Devaluation, Fiscal Deficits, and the Real Exchange Rate

This article examines the use of fiscal policies to sustainthe effects of a nominal devaluation on the real exchange rate.It is shown that the magnitude of the change in the real exchangerate depends not only on the size of the devaluation and thedegree of fiscal adjustment but also on the means by which thefiscal deficit is reduced. The change in the nominal exchangerate necessary to maintain the depreciation of the real exchangerate will depend on whether the fiscal deficit is eliminatedby increasing taxes or by reducing government expenditures ontraded and nontraded goods. The required depreciation of thedomestic currency will be larger if the fiscal deficit is reducedby increasing taxes than it will be if the deficit is cut bylowering government expenditures. Further, the depreciationwould be smaller if the cuts in expenditure fell on traded ratherthan nontraded goods. This result implies that the authoritiesmust ensure consistency between exchange rate action and policiesto reduce fiscal imbalances in order to achieve a desired levelof the real exchange rate necessary to attain balance of paymentsequilibrium.     

A behavioural analysis of the subsistence standard of living

Subsistence is analysed as an endogenous variable, contraryto its conventional exogenous treatment. It is postulated thatthe subsistence-livers perceive their own standard of subsistence,direct their earnings behaviour towards attaining, maintainingor exceeding this standard and, thus, reveal the standard throughthis behaviour. The labour supply function of the working poor,which displays a forward-falling segment at low wages and anupward-rising segment at higher wages, is hypothesised to offermeasures of subsistence and survival standards. The conceptsare rationalised using Sen's concept of ‘freedom of choice’and Arrow's concept of ‘freedom as flexibility’.It is argued that at below-subsistence living, individuals lackfreedom of flexibility in choosing their preferences and thussuffer the loss of freedom of choice—while subsistenceoffers a reasonable minimum of this freedom, the freedom iscompletely lost at the lowest survival standard.     

The critical price for the American put in an exponential Lévy model

This paper considers the behavior of the critical price for the American put in the exponential Lévy model when the underlying stock pays dividends at a continuous rate. We prove the continuity of the free boundary and give a characterization of the critical price at maturity, generalizing a recent result of S.Z. Levendorskiǐ (Int. J. Theor. Appl. Finance 7:303–336, 2004).      

Macroeconomic Effects of Inflationary Shocks with Durable and Non-Durable Consumption

In this paper we show that inflation, both in the short and long run, negatively affects durable and non-durable consumption and output, and positively influences the current account balance. In particular, the impact of inflation is more pronounced on durable relative to non-durable goods. Using quarterly data from Canada, the UK and the USA, we demonstrate that these findings are consistent and robust across different econometric specifications. An open economy model with durable and non-durable consumption, households with labor/leisure choice and money introduced through cash-in-advance (CIA) constraint on consumption expenditure alone could meaningfully explain these empirical observations. Our empirical findings of non-neutral and negative effects of inflation on real growth are significant for many economic models in the asset pricing literature that support a negative co-movement of stock prices and expected inflation. Moreover, such positive inflation premium in our model could provide economic explanation for a positive slope of the nominal term structure in the data.     

Circuit breakers： Development of testable hypothesis

In October 1996, The Dhaka Stock Exchange （DSE） adopted trading halts for individual stocks, collectively known as ＂circuit breakers＂, to reduce the stock market volatility. This paper reviews the existing circuit breakers literature and developed five hypothesis--＂Magnet Effect＂, ＂Cool off-Heating （C-H） Effect＂, ＂Information Hypothesis＂, ＂Volatility Spillover Hypothesis＂ and ＂Trading Interferences Hypothesis＂--which could be tested empirically not only in the Dhaka Stock Exchange but any stock exchanges around the world. This paper also suggests most appropriate econometric models for empirical testing. GARCH for inter day data and Event Study methodology for intra day data. Moreover, to test the robustness non-parametric tests need to use along with parametric one. Considering the stock market bubbles in 1996, it has been found that it was optimal for the regulators to adopt this trading halt, but not for the market. It failed to protect the market. However, this might be the consequences of misconceptions about the purpose and effectiveness of circuit breakers. Despite many arguments contrary to this mechanism and absence of any conclusive empirical evidence for a fragile stock exchange like DSE, it may be useful sometimes to replace the ＂invisible hand of the marketplace＂ with the ＂visible hand of the market regulators＂.     

Voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of an emerging country: The case of Qatar

This study sets out to examine empirically the determinants of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of 25 listed firms of Doha Securities Market (DSM) in Qatar forming approximately 86% of the total firms incorporated in DSM. It also reports the results of the association between company-specific characteristics and voluntary disclosure of the sample companies. A disclosure checklist consisting of 44 voluntary items of information is developed and statistical analysis is performed using multiple regression analysis. The findings indicate that age, size, complexity, and assets-in-place are significant and other variable profitability is insignificant in explaining the level of voluntary disclosure. However, this paper has contributed to the academic literature that firms in the Middle East provide voluntary corporate information which builds a confidence to the investors in general and Qatar in particular.     

Economic assessment of acquiring water for environmental flows in the Murray Basin*

This article is an economic analysis of reallocating River Murray Basin water from agriculture to the environment with and without the possibility of interregional water trade. Acquiring environmental flows as an equal percentage of water allocations from all irrigation regions in the Basin is estimated to reduce returns to irrigation. When the same volume of water is taken from selected low-value regions only, the net revenue reduction is less. In all scenarios considered, net revenue gains from freeing trade are estimated to outweigh the negative revenue effects of reallocating water for environmental flows. The model accounts for how stochastic weather affects market water demand, supply and requirements for environmental flows. Net irrigation revenue is estimated to be 75 million less than the baseline level for a scenario involving reallocating a constant volume of water for the environment in both wet and dry years. For a more realistic scenario involving more water for the environment in wet and less in dry years, estimated net revenue loss is reduced by 48 per cent to 39 million. Finally, the external salinity-related costs of water trading are estimated at around 1 million per annum, a quite modest amount compared to the direct irrigation benefits of trade.     

Examining the Boundaries of Ethical Leadership: The Harmful Effect of Co-worker Social Undermining on Disengagement and Employee Attitudes

In recent years, scholars have sought to investigate the impact that ethical leaders can have within organisations. Yet, only a few theoretical perspectives have been adopted to explain how ethical leaders influence subordinate outcomes. This study therefore draws on social rules theory (SRT) to extend our understanding of the mechanisms linking ethical leadership to employee attitudes. We argue that ethical leaders reduce disengagement, which in turn promotes higher levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment, as well as lower turnover intentions. Co-worker social undermining is examined as a moderator of the relationship between ethical leadership and disengagement, as we suggest that it is difficult for ethical leaders to be effective when co-worker undermining prevails. To test the proposed model, questionnaires were administered to 460 nurses in Romanian hospital settings over three time points separated by two-week intervals and the hypotheses were tested using generalised multilevel structural equation modeling (GSEM) with STATA. The findings revealed that ethical leadership has a beneficial effect on employee attitudes by reducing disengagement. However, the relationship between ethical leadership and disengagement was moderated by co-worker social undermining, such that when undermining was higher, the significance of the mediated relationships disappeared. These results suggest that while ethical leaders can promote positive employee attitudes, their effectiveness is reduced in situations where co-worker undermining exists.

     

Multi-part tariffs and differentiated commodity taxation

We study commodity taxation in markets where firms, such as Internet Service Providers, energy suppliers, and payment card platforms, adopt multi-part tariffs. We show that ad valorem taxes can correct underprovision and hence increase welfare, provided the government applies differentiated tax rates to the usage and access parts of the tariff. We obtain this result in different settings, including vertically interlinked markets, markets where firms adopt menus of tariffs to screen consumers, and where they compete with multi-part tariffs. Our results suggest that exempting these markets from taxation may be inefficient.