REFORMING THE FED: ITS INDEPENDENCE AND LESSONS FROM HUMPHREY-HAWKINS

The last session of Congress witnessed renewed calls for reforming the Federal Reserve System so as to better coordinate monetary and fiscal policies. This paper examines how the current institutional structure, established by the Humphrey-Hawkins Act of 1978, performed when the supply-side tax cuts were implemented during 1981 and 1982. The findings reveal that authorities barely discussed the necessary policy coordination at the Humphrey-Hawkins hearings. Further, the record reveals that Fed Chairman Volcker refused to utilize the Fed's independence to publicly oppose the supply-side tax cuts.     

AIRPORT PRIVATIZATION AND INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

We provide a simple theoretical model to explain the mechanism whereby the privatization of international airports can improve welfare. The model consists of a downstream (airline) duopoly with two inputs (landings at two airports) and two types of consumers. The airline companies compete internationally. We show that the outcome in which both airports are privatized is always an equilibrium, whereas that in which no airport is privatized is an equilibrium only if the degree of product differentiation is large. We also discuss airport congestion problems within the model framework.     

PUBLIC ENTERPRISES AND PRIVATIZATION

During the past two decades, the Singapore economy has performed remarkably well. Its achievement has often been cited as an economic miracle for a 600-square kilometre city nation without resources except its three million inhabitants. Public enterprises have contributed much to this achievement. They have been so successful in competing with the private sector that there have been some criticisms against the dominance of government in business. Several major government companies have been privatized and listed on the local stock exchange. Preparations have been made for commercially viable statutory boards to become private enterprises. The government will play a catalytic and supportive role and refrain from local competition. Its new emphasis will be on internationalizing the economy through joint ventures in informational technology and telecommunication industries where the local private sector lacks the resources.     

INFLATION TARGETING AND THE ECONOMY: LESSONS FROM CANADA'S FIRST DECADE

Inflation targeting has become the centerpiece of the monetary policy framework in a number of industrial countries and emerging economies. The first part of this article examines the Canadian experience with inflation targeting since its introduction in early 1991 and various issues that require resolution in establishing such a framework. It also examines the way inflation targets deal with demand, price, and productivity shocks. The second part focuses on Canada's economic performance during the 1990s. Factors other than monetary policy - most notably private sector restructuring and the fiscal situation in the first half of the decade - played an important role in the sluggishness of the recovery from the recession of 1990–91. Trend growth in Canada during the 1990s was lower than in earlier periods and than U.S. trend growth over the same period. The article examines the role of such factors as productivity growth and participation rates in explaining the differences. I conclude that a good monetary policy is necessary but not sufficient for good economic outcomes.     

PUBLIC PROGRAMS PARE POVERTY: EVIDENCE FROM CHILE

This study examines the effect of government health care and education programs on the poor in Chile from 2000 to 2006. Results are obtained from a country-wide provincial-level panel data set with information on poverty and indigence head-count ratios, measures on the severity of poverty as captured by the Foster–Greer–Thorbecke P ₂ statistic, per capita public expenditures on health and education, as well as other variables that are thought to influence well-being. We use fixed-effects techniques to correct for time-invariant province-specific characteristics that may affect program placement. Our analysis demonstrates that per capita public health and education expenditures significantly reduce the incidence of poverty and indigence in Chile. In particular, for a 10,000 pesos (about $23) increase in provincial per capita health spending, the poverty head-count ratio decreases by 0.48 percent. Per capita education expenditures are particularly important to reducing the severity of poverty. Our results indicate that for a 10,000 pesos increase in education spending, the severity of poverty declines by as much as 1.53 percent. Furthermore, we provide evidence that public spending in Chile is non-random. In particular, government education expenditures may be allocated in keeping with compensatory motives.     

THE ECONOMICS AND POLITICS OF INDUSTRIAL POLICY: SOME LESSONS FROM THE U.S. AND ABROAD

The accelerating United States trade deficit has again focused widespread political attention on industrial policy issues. However, given the breadth and complexity of the industrial policy issues, we can be confident that strengthening the U.S. international trade position will not be sufficient to quell concern over this area of economic policy.     

面向公共政策制定的区域规划--国外区域规划的编制对我们的启示

我国的区域规划经过50多年的发展历程,形成了一个比较庞大的内容体系和一套比较完整的技术程序。但技术性仅仅是区域规划属性之一,政策属性才是区域规划的本质属性,区域规划的科学性是为政策性服务的,新时期的中国区域规划改革应该首先确立和实现区域规划的公共空间政策属性。文章分析了我国区域规划当中政策缺陷及其影响,从公共政策的角度出发,介绍和分析了国外区域规划中的综合性与微观性、规划地位的法定性、规划行政程序的开放性、规划实施手段的多样性,并阐述了国外区域规划对于我国区域规划改革可供借鉴的个人观点。     

TRANSACTION COST IMPAIRMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE: LESSONS FROM EGYPT

Increasing evidence indicates the relative importance of transaction costs in international market penetration by LDC manufactured goods exporters. This paper identifies the sources and nature of these costs and recommends policies capable of helping LDC exporters overcome transaction cost-based obstacles to such exports. Data for the analysis are from questionnaires addressed to samples of manufactures exporters and trading intermediaries in Egypt.     

TRANSACTION COST IMPAIRMENTS TO INTERNATIONAL TRADE: LESSONS FROM EGYPT

Increasing evidence indicates the relative importance of transaction costs in international market penetration by LDC manufactured goods exporters. This paper identifies the sources and nature of these costs and recommends policies capable of helping LDC exporters overcome transaction cost-based obstacles to such exports. Data for the analysis are from questionnaires addressed to samples of manufactures exporters and trading intermediaries in Egypt.     

WAGE DIFFERENTIALS AND OCCUPATIONAL WAGE PREMIA: FIRM-LEVEL EVIDENCE FOR BRAZIL AND CHILE

This paper examines wage differentials at the firm level in Chile and Brazil, using data for 1985 and 1991, and 1987 respectively. The high level of disaggregation in the data available for Chile enables us also to analyze the degree to which wage differentials between individual employers are similar across occupations.
The results of this study reaffirm those of previous research pointing to non-competitive explanations for wage differentials, specifically providing clear evidence that inter-firm wage premia are highly correlated across occupations.     

ITALIAN STATE-OWNED HOLDINGS,PRIVATIZATION AND THE SINGLE MARKET*

ABSTRACT ** ** Résumé en fin d'article; Zusammenfassung am Ende des Artikels; resúmen al fin del artículo.
: Italy's state industry is in a strategic transition, the result of which was not foreseen in the reforms approved by Parliament in the 1990s. Privatization pressures and opposite trends aimed at rejuvenating the state-owned holdings (the major ones being Iri and Eni) coexist in the Italian mixed economy. However, in the absence of a clear strategic intent, the functions of Iri and Eni are destined to whither away, in spite of the success achieved by them in both national and international markets. New pressures are menacing public enterprises. The attitudes of the European Commission, the trends of the European Union's industrial policy, and the drive towards the construction of a single market challenge the competitive skills of Iri and Eni, which in 1992 became joint stock companies.     

MARKET‐DEMAND BOOSTING AND PRIVATIZATION IN A MIXED DUOPOLY

This study incorporates demand‐boosting strategies into a mixed duopoly model in order to consider the endogenous determination of market demand. The results indicate equilibrium characteristics that differ from those found under an exogenous demand setting. As consumers become more sensitive to the demand‐boosting strategies of firms, the government must choose a lower level of privatization. This suggests that the responsiveness of consumer demand to the demand‐boosting strategies of firms constitutes a limiting factor for privatization.     

MEASURING THE ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF TRANSITION ECONOMIES: SOME LESSONS FROM CHINESE EXPERIENCE

This article quantifies the comparative performance of China in several dimensions. Firstly, it shows that China's move from a command to a market economy was less abrupt and more successful than that of 29 other economies making a similar transition. Secondly, while official estimates show annual GDP growth of 9.6 percent in 1978–2003, this is reduced to 7.9 percent after adjustment for exaggeration of industrial performance and growth in non-material services. Thirdly, as the exchange rate understates China's achievement, a purchasing power parity (PPP) converter is necessary to measure comparative level of performance. Our PPP converter shows that China in 2005 was the world's second largest economy, with a GDP about 80 percent of the U.S. It is assumed that China will have overtaken the U.S. as the world's biggest economy before 2015. Until recently, the World Bank estimate of the PPP for China was close to that of Maddison, but the Bank's new estimate for 2005 shows Chinese GDP about half this level. The Bank's new estimates for China and other Asian countries are not plausible, and this paper advances several reasons for rejecting them. Finally, energy use per head of population is a good deal smaller than that of the U.S., and its total energy use for a much bigger population is likely to be somewhat smaller than that of the U.S. in 2030. However, heavy dependence on dirty coal means that it will have bigger carbon emissions than the U.S. This is a major problem as Beijing and other big cities already have severe pollution problems.     

伦敦新城规划建设的经验教训和对北京的启示

以有关资料文献为基础,对伦敦新城规划建设进行研究,总结其成功经验包括人本主义思想与实践、较为科学合理的规划设计理念与方法、高效的立法与较为灵活的经营机制;着重指出伦敦新城建设的教训和不足,包括新城思想、规划手段、管理体系、区域协调和社会规划都存在问题。可为当今北京的新城建设提出有益启示。