Learning and the monetary policy strategy of the European Central Bank

This paper examines the welfare implications of alternative inflation targeting proposals for the monetary policy of the European Central Bank. We assume that policy makers have to “learn” the laws of motion of inflation in an economy characterized by “stickiness” in domestic price setting behavior and subjected to recurring shocks to productivity, exports and foreign price. We find that a switch from an “asymmetric” inflation targeting strategy to an “symmetric” makes little difference in welfare payoffs, but it comes at a cost of much higher interest-rate variability. We also find that there are practically no welfare gains from switching from an inflation-targeting strategy based on the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) to a strategy based on the domestic price component of the HICP.     

商业银行成本控制方略

加入世贸组织后 ,我国商业银行将面临更加严峻的竞争环境。成本控制在商业银行经营管理中将发挥着越来越重要的作用。因此 ,有必要研究商业银行的成本控制方略     

Bank Monitoring and Environmental Risk

Abstract:  Loan announcement effects for 152 Canadian companies are examined to investigate the efficiency of monitoring by banks facing lender environmental liability. Market reaction to the announcement of bank debt to 'environmental' firms is more positive and significant than for 'non-environmental' firms and, for firms in industries with a higher likelihood of experiencing spill events, is more positive and significant, reinforcing earlier results that establish a relationship between specific loan/borrower characteristics and announcement period excess returns and providing further evidence on the 'uniqueness' of bank loans by demonstrating the superior ability of banks to monitor corporate borrowers exposed to environmental liability.     

Measuring the Impact of Regulation: A Study of Canadian Basic Cable Television

We evaluate the appropriateness of regulation within the Canadian cable television industry by applying both parametric and non-parametric approachesto measure scale efficiency. Although we begin with a sample offering adequatedegrees of freedom for parametric estimation, important policy issues lead us toconsider further estimation over sub-samples. Since some of these sub-samplesare small enough that parametric models cannot guarantee reliable estimates, weobtain production characteristics non-parametrically through data envelopmentanalysis. The nonparametric results for scale efficiency support the parametricresults. We find evidence against a natural monopoly argument that might havejustified continuation of the mandated monopolization of Canadian cable televisionservice. By the end of the sample period, there were no longer substantial economiesof scale in most relevant markets.     

The Market's Assessment of the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999

We examine the impact of the events leading up to and including the passage of the Financial Services Modernization Act (FSMA) of 1999 on the stock returns of banks, brokerage firms, and insurance companies. We find that the impact is positive for all institutions. Bank gains are positively related to size and capitalization. Brokerage firms gain regardless of size, but the gains are inversely related to capitalization and insurance companies gain regardless of size or capital position. The strong positive reaction suggests that the market expects the institutions to benefit from the new opportunities created by the FSMA's passage.     

反倾销规则与“中欧石材案”

反倾销规则是 WTO允许的世界各国均可采用的维护公平贸易秩序、抵制不正当竞争的重要手段之一 ,其规则非常严密 ,主要是明确规定了反倾销必须同时具备的三个条件及反倾销的程序。WTO成立以后 ,各成员方纷纷修改本国的反倾销法律 ,我国于 2 0 0 1年 12月 10日颁布了《中华人民共和国反倾销条例》,使之与 WTO的反倾销规则相一致。同时 ,也在积极利用 WTO反倾销规则来反对他国反倾销的滥用。 2 0 0 1年引起各界广泛关注的欧盟对我国石材业反倾销申诉案 ,经涉诉的我国 2 7家企业的积极应诉 ,终以欧盟撤诉 ,我方取得全面胜利而告终。这是我国按照 WTO原则建立自我保护体系 ,有效保护本国经济利益和经济发展的重要举措。意味着我国政府也将利用反倾销这把“利剑”来保护国内企业     

论商标反向假冒行为及其法律规制

商标反向假冒行为妨碍了他人对自己商标的正常使用，扰乱了正常的市场秩序，欺骗了广大消费者和公众。很多国家的立法都明文对其进行规制，我国现行法律亦从不同角度对其进行规制。当前，对严重的商标反向假冒行为，应予以刑法调整。     

基于成本的网间互联结算研究

目前,我国电信业网间互联结算存在的较大缺陷,造成了网间互联互通的不畅。本文分析了我国及国外目前网间互联结算的现状,指出应以成本为基础确定网间互联费用,提出了完善我国电信业网间互联结算的几点建议。     

试论我国商业银行负资本金的确认与计量

本文认为导致商业银行出现负资本金,既有经营性亏损的原因,也有会计确认和计量差异等原因。在加入WTO与《巴塞尔新资本协议》的影响下,有必要重新审视我国商业银行负资本金的确认与计量。     

Regulatory reform of the UK gas market: The sase of the storage auction

The UK gas industry has undergone major changes since it was privatised in 1986 as a fully integrated monopoly. The most significant of these has occurred not as a result of the privatisation legislation but by the intervention of the ordinary competition authorities in support of an active industry regulator. While price capping continues to be used as the primary instrument for welfare protection against the still substantial monopolistic powers of the incumbent, new competition (which has been positively encouraged) has had the greater impact on prices and choice. Recently, however, the regulator has encouraged the use of auctions for the sale of storage capacity. This paper considers the merits of auctions and makes a tentative evaluation of their effectiveness. Further use of auctions is recommended but reserve prices are considered inappropriate where monopoly power still remains.