THE TERM PREMIA RELATIONSHIP IMPLICIT IN THE TERM STRUCTURE OF TREASURY BILLS

This paper considers a single coefficient representation of the term premia relationship that appears in treasury bill yield curves. Term premia are defined as positive or negative maturity-dependent differentials versus the instantaneous nominal spot rate. The term premia function is developed in the context of the Cox, Ingersoll, and Ross [ 3 ] Risk-Averse Preferred Habitat Model and proxies for the degree of risk aversion exhibited by the universe of treasury bill investors at a point in time. Empirical results indicate that term premia are influenced by a set of macroeconomic variables in the expected manner.     

Default Recovery Rates in Credit Risk Modelling: A Review of the Literature and Empirical Evidence

Evidence from many countries in recent years suggests that collateral values and recovery rates (RRs) on corporate defaults can be volatile and, moreover, that they tend to go down just when the number of defaults goes up in economic downturns. This link between RRs and default rates has traditionally been neglected by credit risk models, as most of them focused on default risk and adopted static loss assumptions, treating the RR either as a constant parameter or as a stochastic variable independent from the probability of default (PD). This traditional focus on default analysis has been partly reversed by the recent significant increase in the number of studies dedicated to the subject of recovery‐rate estimation and the relationship between default and RRs. This paper presents a detailed review of the way credit risk models, developed during the last 30 years, treat the RR and, more specifically, its relationship with the PD of an obligor. Recent empirical evidence concerning this issue is also presented and discussed.
(J.E.L.: G15, G21, G28).     

Vivarelli,M. and Pianta,M. (2000), The Employment Impact of Inovation: Evidence and Policy, 240 pp. Routledge,London

Small Business Economics -     

I. Neuerscheinungen versicherungswissenschaftlicher Bücher

Schrifttum

I. Neuerscheinungen versicherungswissenschaftlicher Bücher Ausführliche Hinweise     

IN SEARCH OF A STYLISED FACT: DO REAL WAGES EXHIBIT A CONSISTENT PATTERN OF CYCLICAL VARIABILITY?

Abstract. The paper surveys the studies on the cyclical behaviour of real wages published from the twenties onwards. Both traditional simple neoclassical and keynesian models of the labour market suggest that real wages tend to move countercyclically. However, from a theoretical viewpoint, there are few reasons to expect this behaviour, once the simple model is extended to account for imperfect competition, uncertainty, lagged responses, or contracting between firms and workers. Empirical studies give different answers to the problem. The contributions reviewed in the paper are arranged roughly in chronological order: the interwar period, the postwar pre-econometric studies, the econometric work using aggregate data, the evidence produced on the basis of longitudinal data, the analyses of the shock-responsiveness of real wages, and, finally, the most recent papers attempting a reconciliation of the somewhat conflicting evidence derived from aggregate and panel data.     

Collapse of the purchasing power parity in the light of co-integrated variables?

Zusammenfassung Kollaps der Kaufkraftparit?tentheorie im Lichte ko-integrierter Variabler? - Dieser Aufsatz nimmt das Kaufkraftparit?tentheorem wieder auf und untersucht, (i) ob Wechselkurse (im Verh?ltnis zur Basisperiode) und die entsprechenden Preisdifferentiale ko-integriert sind und (ii) ob (au▾erdem) die Differenz zwischen den beiden Variablen station?r ist. Es wird argumentiert, da▾ die Gesamtkosten pro reale Produktionseinheit, die dem Deflator der Gesamtproduktion entsprechen, am besten geeignet sind, um die relative Wettbewerbsf?higkeit der Volkswirtschaft zu messen. Besonderer Wert wird auf den Wechselkurs der D-Mark gegenüber den anderen EWS-W?hrungen gelegt. Es wird statistisch nachgewiesen, da▾ der Logarithmus des Wechselkurses mit dem Logarithmus des entsprechenden Preisdifferentials ko-integriert ist und da▾ sich - mit einem h?heren Grad an Unsicherheit - die relative Kaufkraftparit?t bew?hrt.

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Résumé Collapsus de la parité de pouvoir d’achat en lumière des variables cointegrées? - Cet article s’occupe encore une fois de la parité de pouvoir d’achat (PPA) en analysant (i) si des taux de change (en relation à une période de base) et les différences de prix correspondantes sont co-intégrés et (ii) si (de plus) la différence des deux variables est stationnaire. L’auteur argue que les co?ts totaux par unité de la production totale qui sont identiques au déflateur de production totale sont très propres à mesurer la capacité concurrentielle relative d’une économie entière. L’attention particulière est prêtée au taux de change de la Deutschmark vis-à-vis les autres monnaies SME. Statistiquement, il est trouvé que le log du taux de change et le log de la différence de prix correspondante sont co-intégrés et que, avec un degré plus haut d’incertitude, la PPA relative est affirmée.

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Resumen ?Se derrumba la paridad del poder de compra a la luz de variables cointegradas? - Este trabajo reexamina el teorema de la paridad del poder de compra (PPP) investigando (a) si las tasas de cambio y las diferencias de precios correspondientes son cointegradas y (b) si la diferencia entre las dos variables es estacionaria. Se arguye que el costo total por unidad de producto real, igual al deflactor del producto total, se presta para medir la competitividad de la economía en su conjunto. Se enfatiza particularmente la tasa de cambio del Marco Alemán frente a otras monedas del sistema monetario europeo. Se encuentra evidencia estadística en favor de una cointegración del logaritmo de la tasa de cambio y del logaritmo de la diferencia de precios correspondiente; el teorema del PPP relativo resulta válido, mas a un nivel de incertidumbre más alto.