MyQuestLight User’s Guide

MyQuestLight is a free Excel add-in for processing questionnaire responses, which can be downloaded from IDEAS (search under Software Components). It leverages on Excel’s flexibility in organizing data, supplementing it with a set of powerful tools for automating the inputting of questionnaire responses, their tabulation, and generation of relational data tables. Besides being a guide to MyQuestLight's functionalities, this paper attempts to define and explain the most important questionnaire concepts (e.g., questionnaire structure, types of questions and answers, etc.).questionnaire, survey, response, automate, database, software

Estimation of a Money Demand Function for M2 in the U.S.A. in a Vector Error Correction Model

money demand vector error correction

SELECTIVE CREDIT CONTROLS AND THE MONEY SUPPLY PROCESS IN TRANSITIONAL ECONOMIES: THE CASE OF BULGARIA

This paper develops an unified framework for analyzing the influence of both direct and indirect instruments of monetary control on the money supply process. The resulting formal model is then applied in the empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of credit ceilings in limiting the growth of domestic monetary aggregates in Bulgaria.selective credit controls credit ceilings money multiplier

THE IMPORTANCE OF PROPERTY RIGHTS FOR ECONOMIC OUTCOMES: LESSONS FROM THE TRANSFER OF PRODUCTIVE ASSETS FROM COLLECTIVE TO PRIVATE OWNERSHIP IN BULGARIAN AGRICULTURE

The design of the agricultural reform in Bulgaria in the early 90-es provides researchers with a natural experiment for testing the effect of the protracted absence of clearly defined property rights on economic outcomes. Special rules governing the restitution of orchards made one group of crops, namely fruits, more susceptible to the negative effects of poorly defined property rights, resulting from delayed land reform. Our empirical analysis shows that the decline in agricultural output was steepest for crops in the fruits group, which we attribute to the differential effect of the property rights vacuum in the early stages of transition.property rights Bulgaria agriculture transition

Decentralization in regional fiscal systems in Russia - trends and links to economic performance

To shed light on decentralization in Russia, the authors examine intergovernmental fiscal relations within regions. To analyze trends, they review channels of fiscal allocation within regions - tax sharing and local transfer schemes. To evaluate the potential impact of various fiscal decentralization patterns on regional economic performance (including growth and the budget deficit), the authors study data on the structure of 89 Russian consolidated regional budgets for 1992-96. They find that local governments'relative share of Russia's consolidated budget, although substantive (roughly a quarter of the total budget), did not expand after 1994. The federal government's relative role in financing public goods and services declined as the relative role of local governments increased substantially. Local governments collected more revenues in 1996 (6.4 percent of GDP) and spent more than regional governments. They also substantially increased social financing (including health, education, and social protection). Russia made no progress toward a more transparent system for tax assignments. The average level of expenditure decentralization is similar for ethnically Russian regions and national republics and"okrugs"but revenue arrangements differ greatly."True"decentralization has taken place in"oblasts"and"krais"where local authorities are provided with a bigger share of sub-national tax revenues. A redistribution model applies in republics and autonomous okrugs, where greater local outlays have been financed through larger transfers from regional governments. Regions near each other tend to have similar budget arrangements - the result of intensive interactions between neighbors and probably supported by the activities of regional associations. The size of a region's territory does not influence decentralization outcomes. Fiscal decentralization seems positively related to the share of education spending in regional budgets. And regions with more decentralized finances tend to experience less economic decline. But budget control is weaker in more decentralized regions. Instability and lack of transparency in intergovernmental fiscal relations provide sub-national governments little incentive for responsible fiscal policy. Further decentralization without greater transparency could bring greater debt and deficits.Urban Economics,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Public&Municipal Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Municipal Financial Management,Public&Municipal Finance,National Governance,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Banks&Banking Reform

Transition in Regional Capitals along the Volga

transition russia local government fiscal decentralization

The Use of Credit Ceilings in the Presence of Indirect Monetary

In this paper, we introduce credit ceilings in the standard model of the money multiplier and analyze their role in central bank’s management of money supply in the presence of indirect monetary instruments. We show that under a regime of total credit ceilings, their optimal value equals the desired growth rate of the adjusted monetary base. Under a regime of partial credit ceilings, their optimal value depends on the desired growth rate of the adjusted monetary base, the degree of substitutability between the regulated and unregulated types of banks’ earning assets, and the autonomous growth rate of the latter.credit ceilings selective credit controls money multiplier

MyQuestLight - Excel add-in for processing questionnaire responses

MyQuestLight is an Excel add-in for processing questionnaire responses. It leverages on Excel’s flexibility in organizing data, supplementing it with a set of powerful tools for automating the inputting of questionnaire responses, their tabulation, and generation of relational data tables.questionnaire software

The Use of Credit Ceilings in the Presence of Indirect Monetary Instruments

In this paper, we introduce credit ceilings in the standard model of the money multiplier and analyze their role in central bank''s management of money supply in the presence of indirect monetary instruments. We show that under a regime of total credit ceilings, their optimal value equals the desired growth rate of the adjusted monetary base. Under a regime of partial credit ceilings, their optimal value depends on the desired growth rate of the adjusted monetary base, the degree of substitutability between the regulated and unregulated types of banks'' earning assets, and the autonomous growth rate of the latter.Credit ceilings;monetary base, central bank, money supply, monetary policy, monetary fund, monetary instruments, monetary control, reserve requirements, government securities, monetary economics, monetary management, national bank, monetary expansion, open market operations, monetary aggregates, money management, monetary authorities, holdings of government securities