Moving markets? Government bond investors and microeconomic policy changes

Do sovereign bond markets react systematically to microeconomic policy reforms? Some observers suggest that investors are very attentive to supply‐side policies such as those related to labor markets, corporate taxation, and product standards. They argue that, along with macroeconomic outcomes and broad financial market conditions, such reforms affect sovereign bond premiums, for developed as well as emerging economies. In contrast, we predict few systematic effects of supply‐side policy reforms on sovereign bond market outcomes. Our theory draws on a standard three‐equation model of the economy, widely accepted among economic and finance professionals. That model makes few clear predictions regarding the anticipated effects of microeconomic policy changes; as a result, we expect that such reforms will not generate systematic market reactions. Our analyses, based on daily data from 37 countries from 2004 to 2012, indeed reveal little evidence of a systematic bond market reaction to the 47 most significant reforms to corporate taxation and labor market regulation. These results call into question the notion that “bond market vigilantes” play a central role in compelling governments to enact specific microeconomic policy changes.     

Money and the emergence of knowledge in society

This paper deals with money’s epistemic relevance in society. Money presents theoretical difficulties for neoclassical economics, which treats it as a cost-reducing tool, leading to a socially neutral, aseptic view on money. Drawing from complexity and social theory I provide a socio-epistemic rationalization for money’s irreplaceable role. Building upon Ingham’s Money Is a Social Relation, I argue that money generates a new orderly system of complex social relations that in turn engenders knowledge as an emergent social and ontological phenomenon irreducible to the fragmented knowledge held by members of society. I show that ultimately money cannot be separated from economic knowledge and market rationality. This paper provides sociological and ontological accounts for the emergence of knowledge crucial to coordinate societies, thus extending recent explorations of the ontology of money.     

Trade law and trade flows

This paper develops and estimates a model to study the effect of improving the quality of commercial trade law on trade flows. We focus on improvements aimed to privately resolve disputes among trading partners: international commercial arbitration and conciliation. The main novelty of the model is to explicit the balance between the contractual quality of importer and exporter (contractual distance) in an environment with informational frictions (contractual noise). Using a structural gravity estimation with high-dimensional fixed effects, the main contribution of the empirical exercise is to confirm previous results and unravel new traits that align with our theoretical results. Arbitration has a moderate and positive effect on exports that increases (decreases) with the contractual quality of the exporter (importer) and the remoteness of markets. The effects of conciliation are similarly positive, but only for similar trading partners with high levels of income. Results also suggest both domestic trade law reform and international treaties have a positive effect on trade, with a stronger effect of the latter.     

Is FDI doing good? A golden rule for FDI ethics

Ethical and economic perspectives on foreign direct investment (FDI) often appear in opposing frameworks. To combat this antagonism, this research proposes a consolidation between foreign private wealth and general welfare in host countries. The first contribution of this study is to provide a comprehensive conceptual approach to the study of FDI ethics. The second key contribution is to present empirical analysis of the differential influence of the level of democratic rights on foreign employment, new projects, and FDI capital flows. Results suggest that FDI incentivizes general welfare in least developed countries with high degrees of volatility. Additionally, policymakers face a dilemma in which democracy and legal rights seem to be mutually incompatible with fostering foreign employment. Practitioners find a way to evaluate the ethical implications of international business activities. The study analyzes FDI data from 161 countries between 2003 and 2010 by means of the FDI gravity equation.     

The robust political economy of central banking and free banking

This paper uses robust political economy to assess whether free banking or central banking can better use its institutional structures to minimize macroeconomic disequilibrium. Robust frameworks leverage their incentives, reward structures, and epistemic resources to achieve monetary policy objectives. We relax the assumptions of political pressure, self-interest, and the degree of decision makers’ knowledge to see which arrangements are more robust.     

Play Hard,Shirk Hard? The Effect of Bar Hours Regulation on Worker Absence

The regulation of alcohol availability has the potential to influence worker productivity. This paper uses legislative changes in bar opening hours to provide a potential quasi‐natural experiment of the effect of alcohol availability on working effort, focusing on worker absenteeism. We examine two recent policy changes, one in England/Wales and one in Spain that increased and decreased opening hours respectively. We demonstrate a robust positive causal link between opening hours and absenteeism, although short‐lived for Spain. The effect is long lasting for the UK where we provide evidence which suggests that increased alcohol consumption is a key mechanism.     

Conceptualising ‘shadow landscape’ in political ecology and rural studies

This paper develops the concept of ‘shadow landscape’ in order to describe the essential otherness and seemingly distinctive if ever contingent properties of in-between rural places characterised by historical depopulation and cultural marginalisation. It does so first of all through a critically sympathetic assessment of how these areas have been portrayed in the fields of political ecology and rural studies. In political ecology, reference has long been made to ‘depopulated areas’ whereas in rural studies there has been recently talk of ‘marginal cultures’. The result tends to be a ‘pre-given socio-spatial container’ (Zimmerer and Bassett, 2003) that often obscures more than it reveals about these distinctive locations. The paper thereafter outlines the concept of shadow landscape as a means by which to understand these areas, and does so via a discussion of marginality, scale, socio-nature and ‘cultures of depopulation’. In the process, some of the key material and discursive issues that surround these ‘imagined communities’ are brought into focus. The conclusion considers a future research agenda based on an understanding shaped by the concept of shadow landscape.     

Social spatial changes： Booster for a new regional policy——The event of Silao and Romita counties in Guanajuato Mexico

Today, one of the most important phenomenons is the movement of Capital and the expansion of its investments, as well as the use of resources worldwide. The movement of Capital, is changing the local space and the territories, because is not a homogeneous process; they are not in the same way and rhythm, this is because they don＇t get in the same way to global dynamics. The reorganization of the world, because the movements in Capital is a challenge, that is why, the analysis of regions demand new and different views, to boost regional development. We can tell that since a long time ago, had been developing theories and proposals not good enough, for this reason we must think to generate new proposals. The goal of this paper, is to expose the social and territorial changes in Silao and Romita Counties in the state of Guanajuato Mexico, as a result of the relocation of economic activities that lead us to start a new regional policy, that gives more satisfactory results and think about a regional policy that could reflex about territorial development focuses, specially for a public policy.     

The rural as a site of recreation: evidence and contradictions in Spain from a geographical perspective

There is a wide range of individual or collective interpretations of the conceptualisation of rurality. Rural tourism (RT) is a key component in the politics of rural spaces in Europe and, consequently, is clearly associated with the debate about rurality in each country. In addition to RT, this paper studies the framework of commoditisation, associated with its distinct character in each situation, depending on the actors involved in each process, policy or manifestation. It also discusses the role of tourism in generating different notions of rurality among the Spanish regional authorities. The information source used here consists in the critical analysis of national and regional regulations and the policy documents on RT since 1960. The paper finally concludes that RT is an important factor in the generation of different perspectives of rurality in Spain, which corresponds to its main role, rather than its socioeconomic effects, which have been limited to counteracting the effects of the rural exodus.