177,086 research outputs found
Optimal inflation-growth threshold: A case of the WAMZ member states
No full textThis study provides country-specific empirical evidence on the optimal inflation-growth threshold in the WAMZ over the period 1996-2021. Although there is large empirical literature on this subject, however, previous studies on the WAMZ economies generally focused on exogenous approaches of determining optimal inflation which impose a sharp and most often linear behaviour on the threshold level of inflation. This paper contributes to the policy debate on the inflationgrowth nexus by endogenously determining the individual country inflation threshold for six WAMZ countries. The results from the study show optimal inflation rates of 10.2 percent for Ghana, 10.8 percent for Guinea, 8.7 percent for Liberia, 10.8 percent for Nigeria and 7.4 percent for Sierra Leone, at 5 percent significant level. The Gambia, however, has 6.6 percent inflation threshold but was found statistically insignificant and thus, inconclusive. Also, most of the countries in the WAMZ have inflation in the low regime to be positive and statistically significant while the high inflation regime is strongly negative, suggesting adverse effects of high inflation on growth. This finding is consistent with the theoretical proposition. It is remarkable to note that inflation threshold for the three "relatively large" economies (Nigeria, Ghana, and Guinea) in the WAMZ hovers around 10.0 percent, in line with initial WAMZ inflation convergence criteria (10 percent) as well as WAMI (2022) study of 10.3 percent. The relatively lower inflation thresholds for The Gambia, Liberia, and Sierra Leone suggests a potential difference in inflation tolerance levels relative to the size of the economies. Overall, the findings provide strong empirical support for the policy stance of WAMZ convergence criterion to contain inflation to an "upper" singledigit level. Thus, Central Banks are encouraged to continue to pursue appropriate monetary policy measures to lower inflation to the desirable single-digit level
WAMI: a web server for the analysis of minisatellite maps
No full textAbouelhoda M, El-Kalioby M, Giegerich R. WAMI: a web server for the analysis of minisatellite maps. BMC Evolutionary Biology. 2010;10(1): 167.Background Minisatellites are genomic loci composed of tandem arrays of short repetitive DNA segments. A minisatellite map is a sequence of symbols that represents the tandem repeat array such that the set of symbols is in one-to-one correspondence with the set of distinct repeats. Due to variations in repeat type and organization as well as copy number, the minisatellite maps have been widely used in forensic and population studies. In either domain, researchers need to compare the set of maps to each other, to build phylogenetic trees, to spot structural variations, and to study duplication dynamics. Efficient algorithms for these tasks are required to carry them out reliably and in reasonable time. Results In this paper we present WAMI, a web-server for the analysis of minisatellite maps. It performs the above mentioned computational tasks using efficient algorithms that take the model of map evolution into account. The WAMI interface is easy to use and the results of each analysis task are visualized. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, WAMI is the first server providing all these computational facilities to the minisatellite community. The WAMI web-interface and the source code of the underlying programs are available at http://www.nubios.nileu.edu.eg/tools/wam
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Fiscal and monetary policy coordination in the WAMZ: Implications for member states' perfromance on the convergence criteria
No full textThe study investigates the level of coordination between the fiscal and monetary authorities in the WAMZ countries and its implications for the attainment of the inflation and fiscal deficit criteria. To achieve this objective, the study utilizes the Set Theoretic Approach (STA) and the vector autoregressive (VAR) modeling to estimate the degree of policy coordination in the Zone. The empirical analysis uses annual data for the period 1980 - 2011. Under the STA, coordination exists when shocks to policy goals elicit prudent policy responses. In the case of the VAR, the strength of coordination is measured by the impulse responses of fiscal and monetary policy variables to innovations in inflation, output gap and exchange rate. The results reveal weak policy coordination in all the WAMZ countries during the period, contributing to the non-compliance with respect to inflation and fiscal deficit criteria. The results of the set theoretic models show that explicit policy coordination scores in the WAMZ countries are less than 50.0 percent, with The Gambia obtaining a coordination score of 46.6 percent, Ghana (34.5), Guinea (31.8), Liberia (37.9), Nigeria (46.6) and Sierra Leone (41.3). Additionally, the monetary authorities in the WAMZ countries tend to implement relatively more prudent policies than the fiscal authorities, except in the case of Guinea, where the two policies are at par in terms of prudence. The results of the impulse response also indicate that there is weak response to shocks induced by different variables. It takes a long period for the variables to convergence to their long-run equilibrium path. The key recommendation is that WAMZ countries should strengthen policy coordination by putting in place formal coordination platforms and institutional arrangements for timely and adequate statistics, binding commitments and effective monitoring and evaluation of policy outcomes
Public debt - Economic growth nexus in the WAMZ: Are there different components threshold effects?
No full textThis study presents novel empirical evidence on the optimal disaggregated public debt-growth threshold in the WAMZ over the period 1996-2022. Determining the public debt-growth threshold in a disaggregated form is crucial for macroeconomic policy measures in the region to curb high public debt levels that can diminish the ability of governments to cushion adverse shocks. Although there is considerable empirical literature on this subject, previous studies generally focused only on total public debt or external debt components, while ignoring the impacts of domestic debt and debt service on the economies of the region. The estimated results clearly indicate that most components of public debt have inherent negative effects on per capita income. Furthermore, they show that domestic debt appears to have less negative dampening effects on economic growth than external debt. This outcome supports the recent shift by WAMZ countries from foreign debt to more domestic debt due to the relative ease of debt mobilization. Similarly, the results from panel threshold models indicate a threshold value of 87.45 percent of GDP for total public debt, 12.71 percent for external public debt, 46.94 percent for domestic public debt, and 17.80 percent for total debt service, all of which are statistically significant at different levels. These findings suggest that implementing a mix of fiscal and monetary policy measures to ensure that all components of the public debt-to-GDP ratio remain below their threshold levels would support economic growth. Above these thresholds, all components of the public debt-to-GDP ratio would be harmful to growth. The findings provide strong empirical support for the policy stance of the WAMZ convergence criterion to contain public debt at less than or equal to 70 percent, which is also reflected in the debt-growth nonlinear relationship
Inflation and growth in the WAMZ: Evidence from a threshold analysis
No full textThe focus of this paper was to empirically estimate the threshold levels of inflation in the WAMZ, using the conditional least square technique. The study also identified the determinants of growth in the WAMZ. The empirical analysis uses annual data from 1970-2010 for Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and 1980-2010 for the Gambia and Guinea. The results showed that there exists a statistically significant long-run negative relationship between inflation and economic growth for the WAMZ countries. Furthermore, the empirical results strongly suggest the existence of threshold level of inflation for the WAMZ countries, beyond which inflation exert a negative effect on growth. The results revealed an inflation rate of 9 percent as the optimal rate of inflation for the WAMZ countries. The results showed that WAMZ countries threshold inflation rates lie within the convergence criterion of maintaining an inflation rate not exceeding 10 percent. The results are useful for policy makers in providing some clue in setting an optimal inflation target. Policy makers should implement policies aimed at achieving the threshold inflation rate that is consistent with higher economic growth. Thus, it is desirable to keep inflation rate at least within the threshold level in member countries, as it may help maintain sustainable growth. A sustainable increase in growth can be achieved by directing monetary policy towards maintaining price stability
Exchange rate, inflation and macroeconomic performance in the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ)
No full textThe study investigates the effect of changes in the exchange rate on output growth and inflation in the WAMZ economies. It formulates an open-economy general equilibrium model which highlights the interrelationships among real GDP growth, inflation, exchange rate depreciation/ appreciation and money supply growth. Employing quarterly data series for the period 1981Q1 to 2010Q4 for all countries except Ghana (1983Q2 to 2010Q4) and Guinea (1989Q1 to 2010Q4), the study uses the vector autoregressive (VAR) model to estimate the impulse response functions and variance decompositions for inflation and output in order to determine how inflation and output respond to changes in the exchange rate, and what proportion of inflation and output variance can be explained by the exchange rate. The results of the study suggest that exchange rate had significant impact on inflation in all the Member States. The results reveal a negative relationship between real exchange rate and real GDP growth for both Liberia and Sierra Leone, implying that depreciation of the real exchange rates in these countries could lead to output growth. However, the impact of exchange rates on output in The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria though positive, remained weak, which may be partly due to supply side factors as evident from the results. Overall, the key message of the study was that real exchange rate depreciation generates inflationary pressures and impact significantly on output growth. In addition, inflation and growth in the WAMZ are partly driven by structural factors. The policy implication arising from this study is that WAMZ Member States should continue to implement prudent fiscal and monetary policies to achieve and sustain price stability. Monetary, exchange rate and real sector policies should be well knitted to ensure macroeconomic stability. In this regard, Member States should implement sectoral and structural policies that promote food production in order to dampen inflationary pressure
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
- …
