Knowledge Creation and Sharing in Organisational Contexts: A Motivation-Based Perspective

This paper develops a motivation-based perspective to explore how organisations resolve the social dilemma of knowledge sharing, and the ways in which different motivational mechanisms interact to foster knowledge sharing and creation in different organisational contexts. The core assumption is that the willingness of organisational members to engage in knowledge sharing can be viewed on a continuum from purely opportunistic behaviour regulated by extrinsic incentives to an apparently altruistic stance fostered by social norms and group identity. The analysis builds on a three-category taxonomy of motivation: adding ‘hedonic’ motivation to the traditional dichotomy of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Based on an analysis of empirical case studies in the literature, we argue that the interaction and mix of the three different motivators play a key role in regulating and translating potential into actual behaviour, and they underline the complex dynamics of knowledge sharing and creation in different organisational contexts

Alternative Public Spending Rules and Output Volatility

One of the central lessons learned from the Great Depression was that adjusting government spending each year to balance the budget increases the volatility of output. We compare this policy with one that involves running temporary deficits and surpluses and an average budget balance of zero. Our analysis allows monetary policy to adjust to a change in fiscal regime, and the specifications for aggregate demand and supply are consistent with the "new neoclassical synthesis." Our results give only limited support to the conventional wisdom on fiscal rules and stability of output.Built-in stability; expectational IS; foward-looking Phillips curve.

Is the New Keynesian Explanation of the Great Dis-Inflation Consistent with the Cross Country Data?

A leading explanation of long run U.S. inflation trends attributes both the fall of inflation in the 1980s and the subsequent years of low and stable inflation to well run monetary policy pinning down inflationary expectations. Most other OECD economies experienced a similar rise and fall of inflation, as well as subsequent low and stable inflation over the same period. This observation has been under-explored in the literature. In this paper we exploit the international dimension of the fall of inflation to investigate the hypothesis that good monetary policy is responsible for recent inflation outcomes. Our results suggest that this theory is not compatible with the cross country data.

The Implications of Information Lags for the Stabilization Bias and Optimal Delegation.

Many papers for example Jensen (2002) and Walsh (2003) have shown that in a New Keynesian model with a significant degree of forward-looking behaviour, policy regimes that target either the change in the output-gap (speed limit targeting) or nominal income growth can considerably reduce the size of the stabilization biasÐthe inefficiency that arises when a central bank conducts policy under discretion as opposed to commitment. Inflation targeting can also reduce the size of the stabilization bias but unless inflation expectations in the model are predominantly backward-looking, this targeting regime does not perform as well as speed limit or nominal income growth targeting. Jensen (2002) and Walsh (2003) obtain their results using a New Keynesian model where changes in the policy rate affect macroeconomic variables immediately. In this paper, we compare the performance of several targeting regimes by using a New Keynesian model that includes a delayed response of monetary policy as a result of information lags. We find two results that are substantially different from Jensen (2002) and Walsh (2003). First the size of the stabilization bias is considerably reduced. Second, a regime that targets inflation outperforms a regime that targets either the change in the output-gap or the growth in nominal income even when inflation expectations are very forward-looking.Stabilization bias, Inflation Targeting, Discretion, Commitment, Information Lag

The Implications of Transmission and Information Lags for the Stabilization Bias and Optimal Delegation

In two recent papers, Jensen (2002) and Walsh (2003), using a hybrid New Keynesian model, demonstrate that a regime that targets either nominal income growth or the change in the output gap can effectively replicate the outcome under commitment and hence reduce the size of the stabilization bias. Moreover, these two targeting regimes have been shown to outperform a regime that targets inflation, except when inflation expectations are predominantly backward looking. In this paper, the authors modify an otherwise conventional New Keynesian model to include transmission and information lags, two key problems faced by policy-makers, and they examine whether the results from the baseline model are robust to these two modifications. The authors find that the gains from commitment are considerably reduced when the model includes these two features, which implies that optimal delegation is less important. Furthermore, a regime that targets CPI inflation in a conservative manner is found to perform well and even outperforms the targeting regimes advocated by Jensen and Walsh under certain conditions.Transmission of monetary policy; Inflation targets

Knowledge Creation and Sharing in Organisational Contexts: A Motivation-Based Perspective

This paper develops a motivation-based perspective to explore how organisations resolve the social dilemma of knowledge sharing, and the ways in which different motivational mechanisms interact to foster knowledge sharing and creation in different organisational contexts. The core assumption is that the willingness of organisational members to engage in knowledge sharing can be viewed on a continuum from purely opportunistic behaviour regulated by extrinsic incentives to an apparently altruistic stance fostered by social norms and group identity. The analysis builds on a three-category taxonomy of motivation: adding ‘hedonic’ motivation to the traditional dichotomy of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Based on an analysis of empirical case studies in the literature, we argue that the interaction and mix of the three different motivators play a key role in regulating and translating potential into actual behaviour, and they underline the complex dynamics of knowledge sharing and creation in different organisational contexts.Knowledge sharing; tacit knowledge; motivation; incentives; organizational learning; human resource practices

The Role of Simple Rules in the Conduct of Canadian Monetary Policy

The third strategy employed by the Bank when dealing with uncertainty is the consideration of appropriate simple reaction functions or "rules" for the setting of the policy interest rate. Since John Taylor's presentation of his much-discussed rule, research on simple policy rules has exploded. Simple rules have several advantages. In particular, they are easy to construct and communicate and are believed by some to be robust, in the sense of generating good results in a variety of economic models. This article provides an overview of the recent research regarding the usefulness and robustness of simple monetary policy rules, particularly in models of the Canadian economy. It also describes and explains the role of simple rules in the conduct of monetary policy in Canada.

Alternative Targeting Regimes, Transmission Lags, and the Exchange Rate Channel

Using a closed-economy model, Jensen (2002) and Walsh (2003) have, respectively, shown that a policy regime that optimally targets nominal income growth (NIT) or the change in the output gap (SLT) outperforms a regime that targets inflation, because NIT and SLT induce more inertia in the actions of the central bank, effectively replicating the outcome obtained under precommitment. The author obtains a very different result when the analysis is extended to open-economy models. Flexible CPI-inflation targeting outperforms both SLT and NIT and is the most robust targeting regime. The gains from targeting CPI inflation are particularly large when the model features transmission lags and/or departures from the uncovered interest parity condition. The author also finds that the stabilization bias inherent in discretionary policy is smaller in an open-economy setting.

Alternative Targeting Regimes, Transmission lags and the Exchange rate Channel

Using a closed-economy model, Jensen (2002) and Walsh (2003), have, respectively shown that a policy regime that optimally targets nominal income growth (NIT) or the change in the output gap (SLT) outperforms a regime that targets inflation, because NIT and SLT induce more inertia in the actions of the central bank, effectively replicating the outcome obtained under precommitment. We obtain a very different result when the analysis is extended to open-economy models. Flexible CPI-inflation targeting outperforms both SLT and NIT and is the most robust targeting regime. The gains from targeting CPI inflation are particularly large when the model features transmission lags and/or departures from the uncovered interest parity condition. We also find that the stabilization bias inherent in discretionary policy is smaller in an open-economy setting.discretion, commitment, exchange rate expectations, targeting regimes, transmission lags.