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Volume 4 Issue 1

Issue of Economics

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Contents
Journal Overview

The Knowledge-Based Society: Transition, Geography, and Competition Policy

Open Access January 11, 2010

Endogenous Technology Sharing in R&D Intensive Industries

Derek J. Clark, Jan Yngve Sand

Article number: 20100001

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Abstract

This paper analyses endogenous formation of technology sharing coalitions with asymmetric firms. Coalition partners produce complementary technology advancements, although firms do not co-operate on R&D investment level or in the product market. The equilibrium coalition outcome is either between the two most efficient firms, or a coalition with all three firms. The two-firm coalition is the preferred outcome of a welfare maximising authority if ex ante marginal cost is sufficiently high, and the three-firm coalition is preferred otherwise. Furthermore, we show that the equilibrium outcomes result in the lowest total R&D investment of all possible outcomes. Aircraft engine manufacturing provides a case study, and indicates the importance of antitrust issues as an addition to the theory.

Open Access April 8, 2010

The Effect of Technological Innovation on International Trade

Laura Márquez-Ramos, Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso

Article number: 20100011

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Abstract

In this paper, the effect of technological innovation on sectoral exports is analysed using a gravity model of trade. The technological achievement index (TAI) and its four components, creation of technology, diffusion of old innovations, diffusion of recent innovations and human skills, are used as proxies for technological innovation. The two first components are considered proxies for knowledge acquisition and assimilation (potential absorptive capacity), whereas the last two are taken as proxies for knowledge transformation and exploitation (realised absorptive capacity). We hypothesise that the effect of technological innovation on trade could vary according to the technological achievement by generating a non-linear relationship between technological innovation and trade. Our findings indicate a positive and non-linear effect of technological innovation on export performance, which indicates that there are thresholds for positive signs to occur. To foster exports, countries have to consider not only acquisition and assimilation capabilities, but also transformation and exploitation capabilities once a minimum level of potential absorptive capacity has been achieved.

Open Access April 29, 2010

Minimum Quality Standards and Novelty Requirements in a One-Short Development Race

Jacek Prokop, Pierre Regibeau, Katharine Rockett

Article number: 20100015

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Abstract

We examine the timing and quality of product introduction in an R&D stopping game, where we allow for horizontal and vertical differentiation in the product market. We observe that discontinuous changes in introduction dates can occur as firms’ abilities as researchers change. Further, when the research abilities of the firms differ, either the high ability firm or the low ability firm may be the first mover. The underlying research abilities of the firms determine the social optimality of the entry patterns we observe. Minimum quality standards and novelty requirements can play a role in correcting these suboptimal patterns of entry. While minimum quality standards increase welfare for a large range of research abilities, we find that increasing the novelty requirement does not necessarily increase either the profits or, consequently, the research investment incentives of the initial innovator, contrary to much of the cumulative innovation literature. Indeed, as the effect of policy interventions differs significantly across industries where quality improvement is steep and those where it is flat, targeted policies towards specific industries as are often observed in minimum quality standards are generally preferable to more broad-based policies.

Open Access December 18, 2010

Diversity of Science Linkages: A Survey of Innovation Performance Effects and Some Evidence from Flemish Firms

Bruno Cassiman, Reinhilde Veugelers, Pluvia Zuniga

Article number: 20100033

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Abstract

This paper discusses the diversity of mechanisms which firms can deploy to link to science and how science links are associated with their innovation performance. Using a sample of Flemish firms, we show that there exists considerable heterogeneity in the type of links to science at the firm level. Overall, firms with a science link enjoy superior innovation performance, in particular with respect to innovations that are new to the market. At the invention level, our findings confirm that patents from firms engaged in science are more frequently cited and have a broader technological and geographical impact. We show that it is crucial to distinguish between direct science links at the invention level and indirect science links at the firm level to encounter distinct positive effects.

Global Governance—Challenges and Proposals for Reform

Open Access January 13, 2010

Global Governance: The G20 and a Global Green New Deal

Edward B. Barbier

Article number: 20100002

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Abstract

As the world recovers from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the international community should promote a mix of policies to sustain this global recovery and create jobs through reducing carbon dependency, ecological degradation and poverty. Such a Global Green New Deal (GGND) requires a long-term commitment to implementing and coordinating “green investments” by the Group of 20 (G20), who should also adopt complementary pricing policies and foster international aid and other actions in support of the GGND. Developing economies should provide clean water and sanitation for the poor, create safety nets, invest in heath and education, and target energy and water poverty. Such a global strategy can revive economies, create jobs and improve the sustainability of world development.

Open Access February 1, 2010

The Multilateral Donor Non-System: Towards Accountability and Efficient Role Assignment

Helmut Reisen

Article number: 20100005

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Abstract

Global governance refers to several pillars; one important pillar is the multilateral aid architecture. Its reform can be discussed under the perspectives of representativeness, inclusiveness, and efficiency (of aid delivery). A prerequisite for efficient aid delivery is to map the rising complexity of multilateral development finance, to help identify areas for consolidation, address fragmentation and poor co-ordination at country level, and help identify comparative advantages for an institutional role assignment among multilateral agencies. After doing just that, the paper explores why the multilateral donors have proliferated and provides broad recommendations for a more efficient and accountable multilateral donor system.

Open Access November 4, 2010

An Enabling Mechanism for the Creation, Adjustment, and Dissolution of States and Governmental Units

Kjell Hausken, John F. Knutsen

Article number: 20100032

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Abstract

The article proposes an enabling mechanism for the creation, adjustment and dissolution of governmental units, giving autonomy to each individual as in a direct democracy. The mechanism is designed such that Pareto optimality is possible, in contrast to earlier models which make various assumptions such as majority voting. Individuals are taken seriously acknowledging that they are best equipped to find their own solutions. The emphasis is on the practical approach of how individuals discover and implement their subjective preferences and how this discovery and implementation process can be facilitated and corresponding costs lowered. Governmental units are subjected to some of the same market forces as business firms. This brings the interaction between governmental units closer to a market structure, and serves to eliminate or reduce many of the coercive elements of government.

Regular

Open Access January 13, 2010

A Tale of Two Debt Crises: A Stochastic Optimal Control Analysis

Jerome L. Stein

Article number: 20100003

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Abstract

Creditors, banks and bank regulators should evaluate whether a borrower is likely to default. I apply several techniques in the extensive mathematical literature of stochastic optimal control/dynamic programming to derive an optimal debt in an environment where there are risks on both the asset and liabilities sides. The vulnerability of the borrowing firm to shocks from either the return to capital, the interest rate or capital gain, increases in proportion to the difference between the Actual and Optimal debt ratio, called the excess debt. As the debt ratio exceeds the optimum, default becomes ever more likely. This paper is “A Tale of Two Crises” because the same analysis is applied to the agricultural debt crisis of the 1980s and to the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007. A measure of excess debt is derived, and we show that it is an early warning signal of a crisis in both cases.

Open Access January 26, 2010

Statistical Theories of Income and Wealth Distribution

Anindya S. Chakrabarti, Bikas K. Chakrabarti

Article number: 20100004

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Abstract

The distributions of income and wealth in countries across the world are found to possess some robust and stable features independent of the specific economic, social and political conditions of the countries. We discuss a few physics-inspired multi-agent dynamic models along with their microeconomic counterparts, that can produce the statistical features of the distributions observed in reality. A number of exact analytical methods and solutions are also provided.

Open Access February 17, 2010

Selection Wages and Discrimination

Ekkehart Schlicht

Article number: 20100006

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Abstract

Applicants for any given job are more or less suited to fill it, and the firm will select the best among them. Increasing the wage offer attracts more applicants and makes it possible to raise the hiring standard, thereby improving the productivity of the staff. Wages that optimize on the trade-off between the wage level and the productivity of the workforce are known as selection wages. As men react more strongly to wage differentials than females, the trade-off is more pronounced for men and a profit-maximizing firm will offer a higher wage for men than for women in equilibrium. The argument is not confined to issues of sex discrimination; rather it is of relevance for all labor markets where labor heterogeneity is important and supply elasticities vary systematically across occupations.

Open Access April 22, 2010

Ex-Ante Regulation and Ex-Post Liability under Uncertainty and Irreversibility: Governing the Coexistence of GM Crops

Volker Beckmann, Claudio Soregaroli, Justus Wesseler

Article number: 20100009

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Abstract

Ex-ante regulations and ex-post liabilities for using a new technology will induce additional costs for adopters. The standard model is advanced by including irreversibility and uncertainty and taking into account transaction costs of negotiating possible cost reductions. The case analysed is the coexistence policy for GM crops in the European Union. Results show, the design of the rules and regulations can provide strong incentives for regional agglomeration of GM and non-GM farmers.

Open Access March 19, 2010

Occupational Upgrading and the Business Cycle in West Germany

Thomas Büttner, Peter Jacobebbinghaus, Johannes Ludsteck

Article number: 20100010

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Abstract

The occupational skill structure depends on the business cycle if employers respond to shortages of applicants during upturns by lowering their hiring standards. Devereux uses this implication to construct empirical tests for the notion of hiring standards adjustment (the so-called Reder hypothesis) and finds affirmative evidence for the U.S labour market. The authors replicate his analysis using German employment register data. Regarding the occupational skill composition they obtain somewhat lower but qualitatively similar responses to the business cycle despite of well known institutional differences between the U.S. and German labour market. The responsiveness of occupational composition wages to the business cycle is considerably lower in Germany.

Open Access February 17, 2010

Yes, We Should Discount the Far-Distant Future at Its Lowest Possible Rate: A Resolution of the Weitzman–Gollier Puzzle

Mark C. Freeman

Article number: 20100013

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Abstract

In this paper the author proves that the Expected Net Future Value (ENFV) criterion can lead a risk neutral social planner to reject projects that increase expected utility. By contrast, the Expected Net Present Value (ENPV) rule correctly identifies the economic value of the project. While the ENFV increases with uncertainty over future interest rates, the expected utility decreases because of the planner’s desire to smooth consumption across time. This paper therefore shows that Weitzman (1998) is “right” and that, within his economy, the far-distant future should be discounted at its lowest possible rate.

Open Access May 20, 2010

Price-Concentration Analysis in Merger Cases with Differentiated Products

Walter Beckert, Nicola Mazzarotto

Article number: 20100016

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Abstract

This paper considers the empirical assessment of the relationship between prices and number of firms in local markets in geographic or, more generally, characteristic space and its use as evidence in merger cases. It outlines a structural, semi-nonparametric econometric model of competition in such markets, examines its testable implications in terms of price-concentration relationships, and demonstrates that the model is non-parametrically identified. This general approach to price-concentration analysis in differentiated product markets is illustrated in a small-scale application to cinemas in the UK. The application highlights the main decision points faced by an authority when assessing the weight that can be attached to this type of analysis as evidence.

Open Access May 21, 2010

Investigating the Exponential Age Distribution of Firms

Alex Coad

Article number: 20100017

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Abstract

While several plots of the aggregate age distribution suggest that firm age is exponentially distributed, we find some departures from the exponential benchmark. At the lower tail, we find that very young establishments are more numerous than expected, but they face high exit hazards. At the upper tail, the oldest firms are older than the exponential would have predicted. Furthermore, the age distribution of disaggregated industries (such as the international airline industry) is less regular and can display multimodality. Although we focused on departures from the exponential, we found that the exponential was a useful reference point and endorse it as an appropriate benchmark for future work on industrial structure.

Open Access July 8, 2010

News versus Sunspot Shocks in a New Keynesian Model

Lilia Karnizova

Article number: 20100019

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Abstract

Separately, news and sunspot shocks have been shown empirically to be determinants of changes in expectations. This paper considers both of them together in a simple New Keynesian monetary business cycle model. A full set of rational expectations solutions is derived analytically. The analytical characterization allows an explicit comparison of news about future monetary policy and sunspots. The key distinction between the shocks lies in their relation to the realized policy shock. If monetary policy is “passive”, both types of shocks affect model dynamics through forecast errors. The effect of the news on forecast errors is not unique, and the dynamics induced by news and sunspot shocks can be observationally equivalent. If monetary policy is “active”, the sunspots are irrelevant, and the model responses to the news shocks are unique. In both cases, news shocks strengthen the endogenous propagation of the model, since anticipation of future changes prolongs agents’ reaction. Keywords: news shocks, sunspots, expectations, monetary policy, indeterminacy.

Open Access August 5, 2010

Housing Wealth Isn’t Wealth

Willem H. Buiter

Article number: 20100022

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Abstract

A fall in house prices due to a change in fundamental value redistributes wealth from those long housing (for whom the fundamental value of the house they own exceeds the present discounted value of their planned future consumption of housing services) to those short housing. In a closed economy representative agent model (the special case when the birth rate is zero, of the Yaari-Blanchard OLG model used in the paper), there is no pure wealth effect on consumption from a change in house prices if this represents a change in their fundamental value. When the birth rate is positive, higher fundamental house prices driven by the housing demand of future generations will boost current consumption. There is a pure wealth effect on consumption from a change in house prices even in the representative agent model, if this reflects a change in the speculative bubble component of house prices. Two other channels through which a fall in house prices can affect aggregate consumption are (1) redistribution effects if the marginal propensity to spend out of wealth differs between those long housing (the old, say) and those short housing (the young, say) and (2) collateral or credit effects due to the collateralisability of housing wealth and the non-collateralisability of human wealth. A decline in house prices reduces the scope for mortgage equity withdrawal. For given sequences of future after-tax labour income and interest rates, a fall in house prices will then depress consumption in the short run while boosting it in the long run.

Open Access August 31, 2010

Globalisation as a ‘Good Times’ Phenomenon: A Search-Based Explanation

T. Huw Edwards

Article number: 20100024

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Abstract

Globalisation is associated with long periods of sustained economic growth and credit expansion, whereas major recessions tend to lead to falling trade and protectionism. The sensitivity of trade to global economic conditions is not simply driven by policy: rather, in a model of costly search, firms who are engaged in a searching process are very sensitive to changing economic circumstances. In turn, this causes protectionism to be partly endogenous, since optimal noncooperative tariffs can be high during periods when the sensitive, searching firms have exited the market.

Open Access October 4, 2010

Monopoly Innovation and Welfare Effects

Shuntian Yao, Lydia Gan

Article number: 20100027

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Abstract

In this paper we study the welfare effect of a monopoly innovation. Unlike many partial equilibrium models carried out in previous studies, general equilibrium models are constructed and analyzed in greater detail. We discover that technical innovation carried out by a monopolist could significantly increase the social welfare. We conclude that, in general, the criticism against monopoly innovation based on its increased deadweight loss is less accurate than previously postulated by many studies.

Open Access October 4, 2010

A Study of Price Evolution in Online Toy Market

Zhenlin Yang, Lydia Gan, Fang-Fang Tang

Article number: 20100028

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Abstract

We study and contrast pricing and price evolution of online only (Dotcom) and online branch of multi-channel retailers (OBMCRs) based on two panel data sets collected from online toy markets. Panel data regression analyses reveal several interesting empirical results: over time, OBMCRs and Dotcoms charge similar prices on average but Dotcoms significantly increase their shipping costs that eventually drive the overall average price of Dotcoms higher than that of OBMCRs. Price dispersions of both types of retailers are persistent. The price dispersion of OBMCRs is higher than that of Dotcoms at the beginning and does not change much over time, but the price dispersion of Dotcoms increases significantly over time, indicating that the latter will eventually be higher than the former. Moreover, the OBMCRs charge significantly different prices, but the Dotcoms charge similar prices.

Open Access October 6, 2010

A Micro-Economic Approach to Geographic Market Definition on Local Retail Markets: Demand Side Considerations

Walter Beckert

Article number: 20100029

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Abstract

This paper formalizes an empirically implementable framework for the definition of local antitrust markets in retail markets. This framework rests on a demand model that captures the trade-off between distance and pecuniary cost across alternative shopping destinations within local markets. The paper develops, and presents estimation results for, an empirical demand model at the store level for groceries in the UK.

Open Access October 15, 2010

Increased Price Markup from Union Coordination – OECD Panel Evidence

Roger Bjørnstad, Kjartan Øren Kalstad

Article number: 20100030

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Abstract

Although coordination of wage bargaining probably affects entry barriers and competition in product markets, research on price determination has typically not considered such factors. We argue that the price markup depends on wage setting institutions and present empirical evidence in form of estimated price equations in a panel of 15 OECD countries. The estimates show that consumer prices may be as much as 21 percent higher in coordinated compared to uncoordinated countries, solely due to the effect of coordination on the markup. Since other studies find that coordination has a dampening effect on wages, this may explain why there is no clear effect of coordination on unemployment.

Managing Financial Instability in Capitalist Economies

Open Access February 19, 2010

Disclosure Requirements, the Release of New Information and Market Efficiency: New Insights from Agent-based Models

Oliver Hermsen, Björn-Christopher Witte, Frank Westerhoff

Article number: 20100007

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Abstract

We explore how disclosure requirements that regulate the release of new information may affect the dynamics of financial markets. Our analysis is based on three agent-based financial market models that are able to produce realistic financial market dynamics. We discover that the average deviation between market prices and fundamental values increases if new information is released with a delay, while the average price volatility is virtually unaffected by such regulations. Interestingly, the tails of the distribution of returns become fatter if fundamental data is released less continuously, indicating an increase in financial market risk.

Open Access February 23, 2010

Transaction Taxes and Traders with Heterogeneous Investment Horizons in an Agent-Based Financial Market Model

Markus Demary

Article number: 20100008

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Abstract

This agent-based financial market model is a generalization of the model of Westerhoff (The Use of Agent-Based Financial Market Models to Test the Effectiveness of Regulatory Policies) by traders who are allowed to have different investment horizons as introduced by Demary (Who Does a Currency Transaction Tax Harm More: Short-Term Speculators or Long-Term Investors?). Our research goals are, first, to study what consequences the introduction of heterogeneous investment horizons has for agent-based financial market models, and second, how effective transaction taxes are in stabilizing financial markets. Numerical simulations reveal that under sufficiently small tax rates traders abstain from short-term trading in favour of longer investment horizons. This change in behavior leads to less volatility and less mispricings. When the tax rate exceeds a certain threshold, however, mispricings increase as also found in Westerhoff (Heterogeneous Traders and the Tobin Tax and The Use of Agent-Based Financial Market Models to Test the Effectiveness of Regulatory Policies). This emergent property is due to the fact that taxation reduces short-term fluctuations and causes longer lasting trends in the exchange rate. As a result, the longer term fundamentalist trading rule becomes unpopular in favor of the longer term trend-chasing rule.

Open Access July 14, 2010

Information Efficiency and Financial Stability

Fabio Caccioli, Matteo Marsili

Article number: 20100020

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Abstract

The authors study a simple model of an asset market with informed and non-informed agents. In the absence of non-informed agents, the market becomes information efficient when the number of traders with different private information is large enough. Upon introducing non-informed agents, the authors find that the latter contribute significantly to the trading activity if and only if the market is (nearly) information efficient. This suggests that information efficiency might be a necessary condition for bubble phenomena—induced by the behavior of non-informed traders—or conversely that throwing some sands in the gears of financial markets may curb the occurrence of bubbles.

Open Access July 16, 2010

Stabilizing an Unstable Economy: On the Choice of Proper Policy Measures

Toichiro Asada, Carl Chiarella, Peter Flaschel, Tarik Mouakil, Christian R. Proaño

Article number: 20100021

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Abstract

In the last months, the world’s economies were confronted with the largest economic recession since the Great Depression. The occurrence of a worldwide financial market meltdown as a consequence originally stemming from of the crisis in the US subprime housing sector was only prevented by extraordinary monetary and fiscal policy measures implemented at the international level. Although the world economy seems now to be slowing recovering, it is worthwhile exploring the fragility and potentially destabilizing feedbacks of advanced macroeconomies in the context of Keynesian macro models. Fragilities and destabilizing feedback mechanisms are known to be potential features of all markets—the product markets, the labor market, and the financial markets. In this paper we focus in particular on the financial market. We use a Tobin-like macroeconomic portfolio approach, and the interaction of heterogeneous agents on the financial market to characterize the potential instability of the financial markets. Though the study of the latter has been undertaken in many partial models, we focus here on the interconnectedness of all three markets. Furthermore, we also study how labor market, fiscal and monetary policies can stabilize unstable macroeconomies. Besides other stabilizing policies we in particular propose a countercyclical monetary policy that sells assets in the boom and purchases assets in recessions. Modern stability analysis is brought to bear to demonstrate the stabilizing effects of those suggested policies.

Open Access August 5, 2010

The Crisis and Beyond: Thinking Outside the Box

Claude Hillinger

Article number: 20100023

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Abstract

In this paper the author attempts an analysis of the current financial/economic crisis that is wider ranging and more fundamental than he has been able to find. He discusses alternatives to the financial bailouts and shows how the crisis could have been dealt with more efficiently and at little cost to taxpayers. Finally, the author discusses fundamental reforms that would reduce the volatility of financial markets and increase their efficiency. He reviews some social science literature that views the current crisis as an episode in the secular decline of the United States and more generally of the Western Democracies. The timidity of current reforms, which is striking when compared to those that followed the excesses of the Gilded Age and the Great Depression, can be understood in this framework. The author concludes that the industrialized world is now dominated by a ‘financial-political complex’ that maximizes speculative profits in good times and socializes losses in times of crisis.

Open Access September 24, 2010

Credit Money and Macroeconomic Instability in the Agent-based Model and Simulator Eurace

Silvano Cincotti, Marco Raberto, Andrea Teglio

Article number: 20100026

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Abstract

This paper investigates the interplay between monetary aggregates and the dynamics and variability of output and prices by considering both the money supplied by commercial banks as credit to firms and the fiat money created by the central bank through the quantitative easing monetary policy. The authors address this problem by means of an agent-based model and simulator, called Eurace, which is characterized by a complete set of interrelated markets and different types of interacting agents, modeled according to a rigorous balance-sheet approach. The dynamics of credit money is endogenous and depends on the supply of credit from the banking system, which is constrained by its equity base, and the demand of credit from firms in order to finance their production activity. Alternative dynamic paths for credit money have been produced by setting different firms’ dividend policies. Results point out the strict dependence of output and prices dynamics on monetary aggregates, and show the emergence of endogenous business cycles which are mainly due to the interplay between the real economic activity and its financing through the credit market. In particular, the amplitude of the business cycles strongly rises when the fraction of earnings paid out by firms as dividends is higher, that is when firms are more constrained to borrow credit money to fund their activity. This interesting evidence can be explained by the fact that the level of firms leverage, defined as the debt-equity ratio, can be considered ad a proxy of the likelihood of bankruptcy, an event which causes mass layoffs and supply decrease.

Open Access October 28, 2010

Solving the Paradox of Monetary Profits

Steve Keen

Article number: 20100031

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Abstract

Bruun and Heyn-Johnsen (2009) state the paradox that economics has failed to provide a satisfactory explanation of how monetary profits are generated, even though the generation of a physical surplus is an established aspect of non-neoclassical economics. They emphasise that our ability to explain phenomena like the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) will be limited while ever we are still unable to explain this fundamental aspect of capitalism. In fact this paradox can be solved very simply, using insights from what is known as “Circuit Theory”. In this paper the author shows how monetary profits are generated, and uses a monetary circuit of production model to derive policy conclusions about how to overcome a “credit crunch” that reverse the guidance given by the standard but empirically falsified “money multiplier” model of credit money creation.

Policy Paper

Open Access April 14, 2010

Monetary Ease: A Factor behind Financial Crises? Some Evidence from OECD Countries

Rudiger Ahrend

Article number: 20100012

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Abstract

This paper addresses the question of whether and how easy monetary policy may lead to excesses in financial and real asset markets and ultimately result in financial dislocation. It presents evidence suggesting that periods when short-term interest rates were persistently and significantly below what Taylor rules would prescribe are correlated with increases in asset prices, especially as regards housing, though no systematic effects are identified on equity markets. Significant asset price increases, however, can also occur when interest rates are in line with Taylor rules, possibly associated with periods of financial deregulation and/or innovation. Finding also some support for a link of countries’ pre-crisis monetary stance with the extent to which their financial sectors were hit during the recent crisis, the paper argues that accommodating monetary policy over the period 2002–2005, probably in combination with rapid financial market innovation, would, in retrospect, seem to have been among the factors behind the run-up in asset prices and financial imbalances—the (partial) unwinding of which helped trigger the recent financial market crisis.

Open Access May 25, 2010

The Great Recession vs. the Great Depression: Stylized Facts on Siblings That Were Given Different Foster Parents

Karl Aiginger

Article number: 20100018

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Abstract

This paper compares the depth of the recent crisis and the Great Depression. We use a new data set to compare the drop in activity in the industrialized countries for seven activity indicators. This is done under the assumption that the recent crisis leveled off in mid-2009 for production and will do so for unemployment in 2010. Our data indicate that the recent crisis indeed had the potential to be another Great Depression, as shown by the speed and simultaneity of the decline in the first nine months. However, if we assume that a large second dip can be avoided, the drop in all indicators will have been smaller than during the Great Depression. This holds true specifically for GDP, employment and prices, and least for manufacturing output. The difference in the depth in the crises concurs with differences in policy reaction. This time monetary policy and fiscal policy were applied courageously, speedily and partly internationally coordinated. During the Great Depression for several years fiscal policy tried to stabilize budgets instead of aggregate demand, and either monetary policy was not applied or was rather ineffective insofar as deflation turned lower nominal interest rates into higher real rates. Only future research will be able to prove the exact impact of economic policy, but the current tentative conclusion is that economic policy prevented the recent crisis from developing into a second Great Depression. This is also a partial vindication for economists. The majority of them might not have been able to predict the crisis, but the science did learn its lesson from the Great Depression and was able to give decent policy advice to at least limit the depth of the recent crisis.

Open Access September 1, 2010

The Triffin Dilemma Again

Edoardo Campanella

Article number: 20100025

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Abstract

Tiny changes in the American monetary policy can have dramatic effects on the rest of the world because of dollar’s double role of national and international currency. This is the Triffin dilemma. The paper shows how it works through three examples: price of commodities, dollarization, and the international financial position of the US. And it makes a proposal to solve these issues, creating a more stable monetary system. In particular, it suggests the creation of an international monetary system of block regional currencies. Globalization and regionalization should be the two forces leading towards the new monetary system. The US and Europe should consider to adopt the same currency through a system of fixed exchange rates (global currency). This currency should perform its duty of anchor of the system, reducing global imbalances and gyrations in price of commodities. Developing countries, by contrast, should create regional monetary unions (regional currencies), preserving the real exchange rate as shock absorber, but gaining in terms of time consistency and credibility.

Survey and Overview

Open Access April 28, 2010

Contribution of Health to Economic Development: A Survey and Overview

Muhammad Jami Husain

Article number: 20100014

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Abstract

The policies for better health, poverty reduction, and less inequality, throughout the world, require thorough understanding of both the processes and causal paths that underlie the intricate relationship between health and wealth (income). This is deemed difficult, contingent, and only partially understood. The adage ‘health is wealth’ is still, primarily, an intuitive proposition. A vast majority of researchers instead present theoretical and empirical arguments of the reverse proposition, i.e. ‘wealth is health’. A recent strand of the literature, however, reflects changes in the perceptions: improvements of health and longevity are no longer viewed as a mere end- or by-product of economic development; but argued as one of the key determinants of, and therefore means to achieve, economic development and poverty reduction. Hence, better health does not have to wait for an improved economy; rather, measures to reduce the burden of disease, to give children healthy childhoods, to increase life expectancy etc. will in themselves contribute to creating richer economies. Drawing on the traditional and emerging perspectives on the health-income relationship, this literature review presents a non-exhaustive survey of existing methodological approaches and their results that are applied to track and measure how health influences economic outcomes.

About this journal

Economics aims to cover all the main areas of economics. Inevitably, articles in different areas of economics are addressed at different audiences. Many of the articles submitted to the journal are standard technical pieces, addressed to a purely academic audience. Others concern economic policy and thus are addressed both to economists and policy makers with some economic background. Yet others are surveys and overviews, often interdisciplinary, addressed to a nontechnical audience.

Economics is a new type of academic journal in economics. By involving a large research community in an innovative open peer review process, the journal aims to provide fast access to top-quality papers. Publishing is seen as a cooperative enterprise between authors, editors, referees, and readers. Economics takes the form of an e-journal, i.e., submission, evaluation, and publication are electronic.

Current Special Issues:

Special Issue from the AEEFI 2023 conference edited by Juan de Lucio and Juan Carlos Cuestas (see Call for Papers)
Data governance in the digital era: Perspectives from the EU edited by Jorge Martinez-Vazquez and Luiz de Mello
Economic Implications of Management and Entrepreneurship edited by A. Mohammed ABUBAKAR (see instruction for authors here)
Shapes of Performance Evaluation in Economics and Management Decision: Theory, Models, and Applications edited by S. A. Edalatpanah (lead editor), Peter Wanke, Dragan Pamučar and Robert S. Keyser (see Call for Papers)

Economics embodies the following principles:
Open Access: Following the principle that knowledge is a public good, all articles are free to read, download, and copy for all users.
Open Assessment: The traditional peer review process is substantially supplemented by a public peer review process in which the community of active researchers from all over the world has a hand in the evaluation process. Due to interactive peer review and public discussion, Economics provides fast and efficient quality assurance.
Speed: Submitted papers that have been identified as sufficiently promising for a referee process are made immediately available on the journal’s homepage as discussion papers. Thus, the time for new ideas to find their way into the scientific community is substantially reduced.

Publication fees
Articles accepted for publication in Economics are subject to Article Processing Charges (APCs). The publication fee amounts to 1000 EUR.
Authors who have no funding for the submitted research can request a waiver or a discount during the submission process.
Read more about our pricing policy, available discounts and waiver policy.