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An Investigation of Firm Heterogeneity in the Constraints to Development and Growth in Pakistan
No full textThis study considers the importance of firm characteristics in explaining the degree of business constraints facing Pakistani firms in the Investment Climate Survey. We quantify how firms with differing characteristics experience particular problems. After controlling for other factors, the largest differences in responses to business constraints occurs among firms that vary by manufacturing industry, and among firms operating under different ownership structures or selling in different markets. In some cases, firm size and firm location also play an important role. The age of the firm generally does not lead to significant differences. These results are important, because they will guide policymakers to develop more specific approaches to fostering the investment climate, which better account for the heterogeneity of firms.JEL Classification Codes: O53, L6, M0経済学 / Economicstechnical repor
Emerging Market Pension Funds and International Diversification
No full textMany countries are currently increasing the advanced funding of their public pension systems to improve their sustainability in the face of rapidly aging populations. When pensions are funded, the issue of asset allocation becomes of paramount importance. Through compound interest, the rate of growth for pension fund assets will have enormous implications for the level of pension contributions that will be needed to fund a desired level of benefits. Standard portfolio selection theory provides a fundamental justification for international diversification: by widening the pool of potential assets, investors can potentially increase returns while possibly even reducing risks through the selection of complementary assets with low correlations. Nonetheless, many emerging market countries have regulations that strictly limit the choice of investments for pension funds, in some cases excluding international assets entirely. This paper seeks to determine what economic theory suggests is the optimal asset allocation for public pension systems in emerging market countries, and in particular, what role international assets play in the optimal portfolios. We find that on average, about half of the portfolios of emerging market countries should be in world assets. The paper then quantifies the costs of prohibiting international diversification.JEL Classification Codes: H55, G11, G23経済学 / Economicstechnical repor
各国立法補佐機関の比較分析
Get PDF立法補佐機関に関する日米英独の比較からは、米国においては立法補佐機関が他国に比して圧倒的に発達した状態にあること、及び、日英独の三ヶ国の中では、日本において相対的に発達しており、英独においては未発達な状態に留まっていること、が導かれる。このうち米国における立法補佐機関の圧倒的な発達は、大統領制と議院内閣制という政治体制の相違によって説明でき、また、日英独の中での日本の相対的な発達は、アリーナ型・変換型という議会類型、及び、官僚や政党スタッフ等、立法補佐機能を有する他のアクターの存在、という要素によって説明できる。ここから導かれる立法補佐機関の発達程度に関する二つの命題 は、26の民主主義国を対象とした計量分析によって、ある程度支持される。technical repor
Unbundling Zimbabwe’s journey to hyperinflation and official dollarization
Get PDFThe first impetus to Zimbabwe’s drive to hyperinflation and official dollarization predates the disruption in production caused by the fast-track land reform programme. The initial push came from the departure from relatively disciplined fiscal policies to a string of measures aimed at pacifying restive groups threatening political power through the transfer of economic and financial resources to those groups to the detriment of the fiscus. This stance caused investors to run away from the Zimbabwean currency thus causing currency depreciation hence inducing cost-push inflation which was worsened by the decline in production that accompanied the land reform programme and the associated disturbances to production in all sectors of the economy. The liquidity expansion by the central bank to prop the ruling party embodied in the quasi-fiscal activities veiled as expansionary Keynesian economics played a major role in firmly setting the stage for hyperinflation in the latter stages of the saga. In the backdrop of hyperinflation, the institution of official dollarization was merely de jure recognition of the unofficial dollarization that had set in. On the basis of Zimbabwe’s idiosyncrasies, the article contends that any attempt to dedollarize should be an endogenous outcome of a policy of macroeconomic stabilization.JEL Classification Codes: E31, E42, E58, E61, O55technical repor
Lifecycle Funds and Wealth Accumulation for Retirement: Evidence for a More Conservative Asset Allocation as Retirement Approaches
Get PDFA line of recent studies cast doubt on the efficacy of the lifecycle investment strategy, which calls for switching into a more conservative investment portfolio as retirement approaches, as a suitable way to provide for the retirement needs of workers with defined-contribution pensions. After comparing simulation outcomes for lifecycle and fixed asset allocation strategies, we determine that the lifecycle strategy can be justified even in a framework including only financial wealth. We find that investors with very reasonable amounts of risk aversion may prefer the lifecycle approach, despite the tendency for aggressive fixed allocation strategies to produce larger expected wealth.JEL Classification Codes: D14, D81, G11, G23経済学 / Economicstechnical repor
An epsilon-based measure of efficiency in DEA revisited -A third pole of technical efficiency-
Get PDFhttps://www.grips.ac.jp/list/facultyinfo/tone_kaoru/In DEA, we have two measures of technical efficiency with different characteristics: radial and non-radial. In this paper we compile them into a composite model called “epsilon-based measure (EBM).” For this purpose we introduce two parameters which connect radial and non-radial models. These two parameters are obtained from the newly defined affinity index between inputs or outputs along with principal component analysis on the affinity matrix. Thus, EBM takes into account diversity of input/output data and their relative importance for measuring technical efficiency.経済学 / Economicstechnical repor
Haki Yetu (It’s Our Right): Determinants of Post-Election Violence in Kenya
Get PDFDuring the violence following the 2007 presidential election in Kenya, it has been reported that around 1,000 people were killed and over 500,000 people were displaced. In this paper, we investigate the root causes of the violence by using a panel survey of 295 rural households living Rift Valley and Nyanza Provinces, where the violence took place. Among our sample households, 11 percent of male members and 9 percent of female members were victims of the violence, 11 percent of households were displaced, and 23 percent of households hosted at least one internally displaced person. The results show that certain ethnic groups had higher probabilities of being victims of the violence. In addition, we find that members of households without land titles were victimized more than those with land titles, but they were less likely to leave their homes. They could be victimized because the mobs wanted to chase them away, but they hesitated to leave their homes, knowing that it would be difficult for them to retain their land without land titles. The land issue was clearly one of the root causes of the violence, and the issue should be solved or at least addressed to prevent similar conflicts in the future.経済学 / Economicstechnical repor
Learning about one’s own type in a two-sided search
Get PDFThis paper is an analysis of a two-sided search model in which agents are vertically heterogeneous and some agents do not know their own types. Agents who do not know their own types update their beliefs about their own types through the o§ers or rejections that they receive from others. In the belief-updating process, an agent who is unsure of her own type frequently rejects (accepts) a man whom she accepts (rejects) when she knows her own type. In this paper, we show that this optimistic (pessimistic) behavior ináuences both the agentís and other agentsímatching behaviors. We show, speciÖcally, that the optimism of some agents prevents the lowest-type agents from matching. However, the pessimism of some agents does not a§ect the matching of the lowest-type agents.JEL Classification Codes: D82, D83, J12経済学 / Economicstechnical repor
The lion's share. An experimental analysis of polygamy in Northern Nigeria.
Get PDFhttps://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/munro_alistair/Using samples of polygamous and non-polygamous households from villages in rural areas south of Kano, Northern Nigeria we test basic theories of household behaviour. Husbands and wives play two variants of a voluntary contributions game in which endowments are private knowledge, but contributions are public. In one variant, the common pool is split equally. In the other treatment the husband allocates the pool (and wives are forewarned of this). Most partners keep back at least half of their endowment from the common pool, but we find no evidence that polygynous households are less efficient than their monogamous counterparts. We also reject a strong form of Bergstrom’s model of polygyny in which all wives receive an equal allocation. In our case, senior wives often receive more from their husbands, no matter what their contribution. Thus the return to contributions is higher for senior wives compared to their junior counterparts. When they control the allocation, polygynous men receive a higher payoff than their monogamous counterparts. We speculate on the implications of this pattern of investment and reward for the sustainability of polygynous institutions.経済学 / Economicstechnical repor
Autonomy or Efficiency. An experiment on household decisions in two regions of India.
Get PDFhttps://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/munro_alistair/Dyson and Moore (1983) posit that women in South India enjoy relatively more agency than in the North. Their conclusions have become part of the standard picture of Indian rural society. In this paper, we examine using experimental data the implications of the regional contrast in female autonomy for the efficiency of family decision-making. We take a sample of 1200 couples from one rural and one urban area in the north of India (Uttar Pradesh) and one area in the south (Tamil Nadu) that are often taken to exemplify differences in the autonomy of women and the nature of marital relationships. Generally, we find large-scale and robust evidence of inefficiency and the hiding of assets when this is possible. Men invest more and are more generous to their partners. Women are more willing to invest in a common pool when their income is earned through working and when assets are publicly observable.
Regarding the focus of our paper, we find continuing significant differences between North and South and we find relatively little evidence that urban living is associated with changes in the nature of marital behaviour. There are some differences between response to treatment but the key and striking difference between the North and the South is that in both rural and urban sites in the former region household efficiency is considerably greater than in the latter, which does on the face of it suggest a tradeoff between autonomy and efficiency.経済学 / Economicstechnical repor