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Bribery game in government secondary schools in Cameroon: An empirical investigation of Banfield’s model
Get PDFAbstract. This paper analyzes the influence of bribery on the evaluation of students at the entrance and at the outlet of Government Secondary Schools (GSS) in Cameroon using the BANFIELD’s model. The empirical evidence reveals that there is bribery at the entrance and at the outlet in GSS. So, students can be registered or pass an exam thanks to “gombo”. The couples (student, teacher) and (student, secretary), respectively at the entrance and the outlet, are corrupt at a significant threshold of 5% and a P-value of 0%. In the first case corruption highlights that students are victims of adverse- selection and the principal of the school is victim of moral hazard. In the second, it suggests that the principal is not only victim of moral risk but also of adverse selection.Keywords. Bribery, Government secondary schools, Banfield’s model, Adverse selection, Moral hazard.JEL. B52, F55, O17, O31, O33, O35, O43, P10, P14, P48
The path ahead for Bulgaria: Through the eyes of Steve Hanke
Get PDFThe path ahead for Bulgaria: Through the eyes of Steve Hanke-Intervie
St. Thomas Aquinas and the development of natural law in economic thought
Get PDFAbstract. Building on the system of reason provided for by the Greek philosopher and specifically Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas built a comprehensive system and theory of natural law which has lasted through the ages. The theory was further developed in the Middle Ages and in the Enlightenment Ages by many a prominent philosopher and economist and has been recognized in the Modern Age. The natural law-theory and system has been repeatedly applied to the spheres of economic thought and has produced many lasting contributions such as private property rights and individual rights. In recent times with the collapses of the financial system and rapid globalization, there has been a renewed interest in the application of natural law theory to economics to counter a certain anthropology and distortion of values created by a modern economic system of self-preservation deriving its insights from the philosophies of Thomas Hobbes and Niccolo Machiavelli.Keywords. St. Thomas Aquinas, Natural Law and Economics, Scholasticism, Morality and Markets.JEL. B00, B10, K00
Reflections on Zimbabwe’s past and future: Tradeoffs between the Lexus and the Baobab tree
Get PDFAbstract. In early 2018, President Mnangagwa seemingly struck a new tone to the Western world that was welcoming, rather than antagonistic to business investment (Mnangagwa, 2018). Nonetheless, recent and continued land expropriations, continued deficit spending and a severe shortage of cash liquidity have made any recovery a very challenging prospect. Outside observers now have differing outlooks on Zimbabwe, ranging from uniformly “negative” to “mixed”, “neutral” or “cautiously optimistic” (World Bank, 2018; Mining Review Africa, 2018; Mdzungairi, 2018) My recent take on the country in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal sided with the cautiously optimistic group (Richardson, 2018), but it appears I was too sanguine.Keywords. Reflections, Baobab tree, Zimbabwe, Tradeoffs.JEL. B1, B50, F11, F13, G10
International financial credit crises; Lessons from Canada
Get PDFAbstract. The credit crises experienced in the US in year 2008 is labeled as perhaps the most significant crises since the great depression. The roots of the crises were found in the default of the sub-prime mortgages and the failure occurred in both the US and the UK. Due to the integrated nature of international financial systems the spillover impacted many countries as the economies in Asia and Europe were purchasers of the sub-prime mortgages that originated in both UK and US. The impact of the credit crises in Canada is of unique importance due to the close proximity to US, and both the US and Canada being of great strategic importance to each other as well as one of the largest trading partners.Even though the international financial credit crises adversely impacted many countries, the evidence that has come across recent years point towards the conclusion that Canada was able to weather the crises much better than many other countries.Keywords. Banking system, Canada, Financial credit crises, MNC’s, Regulations.JEL. F23, N12, N22, N32, N42, O51
Intangible capital: A strategic lever for value creation
Get PDFAbstract. The main objective of this article is to examine the interactions between the different components of intangible capital as well as their effects on the creation of business value. To do this, we start with a review of the literature around the concept of intangible capital, its components, and its direct or indirect impact on companies. Then, an empirical study based on a field survey relating to a sample of fifteen companies located in Tangier allows us to see more clearly the effect of intangible capital on the creation of wealth.Keywords. Intangible capital, Intellectual capital, Goodwill management, Intangible capital evaluation, Valuecreation, The components of intangible capital.JEL. G11, G17, C53, C58
Measuring the effects of structural reforms in Malta
Get PDFAbstract. Structural reforms are crucial to boost an economy’s long-term growth potential, enhance its resilienceand increase its flexibility to adjust to adverse shocks. Malta has implemented a number of reforms in recent years, both to its labour and product market, which could in part explain its stellar growth performance after the crisis. Furthermore, EU membership has facilitated the inflow of foreign labour that helped to address critical labour and skill shortages. This paper quantifies the macroeconomic effects of structural reforms in labour and product markets using EAGLE, a large scale multi-country DSGE model, calibrated for the Maltese economy, as a small and open economy in a monetary union. The results show that a 10 percentage point reduction in product and labour mark-ups raises GDP by more than 5% in the long-run. The implementation of the reforms in isolation is associated with adjustment costs but the joint implementation of reforms can, to a large extent, soften the transition costs associated with the reforms. The results are robust to varying levels of mark-ups and different parameterization of the model. A key driver behind this finding is the adjustment in the labour market. This calls for policies to further reduce skill mismatches and for incentives that attract and retain more people in the labour market.Keywords. Structural reforms, Competition, DSGE models, Malta.JEL. C53, E27, F41, F47
