NBER Working Paper Series
Borders and Growth [статья]
Опубликовано на портале: 14-03-2005
Enrico Spolaore, Romain Wacziarg
NBER Working Paper Series.
2002.
No. 9223.
This paper presents a framework to understand and measure the effects of political
borders on economic growth and per capita income levels. We present a model providing
a theoretical foundation to estimate empirically the effects of political borders
on growth. In our model, political integration between two countries results in a
positive country size effect and a negative effect through reduced openness vis-…-vis
the rest of the world. We estimate the growth effects that would have resulted from
the hypothetical removal of national borders between pairs of adjacent countries.
We also identify country pairs where political integration would have been mutually
beneficial.
Borders, Trade and Welfare [статья]
Опубликовано на портале: 23-12-2003
James Anderson, Eric van Wincoop
NBER Working Paper Series.
2001.
w8515.
International economic integration yields large potential welfare effects, even in
a static constant returns competitive world economy. Our method is novel. The effect
of border barriers on trade flows is often inferred from gravity models. But their
rather atheoretic structure precludes welfare analysis. Computable general equilibrium
models are designed for tight welfare analysis, but lack econometric foundation.
Our method combines these approaches. Gravity models based on Anderson's (1979) interpretation
are full general equilibrium models of a special simple sort. In Anderson and van
Wincoop (NBER WP 8079, 2001) we develop and estimate this structure, then calculate
the comparative static effects on trade flows of border barriers. In this paper we
further deploy the model to explore the comparative statics of welfare with respect
to borders, to currency unions and to NAFTA. Our NAFTA exercise does a much better
job of replicating the actual trade flow changes than do computable general equilibrium
models. An interesting implication is that terms of trade changes are very important,
even for small' countries such as Mexico.
Опубликовано на портале: 11-11-2004
Sebastian Edwards
NBER Working Paper Series.
1998.
w6800.
This paper deals with some of the most important aspects of Latin America's experience with capital flows during the last twenty-five years. The paper begins with a historical analysis. I then deal with the sequencing of reform and discuss issues related to the relationship between capital flows, real exchange rates, and international competitiveness. I next concentrate on the role of capital controls as a device for isolating emerging economies from the volatility of international capital markets. I begin by reviewing the policy issues and the current debate on the subject. I then present an empirical analysis of Chile's recent experiences with capital controls and make some comparisons to the recent experiences of Columbia. The analysis of the Chilean experience is particularly important since its practice of imposing reserves requirements on capital inflows has been praised by a number of analysts, including senior staff of the multilateral institutions, as an effective and efficient way of reducing the vulnerability associated with capital flows volatility. The results obtained suggest that capital controls in Chile have had mixed results: while they have allowed the Central Bank to have a greater degree of control over short term interest rates, they have failed in avoiding real exchange rate appreciation. The paper ends with some reflections, based on recent Latin American historical episodes, on the role of banks in intermediating capital inflows and on financial crises.
Опубликовано на портале: 20-07-2004
Sebastian Edwards
NBER Working Paper Series.
1985.
No. 1741.
В статье анализируется связь между экзогенными изменениями цен экспортируемого сырья
и реальным курсом. Для этого в качестве базовой используется модель "голландской
болезни", которая дополнена денежным рынком. В работе показано, что бум на внешнем
сырьевом рынке в краткосрочном периоде может привести к чрезмерному как спросу, так
и предложению денег. При этом в данной модели поведение реального курса существенно
отличается от поведения в традиционной модели "голландской болезни" без денег. Модель
тестируется на данных Колумбии, которая в в середине 70-х гг. испытала шок в виде
резкого роста цен на кофе.
Опубликовано на портале: 22-12-2003
Huiwen Lai, Daniel Trefler
NBER Working Paper Series.
2002.
w9169.
The difficulty of incorporating general equilibrium price effects into econometric
estimating equations has deterred most researchers from econometrically estimating
the welfare gains from trade liberalization. Using a paired-down CES monopolistic
competition example, autors show that this difficulty has been greatly exaggerated. Along
the way, we estimate indeed precisely estimate large welfare gains from trade liberalization
as measured by compensating variation. Unlike calibration methods, econometric methods
allow researchers to isolate the violence done by the model to the data. Autors find
that the CES monopolistic competition model horribly mis-specifies behavioural price
elasticities and general equilibrium price feedbacks. The model as conceived is therefore
of limited value for analysing the effects of trade liberalization. Autors report a number
of specification issues that should point the way to better theoretical modeling.
Опубликовано на портале: 11-10-2004
John Y. Campbell
NBER Working Paper Series.
1996.
No. 5610.
This paper reviews the behavior of stock prices in relation to consumption. The paper
lists some important stylized facts that characterize US data, and relates them to
recent developments in equilibrium asset pricing theory. Data from other countries
are examined to see which features of the US experience apply more generally. The
paper argues that to make sense of stock market behavior one needs a model in which
investors' risk aversion is both high and varying, such as the external habit-formation
model of Campbell and Cochrane (1995).
Corporate Governance and Control [статья]
Опубликовано на портале: 07-10-2003
Marco Becht, Patrick Bolton, Alisa Roell
NBER Working Paper Series.
2002.
No. 9371.
В работе проводится обзор теоретических и эмпирических исследований в области базовых
механизмов корпоративного управления. Обсуждаются основные правовые и регулирующие
институты в различных странах. Акцент делается на следующей фундаментальной дилемме:
управление со стороны крупных акционеров может создавать лучшую защиту для мелких
акционеров, но данное управление может увеличить степень злоупотреблений со стороны
менеджеров.
Опубликовано на портале: 14-03-2005
Ricardo J. Caballero, Mohamad L. Hammour
NBER Working Paper Series.
2000.
No. 7849.
There is increasing empirical evidence that creative destruction, driven by experimentation
and the adoption of new products and processes when investment is sunk, is a core
mechanism of development. Obstacles to this process are likely to be obstacles to
the progress in standards of living. Generically, underdeveloped and politicized
institutions are a major impediment to a well-functioning creative destruction process,
and result in sluggish creation, technological sclerosis,' and spurious reallocation.
Those ills reflect the macroeconomic consequences of contracting failures in the
presence of sunk investments. Recurrent crises are another major obstacle to creative
destruction. The common inference that increased liquidations during crises result
in increased restructuring is unwarranted. Indications are, to the contrary, that
crises freeze the restructuring process and that this is associated with the tight
financial-market conditions that follow. This productivity cost of recessions adds
to the traditional costs of resource under-utilization.
Debt Intolerance [статья]
Опубликовано на портале: 10-12-2003
Kenneth S. Rogoff, Miguel A. Savastano, Carmen M. Reinhart
NBER Working Paper Series.
2003.
W9908 .
This paper introduces the concept of 'debt intolerance,' which manifests itself in
the extreme duress many emerging markets experience at debt levels that would seem
manageable by advanced country standards. We argue that 'safe' external debt-to-GNP
thresholds for debt intolerant countries are low, perhaps as low as 15 percent in
some cases. These thresholds depend on a country's default and inflation history.
Debt intolerance is linked to the phenomenon of serial default that has plagued many
countries over the past two centuries. Understanding and measuring debt intolerance
is fundamental to assess the problems of debt sustainability, debt restructuring,
capital market integration, and the scope for international lending to ameliorate
crises. Our goal is to make a first pass at quantifying debt intolerance, including
delineating debtors' clubs and regions of vulnerability, on the basis on a history
of credit events going back to the 1820s for over 100 countries.
Опубликовано на портале: 11-11-2004
Sebastian Edwards
NBER Working Paper Series.
2002.
w8939.
In this paper I analyze the relationship between fiscal policy, aggregate public
sector debt sustainability, and debt relief. I develop a methodology to compute the
fiscal policy path that is compatible with aggregate debt sustainability in the post-HIPC
era. The model explicitly considers the role of domestic debt, and quantifies the
extent to which future debt sustainability depends on the availability of concessional
loans at subsidized interest rates. The working of the model is illustrated for the
case of Nicaragua, a country that in 2002 had one of the highest net present value
of public external debt to GDP ratios.
Debt Restructuring [статья]
Опубликовано на портале: 11-11-2004
Benjamin M. Friedman
NBER Working Paper Series.
2000.
w7722.
What difference does it make, and for whom, whether the nonperforming debts of emerging market borrowers are restructured? This paper begins by positing a set of counterfactual conditions under which restructuring would not matter, and then shows how several ways in which the actual world of international lending departs from these conditions give both lenders and borrowers ample reason to care whether nonperforming debts are restructured. One implication of the way in which debt restructuring matters is that restructuring should not be too' easy. Further, with a greater frequency of defaults, some credit flows to emerging market countries would not be extended in the first place. An important element driving this line of argument is moral hazard, but (unlike in much of the recent literature of emerging market debt problems) what is central here is not the availability of credit from the IMF or other official lenders but the more fundamental moral hazard inherent in all uncollateralized borrower-lender relationships.
Determinants of Long-Term Growth: A Bayesian Averaging of Classical Estimates (BACE)
Approach [статья]
Опубликовано на портале: 16-11-2004
Gernot Doppelhofer, Xavier Sala-i-Martin, Ronald I. Miller
NBER Working Paper Series.
2000.
w7750.
This paper examines the robustness of explanatory variables in cross-country economic
growth regressions. It employs a novel approach, Bayesian Averaging of Classical
Estimates (BACE), which constructs estimates as a weighted average of OLS estimates
for every possible combination of included variables. The weights applied to individual
regressions are justified on Bayesian grounds in a way similar to the well-known
Schwarz criterion. Of 32 explanatory variables we find 11 to be robustly partially
correlated with long-term growth and another five variables to be marginally related.
Of all the variables considered, the strongest evidence is for the initial level
of real GDP per capita.
Опубликовано на портале: 03-05-2005
Emmanuel Saez
NBER Working Paper Series.
2002.
No. 8833.
Optimal tax theory has shown that, under weak assumptions, indirect taxation such
as production subsidies, tariffs, or differentiated commodity taxation, are sub-optimal
and that redistribution should be achieved solely with the direct income tax. However,
these important results of optimal tax theory, namely production efficiency and uniform
commodity taxation under non-linear income taxation, have been shown to break down
when labor taxation is based on income only and when there is imperfect substitution
of labor types in the production function. These results in favor of indirect tax
instruments are valid in the short-run when skills are exogenous and individuals
cannot move from occupation to occupation. In the long-run, it is more realistic
to assume that individuals choose their occupation based on the relative after-tax
rewards. This paper shows that, in that context, production efficiency and the uniform
commodity tax result are restored. Therefore, in a long-run context, direct income
taxation should be preferred to indirect tax instruments to raise revenue and achieve
redistribution.
Опубликовано на портале: 23-12-2003
Reuven Glick, Andrew K. Rose
NBER Working Paper Series.
2001.
w8396.
Does leaving a currency union reduce international trade? We answer this question
using a large annual panel data set covering 217 countries from 1948 through 1997.
During this sample a large number of countries left currency unions; they experienced
economically and statistically significant declines in bilateral trade, after accounting
for other factors. Assuming symmetry, we estimate that a pair of countries that starts
to use a common currency experiences a doubling in bilateral trade.
Опубликовано на портале: 16-11-2004
Geert Bekaert, Campbell R. Harvey, Christian Lundblad
NBER Working Paper Series.
2001.
w8245.
We show that equity market liberalizations, on average, lead to a one percent increase
in annual real economic growth over a five-year period. The liberalization effect
is not spuriously accounted for by macro-economic reforms and does not reflect a
business cycle effect. Although financial liberalizations further financial development,
measures of financial development fail to fully drive out the liberalization effect.
The investment/GDP ratio increases post liberalization, with the investment partially
financed by foreign capital inducing worsened trade balances. Differentiating across
liberalizing countries, a large secondary school enrollment, a small government sector
and an Anglo-Saxon legal system tend to enhance the liberalization effect. Finally,
the conditional convergence effect is larger once financial liberalization is accounted
for.
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