The changing landscape of American Banking: The impact of Riegle-Neal

The Riegle-Neal Interstate Banking and Branching Efficiency Act of 1994, which became fully operative on June 1, 1997, eliminated virtually all interstate banking and branching restrictions in the U.S. It was assumed that banks and bank holding companies would use their new geographic freedom to expand across state lines through mergers, acquisitions, and the establishment of de novo facilities. There was considerable concern that there would be fewer but more sizable banks that would abandon or increase fees for smaller customers including individuals, businesses, and rural communities. This paper provides an early glimpse at the accuracy of these predictions by studying the changes in the number and size of banks serving the Seventh Federal Reserve District since the enforcement of Riegle-Neal.     

The changing demand for skillsEvidence from the transition1

Transition has involved major job destruction and creation. This paper examines the skill content of these changes using a detailed three country firm survey. It shows that transition has exerted a strong bias against unskilled labour that has lost employment disproportionately. The skill content of blue collar work has shifted upwards. Shifts away from low‐skilled labour were accelerated by technological change. By 2000, the actual and desired levels of employment were close to each other but we find some evidence that technological changes had given rise to shortages of skilled blue collar workers. Although there is variation across the sampled countries, this appears to be explained by differences in the timing of reforms. The observed changes will have major longer run implications for the level and structure of employment and for inequality through the distribution of earnings.     

关于将有限合伙制度引入我国农村中介组织的法律思考

中国传统的农村中介组织是以农民自我服务、自我经营为主的合作经济组织.随着农村改革的深入,农业市场的不断扩大和复杂化,暴露了管理制度不健全、组织结构不合理、产权关系不明确等制度缺陷.把有限合伙这一企业组织形式引入农村中介组织,可以弥补原有制度的不足,实现制度创新,使得农村中介组织在内部和外部关系上明确权利、义务,从而促进"三农"的和谐发展.     

The changing nature of the OECD shadow economy

Traditionally, the presence of the shadow economy (SE) has been associated, mainly and positively, with taxation. Recently, some authors have suggested that the SE may be also linked to the institutional setting (efficiency of the bureaucracy, regulations, corruption, etc.) so that just two stable equilibria are possible. In the “good” one, there is a small hidden sector, large fiscal revenues and honest/appreciated institutions. The other, “bad”, equilibrium is the opposite. Unlike the traditional approach, therefore, the recent literature argues that the tax burden and SE can be negatively correlated. Examining the links between these variables in relatively uncorrupt systems, this paper reconciles the two views. Theoretically, it claims that many different good equilibria can emerge whereby SE and its determinants are linked in complex and different ways. For instance, taxation and SE can go hand-in-hand, even taking into account the institutional framework. Empirical evidence for OECD countries supports both the model and the changing nature of the SE.     

The changing nature of the real exchange rate: The role of central bank preferences

We investigate the sources of real exchange rate fluctuations. We do so, first, in the context of a DSGE model that explicitly considers the central bank's preferences. Then we estimate SVAR models, where shocks are identified by sign restrictions derived from the DSGE model. We perform this exercise for twelve countries, nine of which have adopted inflation targeting during the period analyzed. In sharp contrast to the previous evidence in the literature, we find that exchange rate (country risk premium) shocks have become the main drivers of real exchange rate dynamics, while real shocks play a less important role. Evidence from the DSGE model reveals that, as the central bank becomes more averse to inflation movements, and cares less about nominal exchange rate fluctuations, the impact of nominal shocks on the real exchange rate tends to increase, while the impact of real shocks decreases. Our results suggest that the adoption of inflation targeting, along with a floating exchange rate, contributes to a shift in the relative importance of demand and country risk premium shocks in determining the RER.     

The price of broadband quality: tracking the changing valuation of service characteristics

This paper investigates how retail broadband prices, choice and quality are changing over time. Using a data set containing daily observations of plans offered in Ireland from 2007 to 2013, this paper applies hedonic modelling techniques to observe the changing pricing of service characteristics. Although we find that average nominal prices remain static throughout our sample period, quality of service has risen dramatically over time, particularly with respect to download speed. Some characteristics of broadband plans exhibit broadly stable valuations over time, but the elasticity of price with respect to advertised download speed and the premium on bundled services declined for most types of broadband plans during the sample period. In addition, the retail price premium enjoyed by the incumbent operator fell significantly since 2007.     

应对气候变化的国际经验及其启示

工业化以来人类排放的温室气体引致的气候变暖,已成为国际社会中的一个热点话题。世界各国从立法、制定规划或国家行动方案、采用总量控制和交易等市场手段、技术研发和创新、成立专门机构等途径应对气候变化。随着外部压力的日益增加,我国应将应对气候变化摆到国内战略转型的重要位置,采取综合措施,加强国际合作,提高气候变化的应对能力,实现低碳发展转型。     

The value of wetlands: importance of scale and landscape setting

Wetlands have value because their functions have proved to be useful to humans. The unit value for some wetlands also increases with human development (agriculture and urban) because of increased use and/or increased scarcity. Yet, paradoxically, its functions can easily be overwhelmed in areas of heavy human development, thus lessening those values. Thus wetlands appear to work best in the landscape as spatially distributed systems. Also, the value is partially dependent on where they are found in the landscape, e.g., the degree to which a wetland is open to hydrologic and biological fluxes with other systems, including urban and agricultural landscapes. A paradox of assigning values to wetlands and other ecosystems is that it can argue for the replacement of one system with another if a landscape view is not taken. Estimates of percent of landscape for various functions, e.g. water quality or flood control, are presented. It is suggested that a range of 3–7% of temperate-zone watersheds should be in wetlands to provide adequate flood control and water quality values for the landscape.     

The changing role of dividends: a firm-level study from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century

Abstract .  We investigate the changes in dividend policy for one of North America's oldest banks (and Canada's first bank), Bank of Montreal, over time by considering the relationships between dividends, prices and earnings for this prominent firm. In the early part of the sample we find that annual dividend and earnings changes are highly variable, with dividend changes following changes in earnings and a larger portion of investors' returns coming from dividends. Since World War II dividend policy has been characterized by more stable and gradual increases in dividends, with more of investors' returns coming from capital gains. Overall, our results suggest that investors' perception of dividends has changed over time, allowing management to pay smaller dividends and reinvest funds in the firm.     

The prospects for the social economy in a changing world

Even if the 'social economy' has traditionally been marginalized and a subordinated form of production within capitalist societies, the economic, social, territorial and environmental problems of the present times have tended to make it a strategic instrument. This is not only because of its qualities as an economic and management instrument, but also because it is an expression of a dynamic and creative civil society. The aim of this paper is to show the potential of the social economy, the way it has been encapsulated during the postwar period and the conditions that now favour its full development. In the face of new challenges, the efficiency criterion, hitherto used to assess alternative forms of production, is shown to be insufficient. Some complementary criteria are proposed that fit in better with the new path society must follow if fundamental values have to be satisfied. Starting from these criteria and relating them to management in fields of growing social importance, a new insight into the advantages of the social economy over the market and public sectors can be obtained. Stimulated by such challenges, and connected to the new social movements, a new social economy is emerging with significant potential and a strategic role in managing society. But this development is not without serious problems, and objective and subjective conditions need first to be fulfilled.     

The changing role of science in the innovation process: From Queen to Cinderella?

An overview of how the role of science in relation to innovation has been defined over the past five decades is given, showing a change from a linear to a chain-linked model of interpretation. A third analytical grid, leading to a new model is proposed, summarizing the current research on the nature of economically useful knowledge, the diversity of intervening players in learning and the outcomes of innovation. While the chain-linked view surpassed the linear model by emphasising that science is part of the process but not necessarily the initiating step, we need today to explicitly acknowledge the multi-player dimension of innovation and the wider institutional setting where distinct forms of learning take place. The reason is simple: almost all high added value products embody elements of scientific knowledge. But science is only one of a plurality of other sources of knowledge that induce innovation-based growth. More attention should also be given to understanding markets and organisations.     

Competing at the frontier: The changing role of technology policy in Singapore's economic strategy

For an economy competing at the global frontier, an innovation-based growth strategy requires a well-developed technological infrastructure, a set of capabilities-focused technology policies, as well as an institutional environment that stimulates innovation and entrepreneurship. This paper examines the role played by science and technology policy in an economy's transition to an innovation-based growth strategy. We discuss the challenges governments face as they restructure economic institutions to deepen R&D capabilities and encourage technology creation. We review Singapore's experience in this regard and assess its ongoing efforts to remake itself to compete at the global frontier.     

The macro-economic impact of changing the rate of corporation tax

This paper considers the impact of changes in the rate of corporation tax in Ireland affecting the business and financial services sector. A model is estimated that relates services exports and output to world activity, competitiveness and the rate of corporation tax. This model indicates that a reduction in the rate of corporation tax in the 1990s stimulated exports and, even allowing for profit repatriations by foreign firms and replacement of lost tax revenue, it resulted in an increase in domestic output. The increase in profitability suggests that some of the increased output involved relocation of profits to Ireland by multinational firms.     

The credibility game: Reputation and rational cooperation in a changing population

Labor-managed firms often depend on voluntary cooperation to generate efficient levels of labor input. This paper shows how cooperation in Prisoner's Dilemma-like situations can be an equilibrium outcome, when rational individuals act so as to preserve reputations for cooperating. The theory developed here implies that (a) voluntary cooperation will be negatively related to population turnover, and (b) the relationship of community size to voluntary cooperation will have an inverted-U shape.     

Timing constraints and the allocation of time: The effects of changing shopping hours regulations in The Netherlands

A 1996 change in shopping hours regulations in The Netherlands provides an opportunity to study the effects of timing constraints on total time spent in shopping, working, and other activities as well as the timing of these activities. We develop a simple structural model to make predictions about the effects of imposition and relaxation of a timing constraint on time use patterns, and utilize time diary data from 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2000 to examine time use patterns by demographic group before and after the change. In addition to a change in the timing of shopping, we find a nonnegligible increase in the total time spent shopping.     

The changing skill of new immigrants to the United States: recent trends and their determinants

"The objective of this paper is to describe and understand the determinants of changes in the number and quality of new legal immigrants to the United States over the last 25 years. Our main interest is in understanding the behavioral response of potential immigrants to changes in the U.S. immigration law regime (as well as in the origin-country determinants of demand for immigration to the United States) and how these affect and have affected the skill composition of immigrants.... [The authors] assembled a new data set based on annual INS records of all new, legal immigrants over the period 1972 through 1995.... Inspection of our new data indicates that since the mid 1980s the average skill of new, U.S. legal immigrants has been rising relative to that of the U.S. population. An econometric analysis of a panel of country-specific measures of the skill of immigrants based on these data over the period 1972-1992 indicates that these changes are due in part to changes in immigration law and to the overall rise in the real purchasing power of countries outside the United States."