IMF Conditionality and Country Ownership of Adjustment Programs

This article uses finance and agency theory to establish twokey propositions about International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionalityand country ownership of IMF-supported adjustment programs.First, the authors propose that the conditionality attachedto these programs is justified. Second, the article hypothesizesthat country ownership of these programs is crucial for theirsuccess. Because IMF conditionality and country ownership areboth necessary, the challenge is designing conditionality thatmaximizes ownership while providing adequate safeguards forIMF lending. The article analyzes several recent proposals aimedat enhancing country ownership of policies contained in IMF-supportedprograms. These proposals include encouraging countries to designtheir own adjustment and reform programs, streamlining structuralconditionality, introducing flexibility in the timing of structuralpolicy measures (floating tranche conditionality), and applyingconditionality to outcomes rather than policies (outcomes-basedconditionality).      

Lookalikes and customer confusion in the grocery sector: an exploratory survey

This paper discusses the issue of copy-cat branding, an issue that has dominated the marketing and retail trade press recently. Brand owners have claimed that lookalike own-label products confuse consumers. Retailers, mean-while have claimed that similarities in packaging design are essential to enable consumers to recognize own-label products. There is, however, relatively little academic research on the issue of lookalikes and consumer confusion.

This paper reports the results of an exploratory survey which show that a considerable number of consumers are confused by the packaging of own-label products. It is also shown that consumer confusion varies by store, product and frequency of shopping. Safeway shoppers were found to be more confused by own-label packaging than shoppers who used other retail outlets. Significantly, shoppers at Sainsbury's - the store that has been criticized most heavily over the packaging of its own-label products - were found to be considerably less confused than the 'average consumer'. The purchasers of Coca-Cola, Head & Shoulders and Nescafe Gold Blend were found to be most confused by own-label packaging.     

On the Effects of Inflation Shocks in a Small Open Economy

The effects of monetary policies remain always an important topic in macroeconomics. In the literature (closed and open economy), there is no theoretical as well as empirical consensus regarding the effects of monetary policies. In this paper we examine the real effects of inflation in an open economy. Australia is a classic example of a small open economy and is known to exercise inflation targeting. Using quarterly data from Australia and employing vector autoregressive (VAR) analysis, we provide evidence that inflation, both in the short and long run, negatively affects durable and non‐durable consumption and investment, and has a positive effect on the current account. Further, we show that consumption of durable goods is more sensitive than the consumption of non‐durables during the initial periods following inflationary shocks.     

A libertarian theory of rights and future generations

The central question in preserving the rights of future generations is how to ground a theory of rights that is also acceptable to the present generation, including staunch Republicans, without self-contradiction. Such a theory of rights consists of the three principles of a minimalist liberatarian theory (that of Robert Nozick), and demonstrates that environmental degradation is a violation of this theory of rights; a theory that is compatible with a free enterprise corporate culture. It is shown that no appeal to liberalism is necessary. It is shown that the case is not based on some ideals of justice but on three politically conservative principles that all modern societies accept as being fundamental to the continuation of those societies. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at Cornell University and at Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Berlin. I would like to thank Dr Udo E. Simonis for his helpful comments, but I alone am responsible for any remaining errors. This research is financed by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, grant#410-94-1221.     

Debt Relief and Credit to the Private Sector in African Countries

Abstract: The purpose of the paper is to empirically investigate the link between debt relief and credit to the private sector in African countries using a panel method over the period 1988–2004. The motivation for investigating the relationship between debt relief and credit to the private sector follows Christensen's (2004) hypothesis that domestic debt has a negative impact on the credit to private sector; therefore debt relief is expected to alleviate domestic debt and thereby create space for domestic credit, which if it is mostly constituted of public sector credit, crowds out credit to the private sector. The main results of the paper are as follows: (1) debt relief has a significant and positive effect on credit to the private sector in the short term; (2) in the long term, debt relief has positive effects on domestic credit to the private sector only when associated with good initial institutional quality.     

The dynamics of the Monday effect in international stock indices

This examination of the temporal dynamics of the international Monday effect is based on 50 countries. Observed between-country differences are characterised by an economic factor based on four indices. The prior day effect captures the tendency for price changes to follow those on the prior day. A bad (good) day occurs when the price change on the prior day is negative (positive). A panel regression with panel corrected standard errors, is used to characterise the way that the Monday effect and the cognate prior day effect systematically vary between countries over the period 1994 to 2006. At the start of the data in 1994, there is a considerable prior day effect which is larger for poor countries. This between-country difference declines over time and has essentially disappeared by 2006. The bad non-Monday effect and the bad-Monday effect also decline over time. Further analysis with six leading economies provides evidence that the prior day influence on Mondays and non-Mondays dates back to at least 1973.     

Pragmatism to Dogmatism: The Laissez Faire Myth and the Disabling of the American Fisc

The authors argue that the recent upsurge in anti-tax sentiment has its roots evolving social conditions and adherence to the laissez faire myth. Content analysis reveals that political anti-tax rhetoric increased in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a time of social distress in the US. This increased political attention provided a rhetorical punctuation whereby a substantial portion of Americans moved toward a much more dogmatic adherence to the laissez faire myth. The result has been to convert the laissez faire myth into a disabling myth that severely limits open discussion of fiscal issues and reduces the options in public finance decisions.