Unemployment and suicide: Panel data analyses

This study uses two panel data sets for both Taiwan and other Asian countries, and employs fixed-effects models to examine the relationship between the unemployment rate and the suicide death rate. The research results in both cases indicate that the suicide death rate moves counter-cyclically with the unemployment rate. At the same time, the death rate for males, those who are older, and those with higher levels of education are relatively high. However, the higher the income, the lower will be the suicide death rate.     

An Analysis of the Determinants of the Changes in China’s Foreign Exchange Reserves’ Nominal and Real Rates of Return

We use decomposition and regression to examine the reasons for the changes in nominal and real rates of return of China’s foreign exchange reserves between 2002 and 2009. The results show that the US financial market risk premium is the most important determinant of changes in the nominal rate of return, while the US dollar exchange rate and the bulk commodity price are the two key determinants of changes in the real rate of return. From empirically based research, one may conclude that the loose monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve increases China’s foreign exchange reserves’ nominal rate of return but decreases the real rate of return and that the European debt crisis has an uncertain impact on China’s foreign exchange reserves’ nominal rate of return but may well raise the real rate of return.     

An Analysis of the Determinants of the Changes in China＇s Foreign Exchange Reserves＇ Nominal and Real Rates of Return

采用分解和回归方法,考察2002-2009年间中国外汇储备名义收益率与真实收益率变动的原因,可以发现：美国金融市场风险溢价是影响中国外汇储备名义收益率变动的最重要因素,美元汇率和大宗商品价格是影响中国外汇储备真实收益率的最重要因素。基于实证的研究还可以推断：美联储宽松货币政策会提高中国外汇储备名义收益率,但降低了真实收益率;欧洲债务危机对中国外汇储备名义收益率的影响不确定,但很可能提高了真实收益率。     

人民币汇率走势的实证分析

影响汇率有三个指标:外国直接投资,贸易依存度和消费价格指数利用ADF检验、协整检验和误差修正模型进行实证分析,在我国经济环境下:人民币升值是合理的;浮动汇率的实施基本是合理的;但政策往往是有滞后性的,我国当前实行的浮动汇率仍处于过渡时期。     

人民币汇率形成机制的渐进式改革与发展分析

本文的实证分析表明,人民币汇率制度的改革是成功的,参考一篮子货币的汇率形成机制已经和正在发挥着重要的作用。在动态和循序渐进的改革过程中,人民币汇率的形成机制存在着结构性变动。此外,针对近期的人民币汇率问题,本文也进行了有益的探讨,并提出了相应的措施和建议。     

Asymmetric price rigidity and the optimal interest rate defense of the exchange rate: Some evidence for the US

This paper analyses the optimal monetary policy under incomplete exchange rate pass-through and asymmetric price rigidity. In a general equilibrium sticky price model of an open economy we find that the optimal interest rate rule is to respond to all types of shocks in an economy: real exchange rate shocks, supply shocks and demand shocks. We concentrate our analysis on the interest rate defense of the currency. We claim that the extent of the optimal response of the interest rate to exchange rate shocks depends positively on the degree of pass-through and negatively on price rigidity. Therefore, in the presence of asymmetric price rigidity, the optimal monetary policy should be non-linear, and the interest rate should be adjusted more in case of depreciation of the domestic currency than in case of its appreciation by the same magnitude due to higher downward price rigidity and lower downward pass-through, which are observed empirically. We test this prediction for the US economy and find that the US monetary policy is asymmetric indeed with higher reaction of the interest rate to depreciations of US dollar than to appreciations of the same size.     

储蓄率与经济增长的关系研究——基于中国1978～2008年间的数据分析

储蓄率在现代经济增长理论中占有极其重要的地位,是影响经济增长率的重要变量,大量实证研究也证实了这一点。基于中国1978～2008年间的数据,采用Granger因果检验来分析储蓄率和经济增长之间的关系,分析结果显示：经济增长率是储蓄率的Granger原因,但储蓄率对经济增长率的影响作用不显著。因此,中国宏观调控政策的重点应当放在启动消费上,适度改善投资结构,加强对可贷资金的引导和规范,保证储蓄向投资转化渠道的畅通。     

The Use of Base Rate Information as a Function of Experienced Consistency

Three experiments examine the effect of base rate consistency under direct experience. Base rate consistency was manipulated by blocking trials and setting base rate choice reinforcement to be either consistent or inconsistent across trial blocks. Experiment 1 shows that, contrary to the usual finding, participants use base rate information more than individuating information when it is consistent, but less when it is inconsistent. In Experiment 2, this effect was replicated, and transferred in verbal questions posed subsequently. Despite experience with consistent base rates increasing sensitivity to base rates in word problems, verbal responses were far from normative. In Experiment 3, participants’ use of base rates was once again moderated by its consistency, but this effect was itself moderated by the diagnosticity of base rate information. Participants were highly accurate in estimating experienced base rates. These studies demonstrate that base rate usage is complex and a function of how base rates are presented (experienced versus summary statistics) and response format (choice proportions versus probability estimates). Knowledge of base rates was insufficient for proper usage in verbal word problems. Although choice proportions showed a sophisticated sensitivity to experienced base rate information, participants seemed unable to demonstrate a similar sophistication when given typical word problems indicating that base rate neglect is a function of information representation and not an inherent processing bias.     

论当前中国利率政策取向

当前中国的利率政策面临着一个新的选择。本文对中国利率体制的建设和当前利率水平的确定和第8次降息效应的发挥等提供了新思路。指出 2 0 0 2年是中国利率市场化、遏制通货紧缩回头和促进经济增长的关键一年 ,应该掌握好政策的综合力度 ,以防止中国经济失去重大转机的风险 ,实现中国经济从重大转机到重大转折的转变     

A phased increase in the U.S. investment rate: Sacrifice times, T-year gains, and investment rate returns

We simulate a phased increase in the U.S. investment rate using a translog production function with technical progress (disembodied and/or embodied). We assume there will be an absorption lag implying that factors are underutilized during the transition to a higher investment rate. We find that the “sacrifice time” (the time that elapses until consumption surpasses the value it would have had under the initial investment rate) is roughly nine years. Across alternative specifications, phase-in periods, and absorption lags, the sacrifice time varies from seven to 13 years, and is insensitive to the percentage increase in the investment rate. With a three-year phase-in of a 20 percent increase in the investment rate with a one-year absorption lag, the average “ecade gain” in output (the percentage gain at the end of a decade) is roughly 4 percent; the decade gain in consumption, 0 percent; the five-decade gain, 10 percent in output and 6 percent in consumption; and the “investment rate return” (the internal rate of return on a permanent increase in the investment rate), 13 percent.     

日本"金融战败"的前车之鉴

20世纪80年代后期以来,美国通过汇率、利率等手段诱导美元贬值、压迫日元升值,不仅减少了美国的外债负担,也大大削弱了日本的经济实力,使之陷入长期的经济低迷。而同期的美国经济却实现了高增长、高就业和低通胀的少有的经济状况。近些年美国逐渐将矛头指向中国。继布什政府之后,新一届奥巴马政府也发出要求人民币进一步升值的信号。我们应充分吸取日本金融战败的教训,人民币汇率的调整应坚持以我为主、逐步增加汇率弹性的原则,稳步推进人民币的国际化与市场化,要切实加大对金融系统的风险监控,防止"金融战败"在中国重演。     

北京市投资、消费、净出口与经济增长的实证研究

本文通过国际比较和建立模型,分析了北京市1978-2009年投资、消费、净出口与GDP增长的关系,结合北京市"十二五规划"提出的GDP增长率、投资率、消费率等指标,针对首都转变经济发展方式中存在的突出问题以及政府宏观调控的路径选择提出了政策建议。     

Pre- versus post-crisis central banking in Qatar

In the years before the global financial crisis of 2008–2010, Qatar experienced a huge build-up of liquidity surplus in the banking system, mainly driven by surging net capital inflows. This paper identifies various sources of interbank liquidity in Qatar and discusses the various implications of structural primary liquidity surplus for the money market in particular and the economy at large. The paper attempts to evaluate the Qatar Central Bank policy making and conduct during the pre- and post-crisis periods within a framework of the Austrian monetary overinvestment theories, and concludes that the central bank had forcibly committed several forced monetary policy mistakes, which resulted in a breakdown in the interest rate channel of the monetary policy transmission mechanism. This led to the inability of the central bank to control the interbank interest rate and to an accelerating inflation rate during the pre-crisis years. In contrast, a dramatic change in the central bank's monetary policy framework and a deliberate monetary policy mistake on behalf of the central bank resulted in a restoration of the interest rate channel of the monetary policy transmission mechanism, stabilization of the interbank interest rate close to the central bank's policy rate and a sharp deceleration in the inflation rate in the post-crisis period. The paper concludes by offering brief policy recommendations.     

人民币升值压力与中国的对策

人民币名义汇率的升值趋势 ,从 1994年汇率并轨时即确立。作者在 1994年就预测人民币“稳中有升”的趋势可以延续到 2 0世纪末。现在可以把预测再延长 5— 8年 ,在此期间人民币将受到越来越大的升值压力。国家可以通过扩大汇率浮动范围 ,放松外汇管制 ,调整国内经济政策 ,一方面消化升值压力 ,一方面逐步实现“浮动升值”。文章通过历史和理论分析 ,论证了人民币升值期的根据和影响 ,并且进一步提出了以汇率为中心调整国内外经济不平衡的政策建议     

Preferences of the Central Bank of Brazil under the inflation targeting regime: Estimation using a DSGE model for a small open economy

The main objective of this paper is to estimate the preferences of the Central Bank of Brazil after the inflation targeting regime (January 2000 to December 2013), using a DSGE model with microeconomic foundations for a small open economy, based especially on the work of Kam et al. (2009). The model used in this study considers that the Central Bank minimizes a loss function, taking into account the deviation of inflation from its target, output stabilization, the interest rate smoothing and, unlike the previous works, the exchange rate. The results show that the major concern of the monetary authority in the period was the stabilization of inflation, followed by interest rate smoothing, exchange stabilization and, finally, output stabilization. The large value for the exchange rate smoothing parameter suggests the presence of fear of floating in the Brazilian case. An improved inflation targeting strategy should allow for less Central Bank intervention in the exchange rate market.     

Mental Health and Social Exclusion among Unemployed Youth in Scandinavia. A Comparative Study

Although there has been considerable research on the relationship between mental health problems and unemployment among youth in a national context, there have been few comparative studies involving countries with different cultures and different levels of unemployment. Surveys in the five Nordic countries (Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark) of nearly 8,000 young unemployed people enable us to study young peoples' experience of unemployment in a comparative perspective. Representative samples of unemployed youth were drawn from the national unemployment registers. In Sweden the sample consisted of 3,998 young people with a response rate of 63%, in Finland 2,386 (response rate 73%), Iceland 2,280 (response rate 60%), Denmark 1,540 (response rate 76%) and Norway 2,000 (response rate 56%). The data were later coupled to data from the unemployment register in the respective countries. The populations were interviewed 6 to 12 months after they were registered as unemployed.     

Macro stress testing and resilience assessment of Indian banking

This study conducts policy-based macro stress testing of the Indian banking sector and also assesses its resilience towards compliance with BASEL norms with the aid of an empirical macro-financial model. It uses scenario analysis and quantitative techniques to capture the impact of macroeconomic stress on the stability of the Indian banks by evaluating financial soundness indicators (credit quality, quantity and quality of capital adequacy). The scenarios are generated through policy-based shocks vis-à-vis other external shocks. The results from the estimation of the model indicate a cointegrating relationship between credit quality and key macroeconomic variables including output growth rate, interest rate, money growth rate and exchange rate. The results of the scenario analysis reveal that the Indian banking sector remains largely sound in terms of total regulatory capital adequacy ratio as per current BASEL II and even BASEL III requirement. The results also show that expansionary monetary policy impacts credit quality and capital adequacy in a positive and significant manner via its effect on the economy’s growth rate.     

关于人民币汇率管理政策的思考

目前我国宏观经济运行呈现出有效需求不足导致的通货紧缩迹象.采取的扩张性财政与货币政策对这一通货紧缩态势效果不明显,因而应进一步考虑汇率管理方面的改革,尝试利用汇率管理政策的调整来促进中国经济的增长.汇率管理政策与经济增长的各种关系的实施对人民币汇率调整的各种效应及传导机制的影响更有益于目标的实现.加快人民币汇率管理体制改革,对人民币汇率向下进行合理幅度的调整.     

Changes in household poverty among South Korean young adults: Decomposition analysis for 1995, 2006 and 2016

This study analysed the causes behind changes in the poverty rate among young South Korean households, using the 1995, 2006 and 2016 Household Income and Expenditure Survey. Labour market instability has intensified since the Asian economic crisis of 1997. This has increased the risk of poverty among young people who lack financial assets and must obtain economic security through work. The poverty rates among people aged 18–29 have steadily increased. Using Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, this study evaluated the contribution that characteristics and structure make to poverty rate changes. The study found that the poverty rate was lower in households with a higher level of education and in households with fewer members. The study also found that the poverty rate was higher in female‐headed households and in households where fewer of its members were employed. Furthermore, the poverty rate was found to have increased among the younger population in general. These findings indicate that social policies should take into consideration the changing life circumstances of young adults.     

金融危机下汇率变动对失业率变动的相关性研究

在当前国际金融危机下,汇率对经济的影响,已从直接的进出口贸易行业深入到了其他非贸易性的行业;汇率的波动,在一定程度上,也影响到了宏观经济的波动,进而使得国家的投资、产出和消费受到了影响,这种传导机制最终会带来就业的冲击。通过对最新数据的线性回归分析发现,当前主要国家(地区)汇率的波动性对失业产生重要影响。