35 research outputs found
Are Proposed African Monetary Unions Optimal Currency Areas? Real and Monetary Policy Convergence Analysis
A spectre is hunting embryonic African monetary zones: the EMU crisis. The introduction of common currencies in West and East Africa is facing stiff challenges in the timing of monetary convergence, the imperative of bankers to apply common modeling and forecasting methods of monetary policy transmission, as well as the requirements of common structural and institutional characteristics among candidate states. Inspired by the premise of the EMU crisis, this paper assesses real and monetary policy convergence within the proposed WAM and EAM zones. In the analysis, monetary policy targets inflation and financial dynamics of depth, efficiency, activity and size while real sector policy targets economic performance in terms of GDP growth at macro and micro levels. Findings suggest overwhelming lack of convergence; an indication that candidate countries still have to work towards harmonizing cross-country differences in fundamental, structural and institutional characteristics that hamper the convergence process
Are Proposed African Monetary Unions Optimal Currency Areas? Real, Monetary and Fiscal Policy Convergence Analysis
Purpose – A spectre is hunting embryonic African monetary zones: the EMU crisis. This paper assesses real, monetary and fiscal policy convergence within the proposed WAM and EAM zones. The introduction of common currencies in West and East Africa is facing stiff challenges in the timing of monetary convergence, the imperative of central bankers to apply common modeling and forecasting methods of monetary policy transmission, as well as the requirements of common structural and institutional characteristics among candidate states.
Design/methodology/approach – In the analysis: monetary policy targets inflation and financial dynamics of depth, efficiency, activity and size; real sector policy targets economic performance in terms of GDP growth at macro and micro levels; while, fiscal policy targets debt-to-GDP and deficit-to-GDP ratios. A dynamic panel GMM estimation with data from different non-overlapping intervals is employed. The implied rate of convergence and the time required to achieve full (100%) convergence are then computed from the estimations.
Findings – Findings suggest overwhelming lack of convergence: (1) initial conditions for financial development are different across countries; (2) fundamental characteristics as common monetary policy initiatives and IMF backed financial reform programs are implemented differently across countries; (3) there is remarkable evidence of cross-country variations in structural characteristics of macroeconomic performance; (4) institutional cross-country differences could also be responsible for the deficiency in convergence within the potential monetary zones; (5) absence of fiscal policy convergence and no potential for eliminating idiosyncratic fiscal shocks due to business cycle incoherence.
Practical implications – As a policy implication, heterogeneous structural and institutional characteristics across countries are giving rise to different levels and patterns of financial intermediary development. Thus, member states should work towards harmonizing cross-country differences in structural and institutional characteristics that hamper the effectiveness of convergence in monetary, real and fiscal policies. This could be done by stringently monitoring the implementation of existing common initiatives and/or the adoption of new reforms programs.
Originality/value – It is one of the few attempts to investigate the issue of convergence within the proposed WAM and EAM unions
Generalized gingival enlargement due to accumulation of amyloid-like material.
Abstract
Hyaline or amyloid-like substances may be seen in several oral lesions. Some of these originate from epithelial cells and some from connective tissue components. In this study, amyloid-like material causing gingival enlargement in three patients, with eyelid involvement in two, was examined using histochemistry, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. These accumulations did not share the classical features of amyloid such as green birefringence under polarized light after Congo red staining. Our findings suggest that epithelial degeneration plays an important role in the pathogenesis of these amyloid-like accumulations. These substances may be the result of defective amyloidogenesis and our cases may represent an oral counterpart of ligneous conjunctivitis or colloid milium of the skin
Patterns of Productivity Growth and the Wage Cycle in Turkish Manufacturing
In this paper we investigate the distributional consequences of the post-1980 accumulation patterns and technological change in the Turkish manufacturing industries. We utilise two quantitative techniques. First, we make use of the Hodrick-Prescott filter to disintegrate the cyclical variations in productivity growth and wage rates from their respective historical trends, and study the evolution of the wage cycle against the long term productivity patterns in the sector. Next, we decompose the fundamental characteristics of the contributions of productivity growth of the manufacturing sub-sectors to the overall total. Our results suggest very little structural change in the sectoral composition and nature of productivity advances under the post-1980 structural adjustment reforms and outward-orientation, and underscore that the gains in productivity in this period did not materialise as gains in remunerations of wage labour. Contrary to the prognostications of the orthodox theory, the post-1980 export orientation of Turkish manufacturing was not found to lend itself to productivity contributions, and could not be sustained as a viable strategy of 'export-led industrialisation'.