Banking and Finance in Islands and Small States

Banking and Finance in Islands and Small States
Author: Michael Bowe
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2014-02-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317741056

This collection of essays analyzes the special characteristics of the banking and financial sectors in islands and small states, and focuses on three main areas: the general financial environment; offshore financial centres; and banking and financial regulation. The main emphasis is on territories where banking and financial activity make a substantial contribution to gross domestic product.

Balance of Payments Imbalances, by Alan Greenspan

Balance of Payments Imbalances, by Alan Greenspan
Author: International Monetary Fund
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 39
Release: 2007-12-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 145195011X

This paper focuses on the developing countries, which accounted for nearly half the value of those surpluses, were apparently unable to find sufficiently profitable investments at home that overcame market and political risk. The United States a decade ago likely could not have run up today’s near $800 billion annual deficit for the simple reason that we could not have attracted the foreign savings to finance it. In 1995, for example, total cross-border saving was less than $300 billion. The long-term updrift in this broader swath of unconsolidated deficits and mostly offsetting surpluses of economic entities has been persistent but gradual for decades, probably generations. However, the component of that broad set that captures only the net foreign financing of the imbalances of the individual US economic entities, our current account deficit, increased from negligible in the early 1990s to 6.2 percent of our GDP by 2006.

Measuring Willingness to Pay for Electricity

Measuring Willingness to Pay for Electricity
Author: Peter Choynowski
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 26
Release: 2008-05
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1437900542

The measurement of willingness to pay for electricity relies critically on a reliable estimate of the demand for electricity function. Empirical work tends to assume that the demand for electricity has no satiation point. Many electricity demand models assume a constant price elasticity, which implies infinite demand at low prices. This report proposes a plausible functional form for the demand of electricity. The proposed functional form is consistent with two properties of electricity demand functions for households & firms, namely, the negative relationships between price & quantity, & the finiteness of demand at zero price. The report also demonstrates that this functional form of the demand function leads to easily estimable economic benefits of electricity.

Labor Market Distortions, Rural-Urban Inequality, and the Opening of the People's Republic of China Economy

Labor Market Distortions, Rural-Urban Inequality, and the Opening of the People's Republic of China Economy
Author: Thomas Hertel
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 42
Release: 2008-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1437900607

Evaluates the impact of some key factor market reforms on rural-urban inequality & income distribution, using a household-disaggregated, recursive dynamic computable general equilibrium model of the People¿s Republic of China. It also explores how these factor market reforms interact with product market reforms currently under way as part of the country¿s World Trade Org. (WTO) accession process. The simulation results show that reforms in the rural land rental market & hukou system, as well as increasing off-farm labor mobility, would reduce the urban-rural income ratio dramatically. Furthermore, the combination of WTO accession & factor market reforms improves both efficiency & equality significantly. Charts, tables & graphs.

Global Waves of Debt

Global Waves of Debt
Author: M. Ayhan Kose
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 403
Release: 2021-03-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1464815453

The global economy has experienced four waves of rapid debt accumulation over the past 50 years. The first three debt waves ended with financial crises in many emerging market and developing economies. During the current wave, which started in 2010, the increase in debt in these economies has already been larger, faster, and broader-based than in the previous three waves. Current low interest rates mitigate some of the risks associated with high debt. However, emerging market and developing economies are also confronted by weak growth prospects, mounting vulnerabilities, and elevated global risks. A menu of policy options is available to reduce the likelihood that the current debt wave will end in crisis and, if crises do take place, will alleviate their impact.

Framework for Establishing Priorities in a Country Poverty Reduction Strategy

Framework for Establishing Priorities in a Country Poverty Reduction Strategy
Author: Ron Duncan
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 30
Release: 2008-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1437900550

This paper reviews the history & progress of understanding development theory over the past 50 years. Development thinking has evolved from an early paradigm that focused on savings & capital investment to subsequent arguments favoring the inclusion of human capital, policy, technical change, & finally to the inclusion of the role of institutions, & good governance. Secure property rights in the broadest sense, which are applicable to all resources & not just land, are particularly important to realize investment yield. This evolution of development thought describes a conceptual framework that can guide development practitioners in prioritizing, sequencing, & characterizing all interventions aimed at reducing poverty.

Role of Infrastructure in Land-Use Dynamics and Rice Production in Viet Nam's Mekong River Delta

Role of Infrastructure in Land-Use Dynamics and Rice Production in Viet Nam's Mekong River Delta
Author: Christopher Edmonds
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 31
Release: 2008-06
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1437902049

Examines the role of infrastructure development and technical change in explaining increases in agricultural production and changes in land use in the Mekong Delta Region of Viet Nam during the mid-1990s. The transportation costs involved in moving agricultural input and output between farms and markets significantly effect farm land use and production decisions. Greater transport costs reduce the likelihood that farms adopt intensive cropping patterns or cultivate non-rice crops. Results suggest that the quality of local water management infrastructure is much more important than transport costs in explaining the increased intensity of land use and level of production observed in the Mekong Delta during the 1990s. Illustrations.

Monetary Poverty Estimates in Sri Lanka

Monetary Poverty Estimates in Sri Lanka
Author: Neranjana Gunetilleke
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 45
Release: 2008-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1437900593

Provides an introduction to poverty-related data available in Sri Lanka, & monetary measurements of poverty carried out using this data. The lack of an official poverty line in Sri Lanka until June 2004 has over time generated a number of poverty lines & corresponding poverty measures. While these poverty measures have provided a good base for poverty analysis, this paper also touches on the problems generated by the use of multiple methods. The release of the official poverty line by the Dept. of Census & Statistics can be seen as a major step forward in the debate on poverty measurement in Sri Lanka. Charts & tables.