CENTRAL BANK INDEPENDENCE AND INFLATION: A NOTE

We document increased central bank independence within the set of industrialized nations. This increased independence can account for nearly two-thirds of the improved inflation performance of these nations over the past two decades. ( JEL E42, E58)     

DO CHANGING VALUES EXPLAIN THE NEW POLITICS? A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE POSTMATERIALIST THESIS

Many social scientists have argued that major political changes have occurred in the postindustrial societies of Western Europe, North America, and Australasia since the 1960s. These changes include partisan dealignment accompanied by a breakdown in traditional political orientations, the appearance of "new social movements," and increasing use of non-traditional forms of political action. One of the most influential account of the origins of the "New Politics" is Ronald Inglehart's "postmaterialist" thesis. Analyzing data from the Political Action surveys, we test two central propositions of the postmaterialist thesis: that postmaterialism constitutes an emerging and categorically distinct type of value commitment in these societies; and that a commitment to postmaterialism leads to a rejection of the state as a means of accomplishing policy objectives. Neither of these propositions is supported. The analyses instead provide evidence for an alternative account that we characterize as "value pluralism," and they show further that even citizens with postmaterialist values endorse the intervention of state institutions to achieve desired political outcomes.     

WHY DOESN'T SOCIETY MINIMIZE CENTRAL BANK SECRECY?

Societies have incentives to design institutions that allow central bank secrecy. This paper illustrates two of these incentives . First, if society tries to constrain secrecy in one way, central bankers will try to regain lost effectiveness by building up secrecy in other ways. Therefore, we may wind up accepting types of secrecy that appear preventable because reducing them would lead to higher costs . Second, if the social trade-offs between policy objectives change over time, the public may directly prefer greater central bank secrecy so that it will be surprised with expansionary policies when it most desires them.     

EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK FOOTPRINTS ON INFLATION FORECAST UNCERTAINTY

The finding of the paper shows the relative effectiveness of the “one size fits all” policy of the European Central Bank. The paper provides strong evidence in favor of this by testing whether the monetary policy effects (footprints) found in inflation uncertainty converge to a common level. These footprints are measured as the fraction of the estimated policy‐induced reduction in this uncertainty. The testing was conducted by applying a bootstrap‐type test in a regression of the rate of growth of these fractions on their initial values, computed for 16 euro area countries. (JEL C33, E52, E58)     

CENTRAL BANK REPUTATION AND THE MONETIZATION OF DEFICITS: THE 1981 ITALIAN MONETARY REFORM

In 1981 the Bank of Italy was freed from the obligation to purchase the unsold public debt at the Treasury auctions. Since then, the Bank of Italy has reduced debt monetization. The paper seeks to explain this policy shift by analyzing a game between the monetary and fiscal authorities. The fiscal authority is imperfectly informed about the central bank preferences. An equilibrium exists in which the central bank does not monetize, so as to establish a reputation of being independent. Monetization raises fiscal deficits and may raise public debt relative to a non-accommodative policy.     

ASSESSMENT OF INTERPERSONAL FUNCTIONS: DEVELOPING MEASURES TO AID THE FUNCTIONAL FAMILY THERAPIST

One of the cornerstones of the functional family therapy model proposed by Alexander and Parsons (1982) is the assessment of interpersonal functions, which has traditionally been accomplished through intuition and clinical judgment. In this study, 109 college freshmen were recruited to evaluate the test-retest reliability of a videotaped scenario measure and a questionnaire designed to assess interpersonal functions. Subjects responded to both measures during an initial assessment phase and then again, during a second assessment phase, 2 weeks later. Pearson product-moment correlations and average agreement percentages indicate that both measures have adequate reliability. There were no sex differences, nor were subjects' responses related to a measure of social desirability.     

CENTRAL BANK SECRECY, INTEREST RATES, AND MONETARY CONTROL

We construct a dynamic rational expectations model of the federal funds and deposit market that provides a rationale for central bank secrecy about current monetary aggregate objectives. In this analysis, the Trading Desk values secrecy because it reduces the influence of monetary control policy on interest rates. We then examine actual U.S. experience with monetary control and determine that the reserve bias predicted by the model is present in the data from 1978 to 1985. Finally, we demonstrate that central bank secrecy may not lower the value of commercial banks.     

MEASURES OF DURATION

Macaulay's measure of "duration" and Hicks' "average maturity" of an income stream, sometimes used to compare different assets, is an index number. It is shown in this paper that many such indexes can be defined and that the appropriate one depends on an investor's objective and his subjective view of future prices (or yields).     

ENGLISH MUD: TOWARDS A CRITICAL CULTURAL STUDIES OF COLONIAL SCIENCE

In order to analyse colonial science as a form of culture, we must tell the multiple, tangled narratives of race, class, gender, nation and scientific progress together. The construction of ideas of nature in British colonies, for instance, intersects with the construction of ‘primitives’, the privatization of land, the scientific management of forests, their products and their inhabitants, and the political economy of global exploration. Excavating archival records of Ootacamund, a British hill station in South India, I read popular narratives of mud, flowers, forests, tribals, plantations, labour, disease and progress. These interlocking narratives must be read together if we are to understand the cultural construction of colonial science as part of a larger system in which a global political economy and a scientific epistemology were being simultaneously legitimated.     

THE BIASES OF FEDERAL RESERVE BANK PRESIDENTS

This paper develops statistical tests which show that in Federal Open Market Committee voting, Federal Reserve bank presidents, as a group, prefer less expansionary monetary policy than Federal Reserve board members. Further tests show that a subset of Federal Reserve bank presidents vote in a manner which is consistent with the partisanship of the U.S. president during whose term they were appointed. Membership in this subset is highly correlated with a career as an economist. These results have implications for reforms which would alter the voting power of bank presidents on the FOMC.     

MULTIPLE-MEASURE ASSESSMENT OF PARTY IDENTIFICATION

Recent research has focused attention on the importance of accountingfor measurement error in party identification when modelingthe stability of partisanship and the determinants of the vote.Measurement error estimates have in the past been based on asingle measure of partisanship observed at multiple points intime, a test-retest methodology that requires fairly strongassumptions about the character of change over time. This articleassesses the reliability of the Michigan party identificationscale using multiple measures of partisanship at a single pointin time. Our data not only corroborate previous test-retestresults but also suggest that the accuracy with which partisanshippredicts candidate preferences can be enhanced using multiplemeasures. One measure in particular, a labeled 7-point self-placementcontinuum, is found to hold significant potential to supplementand illuminate the Michigan scale.     

ETHNOMETHODOLOGY AND SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM: A CRITICAL COMPARISON OF TEMPORAL ORIENTATIONS*

For some time, sociologists have called for the study of the temporal characteristics of social life. Ethnomethodology and Symbolic Interactionism are two sociological theories which have begun to develop analyses of social timing. In this report, exemplary research efforts from each perspective are examined and evaluated along the temporal dimensions of the past, order, sequence, and the future. It is shown that research methods are key in elaborating or hindering the study of temporality. Specifically, Symbolic Interactionists' strategies have allowed a rich temporal orientation to be developed and specified whereas strategies employed by Ethnomethodologists have resulted in research that is confined to the immediate realm of experience and thereby have been narrow in temporal scope.     

IMPACT OF A FOUNDATION-LEVEL MSW RESEARCH COURSE ON STUDENTS' CRITICAL APPRAISAL SKILLS

Evidence-based practice (EBP) has increasingly been put forth as a new paradigm of social work practice. One of the critical elements of EBP is the ability of consumers of research to be able to critically appraise research evidence. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the extent to which an introductory MSW research methods course affected student attitudes toward, and aptitude in, using research evidence. The study used a modified version of the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme instrument developed in the health care profession. Findings indicated that students reported an improvement in subjective attitude toward research. However, there was no significant change in students' ability to critically appraise research evidence.     

A COMPARISON OF THE McMASTER AND CIRCUMPLEX FAMILY ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS*

This study compared clinical rating scales and self-report scales from the McMaster and Circumplex models of family functioning. Forty-one families were given self-report measures, while clinicians assessed the families using clinical rating scales. There are three main findings: (a) The McMaster instruments have superior sensitivity (i.e., ability to correctly identify clinical families based on instrument scores); (b) there is greater correspondence between clinical rating scales and family member self-report inventories on the McMaster instruments; (c) there is lack of support for the curvilinear model of pathology suggested by the Circumplex model, as evidenced by unequal and linear distribution of scores on the Circumplex dimensions.     

CRITICAL ISSUES IN THE PRACTICE OF MARKET DESIGN

The years since 1994 have witnessed the emergence of market design as a new discipline within economics, in which research and practice exert powerful mutual influences in matching and auction markets. The problem of designing well‐functioning auction markets has led economic designers to revisit such fundamental issues as the definitions of commodities, the ways participants communicate with markets, the trade‐offs between the incentives provided for truthful reporting and other attributes of mechanism performance, and the determinants of the scope of markets, especially whether and how trade in different goods is linked. (JEL D44, C78)