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1.
Rainer Fremdling 《De Economist》2000,148(4):521-537
The actual discussion on the Betuwe-line and the construction of this new railway for freight transportation from Rotterdam to Germany is placed into a historical perspective. Right from the beginning of railway history in the Netherlands, the construction of an Iron Rhine was disputed. As analytical tool, the social saving approach is used. The conclusion of this cost-benefit analysis is that it did not and does not matter that much for the level of welfare in the Low Countries or the Rhineland whether the goods from major coastal ports are transported on the river Rhine or by the four Iron Rhines. 相似文献
2.
Jan Luiten van Zanden 《De Economist》2000,148(4):539-555
The paper examines a number of aspects of post-war economic development of the Netherlands in the light of recent out of equilibrium growth theory. It contains a comparison of the stylized facts of the long run performance of the economies of the United States and the Netherlands which suggests that the US has been on an equilibrium growth path for more than a century, but that the Netherlands followed a radically different growth path, especially after 1945. It is attempted to explain this erratic behaviour of the investment ratio and the wage share after 1945 by examining two aspects more in detail: the financing of the acceleration of growth after 1945 and the phase of too rapid growth during the 1950s and 1960s, when the growth of the demand for labour tended to be higher than the increase in its supply. 相似文献
3.
F. Broekman 《De Economist》1978,126(2):165-198
Summary Most economic theories of leisure are concerned with valuations of leisure time related to income as an opportunity cost. After a critical discussion of these theories, leisure time as a constraint is introduced in the theory of consumer behaviour by (1) distinguishing between pleasant and unpleasant consumer activities, (2) discussing the effects on individual's welfare of changes, in the duration of both types of activities and (3) developing time-saving concepts. A theoretical framework for consumer choices under time and/or income constraints leads to suggestions for the lines along which leisure research should be developed as a basis for welfare policy in the widest sense.My thanks are due to Professors P. Hennipman, L. H. Klaassen, A. Pais and Mr. D. B. Needham for the valuable suggestions they made during the preparation of this article. Several parts of it will be presented in a more detailed form in a thesis on the subject. 相似文献
4.
Summary This paper re-examines the relationships between short term capital flows and monetary policy, in the light of a new theoretical approach of the forward exchange market. They contend that the traditional forward exchange market theory is a misleading one as it fails to give all the importance it deserves to the distinction between covered and uncovered exchange transactions and to the actual role of the arbitrageurs. As a consequence of this analysis, they demonstrate that the problem of monetary management in an open economy must be dealt with in a way different from what has been usual, and they conclude that monetary policy, central banks' intervention on the foreign exchange market and direct controls on capital movements can still have some efficiency in the struggle against inflation, either of the domestic or the imported type. 相似文献
5.
George Psacharopoulos 《De Economist》1973,121(6):609-625
Summary There exist basically two manpower planning methodologies. Firstly, the manpower requirements approach which stipulates that there are needs in the economy for given numbers of qualified persons in the labour force. Secondly, the rate of return approach which focuses on the costs and benefits of producing one extra qualified person at the margin.This paper contrasts the theoretical foundations of the two approaches with particular emphasis on the degree of substitution between different types of educated labour. The empirical evidence on elasticities of substitution is reviewed and it is concluded that the cost-benefit model fits better the real world.I am indebted to Dr. Christopher Dougherty for reading a draft of this paper and making many important corrections. 相似文献
6.
Robert M. Solow 《De Economist》1992,140(1):1-15
Summary The old growth theory of the 1950s led to certain conclusions about the sorts of economic policies that would promote economic growth, and also about their limitations. The new growth theory of the 1980s makes much stronger assumptions and leads to correspondingly stronger conclusions about the scope of growth-promoting policy. This article argues that: (1) empirical work so far has neither confirmed nor denied the strong assumptions underlying the new theory; (2) the theory is worth pursuing because of its intrinsic interest and the possibilities it opens up; (3) whatever the final verdict on the new theory, both theory and evidence support the belief that significant long-run gains, even if not permanent changes in the growth rate, can be achieved by increased investment in the broadest sense, including human capital, technological knowledge, and industrial plant and equipment.Fifth Tinbergen Lecture delivered on October 4, 1991, in Amersfoort for the Royal Netherlands Economic Association 相似文献
7.
J. Herbert Furth 《De Economist》1973,121(4):347-361
Summary Transactions of Eurodollar banks affect international dollar liquidity (and the US payments balance) exactly as would identical transactions of US banks. Eurodollar banks are, however, usually more likely to grant credits to foreigners than US banks, and thus to raise foreign gross (thought not net) dollar liquidity. In times of international dollar glut, an expansion of the Eurodollar market (e.g., through shifts of deposits from US to Eurodollar banks or through US banks repaying Eurodollar borrowings) thus tends to aggravate unwanted dollar flows to foreign central banks and the US reserve transactions (though not the net liquidity) payments deficit.This paper is a by-product of the author's contribution to the study Foreign Dollar Balances and the International Role of the Dollar, conducted jointly with Professor Raymond F. Mikesell and sponsored by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Neither Professor Mikesell nor the National Bureau (nor the Foreign Service Institute) bears, however, any responsibility for the views expressed in this paper. 相似文献
8.
Cash Management, Payment Patterns and the Demand for Money 总被引:2,自引:1,他引:1
Willem C. Boeschoten 《De Economist》1998,146(1):117-142
We analyse cash management and payments behaviour using 1990–1994 panel data for Dutch households. The results largely confirm the transactions demand for money theory, including an income elasticity of substantially less than one, and they are consistent with the hypothesis of technology resulting in households' economizing on currency balances. The results indicate up to 40 per cent lower transactions balances in the future, which is affirmed by direct questioning on future expectations. The effect on total money outstanding is considerably lower, due to significant amounts of missing money in hoards, which are insensitive to new developments in the payments system. 相似文献
9.
Exchange rate theories 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
H. Visser 《De Economist》1989,137(1):16-46
Summary A four-period classification is used to categorise recent exchange-rate theories or models. In the very short period, only capital flows are relevant. In the short period, both capital flows and payments on the current account play a role. In the long period, the capital account and the current account are individually in equilibrium. In the very long period, purchasing power parity holds. Cash-in-advance models are dealt with separately. Many models that purport to explain exchange rates do in fact not provide for the exchange of currencies. No model stands up satisfactorily to econometric testing. Speculative bubbles, the peso problem and news play havoc with tests of the uncovered interest parity theorem, the core of the monetary models. This aside, the fundamental assumption of rational expectations itself is suspect. There does not seem to be such a thing as a true model.I am indebted to Dr. W.J.B. Smits and Professor J.W. Gunning for helpful discussions on a number of issues pertinent to this article. 相似文献
10.
Summary The paper deals with three different areas of the financial sphere: national moneys, exchange rates and financial claims, markets and institutions. For each of them, it tries to identify the main forms of instability which may occur, their causes and consequences for the real economy. Depending on the area concerned, the forms of instability include inflation, fluctuations and misalignments in interest rates, exchange rates and asset prices and finally solvency and liquidity crises of institutions. It is concluded that, over the last fifteen years, significant progress has been made in the policy framework to counteract instabilities in the national and monetary spheres. The conclusion is more mixed with regard to the structure of financial markets.[/p]We are grateful to Julian Alworth, Svein Andresen, Gavin Bingham, Joe Bisignano, Michael Hutchison and Paul van den Bergh for useful comments. 相似文献
11.
Summary When compared with other industrialized free-market economies, the United States has the highest per capita health expenditure, yet, Americans are the least satisfied with their health care system. This industry has been confronted with serious problems resulting in a departure from the Pareto efficient conditions. There are many circumstances under which this departure may occur, one such cause is market failure. Sources of market failure in the health care industry are identified as: 1) lack of competition; 2) insufficient information; 3) inadequate access to health care services; 4) presence of externalities; and 5) a persistent disequilibrium in the hospital, physicians, and nurses markets. The pricing of physician's services has often been described as that of a discriminating monopolist. Through market segmentation and patient demand manipulation the physician is able to charge different prices for virtually identical services. One form of market segmentation is that of physician specialization and sub-specializations thus contributing to the explosion in medical costs. This paper concludes that America's health care industry has reached a crossroad. A national health insurance is needed including the implementation of uniform pricing and the discouragement of sub-specializations with its price discriminatory practices. But National Health Insurance comes with a price of its own, the possible development of a medical-industrial complex.We are grateful to the anonymous referee(s) for valuable comments that enhanced the writing of this paper and we would like to extend our appreciation to Mr Qi Zhou, Graduate Assistant at Bryant College, for his contributions to this research project. 相似文献
12.
Edward J. Kane 《Atlantic Economic Journal》2005,33(1):35-42
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. 相似文献
13.
Prof. Dr. W. A. A. M. De Roos 《De Economist》1972,120(6):513-533
Summary The M.I.T. report for the Club of Rome tries to indicate the limits of economic growth. The thesis submitted by the report requires us to reconsider the concept of economic growth that we have been handling during the last decades. Galbraith's thesis on the Affluent Society makes a reconsideration of the concept of growth more acceptable. What is necessary is not really slowing down growth but modifying the structure of the growth process. All this requires a clear picture of the society that we prefer: an enlightened utopia. The modification of the structure will cause such discontinuities in the growth process as to add a sixth stage to the five stages of economic growth that have been suggested by Rostow.Rede, uitgesproken bij de aanvaarding van het ambt van gewoon hoogleraar in de staathuishoudkunde aan de faculteit der sociale wetenschappen van de Nederlandse Economische Hogeschool, Hogeschool voor Maatschappijwetenschappen te Rotterdam op donderdag 12 oktober 1972. 相似文献
14.
G. Criel 《De Economist》1985,133(2):199-217
Summary Despite its importance as an exception to the free trade case, the argument for infant industry protection has only sporadically been subjected to close theoretical scrutiny. This article helps to fill this gap by evaluating the various traditional and modern perceptions of the topic. The paper concludes that none of the existing formulations of the infant industry theory are fully satisfactory. The classical view on the argument seems too static and too restrictive, whereas the modern approaches fail to provide a convincing theoretical framework. The proposed reappraisal of the infant industry idea is based on the classical principle of comparative advantage, but places the argument in the dynamic context of modern theories. 相似文献
15.
L.F.M. Groot 《De Economist》2001,149(2):219-232
High taxes and generous social benefits are often blamed for causing unemployment. The conventional view is that if taxes on labour are (too) high, jobs will be lost and that generous social benefits will exert an upward pressure on unions' wage claims. In the case where unions co-ordinate their wage bargaining strategy, this need not be the case. A simple model is used to illustrate the effects of the tax rate level and tax internalization on unions' wage bargaining strategy. A high marginal tax rate along with endogeneity of the average tax rate shifts the union's trade-off between wages and employment in favour of the latter. These shifts may have contributed to the success of the so-called polder model or tulip model of the Netherlands. 相似文献
16.
Summary We have studied the choice of mode of payment from a 1987 Dutch household survey. The institutional arrangements of a transaction are a major determinant for the mode of payment, and so is the amount involved. A 10% increase in the sum paid usually leads to a reduction of about 1.3% to 2.3% in the incidence of currency use.Based on De keuze van een betaalmiddel (The Choice of Mode of Payment), (SEO, Amsterdam, 1989), which reports research commissioned by the Postbank, Amsterdam. 相似文献
17.
Professor of Econometrics Arie Kapteyn 《De Economist》1985,133(1):1-20
Summary Although utility has been the central concept in economics, economists have paid relatively little attention to its measurement. Generally, utility is measured indirectly via the revealed preference approach. We discuss problems with this approach and next introduce alternative direct measurement methods. The direct measurement methods are seen to spawn a so-called theory of preference formation, which explains differences in utility functions of different individuals. The similarities of this theory with related theories in sociology and psychology, and various sorts of empirical evidence, are reviewed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of these findings for economic theories.This is a slightly adapted version of my inaugural address at Tilburg University. I thank Tom Wansbeek for his helpful comments. 相似文献
18.
Game equilibrium modelling 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
Dave Furth 《De Economist》1993,141(3):353-379
Summary Non-cooperative game theory has in recent years become one of the main tools in the social sciences and economics. It deals with decision problems of more than one (rational) player. The actions of those players result in outcomes that are the best that may have happened to a player, given the actions of the other players. This is precisely the content of the 'Nash equilibrium' concept. It would be nice when each game had a unique Nash equilibrium. Unfortunately, both non-existence and multiple equilibria occur. An important role in game theory is played by the information available to the players. Among the economic applications are: the Theory of Industrial Organisation, Bargaining and the Economic Theory of Information.Comments by Eric van Damme and Casper de Vries on an earlier draft of this paper have greatly improved the presentation. I have benefited from the comments of the editor and an anonymous referee ofDe Economist. For all omissions, all possible errors and the revealed views in this paper, I alone am responsible. 相似文献
19.
Transaction Cost Economics: How It Works; Where It is Headed 总被引:13,自引:0,他引:13
Oliver E. Williamson 《De Economist》1998,146(1):23-58
This paper begins with a sketch of the New Institutional Economics, with special emphasis on the institutional environment (North and others) and the institutions of governance (Coase and others). Thereafter the paper mainly emphasizes the applications of transaction cost economics to the study of governance, the object being to effect an economizing alignment between transactions, which differ in their attributes, and governance structures (firms, markets, hybrids, bureaus), which differ in their cost and competence. I raise a series of issues – phenomena of interest, describing human agents, describing firms, purposes served, scaling up – to which any would-be theory of the firm should be expected to speak and indicate how transaction cost economics responds to each. I thereafter describe the mechanisms through which transaction cost economics is implemented and develop some of the core conceptual supports out of which it works. Applications to public bureaus, strategic management, and intractable transactions are sketched. 相似文献
20.
Summary Internal and external economic targets which a monetary authority tries to achieve make its interest rate policy partly endogenous. This article analyses the Bundesbank's interest rate policy since 1975, the year the Bundesbank published its first intermediate money growth target based on estimates of an inevitable inflation rate and expectations about economic development. Estimation of a discount rate reaction function suggests that German monetary policy responds primarily to the final objective of price level stability and to a smaller extent, to the intermediate money supply target. Moreover, cyclical movements and balance-of payments equilibria are found to significantly influence the Bundesbank's discount rate policy. Both the inflation rate and the current account enter the reaction function in a non-linear way. When inflation is above the targeted rate or when there is a current account deficit, discount rate responses are much stronger than in the case of below target inflation or a current account surplus. Internationally, the Bundesbank discount rate policy is limited by US short-term interest rate movements. 相似文献