Altruism, redistribution and social insurance

The paper examines the influence of altruism on voluntary transfers and government redistribution in a simple model: two jobs of different productivity are assigned by chance to two individuals. Ex ante the individuals are identical, ex post they have different incomes. The first part of the paper examines voluntary transfers determined ex post or agreed upon ex ante in the absence of altruism. In the second part, the influence of altruism is examined. Altruism is modelled as a pure public good: the minimum consumption (or income, since there is only one consumption good). Both individuals can contribute to its provision, one person by earning wage income, the other by voluntary transfers. The ex ante solutions generally lead to higher expected welfare but create several incentive problems. Only lump-sum transfers are considered. Received: 28 February 1997 / Accepted: 31 January 2000     

On the Comparison of Run Orders of Unreplicated 2<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>–<Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis></Superscript> Designs in the Presence of a Time Trend

The response from a factorial experiment carried out in a time sequence may be affected by uncontrollable variables that are highly correlated with the time in which they occur. In such a situation, one possibility is to randomize the run order of the experiment. Another possibility is to use a systematic run order that is robust against time trends. Since randomized run orders make the time trend part of the error, it can be hoped that systematic run orders will be more effective to identify truly active factors. In this paper, a simulation study is used to compare the performances of the randomized and the systematic run orders. The response from an experiment where we have observed a strong time trend is used to demonstrate the influence of a realistic time trend on the run orders under consideration. The performance of the run orders is then measured by taking the probabilities of false rejection and the probabilities of detection of active contrasts. Our results show that the randomized run order managed to keep the nominal level, while the systematic did not. Additionally, when there were active factors, then the systematic run orders did not achieve more power than did the randomized run order.     

新一轮全球流动性周期正在启动

[摩根士丹利10月16日]就在各方普遍下调GDP数据、投资者情绪日趋低落之际,我们的测算表明,新一轮全球流动性周期正在酝酿之中。虽然这轮新周期还处于形成初期,但其发展很可能有助于支持资产市场、在今年年内结束衰退、并防止持久性通缩的出现。     

全球债市泡沫破灭，收益率仍有上升空间

政府债券市场大跌提出多方面问题 近期政府债券市场的大幅下跌是欧美央行面临的关键问题其原因何在？这是否意味着量化宽松政策根本无效？收益率的攀升是否会令市场预期的下半年的经济复苏化为泡影？面对这种局面,央行应加大还是缩小买进债券的力度？针对这些问题,本文分析了国债收益率高涨的原因,及其对经济和央行政策的可能影响。     

Designing Global Governance for Agricultural Development and Food and Nutrition Security

We point to deficits in current global institutional arrangements in support of agricultural development and food and nutrition security. A framework for global institutional arrangements proposed here is the set of essential international public goods for a well‐functioning world food system. These public goods include international natural resource management; trade and transboundary competition policy; research and innovation; handling large scale food emergencies; and transboundary food safety. Based on the framework, and institutional economics considerations, causes of current malfunctioning of global food governance are analyzed. It is proposed to redesign global food governance by establishing an international platform with policy clusters mapped along the set of global public goods. To support the platform with needed research‐based evidence an International Panel on Food, Nutrition and Agriculture (IPFNA) is suggested, partly following the design of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Existing organizations and mechanisms would form building blocks of the strengthened and redesigned governance system. A gradual approach toward redesign is proposed. Some redesign in the suggested direction was triggered by the food crisis of 2008, as demonstrated by the reform of the Committee on Food Security (CFS) with its high level panel of experts, but more is needed.     

Must the semi-conductor industry be subsidised?

According to the memorandum entitled “Microelectronics 2000”, the Japanese and American lead in semi-conductor technology threatens not only the existence of a number of European firms but the prosperity of all the European economies. It therefore concludes that if Europe is not to be at the mercy of giant Japanese and US concerns the state must ensure the development of these key technologies by paying substantial subsidies. How valid is this argument?     

Book reviews

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The impact of oil price shocks and exchange rate changes on import demand elasticities

Zusammenfassung Die Auswirkung von ?lpreis-Schocks und Wechselkurs?nderungen auf die Elastizit?t der Importnachfrage.—Man kann zeigen, da? ?lpreisSchocks und Wechselkurs?nderungen die Elastizit?t der Nachfrage nach Nicht-?l-Importen über ihre Auswirkung auf das Realeinkommen und die Zusammensetzung der Gesamtimporte beeinflussen. Insbesondere ist es wahrscheinlich, da? ein steigender ?lpreis und ein sinkender Wechselkurs Preis- und Einkommenselastizit?ten erh?hen und umgekehrt. Diese theoretischen Schlu?folgerungen werden empirisch durch Daten aus den USA gestützt. Sowohl die Einkommensals auch die Preiselastizit?t der Importnachfrage nach Produkten au?er Erd?l stiegen nach dem ersten ?lpreis-Schock stark an und fielen dann wieder mit der hohen Dollaraufwertung im Jahre 1980.

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Résumé L’effet des chocs du prix pétrolier et les variations des taux de change sur les élasticités de la demande de l’importation.—Dans cette étude, il est montré que les chocs du prix pétrolier et les variations des taux de change se répercutent sur les élasticités de la demande de l’importation non-pétrolière via leur effet sur le revenu réel et via la composition des importations totales. En particulier, l’augmentation du prix pétrolier et la baisse du taux de change peuvent élever les élasticités de prix et de revenu et vice versa. On a affirmé ces conclusions théoriques par une analyse empirique avec des données pour les Etats Unis. Tous les deux, l’élasticité de revenu et de prix de la demande d’importation non-pétrolière, augmentent drastiquement après le premier choc du prix pétrolier et tombent après la forte réévaluation du dollar en 1980.

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Resumen El impacto de shocks del precio de petróleo y de movimientos de la tasa de cambio sobre las elasticidades de demanda de importaciones.—Los shocks del precio de petróleo y los movimientos en la tasa de cambio pueden afectar a las elasticidades de demanda de importaciones exceptuando el petróleo, através de su impacto sobre el ingreso real y la composición de las importaciones totales. En particular, un precio de petróleo en aumento y una tasa de cambio en descenso probablemente aumentarian las elasticidades-precio e -ingreso y viceversa. Estas conclusiones teóricas son confirmadas empíricamente con datos de los EE UU. Ambas elasticidades, ingreso y precio, de la demanda de importaciones exceptuando el petróleo aumentan drásticamente después del primer shock del precio de petróleo y después disminuyen otra vez con la fuerte revaluation del dólar en 1980.