WORLD RECESSION: WHAT WENT WRONG?

This paper starts by framing the issue of how seemingly intuitive responses to the distress suffered during recession can not only be ineffective but also can harm long-term growth. It then goes on to discuss the most long-lived of explanations of cyclical instability, the explanation based on swings in the psychology of financial markets. Such explanations offer no framework for thinking about the price system and the role of the interest rate. Based on a discussion of the role of the interest rate in smoothing cyclical fluctuations, the paper offers a critique of current policy.     

PRIVATISATION O F ENERGY: WAS IT NECESSARY?

The economic circumstances of the time produced a favourable climate for energy privatisation. Significant economic benefits flowed from this. Nevertheless, determining the most appropriate approach to privatisation and the structure of regulation after privatisation are not straightforward and depend on technological and economic factors.     

THE BROKEN UNIVERSITY: WHAT IS SEEN AND WHAT IS NOT SEEN IN THE UK HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR

Frederic Bastiat and others have previously argued that one of the key differences between a good and a bad economist is whether they are prepared to take into account not just the immediate and visible effects of a policy intervention, but also the hidden costs and unintended consequences which accumulate over time. In the field of higher education, when these additional factors are taken into account it soon becomes clear that the £14.3 billion annual public subsidy is now doing more harm than good in one of the UK's most important service sectors.     

WHAT ATTRACTS FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT: A CLOSER LOOK

It is rational to assume that minimal trade barriers (tariffs and quotas), a bigger trade sector, lower interest rate regulations, freer international capital market, lower credit and labour market regulations will make investment in a country more lucrative for foreign investors. We confirm this and show the prevalence of non-linearity in the relationships.     

THE GLOBAL IMBALANCES: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

In the 2007 Wincott Lecture the author argues that global current account imbalances are an indication of 'intertemporal trade'. Savings and investment, both private and public, determine the imbalances. He expounds Richard Cooper's argument that it is perfectly natural for the USA to have a big deficit and suggests that the large Chinese surplus may be temporary.     

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER SUCCESS: THE PERILS OF EXCELLENCE*

This article examines how past performance influences the way an organization evolves, makes decisions, and adapts to its environment. It argues that compared to other periods of history, those that follow a lengthy interval of success will reveal companies that are especially apt to: (1) exhibit inertia in many aspects of structure and strategy-making process; (2) pursue immoderation, that is, adopt extreme process orientations; (3) manifest inattention, that is, reduce intelligence gathering and information processing activity; and (4) demonstrate insularity by failing to adapt to changes in the environment. an empirical analysis of the long-term histories of 36 companies provides tentative support for these notions.     

李东生 努力，努力，再努力

7月5日下午3:30分左右,李东生开完股东增发大会,回到自己的办公室。如果那天李东生不是穿着浅粉色衬衣的话,一脸的疲惫看上去会更加明显。由此可见,夫人魏雪心细如发。神情凝重,语音乏力。这两年TCL的表现,让李东生有一千条理由身心疲惫。可从今年一季度起,尤其是股东大会刚刚高票通过的增发决议看,李东生似乎有理由松一口气。     

THE RESURGENCE OF INVENTORY RESEARCH: WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

Abstract. Recent empirical and theoretical research on business inventories is surveyed and critically evaluated. While most inventory research has had macroeconomic motivations, we focus on its microtheoretic basis and on potential conflicts between theory and evidence. The paper asks two principal questions. First, how can inventories, which are allegedly used by firms to stabilize production, nonetheless be a destabilizing factor at the macroeconomic level? Second, why, if firms are following the production-smoothing model, is production more variable than sales in many industries? We suggest that the so-called (S,s) model may help answer both questions.     

WHAT MONETARY POLICY CAN DO: THE CLARIFIED APPROACH OF THE ECB

In the confirmed and clarified monetary strategy of the ECB, money still plays a prominent role. Regarding inflation as a monetary phenomenon and concentrating on price stability the ECB rejects an activist monetary policy. However, public and open discussion may contribute to further improvement of transparency and predictability of the ECB's operations.     

CAPITALIZATION OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORT IN AGRICULTURAL LAND PRICES: WHAT DO WE KNOW?

Abstract.  The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of existing literature, both theoretically and empirically, on the extent to which agricultural subsidies do translate into higher land values and rents and finally benefit landowners instead of agricultural producers. Our review shows that agricultural support policy instruments contribute to increasing the rental price of farmland, and that the extent of this increase closely depends on the level of the supply price elasticity of farmland relative to those of other factors/inputs on the one hand, and on the range of the possibilities of factor/input substitution in agricultural production on the other hand. The empirical literature shows that land prices and rents have in general a significant positive and inelastic response to government support. Such inelastic response is thought to reflect the uncertain future of the farm programmes. And in general, studies have indicated that land prices are more responsive to government-based returns than to market-based returns.     

警惕：存款贴水死灰复燃!

存款贴水,并不遥远.上世纪90年代的利率大战,人们记忆犹新.尤其是当时轰动全国、震惊中央的"恩平金融风险"案,更在许多人的心头留下了难以磨灭的伤痛.     

Spatial wage disparities: Sorting matters!

Spatial wage disparities can result from spatial differences in the skill composition of the workforce, in non-human endowments, and in local interactions. To distinguish between these explanations, we estimate a model of wage determination across local labour markets using a very large panel of French workers. We control for worker characteristics, worker fixed effects, industry fixed effects, and the characteristics of the local labour market. Our findings suggest that individual skills account for a large fraction of existing spatial wage disparities with strong evidence of spatial sorting by skills. Interaction effects are mostly driven by the local density of employment. Not controlling for worker heterogeneity leads to very biased estimates of interaction effects. Endowments only appear to play a small role.     

WATER PRIVATISATION : TOO MUCH REGULATION?

Water privatisation has had some success in allowing capital to be raised without going to government, in improving efficiency and in depoliticising industry decisions. But there is little sign of the liberalisation that, in other privatised utilities (notably gas and electricity), has been so beneficial to customers. It is time to reconsider the view that 'water is different' and to examine how to liberalise the water market. Two necessary steps appear to be to separate the pipeline networks from other activities and to adopt a more light-handed approach to environmental and quality regulation.     

Monetary policy shocks: We got news!

We assess the role of monetary policy news shocks in the context of a medium scale DSGE model estimated on US data. We estimate several versions of the model and find decisive evidence in favour of the inclusion of monetary policy news shocks over a two-quarter horizon. According to our results, monetary policy news shocks account for a non-negligible fraction of the variance of real variables, especially at shorter forecast horizons. Further, we document that the importance of monetary policy news shocks goes beyond what was observed in recent years. The historical importance of monetary policy news shocks dates back to the 1999–2006 period when the official FOMC statements provided information about both the current policy setting and the expected future policy path. We also show that adding monetary policy news shocks to the model does not lead to identification problems.