistent with the theoretical literature on the demand for life insurance, and counter to the findings in much of the empirical literature, self-insurance was a substitute for market purchases of life insurance where self-insurance capabilities are a by-product of wealth accumulation. Our evidence suggests that households primarily demanded life insurance when they lacked accumulated reserves, or wealth, for self-insurance, often early in the life cycle. The growth of the life insurance industry reflected the growth of urban population relative to farming and an increased dependence on the head of household’s earnings.     

Firm agglomeration and local poverty reduction: evidence from an economy in transition

We examine the linkages between firm agglomeration and the welfare of households in Vietnam. We measured firm agglomeration by per capita firm output at the district level and household welfare by per capita income, expenditure, and poverty. We find that firm agglomeration helps households move from the informal sector to the formal sector. As a result, there is a positive effect of firm agglomeration on per capita income, per capita expenditure, and poverty reduction, albeit of a small and time‐decreasing magnitude. The effect of firm agglomeration on per capita expenditure tends to be higher for households with men, younger, and more educated heads than households with women, older, and less educated heads. Households in rural areas and those that do not have crop land are more likely to benefit from firm agglomeration than those living in urban areas and having crop land.     

Wealth and the demand for money: Empirical evidence for the Netherlands and Belgium

Summary This paper examines the impact of wealth on the demand for money in The Netherlands and Belgium. The empirical analysis reveals a substantial influence of wealth on the demand for money. For The Netherlands, incorporating wealth effects mitigates the volatility of the monetary picture. For Belgium this is not the case, indicating that interest and inflation rates are very important for understanding the monetary developments.We are indebted to Michel Dombrecht of De Nationale Bank van België for providing the data on wealth for Belgium. Helpful comments by Professors S.K. Kuipers and F.C. Palm are gratefully acknowledged.     

On the exchange-rate elasticity of the demand for international reserves: Some evidence from industrial countries

Summary and Conclusion In this paper we tried to investigate the supposition that a change in exchange rate lowers the demand for international reserves. This goal was achieved by incorporating the real effective exchange rate into a standard real reserve demand equation from the literature. The model was estimated for a sample of 13 countries for which the effective exchange rate was available, using pooled quarterly data over the 1973-1985 period. The empirical results revealed that a change in exchange rate indeed reduces the demand for reserves supporting the theoretical arguments of the previous studies.     

Multinational activity and CEO compensation: Preliminary evidence from large UK firms

Multinational Activity and CEO Compensation: Preliminary Evidence from Large UK Firms. — Since the early 1980s the rate of growth in executive remuneration has consistently outpaced that of average earnings. This phenomenon has been widely assumed to be part of an internationalization of the executive labor market. This paper starts from the premise that the multinational enterprise will be a major agent in such a market and presents some preliminary tests for the impact of multinational activity in general, and specific regional effects in particular, on CEO remuneration using a sample of large UK firms. Surprisingly, we find no evidence to support our conjecture that CEO pay will be positively related to firm involvement in the United States. However, multinational activity does generate a significant premium over purely domestic activity.     

Kalecki and Marx on effective demand

Conclusion Whereas Marx and Kalecki shared a broad vision of the capitalist system, the convergence of their theories occurred mainly on the ground of effective demand.Marx furnished Kalecki with the idea that deficiencies in aggregate demand are rooted in the normal workings of the capitalist system, but he did so without providing any theoretical demonstration of this proposition. Kalecki was confident, however, that he had solved Marx's unresolved problems by proving that the equations that determine the level of total output are contained in the scheme of extended reproduction.Whether Marx would have considered Kalecki's solution appropriate for the system inCapital is quite another matter. As explained above, Kalecki shifted the emphasis from the production of surplus value to the realization of surplus value and from the conditions of exploitation to the conditions of the market. It is a change that Marx would have had difficulties in accepting. Indeed, it was precisely his reluctance to follow this route that steered Marx away from an attempt at solving the problem of effective demand; a problem he skirted when he was in the process of formulating his schemes of reproduction.If one adds Kalecki's interest in market prices and his distaste for the labor theory of value, it would be difficult to avoid the conclusion that Kalecki was neither a faithful disciple of Marx nor a single-minded articulator of his economic theories. It has been argued that this was precisely Kalecki's strength [Robinson, 1979, p. 253]: With the light that Sraffa has thrown on the theory of value and Kalecki on the process of realization of the surplus, we can develop a complete system, not ofneo-Marxism but ofintelligible Marxism.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Twenty-Sixth Atlantic Economic Society Conference, October 6–9, 1988, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.