Do exchange rate arrangements and capital controls influence international capital flows and housing prices in Asia?

This paper investigates the influence of international capital flows on housing prices in eight Asian countries, including China. We focus on determining whether exchange rate arrangements and capital regulations influence capital inflows and housing prices. Our results show that an arrangement to restrain the fluctuation of the exchange rate and capital controls has the potential to raise housing prices in Asia. The strong prospect of the Chinese yuan's appreciation also pushed up housing prices in China. Another expected reason for the increase in capital inflows into Asian markets is the expansion of global liquidity. Such capital flows often have a sensitive reaction to market sentiment, and an increase in asset market volatility caused by the liquidity squeeze decreases Asian housing prices. These results suggest the need to review capital controls and future exchange rate system options for Asian countries.     

Cultural policy and urban regeneration in Western European cities: lessons from experience, prospects for the future

This paper reviews the uses of cultural policy and planning as tools of urban regeneration in western European cities. Following a brief assessment of the evolution of European cultural policy in recent decades, the paper studies the origins and development of the European City/Capital of Culture programme and explores the experience of cities considered to have succeeded in re-imaging and regenerating themselves through cultural activity and special events. The paper ends with a reflection on the notion of cultural planning and its potential as an integrated alternative to urban cultural policy, and offers recommendations for further development within the UK context.     

20世纪90年代美国货币政策及对我国目前的启示

1993～2000年的美国和目前的中国都出现了高增长、低通胀的局面,一般认为美联储的货币政策为之作出很大贡献。本文在借鉴的基础上就我国目前在高增长、低通胀下的货币政策的几个主要问题提出建议。     

Redressing gender inequality in employment: the national and sub-regional policy 'fit'

This article examines the 'fit' between policy development regarding gender inequality in employment at sub-regional and national (UK) level, in particular focusing on the experience of women. Drawing on research undertaken in Coventry and Warwickshire, the article explores the question of how policy development at sub-regional level fits with national policy, and whether the sub-region is an appropriate, or effective, level at which to develop policy on gender inequality in employment. It is argued that while there needs to be recognition of the limited ability of sub-regional policy to confront structural issues, policy development at this level does offer potential strengths in redressing both gender inequality in employment and the relative lack of a gender dimension in local economic development.     

流动性过剩背景下我国存款准备金政策特点及其政策效果分析

存款准备金政策作为货币政策三大工具之一,具有猛烈性、时滞性和被动性等特点。2006年7月以来,为解决日益严重的流动性过剩问题,中国人民银行连续21次调整法定存款准备金率。本文主要从存款准备金政策的特点出发,结合近年来我国的经济运行情况,着重分析本轮中央银行存款准备金政策的特点、效果及其在执行过程中存在的问题。最后在此基础上提出相应的政策建议。     

Fiscal policy in monetary unions: Implications for Europe

This paper analyzes how the feasible mix of government expenditure and financing arrangements may change with the establishment of a monetary union such as that planned by members of the European Community. We find that a monetary union reduces the feasible divergence across countries in their present discounted levels of fiscal spending. Wide differences across countries in their present and future time patterns of spending are still possible, however. Examination of the empirical evidence suggests that the movement toward greater exchange rate fixity associated with the EMS and participation in quasi monetary unions havenot been accompanied by significant fiscal convergence. The experience of member states of several existing monetary unions, however, suggests that a more effective constraint to budgetary discipline arises within full-fledged unions in operation over long periods, even in the absence of binding central rules on government deficit and debt positions.     

Europe and East Asia in the context of regionalization: Theory and economic policy

Much academic interest has recently centered on economic regionalism as a framework of international economic relations. The European Community (EC) has been a focal point. Other regional economic organizations (APEC, NAFTA), have been subjects of debate.This paper discusses three principal arguments: (1) the “natural”/“optimal” regional grouping, (2) transaction cost advantage in a regional model, and (3) the balancing of intraregional and extra-regional economies. Indeed, the argument is most certainly for an international regime of an “open,” not a “fortress” economic regionalism.This paper examines the subject relative to economic theory and policy.     

东亚货币一体化迎难而上

伴随着经济全球化，金融全球化已不可阻挡，二十世纪八十年代中后期，出现了区域汇率协调安排和货币区域化趋势。区域货币一体化是国际货币制度历史发展的必然选择。本文根据最优货币区理论，研究东亚面对货币一体化的诸多困难，提出仍十分有必要积极推行货币一体化，并对东亚推行货币一体化的可行性展开探讨。     

Trade policy and protection in the European Community

The European Community is the world's largest trading entity. As a result, trade policy in the EC has an important impact on the world economy. This paper evaluates the formulation of trade policy in the EC and assesses the key instruments, both by sector and by target. The relative importance of tariff and non-tariff barriers is emphasised as is the role of anti-dumping. Finally, the impact of the single market programme and the Uruguay Round are assessed. Both will have a crucial bearing on the evolution of policy.     

Evidence-based policy in Ethiopia: A diagnosis of failure

The need for sound, progressive policy is important, but the robust evidence upon which to base realistic policy, and the institutional capacity and political appetite to deliver it, are often lacking. This article reviews the link between evidence and policy, and highlights recent methodological advances in value chain analysis which allow researchers to efficiently collect relatively robust policy-relevant evidence in data-poor contexts. The article summarises the evidence generated from a World Bank study of tourism in Ethiopia that questioned important tenets of tourism policy and strategy, to assess the extent to which this evidence has been taken up into policy and to account for the apparent failure of evidence up-take. We conclude that the failure of evidence-based policy may have had as much to do with weaknesses in the research process as with the indigenous policy-making process.     

国际石油冲击对中国经济的影响——基于国内油价滞后调整框架下的研究

我国越来越依赖国际石油市场,但并不随其变化而及时调整国内油价.这种滞后调整将在国际石油冲击及其治理中扮演什么角色?采用AS-AD框架,我们发现,当国内油价滞后调整时,宏观经济管理当局可以前瞻性地执行调节政策,从而降低石油冲击的不利影响.因为国内油价滞后调整是一种价格黏性,而且能够缩短调节政策本身可能具有的时滞.我们的发现不同于对石油冲击的传统理解,但能够获得基于中美实证分析的支持,有助于增进对完善我国油价定价机制的理解.     

Managing Food Price Instability in Asia: A Macro Food Security Perspective*

The present paper describes the benefits and costs, in qualitative terms, of managing food price instability in Asia in the context of promoting economic growth and poverty reduction to improve food security. The experience of Asian governments in actual practice with price stabilization is discussed in the context of managing an efficient transition to market‐mediated food security. Recent experience in Indonesia, where a sharp increase in rice prices (caused by a ban on rice imports) pushed 4 million people into poverty, provides continued motivation for the analytical story in this paper.     

The need for economic policy coordination between Europe,Japan, and the United States: Policy recommendations for the 1990s

Better policy coordination between Europe, Japan, and the United States is urgently needed in order to restore economic growth and to diminish mutual trade imbalances. Using the EC Compact model it is shown how coordinated fiscal policies can contribute to reaching these goals in the 1990s. For Europe, the most plausible fiscal policy option seems to be a combination of lower direct taxes, public spending cuts, and wage moderation; for Japan a more expansionary fiscal policy is feasible. For the United States, however, public spending cuts or tax increases are necessary conditions for better economic performance. In addition, for all three blocks a swap between tax reduction and wage moderation is recommended.     

Shifting sands: The changing case for monetizing project food aid in Bangladesh

Monetization involves local sale of food aid commodities and using the cash to finance other programs. To explore the likely consequences of monetization, this paper combines a stockpile of recent microeconomic evidence from food and cash-for-work projects in Bangladesh together with a multimarket simulation model. Results suggest that a switch from food-for-work's (FFW) in-kind deliveries of wheat to an identical wheat-financed cash-for-work (CFW) program would unambiguously improve welfare of the poor.     

Openness and trade policy in China: an industrial analysis

This paper analyzes the tariff structure and its determinants in China, with our research conducted under the rubric of endogenous policy theory. We study the tariff rates for 95 industries in China in 1996. The potential determinants of tariff rates are collected from an array of variables characterizing industries in 1995. A principal component method is used to reduce these variables into four major dimensions. The first component comprises the information on the composition of employees broken down by age, education, and job classification. The second component is underlined by the profitability of the industry. The third component consists of those variables not picked up with high salience in the first two components. More closely resembling those in the second component than the first, these variables include gross product, foreign capital, inventory, sales revenue, and total loss. The fourth component receives high loadings from two variables: the number of firms in the industry and the number of firms that incur net losses in their operation. Using variables identified by the principal component analysis and postulated by the variants of the endogenous trade theory, regression analysis finds that the trade policy in China is mainly defined by an industrial policy favoring high-tech industries and a social policy minimizing social instability. The implications for China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) are also provided in the paper.     

The choice of strategic trade policy in China under the WTO frame

This paper firstly elaborated the core thought and applies condition of the strategic trade policy; secondly put the strategic trade policy and WTO rule together to carry on analysis; finally, combined the concrete circumstance of China; put forward several suggestions on carrying out a strategic trade policy under the WTO frame.     

小麦最低收购价政策比较：以三个省为例

选取河南、江苏、山东3个小麦主产省。对2006年和2007年的小麦最低收购价政策执行情况、特点、政策效果和存在问题进行调查表明,该政策在小麦托市方面的效果明显,稳定了粮农预期.促进了小麦生产,也使得一批国有收购企业受益,但也增加了小麦的流通成本.提高了加工企业的成本,此外.它也改变了小麦市场的自然流向。该政策在定价、销售机制、配套政策、预案具体细节方面还需作进一步完善。应在坚持该政策的基础上,细化有关规定,允许和支持多元市场主体参与政策性收购,加强沟通协调,与直补政策、农资综合支出补贴等政策结合运用。