Optimizing ad hoc trade in a commercial barter trade exchange

Abstract In this paper, we describe the operation of barter trade exchanges by identifying key techniques used by trade brokers to stimulate trade and satisfy member needs, and present algorithms to automate some of these techniques. In particular, we develop algorithms that emulate the practice of trade brokers by matching buyers and sellers in such a way that trade volume is maximized while the balance of trade is maintained as much as possible. We model the trade balance problem as a minimum cost circulation problem (MCC) on a network. When the products have uniform cost or when the products can be traded in fractional units, we solve the problem exactly. Otherwise, we present a novel stochastic rounding algorithm that takes the fractional optimal solution to the trade balance problem and produces a valid integer solution. We then make use of a greedy heuristic that attempts to match buyers and sellers so that the average number of suppliers that a buyer must use to satisfy a given product need is minimized. We present results of empirical evaluation of our algorithms on test problems and on simulations built using data from an operating trade exchange

Instrumentos electrónicos en el comercio de compensación

En el comercio de compensación, las contraprestaciones se hacen normalmente mediante la entrega de bienes pero también pueden utilizarse unidades monetarias. En efecto, en la actividad del comercio de compensación puede intervenir una unidad de referencia monetaria llamada "trade-credit" o “unidad barter”, que posibilita compensaciones en la ejecución de la permuta comercial o permite diferir el recibo de la contraprestación. Una de las mayores dificultades de la permuta comercial se circunscribe pues al intercambio de mercancías entre dos partes sin la intervención de dinero y que obliga al empleo de estos valores que pueden tener una representación convencional o o bien de forma electrónica.In counter-trade, consideration isusually done with goods, although currencies can be used as well. Indeed, in countertrade activity, it may be used a reference monetary unit called "trade-credit" or “barter unit”, which enables compensation in the execution of commercial exchange. It also permit to defer the receipt of the consideration. One of the major difficulties of commercial exchange is thus limited to the exchange of goods between two parties without the involvement of money, this forces the use of these values that can have a conventional or electronic representation

Instrumentos electrónicos en el comercio de compensación

En el comercio de compensación, las contraprestaciones se hacen normalmente mediante la entrega de bienes pero también pueden utilizarse unidades monetarias. En efecto, en la actividad del comercio de compensación puede intervenir una unidad de referencia monetaria llamada "trade-credit" o “unidad barter”, que posibilita compensaciones en la ejecución de la permuta comercial o permite diferir el recibo de la contraprestación. Una de las mayores dificultades de la permuta comercial se circunscribe pues al intercambio de mercancías entre dos partes sin la intervención de dinero y que obliga al empleo de estos valores que pueden tener una representación convencional o o bien de forma electrónica.In counter-trade, consideration isusually done with goods, although currencies can be used as well. Indeed, in countertrade activity, it may be used a reference monetary unit called "trade-credit" or “barter unit”, which enables compensation in the execution of commercial exchange. It also permit to defer the receipt of the consideration. One of the major difficulties of commercial exchange is thus limited to the exchange of goods between two parties without the involvement of money, this forces the use of these values that can have a conventional or electronic representation

A review of banking sector reforms in transition economies

This study critically analyses the intended and unintended consequences of financial sector policy implemented in transition economies (TEs) of Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Following the policy recommendations of international financial institution, all TEs abolished the distinction between cash money and non-cash money and gradually modernised their payments systems, starting with corporate banking and then extending the process to retail banking. They established two-tier banking sectors, liberalised interest rates, restructured their commercial banks, and gradually removed capital controls. Under normal circumstances, these policies would have improved the general public’s trust in banks and facilitated banking sector development. However, the impact of these developments was overshadowed by the ill thought-out and uncoordinated policies pursued in the early 1990s. The shock-therapy type of policy recommendations promoted under the Washington Consensus and pursued in most TEs in the early 1990s resulted in unexpected and unintended consequences, such as persistent inflation, macroeconomic chaos, and the general public’s loss of trust in money and banks, which had clear implications for credit creation, and thus for production, output, and employment

The Socialist World in the Second Age of Globalization: An Alternative History?

The history of the Second Age of Globalization (from 1945 through to the present) has traditionally been told through the lens of either the industrially advanced First World, or, more critically, the developing countries of the Third World. Less is known about the experience of globalization in the so-called “Second World”, the socialist states of the Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellites. The following review essay draws on recent work in the history of globalization to show that, contrary to long-held assumptions that socialism was an autarkic system that cut countries off from the wider world, post-war socialist countries were deeply integrated into and dependent on global markets and networks

Who Gets What, When, How? Power, Organization, Markets, Money and the Allocation of Resources

Money is a mystery and financial institutions are often regarded as guardians and promoters of the mystery. These sketches are designed to help an individual interested in, but not technically trained in economics, understand markets, money, credit and the evolution of a mass market system embedded in the rich context of its political environment and society. The efficient functioning of a dynamic economy requires the presence of money and financial institutions. The great variety of financial institutions in any advanced economy requires that a synthetic approach is used to understand what the whole looks like. Verbal description provides an overarching view of the mixture of history, law, philosophy, social mores, and political structure that supplies the context for the functioning of the economy. This has been vividly illustrated by Adam Smith, his teacher the Reverend Francis Hutcheson and his close friend David Hume. There are two different but highly allied themes in this single slim volume. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 supply the rich context of history, society, polity and law in which every economy is embedded. Chapters 12 and 13 sketch what might lie ahead given the current state of the world. These chapters require no symbols or technical depth. In contrast Chapters 4 to 11 offers a reasonably nontechnical exposition of some of the considerable development in formal economic theory pertaining to money and financial institutions as economics struggles towards emerging as a science, balancing quantitative measures with qualifications that help to explain what the numbers mean

Commercial policy and its effects on manufacturing industry in less developed countries: a case study of Sudan 1966-1976.

PhDThis thesis attempts to examine the effects of the trade and payments regime prevalent in the Sudan between 1966 - 1976 on her domestic manufacturing industry. For this purpose, we employ two widely used methods, namely, the Effective Rate of Protection (ERP), and the Domestic Resource Cost (MC). Literature on both methods is reviewed and uses, implications, and empirical findings are discussed. A brief description of the structure of Sudanese economy is provided and the objectives and components of commercial policy are set out. Particular emphasis is laid on the effects of these policies on exports and imports. Export composition and performance are analysed and it is shown that the policy pursued harboured a strong anti-export bias which adversly affected export performance. As regards imports, considerable attention is paid to the. description and evaluation of the complex system operated. It is suggested that while the system might have helped to reduce immediate pressure on the balance of payments, this achievement was not without cost. Before effective rates of protection are computed and their results evaluated, industrial policy, objectives and instruments are spelt out and assessed. Computed ERPs are then shown to have wide inter-sectoral and inter-industrial variations. It is suggested that this might indicate a lack of consistent criteria in tariff setting. Furthermore, both nominal and effective rates of protection are shown to be associated with resource shifts through time. The results, however, did not lend support to the claim (of ERP theory) that ERPs are better predictors of resource movements than nominal rates. Finally, DRCs are estimated. Results reveal that they vary between industries and between firms, in the same industry. Hypotheses to help explain such variations are then formulated and tested. It is suggested that although inefficiency in factor use and underutilization of capacity go far in explaining observed variations, other factors e. g. poor infrastructural services and foreign exchange allocation methods may also be important