A comparison of the poverty impact of transfers, taxes and market income across five OECD countries

This paper compares the poverty reduction impact of income sources, taxes and transfers across five OECD countries. Since the estimation of that impact can depend on the order in which the various income sources are introduced into the analysis, it is done by using the Shapley value. Estimates of the poverty reduction impact are presented in a normalized and unnormalized fashion, in order to take into account the total as well as the per dollar impacts. The methodology is applied to data from the Luxembourg Income Study database.     

An Extension of the Trade Restrictiveness Index to Large Economies*

The Trade Restrictiveness Index (TRI) introduced by Anderson and Neary (1994 ) provided the first theoretically satisfying measure of a country’s tariff structure by overcoming the problem of ad hoc specification of indexing weights and the related index number problem. We observe, however, that the TRI may not exist or may not be unique when countries are large. As a remedy, we propose a simple extension.     

Whose policy uncertainty affects trade flows between Japan and the U.S.?

Previous studies mostly assumed that the effects of policy uncertainty on trade flows are symmetric. In this article, we add to this literature by arguing and demonstrating that the effects could be asymmetric. Since asymmetry analysis requires using non-linear models, such models yield a more significant outcome than linear models. We show this by considering the trade flows of 66 two-digit U.S. exporting industries to Japan and 59 two-digit Japanese exporting industries to the United States. While both the linear and non-linear models predicted short-run effects of the U.S. and Japanese policy uncertainty on exports of most industries, the long-run effects were significantly different. In the long run, while the linear model predicted no significant effects of either uncertainty measure, the non-linear model 12 (14) U.S. exporting industries that were affected by changes in the Japanese (the U.S.) policy uncertainty measure and six (10) Japanese exporting industries that were affected by changes in the Japanese (the U.S.) policy uncertainty measure. Several large industries were among the affected industries.     

Trading concentration and industry-specific information: an analysis of auto complaints

Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting - We investigate whether sophisticated investors’ trading concentration in the auto industry is associated with their use of auto complaint data....     

Design of optimal policies: A variable structure control approach

This paper introduces methods of variable structure control (VSC) theory to economists. The VSC design is based on closed loop optimal control solutions. It is shown that VSC can yield stable solutions in the presence of parameter errors whereas conventional closed loop optimal control solutions become unstable. The methodology is applied to a simple economic model.The authors wish to thank John Burkett and Berc Rustem for constructive comments on earlier versions of the paper.     

FDI Contribution to Technical Efficiency in the Tunisian Manufacturing Sector: Evidence from Micro-panel Data

This paper investigates the contribution of FDI to firms’ technical efficiency based on a two-stage empirical method. Using panel data for 674 firms belonging to the Tunisian manufacturing sector and observed over the period 1997–2001, a bootstrap procedure is applied to correct for serial correlation affecting DEA technical efficiency scores estimated in a first stage. Results obtained from second-stage regressions show that FDI presence at the firm level has a positive effect on its technical efficiency. However, horizontal FDI spillovers are not evidenced while sectoral export activity represents a potential source of technology spillovers for local firms.     

An exploratory study of the personal value systems of city managers

Little attention has been given by researchers in organizational behavior to the study of public managers' values and how these values affect their managerial behavior. Therefore, the major objective of this study was to identify the personal value systems and value profiles of public managers, and to systematically examine and discuss the relationship between personal values and related organizational behavior including decision making. The significance of the findings for public policy is briefly discussed, and the need for future research is indicated.Sami M. Abbasi is Associate Professor of Management at Middle Tennessee State University. He has presented papers, appeared on panels, chaired sessions, and reviewed papers for both regional and national meetings of the American Institute for Decision Sciences and the Academy of Management. His research interests include strategy implementation, strategy-environment interaction, business-government relationships, and global management. Kenneth W. Hollman is Professor of Economics and Finance at Middle Tennessee State University. His publications have appeared in these journals: Journal of Small Business Management, Journal of Insurance Issues and Practices, CLU Journal, and CPCU Journal. Dr. Hollman holds the Martin Chair of Insurance.     

Assessing the Effect of Trade Openness on Health in the MENA Region: a Panel Data Analysis

This study examines the effect of trade openness on the health outcomes of 12 countries in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Turkey, and the UAE. By using a panel data investigation over 1970–2015, we check whether the trade of these countries with developed economies (using the proxy of G7 countries) and the rest of the world affects life expectancy and the infant mortality rate. We also assess the moderating effect of governmental corruption. Our findings show two interesting results. First, trade openness has a positive effect on health in the MENA region as it reduces the infant mortality rate and boosts life expectancy for both men and women. Second, better control over corruption and more focus on trade with developed countries would lead to more technology and information spillovers, which positively affect the health sector.     

Terrorism and Stock Market Sentiment

This paper examines the effects of terrorism on stock market sentiment by focusing on the behavior of expected probability density functions of the FTSE 100 index around terrorist attacks. We find that terrorism has a strong adverse impact on stock market sentiment. In particular, terrorist attacks are found to cause a pronounced downward shift in the expected value of the FTSE 100 index and a significant increase in stock market uncertainty. Furthermore, our results show that the expected FTSE 100 probability densities became significantly more negatively skewed and fat‐tailed in the immediate aftermath of terrorist acts.