An Analysis Of Political Business Cycle Theory and its Relationship with the New Political Macroeconomics

The paper analyses the four principal model types that comprise the political business cycle literature. It then considers how this literature complements the ‘new political macroeconomics’ in analysing the impact of politics on inflation. Political business cycle models can be classified according to the political motivations of opportunism and ideology as well as by the way in which individuals form expectations. Using this classifications we pay particular attention to the underlying assumptions of the models. The paper concludes that a satisfactory model should incorporate the possibility of both ideological and opportunistic behaviour. While some academics continue to frown at the political business cycle literature, the ‘new political macroeconomics’ has generally been well received, perhaps as a consequence of its foundations stemming from the new classical macroeconomic revolution of the 1970s. However, the two have common political foundations in exploring the effect of political incentives on macroeconomic variables. The incorporation of rational expectations by political business cycle theorists has united the two strands of literature to some extent and yet, as we explain, there remain factors that one can take from the political business cycle literature and incorporate within the new political macroeconomics.Political business cycles; objective functions; opportunism; ideology; inflation bias

Issue-based teaching in economics

Economics has evolved into a highly technical academic discipline. Considerable weight is placed on the ability of academic economists to be familiar and skilled in the use of mathematical and statistical techniques. This is how academic economists tend to be judged by their peers. As a consequence, academic economists in demonstrating their ability to use such techniques often apply their work to abstract problems or confine themselves to conceptual discussions. But, when adopted by economic instructors there is a real danger that students become disengaged and de-motivated which is of particular significance at a time of increasing concerns about recruitment and retention rates. This paper addresses how the adoption of issue-based teaching to level 1 economics undergraduates would help in motivating students to engage with economics. It argues that issue-based teaching can enable students to achieve higher levels of learning with students recognising that they can apply economic concepts and tools across a series of real and relevant issues. Although the paper is directed towards the teaching of economics it is, nonetheless, of relevance to all instructors of level 1 students.Issues-based teaching, engagement, motivation, learning theory.

EMU and Politically-Induced Output Variability: Can the Stability and Growth Pack Help?

Rogoff, 1985, suggested that central bank independence would lead to lower inflation but greater output variability. Alesina and Gatti, 1995, demonstrated Rogoff’s work was partial by only considering economic sources of output variability. By including political factors, circumstances could be identified when making a central bank independent could reduce both inflation and output variability. In EMU, however, there is no choice about central bank independence. Starting with a review of the analysis presented by Alesina and Gatti, this paper suggests national fiscal policies could also be a source of politically-induced output variability. It reinterprets the analysis of Alesina and Gatti and identifies circumstances when the Stability and Growth Pact could help to reduce output variability in EMU.

Queer and Uncanny: An Ethnographic Critique of Female Natural Bodybuilding

This article presents an ethnographic critique of the corporeal experiences of women as self-proclaimed natural bodybuilders. Drawing on detailed ethnographic work and interviews with 10 female naturals, a bricolage of multiply gendered identities and affiliations is produced. The analysis questions how in working to a “natural ethic,” while desiring a “deviant aesthetic,” the female bodybuilder is paradoxically repressed by a “natural gendered order.” The narrative draws reflexively on psychoanalytic theory and transgendered perspectives, to examine the cultural concept: natural as a “queer” and “uncanny” paradox in which gender and identity are made and simultaneously dislocated

The New Political Macroeconomics

The paper surveys the ‘old’ and ‘new’ political macroeconomics. In the former we consider how governments can be seen to manipulate the economy as to satisfy opportunistic or ideological motives, thereby creating opportunistic or partisan political business cycles. We examine how the macroeconomic revolution of the 1970s cast doubts on the ability of governments to freely and repeatedly create such cycles. Consequently, the new political macroeconomics have focused more on the effect of politically induced incentives on the inherent amount of inflation in the economic system. In exploring the concept of inflation bias we attempt to use ideas from the old political macroeconomics to show how the two strands of literature may complement one another. The paper finishes by focusing on the debate within the new political macroeconomics about the possible trade-off between reduced inflation bias and extra output volatility following the establishment of an independent central bank.Political business cycles; time inconsistency; inflation bias; central bankers

Is real GDP per capita a stationary process? Smooth transitions, nonlinear trends and unit root testing

The aim of this paper is to provide additional evidence about the order of integration of constant price GDP per capita in a selection of countries. It does so by taking into account the possibility of non-linear deterministic trends and of asymmetric adjustment towards equilibrium. We find evidence of a global stationary ESTAR process around a nonlinear deterministic trend in almost half of the selected countries. These results show that nonlinearities affect real GDP series. By neglecting them, one can draw misleading conclusions from unit root tests. Specifically, the paper questions the so-called stylised fact of a near unit root which has so influenced macroeconomic thought over the past two decades.Real GDP per capita, Unit root tests, Persistence, Nonlinearities, Smooth transitions

Evaluating UK housing policies to tackle housing affordability

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical summary of UK housing policies. It aims to evaluate UK government\u27s housing policies, before and after the publication of the Barker Review, to tackle affordability issues in the owner-occupied sector. It examines the extent to which housing policy contributes to or alleviates the problem of the affordability of owner-occupied housing.Design/methodology/approach – This paper evaluates the impact of UK government housing policies since 2000 on housing affordability by analysing their impact on the dynamics of housing demand and supply.Findings – The Barker Review, which applied simple economic ideas and techniques in analysing the owner-occupied UK housing market, argued that increases in new housing supply would help to improve housing affordability. The second Barker Review suggested that changes to the planning system were needed in order not only to increase new housing supply, but to make housing supply more sensitive to changing demands. The Barker Reviews brought about a major re-think in government policy towards housing, particularly relating to new build and the planning system. However, the heavy reliance on the private sector to provide additional housing has reduced the effectiveness of policy changes. In addition, the adoption by the government of “demand-side” housing policies has done little to negate the volatility of UK house prices or to raise the overall affordability of owner-occupied housing.Originality/value – This paper reflects on government failures in UK housing policy in addressing the affordability of owner-occupied housing. The findings will be of interest to policy makers and housing researchers

Professionalisation in sports coaching: issues and conceptualisation

This reports attempts to critically review all relevant literature informing definitions and conceptualisations of 'profession', 'professional practice' and 'professionalisation'. It also identifies the 'traits/characteristics' of professionalisation in relation to coaching in a UK context and assesses the 'current state of play' in, including identification of key enablers and barriers, and propose a way forward for establishing a 'coaching profession'

Too hot to handle? A sociol semiotic analysis of touching in 'Bend it Like Beckham'

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Sports Coaching Review on 12-7-16, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21640629.2016.1198580This article examines the cinematic portrayal of touching and its politics in sports coaching, exploring how social interactions between coach and athlete are symbolically represented. The analysis focuses primarily on a well-known British-produced film, Bend it like Beckham (2002), in which scenes exhibit different forms of touching. The construction of intimate coach-athlete relationships captured through a series of filmed encounters is analysed through a social semiotic frame. This requires judgements about the authority, ‘reality-status’, and possibility of meaning arising from such representational practices. Attention is drawn to different moments of intimacy and/or sexual tension between the lead coach and central female characters, both on and off the pitch. Through a series of detailed interpretations, we show how the complexities involved in assigning intentionality in cinematic contexts serves both to assert and displace meaning. This further problematizes moral aspects of relations between coaches and athletes in tactile encounters, and especially so within the context of risk-averse safeguarding policies in sports coaching, a context characterised by increased prescription, proscription and disciplinary intervention during the years since the film was released