European Monetary Unification: Implications of Research for Policy,Implications of Policy for Research

Open Economies Review -     

A Single Welfare Benefit Level for Europe? Efficiency Implications of Policy Harmonization in a Federal System

Within the European Union, it has been suggested that greater economic integration will help European economies regardless of the kind of integration Europe chooses to pursue. In this paper, I examine economic integration in the context of redistributive policy and lind that the effects of such integration are crucially dependent upon the level of redistribution to be adopted as a common policy, with higher welfare benefit levels associated with lower levels of federation output. This suggests that the case for policy harmonization at a generous level must rest on equity rather than efficiency considerations.     

Contract Farming in Mozambique: Implications for Gender Inequalities Within and Across Rural Households

This paper analyses the implications of contract farming for gender inequalities in rural Mozambique. Contract farming is often considered one of the major tools of agribusiness development. It broadly includes those arrangements under which producers commit to providing cash crop to a buyer firm. This paper exploits a panel dataset (2002–2005) collected by the Mozambican Ministry of Agriculture among a nationally representative sample of rural households to explore contracts’ implications for gender equality both across and within households. We look at both the participation of female‐headed households in contracts and the impact of establishing a contract on a set of intra‐household women empowerment indicators. Concerning the first, our results confirm a (small though significant) effect of selection out of contracts of households where a woman is the household’s head. With regard to the second, we expect contrasting effects to be at work: on the one hand, increased income may relax budget constraints improving women’s living conditions, and on the other, we may expect a shift in favour of men of the control over the household’s assets. We find different results according to the indicator used; after controlling for selection bias, we find no effect on control over land but a negative effect on women’s access to extension services.     

Interest Rate Pass‐through in Malawi: Implications for the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy

This study investigates the interest rate pass‐through in Malawi and its implications on monetary policy effectiveness. Using the cost‐of‐funds approach and monthly data from 2009 to 2015, an autoregressive distributed lag model is fitted. Results show that there is a near complete pass‐through to the lending rate but not the savings rate. The magnitude of the pass‐through is relatively higher under smaller banks. The results suggest that the structure of the banking industry matters. Market power is important in understanding the variation in lending and savings rates across banks. Overall, short‐term rates as operating targets are consistent with inflation targeting in Malawi.     

US Presidential Election 2008： Policy Implications for US-China Trade and Investment

The next US president will be elected in November 2008. Since the relative stabilization of war in Iraq, the economy has become the national priority of the 2008 US election. In their campaign efforts, the Democrats have enjoyed greater momentum than the Republicans, in terms of polls, fund-raising and corporate support. After the Bush era, the next president will seek to restore America＇s leadership and to engage in multilateralism. Since the 1990s, China has been the most rapidly-growing US export destination. In terms of US-Shinese trade and investment, the next president, ira Democrat, will, among other issues, review trade agreements and has pledged to co-sponsor legislation that would allow US companies to seek anti-dumping duties on Chinese imports based on the perceived undervaluation of the Chinese currency. If a Republican, the next president will support global integration and oppose protectionist measures. The Democratic Congress is likely to oppose Republican policies in general and free trade policies in particular. Both scenarios imply increasing pressure on US-Chinese trade and investment relationships. Because these two nations now account for almost half of global growth, the state of the futureUS-Chinese bilateral relationship has worldwide implications.     

Financial Market Turmoil： Implications for Monetary Policy Transmission in China

The recent financial market turmoil has initiated another search for insightful understanding of the interactions between the financial market and monetary policy. This paper explores these interactions in terms of the transmission mechanism of monetary policy in China. We argue that evolving financial development, enhanced by the expansion of the financial market, has altered the conventional channel for monetary transmission in China. Analyzing marked changes in the financial landscape and taking into account policy regime shifts in China, the paper provides clear evidence showing that the financial market has become a new and important channel for transmission of monetary policy in China.     

Poverty Implications of Agricultural Land Degradation in Ghana: An Economy‐wide,Multimarket Model Assessment

Abstract: An economy‐wide, multimarket model is applied for Ghana and is used to assess the aggregate economic cost of agricultural soil erosion. To fill a gap in the literature regarding economic cost analysis of soil erosion, this paper also analyzes the poverty implications of land degradation. The model predicts that land degradation reduces agricultural income in Ghana by a total of US$4.2 billion over the period 2006–2015 and the national poverty rate will increase in 2015 by 5.4 percentage points. Moreover, soil loss causes a slowing of poverty reduction over time in the three northern regions, which currently have the highest poverty rates in the country. Sustainable land management (SLM) is the key to reducing agricultural soil loss. The present findings indicate that through the adoption of conventional SLM practices, the declining trend in land productivity can be reversed, and that use of a combination of conventional and modern SLM practices would generate an aggregate economic benefit of US$6.4 billion over the period 2006–2015. SLM practices would therefore substantially reduce poverty in Ghana, particularly in the three northern regions.     

宁波种植业保险经营绩效评价研究

农业保险经营绩效考察是近期我国农业保险市场发展的重点工作之一。宁波地处沿海地区,经济实力较强,农业保险经营能否实现高效率?本文以此为切入点,通过建立农业保险绩效评价指标体系,运用主成分分析法,以种植业保险数据探讨宁波地区农业保险经营的整体效率构成及原因分析。研究表明,即使经济发达的宁波市,农业保险的经济效益依然较低,建议通过改进农业保险财政补贴结构、开展商业性农业保险试点等措施努力提升农业保险整体经营绩效。     

Privatization and Technical Efficiency: Evidence from the Manufacturing Sector in Malawi

This study evaluates the impact of privatization on the technical efficiency of six privatized enterprises, three state‐owned enterprises and six private enterprises competing in three oligopolistic manufacturing industries in which privatization took place between 1984 and 1991 using panel data between 1970 and 1997. Technical efficiency scores are computed using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) based on the ‘intertemporal frontier’ approach for panel data. The results show that privatization in Malawi is associated with high mean technical efficiency in privatized enterprises and competing state‐owned enterprises and private enterprises. If we account for other sources of technical efficiency, in the full sample we find evidence that the competitive process is more important than privatization in increasing the technical efficiency of all enterprises competing in the same industries. However, the results of the subsample of privatized enterprises show that privatization significantly increases the technical efficiency of privatized enterprises, although we cannot ignore the role of domestic competition, capital intensity, multinationality and structural adjustment programmes as sources of technical efficiency.     

Technical Efficiency in the Angolan Banking Sector with the B‐convexity Model

This paper analyses technical efficiency in Angolan banks from 2005 to 2010 with an innovative production frontier model, the model. The intermediate approach is adopted. It is observed that the efficiency increases over the observation period, according to the international experience, market share and local markets. Policy implications indicate that competition and governance should be promoted in order to increase efficiency.     

Labor Shortages on Small Landholdings in Malawi: Implications for Policy Reforms

A simple linear programming model of representative smallholder households is used to investigate the sources of relative scarcity of labor and land in Malawi. The paradox of on-farm labor shortages on small landholdings can be explained by the multiple constraints smallholders face. These multiple constraints, including lack of finance, concerns for food security, and others, lead to suboptimal allocations of household resources. In turn, the low returns to labor and land, contribute to household food insecurity and a vicious cycle of poverty. The findings of the paper provide a clear signal to policymakers and research and extension institutions that these constraints are all linked, and addressing one cannot be effective without addressing the others.     

Liquidity Risk and Banks' Asset Composition: Implications for Monetary Policy

Monetary growth models in which the government is a net debtor demonstrate that inflation adversely affects capital formation through the crowding out effect. Interestingly, the results are at odds with empirical evidence. In particular, recent studies point to an asymmetric relationship between inflation and the real economy across countries. Specifically, inflation and output are negatively correlated in poor countries. In contrast, inflation is associated with higher levels of economic activity in advanced economies. I present a monetary growth model with public debt, where the exposure to risk is inversely related to the level of income. In this setting, I demonstrate that the effects of monetary policy depend on the level of capital of the economy. In poor countries, banks' portfolios consist primarily of government liabilities. Therefore, a higher rate of money creation inhibits capital formation in these economies. In contrast, banks devote more resources toward productive uses in advanced countries. Consequently, monetary policy generates a Tobin effect.     

Science Policy Priorities and Implementation Strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Experience of Ghana

Abstract: The persistence of poverty in sub-saharan Africa constitutes a distressing paradox given the region's rich natural resources. To alleviate this endemic poverty and improve the well-being of the inhabitants on a sustainable basis, require the promotion of integrated national science and technology policy plans with prioritised objectives based primarily upon basic needs, namely improved food supply, better environment, and improved health, shelter and fuel energy supply through enhanced manpower. Prioritisation of the policy objectives appears necessary to optimise the limited investment resources. Severe financial limitations, weak job incentives, mismanagement, intersectoral rivalry, political-economic disunity, and a general lack of an enabling environment loom as a serious threat to the implementation of such S & T plans. But these problems could be surmounted by imaginative financial mobilisation arrangements, rational resource management, appropriate incentives and education, co-operation, and a will to succeed.