Walter Mahlberg's Valuation Theory: An Anomaly in the Development of Inflation Accounting

Walter Mahlberg's inflation-accounting treatise of 1921, Bilanztechnik und Bewertung bei schwankender Währung , contains the first book-length price-level-adjustment model in the literature. As the title of the book indicates, Mahlberg treated the matter of restatement technique and the matter of asset valuation during inflation as distinct topics. Mahlberg's restatement technique was not without immediate influence in Germany and has been addressed previously in English-language publications. His valuation theory, on the other hand, had little effect on contemporary developments and remains an anomaly in the literature today. In particular, Mahlberg saw the effect of certain specific price-level changes—those whose rate of change exceeded general inflation—as giving rise to unavoidable future losses; losses, he maintained, that should be recognized currently. Since Mahlberg's theory is generally unknown outside Germany, the present paper first provides English-speaking audiences with an explication of the logic that led Mahlberg to his unique conclusion. It then argues that although Mahlberg's valuation theory represents a cul-de-sac in the development of inflation accounting itself, it ironically may have contributed to Henry Sweeney's 1936 concept of 'unrealized appreciation', which is an early conceptualization of a holding gain, net of inflation.     

资本市场收益与通货膨胀:对新兴市场的进一步检验

本文对中国、印尼、马来西亚、菲律宾、韩国和泰国六个新兴市场国家的股票回报率和通货膨胀率之间的关系进行了实证研究。结果表明,在中国和菲律宾,名义股票回报率和通胀率之间存在正相关关系,但在其它四个国家,并未发现同样的关系存在。这表明股票作为通货膨胀的对冲工具,可能仅在个别国家里成立。此外,本文还对真实回报率和通胀率之间的关系进行了检验,结果普遍表明当期通胀率和单期滞后通胀率对真实股票回报率有负的影响。     

我国的通胀形成机制:成因述评及全球化的分析框架

当前,对我国通货膨胀的形成机制多有争议,虽然各种观点各有侧重,但均强调经济全球化带来的影响和冲击。基于此,本文立足于全球化的视角,构建了一个逻辑分析框架,并将我国的通货膨胀问题置于此框架下进行探讨,分别从国内外产出缺口、全球流动性、大宗商品价格、货币供应、资产价格、人民币汇率和要素价格重估等角度,对我国通胀形成因素做了一般性分析,并据此得出了一些结论和启示。     

The currency denomination of external European Union imports after European Union expansion

Using a multiple market model I examine the impact of euro expansion on the optimal currency denomination of external EU imports. Results suggest euro invoicing will increase more in the EU-expansion country than in the original EU. Exporting firms from dollar bloc countries (the U.S. or countries with fixed exchange rates with the dollar) are more likely to invoice in the euro if price discrimination is already optimal. Firms from outside the dollar bloc are more likely to use the euro when the original EU market is relatively large or transaction costs of exchanging the euro are relatively small.     

How flexible are real wages in EU countries? A panel investigation

We estimate the degree of real wage flexibility in 19 EU countries in a wage Phillips curve panel framework. We find evidence for a reaction of wage growth to unemployment and productivity growth. The degree of real wage flexibility tends to be larger in the central and eastern European (CEE) countries than in the euro area; weaker in downturns than during upswings. There exists an inflation threshold, below which real wage flexibility is low. We also find that a part of the heterogeneity in real wage flexibility and unemployment may be related to differences in the wage bargaining institutions.