Currency devaluation and the Cooper paradox in the open-economy macro-disequilibrium model

Zusammenfassung Abwertung und das Cooper-Paradox im Modell einer offenen Volkswirtschaft mit Makro-Ungleichgewicht. - In diesem Aufsatz wird das Cooper-Paradox im Rahmen eines IS-LM-BT-Ungleichgewichtsmodells überprüft. Die Analyse wird dadurch angereichert, da der monet?re “spillover”-Effekt einer Abwertung integriert wird in das Modell einer offenen Volkswirtschaft mit Makro-Ungleichgewicht, in dem unechter Handel zum Ungleichgewichtspreis stattfinden kann. So k?nnen sich die “spillover”-Effekte in der gesamten Volkswirtschaft über die Marktverflechtung verbreiten. Es wird gezeigt, da\ unabh?ngig von der Marshall-Lerner Bedingung die heimische Volkswirtschaft schrumpfen wird, obwohl die Abwertung die Handelsbilanz verbessert (Cooper-Paradox). Au\erdem wird gezeigt, da\ dann, wenn die Marshall-Lerner-Bedingung erfüllt ist, die Abwertung sowohl zu einer Verschlechterung der Handelsbilanz als auch zu einer Expansion der heimischen Volkswirtschaft führen kann. Dieses Ergebnis widerspricht dem, was Cooper in den Entwicklungl?ndern mit einer Abwertung beobachtet hat.

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Resumen Devaluación monetaria y la paradoja de Cooper en un modelo macroeconómico de desequilibrio de una economía abierta. - En este trabajo se estudia la paradoja de Cooper dentro del contexto de un modelo IS-LM-BT de desequilibrio de ?spillover? separable. Se enriquece el análisis mediante la integración del efecto ?spillover? monetario de una devaluación al modelo macroeconómico de desequilibrio de una economía abierta, en el cual se permite el comercio a precio de desequilibrio; el efecto ?spillover? resultante se propaga a toda la economía atraves de los eslabonamientos entre los mercados. Se demuestra que la economía nacional se contrae, a pesar de que la devaluatión favorece al balance comercial (paradoja de Cooper), independientemente de que se satisfaga o no la condición de Marshall y Lerner. Asimismo, se muestra que si se satisface la condición de Marshall y Lerner la devaluación puede dar lugar tanto a una deteriorización del balance comercial como a una expansión de la economía national. Este resultado contrasta con lo observado por Cooper en países en desarrollo que han devaluado.

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Résumé Dévaluation et le Cooper-paradoxe dans un modèle macro-déséquilibre d’une économie ouverte. - Dans cet article l’auteur examine le paradoxe de Cooper en cadre d’un modèle IE-LM-BT. L’analyse est enrichie par l’intégration de l’effet monétaire ?spillover? d’une dévaluation dans un modèle macro-déséquilibre d’une économie ouverte dans lequel le commerce faux peut se passer en prix déséquilibre. C’est pourquoi les effets de ?spillover? peuvent propager dans l’économie entière par les relations d’intermarché. Il est démontré qu’indépendant de la condition de Marshall-Lerner l’économie locale se contracte même si la dévaluation améliore la balance commerciale (le paradoxe de Cooper). Il est aussi démontré que si la condition de Marshall-Lerner est satisfaite une dévaluation peut détériorer la balance commerciale et stimuler l’économie locale en même temps. Ce résultat est contraire à l’expérience de Cooper qui a observé les pays en voie de développement qui dévaluaient leurs monnaies.

     

Foreign‐based competition and corporate diversification strategy

Since the mid‐1980s U.S. domestic firms have faced significant increases in foreign‐based (i.e., import) competition as reductions in barriers to international commerce have resulted in markets and industries becoming increasingly global. Despite the growing and widespread importance of foreign‐based competition, the influence that such competition may exert on corporate diversification strategy is a question largely overlooked in the strategic management literature. This paper examines the impact of foreign‐based competition in a firm's core business on both the level and nature of a firm's diversification strategy at the corporate level in a panel dataset of U.S. firms over the period 1985–94. Our findings provide the first evidence that increased foreign‐based competition is indeed a statistically significant factor explaining both the reduced business‐level diversity and the increased strategic focus of U.S. firms that has been widely perceived over the past two decades. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Household‐level Impacts of Dairy Cow Ownership in Coastal Kenya

This study uses heteroskedastic Tobit and Censored Least Absolute Deviations models to examine the impacts of dairy cow ownership on selected outcomes for a sample of 184 households in coastal Kenya. The outcomes examined include gross household cash income, gross non‐agricultural income, consumption of dairy products, time allocated to cattle‐related tasks, number of labourers hired and total wage payments to hired labourers. The number of dairy cows owned has a large and statistically significant impact on household cash income; each cow owned increased income by at least 53% of the mean total income of households without dairy cows. Dairy cow ownership also increases consumption of dairy products by 1.0 litre per week, even though most of the increase in milk production is sold. The number of dairy cows has no significant effect on total labour for cattle‐related tasks. However, in contrast to previous studies, labour allocation to cattle by household members decreases and labour requirements for dairy cows are met primarily by an increase in hired labour. Dairy cow ownership results in relatively modest increases in payments to hired labourers and the number of hired labourers employed. The large positive impacts on income and the substitution of hired for household labour in cattle care suggest that intensification of smallholder dairying can be beneficial as a development strategy in the region if disease and feed constraints are addressed.     

Are corporates' target leverage ratios time-dependent?

This paper extends the stationary-leverage-ratio model to incorporate a time-dependent target leverage ratio. The theoretical hypothesis of the existence of a time-dependent target leverage ratio reflects the movement of a firm's initial target ratio toward a long-term target ratio over time. Using some simple scenarios about the time-dependence of the target leverage ratio, the numerical results show that the incorporation of the hypothesis into the stationary-leverage-ratio model is capable of producing term structures of probabilities of default that are consistent with some empirical findings. The results provide some evidences to support the hypothesis.     

Tax management strategies with multiple risky assets

We study the consumption-portfolio problem in a setting with capital gain taxes and multiple risky stocks to understand how short selling influences portfolio choice with a shorting-the-box restriction. Our analysis uncovers a novel trading flexibility strategy whereby, to minimize future tax-induced trading costs, the investor optimally shorts one of the stocks (or equivalently, buys put options) even when no stock has an embedded gain. Alternatively, an imperfect form of shorting the box can reduce aggregate equity exposure ex post. Given these two short selling strategies, it is common for an unconstrained investor to short some equity while a constrained investor holds a positive investment in all stocks. With no shorting, the benefit of trading separately in multiple stocks is not economically significant.     

THE VALUE ADDED BY BANK ACQUISITIONS: LESSONS FROM WELLS FARGO'S ACQUISITION OF FIRST INTERSTATE

Wells Fargo's recent acquisition of First Interstate Bancorp represents one of the relatively uncommon cases in which the economic values of both the acquiring and acquired banks increased sharply upon announcement of the deal. The transaction is also one of the few cases where the bidder in a major bank acquisition chose purchase instead of pooling accounting–despite the fact that the deal was openly hostile and that Wells Fargo had to fight off a competing bid from First Bank Systems.
Based on the stock market's reaction to this merger battle, as well as the results of their study of 153 bank mergers over the period 1985–1991, the authors argue that the most promising mergers are those presenting large opportunities to reduce costs by eliminating redundant operations. The stock market is much less responsive to other merger rationales such as diversification or entry into new markets in pursuit of growth.
The Wells case also suggests that a preoccupation with the accounting treatment of a merger is a mistake if it becomes the primary reason for turning down a deal that creates economic value, or if it prevents the bidder from choosing the lowest-cost method of financing the deal. Throughout the bidding contest for First Interstate, the stock market responded positively to the success of Wells Fargo's efforts, even though purchase accounting would have a large adverse impact on reported earnings.
But if the stock market does not appear to care about the accounting treatment of a merger, the method of financing does appear to matter to investors. In general, acquisitions financed with cash are viewed more favorably by the market than stockfunded transactions. The evidence also suggests, however, that acquiring firms can reduce the negative impact of stock deals by making conditional offers (those in which the number of shares depends on the stock price performance of the acquirer) and by combining such offers with stock repurchase programs.     

Competition Policy Convergence: Where Next?

As the 20th Century dawned, there were radical divergences in the policies individual nations pursued toward restraints of competition by cartels and monopolies. Since World War II there has been considerable convergence; many nations have adopted explicit pro-competition policies. This paper traces the reasons for the divergence and then convergence and asks what important steps remain to be taken, especially where the concerns of international trade policy and competition policy intersect. A proposed augmentation of the World Trade Organization's functions to deal with competition policy issues is examined.