Input–Output and General Equilibrium Models for Hull and Humber Region in England

This paper shows how one can construct an input output table for four Humber sub regions in England with information on levels and share of employment and output provided by the Humber Forum using coefficients from the national input–output table of UK. It then illustrates how these can be applied to construct multisectoral general equilibrium models specific to Hull, East Riding, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire regions situated in two sides of Humber estuary and a regional model that takes these four inter-dependent economies constituting the Humber economy. A dynamic model is constructed for Hull to assess the prospects in next hundred years based on micro consistent dataset in which households and firms are assumed to have perfect foresight in making their consumption and production decisions. These models are then applied to evaluate impacts of tax policies that can distort relative prices of commodities and factors of production and thus can distort the efficient allocation of scarce economic resources and on welfare of households in the Humber region. To my knowledge this is the first study of this type for this region.

Equality of Real Returns on Canadian and US Treasury Bills: A Fractional Cointegration Analysis

This paper empirically analyzes the long memory relationship between the real returns on Canadian and US Treasury bills. A fractional cointegration approach, instead of conventional integer integration (unit root) and cointegration approaches, is used in analyzing the relationship. The advantage of fractionally integrated models is that they allow a smooth transition from a stationary process to a unit-root process. Furthermore, such models embody unit-root models as a special case. The models are therefore more general and appropriate for empirical analysis. By using fractionally integrated models, one also resolves the problems of an inconsistency in test results associated with using unit root and cointegration approaches. Briefly, it is found that the real returns on Canadian and US Treasury bills are fractionally integrated and the order of integration is significantly less than unity. Furthermore, the difference between the real returns follows a stationary process. This indicates that the Canadian and the US capital markets as well as product markets are well integrated. Furthermore, the domestic monetary authorities will not be able to influence the domestic real interest rate independent of the other market in the long-run.     

Political decentralization and corruption: Exploring the conditional role of parties

This study investigates how national levels of corruption are influenced by the interaction of two factors in political decentralization: the presence of local elections and the organizational structure of national parties. Previous studies have focused primarily on the role of fiscal decentralization on corruption and have mostly ignored the institutions of political decentralization. Using new data in a series of expansive models across multiple countries and years, we find that corruption will be lower when local governments are more accountable to and more transparent toward their constituents. This beneficial arrangement is most likely to occur when local elections are combined with nonintegrated political parties, meaning that party institutions themselves are decentralized from national control. Such an institutional arrangement maximizes local accountability by putting the decision to nominate and elect local leaders in the hands of those best in a position to evaluate their honesty—local electors.