An Empirical Investigation of Twin Deficits Hypothesis: Evidence from India

Journal of Quantitative Economics - The paper empirically examines the relationship between fiscal deficit and current account deficit in India for the period from 1970–1971 to...     

On the Stationarity of Current Account Deficits in the European Union

In this paper, we test for the stationarity of EU current account deficits. Our testing strategy addresses two key concerns with regard to unit‐root panel data testing, namely (i) the identification of which panel members are stationary, and (ii) the presence of cross‐sectional dependence. For this purpose, we employ an AR‐based bootstrap approach to the Hadri (2000 ) test. While there is only mixed evidence that current account stationarity applies when examining individual countries, this does not appear to be the case when considering panels comprising both EU and non‐EU members.     

Rationality of inflationary expectations in the European Economic Communities Countries

Empirical assessment of rationality of inflationary expectations has attracted considerable interest. However no conclusive evidence has emerged in favour nor against the hypothesis of rationality. In this paper a new set of data is used to test the weak-form rationality of survey based expectations for a fairly large group of countries with very different inflationary experiences. The empirical tests carried out in the paper show that two necessary conditions of weak-form, linear rationality are met for four of the seven countries in the sample: France, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium, which happen to be the countries with relatively stable and low rates of inflation. This conditions are not, however, met in the case of Italy and Denmark, with the U.K. being a marginal case. The interpretation of these results is left open in the paper.     

Economic Integration between the European Union and the Transition Economies of Central European Initiative Countries

In this article we examine the main factors influencing trade and FDI flows between the transition countries of the Central European Initiative (CEI) and the EU member states. We distinguish three groups of CEI countries, according to the degree of trade and FDI integration with the EU: the 'fast mover' countries, the 'next tier' countries and the 'slow movers'. By estimating a number of trade and FDI equations we were able to locate the significance of alternative variables which affect the flows of trade between the CEI countries and the EU. According to our results, the low volume of trade and FDI between the 'next tier' and 'slow movers' of the CEI region, on one hand, and the EU, on the other, is a reflection of the fact that these particular countries have not yet achieved adequate institutional and economic reform while, at the same time, privatisation has not progressed as much.     

The Gender Wealth Gap Across European Countries

This paper studies the gap in wealth between male and female single households using 2010 Household Finance and Consumption Survey data for eight European countries. In the raw data, a large gap emerges at the upper end of the unconditional distribution. While OLS estimates show no difference in average net wealth levels, quantile regressions at the 95th percentile yield mixed evidence for the gender wealth gap in different specifications. Labour market characteristics and participation in asset and debt categories largely explain the differences between male and female single households. The gender gap in net wealth is driven by gaps in gross wealth and its components, but is attenuated in four countries by gender gaps in (collateralized) debt. In the full specification, the unexplained gap in gross wealth amounts to 27 percent in Slovakia, 33 percent in France, 44 percent in Austria, 45 percent in Germany, and 48 percent in Greece.     

Political Leaders' Socioeconomic Background and Public Budget Deficits: Evidence from OECD Countries

This paper empirically analyzes the relationship between political leaders' socioeconomic backgrounds and public budget deficits utilizing panel data on 21 OECD countries from 1980 to 2008. Building on sociological, as well as economic research, we argue that the socioeconomic status of political decision‐makers, i.e., presidents or prime ministers, is an important determinant of fiscal budget decisions. Our theory‐consistent findings show that the tenures of lower‐class leaders – i.e., leaders of low socioeconomic status – are associated with a deficit‐to‐GDP ratio which is 1.6 percentage points higher than that during tenures of upper‐class leaders.     

European financial crisis and bank productivity: evidence from Eastern European Countries

The paper examines the productivity levels of the largest banks operating in the Eastern European countries over the period of the ongoing European financial crisis. Specifically, the analysis covers the periods of U.S. subprime crisis, the global financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis. By adopting a fully nonparametric framework, it provides a probabilistic version of a directional input-oriented Malmquist productivity index alongside with its main decomposition. The results from the analysis suggest that banks have faced a deterioration of their productivity levels between the examined periods. It is evident that during the initiation of European sovereign debt crisis, the banks have weakened their ability to utilize efficiently their inputs of production and their ability to realize scale economies.     

Inflation, GDP and Causality for European Countries

This study investigates, through panel univariate GARCH models for 14 European countries the causality between inflation and GDP and finds that inflation causes GDP at the 5% level of significance and GDP cause inflation at the 10% significance level. Thus, there is a bidirectional effect between the above two cases which is significant at the 10% level.     

Fiscal and External Deficits Nexus in GIIPS Countries: Evidence from Parametric and Nonparametric Causality Tests

International Advances in Economic Research - This paper investigates the relationship between fiscal and external deficits in five European Union countries (Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and...     

Seigniorage Wealth and Redistribution in Central and Eastern European Countries

The analysis presented in this article focuses on seigniorage revenues in five Central and Eastern European Countries: Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania. A comprehensive discrete period accounting framework for measuring the sources and uses of seigniorage in the 1990s is presented. The framework is based upon the gross concept of seigniorage that defines seigniorage in the broadest possible sense as the sum of revenues resulting from the monopoly power to issue money. Legal, institutional and operational details which are relevant for the creation of base money in a country are taken into account. The article reveals similarities and differences in seigniorage wealth between the countries under scrutiny, evaluates the magnitude of seigniorage and shows that accession to the European Monetary Union will create significant once-and-for-all gains of seigniorage wealth for the countries resulting from redistributing seigniorage wealth.     

European Integration, Intra-industry Trade in Vertically Differentiated Products and the Balkan Countries

The aim of this paper is to examine the relation between the integration process and the intensity of intra-industry trade between two countries of different levels of development. Our theoretical model and results indicate that trade liberalization and the establishment of the Free Trade Areas between the Balkan countries and the EC have led to the growth of the intra-industry trade between Greece—EC member state—and those countries. The main instruments of this process have been the Europe Agreements and the Stabilization and Association Agreements between the Balkan countries and the EC. The paper presents a model in vertically differentiated products in a Free Trade Area context and proceeds to depict the intensity of intra-industry trade between Greece and the Balkan countries.      

European Integration and Manufactures Import Demand: An Empirical Investigation of Ten European Countries

This paper studies import demand in ten European countries over the period 1970–95, and our objective is to investigate whether the process of European integration has affected imports. We provide evidence for parametric change in traditional import demand equations, suggesting that important variables or structural factors are missing from the long-run equations. We present equations based on new trade theory, where effects of technology and foreign direct investment are present. Once we include these there is little evidence that the creation of the Single Market has directly increased aggregated imports in European countries.     

中东欧国家国有企业改革中的税收对策

尽管目前中东欧国家经济继续回升,但国家国有企业的改造仍步履艰难。总的情况是:①所有制结构根本性变化。国有企业比重大大下降,私有制企业达到30-40％左右不等,形成了国有、混合所有和私有三分天下的局面。②企业经营形式多样化。剧变前,企业基本由国家经营或按计划经济方式管理。这几年,相当数量的国有企业被改造成有限责任公司或股份有限公司;     

Unmeasurable characteristics in comparing economies: Poland and European Union Countries

After the recent period of economic and political change, many countries of Central and Eastern Europe are interested in integrating with the European Union. Therefore, there is considerable significance in comparative research in economic policies. One of the methods used is the taxonomic approach. During the evaluation and comparison of various national economies' development, both measurable and unmeasurable features are found in the collection of diagnostic features. For this reason, it is very important to estimate the level of research subjectivity—or the influence of unmeasurable features—on the results of comparative research. This paper proposes the methodology which makes such research possible.     

Testing For Real Interest Rate Convergence In European Countries

We use cointegration tests that determine endogenously the regime shift to test for bilateral short-term and long-term real interest rate convergence in the European Monetary System in the 1979–1993 period. The results of these tests provide strong evidence in favour of bilateral real interest rate convergence between Germany and several countries in our sample, particularly for long-term real interest rates. This result carries the important policy implication that in several European countries monetary policy has lost some of its effectiveness as a stabilisation policy tool.     

中东欧国家社会政治转型的经验——俄罗斯与波兰学者笔谈摘录

俄国《莫斯科大学学报——政治学分册》杂志编委会在2005年组织了约30位俄罗斯与波兰学者就中东欧国家的社会政治转型经验进行笔谈,有关材料刊载于该杂志2005年第2期。本文摘译了其中4位学者的发言,分别对转型特点、欧盟和北约一体化在现阶段所起的作用、转型后的自我意识和民族意识、中东欧国家的社会主义模式建立过程,以及波兰入盟后与俄罗斯经贸关系的变化等进行了探讨。     

Towards a European Social Union: Impacts on Labor Markets in the Acceding Countries

A new social dimension of the EU has been established in the last decade. This paper discusses the effect of an adoption of this EU social law on future labor market performance in the CEECs. For this purpose, we draw an analogy between the policies vis-a-vis the CEECs and those regarding East Germany and Southern Italy. We conclude that the adoption of inefficient EU social and labor policy regulations entails risks for CEEC employment similar to those materialized in the latter regions. This view is substantiated by a public choice analysis of why the old EU members will want to impose the Social Charter even though it will harm the new members.     

A Quantile Approach to Identify Factors Promoting Renewable Energy in European Countries

This paper analyses the impact of several factors on the use of renewable energy sources in a set of European Union countries, by applying a quantile regression approach. We find that different factors are effective for different levels of renewable energy commitment and the magnitudes of some effects evolve in accordance with the level of renewable energy sources used. Consequently, some policies that do not take into account the different stages could carry different effects. The results suggest that the lobbying effect of the established industries hampers the development of renewable sources, and that this effect is greater for lower initial level of renewable energy use. The results reveal that environmental concerns have not yet achieved enough pressure to stimulate major developments on renewables. We include two new drivers, geographic area and European Union Directive 2001/77/EC. That Directive was effective in signaling the commitment to renewables, namely for countries with lower renewables use.