Coke of Norfolk 1754-1842: a biography by Susanna Wade Martins [2009]

Susanna Wade Martins, Coke of Norfolk, 1754–1842. A Biography, Woodbridge, Suffolk, The Boydell Press, 2009. xii + 218 pp. £50.00. 9781843834267. This biography does Thomas Coke full justice, in style as well as in content. It is excellently illustrated with colour and monochrome plates with helpful, discursive captions and specially drawn maps and diagrams. The bibliography and index are extensive and the book has been meticulously produced. Coke’s memory is well served by this first-rate piece of work

Production Constraints and the NAIRU

This paper argues that the production constraints in the basic NAIRU model should be distinguished by type: capital constraints and labour constraints. It notes the failure to incorporate this phenomenon in standard macro models. Using panel data for UK manufacturing over 80 quarters we show that capital constraints became relatively more important during the 1980s as industry failed to match the increase in labour flexibility with rising capital investment

The effect of oil price changes on the price of Russian and Chinese oil shares

© 2016, The Author(s). Do changes in oil prices have an effect on stocks of oil companies in emerging markets? Do the shares of oil companies in emerging markets react to the price news in a similar way as those of the Western companies? This paper aims to answer these questions utilizing event study techniques. As expected, the results of both parametric and nonparametric tests suggest that the fluctuations in oil prices have an effect on the stock prices. However, an interesting result is that the responses of stocks of Chinese and Russian oil companies are considerably different from the shares of their Western counterparts

Urban fiscal austerity, infrastructure provision and the struggle for regional transit in 'Motor City'

Studies suggest that urban fiscal crises trigger the institutional separation of strategic services from general purpose municipal functions. Traditional reformists have highlighted the economic benefits of regional approaches. Global austerity has created fiscal problems for central cities and suburbs alike, transforming the motives for regional solutions. This paper examines how the City of Detroit engineered a new regional arrangement with the surrounding suburbs to raise debt for the delivery of mass transit infrastructure. It represents a dual 'spatial fix' in the form of (i) a 'state territorial fix' providing fiscally stressed municipalities access to municipal bond markets and (ii) a 'speculative spatial fix' that benefits the Detroit growth coalition by linking regional mass transit to the prospect of land-use intensification. © The Author 2014

An Indicator Measuring Underlying Economic Activity in Greece

Using a state space formulation developed by Stock and Watson and Garratt and Hall we construct an indicator, which then is interpreted as a measure of the underlying economic activity of the Greek economy. The chief novelty of the paper is that the underlying model is calibrated, rather than estimated, using sample information. Our approach is more flexible than the original one, in that it provides the possibility to cope with outlying observations and to evaluate particular shocks affecting the economy using judgmental interventions. The new indicator could be very helpful for short run policy analysis signalling emerging economic problems.Economic Activity; Coincident Indicator; Kalman Filter

A Test of the Balassa-Samuelson Effect Applied to Chinese Regional Data

In this paper, we investigate the relevance of the Balassa-Samuelson effect to the determination of regional inflation in China, for the period 1985 – 2000. To do this, we first construct annual measures of Chinese inflation and industry input on regional and sectoral basis. Then we generalise the Asea and Mendoza (1994) settings to consider asymmetric productivity shocks across sectors. Testing this model on Chinese Regional Data aid of non-stationary panel data techniques, it shows that our extended theoretical model is a good empirical representation of the Chinese data that supports the Balassa-Samuelson effect. Moreover, we are able to test the Asea and Mendoza (1994) version of our general model and find that the restrictions are rejected.Balassa-Samuelson effect, productivity shocks, panel data

A Test of the Balassa-Samuelson Effect Applied to Chinese Regional Data

In this paper we investigate the relevance of the Balassa-Samuelson effect to the determination of regional inflation in China, for the period 1985 – 2000. To do this, we first construct annual measures of Chinese inflation and industry input on regional and sectoral basis. Then we generalize the Asea and Mendoza (1994) settings to consider asymmetric productivity shocks across sectors. Testing this model on Chinese Regional Data aid of non-stationary panel data techniques, it shows that our extended theoretical model is a good empirical representation of the Chinese data which supports the Balassa- Samuelson effect. Moreover, we are able to test the Asea and Mendoza (1994) version of our general model and find that the restrictions are rejected.

How Far From the Euro Area? Measuring Convergence of Inflation Rates in Eastern Europe

We present a common factor framework of convergence which we implement using principal components analysis. We apply this technique to a dataset of monthly inflation rates of EMU and the Eastern European New Member Countries (NMC) over 1996-2007. In the earlier years, the NMC rates moved independently from an average of the three best performing countries over the past twelve months, while they moved somewhat closer in line with them in the later years. Looking at the sample of the EMU and NMC countries as a whole, there is evidence of a formation of convergence clubs across the two groups.Convergence, inflation rates, European Monetary Union, principal components analysis.

Spatial Interdependencies of FDI Locations: A Lessening of the Tyranny of Distance?

Recent theoretical approaches stress the importance of complex integration strategies of multinationals and the interdependence between locations. Up till now little has been done to incorporate the potential cross-country dependencies into the empirical analysis of the determinants and the structure of foreign direct investment. By utilizing a panel data set that consists of real FDI stocks for 476 country pairs for the years 1994-2004 and a distance weighted spatial matrix, we find significant third country effects. Interestingly, the bilateral variables seem to be in concordance with the notion of horizontally motivated FDI while the spatial third country effects seem to comply with the notion of vertical FDI and production fragmentation. While bilateral variables seem to dominate location decisions the results confirm the existence and importance of international interdependence.Foreign Direct Investment; Spatial Econometrics; Panel Data

A New Look at Economic Convergence in Europe: A Common Factor Approach

We propose a common factor approach to analyse convergence, which we implement using principal components analysis. We show that this method provides a useful new way of approaching the convergence debate. We apply this technique to a dataset of nominal and real monthly exchange rates of the twelve member countries of the European Monetary Union over the period 1970-2001. Our empirical results neatly capture the convergence patterns related to the various regimes from Bretton Woods toward EMU. The UK's Pound Sterling has been on a gradual convergence path to the Euro, although convergence is less progressed than it was for the EMU countries by 1999.Convergence, exchange rates, European Monetary Union, nominal convergence, real convergence, principal components analysis.