Mechanism Design under Collusion and Uniform Transfers

We study mechanism design under collusion focusing on the transaction costs in coalition formation created by asymmetric information among agents. In our setting, the regulator is constrained to use uniform transfers and this generates room for collusion between the regulated firms. We first show that when the gains from collusion are smaller than a threshold, the firms fail to realize the gains because of transaction costs. When the gains are larger than the threshold, we characterize the optimal collusion‐proof mechanism. Finally, we show that when the regulator is constrained to use uniform transfers, the collusion‐proofness principle does not hold.     

HAS INTERNATIONAL CAPITAL MOBILITY INCREASED IN ASIA? EVIDENCE FROM THE POST‐1997 FINANCIAL CRISIS PERIOD

This paper examines whether international capital mobility in Asia has increased after the 1997 Asian financial crisis by estimating the Feldstein‐Horioka (FH) coefficients using panel cointegration and dynamic OLS regressions. In the benchmark estimation, we find that the FH coefficients of ten Asian economies decrease significantly from 0.65 during the pre‐crisis period to 0.32 during the post‐crisis period. Furthermore, the coefficient for the post‐crisis period is less statistically significant than that for the pre‐crisis period. The extended model estimations with additional control variables controlling for the business cycle, different foreign exchange rate systems, and capital control also show the results which are consistent with the benchmark estimation results. Rolling regressions show a consistently declining trend of the FH coefficients in Asia during our sample period. These results provide consistent evidence, according to the FH proposition, of increasing international capital mobility in Asia during the post‐1997 Asian financial crisis period. (JEL F36, F37, F21)     

The Impact of Lifecycle Events on Women's Labour Force Transitions: A Panel Analysis*

This panel study explores the impact of different lifecycle events on women's labour force transitions. We explicitly investigate whether the factors that determine entry into the labour force differ from the factors that determine withdrawal from the labour force. The results demonstrate that labour force transitions – entry and withdrawal – occur more frequently among young women. The event of childbirth is strongly associated with labour force withdrawal, while marital separation and reductions in family earnings are strongly associated with labour force entry. Moreover, labour force transition probabilities are more sensitive to income‐reducing events than to income‐supplementing events.     

Understanding Intellectual Capital in an Innovative Medium-sized Firm: The Case Of Maxon Telecom

In many firms and in many industrialised countries, innovation is regarded as fundamental to growth and wealth creation. However, it is not easy to define a measure of innovation that is a leading indicator for value creation. This would imply a linear model of knowledge as a simple input to value-creating processes. Instead, intellectual capital is suggested as an alternative, employing a (non-linear) narrative of how knowledge works. This is illustrated by the case of a medium-sized Danish firm which accounts for the relationship between knowledge and innovation by using a network of a knowledge narrative, management challenges, efforts and numbers.     

Financial Knowledge and Child Development Account Policy: A Test of Financial Capability

This study examines how study participants' financial knowledge and participation in a Child Development Account intervention affects 529 College Savings Plan account holding among caregivers of infants. The study uses data from the SEED for Oklahoma Kids (N = 2,651), a statewide randomized experiment using a probability sample of infants selected from birth records. Results of logit regression show that participants' financial knowledge is positively related to account holding in the treatment group but not in the control group. The interactive effects between financial knowledge and treatment status are statistically significant. This finding implies that the effect of financial knowledge on financial decisions related to college savings is moderated by institutional features, such as incentives, information and access. Results of this study support the propositions of financial capability and suggest that expanding financial capability requires both improved individual financial knowledge and supportive policy .