An Overview

MOCT-MOST: Economic Policy in Transitional Economies -     

An Austrian business cycle parable: An educational note

This paper presents a short narrative example intended for use in teaching the Austrian Business Cycle Theory, meant to complement theoretical presentations by presenting an idealized account of an individual entrepreneur operating over time and responding to various possible evolutions of the interest rate. In particular, the similarity from the point of view of the entrepreneur between a reduction in the interest rate due to an increase in consumer saving and a similar reduction due to monetary policy is emphasized. Along with the narrative itself, we discuss the motivating version of the Austrian Business Cycle behind the narrative, as well as offer commentary as explanation for the particular choices made in its construction.     

An Econometrics Laboratory

The authors describe briefly nine experiments designed to illustrate different applied statistical problems or econometric techniques suitable for the first course in econometrics. Additional information and computer programs are available from the authors.     

产业结构变迁视角下经济增长的系统性分析

本文从产业结构与经济增长的内在依存关系入手,探讨了经济增长的系统性特征.研究发现:经济增长本身不仅有系统演进的特征,也具有系统内阶段性的特征.在此基础上,剖析了经济增长系统演进的外生路径和内生路径;最终提出发展中国家的重心是提升经济增长系统.     

An analysis of innovation in textile companies: An efficiency approach

The elimination of trade contingency measures in 2005 triggered a process of renewal in the textile sector, requiring major investments. The divide between efficiency and innovation has become an issue of major importance for decision-making in the Spanish textile sector. This study provides quantitative data on the efficiency levels of innovative Spanish textile companies. The aim is to identify their distinguishing features and establish a possible pattern to follow. In addition, truncated regression is used to estimate the determinants of efficiency, in order to check the significance of innovation processes for firms.     

产业成长周期与产业成长速度特征分析

主要讨论了产业成长周期与产业成长速度的特征。首先指出，在产出能力不减的假设下，许多产业的产出序列服从逻辑函数特征；然后，对产业成长周期、成长速度的相关概念进行了定义与约定；进而结合对国内外18个产业成长过程实证研究的结果，对产业成长速度的类型和界定标准进行了定量的分析；最后，从产业的导入状态、产业的代谢机制和产业的逻辑上界3个方面，讨论了决定产业成长速度的主要因素及其对产业成长速度的制约作用。     

An Optimal IPO Mechanism

We analyse the optimal Initial Public Offering (IPO) mechanism in a multidimensional adverse selection setting where institutional investors have private information about the market valuation of the shares, the intermediary has private information about the demand, and the institutional investors and intermediary collude. Theorem 1 states that uniform pricing is optimal (all agents pay the same price) and characterizes the IPO price in terms of conditional expectations. Theorem 2 states that the optimal mechanism can be implemented by a non-linear price schedule decreasing in the quantity allocated to retail investors. This is similar to IPO procedures used in the U.K. and France. Relying on French IPO data we perform a GMM structural estimation and test of the model. The price schedule is estimated and the conditions characterizing the optimal mechanism are not rejected.     

An ascending double auction

We show why the failure of the affiliation assumption prevents the double auction from achieving efficient outcomes when values are interdependent. This motivates the study of an ascending price version of the double auction. It is shown that when there is a sufficiently large, but still finite, number of sellers, this mechanism has an approximate perfect Bayesian equilibrium in which traders continue bidding if and only if their true estimates of the ‘value’ of the object being traded exceed the current price. This equilibrium is ex post efficient and has a rational expectations property in the sense that along the equilibrium path traders appear to have made the best possible trades conditional on information revealed by the trading process. We thank two anonymous referees and Dan Kovenock, the Editor, whose detailed comments and suggestions have allowed us to substantially improve the paper. We also thank seminar participants at University of Toronto, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Summer 2003 North American Meetings of the Econometric Society, 2004 NSF Decentralization Conference for their comments.     

城市化中一座“土”的“桥”——关于城中村的一种阐释

城中村以城市廉租屋、流动人口聚居区的方式发挥它在城市社会中的功能,这在为众多流动人口的城市进入提供便利之时,还以民间力量的形式,及时与必要地替代了政府提供廉租屋的功能,并在这一意义上推动了我国城市化进程的加速。正是这种及时与必要的替代,城中村获得了城市条件下的生存发展空间及社区属性。     

An open-economy transition model

This paper presents an open-economy general equilibrium model illustrating an economy such as a small eastern European country prior to economic transition. The developed model illustrates some of the inefficiencies inherent in the pre-reform economies, including the price distortions that caused resource wasting queues, as well as government domination of the production process. The model specifically provides a dynamic, analytical framework for considering the impact of government policies in determining the size of the trade balance and pre- and post-reform domestic social welfare.The author sincerely appreciates the comments and suggestions on an earlier version of this paper provided by the participants in the Social Sciences Research Council Workshop on the Economics of Transition to Market Systems in St. Petersburg in July 1995, as well as at the 1996 AEA and CEA meetings. Gerhard Glomm, Michael Alexeev, Joe C. Davis, and Ashok Kotwal had many helpful suggestions. The author also thanks Josh Perryman for research assistance.     

An optional tax system

The model is of choice of hours worked and net of tax income by workers who vary in their skill levels. All workers face the same initial linear income tax schedule. We construct a set of linear income tax schedules, differeing in their degree of progressivity, and then allow each worker to choose under which schedule he shall be taxed. No worker is worse off under the option, and no worker pays less tax. Most workers are better off, and pay more tax. Hence, the optional tax system Pareto dominates the initial tax system.     

An industry in pain

The pharmaceutical industry, buffeted by marketplace changes and unprecedented political pressure, is far from united as it heads into the mother of all lobbying battles.     

An income fluctuation problem

A consumer has a t period planning horizon problem, at each period, he gets additionals incomes that are i.i.d. random variables, and he must decide how much of his income will be spent in consumption, yielding some utility, and how much will be saved to maximize the total expected utility. No borrowing is allowed, and for the amounts saved no interest is paid. Using the concepts of competitive prices it is shown that as t → ∞ the corresponding limit of the consumption policy is strictly bounded above by the expected value of the random income.