Endogenous versus exogenous money: Does the debate really matter?

Whether money is exogenous or endogenous is the subject of one of the most important and intriguing debates in monetary economics. The aim of this article is to contribute to this longstanding debate through detailed examination of different notions of endogeneity and exogeneity of money. I argue that the debate has been too simplified. In reality, money can be either endogenous or exogenous, depending on several factors. Not only has the debate prompted some economists to draw too far-reaching conclusions, but it also misses the point.     

Trade and access to finance of SMEs: is there a nexus?

Limited resources and barriers to entry are critically higher for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) than for large companies. One of the reasons explaining why the resources of SMEs are scarce is their limited access to financial services. This in turn reduces the likelihood of exporting. For this reason, using the census of SMEs done by the Central Bank of Egypt and the Egyptian Banking Institute, we try to examine the impact of access to finance on their export performance. We measure the latter by the extensive margin that means the probability of becoming an exporter and the probability of serving several markets. We found a significant and positive impact of dealing with banks and having banking facilities on the probability of exporting and that of exporting to more than one destination. Thus, wider and more efficient financial services are likely to increase the number of exporters and boost exports’ diversification.     

Adam Smith and the division of labour: is there a difference between organisation and market?

The paper claims that, in The Wealth of Nations, the divisionof labour refers simultaneously to two different things: a socialdivision of labour and an organisational division of labour.The central point is that the organisation of work (the organisationaldivision of labour) in the firm is the logical counterpart ofthe social division of labour, and that these reflect two inseparableaspects of the process of the division of labour. Smith is thusconcerned with organisations as well as with markets, each functioningaccording to the same principle. Hence, Smith does not believethat the organisational and the social divisions of labour arefundamentally different, although he does recognise some variationbetween them and describes different states of the divisionof labour within the firm, liberal and capitalist.     

Should Africa’s emerging markets still be considered as a separate asset class?

This article examines the correlation of Africa’s emerging markets regionally and globally using the Continuous Morlet Wavelet (CMW) transform. The superiority of this technique is that it is able to estimate correlation in a time-varying manner and derive all information about structural changes in the data through a phase difference technique. We find that Africa’s emerging equity markets are partially segmented regionally and globally. Although correlations may have increased over time, we suggest that emerging markets in Africa should still be considered as a separate asset class.     

Globalization and household saving: is there a link?

This article proposes that globalization can affect household saving in the long run in a number of ways. Social interactions between different cultures can induce value changes, which can result in shifts in consumption and saving behaviour. International trade allows consumers to have easier access to status goods, stimulating consumption and dampening saving. Extending from Veblen’s conspicuous consumption theory, saving may also decrease when globalization leads to greater population mobility and fosters urbanization, thus enhancing the importance of consumption as a way to display wealth. In addition, financial globalization reduces credit constraints and allows households to save less. Using cross-country data from the United Nations (UN), the OECD, and other sources, this article finds evidence that household saving declines as globalization deepens, especially in the social and cultural dimensions.     

Economic growth and the demand for education: is there a wealth effect?

Human capital investment in developing countries is thought to be significantly constrained by household resources. This paper studies the relationship between household resources and the demand for education using recent household survey data from Vietnam. The data cover a period, 1993–1998, of exceptional income growth in Vietnam, during which secondary school enrollment rose substantially. Using consumption expenditures to measure household wealth, we find a positive and significant relationship between changes in wealth and changes in the demand for education. This wealth effect persists even after controlling for locality-specific factors such as changes in education returns and the supply and quality of schools, and for the opportunity costs of schooling.     

Commodity trade between Pakistan and the US: is there evidence of the J-curve?

A few studies that have attempted to estimate the short-run (J-curve) and long-run impact of exchange rate depreciation on Pakistan’s trade balance are either based on aggregate trade data between Pakistan and the rest of the world or between Pakistan and her bilateral trading partners. The findings are mixed at best. Considering the trade balance between Pakistan and the US, as one of its major partners, no significant effects have been discovered. Suspecting that the trade flows between the two countries could suffer from another aggregation bias, we disaggregate their trade flows by commodity and consider the trade balance of 45 industries that trade between the two countries. We find significant short-run effects of currency depreciation on the trade balance of 17 industries. The short-run effects last into the long run in 15 cases. The largest industry that account for more than 10% of the trade seems to benefit from real depreciation in the long run.     

Waiting as a signal: Why women are delaying fertility?

Gone are the days when women got married and reared children at the age of 20 in developed countries. Nowadays, women are attending college and developing a career just like men. In this paper, we provide an alternative theory on why women choose not to put their early career on hold in order to have a child. Differing from the traditional human capital theory in the literature, we focus on the role of asymmetric information in the job market. We show that under asymmetric information, women have incentives to signal their career commitment. This causes a delay and a decline in fertility and a rise in educational attainment. We also examine different pro-natal policies. We find that policies subsidizing only early fertility are more efficient.     

Belief elicitation in experiments: is there a hedging problem?

Belief-elicitation experiments usually reward accuracy of stated beliefs in addition to payments for other decisions. But this allows risk-averse subjects to hedge with their stated beliefs against adverse outcomes of the other decisions. So can we trust the existing belief-elicitation results? And can we avoid potential hedging confounds? We propose an experimental design that theoretically eliminates hedging opportunities. Using this design, we test for the empirical relevance of hedging effects in the lab. Our results suggest that hedging confounds are not a major problem unless hedging opportunities are very prominent. If hedging opportunities are transparent, and incentives to hedge are strong, many subjects do spot hedging opportunities and respond to them. The bias can go beyond players actually hedging themselves, because some expect others to hedge and best respond to this.     

National culture and national savings: is there a link?

We study the effect of national culture on economic decisions, focusing on GLOBE cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance and future orientation. Specifically, we study the effect of divergence between cultural values and practices (societal aspirations), on the aggregate savings decision. Using the life-cycle model of savings as our basic model, we find that societal aspirations are important in explaining national savings behavior. In particular, we show that societal aspirations relating to future orientation and uncertainty avoidance have a positive effect on the rate of savings. We interpret our findings to indicate that such societal aspirations lead to mistrust in the societal arrangements and institutions, and induce savings as a means of securing the future and reducing uncertainty. To substantiate this interpretation, we utilize the microfinance industry; showing that high societal aspirations are associated with preference for savings through member-owned microfinance institutions (MFIs) over savings through non-member-owned MFIs.     

Diversification versus optimality: is there really a diversification puzzle?

In this paper, we provide a general valuation of the diversification attitude of investors. First, we empirically examine the diversification of mean-variance optimal choices in the US stock market during the 11-year period 2003–2013. We then analyze the diversification problem from the perspective of risk-averse investors and risk-seeking investors. Second, we prove that investors’ optimal choices will be similar if their utility functions are not too distant, independent of their tolerance (or aversion) to risk. Finally, we discuss investors’ attitude towards diversification when the choices available to investors depend on several parameters.     

Assessing economic convergence in the EU: is there a perspective for the ‘cohesion countries’?

This article analyses the stochastic income convergence within the EU-15. The empirical analysis uses per capita GDP, in PPP and in constant prices of 2005 for the period 1950 to 2010. Apart from the traditional DF type tests we also account for possible structural changes. In this direction, we employ the Zivot-Andrews (1992) and the Lee-Strazicich (1999, 2003) testing procedures, for one and two breaks, endogenously determined. Furthermore, we apply the Carlino and Mills (1993) methodology proposed for the detection of β-convergence. The overall evidence supports the existence of two discrete clubs, the first by the ‘cohesion countries’ (Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain) and the second by the remaining members. In particular, there is a clear evidence of convergence within each club, whereas between clubs there is a luck of catching-up effects. Furthermore, investigation of correlation between relative per capita GDP of each country and several factors that are often identified as growth stimulants, namely Total Factor Productivity, FDI, investment and openness confirm, with the exception of Greece, a strong association between these factors and the convergence process. However, progress in the convergence has not been uniform across countries and over time, reflecting the specific interactions between domestic and international factors and their impact on the convergence process of individual countries.     

Hold-up and externality: the firm as a nexus of incomplete rights?

The Coasean theory of the firm (Coase in Economica 4:386–405, 1937) has flourished with the theory of incomplete contracts. Transaction costs in the form of enforcement costs have been deemed to be the main determinants of the decision to ‘make’ versus ‘buy’. Surprisingly, this stream of literature has almost neglected that transaction costs may also generate incomplete property rights (Coase in J Law Econ 3:1–44, 1960). As firm’s activities entail both contractual and property rights, these two domains interfere each other on the decision to carry out a transaction within the firm. When property rights are incomplete, potential externalities may increase the cost of using the price mechanism to procure the assets needed in a given transaction. The resulting ‘Coasean firm’ would not only centralize incomplete contracts under a unified governance system, but it will also aggregate incomplete property rights under a unified ownership structure.     

Remittances and misery index in Turkey: is there a link?

This study tests the long run relationship between remittances and misery index in Turkey over the 1975–2011 period, using bounds testing approach. The results indicate that remittances and misery index are co-integrated. The misery index appears to have positive impact on remittance inflows in both short and long run, supporting altruism theory in remittance sending behaviour in Turkey.     

Why Crisis Continue?——The Endogenous Reason of Financial Crisis and Evolution to the Debt Crisis and the Enlightenment

当前欧债危机越演越烈,需要重新思考金融危机爆发并且演化为主权债务危机的内生性根源.此次金融危机中,资本主义社会的基本矛盾是危机发生的制度性根源.这一矛盾外化为“相对过剩”.经济机制层面,新自由主义影响下的自由市场经济体制放大了市场经济固有的缺陷,为危机的爆发积累了机制性原因.微观市场层面,缺乏金融监管、不当的房地产和货币政策则是诱发危机的直接原因.高赤字和高负债的背景下,一些国内经济和社会矛盾突出的国家发生主权债务危机是金融危机深化的必然结果.处理好自由市场经济和规制市场经济、金融创新和金融监管、实体经济和虚拟经济的关系以及地方债务问题是此次金融和债务危机给我国的最大启示.     

Hardiness, stress, and use of ill-time among nurse managers: is there a connection?

Intense job-related demands often result in effects on job performance and increased use of ill-time. In this study, associations between hardiness, stress, and use of ill-time among nurse managers were examined. High-hardy/low-stress managers used 27% less ill-time than those low-hardy/high-stressed.     

Too much of a good thing? Why altruism can harm the environment?

Success of eco-labeling schemes, broadly defined, varies among products and across countries. Based on a simple theoretical framework, we show that the nature of environmental attributes among products (i.e., private versus public) and the consumer type (i.e., egoist versus altruist) shape the overall performance of such schemes. In addition, we demonstrate that altruistic consumers exhibiting a too high willingness to pay for the eco-labeled product can inadvertently prevent egoistic consumers from purchasing it, leading to a sub-optimal outcome in terms of environmental performance. Several policy and managerial implications are drawn.     

When is the risk of cooperation worth taking? The prisoner’s dilemma as a game of multiple motives

This experimental article helps to understand the motives behind cooperation in the prisoner’s dilemma. It manipulates the pay-off in case both players defect in a two-player, one-shot prisoner’s dilemma and explains the degree of cooperation by a combination of four motives: efficiency, conditional cooperation, fear and greed. All motives are significant but some become only significant if one controls for all remaining ones. This seems to be the reason why earlier attempts at explaining choices in the prisoner’s dilemma with personality have not been successful.