BANKING SECTOR POLICIES AND FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT IN NEPAL

ABSTRACT This paper examines the interactions between banking sector policies, financial development and economic growth in Nepal employing recently developed time series techniques. Policies such as interest rate controls, directed credit programmes, reserve and liquidity requirements are identified and measured. A summary measure of repressive policies is constructed by the method of principal components. This measure is found to have a statistically significant influence deepening, independently of the real interest rate. We argue that our findings are consistent with the hypothesis of market failure. Exogeneity tests suggest that financial deepening and economic growth are jointly determined. Thus, policies which affect financial deepening may also have an influence on economic growth.     

INFORMAL SECTOR, NETWORKS AND INTRA-CITY VARIATIONS IN ACTIVITIES: FINDINGS FROM DELHI SLUMS

Based on a micro-survey of around 800 slum households in Delhi this paper highlights the role of networks in accessing jobs in the urban labor market. Primarily three types of networks have been identified, which operate through kinship bonds, caste and ethnicity bonds, and formal channels like NGOs and employment exchanges. The type of networks used seems to vary across occupations. Based on a multinomial logit model the paper notes that given the differences in the nature of economic activities performed in different parts of the city, factors like networks and the urge to reside near the contact person and the work place make the urban labor market highly segmented. Hence, certain pockets within the city tend to get crowded by the growth of slums, and secondly inter-spatial variations in terms of activities/occupations make slum population in the city a heterogeneous set, and thus their problems and need vary substantially. Hence, any uniform policy for clusters located in different zones may not be able to tackle effectively the problems of slum dwellers in the city.     

THE RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF FORMAL AND INFORMAL SECTORS IN INDIA

We evaluate the relative performance of formal and informal sectors in India by looking into their productivity difference. Recognizing the intersectoral linkages in the economy, the competitive general equilibrium prices are computed; these signal the productivities. Our model synthesizes frontier analysis with the general equilibrium approach to generate shadow prices. The formal activities are found to be more productive than the informal. However, the informal services sector is as efficient as the formal one. There would be an overall productivity gain of 22% to the economy if factors were allocated to productive activities. The shadow prices from the model indicate that the formal capital and informal capital are scarce factors, while it has been the opposite for formal (regular) and informal (casual) labour. Formal labour is more productive than its informal counterpart; formal capital and informal capital are equally productive.     

MODELLING REGIME SWITCHING AND STRUCTURAL BREAKS WITH AN INFINITE HIDDEN MARKOV MODEL

This paper proposes an infinite hidden Markov model to integrate the regime switching and structural break dynamics in a unified Bayesian framework. Two parallel hierarchical structures, one governing the transition probabilities and another governing the parameters of the conditional data density, keep the model parsimonious and improve forecasts. This flexible approach allows for regime persistence and estimates the number of states automatically. An application to US real interest rates compares the new model to existing parametric alternatives. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

EVOLUTION AND REVOLUTION: A QUANTUM VIEW OF STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN ORGANIZATIONS

There may be hidden costs in making prompt incremental and piecemeal changes to organizational structure to cope with a new strategy or environment. We shall argue that changeless stable intervals punctuated by infrequent but revolutionary periods of ‘quantum’or multifaceted structural change may sometimes be the most economical strategy. Incremental structural changes may create severe and costly disharmonies as they destroy an integral structural configuration. These costs might outweigh the benefits of adapting structure to changes in strategy and environment. Because such costs may be high it might be necessary to delay changing until they can be justified. Such delays can require subsequent revolutionary structural changes. The applicability of this view of change for different contexts will be discussed.     

A MODEL OF GROWTH AUGMENTED WITH INSTITUTIONS

This paper shows that the inclusion of institutional indicators in a traditional model of growth substantially improves its explanatory capacity. The results have implications for economic policy, because not all the dimensions of institutional quality influence growth to the same extent. A large sample of 165 countries and estimation methods with instrumental variables are used to solve endogeneity problems.     

A REVIEW OF THE KOREAN HOUSING MARKET AND RELATED POLICIES

Essentially an update of Renaud (1989). K.Y. Kim (1991), and K.H. Kim (1993), this paper introduces the Korean housing market and policies, but from a distinct perspective. Housing conditions in Korea have dramatically improved both in terms of quantity and quality over the past 35 years. The market has mainly accommodated buyers of new houses, while ignoring or even sacrificing needs of low income households. This is the result of government control of the market mostly by regulations on new for-sale houses rather than by budgetary or financial resources. Both the weakness and strength of this housing supply system were clearly revealed by the price hikes in the late 1980s and by the mass production of houses, which finally stabilized the market As for major current policy problems, the suggestions put forth in this paper emphasize fewer regulations and more involvement of the private sector.     

SPATIAL PRICE EQUILIBRIUM AND THE TRANSPORT SECTOR: A TRADE‐CONSISTENT SCGE MODEL

In spatial computable general equilibrium models, interregional trade ought to play an important role in determining the spatial price equilibrium. Although the Armington assumption is commonly employed to describe cross‐hauling, many of the existing models do not explicitly consider the behavior of transport firms. This paper presents a framework that is compatible with the Armington assumption and explicitly considers transport activities. In the model, the trade coefficient takes the form of a potential function, and the equilibrium market price becomes similar to the price index in the context of new economic geography. The features of the model are investigated by using the minimal setting, which comprises two nontransport sectors and three regions. Because transport costs are given exogenously, the commodity prices are determined relative to them. The model can be described as a system of homogeneous equations, where an output in one region can arbitrarily be determined similarly as a price in the Walrasian equilibrium.     

THE TRANSPORT SECTOR AND REGIONAL PRICE DIFFERENTIALS: A SPATIAL CGE MODEL FOR CHINESE PROVINCES

With regression formulas replaced by equilibrium conditions, a spatial CGE (Computable General Equilibrium) model can substantially reduce data requirements. Detailed regional analyses are thus possible in countries where only limited regional statistics are available. Alhough regional price differentials play important roles in multiregional settings, transport does not receive much attention in existing models. This paper formulates a spatial CGE model that explicitly considers the transport sector and FOB/CIF prices. After describing the model, the performance of our model is evaluated by comparing the benchmark equilibrium for China with a survey-based interregional I-O table for 1987. The structure of Chinese economies is summarized using information obtained from the benchmark equilibrium computation. This includes regional and sectoral production distributions and price differentials. The equilibrium for 1997 facilitates discussion of changes in regional economic structures that China has experienced in the decade.     

THE FACT AND CAUSES OF VARIATION IN STRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES

As organizations adapt to changes in environmental conditions and internal needs, they often develop new structures. Research has described several diverse processes by which this development takes place (cf. Chandler, 1962; Child, 1972; Pettigrew, 1973; Sproull, et al., 1978). The only explanations provided thus far for these divergent views is methodological artefact and observer bias (Allison, 1971). In this paper, three parallel case studies are used to show that such differences are real - different organizations do follow different development paths. Evidence is provided to suggest that this variation is caused by the differing structures of organizational control surrounding new structures.     

EMPLOYMENT PROTECTION LEGISLATION AND THE GROWTH OF THE SERVICE SECTOR IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

In modern developed economies it is the service sector that generates jobs. In Anglo-Saxon economies, where employment protection legislation is low and unions comparatively weak, services account for three-quarters of income and four-fifths of jobs. Yet in France, Germany and Italy, where the reverse is true, the service sector accounts for much less of the economy in terms of income and jobs. This article shows that employment protection legislation – defended by trade unions still dominating manufacturing in continental Europe – results in higher unemployment rates and also negatively affects the growth of services.     

ENTERPRISE REFORM AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN RUSSIA: A QUANTITATIVE SURVEY

Abstract.  The objective of this paper is to verify the range and depth of the study on corporate governance in Russia through a comprehensive survey of 202 research works. With regard to the internal structure of Russian corporations, a great deal of research has been conducted in a relatively short time since the collapse of the Soviet Union by many highly motivated researchers, who have provided insightful perspectives. These achievements, however, place too much emphasis on the empirical analysis of the interrelation between ownership structure and corporate restructuring, leaving some critical themes open for further discussion. As the twenty-first century begins, a well-balanced research base should be established in this field in order to identify the reality of Russian corporations from a multifaceted perspective.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF INDUSTRY AND FIRM STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS IN CORPORATE TURNAROUNDS*

This article uses the structure/conduct/performance framework as an underpinning to investigate the attributes of turnaround firms. Turnaround is defined as a substantial improvement of the firms's return on assets relative to the average return of its industry. Industry and firm structural characteristics including concentration, industry growth, R&D, advertising, market share, size, diversification, capital intensity and margins are identified. The results of a series of univariate and multivariate tests run on a sample of turnaround and non-turnaround firms indicate that size, R&D, and an interaction between operating margin and advertising can be helpful in explaining some turnaround situations.