NEW  RESOURCES                  

   Library Bulletin                   Issue #1  

                                              March  2006 

A biweekly e-bulletin for the latest print and   electronic  resources  as  they  are added  to the  AUBG  Library collections.

Access is only via university net.

Content:

New Books 

Library databases *

E-books from the World Bank e-Library*

Economic Research Papers* 

E-journals

Selected Online Resources

Library databases

Ciela Info Media

Ciela Info Media provides full-text access to articles from Bulgarian newspapers and magazines plus  radio and television channels news. They are accumulated in an archive of leading Bulgarian electronic and print periodicals. Covers 2004 to present. The text is in Bulgarian. The database can be searched  by keywords, phrases, periodical title, authors, etc. Limit the search chronologically and by periodicals format. It is available in the library at the Reference Desk only.  

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The last fifteen years have seen Armenia emerge from Soviet rule and a severe economic and energy crisis, both complicated by its newfound political surroundings. The last ten years have seen significant reform and progress in the power sector which, when compared to the progress made by its neighbors, is all the more remarkable. The benefits of reform have not been easily won, however, and Armenia’s success is a tribute to its ability to learn from mistakes and persevere. A combination of improper planning and bad fortune forced the Government of Armenia to go through three separate tenders for its privatization assets. A combination of good planning and good fortune ultimately allowed for what has turned out to be one of the region’s most successful infrastructure privatizations so far. To view this publication online, please go to http://www.worldbank.catchword.org/rpsv/journal/publication0821365894_home.htm?nv_portal=all

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is arguably the first "case study" of what might be expected from the increasing number of preferential trade agreements involving both developed and developing economies. Ten years after the treaty’s inception, it is time to assess how its outcomes compare with initial expectations. The articles in this symposium issue provide insights into the effects of NAFTA on economic geography, trade, wages and migration, and foreign investment from Mexico’s perspective. The contributions paint a complex post-NAFTA reality characterized by persistent intrabloc trade barriers, interregional inequality within Mexico, labor market outcomes that seem closely tied to migration patterns and international trade and investment, and foreign investment flows that appear weakly related to trade agreements. NAFTA seems to be the first trade agreement in history for which the traditional static trade creation or diversion effects are likely negligible—and hard to identify in any case. http://www.worldbank.catchword.org/rpsv/journal/publication0198569122_home.htm?nv_portal=all

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DP5531 Balanced Budget Rules and Aggregate Instability: The Role of Consumption Taxes 
Author(s): Chryssi Giannitsarou 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IM 
Keyword(s): fiscal policy, consumption tax, balanced budget rules, indeterminacy 
Abstract: It is known that, in the context of a real business cycle model with constant returns to scale and a balanced budget fiscal policy rule, steady state indeterminacy may arise as a result of endogenous labor income tax rates. In this paper, it is shown that when the government finances its expenditures via an endogenous consumption tax instead, there exists a unique steady state which is always saddle-path stable. As a result, combining income taxes with consumption taxes makes the ranges of indeterminacy shrink, thus reducing the possibility of aggregate instability. From a policy perspective, the results provide an additional argument in favor of (less distortionary) consumption taxes in place of capital taxes. This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format. 

Economic Papers from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5532 Competition and Well-Being 
Author(s): Jordi Brandts, Arno Riedl, Frans A.A.M. van Winden 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IO 
Keyword(s): competition, happiness, well-being, laboratory experiment, emotions, market interaction 
Abstract: This paper experimentally studies the effects of competition in an environment where people's actions can not be contractually fixed. We find that, in comparison with no competition, the presence of competition does neither increase efficiency nor does it yield any gains in earnings for the short side of the exchange relation. Moreover, competition has a clearly negative impact on the disposition towards others and on the experienced well-being of those on the long side. Since subjective well-being improves only for those on the short side competition contributes to larger inequalities in experienced well-being. All in all competition does not show up as a positive force in our environment. This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format.

Economic Papers from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5533 Optimal Fiscal Policy Rules in a Monetary Union 
Author(s): Tatiana Kirsanova, Mathan Satchi, David Vines, Simon Wren-Lewis 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IM 
Keyword(s): optimal monetary policy and fiscal policies, monetary union, simple rules Abstract: This paper investigates the importance of fiscal policy in providing macroeconomic stabilisation in a monetary union. We use a microfounded New Keynesian model of a monetary union which incorporates persistence in inflation and non-Ricardian consumers, and derive optimal simple rules for fiscal authorities. We find that fiscal policy can play an important role in reacting to inflation and output, but that not much is lost if national fiscal policy is restricted to react only to national differences in inflation and output.  This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format.

Economic Papers  from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5534 Inflation Bias with Dynamic Phillips Curves 
Author(s): Tatiana Kirsanova, David Vines, Simon Wren-Lewis 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IM 
Keyword(s): inflation bias, commitment, discretion, timeless perspective policy 
Abstract: We generalise the analysis of inflation bias with dynamic Phillips curves in three respects. First, we examine the discretionary (time consistent) solution in cases where the Phillips curve has both a backward looking and forward-looking component. Second, we show that the commitment (time inconsistent) solution does not normally involve zero inflation and output at its natural rate. Instead, with a purely forward-looking Phillips curve and positive discounting, it will involve a dynamic path for inflation in which steady state inflation is below its target. In this sense, we obtain negative inflation bias. Third, we show that the timeless perspective policy has the same steady state as the commitment case, but without any short-term output gains.                                                                                                   This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format.

DP5535 Sticky Prices and Indeterminacy 
Author(s): Mark Weder 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IM 
Keyword(s): cash-in-advance economies, sunspot equilibria, Calvo-pricing 
Abstract: The aim of the present paper is to analyze the link between price rigidity and indeterminacy. This is done within a cash-in-advance economy from which we know that it exhibits indeterminacy at high degrees of relative risk aversion. I find that price stickiness reduces the scope of these sunspot equilibria: sluggish price adjustment requires degrees of relative risk aversion compatible with indeterminacy that prove too high to square with data. This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format.

Economic Papers from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5536 The Real Effects of EMU 
Author(s): Philip R. Lane 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IM 
Keyword(s): EMU, heterogeneity, integration 
Abstract: We explore the impact of European monetary union (EMU) on the economies of the member countries. While the annual dispersion in inflation rates have not been much different to the variation across US regions, inflation differentials in the euro area have been much more persistent, such that cumulative intra-EMU real exchange rate movements have been quite substantial. EMU has indeed contributed to greater economic integration - however, economic linkages with the rest of the world have also been growing strongly, such that the relative importance of intra-EMU trade has not dramatically increased. In terms of future risks, a severe economic downturn or financial crisis in a member country will be the proving ground for the political viability of EMU. This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format.

Economic Papers from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5537 The Interaction Between Capital Controls and Exchange Rate Regimes: Evidence from Developing Countries 
Author(s): Jürgen von Hagen, Jizhong Zhou 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IM 
Keyword(s): capital controls, exchange rate regimes, simultaneous equations model, panel mixed logit model 
Abstract: The choice of the exchange rate regime and the capital account regime are among the core macro economic policy decisions for developing countries, with important repercussions for a country's macro economic stability, ability to attract foreign capital, and international trade. Existing literature has considered the determinants of these decisions, taking the capital account regime as given when considering the exchange rate regime and vice versa. This paper provides an empirical analysis of the interaction between the two regime choices treating both as simultaneously endogenous. Using a panel data set for developing countries in the 1980s and 1990s, we estimate a simultaneous-equations panel mixed logit model for the joint determination of both choices. We find strong influences from the official, de jure exchange rate regime on capital account policies, but only weak feedback effects. Using de-facto exchange rate regimes, the influences in both directions are similar to each other. This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format.

Economic Papers  from the CEPR Discussion Papers

DP5540 Optimal Tariffs: The Evidence 
Author(s): Christian Broda, Nuno Limão, David E Weinstein 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IT 
Keyword(s): WTO, GATT, international trade, optimal tariffs, trade policy 
Abstract: The theoretical debate over whether countries can and should set tariffs in response to export elasticities goes back over a century to the writings of Edgeworth (1894) and Bickerdike (1907). Despite the optimal tariff argument's centrality in debates over trade policy, there exists no evidence about whether countries actually apply it when setting tariffs. We estimate disaggregate export elasticities and find evidence that countries that are not members of the World Trade Organization systematically set higher tariffs on goods that are supplied inelastically. The result is robust to the inclusion of political economy variables and a variety of model specifications. Moreover, we find that countries with higher aggregate market power have on average higher tariffs. In short, we find strong evidence in favour of the optimal tariff argument. This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format.

DP5544 Scared by Foreigners and their Products? Survey Evidence from France 
Author(s): Olivier Cadot, Pierre-Yves Geoffard, Akiko Suwa Eisenmann, Thierry Verdier 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IT 
Keyword(s): protectionism, trade, migration, political economy, France 
Abstract: The paper studies attitudes toward immigration and trade using an opinion survey of two thousand French individuals. We find that, beyond usual Stolper-Samuelson effects (skilled individuals are more pro-free trade than others, as in other countries) attitudes toward trade and immigration are correlated and both are ideologically loaded. Right-wing affiliation is robustly associated with protectionism. Moreover, right-wing protectionism concerns not just agriculture but appears to be a broader attitude. It may help explain the predominantly anti-trade rhetoric of France's right-wing governments, although outsiders would expect them to pursue more pro-market and pro-free trade policies than left-wing ones. This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format

DP5538 On the Evolution of Market Institutions: The Platform Design Paradox 
URL: http://www.cepr.org/pubs/new-dps/dplist.asp?dpno=5538.asp 
Author(s): Carlos Alos-Ferrer, Georg Kirchsteiger, Markus Walzl 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IO 
Keyword(s): market institutions, evolution of trading platforms, learning, asymmetric rationality 
Abstract: This paper analyses a situation where market designers create new trading platforms and traders learn to select among them. We ask whether 'Walrasian' platforms, leading to market-clearing trading outcomes, will dominate the market in the long run. If several market designers are competing, we find that traders will learn to select non-market clearing platforms with prices systematically above the market-clearing level, provided at least one such platform is introduced by a market designer. This in turn leads all market designers to introduce such non-market clearing platforms. Hence platform competition induces non-competitive market outcomes. This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format.

DP5530 Fear of Floating and Fear of Pegging: An Empirical Analysis of De Facto Exchange Rate Regimes in Developing Countries 
Author(s): Jürgen von Hagen, Jizhong Zhou 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IM 
Keyword(s): de facto exchange rate regimes, developing countries, simultaneous equations model, simulated maximum likelihood 
Abstract: This paper uses a panel probit model with simultaneous equations to explain the joint determination of de facto and de jure exchange rate regimes in developing countries since 1980. We also derive an ordered-choice panel probit model to explain the causes of discrepancies between the two regime choices. Both models are estimated using simulation-based maximum likelihood methods. The results of the simultaneous equations model suggest that the two regime choices are dependent of each other and exhibit considerable state dependence. The ordered probit model provides evidence that regime discrepancies reflect an error-correction mechanism, and the discrepancies are persistent over time. This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format.

DP5539 Skill Dispersion and Firm Productivity: An Analysis with Employer-Employee Matched Data 
Author(s): Susana Iranzo, Fabiano Schivardi, Elisa Tosetti 
Date of Publication: March 2006 
Programme Area(s): IO 
Keyword(s): matched data, skills, productivity, segregation 
Abstract: We study the relation between workers' skill dispersion and firm productivity using a unique dataset of Italian manufacturing firms from the early eighties to the late nineties with individual records on all their workers. Our measure of skill is the individual worker's effect obtained as a latent variable from a wage equation. Estimates of a generalized CES production function that depends on the skill composition show that a firm's productivity is positively related to skill dispersion within occupational status groups (production and non-production workers) and negatively related to skill dispersion between these groups. Consistently, the variance decomposition shows that most of the overall skill dispersion is within and not between firms. We find no change over time in the share of each component, in contrast with some evidence from other countries, based on less comprehensive data. This paper is available for download in electronic (PDF) format.

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Theoretical Economics                                                                        
An open-access journal in economic theory 
http://www.econtheory.org/index.php  

Theoretical Economics aims to become the leading journal in economic theory. It differs from existing journals in one major respect: all content is freely available. 
Current Issue: Volume 1, Issue 1 (March 2006)
Table of Contents
   A model of choice from lists. Ariel Rubinstein and Yuval Salant. p. 3–17 
   Hierarchies of belief and interim rationalizability. Jeffrey C. Ely and Marcin Peski. p.19–65 
   Financial equilibrium with career concerns. Amil Dasgupta and Andrea Prat. p. 67–93 
   Revenue comparisons for auctions when bidders have arbitrary types. Yeon-Koo Che and Ian Gale. p. 95–118 
   Information, evolution and utility. Larry Samuelson and Jeroen M. Swinkels. p. 119–142

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Selected Internet Resources 

Open Access                                                                                      
Informatics India -  Open J-Gate
"Open J-Gate is an electronic gateway to global journal literature in open access domain. Launched in 2006, Open J-Gate is the contribution of Informatics (India) Ltd to promote OAI. Open J-Gate provides seamless access to millions of journal articles available online. Open J-Gate is also a database of journal literature, indexed from 3000+ open access journals, with links to full text at Publisher sites."
http://www.openj-gate.com/

Worldwide access to Dutch academic research results                    

NARCIS offers central access to Dutch Research information
http://www.surf.nl/en/themas/index2.php?oid=7

The DARE-project NARCIS (National Academic Research and Collaborations Information System) has recently launched the beta version of its website; the gateway to Dutch scientific research information. 
NARCIS offers central access to Dutch research information. Information produced by Dutch universities, research institutes, KNAW and NWO is gathered and searchable here. In addition NARCIS is the entry par excellence for scientists, policy makers, intermediary organisations, journalists and the public for obtaining a survey on ongoing research in the Netherlands. 

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*Access is only via university net.