摘要:

How does the choice of an exchange rate regime influence the volatility of interest rates? Are floating exchange rates useful “shock absorbers” that dampen fluctuations in domestic interest rates and prices or do they create additional risk that increases interest rate volatility and segments the international capital market? The answers are best seen in historical perspect

ISSN:1074-3529    

DOI:10.1111/j.1465-7287.1990.tb00587.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The threat to the international financial system resulting from the developing‐country debt problem has diminished since the initial 1982 crisis, despite halting adjustment and impaired creditworthiness in heavily indebted developing countries. The threat to the financial system has eased as commercial banks have reduced sharply the share of their assets and capital exposed to the troubled debtor countries. The countries themselves, however, are no better off. A sizable balance‐of‐payments adjustment has occurred in the heavily indebted developing countries, but that adjustment was concentrated–at least in quantitative terms–during the years immediately following the onset of the crisis and might have been more efficient had it been executed more gradually. Despite the adjustment that has occurred, the creditworthiness of the heavily indebted countries–as evaluated by conventional indices–has not improved. And, for reasons that this article explores, economic growth per capita has not r

ISSN:1074-3529    

DOI:10.1111/j.1465-7287.1990.tb00588.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Recently proposed strategies for employing market price indicators as guides to monetary policy embody many key propositions of monetarism. Moreover, market price advocates' prescribed policy instruments and operating procedures for conducting monetary policy are not inconsistent with a monetarist perspective and fully incorporate the incentive structure of the money creation process. The market price approach differs from monetarism in three key areas: the data employed to measure intermediate indicators, the environments in which the approach works, and the policy role of the dollar. More specifically, the market price approach employs data that are readily available in unrevised form and that make better use of limited information than do monetary or reserve data. The approach produces the same results as does a monetarist approach when money demand is stable, and it produces monetarists' desired stable price results when money demand is unstable. Finally, the approach embodies a policy role for the U.S. dollar and (implicitly) recognizes the policy implications of the dollar as a reserve currency.

ISSN:1074-3529    

DOI:10.1111/j.1465-7287.1990.tb00589.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper develops a public choice theory of monetary policy and compares it with political‐macroeconomic outcomes theory. The paper develops support for the public choice theory from recent historical evidence. It then employs this theory to explain the difficulty of effecting monetary reform and, in the absence of reform, the difficulty of implementing sustained periods of monetary restrain

ISSN:1074-3529    

DOI:10.1111/j.1465-7287.1990.tb00590.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The massive insolvency of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation has created a public policy crisis of major proportions. This paper provides a framework for understanding the basic problems of deposit insurance, explores the origins of the current crisis, describes the regulatory response, and discusses the fundamental reforms that still must be undertaken.

ISSN:1074-3529    

DOI:10.1111/j.1465-7287.1990.tb00591.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Market value accounting for depository institutions is frequently suggested as a means of limiting losses to the deposit insurance funds. But opponents argue that market value accounting is too costly to be worth the effort. This article examines each balance sheet category to determine the feasibility of marking bank portfolios to market. One can assume that almost two‐thirds of the asset side and over half of the liability side already are at market. In addition, securities and loans to less‐developed countries are traded in secondary markets. Thus, the major cost of market value accounting would be computing current values of commercial loans through discounted cash flow analysis. But efforts now are under way in the private sector to develop less costly ways to determine market values. If market value accounting is adopted, then it will likely have its greatest effect on institutions with large holdings of loans to less‐developed coun

ISSN:1074-3529    

DOI:10.1111/j.1465-7287.1990.tb00592.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The thrift crisis has presented the federal government with a cleanup bill of unparalleled magnitude. Estimates of the present‐value cost range from $90 billion to $140 billion. Most observers acknowledge that the economic cost of the crisis already has occurred in the form of lost investment opportunities and a lower capital stock. Fewer acknowledge, however, that full payment of the cost can be made only through a reduction in private sector claims to wealth so as to match the misuse of deposits and soured loans made by thrifts. Some of that reduction has occurred through equity write‐downs in businesses and thrifts, but much of the necessary reduction has yet to occur. The necessary reduction constitutes an increased tax burden.The thrift insolvencies, coupled with deposit insurance and bankruptcy of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation (FSLIC), threw the economy's books out of balance: Claims on real assets in the form of insured deposits exceeded the value of assets owned by thrifts and insurance reserves of the FSUC. In the absence of deposit insurance, a write‐down of claims would have occurred through the market mechanism and the bankruptcy courts. In the presence of deposit insurance, the write‐down must be through taxation and the political mechanism. Recently enacted legislation will effect the writedown by spreading the taxation over time through debt finance, relying primarily on future taxes to service the debt. The desirability of debt finance hinges on whether the legislation also will prevent a recurrence of future crises. Critics maintain that prevention must entail reform of deposit in

ISSN:1074-3529    

DOI:10.1111/j.1465-7287.1990.tb00593.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Federal credit subsidies are one of the largest areas of government activity. However, the Unified Budget treats lending in a highly misleading manner, and federal credit management is inconsistent and deceptive. These oversights have contributed to both the rapid rise of federal lending and the financial crises facing several credit agencies during recent years. Credit reform is a vital issue both to protect the government's huge financial stake and to ensure the success of credit programs.This paper critiques previous proposals for credit reform–each suffering from major implementation problems–and suggests an alternative. The Hybrid Plan combines aspects of earlier proposals and eliminates several disadvantages of each. One could implement the Hybrid Plan under current conditions, but it also is consistent with further improvement in federal credit managem

ISSN:1074-3529    

DOI:10.1111/j.1465-7287.1990.tb00594.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This article examines regulatory reform and some possible consequences of reform designed to increase the role that competition plays in the interstate natural gas pipeline industry. The analysis first provides a conceptual framework for viewing the “problem of natural monopoly” as a basis for regulation. It summarizes ways in which introducing competition for a market may be possible even if competition within a market is not possible–through competitive auctions, monopolistic competition, or contestability. The analysis then relates briefly to this framework the experiences of three U.S. industries that have undergone substantial reform during recent years–airlines, motor carriers, and railroads. Finally, it compares the natural gas pipeline industry with the others examined and suggests types of regulatory reform that might succeed–and those that might not succeed–in improving resource

ISSN:1074-3529    

DOI:10.1111/j.1465-7287.1990.tb00595.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Decontrol of the wellhead price of natural gas under the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 ended the general shortage of natural gas, which had begun in the 1960s. It also led to dislocations in gas markets because of regulatory uncertainties that created difficulties in renegotiating contracts made during the shortage period. Together, the decontrol and dislocations led to a decline in the traditional role of interstate gas pipelines as full‐requirements suppliers to local distributors, who now use pipelines primarily as transporters of gas purchased independently of the pipelines. The growth in transport transactions has increased greatly the potential scope of efficient exchanges in gas markets. Achieving efficiency gains, however, requires an underlying right of access to pipelines that is non‐discriminatory, exchangeable, and consistent with both existing regulation and pre‐existing contractual relationships. The authors define such a right, which they call exchangeable transport entitlement (ETE). They show that ETE satisfies the criteria for efficiency gains, and they examine the practical problems of the transition that a regulatory regime incorporating ETE faces. The analysis has important implications for other industries and for the economic theory of regulation. Specifically, the analysis shows that economists must realize the importance of diverse contractual relationships in both their theoretical literature and their proposals for regulatory r

ISSN:1074-3529    

DOI:10.1111/j.1465-7287.1990.tb00596.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1990

数据来源: WILEY