Business Economics articles from April 1996

Business Economics archives from April 1996

The federal statistical system in an era of block grants.
April 1, 1996... The federal statistical system in the block grant era must be viewed from a broad perspective, including issues such as budgets and consolidation. The combination of devolution to the states and declining federal statistical budgets will...

Characteristics of an effective statistical system.
April 1, 1996... An effective statistical system is characterized by its ability to illuminate issues, not just to monitor them; by its ability to evolve in response to needs; by its ability to be aware of priority information needs; and by its capability to...

Fact and fancy: CPI biases and the federal budget. (Consumer Price Index)
April 1, 1996... Does the consumer price index have an upward bias? The author believes that, while substitution and formula biases exist, together they might amount to 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points. Other alleged causes of bias are not considered significant....

Comment on CPI biases. (response to article by Jim Klumpner in this issue, p. 22)
April 1, 1996... Commenting on Klumpner's paper, Diewert agrees on the size of the substitution bias. The formula bias might be 0.5 percent per year rather than 0.1 to 0.3 percent. The outlet substitution bias may be larger than zero. Although adjustment for...

Why is corporate barter?
April 1, 1996... The American Countertrade Association estimates that 25 percent of world exports are now bartered. While the rapid growth of such countertrade is well documented, barter between U.S. companies has received little academic attention, in spite...

Using multilayer baselines for fiscal policy analysis.
April 1, 1996... The concept of baseline budgeting has been rightfully criticized in recent Congressional debates because it enables politicians both to take credit for "deficit reductions" while simultaneously voting for ever-increasing dollar levels of...

What lies behind the bank merger and acquisition frenzy?
April 1, 1996... The banking industry is in the midst of a consolidation phase that is likely to reduce the number of banks by at least 25 percent before the end of the decade. Bank merger and acquisition activity rose to record levels during 1995. This...

The business economist at work: Indosuez Carr Futures, Inc.
April 1, 1996... This paper describes the fourfold role of a business economist with a futures commission merchant: short-term economic analysis for brokers and trading customers; long-term analysis for the asset management division; marketing the firm's...

Industry corner: private contractual security services: the U.S. market and industry.
April 1, 1996... The private contractual security services industry encompasses investigating, monitoring, armored transport, consulting, data security, and private correctional facility services. Corporations, institutions and private individuals are...

The statistics corner: the GDP revisions and understanding sluggish productivity growth.
April 1, 1996... From the perspective of early 1996, the recent revisions to both the National Income and Product Account (NIPA) methodology and the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data have left the economics profession in a state of suspended animation. With...

The PC corner: the Internet again.
April 1, 1996... My guest columnist this quarter is Mike Anderson, with more information on the Internet, a subject that continues to dominate the various PC magazines. As before, both Mike and I would enjoy hearing from you via e-mail. My address is: ...

When MBAs Rule the Newsroom: How Marketers and Managers Are Reshaping Today's Media.
April 1, 1996... By Doug Underwood, Columbia University Press, New York, 1995, 159 pp., paperback $16.50. When MBAS rule The Newsroom should interest business economists; all you have to do is to expand "MBA" and expand "Newsroom." It's not about MBAs. That...

The Self-Organizing Economy.
April 1, 1996... By Paul Krugrnan, Blackwell Publishers, Cambridge, MA, 1996, 122pp., paperback $19.95. Models of self-organization show how complex systems characterized by randomness and chaos seem spontaneously to evolve into unexpected order. Scientists...

Economist in an Uncertain World: Arthur F. Burns and the Federal Reserve, 1970-78.
April 1, 1996... By Wyatt C. Wells, Columbia University Press, New York, NY, 1994, 334 pp., $37.50 hardcover. There are those who claim the era of big government is over. Perhaps historian Wyatt C. Wells provides a interesting narrative of a time when such...