Book reviews

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

On the real effects of inflation in open economies: theory and empirics

Based on the quarterly data from four open economies (the US, the UK, Canada, and Italy) and estimated correlations and impulse responses within the traditional vector autoregressive (VAR) analysis, we find that inflation, both in the short and long term, negatively affects consumption and investment, and has a positive influence on the current account. We propose an infinite-horizon optimizing model of an open economy with a fixed rate of time preference that explains these empirics. In this type of economy, households consume both durable and non-durable goods, firms operate under costly investment, and all the transactions involving consumption and investment are subject to cash-in-advance (CIA) constraints. Employing the new ‘sign restriction’ identification procedure due to Uhlig (J Mone’t Econ 52(2)381–419, 2005), we corroborate the empirical validity of the proposed model. In order to verify the robustness of our results, we consider another shock, namely, productivity shock in our empirical analysis and find that while productivity shock dominates in the case of the US, inflationary shock has a dominating effect in the case of the UK, Canada, and Italy.     

Determinants of market price of stock： A study on bank leasing and insurance companies of Bangladesh

Financial firms make up a substantial fraction of the domestic equity market. A number of studies subsequently used different conceptual and methodological approaches to model equity return of financial services firms. Movement of the stock price as the consequence of the movement of the micro and macroeconomic factors is strongly supported by the literature review. Dhaka Stock Exchange in Bangladesh is inefficient in weak form. Multiple regression analysis is conducted to find out the relationship microeconomic factors with the stock price. In this study found a significant linear relationship among market return and some microeconomic factors such as net asset value per share, dividend percentage, earning per share of bank leasing and insurance companies. Also found non-linear relationship among the variables is insignificant at 95 percent level of significance.     

Consumer ethics: An empirical investigation of the ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers

Business and Marketing ethics have come to the forefront in recent years. While consumers have been surveyed regarding their perceptions of ethical business and marketing practices, research has been minimal with regard to their ethical beliefs and ideologies. In addition, no study has examined the ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers even though Austria maintains a unique status of political neutrality, nonalignment, stability, economic prosperity and geographical proximity to the East- and West-European countries. This research investigates the relationship between Machiavellianism, ethical ideology and ethical beliefs of Austrian consumers. The results indicate that Austrian consumers are mostly situationists who, while rejecting moral rules, judge the ethics of a behavior by the consequences and outcomes of the situation. Mohammed Y.A. Rawwas is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Northern Iowa. His research has appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics, Marketing Educational Review, Advances in International Marketing, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Hospital Marketing, Health Marketing Quarterly, Medical Marketing and Media,among other journals and proceedings.     

The relationship between Arab values and work beliefs: An exploratory examination

In this study, 365 employees from three Middle Eastern countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Oman) are queried about their cultural values and work‐related beliefs. This analysis is unique both in its sample and its focus on the relationship between individual cultural values and beliefs about work. Results suggest that the cultural value dimensions individualism (p < .001) and masculinity (p < .001) are related to both an individual's beliefs about organizational commitment and work ethic. Additional findings reveal patterns between cultural values and humanistic and political beliefs. Future research directions and managerial implications are also discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Tax Policy and Entrepreneurship: New Time Series Evidence

Have tax policies affected entrepreneurial activity in the U.S.? We extend the time series literature on this topic by using more recent data and modern econometric techniques to examine the importance of federal income, payroll, capital gains, corporate income, and estate taxes on self-employment rates. Regression results show that most of these taxes have significant but small effects on self-employment activity. A battery of cointegration and causality tests confirms the general finding that taxes can have significant influences on entrepreneurship, but they are likely to be ineffective tools for generating meaningful changes in entrepreneurial activity.     

ESTIMATION OF ENGEL ELASTICITIES FROM THE BOX-COX ENGEL FUNCTION

A general type of Engel function which can be called the Box-Cox Engel function is developed. This function is used to estimate the relationship between the dependent and explanatory variables for which many commonly used Engel functions become special cases. The Maximum Likelihood (ML) method is used to estimate its parameters using grouped Household Expenditure Survey (HES) data. These estimated parameters are then used to estimate Engel elasticities for total food and various non-food items. The Box-Cox Engel function is also used to discriminate among the commonly used Engel functions, by performing a parametric test on the power parameters. A joint test on the different power transformation has been done by the likelihood ratio test and it turns out that none of the commonly used Engel functions are appropriate for the Australian HES 1975-76 data, although the double log Engel function is not significantly different from the Box-Cox Engel function for five out of ten consumption items.