Granger causality between money,output, prices and interest rates: Some cross-country evidence from the period 1875–1984

Zusammenfassung Granger-Kausalit?t zwischen Geldmenge, Produktion, Preisen und Zinss?tzen: Evidenz aus einem L?ndervergleich für den Zeitraum 1875-1984. - In diesem Aufsatz wird die Granger-Kausalit?t zwischen Geldmenge, Produktion, Preisen und Nominalzinsen auf der Grundlage langer Zeitreihen für elf L?nder untersucht. Empirische Untersuchungen sowohl in der Zeit- als auch in der Frequenzdimension zeigen, da\ die Geldmenge nicht geeignet ist, die Entwicklung der Produktion vorherzusagen. Tats?chlich scheint nur in Kanada, Italien und Norwegen eine einseitige Kausalbeziehung von der Geldmenge zur realen Produktion zu bestehen. Ein ganz anderes Ergebnis zeigt sich bei der Beziehung zwischen Geldmenge und Preisen. Dort l?uft die Kausalkette typischerweise von der Geldmenge zu den Preisen.

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Résumé Causalité de Granger entre la monnaie, la production, les prix et les taux d’intérêt: Quelque évidence trans-pays dans la période 1875–1984. - Cet article étudie la causalité de Granger entre la monnaie, la production, les prix et les taux nominaux d’intérêt en utilisant des séries des longues périodes pour onze pays. L’analyse empirique, en domaine de temps aussi bien que de fréquence, suggère que la monnaie n’aide pas à prédire les mouvements en production. En fait, seulement dans les cas du Canada, de l’Italie et de la Norvège il semble exister une causalité unidirectionnelle de la monnaie vers la production réelle. Un résultat tout à fait différent est trouvé pour la monnaie et les prix. C’est pourquoi, les prix sont typiquement causés par la masse monétaire pendant la période d’analyse.

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Resumen Causalidad ?Granger? entre dinero, producción, precios y tasas de interés. Evidencia a nivel de países del período 1875–1984. - En este trabajo se estudia la causalidad tipo Granger entre dinero, producción, precios y tasas de interés nominales utilizando series de tiempo largas de 11 países. Los análisis empíricos, tanto en el dominio del tiempo como en el de la frecuencia, sugieren que el dinero no ayuda a predecir los movimientos del producto en el tiempo. En realidad, sólo en el caso de Canadá, Italia y Noruega pareciera existir una causación unidireccional del dinero hacia el producto real. El dinero y los precios llevan a un resultado bastante diferente. Por ello, la causación va del dinero hacia los precios durante del período de la muestra.

     

Forward trading and collusion in oligopoly

We consider an infinitely repeated oligopoly in which at each period firms not only serve the spot market by either competing in prices or quantities but also have the opportunity to trade forward contracts. Contrary to the pro-competitive results of finite-horizon models, we find that the possibility of forward trading allows firms to sustain collusive profits that otherwise would not be possible to achieve. The result holds both for price and quantity competition and follows because (collusive) contracting of future sales is more effective in deterring deviations from the collusive plan than inducing the previously identified pro-competitive effects.     

Measuring Labour Market Flexibility in the OECD Countries

This paper investigates the adjustment of employment to population shocks in 22 OECD countries over the period 1960–1997. Most of the countries have experienced significant population shocks during that period – due to migration and other reasons. We estimate the speed of adjustment parameter which is used as a measure of the functioning of the labour market. If the OECD countries are compared using this measure, it turns out that the Anglo Saxon countries clearly outperform the other (European) countries in terms of labour market adjustment. In the case of the Nordic countries, the results presented are the most extreme. In practically all OECD countries, the functioning of the labour market seems to have deteriorated over time. These observations seem to be helpful in explaining the behaviour of unemployment rates in the OECD area.     

Is more capability always beneficial for firm performance? Market orientation,core business process capabilities and business environment

This study examines the role of capabilities in core marketing-related business processes–product development management (PDM), supply chain management (SCM) and customer relationship management (CRM)–in translating a firm’s market orientation (MO) into firm performance. The study is the first to examine the interplay of all three business process capabilities simultaneously, while investigating how environmental conditions moderate their performance effects. A moderated mediation analysis of 468 product-focused firms finds that PDM and CRM process capabilities play important mediating roles, whereas SCM process capability does not mediate the relationship between MO and performance. However, the relative importance of the capabilities as mediators varies along the degree of environmental turbulence, and under certain conditions, an increase in the level of business process capability may even turn detrimental.     

Strategic marketing and business performance: A study in three European ‘engineering countries’

In spite of its relevance, the effects of strategic marketing on business performance are sparingly studied, especially in particular business contexts. We address this gap in two ways. First, we examine the influence of four key strategic marketing concepts—market orientation, innovation orientation, and two marketing capability categories (outside-in and inside-out capabilities)—on company performance. Second, these relationships are studied in three European “engineering countries:” Austria, Finland and Germany. Their relative homogeneity enables testing the generality versus context-specificity of strategic marketing's performance impact. Using SEM analysis, surprisingly weak relationships between market orientation and outside-in capabilities, and business performance are identified, as opposed to the strong role of inside-out capabilities and innovation orientation. These results can be understood through the “engineering country” characteristics. Moreover, clear differences in results are identified among these relatively homogenous countries. This is a major finding as it challenges the widely assumed generality of the strategic marketing–performance relationship. Country-specific results have also considerable managerial relevance.     

Changes in behaviour under EMU

Using a simple model of the euro area economy, we explore whether EMU has been associated with changes in behaviour both in the run up to Stage 3 and since it started operating. We find that some behaviour has indeed changed; expectations formation, inflation, country dispersion of behaviour, fiscal policy (although the run up to Stage 3 shows a greater change than within it) and monetary policy (with several caveats). However, EMU does not appear to be associated with changes in the labour markets; employment, output growth and productivity. Substantial caution is needed in attributing these changes to EMU as much of the rest of OECD enjoyed similar changes over the same period.     

On the optimal income taxation: Some further numerical results

Using numerical calculations we show in the optimal income tax model that a realistic value for the elasticity of substitution between consumption and leisure (?=0.5) leads to conclusions different from some of those drawn by Mirrlees (1971) and Atkinson (1973). The marginal tax rates are not so low and the shape of the tax schedule is for a great majority of the population substantially nonlinear. A new feature in our calculations is that both results come out without going to maximin, as done by Atkinson (1973). We study in special cases the locality of the zero limit of the marginal tax rate at the upper end of the ability distribution and we achieve a very definite conclusion: this result is really very local. We also present an interesting approximation result concerning the relationship between the level of the government revenue and the marginal tax rate for individuals with high ability. An important methodological remark analogous to Sen's critique on the ethical measures of inequality is made on the interpretation of optimal income tax calculations.     

Inflation and savings: testing Deaton's hypothesis

A ‘money illusion’ savings function in which unanticipated inflation affects the savings ratio positively is tested. This is strongly supported by Finnish data. Goodness-of-fit statistics are quite high and the coefficient estimates are of the expected sign and are highly significant. Standard stability tests of both the Brown-Durbin-Evans type and of the VPR type are generally rather favourable. Finally, cross-country evidence from ten OECD countries gives further support for the suggested specification.     

Management priorities of digital health service start-ups in California

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - Digitalisation has revolutionised health service delivery, which has provided global business opportunities for start-ups that specialise in...