Sustainable growth, renewable resources and pollution

Our intention is to present a growth model with an environmental resource which has its own regeneration process. The stock of this resource serves as a source of utility and an input to production. We also intend to introduce a negative externality caused by a pollution flow which we assume to be proportional to production. In the context of this model, it is shown that, by using the utility level of the Green Golden Rule as a generalization of the Ramsey's bliss point for solving an optimal growth problems with a zero discount rate, an optimal path converges to the Green Golden Rule configuration.     

Time and frequency connectedness and portfolio diversification between cryptocurrencies and renewable energy stock markets during COVID-19

The assessment of the time and frequency connectedness between cryptocurrencies and renewable energy stock markets is of key interest for portfolio diversification. In this paper, we utilize weekly data from 07 August 2015 to 26 March 2021 to document the dynamics and portfolio diversification from a fresh cryptocurrencies-renewable energy perspective. Our time-frequency domain spillovers results reveal that renewable energy stocks are the main spillover contributors in the connectedness system and the short-run spillovers dominate their long-run counterparts. Furthermore, investors can gain more profits through short-run transactions in our portfolio design and we can optimize portfolios by investing a large portion in cryptocurrencies. A fascinating fact is that the COVID-19 pandemic can reverse the effectiveness of our hedging strategy.     

Globalization,labour markets and human resources in Asia-Pacific economies: an overview

Abstract This article argues that the impact of globalization on labour markets and human resources on the Asia-Pacific economies may be recognizable but is as yet relatively limited. The sheer variation of geography, population, economies, labour markets, IR and HRM systems there, as well as of values and the like, makes it difficult to talk of 'hard convergence'. We thus emphasize the notion of 'soft convergence'. The article develops a number of empirical propositions regarding the uneven impact of globalization on economies in the region. It concludes that any generalization on this theme should be greatly qualified.     

The optimal management of renewable resources under the risk of potential regime shift

Complex dynamic systems can undergo changes in feedbacks between system components causing a rapid and persistent shift in system behavior (“regime shifts”), and potentially reduce welfare from declining provision of important ecosystem services. In this paper, we provide an analytical condition that determinfilefs whether the threat of a potential regime shift causes management to be more aggressive or more precautionary. In numerical simulations we find that aggressive management can occur for reasonable parameter values, which is counter prior results that the potential for harmful regime shift always leads to precautionary management.     

Information markets, product markets and vertical merger

In many markets, firms have the option of advertising at price comparison sites to broaden their market reach. Such sites are often controlled by profit-maximizing “information gatekeepers” charging advertising fees. This paper considers vertical merger between such a monopoly information gatekeeper and a firm in the product market. We find that: (i) If the integrated firm can act as a price leader before independent firms make advertising and pricing decisions, then the merger is profitable. (ii) If the integrated firm cannot move first, then the merger is unprofitable, or divestiture is optimal in the case where the firm has already created the gatekeeper. As a result, the merged entity has an incentive to invest in technologies to support a price leader.     

Public intervention in UK small firm credit markets: Value-for-money or waste of scarce resources?

Loan guarantee schemes are used in many countries to provide financial support to small firms by guaranteeing loans from commercial banks, but questions remain about whether public intervention in private credit markets to support entrepreneurial firms is justified. This paper examines whether the UK Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme (SFLG) provides value-for-money to the UK tax payer, presenting a regression based performance approach which then feeds into a formal cost–benefit analysis. Specifically, we consider whether firm performance post-investment is such that it justifies the governments’ presence in the lending market and the costs associated with it. Our findings suggest that entrepreneurial firms that are able to access new finance through SFLG achieve superior performance in the form of improved sales, job creation and exports and that this justifies public intervention in private credit markets.     

Rumours and markets

The paper presents a simple model to study the effects of rumours on markets. Agents in our economy communicate with their local neighbours which gives rise to the possible spread of a rumour. As the rumour affects beliefs of the agents the evolution of the rumour has a direct impact on market outcomes. Our results show that if the rumour dies out long-run equilibrium prices correspond to pre-rumour values. However, if the rumour stays present it produces a price run-up for the good that is positively targeted by the rumour. Price run-ups related to rumours have been observed in empirical studies by Rose [Rose, A.M., 1951. Rumor in the stock market. Public Opinion Quarterly 15, 461–486], Pound and Zeckhauser [Pound, J., Zeckhauser, R., 1990. Clearly heard on the street: the effect of takeover rumors on stock prices. Journal of Business 63, 291–308] and Zivney et al. [Zivney, T., Bertin, W.J., Torabzadeh, K.M., 1996. Overreaction to take-over speculation. Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance 36, 89–115]. The present model provides an analytical foundation for this finding.     

Implicit markets and the demand for housing characteristics

Important methodological problems in applying Rosen's (1974) model of implicit markets to housing characteristics are inadequately addressed in the literature. This paper summarizes these methodological issues and discusses advantages and disadvantages of various means of coping with these problems in empirical applications. Structural housing characteristics demand estimates are presented, along with an assessment of their accuracy. The results generally are insensitive to specification choices, suggesting the findings are plausible.     

State-owned enterprises' political capital,city administrative rank and economic resources acquisition: Empirical evidence from Chinese capital markets

This paper examines the impact of Chinese State-Owned Enterprises' (SOE) corporate political capital and the administrative rank of the city where the firm is located on their ability to acquire economic resources. The study found that the stronger the political capital owned by SOEs and the higher the administrative rank of the cities in which SOEs were located, the easier it was for them to obtain more loans and subsidies. We also found that as the city administrative rank increased, the positive effect of SOEs' political capital on economic resources acquisition also increased. When SOEs were divided into commercial competitive versus specific functional enterprises, the administrative rank of the city in which the enterprise was located played a significant positive role in obtaining economic resources for commercial competitive enterprises, while the role of their political capital played a limited role. For specific functional enterprises, their own political capital played the more significant positive role. This paper expands the research scope of corporate political connections with a new perspective.     

A topological invariant for competitive markets

This paper summarizes the concepts of global cones and limited arbitrage introduced in Chichilnisky (Economic Theory, 1995, 5, 79–108), and the corresponding results establishing that limited arbitrage is necessary and sufficient for the existence of a competitive equilibrium and for the compactness of Pareto frontier (announced in Chichilnisky (American Economic Review, 1992, 84, 427–434, and Chichilnisky (Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, 1993, 29, 189–207). Using the same global cones I extend my earlier results to encompass ‘mixed economies’ based on Chichilnisky (CORE Discussion Paper No. 9527, 1995). I introduce a topological invariant for competitive markets which deepens the concept of limited arbitrage. This invariant encodes exact information on the equilibria and on the social diversity of the economy and all its subeconomies, and predicts a failure of effective demand.     

General equilibrium in markets for lemons

This paper studies exchange economies in which agents have differential information about the goods that the other agents bring to the market. To study such a setting, it is useful to distinguish goods not only by their physical characteristics, but also by the agent that brings them to the market. Equilibrium is shown to exist, with agents receiving the cheapest bundle among those that they cannot distinguish from the truthful delivery. An example is presented as an illustration.     

A simple framework for analysing bull and bear markets

Bull and bear markets are a common way of describing cycles in equity prices. To fully describe such cycles one would need to know the data generating process (DGP) for equity prices. We begin with a definition of bull and bear markets and use an algorithm based on it to sort a given time series of equity prices into periods that can be designated as bull and bear markets. The rule to do this is then studied analytically and it is shown that bull and bear market characteristics depend upon the DGP for capital gains. By simulation methods we examine a number of DGPs that are known to fit the data quite well—random walks, GARCH models, and models with duration dependence. We find that a pure random walk provides as good an explanation of bull and bear markets as the more complex statistical models. In the final section of the paper we look at some asset pricing models that appear in the literature from the viewpoint of their success in producing bull and bear markets which resemble those in the data. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Defence markets

Although defence is a classic example of a public good, there are extensive opportunities for applying market solutions to the armed forces and defence industries. There are possibilities for beneficial inter-service rivalry and for creating profit centres within the armed forces; substitution is possible between parts of the armed forces, and competition can be used for purchasing weapons and for market-testing activities traditionally undertaken'in-house'by the armed forces. The analysis has implications for the UK strategic defence review.     

Comparative statics in markets for indivisible goods

This paper builds upon Caplin and Leahy (2014), which introduced a new mathematical apparatus for understanding allocation markets with nontransferable utility, as such covering the housing market and other markets for large indivisible goods. In the current paper we complete the study of comparative statics initiated therein. We introduce homotopy methods to characterize how equilibrium changes in response to arbitrary parameter changes. Generically, we show that there can be five and only five qualitatively distinct forms of market transition: Graft; Prune and Plant; Prune and Graft; Cycle and Reverse; and Shift and Replant. Our path-following methods identify new algorithms for computing market equilibria.     

An analysis of renewable mini-grid projects for rural electrification

Almost 900 million people are living with no access to electricity, mostly in remote regions where extending the central grid is infeasible. These remote communities often heavily depend on expensive and polluting diesel generators that create significant financial and operational challenges. Following the recent advances and cost reductions in renewable technologies, governments, private sector, and non-profit organizations started investing in rural electrification projects through renewable mini-grids, some of which were reported to have been unsuccessful. The findings and the lessons learned from these projects remain highly compartmentalized across different studies, making it significantly challenging to derive evidence-based insights on clean rural electrification for investors and practitioners. This study aids in closing this gap by collecting project-level data on 104 renewable energy mini-grids installed across the globe. We first conduct a systematic review of these projects to derive qualitative insights on drivers of project success and the benefits to communities. Next, we empirically validate some of our qualitative findings and identify the factors contributing to mini-grid project success and cost.     

Competitive equilibrium fraud in markets for credence-goods

This is a study of the nature and prevalence of persistent fraud in a competitive market for credence-quality goods. We model the market as a stochastic game of incomplete information in which the players are customers and suppliers and analyze their equilibrium behavior. Customers characteristics, idiosyncratic search cost and discount rate, are private information. Customers do not possess the expertise necessary to assess the service they need either ex ante or ex post. We show that there exists no fraud-free equilibrium in the markets for credence-quality goods and that fraud is a prevalent and persistent equilibrium phenomenon.     

A mechanism for thawing the credit markets

This paper describes a mechanism designed to induce commercial banks to increase their willingness to extend loans in an economic environment characterized by increased uncertainty and diminished expectations. This mechanism is a new tool for the conduct of monetary policy to combat recessions.     

Extreme value analysis for emerging African markets

For the first time, an extreme value analysis is provided for financial data from Africa. The results of analysis show evidence of emerging economies in Africa.     

Inflation Uncertainty, Output Growth Uncertainty and Macroeconomic Performance

We use a bivariate generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic (GARCH) model of inflation and output growth to examine the causality relationship among nominal uncertainty, real uncertainty and macroeconomic performance measured by the inflation and output growth rates. The application of the constant conditional correlation GARCH(1,1) model leads to a number of interesting conclusions. First, inflation does cause negative welfare effects, both directly and indirectly, i.e. via the inflation uncertainty channel. Secondly, in some countries, more inflation uncertainty provides an incentive to Central Banks to surprise the public by raising inflation unexpectedly. Thirdly, in contrast to the assumptions of some macroeconomic models, business cycle variability and the rate of economic growth are related. More variability in the business cycle leads to more output growth.