Colombia’s macroeconomic challenges at the end of the supercycle of commodity prices

The end of the commodity boom presents major challenges for the Colombian economy. The major ones relate to the need to reduce the current account deficit and find new growth engines. A competitive real exchange rate is essential for objectives and requires stronger interventions in the foreign exchange market; these interventions also help to smooth out the trajectory of the inflation rate. Finally, although fiscal adjustment has been adequate, there are fiscal needs associated with the additional public sector spending demanded by the peace agreement and the need to correct the major structural tax imbalances generated by previous tax reforms.     

How Different Is the Efficiency of Public and Private Water Companies in Asia?

Several studies have compared the efficiency of publicly andprivately owned water utilities and reached conflicting conclusionson the impact of ownership on efficiency. This article providesfurther evidence by estimating a stochastic cost frontier fora sample of Asian and Pacific regional water companies. Theresults show that efficiency is not significantly differentin private companies than in public ones.     

The relevance of wage differentials in neoclassical urban growth

This paper examines the effect of introducing spatial wage rate differentials in a neoclassical model of urban growth. To this purpose, a formal theory of the labor market is derived which differs from the Borts-Stein-Muth one in the explicit inclusion of a wage variable. The introduction of this variable improves noticeably the empirical performance of the model.     

I. Allgemeine Wirstchaftslehre

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

On Ethical, Social and Environmental Management Systems

There are three types of solutions to the problems deriving from companies' ethical, social and environmental responsibilities: those based on regulation by an authority or agency; those deigned to create market incentives; and those that rely on self-regulation by companies themselves. In the specific field we are concerned with here, regulation has significant costs and drawbacks that make it particularly desirable that companies should set up their own ethical, social and environmental management systems or programmes. The purpose of this article is twofold. On the one hand, it explains how implementing voluntary ethical, social and environmental management systems or programmes may help to develop and sustain ethical behaviour in organizations, overcoming the conflict between compulsory regulation and occasional ethical practices. On the other hand, it shows that conditions must be met for an ethical management programme to be effective.     

Has pharmaceutical research become more scientific?

Pharmaceutical research continues to be highly empirical, despite some recent writings arguing that it has become more scientific. Contrary to a study asserting that Mevacor, Tagamet, and Capoten demonstrate the success of targeted research, these drugs were discovered only after many years of following leads. Two hypotheses implied by the proposition that pharmaceutical research has become more scientific are tested. The first hypothesis is that the uncertainty of research has fallen. The second is that the number of publications by scientists in the industry has increased. Both are rejected.     

Italian Lessons on the Welfare State

The growth of government in Italy provides a stark warning of the dangers of the spirolling costs of the welfare state. Antonio Martino Professor of Monetary History and Policy at the University of Rome, examines how the machinery of the state develops its own momentom and wams that the Italian example suggests democratic govement may be imperilled unless measures are taken to tome Leviathan.