Banks, liquidity crises and economic growth

How do the liquidity functions of banks affect investment and growth at different stages ofeconomic development? How do financial fragility and the costs of banking crises evolve with the level of wealth of countries? We analyze these issues using an overlapping generations growth model where agents, who experience idiosyncratic liquidity shocks, can invest in a liquid storage technology or in a partially illiquid Cobb Douglas technology. By pooling liquidity risk, banks play a growth enhancing role in reducing inefficient liquidation of long term projects, but they may face liquidity crises associated with severe output losses. We show that middle income economies may find optimal to be exposed to liquidity crises, while poor and rich economies have more incentives to develop a fully covered banking system. Therefore, middle income economies could experience banking crises in the process of their development and, as they get richer, they eventually converge to a financially safe long run steady state. Finally, the model replicates the empirical fact of higher costs of banking crises for middle income economies.

Economic rationality and ethical behavior

This paper argues that economic rationality and ethical behavior cannotbe reduced one to the other, casting doubts on the validity of formulaslike 'profit is ethical' or 'ethics pays'. In order to express ethicaldilemmas as opposing economic interest with ethical concerns, we proposea model of rational behavior that combines these two irreducible dimensions in an open but not arbitrary manner. Behaviors that are neither ethicalnor profitable are considered irrational (non-arbitrariness). However,behaviors that are profitable but unethical, and behaviors that are ethicalbut not profitable, are all treated as rational (openness). Combiningethical concerns with economic interest, ethical business is in turn anoptimal form of rationality between venality and sacrifice.Because every one prefers to communicate that he acts ethically, ethicalbusiness remains ambiguous until some economic interest is actuallysacrificed. We argue however that ethical business has an interest indemonstrating its consistency between communication and behavior by atransparent attitude. On the other hand, venal behaviors must remainconfidential to hide the corresponding lack of consistency. Thisdiscursive approach based on transparency and confidentiality helpsto further distinguish between ethical and unethical business behaviors.

Promoção da língua portuguesa no mundo : hipótese de modelo estratégico

De successifs Gouvernements du Portugal, Organisations du Gouvernement Portugais et ses représentants légitimes, non mal de fois, s’affolent à associer la Langue Portugaise non seulement à l’identité Nationale mais aussi comme un moyen de reconnaissance internationale du pays, liée à une vision plus élargie reliée au concept géolinguistique et géopolitique de Lusophonie. Un concept particulièrement important et opératif qu’il est assimilé à l’image d’autres langues de présence globale ou, du moins, comme des langues de communication international intercontinental – comme les pays Anglophones, Spanophones et Francophones -. Le but, est celui de promouvoir l’usage international de la langue portugaise aussi que le développement économique et social des huit pays rassemblés à la Communauté des Pays de Langue Portugaise (CPLP). Cette étude, essaye de trouver les relations entre le discours officiel diffusé et les programmes de chaque Gouvernement depuis 1974. Une recherche sur la promotion, diffusion et/ou défense de la langue portugaise soit en temps que PLE (Portugais Langue Étrangère), soit en temps que dans le domaine de l’usage de la Langue Portugaise dans les différents Forums Internationaux dont le Portugal et les autres pays de langue portugaise font partie. Les discours et les documents officiels nous présentent toujours la promotion et diffusion de la langue comme une priorité, un impératif national, il est donc aussi impératif de confronter tous ces mots, dits et écrits, avec la réalité de l’action politique, voir, la politique de la langue effectivement mise en place, par les successifs gouvernements.

O texto literário na aula de português L2: uma proposta de didactização: Vida e morte de João Cabafume, de Gabriel Mariano

Na concepção deste trabalho, que tem como tema O texto literário na aula de Português L2 – Uma proposta de didactização: Vida e Morte de João Cabafume, de Gabriel Mariano, procurámos investigar e reflectir sobre a abordagem do texto literário no 3º ciclo do ensino secundário cabo-verdiano, especificamente na aula de Português L2, nas áreas de estudos Científica e Tecnológica e Económica e Social, do 11º ano de escolaridade, seguida da apresentação, a título de exemplo, de uma proposta de didactização do texto acima mencionado, na perspectiva da utilização do texto literário como material em que o uso estético da língua potencia a dimensão plural da significação. Para a consecução dos objectivos propostos, procurámos dar visibilidade, na perspectiva da leitura do texto literário, às orientações do programa, às potenciais práticas pedagógicas no ensino de narrativa literária, incluindo os métodos de ensino, os recursos utilizados pelos professores, a forma como os alunos encaram todo o processo de leitura do texto literário em que está envolvido. No entanto, para a concepção da proposta de didactização, procurámos cruzar propostas metodológicas de modelos de leitura e métodos de ensino do texto narrativo e de línguas defendidos por vários autores do campo da didáctica da literatura e das línguas, cujos princípios assentam em bases que valorizam a interacção entre o texto e o leitor. Partindo de um conto de Gabriel Mariano, escritor cabo-verdiano, Vida e Morte de João Cabafume, tentámos propor um roteiro de leitura adequada do texto narrativo, de forma a conduzir o aluno não só na leitura do contexto narrativo, como também na compreensão da dimensão plural da língua enquanto material estético, procurando desenvolver, fundamentalmente, as suas atitudes, os valores éticos e morais e, num âmbito complementar, as suas competências da escrita e da oralidade. Palavras-chave: Texto Literário, Leitura, Escrita, Oralidade, Português L2.

The economic tragedy of the XXth Century: Growth in Africa

The dismal growth performance of Africa is the worst economic tragedy ofthe XXth century. We document the evolution of per capita GDP for thecontinent as a whole and for subset of countries south of the Saharadesert. We document the worsening of various income inequality indexesand we estimate poverty rates and headcounts. We then analyze some ofthe central robust determinants of economic growth reported bySala-i-Martin, Doppelhofer and Miller (2003) and project the annual growthrates Africa would have enjoyed if these key determinants had taken OECDrather than African values. Expensive investment goods, low levels ofeducation, poor health, adverse geography, closed economies, too muchpublic expenditure and too many military conflicts are seen as keyexplanations of the economic tragedy.

Economic booms, trade deficits and economic policy

Many economic booms have been accompanied by realexchange rate appreciations, large trade defcits -whichhave sometimes persisted after the return to the initialexchange rate parity- and a deteriorating traded sector.Those circumstances have typically raised the questionof the de-sirability of some stabilization policy. We show that the dynamics induced by an expectedproductivity shock in an economy where the capital stockis non-mobile across sectors, match those circumstances.Furthermore, we obtain that credit market imperfectionstend to exacerbate trade deficits, and to cause aninefficient capacity reduction in the traded sector.Some stabilization policies are explored.

An economic theory of church strictness

This paper makes several contributions to the growing literatureon the economics of religion. First, we explicitly introduce spatial-location models into the economics of religion. Second, we offer a newexplanation for the observed tendency of state (monopoly) churches tolocate toward the "low-tension" end of the "strictness continuum" (ina one-dimensional product space): This result is obtained through theconjunction of "benevolent preferences" (denominations care about theaggregate utility of members) and asymmetric costs of going to a moreor less strict church than one prefers.We also derive implications regarding the relationship between religiousstrictness and membership. The driving forces of our analysis, religiousmarket interactions and asymmetric costs of membership, high-light newexplanations for some well-established stylized facts. The analysis opensthe way to new empirical tests, aimed at confronting the implications ofour model against more traditional explanations.

Economic integration and corruption: The corrupt soul of the European Union

We study the link between corruption and economic integration. We show that if an economic union establishes a common regulation for public procurement, the country more prone to corruption benefits more from integration. However, if the propensities to corruption are too distinct, the less corrupt country will not be willing to join the union. This difference in corruption propensities can be offset by a difference in efficiency. We also show that corruption is lower if integration occurs. A panel data analysis for the European Union confirms that more corrupt countries are more favorable towards integration but less acceptable as potential new members.

Finance versus costs for teaching hospitals in Spain

In this paper we analyse the observed systematic differences incosts for teaching hospitals (THhenceforth) in Spain. Concernhas been voiced regarding the existence of a bias in thefinancing of TH s has been raised once prospective budgets arein the arena for hospital finance, and claims for adjusting totake into account the legitimate extra costs of teaching onhospital expenditure are well grounded. We focus on theestimation of the impact of teaching status on average cost. Weused a version of a multiproduct hospital cost function takinginto account some relevant factors from which to derive theobserved differences. We assume that the relationship betweenthe explanatory and the dependent variables follows a flexibleform for each of the explanatory variables. We also model theunderlying covariance structure of the data. We assumed twoqualitatively different sources of variation: random effects andserial correlation. Random variation refers to both general levelvariation (through the random intercept) and the variationspecifically related to teaching status. We postulate that theimpact of the random effects is predominant over the impact ofthe serial correlation effects. The model is estimated byrestricted maximum likelihood. Our results show that costs are 9%higher (15% in the case of median costs) in teaching than innon-teaching hospitals. That is, teaching status legitimatelyexplains no more than half of the observed difference in actualcosts. The impact on costs of the teaching factor depends on thenumber of residents, with an increase of 51.11% per resident forhospitals with fewer than 204 residents (third quartile of thenumber of residents) and 41.84% for hospitals with more than 204residents. In addition, the estimated dispersion is higher amongteaching hospitals. As a result, due to the considerable observedheterogeneity, results should be interpreted with caution. From apolicy making point of view, we conclude that since a higherrelative burden for medical training is under public hospitalcommand, an explicit adjustment to the extra costs that theteaching factor imposes on hospital finance is needed, beforehospital competition for inpatient services takes place.

Report on the Iowa Department of Economic Development for the year ended June 30, 2007

Report on the Iowa Department of Economic Development for the year ended June 30, 2007

Promoção da língua portuguesa no mundo : hipótese de modelo estratégico

Sucessivos Governos, Organizações Governamentais e responsáveis desses Governos e Organizações têm apresentado até ao presente e de forma veemente e repetida uma sistemática ligação da língua portuguesa não só à identidade nacional como também a uma forma de reconhecimento internacional ligada a uma visão mais ampla, geolinguística e geopolítica de uma Lusofonia, capaz de agir de forma concertada conforme ao exemplo de outros blocos político-linguísticos, como o Francófono, o Espanófono ou o Anglófono, por forma a promover o uso alargado da língua portuguesa como língua internacional e o desenvolvimento económico e social dos países membros da Comunidade de Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP). Este trabalho é um estudo sobre a indissociável relação entre as reiteradas afirmações constantes no discurso oficial e nos documentos legais que as suportam no que respeita à promoção e difusão do uso da Língua Portuguesa quer como Língua Estrangeira (PLE), quer na promoção do seu uso nas Organizações Internacionais de que Portugal, os Países de Língua Portuguesa ou de Língua Oficial Portuguesa fazem parte. Este discurso oficial sobre a língua e a documentação legal que a suporta, que surge sempre apresentado como uma prioridade política e como desígnio nacional, impõe a necessária confrontação entre a afirmação daqueles propósitos e a realidade da política de língua implementada de facto, ou seja, a forma como esse desígnio nacional é levado à prática pelo Estado e, logo, pelos governantes que agem em seu nome e definem esta política de língua externa ao longo de um período de cerca de 30 anos de democracia em que este estudo se centra.

Socio-economic inequalities in health in Catalonia

In this paper we measure the degree of income related inequality in mental health as measured by the GHQ instrument and general health as measured by the EQOL-5D instrument for the Catalan population. We find that income is the main contributor to inequality, although the share of inequality in mental health that can be explained by income is much greater than the corresponding share of inequality in general health. We also find that the variation in demographic structure reduces income related inequality in mental health but increases income related inequality in general health. The regional variations in both instruments for health are striking, with the Barcelona districts faring relatively bad with respect to the rest of geographical areas and Lleida being the health region where, all else held equal, the population reports the greatest level of health. A big share of inequality in the two health measures, but specially mental health, is due to the favourable position in both health and income of those who enjoy an indefinite contract with respect to the rest of individuals. We also find that risky working conditions affect both health measures and are able to explain an important share of socio-economic inequality.

Economic and Workforce Development Task Force Report, August 2008

The 2008 disasters devastated businesses, farms, homes, schools, non-profit institutions, entire communities, and people’s lives across the state of Iowa. The Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commission (RIAC) is charged by the Governor to guide the state’s recovery and reconstruction process. The Economic and Workforce Development Task Force is respectfully submitting this report to be included and considered in the deliberations of the RIAC. While economic and workforce development are two issues that are inextricably linked and critical to Iowa’s rebuilding strategies, each also requires extraordinary attention in determining what needs to be considered in the very immediate and longer-term recovery.

Iowa Department of Economic Development Performance Plan, FY 2009

Agency Performance Plan, Iowa Department of Economic Development

Book production and the onset of modern economic growth

Endogenous growth theory suggests that human capital formation plays a significant role for the wealth and poverty of nations. In contrast to previous studies which denied the role of human capital as a crucial determinant of for really long-term growth, we confirm its importance. Indicators of human capital like literacy rates are lacking for the period of 1450-1913; hence, we use per capita book production as a proxy for advanced literacy skills. This study explains how, and to what extent, growth disparities are a function of human capital formation.