Explaining Trade Flows of Singapore

The objective of this paper is twofold. First, the development of the trade patterns of Singapore and particularly between Singapore and its South-East Asian partners will be outlined and interpreted against a backdrop of relevant trade policy measures, for example in the context of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Second, a simple model of the gravity type is applied in order to establish and quantify the role of various trade determinants. Despite the fact that Singapore has strived at being a 'global city', it remains rather heavily biased towards East Asia as far as foreign trade is concerned. The role of ASEAN in particular is strong, even if the role of entrepôt trade tends to exaggerate the degree of integration between the economies of Singapore and ASEAN. It also seems clear that the latter, as an organization, has not contributed much to the development of trade relations between its members. Rather the closeness and the liberalization of these economies during the last 15 years or so appear to have been decisive. It is interesting to note that the newer members of ASEAN seem to have been integrated quickly in Singapore's economic network.     

Teacher sorting, teacher quality, and student composition

Using panel data for Norwegian schools, we establish a two-equation supply and demand model for teachers with approved education. Taking into account nationally determined teacher pay and a strict teacher appointment rule, the data enable us to separately estimate supply and demand functions for certified teachers. The results clearly indicate that the student body composition, and in particular students belonging to ethnic minorities, influences both teacher supply and teacher demand. The implied negative relationship between excess demand for certified teachers and the share of minority students is likely to be important for teacher quality.     

Consumer policy in the European Community: Before and after Maastricht

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the Treaty on European Union agreed at Maastricht will alter European Community consumer protection law and policy. Two aspects of the Treaty have attracted most interest from the consumer viewpoint: the potential forward impetus resulting from the inclusion in the Treaty of a specific Title devoted to consumer protection and the potential reverse impetus of the principle of subsidiarity. The paper surveys the broad scope of Community consumer protection law and policy and analyses subsidiarity as a means for sharpening the debate about responsibility for regulating the Community, not as a basis for renationalisation of Community competence. The paper attempts to build alongside the process of market integration a set of enforceable consumer rights to market regulation. This, more than the new Title, could give real shape to the notion of consumer rights, which in the earlier development of Community law has arisen only in the context of the consumer as the passive beneficiary of free trade.

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Verbraucherpolitik in der europäischen Gemeinschaft: Vor und nach Maastricht

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, wie stark sich der Unionsvertrag von Maastricht auf Recht und Politik des Verbraucherschutzes der Europäischen Gemeinschaft auswirken wird. Zwei Aspekte des Vertrages haben aus Verbrauchersicht das stärkste Interesse auf sich gezogen: zum einen mögliche förderliche Wirkungen durch die Einbeziehung eines speziellen Titels in den Vertrag, der dem Verbraucherschutz gewidmet ist, und zum anderen mögliche hinderliche Wirkungen durch das Subsidiaritätsprinzip. Der Beitrag bietet einen überblick über die gesamte Bandbreite der Verbraucherschutzgesetzgebung und der Verbraucherpolitik der Gemeinschaft und analysiert Subsidiarität eher als Hilfe zur Schärfung der Debatte über die Verantwortlichkeit für Regulierung und nicht so sehr als Ausgangspunkt für eine Re-Nationalisierung der Zuständigkeiten der Gemeinschaft. Er versucht, entlang des Integrationsprozesses einen Satz von durchsetzbaren Verbraucherrechten in Hinblick auf Marktregulierung zu entwickeln. Dem Konzept der Verbraucherrechte könnte dieser Ansatz besser eine realistische Gestalt geben als der neue Titel im Vertrag.

     

A Microeconomic Approach to Diffusion Models For Stock Prices

This paper studies a class of diffusion models for stock prices derived by a microeconomic approach. We consider discrete-time processes resulting from a market equilibrium and then apply an invariance principle to obtain a continuous-time model. the resulting process is an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process in a random environment, and we analyze its qualitative behavior. In particular, we provide simple criteria for the stability or instability of the corresponding stock price model, and we give explicit formulae for the invariant distributions in the recurrent case.     

Class Size Effects on Student Achievement in Norway: Patterns and Explanations

The causal effect of class size on student performance is investigated using a maximum class size rule of 30 students to generate an instrument for actual class size. The data come from lower secondary schools in Norway, and the initial analysis reveals a small negative class size effect. Further investigations show that the effect varies among student subgroups and that the benefits of smaller classes are larger in schools with a high proportion of students who come from intact families. The second section of the paper uses information about the teachers' grading practices and the students' efforts in class to shed additional light on the revealed patterns of class size effects. Class size effects seem to be conditional on student effort.     

Sequential and multinomial logit: A nested model

A nested model is presented which has both the sequential and the multinomial logit model as special cases. This model provides a simple test to investigate the validity of these specifications. Some theoretical properties of the model are discussed. During the analysis a distribution function is derived, which, to the best of our knowledge, has not been used before. This distribution is shown to be a generalization of the typeI extreme-value distribution. Monte Carlo experiments and empirical applications of the model are presented.