The effects of fiscal policy on economic activity in Finland

This study analyzes whether fiscal policy decisions have real effects on the economy of Finland, and if they do, what are the strength and durations of the effects. We utilise the Vector Stochastic Process with Dummy Variables (VSPD) method in our empirical work. This approach is a suitable tool to study event-based episodes. Fiscal policy shocks do have an effect on the economic activity of Finland when the time period 1990–2007 is investigated. A positive tax shock (or a policy that increases public sector revenues) seems to have a positive effect on Investment and GDP but the response of private consumption is mixed. Results clearly indicate that increase in Government spending crowds out private sector activity, and the effect takes place sooner than with the Revenue variable in question. This is a clear evidence for the crowding out effect.     

华风茂谈交银国际首只直投基金

<正>2010年2月10日,交银国际资产管理有限公司首只直投基金——交银国际中国基金在香港成立。问:这只新基金的特点是?答:这是我们第一只私募股权直接投资基金,主要关注离岸成长资本机遇,主要是那些具结构性下行保护的权益投资。这是一只离岸基金,目标将锁定中国机遇。退出     

Financial conglomeration and monitoring incentives

If combining insurance and banking services generates scope economies in terms of monitoring the customers, competition in the financial markets becomes more intense after financial conglomeration. The pro-competitive effect reduces the prices of the financial services, increases monitoring and improves financial stability. Increased monitoring allows financial regulators apply lower capital requirements for financial conglomerates.     

Changes in the way marketing is managed — a personal view

The Marketing Department, like others in a manufacturing company, has changed considerably in the last 40 years. Its survival, and even the concept of marketing, have been under threat recently. The reasons for these changes, as the author has seen them, are described. Marketing has tried to be seen as accountable in the same way as other departments but has usually failed. It often now operates as part of a multi‐disciplinary team, which means that more people have to understand the Marketing concept, so this needs restating to a wider audience. After this, there are serious marketing tasks facing most firms today.     

Can emerging market central banks bail out banks? A cautionary tale from Latin America

This paper investigates whether emerging market countries can implement monetary policies to cope with financial crises as advanced countries did during the recent global crisis—injecting significant amounts of money into the financial system without facing major short-run adverse macroeconomic repercussions. Using panel data techniques, the paper analyzes episodes of financial turmoil in 16 Latin American countries during 1995–2007. The results show that developing and emerging market countries should be cautious because injecting money on a large scale into the financial system may fuel further macroeconomic instability, increasing the chances of simultaneous currency crises.     

Contrasting paradigms: segmentation and competitiveness in the formation of the chinese labour market

An urban labour market is in the process of being formed in China. The objective of this paper is to analyse the stage that it has reached. A 1999 household survey is used to investigate whether the labour market has three tiers comprised of recently retrenched and re-employed urban workers, non-retrenched urban workers, and rural–urban migrants. It tests whether wage levels and structures differ across these categories of worker. Panel data are used to model the evolution of the wage structure and, specifically, the impact of retrenchment and re-employment. The results indicate that non-retrenched urban workers enjoy a wage premium, although migrants receive similar returns to education. Re-employed workers receive no return to education and appear to have lost out on the wage rises enjoyed by the non-retrenched. There is evidence to suggest that the urban labour market is segmented into these categories, which differ in their openness to market competition. The urban labour market has a long way to go before it is fully competitive.     

Advertising's Sales Effect Can Be Measured and Evaluated Very Well

Not long ago businessmen despaired because they thought that advertising's effects could not be measured at all. Now they despair because they think that measuring advertising's effects must always be a super-complicated mumbo-jumbo of econometrics and other arcane techniques that can only be understood by experts. There is no need to despair.     

THE EXPECTED SHORTFALL OF QUADRATIC PORTFOLIOS WITH HEAVY‐TAILED RISK FACTORS

Computable expressions are derived for the Expected Shortfall of portfolios whose value is a quadratic function of a number of risk factors, as arise from a Delta–Gamma–Theta approximation. The risk factors are assumed to follow an elliptical multivariate t distribution, reflecting the heavy‐tailed nature of asset returns. Both an exact expression and a uniform asymptotic expansion are presented. The former involves only a single rapidly convergent integral. The latter is essentially explicit, and numerical experiments suggest that its error is negligible compared to that incurred by the Delta–Gamma–Theta approximation.