Money creation and economic activity

Summary In the Netherlands not much attention is paid to money supply figures as an indicator of actual monetary conditions. This can be partly explained by the publication lag and the continuous revisions of seasonally adjusted data. However, the information that can be derived from money supply figures is limited because of temporary disturbances originating from the foreign exchange market. In this paper a correction method for these temporary disturbances is proposed. Money supply figures show a much closer link to real economic activity when corrected in this way.A different version of this essay with less emphasis on Holland but more information about other West-European countries has been published as chapter II Watching the money supply in: Eduard J. Bomhoff,Monetary Uncertainty, Amsterdam and New York, 1983. We gratefully acknowledge the able research assistance of Isolde B. Woittiez and Geert Rouwenhorst; Kempen and Co. kindly provided the two figures.     

The Indonesian national family planning program

With a change in the Indonesian government in 1965 there came a change in government policy from pronatalist to limiting the birthrate. In January 1970 the government National Family Planning Cordinating Body was established. During the initial phase of the program family planning efforts have been limited to the islands of Java and Bali where family planning services are integrated into health service clinics. By the beginning of 1975 there were some 2400 clinics on Java and Bali. Family planning acceptors increased from 53,100 in 1969 to 1.5 million in 1974. The 1st phase of the program aimed at consolidating government support, winning local formal and informal leader support, introducing services into public clinic health systems, and building a viable administrative organization. The 2nd phase of the program has quantified the goal of the program, shifted from an emphasis on new acceptors to continuing users, broadened the participation of various government and nongovernmental groups, expanded the program into the private sector, and initiated a research and development program to stimulate local problem identification and resolution. By mid-1975 over 4.7 million women, or 34% of the married women between the ages of 15 and 44, had been recruited into the program. The East Java program has consistently been the most cost effective in terms of recruiting new acceptors. In terms of cost per couple year of protection, the trend has been steadily downward over the 3 years of study in the provinces of Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, East Java, and Bali where there are programs. The program needs to develop new approaches for those individuals who are not yet acceptors. Additionally, the program must concentrate on user continuation.     

Pricing mortgage-backed securities in a multifactor interest rate environment: a multivariate density estimation approach

Multivariate density estimation (MDE) suggests that mortgage-backedsecurity (MBS) prices can be well described as a function ofthe level and slope of the term structure. We analyze how thisfunction varies across MBSs with different coupons. An importantfinding is that the interest rate level proxies for the moneynessof the option, the expected level of prepayments, and the averagelife of the cash flows, while the term structure slope controlsfor the average rate at which these cash flows should be discounted.     

Traumberuf oder Verlegenheitslösung?

So far relatively little is known about the situation of Ph.D. students in media and communication research. The main purpose of this study is, therefore, to shed light on the employment and working conditions for young scholars on their way to their doctoral degrees. We conducted a survey of 281 Ph.D. students in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The results show that, on the one hand, young scholars are intrinsically highly motivated to do their jobs. On the other hand, they perceive an academic career as a very uncertain venture with many obstacles. Furthermore, several types of Ph.D. students can be distinguished: idealists, careerists and waverers. It is shown that only the idealists conform to the concept of a productive and interested scholar. The results are discussed in terms of their importance for the future development of the field.     

Attitudes of Businessmen,Consumers, and Consumerists Toward Consumerism

Despite the apparent concern about consumerism issues by various groups, it appears that much of this concern has been based on speculation and casual observations. There is a paucity of empirical research regarding attitudes toward consumerism. This study is the first to assess the attitudes of businessmen, consumers and consumerists—all from the same geographic and market environmenttoward several important consumerism issues. The results, which show significant differences in various areas, have important policy implications for consumerists, politicians and businessmen.