1,721,065 research outputs found
Are failproof banking systems feasible? Desirable?
Get PDFIn recent years, instability of the banking system has returned as a major problem in many countries, particularly in the developing world. In many cases, this instability has been so threatening to financial intermediation and the functioning of the payments system that governments have felt compelled to intervene and restructure banks, often at considerable cost to the public budget. One response to these problems has been a proposal to create failproof banking systems - to radically transform the structure, priorities, and operation of the banking and financial system. Banks would be limited to issuing deposits, holding essentially riskless portfolios, and operating the payments system. To minimize the resulting disruptions to the financial system, banks would be authorized (and encouraged) to set up holding companies and then transfer to holding company affiliates all the functions - including lending - that banks would no longer be permitted to perform. So while the failproof banking proposal would severely restrict the activity of banks, it would not restrict the activities of banking organizations that convert to a holding company form of organization. This proposal would produce major public benefits. It would assure a nation of a smoothly functioning banking and payments system, would substantially reduce the resources committed to banking supervision, would prevent bank-type regulation from expanding to the rest of the financial system, and would place banking and nonbanking organizations on a level playing field for the financial activities in which they compete. There are two major problems with the proposal. First, it might be difficult to implement because of too few riskless assets in a nation's financial system. (The author suggests several modifications that would alleviate this problem in some countries.) Second, the proposal might hurt the financial market by: (a) increasing interest rates for higher-risk borrowers, forcing them out of the market; and (b) transfering greater risk to the nonbank sector of the financial system, making it more susceptible to crisis. Although the proposal would benefit developing countries (more prone to banking instability) more than industrial countries, it would also be more difficult to implement in developing countries. And the adverse effects of the proposal would be felt more severely in the financial markets of developing countries than in industrial countries, which have deeper, more responsive financial markets.Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Banking Law,Settlement of Investment Disputes
Development 3.0
No full textShantayanan Devarajan Gabonve a lunch talk at a recent conference of civil society and technology people orGabonnized by the Tech@State folks at the U.S. State Department
Development of natural gas and pipeline capacity markets in the United States
Get PDFDeregulation of the U.S. natural gas industry has been under way since the late 1970s. The industry was deregulated to create competitive markets in natural gas and its pipeline transportation, in the expectation that competition would guide transactions toward a more efficient outcome. The author provides an overview of the deregulation process and its effect on the development and functioning of natural gas and gas transportation markets in the United States. He analyzes the trading of pipeline capacity in primary and secondary markets and the regulation of pipeline transportation, identifies mechanisms that pipeline companies use to coordinate bilateral transactions, and summarizes deregulation's main achievements in the U.S. natural gas industry. Industry achievements in the past 15 years show that expectations were not realistic. The United States enjoys a highly competitive interstate transportation market. Both markets have benefited from the deregulation of natural gas production and marketing and the liberalization of natural gas prices. Introducing open access to interstate pipelines and their unbundling from gas sales has allowed end users to participate in the efficiency gains in upstream markets. All this has contributed to declining retail prices for all major consumer categories. Deregulation is far from complete, however. Current regulation of interstate pipeline companies and the secondary transportation market does not promote efficient allocation of transportation contracts. Flexible pricing of transportation contracts should be introduced in both the primary and secondary transportation markets. But deregulation of retail markets remains the most important task and the bigger challenge facing industry regulators. Small-volume end users (such as residential or commercial customers) are captive to local distribution utilities, without access to competitive wholesale markets. All end users should be able to choose a natural gas supplier and receive natural gas at the minimum cost to society.Oil&Gas,Water and Industry,Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Transport and Environment,Water and Industry,Oil Refining&Gas Industry,Oil&Gas,Carbon Policy and Trading
Devolution, Accountability, and Service Delivery in Pakistan
Get PDFThis paper examines into the relationship between devolution, accountability, and service delivery in Pakistan by examining the degree of accessibility of local policy-makers and the level of competition in local elections, the expenditure patterns of local governments to gauge their sectoral priorities, and the extent to which local governments are focused on patronage, or providing targeted benefits to a few as opposed to providing public goods. The main findings of the paper are threefold. First, the accessibility of policy-makers to citizens in Pakistan is unequivocally greater after devolution, and local government elections are, with some notable exceptions, as competitive as national and provincial elections. Second, local government sectoral priorities are heavily tilted towards the provision of physical infrastructure—specifically, roads, water and sanitation, and rural electrification—at the expense of education and health. Third, this sectoral prioritisation is in part a dutiful response to the relatively greater citizen demands for physical infrastructure; in part a reflection of the local government electoral structure that gives primacy to village and neighbourhood-specific issues; and in part a reaction to provincial initiatives in education and health that have taken the political space away from local governments in the social sectors, thereby encouraging them to focus more towards physical infrastructure.State and Local Government, Inter-government Relations, Political Processes, Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behaviour, Publically Provided Goods
Two Generalizations of a Deposit-Refund System
Get PDFThis paper suggests two generalizations of the deposit-refund idea. In the first, we apply the idea not just to solid waste materials, but to any waste from production or consumption including wastes that may be solid, gaseous, or liquid. Using a simple general equilibrium model, we derive the optimal combination of a tax on a purchased commodity and subsidy to a clean' activity (such as emission abatement, recycling, or disposal in a sanitary landfill). This two-part instrument' is equivalent to a Pigovian tax on the dirty' activity (such as emissions, dumping, or litter). In the second generalization, we consider the case where government must use distorting taxes on labor and capital incomes. To help meet the revenue requirement, would the optimal deposit be raised and the refund reduced? We derive the second-best revenue-raising DRS or two-part instrument to answer that question.
Migration as a Safety Net and Effects of Remittances on Household Consumption: The Case of Colombia
Get PDFWe assess whether international remittances affect Colombian household’s expenditure composition and demand of education. We exploit the migratory wave that took place on late 90s due to one of the deepest crises in Colombian history, along with institutional barriers to migration, to identify the effect of remittances on expenditure composition. The empirical exercises find a positive effect over education, beneficiary households expending about 10% of total expenditure more in education than non beneficiaries. In addition although no effect was found on enrollment rates, we found an important effect on the probability of attending a private, rather that a public, educational institution. Such effect is on average 24% for individuals 5-30 years old, 50% for those attending secondary education, and 40% for those attending higher education. On the other hand, effects over consumption, investment and health expenditure, are nil. Finally, we find important effects of remittances on living standards of beneficiary households.International Remittances, International Migration, Safety Net, Consumption Composition Classification JEL: F22; I31; P36.
Exploring Universal Basic Income : A Guide to Navigating Concepts, Evidence, and Practices
No full textThe book’s content benefited enormously from discussions with Junaid Kamal
Ahmad, Asad Alam, Nicholas Barr, Christian Bodewig, Maurizio Bussolo, Joe Chrisp,
Aline Coudouel, Shantayanan Devarajan, Simeon Djankov, Louise Fox, Marcelo Giugale,
Kathy Lindert, Luke Martinelli, Rinku Murgai, Farhad Nili, Philip O’Keefe, Ian Orton, Berk
Özler, Truman Packard, Robert Palacios, Aleksandra Posarac, Dhushyanth Raju, Martin
Rama, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, Indhira Santos, Nika Soon-Shiong, David Stewart, Lindsay
Stirton, Ramya Sundaram, Hamid Tabatabai, Nithin Umapathi, and Alexandra Yuster.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The housing market in the Russian Federation : privatization and its implications for market development
Get PDFThe author reviews sociological data on privatization and the development of a housing market in Russia through 1996. Using data from urban surveys largely unknown outside Russia, she also considers demand for housing and household mobility in Russia. Since early 1997 the Russian government has increasingly focused on housing reform. Current policy calls for a reduction (in stages) of housing subsidies (for which both owners and tenants of privatized apartments are eligible), with the goal of 100 percent cost recovery by 2003. But household incomes are not expected to rise commensurately, so housing's share of the household budget is likely to grow for most Russians. By the end of 1996 about 55 percent of Russian housing was privately owned. The rate of privatization peaked in Moscow in 1993 and has since abated considerably, essentially coming to a halt in 1996. The pattern was the same in smaller cities, but with a later starting date. Not surprisingly, high-quality apartments in city centers have much higher rates of privatization than lower-quality housing some distance from the center. Also affecting the decision to privatize are demographic characteristics of the occupants and household incomes, values, and education levels. Privatization has produced a far-from-uniform class of owners. The two groups most likely to have privatized their apartments--pensioners and the relatively well-off--have quite different effects on the housing market . Pensioners--the larger group--are generally not inclined to move and thus exert a negative effect on housing mobility. The well-off--a much smaller group--can be expected to participate actively in the housing market. There has been some movement toward a more efficient allocation of housing. Because of economic forces, part of the mover households moved from their original apartments to apartments that were somehow inferior. Moreover the housing market allows poorer households to find housing more in keeping with their ability and willingness to pay for it. Many renters in Russia have chosen not to privatize their apartments, influenced largely by the sense of"occupation rights"inherited from the former Soviet Union. Many Russians have little incentive to privatize their housing, but data from Moscow and two smaller cities indicate that market ideas about searching for housing are beginning to penetrate the Russian public's mentality.Real Estate Development,Land andReal Estate Development,Municipal Housing and Land,Banks&Banking Reform,Housing&Human Habitats,Housing&Human Habitats,Urban Housing,Municipal Housing and Land,Real Estate Development,Land and Real Estate Development
Exploring Universal Basic Income : A Guide to Navigating Concepts, Evidence, and Practices
No full textThe book’s content benefited enormously from discussions with Junaid Kamal
Ahmad, Asad Alam, Nicholas Barr, Christian Bodewig, Maurizio Bussolo, Joe Chrisp,
Aline Coudouel, Shantayanan Devarajan, Simeon Djankov, Louise Fox, Marcelo Giugale,
Kathy Lindert, Luke Martinelli, Rinku Murgai, Farhad Nili, Philip O’Keefe, Ian Orton, Berk
Özler, Truman Packard, Robert Palacios, Aleksandra Posarac, Dhushyanth Raju, Martin
Rama, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, Indhira Santos, Nika Soon-Shiong, David Stewart, Lindsay
Stirton, Ramya Sundaram, Hamid Tabatabai, Nithin Umapathi, and Alexandra Yuster.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Environment and Trade in General Equilibrium: Theory, Methodology, and Evidence: Discussion
No full text- …
