Le Pont de Londres: Interactions between monetary and prudential policies in cross‐border lending

Using two unique confidential datasets summarizing the cross‐border lending of banks in France and the UK, we examine whether recipient‐country prudential policies can help to reduce the spillover effects of euro‐area (EA) monetary policy. We address this question from a novel angle, focused on the role of international financial centres, by considering differences in bank size and location (lending from French headquarters vs. from French affiliates located in the UK). For small French banks that lack a presence in international financial centres, the response of direct cross‐border lending from France to EA monetary policy is partially offset by recipient‐country prudential policy. For larger banks, however, the offsetting effect applies only to lending that passes through foreign affiliates located in London. This suggests the existence of a “London Bridge”: banks adapt their flows to the UK conditional on EA monetary policy and global prudential policies; and from their UK affiliates to third‐party countries in a manner that depends on local prudential settings.     

The spatial effects of a tax on housing and land

This paper analytically investigates the spatial consequences of a tax on housing and land. In general, a property tax is not spatially neutral; instead it disproportionately affects certain parts of the city. The property tax can therefore create distributional inequities and can distort the pattern of residential and industrial location. We derive conditions on locational preferences and housing production that determine which parts of a city will be disproportionately affected by a property tax. Empirical estimates suggest that central locations will be disproportionately affected by property taxes.     

Comment choosing a monetary instrument the case of supply-side shocks

In a recent paper Craine and Havenner (1981) claim that ‘an additional advantage of the linear-quadratic framework (which is not well known) is that the basic forces affecting the instrument choice decision can be analyzed without an explicit specification for price expectations since the distribution of the error terms in a linear model is independent of the predetermined variables’ (p. 219). The aim of this note is to demonstrate that Craine and Havenner's claim does not generalize to models with expectations of future variables conditioned on present information, such as Turnovsky's (1980) model.     

Online R&D management: the way forward

The development of an intranet system in BT delivered far greater savings in 1996 than was originally estimated. BT decided to look at the advantages of online R&D management processes. Various features of the evolving system are described, including the proposal submission system or project requirements document, and tools and techniques to manage a global virtual laboratory.     

The Unlearning Organisation

Business innovation involves multiple, often-repeated phases of idea generation, evaluation, development and implementation. This article focuses on the first of these, idea generation. The author describes a technique for converting our existing knowledge, learning and experience – often the main barrier to innovation – into the raw material for innovation. Illustrating the argument with examples of cases where the technique has been successfully applied, he concludes by setting out five steps 'which make up the unlearning process'.     

Multiple pasts, converging presents, and alternative futures

This paper introduces a variant of scenario planning, supported by some related new concepts in futures studies. The traditional snapshot and chain portrayals of scenarios are replaced by a network, which enables the consideration of multiple views of the present and the past, occurring in multiple systems (e.g. global and local). A fractal “leaf of goals” metaphor is developed, illustrating the argument that activities, events and objectives lie on a continuum: any one event is itself a composite of an indefinite number of component events.Using this concept, network scenarios are developed, consisting of nodes (representing events) and links (representing influences). Because events are socially constructed, each node can be seen as an end-state summary of a smaller network scenario. The networks are created (typically in workshops with participants from the systems being studied) using modified versions of the futures wheel and backcasting, as well as a new variant entitled middlecasting. By working iteratively between past and future events, the networks are steadily refined.A further departure from conventional scenario planning is that scenario networks do not begin at the present time, but extend about as far into the past as they do into the future. By beginning in the past, the roots of network fragments can be identified more clearly in the context of their multiple presents.The method is illustrated with an example of a project to democratize public radio in Indonesia. A scenario network was successfully created, but the delineation of multiple pasts and presents turned out to need further clarification.     

Arbitrator Decision-Making in the Transfer Market: an Empirical Analysis

This paper analyses data generated by the annual round of arbitrated settlements of disputed transfer fees for end-of-contract players in the English Football League. Using information on final-offers of the disputant clubs and data on a variety of player and club characteristics we analyse arbitrated fees and final-offers, and the relative importance of final-offers and case facts in fashioning outcomes. Our analysis suggests that a large proportion of the variation in settlements can be accounted for by certain case facts rather than a mechanical compromise of final-offers, with the latter receiving a relatively low weight. In general, our findings are consistent with the view that conventional arbitration systems generate little useful information in terms of final-offers from the disputant parties.