Housing market volatility connectedness among G7 countries

This study investigates international linkages among housing markets in the G7 countries, using the connectedness methodology developed in Diebold and Yilmaz (2012, 2015). We find that volatility connectedness varies over the business cycle, with a surge during the global financial crisis. We also show that the United States and Italy were major net transmitters of housing market volatility shocks to other countries during the global financial crisis and the European debt crisis, respectively.     

Trade Liberalisation and the Wage Skill Premium in Korean Manufacturing Plants: Do Plants’ R&D and Investment Matter?

This paper examines the effects of output and input tariff reductions on within‐plant wage skill premium in Korean manufacturing plants. We find evidence that output tariff reduction interacts differently with plants’ R&D and investment behaviours, respectively, to affect wage skill premium. More specifically, output tariff reduction increases wage skill premium mostly in R&D‐performing plants while reducing it mostly in plants making positive facility investments. While there is weak evidence that input tariff reduction increases wage skill premium, no such interactive effects are found. One story behind our results is that, although both R&D and facility investments may respond to changes in profit opportunities due to output tariff reductions, R&D raises the relative demand for the skilled workers while facility investment, an activity of increasing production capacity, raises the relative demand for the unskilled workers.     

News media analytics in finance: a survey

We survey the works applying text analytics to the study of news media in financial markets beyond intraday horizons, and expand into the fundamental economic theory and concepts relevant to the field. We compare and contrast the news sources, textual analysis methods and empirical modelling approaches adopted within the literature. We distil and categorise the key empirical insights, and summarise the bibliographic history of the literature so far. While this rapidly growing field has yielded many exciting discoveries, there are a number of promising avenues for future research which will only benefit from continued advances in computational technology.     

The economic importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for livelihood maintenance of rural west African communities: A case study from northern Benin

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) contribute significantly to a rural household's livelihood in the African semi-arid tropics. This study examines the income from NTFPs and the dependency on these of different socio-economic groups in Northern Benin. Using survey data from 230 households of two villages, we firstly compared incomes of five different ethnic groups being differentiated by their traditional source of livelihood and regional provenance. Secondly, we investigated disparities between three income groups. On average, income from NTFPs accounted for 39% of total household income and had a strong equalizing effect on it. However, the economic relevance of NTFPs differs between households: Poorer households are relatively more dependent on NTFPs in order to fulfill basic needs than wealthier households. However, the latter extract more NTFPs in quantitative terms and have significantly higher cash returns than poorer ones. This is mainly due to a significant greater land holding. Moreover, our study revealed that net income from NTFPs reflects traditional sources of livelihoods of different ethnic groups. In conclusion, both conservation and development strategies should take into consideration the socio-economic context of different beneficiaries of savanna woodland resources in order to apply appropriate measures to poverty reduction.     

Parameter orthogonalization and Bayesian inference with many instruments

It is examined how Bayesian inference might proceed in models with many instruments. A new prior specification based on Lancaster’s (1997) parameter orthogonalization is developed. This orthogonalization is shown to guarantee that the statistical problems associated with the first stage coefficients are not carried over in estimating the parameter of interest.     

Vom latenten Kundenbedürfnis zur ganzheitlichen Value Proposition — das Beispiel des Tampax Compak Fresh

Ziel dieses Beitrages ist es am Fallbeispiel des Tampax Compak Fresh darzustellen, wie Value Propositions systematisch für verschiedene Zielgruppen im Bereich schnell drehender Konsumgüter erarbeitet werden k?nnen. Der Tampax Compak Fresh ist ein Premium-Applikator-Tampon, der als Erster in Westeuropa einen leichten Duft besitzt. Als Nutzen verspricht er der Verwenderin ein neuartiges Frischegefühl. Kommunikativ wird der Tampax Compak Fresh als „Flower Power Tampon” unterstützt.     

The dichotomy once again

Patinkin's contribution to monetary theory is discussed with particular attention given to his ‘dichotomy argument’. It is shown that he is perfectly correct, but there is a confusion in the literature between the ‘neutrality proposition’ and the independence of equilibrium of the quantity of money. I then turn to homogeneity and its importance, and stress that the homogeneity applies to current as well as expected prices. I am rather unkind to mathematizing the double coincidence of wants argument, since it seems very obvious and the mathematics is exceptionally ugly. The paper concludes with remarks on monetary policy and the connection between the theory of money and that of information.     

Management competence, firm growth and economic progress

Starting from the empirical observation of a positive correlationbetween the prosperity of an economy and the relative role oflarge firms operating in that economy, we propose that thiscorrelation is an artifact of the positive influence of 'managementcompetence' on both these variables. Drawing on Penrose's TheTheory of the Growth of the Firm, we develop a theoretical frameworkthat distinguishes between two aspects of management competence,i.e., entrepreneurial judgment and organisational capability.Both aspects relate to the process of value creation throughthe combination and exchange of economic resources. Whereasentrepreneurial judgement refers to the cognitive aspects ofperceiving potential new resource combinations and exchanges,organisational capability is the ability to actually carry themout. As we show, the interplay of these two factors affectsthe speed at which firms expand their operations, the kind ofexpansion, and the process through which firms create value,not just for themselves, but for society as a whole.