Is Downward Wage Flexibility the Primary Factor of Japan's Prolonged Deflation?

By using both macro‐ and micro‐level data, this paper investigates how wages and prices evolved during Japan's lost two decades. We find that downward nominal wage rigidity was present in Japan until the late 1990s, but disappeared after 1998 as annual wages became downwardly flexible. Moreover, nominal wage flexibility may have contributed to Japan's relatively low unemployment rates. Although macro‐level movements in nominal wages and prices seemed to be synchronized, such synchronicity is not observed at the industry level. Therefore, wage deflation does not seem to be a primary factor of Japan's prolonged deflation.     

Output-Inflation Trade-Off at Near-Zero Inflation Rates

The purpose of this paper is to provide new evidence about the cost of near-zero inflation using Japanese data. We test the hypothesis that the short-run Phillips curve becomes flatter as the rate of inflation approaches zero. In implementing the test, we pay special attention to how to control for other factors affecting the rate of inflation. First, we use the skewness of the distribution of relative-price changes as a measure of supply shocks. Second, we use information contained in the cross-prefecture Phillips curve to control for changes in the expected rate of inflation. Through a series of empirical analyses, we find evidences consistent with the hypothesis. In particular, we find that the estimated slope in the 1990s is smaller than before. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 2000, 14(4), pp. 304–326. Research and Statistics Department, Bank of Japan and Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: E31, E50     

Good jump,bad jump,and option valuation

I develop a new class of closed‐form option pricing models that incorporate variance risk premium and symmetric or asymmetric double exponential jump diffusion. These models decompose the jump component into upward and downward jumps using two independent exponential distributions and thus capture the impact of good and bad news on asset returns and option prices. The empirical results show that the model with an asymmetric double exponential jump diffusion improves the fit on Shanghai Stock Exchange 50ETF returns and options and provides relatively better in‐ and out‐of‐sample pricing performance.     

“营改增”的减税效应——基于DSGE模型的分析

在新凯恩斯的分析框架下,根据中国经济的实际发展情况,构建了包括家庭、中间品厂商、最终品厂商、中央银行以及财政部门在内的动态随机一般均衡（DSGE）模型,评估了“营改增”的减税效应。对“营改增”减税效应的评估从两个维度进行：首先,把流转税领域税负减轻作为一个外生冲击,分析了社会总产出、消费水平、政府支出、劳动水平、工资水平、投资和资本存量等宏观经济变量的变动趋势;其次,构建了“营改增”前后两个不同的政策环境,并模拟了投资下降的经济下行冲击,对比分析了减税前后总产出对外生冲击的反应程度。研究发现：“营改增”虽然降低了政府部门的税收收入,但其减税效应能促进产出和消费的增加,激发整个经济的增长潜力;目前的改革力度在应对经济下行压力时尚没有发挥出预期的效果。     

Emergence versus neoclassical reductions in economics

ABSTRACT

Many epistemic anomalies of the neoclassical research programme originate from its ontologically reductionist meta-axioms, which predicate how economic macro-systems are constituted from their micro-entities and how the latter behave – namely atomistic aggregativity, normative equilibration and global instrumental rationality. This paper explores the metaphysical foundations of the premise of emergence and argues that it can be a remedy to the ills of neoclassical reductions, and a foundational epistemic principle in a progressive systemic research programme in economics, which would bridge existing streams of ‘heterodox’ economic theory.     

可转债上市公司调整转股价格的行为及影响分析

摘要：可转债是兼有股票期权和债券性质的复合型金融衍生品。为促使投资者尽快将可转债转换为股票,上市公司的常见做法是向下调整转股价格。因此,研究上市公司调整转股价格的行为及其影响十分必要。本文首先分析了现有可转债上市公司近五年调整转股价格的行为及其原因,并将其行为分为自然调整和主动向下修正两类;然后着重研究上市公司主动向下修正转股价格的行为对转股比例、股票价格、可转债价格j者的影响,最后得出相应结论。     

Downward Nominal Wage Rigidity and Determinacy of Equilibrium

It is well known in the literature that there is a tension between the frequency and duration of the zero lower bound (ZLB) on the nominal interest rate and the determinacy of equilibrium. In this short paper, I show that the presence of downward nominal wage rigidity (DNWR) resolves the tension by preventing a vicious cycle of price declines and output contractions under the ZLB. Consequently, the model with DNWR can replicate the long-lived ZLB episodes observed in the data. It also implies a plausible size of output and inflation declines at the ZLB.     

Enhancing the role of accountability in promoting the rights of beneficiaries of development NGOs

This paper identifies and assesses the extent to which downward accountability mechanisms in nongovernmental development organisations (NGDOs) have had the potential in practice to contribute to the effectiveness of rights‐based approaches to development. The paper draws on evidence gathered from a detailed documentary analysis and a series of in‐depth interviews undertaken with senior individuals working in the Irish NGDO sector. The analysis indicates variations in practice with regard to the substantive implementation of key downward accountability mechanisms. The accountability‐in‐practice revealed suggests that challenges to substantive implementation have arisen due to: insufficient Irish NGDO attention to oversight of downward accountability within locally based partner NGDOs; a reluctance and/or inability to transfer influence to locally based partner NGDOs by allowing them some influence on Irish NGDO governance and strategy; the perceived control of locally based partner NGDOs by local elites who may be distant from, and unrepresentative of, local communities; and a perception that locally based partner NGDOs may not require downward accountability. Drawing on these findings, the paper makes some suggestions aimed at helping to transform the rhetorical NGDO commitment to downward accountability into real practices that can contribute substantively to the realisation of the key elements of the rights‐based approach to development.