Policy Responses to the Post-bubble Adjustments in Japan: A Tentative Review

This paper provides a very tentative review of the monetary and prudential policy responses to the post-bubble adjustments in Japan. The adjustments after the collapse of the bubble have been prolonged due to (1) the rapid downward revision of the expected economic growth rate; (2) balance-sheet adjustments on the part of firms; and (3) the malfunctioning of the financial intermediary system stemming from its nonperforming-asset problem. We use four yardsticks, Marshallian k, Taylor rule, the equity yield spread, and the short-term real interest rate for assessing the monetary easing. The results suggest that the timing of policy reversal was swift and the magnitude of easing in the early phase could be viewed as broadly adequate for dealing with a normal business cycle. It is possible to argue that the effects of the bursting of the bubble might have not been sufficiently taken into account. It should be noted the outcome would not have differed greatly even if the drastic monetary easing that eventually took place had been decided at an earlier point in time without a fundamental cure of the nonperforming- asset problem. A considerable achievement of prudential policy in the period under review is that systemic risk was avoided with the cost being delayed in establishing a legal framework for handling troubled financial institutions and in organizing a comprehensive safety net. As a result of this delay, it took a long time to deal with the nonperforming- asset problem. This, in turn, posed a serious drag on the economy. Our preliminary conclusion about the lesson we should draw from this experience is the importance for the Bank of Japan of identifying the precise impacts of shocks on the economy as well as their transmission mechanism promptly and thereby minimizing adjustment costs. It should also be conducive for the Bank to address actively structural issues that may influence the effectiveness of its policy measures.

Falling Kidnapping Rates and the Expansion of Mobile Phones in Colombia

This paper tries to explain why kidnapping has fallen so dramatically in Colombia during the period 2000-2008. The widely held belief is that the falling kidnapping rates can basically be explained as a consequence of the success of President Alvaro Uribe´s democratic security policy. Without providing conclusive alternative explanations, some academic papers have expressed doubts about Uribe´s security policy being the main cause of this phenomenon. While we consider the democratic security policy as constituting a necessary condition behind Colombia´s falling kidnapping rates, we argue in this paper that a complementary condition underlying this phenomenon has been the significant increase during this period in the speed and quality of communications between potential victims and public security forces. In this sense, the expansion of the mobile phone industry in Colombia implies that there has been a substantial reduction in information asymmetries between kidnappers and targeted citizens. This has led to a higher level of deterrence as well as to higher costs for perpetrating this type of crime. This has resulted in a virtuous circle: improved security allows higher investments in telecommunications around the country, which in turn lead to faster communications between citizens and security forces, which consequently leads to greater security. We introduce a Becker-Ehrlich type supply and demand model for kidnappings. Using regional and departmental data on kidnapping, the police and mobile phones, we show that mobile phone network expansion has expanded the effective coverage of public protection; this, in turn, has led to a spectacular reduction in kidnapping rates.Kidnapping, mobile phones, Colombia

Measuring growth of labour quality and the quality-adjusted unemployment rate in Switzerland

This paper presents results on human capital accumulation for the Swiss economy. We find that the index of labour quality has grown at a rate of 0.5% per year from 1991 to 2006. The main sources are the growth in average levels of education and the passing of the baby boom cohort through the age structure of the workforce. Projections over the period 2006-2050 suggest that labour quality growth will slow down with time. We also calculate a quality-adjusted unemployment rate and find that the unemployment rate is reduced by about 0.3 pp when human capital accumulation is taken into account.human capital, labour quality, unemployment rate

The fiscal costs of financial instability revisited

This paper conducts a comprehensive analysis of the fiscal costs of financial instability (defined as major asset price changes and including, as extreme cases, financial crises). The study identifies three channels to fiscal accounts: 1) revenue effects on capital gains, asset turnover and consumption tax, 2) bailout costs as asset price declines undermine balance sheets of companies/banks, and 3) second-round effects from asset prices changes via the real economy and via debt service costs. A panel analysis and case studies show that episodes of financial instability increase the variability of fiscal balances. Moreover, fiscal costs are often very large and much larger than assumed in the literature so far with public debt rising by up to 50% of GDP during such episodes. These fiscal effects can also serve as a, so far under-emphasised, rationale for the deficit and debt targets in the EU?s Maastricht Treaty and Stability and Growth Pact. JEL Classification: H3, H6, E6asset prices, deficits, financial crisis, financial stability, Fiscal policies

Capital Structure, Credit Risk, and Macroeconomic Conditions

This paper develops a framework for analyzing the impact of macroeconomic conditions on credit risk and dynamic capital structure choice. We begin by observing that when cash flows depend on current economic conditions, there will be a benefit for firms to adapt their default and financing policies to the position of the economy in the business cycle phase. We then demonstrate that this simple observation has a wide range of empirical implications for corporations. Notably, we show that our model can replicate observed debt levels and the countercyclicality of leverage ratios. We also demonstrate that it can reproduce the observed term structure of credit spreads and generate strictly positive credit spreads for debt contracts with very short maturities. Finally, we characterize the impact of macroeconomic conditions on the pace and size of capital structure changes, and debt capacity.Dynamic capital structure, Credit spreads, Macroeconomic conditions

Deflation and Monetary Policy in a Historical Perspective: Remembering the Past or Being Condemned to Repeat It?

What does the historical record tell us about how to conduct monetary policy in a deflationary environment? We present a broad cross-country historical study of deflation over the past two centuries in order to shed light on current policy challenges. We first review the theoretical literature on deflation. We then characterize deflation by distinguishing among the "good, the bad and the ugly" ones - considering both empirical determinants and historical narratives of each type. Emphasis is put on the linkages between the current inflation environment and that of the gold standard period. Particular attention is also put on what the historical record reveals about policies to escape undesirable deflation. In this regard we develop a policy typology based on the relative merits of interest rate and monetary instruments in combating different types of inflation/deflation behavior.