The Institutional Framework of the Gulf Central Bank
Nasser H. Saidi & Fabio Scacciavillani
Volume 10, Number 1, 2009, pages 25 - 44
This paper discusses the viable alternatives for a suitable institutional and governance framework for the policymaking body presiding over the GMU. The authors review a series of alternatives, from the simplest one (i.e. a governors’ council formed by the governors of the national central banks and ... Read more
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Sweden’s Bank Nationalisations FREE ARTICLE
Are there lessons for today?
Fredrik Erixon
Volume 10, Number 1, 2009, pages 1 - 12
Many banks are on the verge of bankruptcy and have received support from the government to stay afloat. Measures taken have not sufficed, and an increasing number of economists and commentators are calling for the nationalisation of banks in the United Kingdom and United States. In their advocacy, t ... Read more
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The Effectiveness of IMF Surveillance
A study on global financial governance
Biagio Bossone
Volume 9, Number 4, 2008, pages 27 - 54
IMF surveillance of the international monetary and financial system is a global
public good. Its effectiveness depends critically on the dynamics that underpin
the mechanisms governing the IMF and global finance. These dynamics, in turn,
reflect the interests and power of influence of countries ( ... Read more
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Alternative Strategies for Fighting Unemployment FREE ARTICLE
Lessons from the European experience
Gilles Saint-Paul
Volume 9, Number 1, 2008, pages 35 - 55
During more than three decades of protracted high unemployment, European countries have developed a variety of approaches in order to tackle the problem. These strategies differ in their philosophy, scopes and successes. A number of them can be understood in terms of shying away from full-fledged li ... Read more
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Has the European Social Model a Future?
J. R. Shackleton
Volume 7, Number 3, 2006, pages 43 - 62
The European Social Model, involving high levels of government spending and taxation, labour and product market regulation and the involvement of the “social partners”, is in crisis. The core European economies are experiencing low economic growth, slow job creation and high levels of unemployment. ... Read more
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The Influence of Political Distortions on Economic Performance
The contributions of Alberto Alesina
An interview with introduction by Brian Snowdon
Volume 5, Number 4, 2004, pages 91 - 136
Alberto Alesina is the Nathaniel Ropes Professor of Political Economy and
Chairman of the Department of Economics at Harvard University. In this
interview he discusses with Brian Snowdon his views on several important
contemporary issues, including politics and the business cycle, budget deficits ... Read more
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Are Governments Overextended?
Assessing the spectrum of a government’s debts and its exposure to risk
Peter S. Heller
Volume 5, Number 4, 2004, pages 1 - 31
Have government debt levels reached dangerous levels? Certainly, for some
countries, the data would suggest so. However, this paper will argue that for
many governments, the amount of explicit debt on their balance sheets seriously
understates the magnitude of their future fiscal obligations. Thi ... Read more
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Congestion Charging
Utopia vs. Reform
Edward Gottesman
Volume 4, Number 2, 2003, pages 13 - 22
The debate about road use charging continues. No simple and effective proposal
to limit center-city congestion has attracted popular support. The economic case
for reducing vehicle congestion in towns and cities is indisputable, as shown in
the recent article by Begg and Gray, but their solution ... Read more
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The Case for Congestion Charging
David Begg & David Gray
Volume 3, Number 3, 2002, pages 71 - 84
Car use has grown significantly in the UK in recent years, raising concerns about pollution and congestion. Although existing fiscal measures have been effective in tackling the former, the UK now has the worst traffic congestion in Europe. The economic costs of congestion are considerable, and moto ... Read more
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Is Public Spending Good for You?
Yew-Kwang Ng
Volume 2, Number 2, 2001, pages 1 - 17
Studies by psychologists, sociologists and economists indicate that increases in incomes beyond about US$4,000 are not related to happiness nor significantly with the objective quality-of-life indicators (which increase with scientific and technological breakthroughs at the global level). Yet everyo ... Read more
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E-money: Will it Take Off?
Peter Spencer
Volume 2, Number 1, 2001, pages 121 - 136
The growth of the Internet and e-commerce raises some interesting questions for those interested in the monetary system. Is a new Internet-based digital
transactions medium likely to evolve and what would the consequences of this
be for taxation, monetary and financial stability? This article revi ... Read more
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Demographic Risk in Industrial Societies
Independent population forecasts for the G-7 countries
Sylvester J. Schieber & Paul S. Hewitt
Volume 1, Number 4, 2000, pages 27 - 72
There is a growing awareness of the aging of populations around the world and the implications for national retirement programs. In most cases, estimates of population aging are based on fixed assumptions about fertility, improvements in life expectancy, and immigration. In most countries, however ... Read more
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Goods and Bads
Ralph Turvey
Volume 1, Number 4, 2000, pages 1 - 13
There is a high degree of symmetry between economic goods
and economic bads. Snow, litter and street mud are cited as examples. Economic growth obviously results in an increase in the supply of bads as well as goods.
In addition, however, because it raises the value of time it can turn goods into ... Read more
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Owner-occupiers and the Price Index
Ralph Turvey
Volume 1, Number 3, 2000, pages 153 - 159
The treatment of owner-occupied dwellings in Consumer Price Indexes varies between countries and is the subject of continuing controversy. Ralph Turvey explains the alternative possible treatments and reasons for disagreement.
... Read more
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Reply to Professor Zimmermann
Giles Atkinson
Volume 1, Number 3, 2000, pages 149 - 152
Giles Atkinson replies to Professor Zimmermann’s "A Multi-coloured GDP -or No New GDP at All?"[World Economics, Vol 1 No 3 July-September 2000]
... Read more
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A Multi-coloured GDP -or No New GDP at All?
Horst Zimmermann
Volume 1, Number 3, 2000, pages 141 - 147
This is a reply to Giles Atkinson’s article ‘Re-thinking Economic Progress’ that appeared in the first issue of World Economics (Vol. 1, No. 1, January – March 2000). Atkinson discussed proposals for the construction of ‘green’ alternatives to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In the same issue, Amanda ... Read more
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The US “Underclass” in a Booming Economy
Richard B. Freeman
Volume 1, Number 2, 2000, pages 89 - 100
The main failure in the US economy in the 1980s through the mid 1990s was its inability to distribute the gains of economic growth to the bulk of the population. The traditional “rising tide lifts all boats” link between economic growth and poverty seemed broken, creating a large seemingly permanent ... Read more
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Understanding Labour Market Institutions
Gilles Saint-Paul
Volume 1, Number 2, 2000, pages 73 - 87
Labour market rigidities are often considered to be responsible for high unemployment in Europe. This paper outlines a theory explaining why they may be supported by the political system, and where their support comes from.
Labour market rigidities are likely to arise as the outcome of microeconomi ... Read more
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Poles Apart
Labour market performance and the distribution of work across households
Paul Gregg, Kirstine Hansen & Jonathan Wadsworth
Volume 1, Number 2, 2000, pages 55 - 72
Analysis of labour market performance using individual level data can reach radically different conclusions to those provided by a household-based analysis, using the same source of information. In Britain and other OECD countries the number of households without access to earned income has grown de ... Read more
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The Thirty-five Hour Working Week
Flexibilité, compétitivité, productivité-a French Revolution
Alan Kirman
Volume 1, Number 2, 2000, pages 41 - 54
The introduction of a reduced working week (RWW) in France has been widely condemned as an arbitrary additional constraint in an already rigid labour market. This article explores the origins of the law, and the reasons for the negative appreciation by economists of this measure. However, it goes on ... Read more
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Welfare-to-work and the New Deal
Richard Layard
Volume 1, Number 2, 2000, pages 29 - 39
Welfare-to-work is on trial in many countries. In Britain it has become the
government’s most important policy for lowering unemployment and expanding
labour supply. But can it work? And what lessons does Britain’s experience
provide for other countries? This paper argues that whilst ... Read more
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An Economic Analysis of Campaign Finance
Andrea Prat
Volume 1, Number 2, 2000, pages 13 - 27
Electoral campaign finance is an important, and much debated, phenomenon in
democracies throughout the world. This article discusses a possible economic
model of campaign finance, which could be used for policy evaluation. At the
core of the model lies an asymmetry of information betw ... Read more
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Re-thinking Economic Progress
Giles Atkinson
Volume 1, Number 1, 2000, pages 153 - 166
Most national governments have pledged a commitment to sustainable development. The transformation of these pledges into policy is a formidable challenge. Of particular interest are proposals for the construction of green alternatives to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which it is hoped will provide ... Read more
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Extending the UK National Accounts
What can be done?
Amanda Rowlatt
Volume 1, Number 1, 2000, pages 139 - 151
The national accounts measure economic activity. The UK is developing "satellite accounts" which use the framework of the national accounts but aim to quantify other aspects of living standards. This article starts by comparing satellite accounts with the use of indicators to measure the quality o ... Read more
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European Pension Reforms
A study by Merrill Lynch
Jan Mantel & David Bowers
Volume 1, Number 1, 2000, pages 103 - 138
Are the present pension systems in Europe substainable? Can the pensions time bomb caused by demographic changes be defused? This study describes developments in Europe, but the theory, the problems and the solutions are similar for most developed nations in the rest of the world. The combination of ... Read more
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Pension Reform in Germany
To fund or not to fund
Axel Börsch-Supan
Volume 1, Number 1, 2000, pages 81 - 101
German public retirement insurance is in many respects an extreme example of the typical European pay-as-you-go pension system because almost 85% of retirement income stems from this system and only 15% comes from private sources such as funded pensions, labour income, and family transfers. Public r ... Read more
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The Public/Private Mix in UK Pension Policy
Phil Agulnik & Nicholas Barr
Volume 1, Number 1, 2000, pages 69 - 80
The UK government aims to shift the balance between public (Pay-As-You-Go) and private (funded) pensions from 60:40 today to 40:60 by 2050 (UK DSS 1998). What is the economic rationale for this shift? Funding pensions may have a positive effect on economic growth and the long-term sustainability of ... Read more
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Achieving the goals of UK Pension Reform
Frank Field
Volume 1, Number 1, 2000, pages 61 - 68
There is an inevitable tension between the aim of providing enough income in retirement for those genuinely unable to build up a sufficiently large fund of their own and the aim of preserving people’s incentives to save for their own retirement. The author argues that if the current UK government’s ... Read more
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Values Matter
Avner Ben-Ner & Louis Putterman
Volume 1, Number 1, 2000, pages 39 - 60
Human beings display a complex set of behavioural predispositions, including a strong inclination to pursue self-interest but also empathy, receptivity to norms of reciprocity, and an inclination to punish violators of such norms. Not only are workable economic arrangements constrained by the types ... Read more
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