An evaluation of the transmission of the policy interest rate to the financial system’s interest rates in Colombia

This paper studies monetary policy transmission using several statistical tools -- We find that the relationships between the policy interest rate and the financial system’s interest rates are positive and statistically significant, and transmission is complete eight months after policy shocks occur -- The speed of transmission varies according to the type of interest rates -- Transmission is faster for interest rates on loans provided to households, and is particularly rapid and complete for rates on preferential commercial loans -- Transmission is slower for credit card and mortgage rates, due to regulatory issues (interest rate ceilings)

Essays in Personal Transportation Demand and Consumer Finance

This dissertation is composed of three essays covering two areas of interest. The first topic is personal transportation demand with a focus on price and fuel efficiency elasticities of mileage demand, challenging assumptions common in the rebound effect literature. The second topic is consumer finance with a focus on small loans. The first chapter creates separate variables for fuel prices during periods of increasing and decreasing prices as well as an observed fuel economy measure to empirically test the equivalence of these elasticities. Using a panel from Germany from 1997 to 2009 I find a fuel economy elasticity of mileage of 53.3%, which is significantly different from the gas price elasticity of mileage during periods of decreasing gas prices, 4.8%. I reject the null hypothesis or price symmetry, with the elasticity of mileage during period of increasing gas prices ranging from 26.2% and 28.9%. The second chapter explores the potential for the rebound effect to vary with income. Panel data from U.S. households from 1997 to 2003 is used to estimate the rebound effect in a median regression. The estimated rebound effect independent of income ranges from 17.8% to 23.6%. An interaction of income and fuel economy is negative and significant, indicating that the rebound effect may be much higher for low income individuals and decreases with income; the rebound effect for low income households ranged from 80.3% to 105.0%, indicating that such households may increase gasoline consumption given an improvement in fuel economy. The final chapter documents the costs of credit instruments found in major mail order catalogs throughout the 20th century. This study constructs a new dataset and finds that the cost of credit increased and became stickier as mail order retailers switched from an installment-style closed-end loan to a revolving-style credit card. This study argues that revolving credit's ability to decrease salience of credit costs in the price of goods is the best explanation for rate stickiness in the mail order industry as well as for the preference of revolving credit among retailers.

Sino-African State Trading in Services: Added-Value through Angola-Model loaning, GATS commitments or FTAs?

Paper presented by Charlotte Sieber-Gasser at the 5th Annual TRAPCA Conference, Arusha (Tanzania), 25-26 November 2010. Despite the increasing volume of trade between China and African countries, not one single conventional free trade agreement (FTA) or economic partnership agreement (EPA) has yet been signed between an African country and China. Initially, Sino-African trade relations were to a very large extent centred on investments secured through bilateral investment agreements (BITs). The more recent Chinese investments on the African continent, however, are more informally based on FDI contracts with the state at the receiving end and a government-owned private company as the investor, or loosely attached to loans commonly known under term ‘the Angola-Model’. This rather unusual basis for economic integration and development assistance, outside the trodden path of free trade agreements and ODA, requires further analysis in order to understand how the current legal framework between China and the African continent impacts economic development and national sovereignty, and what kind of distributive consequences it may have.

O novo Código florestal e a regularização do passivo ambiental dos imóveis rurais : o caso de Querência

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Centro de Desenvolvimento Sustentável, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Desenvolvimento Sustentável, 2016.

O ouro branco abre caminho: o algodão e a modernização do espaço urbano da Cidade da Parahyba (1850-1924)

The present research deals with the modernization process of the Cidade da Parahyba2, between 1850 and 1924, and its relation with the cotton economy, which represented the main source of wealth accumulation for both the private and the public sectors throughout the First Republic. This study on urban history was developed by focusing on the understanding of the city s spatial formation, and despite its emphasis on the economic aspects involved, other factors that also contribute to the development of the social life were not put aside. The modernization process of the Cidade da Parahyba was also analyzed during the period established for the study according to a chronological and thematic approach that established comparisons with the financial situation of the State, whenever this was necessary, with special attention to the contribution of the cotton economy to the State´s revenues. It was possible to detect a lack of financial help and loans from the federal and municipal administrations for finishing several public works already underway in the capital, since the federal funds allocated to the State of Parahyba do Norte were rather employed in emergency works against droughts and in agricultural development. One can then conclude that the financial resources required for the urban interventions were withdrawn from the State s treasury itself, resources that were collected mainly from activities such as cotton exportation and cotton trading. Another factor shows the interdependence between the urban remodeling and the cotton economy: during the years marked by great droughts or by hard plagues on the cotton plantations, cotton production decreased, as well as the State s finances. The first measures taken by the State s administrators were to halt all projects of urban remodeling in progress in the Cidade da Parahyba, which was, clearly, the most privileged city by the State s presidents during the period analyzed. 2 The city of João Pessoa was named Cidade da Parahyba, a designation that remained until September 1930, when it received its present-day name in order to pay homage to the president of the State, João Pessoa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, murdered in the city of Recife in August of that same year. At that time, the State of Paraíba was known as Parahyba do Norte. Since this work is limited to a period of time comprised within the First Republic, the names employed respect the terms used in those days

The Amplifier - v. 11, no. 7

In this issue...KXLF TV, Mine Rescue, Talent Show, Linda Plubell, Gulf Oil Company, Student Loans, Theta Tau, Alaska, Newman Club

The Amplifier - v. 13, no. 5

In this issue...Newman Club, Boeing, Chess Club, Work Study, Amax Foundation, Project Sloop, AWS, Orediggers, National Defense Loans, 4-H

Privatisation and accountability in a “crony capitalist” Nigerian state

Nigeria is richly endowed with oil and gas resources, but the country’s continued reliance on loans from international financial institutions raises questions about the transparency and accountability of its utilisation of the huge revenues resulting from these two resources. In order to attract international capital to bolster its revenues from sales of oil and gas, a huge proportion of which continues to be used corruptly, the World Bank has encouraged the Nigerian government to subscribe to neoliberal economic policies by enlisting accounting firms and privatising state-owned enterprises. Key justifications for this have included enhancing accountability, reducing public-sector corruption, promoting market efficiency and attracting international capital. However, this paper presents evidence of the role of accounting in the undervaluation of assets, concealment of possible malpractice, and subversion of the accountability that it should have delivered in the privatisation process. The assumption that accounting will enhance accountability, reduce public-sector corruption and promote market efficiency in privatisation, and ultimately attract investment into a crony capitalist Nigerian state, appears to be an illusion created partly through the apparent legitimacy of accounting.

Using Kofax Solutions for Process Improvement

One of the ways the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority fulfills this mission is through the purchase and servicing of mortgage loans. The 2007 Recession resulted in decreased revenues for the department while higher default, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates increased the department's manpower cost. The agency has since acquired different servicing software which complies with current industry regulations and is once again servicing the loans that it purchases. This project is to see if the department could improve any of their overall processes by using existing technologies and software to better utilize the new servicing system while minimizing manual tasks. This paper explores whether the existing Kofax Document Recognition system could improve this process and reduce overall employee time and effort?

Essays on employment / education, investment in education and student achievement

Méthodologie: Modèle de régression quantile de variable instrumentale pour données de Panel utilisant la fonction de production partielle

BM: Tributación y concentración en el sistema financiero Colombiano 1989 - 2003

El presente documento analiza los determinantes del margen de intermediación para el sistema financiero colombiano entre 1989 y 2003. Bajo una estimación dinámica de los efectos generados por variables específicas de actividad, impuestos y estructura de mercado, se presenta un seguimiento del margen de intermediación financiero, para un período que presenta elementos de liberalización y crisis.

Avalição do impacto de uma biblioteca universitária

Neste estudo apresenta-se uma avaliação do impacto da Biblioteca da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade do Porto (FCUP), na perspetiva dos estudantes e observando alguns dados relativos ao uso da Biblioteca FCUP. A investigação recorre a uma análise de métodos mistos, isto é, avalia dados qualitativos, que descrevem mas não mensuram as características, em especial as ações humanas, e dados quantitativos que apresentam forma numérica e revelam uma quantidade certa podendo ser sujeitos a manipulação estatística. A «Notícias da Biblioteca», uma newsletter publicada bimestralmente pela Biblioteca FCUP, inclui uma seção denominada “Voz do Utilizador”, onde são incluídos pequenos textos de opinião da autoria dos utilizadores, escolhidos aleatoriamente e, que frequentam as instalações destes serviços da FCUP. Aplicando a Norma Internacional ISO16439:2014 (E) – Information and documentation – Methods and procedures for assessing the impact of libraries, examinaram-se vinte textos de opinião, sobre a biblioteca, redigidos por estudantes de várias nacionalidades, publicados de janeiro de 2013 a dezembro de 2014, na «Notícias da Biblioteca». Investigaram-se ainda 7 entrevistas. Apelando à Estatística Descritiva efetuaram-se tabelas de contingência que são úteis para conhecer a relação entre os dados em função de determinados grupos, isto é, observar a frequência de uma variável em função das categorias de outra variável. Com as tabelas de contingência obtém-se percentagens em função dos efeitos do impacto da biblioteca e dos grupos de estudantes e analisa-se a relação entre eles. O estudo utilizou ainda alguns dados estatísticos indicadores que mostram o impacto, a saber, indicadores de desempenho relativos ao uso da biblioteca – número de visitas per capita e número de empréstimos per capita. Estas avaliações em bibliotecas fornecem informações úteis para as chefias de topo, para o desenvolvimento de novos projetos e a otimização do impacto e desempenho destes serviços das instituições de Ensino Superior./ This study presents an impact assessment of the Library of the Faculty of Science, University of Porto (FCUP), from the students’ point of view and some statistical data collected from the FCUP Library use. We used a mixed methods research, i.e., qualitative data, that describes but does not measure characteristics, in particular human actions, and quantitative data represented by numbers that indicate exact amounts which can be statistically manipulated. The newsletter «Notícias da Biblioteca» published, bimonthly, by the FCUP Library includes a section called “User Voice” where we can find opinion texts expressed by library users, randomly chosen, and who usually go to the library. Applying International Standard ISO16439: 2014 (E) - Information and documentation - Methods and procedures for assessing the impact of libraries, we examined 20 opinion texts written by students of various nationalities, published from January 2013 to December 2014, in «Notícias da Biblioteca» During this period of time, we have taken seven interviews. Using the principles of Descriptive Statistics, we produced Contingency Tables to determine how the data relates in terms of certain groups, i.e., to observe the frequency of the dependent variable on another categorical variable. Working with the Contingency Tables allowed us to obtain percentages according to the effects of the impact of the library in various groups of students and study the relationship between them. This study also used some statistical data that show the impact of the library within the institution, such as: performance indicators relating to the use of the library - number of visits per capita and number of loans per capita. These assessment impact studies in libraries provide useful data for the top management, to develop new projects, thus maximizing the impact and performance of these services of higher education institutions.