Unconventional monetary policy and stock repurchases: Firm-level evidence from a comparison between the United States and Japan

This paper is the first comparative study examining the determinants of stock repurchases during the period of unconventional monetary policy. By constructing a vast firm-level dataset of the U.S. and Japan and conducting multivariate Tobit and probit analyses, this paper presents evidence that during the period of unconventional monetary policy, in both the U.S. and Japan, firms with more free cash flow and lower borrowing costs are more likely to repurchase stock, firms with higher financial leverage are more likely to abstain from stock repurchases, and firms coordinate dividends and stock repurchases to please shareholders. I also find striking contrasts between the results of U.S. and Japanese firms, and show the importance of financial structure in explaining the contrasting results. From a micro perspective, this paper provides new insight and evidence to support the view that financial structure should be thought of as an important factor determining the effects of unconventional monetary policy.     

新疆高校人才队伍建设思路与路径探析

人才队伍建设是高校事业发展的基础性工程,是高校建设和发展的核心问题。新疆高校因政治、历史、地域等因素,在人才队伍建设方面有其特殊性。论文通过了解新疆高校人才队伍建设面临的问题,有针对性地提出了双轮驱动、三面协同、四位一体、五大创新的具体路径,以期对新疆高校人才队伍建设的实践有所启示。     

The Role of Inflation Target Adjustment in Stabilization Policy

How and under what circumstances can adjusting the inflation target serve as a stabilization-policy tool and contribute to welfare improvement? We answer these questions quantitatively with a standard New Keynesian model that includes cost-push-type shocks. Our proposed inflation target rule calls for the target to be adjusted in a persistent manner and in the opposite direction to the realization of a cost-push shock, which is essentially a makeup strategy. The inflation target rule, combined with a Taylor-type rule, significantly reduces inflation fluctuations originating from cost-push shocks and mitigates the stabilization trade-off, resulting in a similar level of welfare to that associated with the Ramsey optimal policy.     

A quantitative analysis of optimal sustainable monetary policies

This study examines the quantitative properties of optimal sustainable monetary policies using a monetary model with a stabilization bias. As in Kurozumi (2008), the optimal sustainable policy is a strategy considered in the absence of commitment technologies; however it is implemented following an optimal quasi-sustainable policy derived by assuming that the commitment technologies are present. This study finds that solving for the policy function of the optimal quasi-sustainable policy yields a result basically identical to the Ramsey-optimal commitment policy under a set of parameters commonly used in the literature. The simulation shows two further results: policymakers have incentive to deviate from the Ramsey-optimal commitment policy when the lagged output gap is large and the optimal quasi-sustainable policy endogenously diminishes the steadfastness of policymakers׳ commitment.     

Wilhelm Röpke and Richard C. Koo On Secondary Deflations and Balance Sheet Recessions

The concept of a ‘secondary deflation’ was developed in the 1930s by the German economist Wilhelm Röpke, who saw it as something different from a normal depression. While a primary deflation is a necessary reaction to the inflation from a boom period, a secondary deflation is independent and economically purposeless. Röpke argued that secondary depressions occurred in the US, Germany, France and Switzerland during the 1930s, but was vague on what made them follow primary depressions. Recently, the Taiwanese–American economist Richard C. Koo has claimed to have discovered the ‘Holy Grail of macroeconomics’, that is, what made the Great Depression so deep and long. During the Great Depression, the bursting of the asset price bubble resulted in private sectors having more debt than assets; as they shifted from maximising profits to minimising debt, the consequent debt deflation shrank the economy. According to Koo, Western economies today are suffering from a similar ‘balance sheet recession’. Strengthened by the notion of a balance sheet recession, Röpke's long‐lost insights might advance our understanding of the business cycle in general and the present crisis in the US and the Eurozone in particular.     

陈云在财经领域中的思想政治教育思想述论

陈云是我国社会主义经济建设的开创者和奠基人之一。陈云在经济领域中的杰出贡献,也与他高度重视思想政治工作是分不开的。陈云在财经领域中的思想政治教育思想主要表现在:经济建设中的勤俭节约,艰苦奋斗;克服经济工作中的事务主义倾向;整顿财经工作作风,严肃财经纪律;尊重经济客观规律,按照规律办事。在全面深化改革、扩大开放、一心一意谋发展、聚精会神搞建设的当下,重温陈云在财经领域中的思想政治教育思想具有重大意义。     

How important is fiscal policy cooperation in a currency union?

By constructing a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model, which assumes a currency union consisting of two countries with nontradables, we study the importance of fiscal policy cooperation. As shown in the previous studies, we find that the role of fiscal policy is important in maximizing social welfare. However, we have a contrary result for fiscal policy cooperation. While the previous studies highlight that fiscal policy cooperation has a nontrivial effect in maximizing social welfare, we show that fiscal policy cooperation has no benefits, regardless of the share of nontradables. Self-oriented fiscal policy can replicate social welfare under the cooperative setting.     

Macroeconomic Effects of Asset‐Price Shocks in a Globalized Financial Market

In this paper, I study a model in which shocks to asset prices affect the real sector of the economy through a credit channel. As financial markets become internationally integrated, the economy becomes less vulnerable to domestic asset‐price shocks, but more vulnerable to foreign asset‐price shocks. To the extent that monetary policy stabilization is feasible and desirable, the globalization of financial markets shifts the focus of monetary policy from domestic asset prices to worldwide asset prices.     

Evaluating monetary policy with financial stability objective: rules vs. discretion

This article explores whether adding the goal of financial stability to the more traditional goals of output and price stability could improve optimality of monetary policy. A Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model that endogenously incorporates financial frictions is used to derive optimality conditions across rule-based and discretionary monetary policy environments. The results indicate that it is optimal for the Central Bank to keep output below the potential level in the short term so as to dampen the inflationary effects arising from supply and financial shocks. When the economy is exposed to a financial shock, both leverage and credit spread rise significantly, thereby tipping the economy into a financial crisis and raising the probability of macroeconomic risk.     

国库现金转存商业银行的货币效应分析及管理建议

近年来,我国国库现金余额因国家财力增长及预算收支进度不均衡等因素出现大幅上升,闲置国库现金运用对货币供应的影响日益显著。该文根据商业银行资产运用特点,通过模型构建简单分析了国库现金转存商业银行的年度货币效应,以揭示其货币效应的影响因素,并从建立健全法规规章、提高国库收支预测水平等方面,提出进一步完善国库现金业务管理的相关建议。