The History of Macroeconomics from Keynes’s General Theory to the Present

This paper is a contribution to the forthcoming Edward Elgar Handbook of the History of Economic Analysis volume edited by Gilbert Faccarello and Heinz Kurz. Its aim is to introduce the reader to the main episodes that have marked the course of modern macroeconomics: its emergence after the publication of Keynes’s General Theory, the heydays of Keynesian macroeconomics based on the IS-LM model, disequilibrium and non-Walrasian equilibrium modelling, the invention of the natural rate of unemployment notion, the new classical attack against Keynesian macroeconomics, the first wave of new Keynesian models, real business cycle modelling and, finally, the second wage of new Keynesian models, i.e. DSGE models. A main thrust of the paper is the contrast we draw between Keynesian macroeconomics and stochastic dynamic general equilibrium macroeconomics. We hope that our paper will be useful for teachers of macroeconomics wishing to complement their technical material with a historical addendum.Keynes, Lucas, IS-LM model, DSGE models

The knowledge domain of chain and network science

This editorial paper aims to provide a framework to categorise and evaluate the domain of Chain and Network Science (CNS), and to provide an envelope for the research and management agenda. The authors strongly feel that although considerable progress has been made over the past couple of years in the development of the CNS domain, a number of important and exciting challenges are still waiting to be tackled. This paper provides a definition of the object of study of CNS, its central problem area, the organisation and governance of chain and network co-operation, and the relationships between chain organisation and technology development, market dynamics, and the economy and society at large. It indicates relevant sources of knowledge among the various academic disciplines. It touches upon CNS problem solving by identifying areas for knowledge development and CNS tool construction

Corporate governance, Islamic governance and earnings management in Oman: A new empirical insights from a behavioural theoretical framework

Purpose: This paper examines the impact of corporate (CG) and Islamic (IG) governance mechanisms on corporate earnings management (EM) behaviour in Oman. Design/Methodology/Approach: We employ one of the largest and extensive datasets to-date on CG, IG and EM in any developing country, consisting of a sample of 116 unique Omani listed corporations from 2001 to 2011 (i.e.,1,152 firm-year observations) and a broad CG index containing 72 CG provisions. We also employ a number of robust econometric models that sufficiently account for alternative CG/EM proxies and potential endogeneities. Findings: First, we find that, on average, better-governed corporations tend to engage significantly less in EM than their poorly-governed counterparts. Second, our evidence suggests that corporations that depict greater commitment towards incorporating Islamic religious beliefs and values into their operations through the establishment of an IG committee tend to engage significantly less in EM than their counterparts without such a committee. Finally and by contrast, we do not find any evidence that board size, audit firm size, the presence of a CG committee and board gender diversity have any significant relationship with the extent of EM. Originality: To the best of our knowledge, this is a first empirical attempt at examining the extent to which CG and IG structures may drive EM practices that explicitly seeks to draw new insights from a behavioural theoretical framework (i.e., behavioural theory of corporate boards and governance). Keywords: Corporate governance, Islamic governance, earnings management, behavioural theory, endogeneity, Oman. Paper type: Research pape

Fiscal and Monetary Policy Interactions in a New Keynesian Model with Liquidity Constraints

This paper derives a New Keynesian dynamic general equilibrium model with liquidity constrained consumers and sticky prices. The model allows a role for both government spending and taxation in the DGE model. The model is then estimated using US data. We demonstrate that there seems to be a significant role for rule-of-thumb consumer behaviour. Our model is then used to analyse the interaction between fiscal and monetary policies. We examine the extent to which fiscal policy (automatic stabilisers) assist or hinder monetary policy when the latter takes a standard forward-looking inflation targeting form. We also examine the extent to which inertia in fiscal policy and the presence of rule-of-thumb consumers affects output and inflation variability in the presence of such a monetary policy rule.

Money and Information in a New Neoclassical Synthesis Framework

We consider an (otherwise standard) New Neoclassical Synthesis theoretical framework that allows a role for money. Money in our model has an informational role which consists in facilitating the estimation of the unobserved shocks that drive potential output and thus the state of the economy. For this purpose we estimate a small-scale sticky price model using Bayesian techniques. Our findings support the view that money has information value. This is reflected in higher precision in terms of unobserved model concepts such as the natural rate of output. Moreover, our results highlight how modelling money demand can provide insights about structural features of the economy that may be important for the design of interest rate rules. Focusing on money also allows for a step towards resolving the price puzzle. Money demand shocks can confound monetary policy shocks to generate a perverse price response in vector autoregressions (VAR).DSGE models; New Keynesian models; Money; Monetary Policy; Bayesian analysis

Money and Information in a New Neoclassical Synthesis Framework

We consider an (otherwise standard) New Neoclassical Synthesis theoretical framework that allows a role for money. Money in our model has an informational role which consists in facilitating the estimation of the unobserved shocks that drive potential output and thus the state of the economy. For this purpose we estimate a small-scale sticky price model using Bayesian techniques. Our findings support the view that money has information value. This is reflected in higher precision in terms of unobserved model concepts such as the natural rate of output. Moreover, our results highlight how modelling money demand can provide insights about structural features of the economy that may be important for the design of interest rate rules. Focusing on money also allows for a step towards resolving the price puzzle. Money demand shocks can confound monetary policy shocks to generate a perverse price response in vector autoregressions (VAR).DSGE models, New Keynesian models, Money Monetary Policy, Bayesian analysis.

Towards experience management for Search Engine Optimisation

Websites of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) can gain an added advantage by getting listed in the search engine’s results page during the search sessions of the searchers. The Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) enables websites to become visible in search engines during search sessions for its featured products or services. It generates additional revenue for the websites. SEO is a complex technique. Its knowledge and experience gained from optimising websites in the past is highly valuable and applicable to optimise websites. This paper dis- cusses the problem of optimisation of websites based on the experience gained by the authors from optimisation of several case study websites. Process models have been generated in order to capture experience of implementing essential elements of SEO and to explain the procedure of implementation of the fundamental on-page SEO techniques that yielded results for the case study websites

Fiscal and Monetary policy Interactions in a New Keynesian Model with Liquidity Constraints

This paper derives a NewKeynesiandynamic general equilibrium model with liquidity constrained consumers and sticky prices. The model allows a role for both government spending and taxation in the DGE model. The mode lis then estimated using US data. We demonstrate that there seems to be a significant role for rule-of-thumb consumer behaviour. Our model is then used to analyse the interaction between Fiscal and monetary policies. We examine the extent to which fiscal policy (automatic stabilisers) assist or hinder monetary policy when the latter takes a standard forward-looking inflation targetingf orm. We also examine the extent to which inertia in fiscal policy and the presence of rule-of-thumb consumers aspects output and inflation variability in the presence of such a monetary policy rule..

Towards an integrated perspective on fleet asset management: engineering and governance considerations

The traditional engineering perspective on asset management concentrates on the operational performance the assets. This perspective aims at managing assets through their life-cycle, from technical specification, to acquisition, operation including maintenance, and disposal. However, the engineering perspective often takes for granted organizational-level factors. For example, a focus on performance at the asset level may lead to ignore performance measures at the business unit level. The governance perspective on asset management usually concentrates on organizational factors, and measures performance in financial terms. In doing so, the governance perspective tends to ignore the engineering considerations required for optimal asset performance. These two perspectives often take each other for granted. However experience demonstrates that an exclusive focus on one or the other may lead to sub-optimal performance. For example, the two perspectives have different time frames: engineering considers the long term asset life-cycle whereas the organizational time frame is based on a yearly financial calendar. Asset fleets provide a relevant and important context to investigate the interaction between engineering and governance views on asset management as fleets have distributed system characteristics. In this project we investigate how engineering and governance perspectives can be reconciled and integrated to enable optimal asset and organizational performance in the context of asset fleets