How Much Influence Do Economics Professors Have on Rankings? The Case of Australia and New Zealand

This study ranks Australian and New Zealand economics teaching departments on the basis of the research productivity of its economics professors in economics teaching departments using quality adjusted journal articles listed on the ECONLIT database for the periods 1988-2002 and for 1996-2002. The per capita research productivity of professors is highest for University of Melbourne, University of Western Australia and University of Canterbury. For a number of economics departments, the per capita research productivity is lower than the research productivity of all faculty members, using a number of criteria for 1988-2002 and 1996-2002. These universities are University of Auckland, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University, Griffith University and Macquarie University.research productivity; economics professors; rankings of economics departments

Does Black’s Hypothesis for Output Variability Hold for Mexico?

Using two data series, namely GDP and the index of industrial production, we study the relationship between output variability and the growth rate of output. Ng-Perron unit root test shows that the growth rate of GDP is non-stationary but the growth rate of industrial output is stationary. Thus, we use the ARCH-M model for the monthly data of industrial output. A number of specifications (with and without a dummy variable) are used. In all cases, the results show that output variability has a negative but insignificant effect on the growth rate of output.economic growth; volatility; variability; business cycle fluctuations; GARCH models

An Empirical Study of Labour’s Share in Income for Australia

Economists have long been studying the shares of labour and capital in income. Surprisingly, no such empirical studies exist for Australia. This paper looks at a number of variables that can affect labour’s share in income: unemployment, capacity utilisation, growth rate of GDP and changes in the price level. Our study finds that the wage share is inversely related to unemployment, capacity utilisation and the growth rate of GDP but positively related to changes in prices.labour's share; Australia

Financial development and economic growth: The case of eight Asian countries

This paper looks at the relationship between financial development and economic growth using time series data for eight Asian countries. First, we estimate augmented production functions where a financial development variable is added. Second, we conduct multivariate causality tests between the growth rate of income and the growth rates of the financial development variables. The regression results show a positive and significant relationship between the income variables and financial variables for India, Malaysia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The multivariate causality tests show a two-way causality relationship between the income and the financial variables for India and Malaysia, one-way causality from financial variables to income variables for Japan and Thailand and reverse causality for Korea, Pakistan and Philippines. Thus, our empirical results do not unambiguously support the general view of a clear and positive relationship between financial development and economic growth.finanacial development; economic growth; Asian countries

Rankings of Economists in Teaching Economics Departments in Australia, 1988-2000

This paper provides rankings of individual Australian economists in teaching economics departments on the basis of ECONLIT journal articles for the periods 1988-2000 and 1995-2000. In ranking the economists, two types of rankings of journals are employed and approximately 400 journals are taken into account. These are the citation-based rankings and the perception-based rankings.Two different citation-based journal rankings, those by Laband and Piette (1994) and Kalaitzidakis, Mamuneas and Stengos (2001) are used. Perception-based journal rankings from Mason, Steagall and Fabritius are used. The rankings are provided for both 1988-2000 and for 1995-2000.

"On the Robustness of Alternative Rankings Methodologies For Australian and New Zealand Economics Departments"

Just as friendly arguments based on an ignorance of facts eventually led to the creation of the definitive Guinness Book of World Records, any argument about university rankings has seemingly been a problem without a solution. To state the obvious, alternative rankings methodologies can and do lead to different rankings. This paper evaluates the robustness of rankings of Australian and New Zealand economics teaching departments for 1988-2002 and 1996-2002 using alternative rankings methodologies, and compares the results with the rankings obtained by Macri and Sinha (2006). In the overall mean rankings for both 1988- 2006 and 1996-2002, the University of Melbourne is ranked first, followed by UWA and ANU.

Dynamic Analysis of Fiscal Policy in the United Kingdom

This paper studies the effects of fiscal stimuli on the real GDP of the United Kingdom for the period of 1997 through the first quarter of 2017. Structural vector autoregressive and vector error correction models are estimated. Impulse responses from both models provide support for the Keynesian view that fiscal stimuli are associated with rises in the real GDP. Variance decomposition analysis shows that over time, depending which model is considered; tax cuts impart a positive effect on the real GDP in the range of 5 to 20 percent. Government expenditure shocks account for 8 to 15 percent of variations in the real GDP based on the two models. The multipliers of tax cuts and government expenditures initially rise reaching a peak in the ninth quarter and decline to 1.60 and 1.74 in three years, respectively

The US Monetary Base and Major World Equity Markets: An Empirical Investigation

This paper investigates the relationship between the US monetary base and the five largest equity indices of the world. The mainstay of the study is the vector autoregressive approach (VAR). Analyzing impulse response functions shows strong support for the notion that the US monetary base is associated with movements in the major equity markets. For instance, positive shocks to the monetary base in the US, are responsible for positive changes in the world equity markets that may last up to six months. Examining impulse responses of equity indices from a Markov Switching VAR, which takes regime changes into account, confirm these findings. Furthermore, we show that equity responses to the positive shocks to the monetary base may be much higher than those to negative shocks. We conclude the US monetary base, and quantitative easing may have contributed to a positive business and credit climate in advanced economies of the world

Crude Oil Price Volatility Spillovers and Agricultural Commodities: A Study in Time and Frequency Domains

This paper investigates the daily volatility spillovers between crude oil prices and a select group of agricultural staples. Empirical findings confirm that the price series under study exhibit nonlinear dependencies which are inconsistent with chaotic pattern. The Johansen-Juselius cointegration test rules out long-run equilibrium relationships between the crude oil prices and the commodities under study. The dynamic conditional correlations (DCC) suggest that the association between agricultural commodities and the crude oil varies over time. The spectral and cross spectral analyses confirm that volatilities in crude oil prices are associated with volatilities in the agricultural products in the sample. Bivariate EGARCH model and the Granger causality tests confirm this relationship