Bundesbank intervention effects through interest rate policy

This paper investigates the effects of the changes in the Bundesbank's discount and Lombard interest rates on the volatility of European Union country exchange rates relative to the German mark during 1987–93. The first year of the sample period contains the last major realignment in the ERM before its ‘breakdown’ in 1993. Using a parsimonious EGARCH model, we find that the conditional volatility of these exchange rates increased in response to interest rate changes, regardless of the rate change direction. This finding is in direct conflict with Bundesbank's public statements that indicate that its interest rate policy was designed to calm its foreign exchange markets.     

ZAKAT AND INEQUALITY: SOME EVIDENCE FROM PAKISTAN

Zakat is an important form of religiously-mandated charity under Islam. This paper examines its impact on income inequality in Pakistan. Data from 1987–88 are used to construct two income distributions-one that would have obtained if zakat had not been given, and one that did obtain when such giving took place. Atkinson-Kolm-Sen relative indices of income inequality are computed which show that zakat does reduce measured income inequality in Pakistan. Both intra-province and inter-province components of over-all inequality decline, though the amount of change is small.

So give to the kinsman his due, and to the needy, and to the wayfarer. That b best for those who seek Allah's countenance.

The Koran     

Sex on the brain: some comments on ‘love, war and cultures: An institutional approach to human evolution’

Ugo Pagano provides a stimulating account of the grand sweep of human existence on this planet, relying on a few carefully-chosen analytic tools, including the role of sexual selection, brain size, public versus positional goods, and complementarities. But in his telegraphic narrative the compressed language is sometimes misleading or functionalist. Some of the details and current controversies get lost. This comment identifies some of the problems and urges that we should look more closely at the detailed mechanisms involved.     

Export instability and concentration in the less developed countries: A cross-sectional analysis

A model to explain export instability in the less developed countries is formulated and tested on a sample of 48 less developed countries between 1957 and 1969. The explanatory variables suggested are commodity and geographic concentration and the importance of oil in the export sector. These variable are defined in a variety of ways to determine the sensitivity of the results to variable definitions. The results suggest that all three explanatory variables are significant in explaining export instability, although a considerable proportion of the variance in export instability remained unexplained.     

Strategy matters: strategic positioning and performance in the education services sector

• The present study explored the strategic positioning behaviour of Australian educational services institutions to see whether their choice of strategy impacted their competitiveness in international markets. A sample of schools, colleges and universities, were asked which of Porter's generic positioning strategies they used. Correspondence and cluster analysis were used to examine these relationships and discriminant analysis was used to see whether there was a relationship between strategy choice and performance. The results showed institutions that lacked a coherent strategy did not perform well, highlighting the importance of educational administrators to develop clear and coherent strategies that position their offerings effectively to targeted market segments. Indeed, a failure to apply strategic principles may risk the long term sustainability of the institution.

Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.