The early news catches the attention: On the relative price impact of similar economic indicators

This study investigates why financial markets react to the release of some economic indicators while ignoring others with similar informational content. Based on a Bayesian learning model, we show that the market impact of an economic indicator depends crucially on its early availability. The sequential introduction of the two largest German business surveys provides a natural experiment by which the model's implications are tested empirically. We show that even a large and well‐established indicator loses market impact if a similar indicator is launched and released earlier. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 30:909–937, 2010     

TRADE INTEGRATION,OUTSOURCING AND EMPLOYMENT IN AUSTRIA: A DECOMPOSITION APPROACH

Outsourcing and trade integration of advanced countries is debated with respect to employment effects, in particular for low educated workers – at least in relative terms. We study the employment effects – differentiated by educational attainment levels – of changes in the patterns of trade integration and outsourcing in the Austrian economy over the periods 1995–2000 and 2000–2005 using hierarchical decomposition analysis based on deflated input–output tables. Outsourcing is modeled as changes in the shares of domestically produced intermediates in total intermediates. A similar decomposition of the final demand vector allows us to draw conclusions on the overall employment effects of trade integration. The results suggest that the expected negative employment effects of outsourcing and rising import penetration have been overcompensated by increasing exports. Thus, the overall employment effects of Austrian trade integration have been positive for all educational attainment groups. However, whereas the total effects have been strongest for medium and high educated workers over the period 1995–2000, employment of low educated workers have been strongest and positively affected over the period 2000–2005. This pattern can be explained by a more sluggish export performance together with stronger negative effects of outsourcing and import penetration in medium and high-skill intensive products.     

Advancing into the 21st Century: Visions and Challenges Facing the Downunder Economy

Long-term visions serve to focus on essentials for sustained economic and social welfare. We now have to face up to the challenge of globalisation (growing international capital mobility), at a time when we are undoing our historic, self-imposed protectionism. This also creates new opportunities, in particular in the dynamic Asia-Pacific economies.
There still is a 'window of opportunity' before an aging population will become a dominant problem. In the next 25 years, business will have to cope with high real interest rates and major uncertainties that now surround environmental policies.
If we are to take on these challenges in constructive and beneficial ways, we have to develop an institutional order that enables the utilisation of knowledge by enterprising people. This requires a simple, transparent and reliable legal and regulatory framework, which supports competitive market processes, and the defence of openness to international trade and capital flows against particular interest groups.
It seems plausible that the Downunder economy can grow over the next 25 years at about 3.5 per cent per capita if the right institutional conditions are created. If we fail to do so, a growing share of the capital, the skills and the enterprise made Down-under will move to offshore locations which encourage a better use of knowledge and capital by enterprising people. This would deprive many of economic opportunity. The central challenge therefore is to develop a system of government and labour relations which makes the Downunder economy internationally attractive.     

A Benchmark Approach to Filtering in Finance

The paper proposes the use of the growth optimal portfolio for pricing and hedging in incomplete markets when there are unobserved factors that have to be filtered. The proposed filtering framework is applicable also in cases when there does not exist an equivalent risk neutral martingale measure. The reduction of the variance of derivative prices for increasing degrees of available information is measured. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification: primary 90A09; secondary 60G99; 62P20 JEL Classification: G10, G13     

Multilateral finance and development

This article presents an outline of major international financial institutions, i.e. the Bretton Woods organisations. The focus of analysis is on the conceptions that have shaped the posture of these institutions on development issues and on their corresponding activities and problems.     

Wage rigidity and the structure of the Austrian manufacturing industry

Zusammenfassung Starrheit der L?hne und die Industriestruktur ?sterreichs. Eine ?konometrische Analyse der Lohnrelationen. — Die vorliegende Studie untersucht das Ph?nomen der Lohnrigidit?t in gewissen Bereichen der Volkswirtschaft. Ausgehend von einem theoretischen Modell, das die Bedeutung der internen betrieblichen Anpassungskosten berücksichtigt, werden Gleichungen für die relativen L?hne formuliert, die als Hauptdeterminanten die Arbeitsmarktbedingungen und den Anteil der Fremdarbeiter in der Gesamtwirtschaft enthalten. Dabei unterliegen die Parameterwerte gewissen Restriktionen in Abh?ngigkeit von den Charakteristika der jeweiligen Industriezweige. Die empirischen Resultate für die Industrie ?sterreichs sind mit dem Modell konsistent und erlauben es, innerhalb der Industrie zwischen Branchen mit flexiblen und rigiden L?hnen zu unterscheiden, eine Unterscheidung, die für eine wirksamere Einkommenspolitik wesentlich ist. Au\erdem bildet der empirische Befund die Basis für einen Vergleich zwischen dem vorliegenden Modell und einem Modell, in dem die Gewerkschaften die Lohnbildung determinieren.

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Résumé La rigidité de salaire et la structure de l’industrie manufacturière autrichienne. Une analyse économétrique des salaires relatifs. — Cette étude analyse le phénomène de la rigidité de salaire dans certains secteurs de l’économie. En cadre théorique basé sur l’importance des co?ts internes d’ajustement l’auteur formule sous certaines restrictions paramétriques liées aux caractéristiques industrielles des équations de salaire relatif dont les conditions du marché de travail et la part des travailleurs étrangers dans l’économie sont des déterminants principaux. Les résultats empiriques qui correspondent au modèle présenté permettent de classifier les industries selon le degré de la flexibilité (ou rigidité) des salaires et donnent ainsi la base pour une politique des revenus plus efficace. Finalement, l’auteur évalue l’applicabilité d’un modèle dont la formation des salaires est déterminée par des syndicats ouvriers.

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Resumen Rigidez salarial y la estructura de la industria manufacturera austríaca. Un anàlisis econométrico de salarios relativos. — En este axtículo se investiga el fenómeno de la rigidez de la economía. Dentro de un marco teórico basado en la importancia de costos de ajuste internos se formulan ecuaciones salariales, con ciertas restricciones de parámetres ligados a las características industriales, que incluyen las condiciones del mercado laboral y la participatión de trabajadores extranjeros en la economía como los principales déterminantes. Los resultados empíricos consistentes con el modelo presentado, permiten una clasificación en industrias con salarios flexibles y rigidos, proveiendo de esta manera una base para una política de ingresos más eficiente. Finalmente se evaluó la aplicabilidad de un modelo de orientatión sindical para la determinatión de salarios.

     

Do Trade Patterns and Technology Flows Affect Productivity Growth?

This article presents a model suggesting that the pattern ofa country's intermediate goods imports affects its level ofproductivity because a country that imports such goods primarilyfrom technological leaders receives more technology than a countrythat imports primarily from follower countries. The importanceof trade patterns in determining technology flows is quantifiedusing industry-level data for machinery goods imports and productivityfrom eight member countries of the Organisation for EconomicCo-operation and Development between 1970 and 1991. Three conclusionsemerge from this work. First, the eight countries studied appearto benefit more from domestic research and development (R&D)than from R&D of the average foreign country. Second, conditionalon technology diffusion from domestic R&D, a country's importcomposition matters only if it is strongly biased toward oraway from technological leaders. Third, differences in technologyinflows related to the pattern of imports explain about 20 percentof the total variation in productivity growth. The implicationsof these findings for developing countries are discussed.