汇率和需求不确定下跨国投资决策的实物期权分析

在对实物期权理论和跨国投资相关文献研究基础上,分析企业在汇率和需求不确定条件下跨国投资的风险和期权特征,构建了基于实物期权思想的跨国投资决策模型。通过数值求解,分析了跨国投资情况下,企业拥有的实物期权价值。     

浅议如何确定社会保障税的最优税率

社会保障制度是我国社会主义福利事业的一个重要组成部分。它不仅作为维持劳动力再生产的物质保证而构成促进社会再生产顺利进行的重要手段,而且是社会稳定机制的一个重要组成部分。目前已有140多个国家和地区建立了社会保障制度,其中有80多个国家和地区开征了社会保障税或类似税种。文中对我国如何确定社会保障税的最优税率进行了简单的分析。     

银行业的集中、竞争与绩效

各国金融资产配置方式不同 ,银行业的产业组织结构也存在鲜明的差异。与传统的产业组织理论的逻辑推论及其倡导的理想境界可能完全相反 ,由大规模银行组成的相对集中的产业组织结构并不一定导致竞争程度的下降。中国银行业偏高的集中率并不是影响行业竞争程度的原因 ,事实表明 ,中国各银行之间在存贷业务及其他业务上并不缺乏竞争。主要问题在于现有的国有银行经营机制不灵活、效率过低。即使中国银行业大幅度提高了商业化程度 ,银行业的产业组织结构也不宜于过度分散 ,保持相对集中的行业结构 ,可能更有利于提高金融资产的配置效率。     

财政收入、财政支出与居民消费率

从财政政策收入分配功能的角度就财政收支对居民消费率的影响进行了理论分析,并采用全国数据和省级面板数据就财政收支对居民消费率的影响进行了实证分析。研究结果表明,我国过高的税负率对我国居民消费率的提高有负面影响,以间接税为主的财政收入结构不能实现社会财富再分配的均等化,不利于促进我国居民消费率的提高。财政消费性支出对居民消费具有挤出效应,而保障性支出有助于提高居民消费率。因此改变财政收支结构,强化财政收支的收入再分配功能是提高居民消费率的关键。     

Dual market competition and deposit rate setting in Islamic and conventional banks

This paper addresses the issue of competition in dual banking markets by analyzing the determinants of deposit rates in Islamic and conventional banks. Using a sample of 20 countries with dual banking systems over the 2000–2014 period, our results show significant differences in the drivers of Islamic and conventional banks' pricing behavior. Conventional banks with stronger market power set lower deposit rates but market power is not significant for Islamic banks. In predominantly Muslim environments, conventional banks set higher deposit rates and further higher when their market power is lower. Whereas conventional banks are influenced by the competitiveness of Islamic banks, Islamic banks are only affected by their peers in predominantly Muslim countries. Our findings have important implications regarding competition and bank stability in dual banking markets.     

Does the evidence on corruption depend on how it is measured? Results from a cross-country study on microdata sets

While much of the existing literature on corruption looks at the effect of corruption on macro variables such as growth rates and income distribution, this study provides a departure by focussing on victims of corruption by using microdata to compare civilian and business corruption. This study finds that businesses face a stronger incidence of bribe demands than individuals. Though there are several differences between the determinants of the two forms of bribe victimization, there are also some similarities. Policies to combat corruption need to take into account both the differences and the similarities.     

Exchange‐rate volatility and US–Hong Kong industry trade: is there evidence of a ‘third country’ effect?

In an effort to better understand the determinants of trade flows worldwide, researchers have recently incorporated external volatility (in addition to that of the partners’ bilateral exchange rate) into their models. The so‐called ‘third country’ effect is present if adding this term changes the bilateral volatility estimates that are found when external volatility is omitted. This study examines US exports to Hong Kong for 143 industries, and imports from Hong Kong for 110 industries, and finds two key results. First, expected inflation due to Hong Kong's dollar peg leads to increased US exports in a large number of industries. Second, comparing our results with those of a previous study shows strong evidence of a ‘third country’ effect, especially for US imports. Nonparametric tests suggest that these effects differ by sector: for both exports and imports. Manufacturing industries that enjoy a large trade share are less likely to experience this effect once external volatility is incorporated into the analysis.     

Public expenditures and the unemployment rate in the American states: panel evidence

We reexamine the Unemployment Rate (UR) – government expenditure nexus in a panel of 50 State and Local Governments (SLGs) over the period 1977–2006 to provide new pre-recession empirical evidence that helps put the expectations on the effects of the federal relief to SLGs in a broader context. We found that: (1) per capita real public spending (total and capital, assistance and subsidies, wages and salaries, and social insurance categories) was part of a cointegrating relationship with UR and real per capita state personal income. (2) With the exception of social insurance, other spending variables, when statistically significant, actually had a depressing effect on UR. The magnitude of this effect, however, was generally small. UR was most sensitive to increases in wages and salaries. (3) Long-term causality analysis based on panel error-correction coefficients provided consistent evidence of a causal effect from spending to UR, but less consistent evidence of such effect in the opposite direction. Social insurance, however, drove UR. (4) The size of the error-correction coefficients suggested a slow response of UR to deviations from the cointegrating relationship. (5) The marginal effect of spending on UR increased with the amount of the federal grants received. Our results suggest that public spending may not serve as a quick fix in relation to UR. They also seem to favour allocation of the federal funds to wage and salaries and assistance and subsidies, but not to capital and social insurance expenditures to lower UR.     

On the determinants of UK unemployment and the Great Recession: analysing the gross flows data

This article provides a detailed analysis of the gross worker flows data in the United Kingdom between 1997 and 2010, with particular emphasis on the 2008/2009 recession and its aftermath. Utilizing flows data from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the dominant macroeconomic factors driving unemployment in the United Kingdom before, during and after the recessionary period are identified. Amongst the salient findings of this article is a striking decline in job-to-job movements throughout and beyond the recent recession. This discovery adds a new dimension to the existing literature in this field.     

Measuring the natural yield curve

We generalize the concept of the natural rate of interest (Laubach and Williams, 2003; Woodford, 2003) by defining and estimating the natural yield curve (NYC) – the term structure of natural interest rates. Our motivation stems i.a. from the observation that at times when central banks attempt to directly affect long-term interest rates (e.g. via quantitative easing) the gap between the short-term real and natural rate is no more a good indicator of the monetary policy stance. We estimate the NYC on US data, document its main properties and show i.a. that in the period 2008 to 2011 the NYC allows to better capture the US monetary policy stance than the short-term natural rate.