The budgetary links of the Irkutsk oblast fuel and energy complex: An analysis

The links between the fuel and energy complex and the consolidated budget of Irkutsk oblast are examined; the budget balance of income and expenditure is evaluated in relation to the development of the fuel and energy complex; and factors affecting the budget proceeds from the energy sector and the related energy-intensive sectors are analyzed.     

Domestic Support and Border Measures for Processed Horticultural Products

In horticultural markets, trade barriers often apply to the processed products whereas domestic support applies to farm-produced raw commodities. Here we assess the effects of such trade barriers and domestic support by simulating the effects of policy reform on global processing tomato markets, which are faced with modest processed product tariffs and high domestic support in the European Union (EU). Both protection and EU subsidy drive down world welfare, but we find that reducing import tariffs for tomato products would yield greater effects on markets and larger welfare impacts outside Europe than would reductions in EU domestic support.     

Competitive effects of Basel II on US bank credit card lending

We analyze the potential competitive effects of the proposed Basel II capital regulations on US bank credit card lending. We find that bank issuers operating under Basel II will face higher regulatory capital minimums than Basel I banks, with differences due to the way the two regulations treat reserves and gain-on-sale of securitized assets. During periods of normal economic conditions, this is not likely to have a competitive effect; however, during periods of substantial stress in credit card portfolios, Basel II banks could face a significant competitive disadvantage relative to Basel I banks and nonbank issuers.     

Predicting the budgetary funding need of education in the three-year budget for 2008–2010

The paper presents a technique developed by the authors, which makes it possible to determine the necessary amount of financing for education at all the budget system levels for 2008-2010, based on the Russian average value of financing, taking into account the budget expenditures index for two variants of student population, i.e. the actual number of on-budget students and the number of students required to meet the economy’s need for trained workers. The technique was developed and the calculations were made on the basis of Russian long-term forecasts and the Russian three-year federal budget for 2008–2010.     

Generalized piecewise linear histograms

We extend the concept of piecewise linear histogram introduced recently by Beirlant, Berlinet and Györfi. The disadvantage of that histogram is that in many models it takes on negative values with probability close to 1. We show that for a wide set of models, the extended class of estimates contains a bona fide density with probability tending to 1 as the sample size n increases to infinity. The mean integrated absolute error in the extended class of estimators decreases with the same rate n^–2/5 as in the original narrower class.     

ON ESTIMATING STOCK MARKET VOLATILITY: AN EXPLORATORY APPROACH

Traditional methods of estimating market volatility use daily return observations from a stock index to calculate monthly variance. We break with tradition and estimate stock market volatility using the daily, cross-sectional standard deviation of returns for all firms trading on the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange. We find a significantly positive relation between risk and return. Market volatility is estimated to be about half the volatility level previously reported. The intraday, cross-sectional market volatility measure provides findings consistent with risk-return theory.     

Gender Differences in the Returns to and the Acquisition of On-the-Job Training

This article finds that gender differences in on-the-job training significantly affect the male/female wage gap. First, we find that previously trained workers exhibit larger cumulative wage gains during their current training. Thus, a substantial portion of the gender wage gap results from the fact that women have little prior training relative to men. Second, a significant amount of the observed male/female wage differential is explained by less female acquisition of current training. Gender differences in workplace promotion and training practices help explain why women accumulate less training than men. Both of these sources of gender differences have lessened from 1976 to 1985, which has led to a narrowing of the male/female wage gap.