Suchergebnisse

In this paper we scrutinise the composition of one of the most renowned economic indicators that is regularly released for more than 30 countries and regions. The composite Purchasing Managers? Index (PMI) is constructed by pooling several survey based sub-components with certain fixed weights. Its characteristic feature is that its computation is based on the standardised methodology by that was developed for the PMI in the US more than thirty years ago. Though the uniform methodology makes the international comparison of national PMIs an easy and transparent task, it is not immediately clear whether the current fixed weighting scheme of the PMI components is supported by the data for other countries than US. We address this question using Switzerland as an example and our approach, based on Boriss Siliverstovs (2017), can be easily extended to other national PMIs. We find that the relative weights of the PMI components are generally supported by the data, except the fact that one component, found very informative for explaining GDP growth, is currently omitted from the PMI composition.

This study develops a parsimonious stable coe?cient money demand model for Estonia for the period from 1995 till 2006. Using the Johansen Full Information Maximum Likelihood framework the two cointegrating vectors are found among the system variables including the real money balances, the gross domestic product, the long- and short-term interest rates, and the rate of inflation. The first cointegrating vector is identified as the money demand function whereas the second as the interest rate parity. Our study contributes to better understanding of the factors shaping the demand for money in the new Member States of the European Union that committed themselves to adopting of the Euro currency in the near future.

This study develops a parsimonious stable coefficient money demand model for Latvia for the period from 1996 till 2005. A single cointegrating vector between the real money balances, the gross domestic product, the long-term interest rate, and the rate of inflation is found. Our study contributes to better understanding of the factors shaping the demand for money in the new Member States of the European Union that committed themselves to adopting of the Euro currency in the near future.

This paper provides an empirical analysis on the question whether equalization payments across regions and transfers from the central government stimulate regional growth or impede it. Using a panel of 22 French regions from 2002 to 2008, we find that regional economic growth is positively affected by the fiscal equalization system. We employ two indicators of this system: the transfer volume measure (approximated by either tax revenues in other regions or transfers to regions) and the marginal retention rate. Our main finding is that the transfer volume effect is positive for growth in both donor and recipient regions. Hence, we do not find any evidence that regional governments in France allocate transfers inefficiently. This finding contradicts previous empirical studies for federal countries that tend to find adverse incentive effects of fiscal equalization on regional governments and growth. A major explanation behind this result could be that the volume of the transfers in France may appear to be relatively moderate, i.e. small enough to avoid adverse effects.