THE DYNAMICS OF REAL EXCHANGE RATES: A RECONSIDERATION

In this paper we offer a bootstrap‐based version of the Cox specification test for non‐nested hypothesis to discriminate between ESTAR and MSAR models. Both models are commonly used for modeling real exchange rates dynamics. We show that the test has good size and power properties in finite samples. In an application, we analyze several major real exchange rates to shed light on the question of which model describes these processes best. This allows us to draw conclusions about the driving forces of real exchange rates. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A push to cycling—exploring the e-bike's role in overcoming barriers to bicycle use with a survey and an intervention study

In Norway, as in many countries, there is a political goal to increase bicycle use. The electric bicycle (e-bike) is a promising tool for achieving this goal, given the hilliness of the country. However, little is yet known about the deterrents of cycling in Norway in general, and in particular how the purchase of an e-bike could be stimulated.

In the current study, 5500 respondents from a convenience sample among car owners were asked about their perceptions of bicycling in general, and of e-bikes in particular as well as their willingness to pay (WTP) for an e-bike. Randomly selected participants (N = 66) were given access to an e-bike for a limited time (2 or 4 weeks). A second questionnaire captured the same perceptions and WTP post-intervention. The results were compared with a control group (N = 214).

The results showed that those who cycle the least were most interested in buying an e-bike and that prior knowledge of the e-bike corresponded with a higher desire to buy one. Pro-environmental values did not predict interest in e-bikes, neither did norms and attitudes toward cycling. The WTP for an e-bike increased after having experienced the benefits for those who used an e-bike compared to those who did not. Price reduction of the e-bike (e.g. VAT exemption), spread of knowledge among the wider population, and actions to offer an e-bike experience may therefore be effective strategies for further expansion of the e-bike in the transport system and thereby to increase bicycle use in Norway.     

Exploring the Existence of Local and Global Knowledge Spillovers:Evidence from Plant‐Level Data*

We investigate the existence of local (within‐country) and global (between‐country) knowledge spillovers within a single analytical framework. Our study is based on a detailed database of domestically owned and foreign‐affiliated manufacturing plants located in Ireland. The results of our econometric analysis show that domestically owned plants benefit from the research and development (R&D) activities of other domestically owned plants, as well as from R&D activities conducted in the country of origin of foreign‐owned plants through their presence in Ireland. A fundamental difference between such locally generated and locally transmitted global spillovers appears to be that the latter are much less constrained by distance decay effects.     

Understanding Gordon Tullock

Gordon Tullock was rational to a fault, and he tried to insist that others be fully rational, confronting all with any inconsistency in their thinking. He loved to be shocking. He was also quite generous. Tullock’s willingness to take a chance, as editor of Public Choice, on a paper that he did not understand led to the publication of the most widely cited paper ever published in the journal.     

Vier Jahre Eurokrise: Wege zu neuem Systemvertrauen

Political gridlock, violations of European law and inconsistent political communication have turned the euro crisis into a crisis of confidence in public policy. To re-establish trust in the system, Europe needs a comprehensive approach consisting of three elements. First, rules can invigorate societies if they provide for cross-border competition in a revived single market and abstain from top-down provisions. Second, new growth perspectives — e.g. by reassigning major parts of the EU budget — can enhance the selfconfidence of societies. And finally, a pan-European debate on common goals and values can help answer the essential question of Europe’s sense and purpose. As the euro can only ever enjoy as much trust as the institutions governing the euro area, the solution of the European confidence crisis is crucial to the fate of the common currency.     

Peace, Justice, and Economic Reform

Abstract . Is justice necessary for peace? There can be no justice while people have unresolved grievances, but peace is more than the absence of strife. It is harmony. Justice is the principles of equality and evenhandedness that command and prohibit the use of force in resolving conflicts. Justice is not necessary for peace, but it does facilitate it. Conservative, majoritarian, egalitarian and contractarian efforts to specify justice all fail to respect persons in crucial ways and cannot be expected to lead to peace. The justice that leads to peace is classical liberalism, with its insistence that each person own himself or herself, augmented by the principle of equal rights to the opportunities provided by nature, as advanced by Henry George.     

The impact of mechanized processing of cassava on farmers’ production efficiency in Uganda

The study investigates the impact of adopting mechanized processing of cassava on farmers’ production efficiency in Uganda. A stochastic production function, using translog functional form, was used to compare efficiency measures of farmers in mechanized cassava-processing villages compared with the farmers in nonmechanized cassava-processing villages in 2014. Given the specification of the translog production function, the mean technical efficiencies of the farmers were 0.69 and 0.52 in mechanized and nonmechanized villages, respectively. The significant determinants of technical inefficiency among the respondents are farming experience, education, membership of farmer association, access to markets, sale of cassava to processors and farmers who planted cassava as sole crop are all negative, which confirm to a priori expectations and significant at different levels. The policy implication of the study is that mechanization of cassava processing, particularly if done at the right scale, could create demand that can transform primary production for increased yields, higher incomes and production efficiency of smallholder farmers who constitute a significant proportion of Uganda’s agricultural sector.     

Zillmerung, Stille Reserven, Intransparenz der Vertragsabwicklung — die Todsünden der Lebensversicherung?

Life Assurance is a very complex, but highly efficient product for individual risk management and old-age insurance. Yet some of its features, mainly connected with profit participation, are sometimes difficult to understand or explain — this is particularly true for the role of Zillmerisation and the use of hidden reserves in the smoothing process which typically is part of profit participation of german life assurance products. Also, Life Assurance is often considered to be an intransparent product. The author expresses his view that Zillmerisation, Hidden Reserves and Intransparency are not ?deadly sins“ of Life Assurance but guarantors of a verifiable product efficiency which finally is of benefit to policy holders. He explains the function of the said product features and substantiates his view by a number of qualitative arguments and quantitative examples.     

The Jerome Levy Economic Institute Conference:

The Jerome Levy Economic Institute at Bard College presented a program arranged by Professor Kris Feder on “Land Wealth and Poverty,” on November 2-4,1995, Two of the talks presented are here reproduced with more to follow in subsequent issues of this Journal. J. Ted Gwartney, former senior appraisal officer of the Bank of America presented the view that a 4% tax on the value of land, as broadly defined, could provide revenue adequate for the removal of all other taxes. Professor Nicolaus Tideman argued the case of morality of taxation at the local level.