Business Economics articles from January 1999

Business Economics archives from January 1999

The Adam Smith address: capitalism and its discontents.(T.M. Friedman Professor of Economics and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Michael J. Boskin's speech)(Transcript)
January 1, 1999... I am grateful to the National Association for Business Economics for presenting me the 1998 Adam Smith Award. I accept the honor humbly, given the impressive roster of former recipients, the importance of the organization awarding it, and,...

Presidential address: the future of NABE.(National Association for Business Economics President Thomas F. Davis' speech)(Transcript)
January 1, 1999... During the past fifteen years, NABE has seen its membership decline from 3,740 in 1983 to 2,945 at the end of September 1998. The NABE Board tracked these developments quite carefully, hypothesizing a variety of causes. Several possible...

Risk, liquidity and the economic outlook.(effect of the Asian crisis and the Russian debt moratorium on US consumer and business spending)
January 1, 1999... The outlook for 1999 for the U.S. economy has weakened measurably in the aftermath of the Russian devaluation and debt moratorium. The building sense of stability in international markets has been undermined as the belief that the Asian...

The evolution of restructuring: seizing change to create value.(Monsanto Co.)
January 1, 1999... This paper discusses developments in the restructuring of American industry and the impact of restructuring on the creation of value. As part of my discussion, I intend to use my company, Monsanto, as a case study to illustrate the success of...

Perspectives on mergers and restructuring.
January 1, 1999... Historical evidence demonstrates that M&A activity is correlated with fundamental shifts in underlying economic forces. The merger movement in the United States at the turn of the century followed the completion of the transcontinental railroad...

Predicting the producers' durable equipment component of GDP.(gross domestic product)
January 1, 1999... Accurate and early predictions of the current quarter's real GDP growth require perceptive use of the best and earliest source data. We at the Chief Economist's office of the U.S. Department of Commerce attempt to anticipate quarterly GDP...

The impact of the Y2K bug.(Year 2000 computer problem)
January 1, 1999... What is alternatively called the "Year 2000 Bug," "The Millennium Bug' or the "Y2K Crisis" combines something that in historical terms is rather young - computer technology - with a habit that is as old as humanity - procrastination. Even...

Five I's for business economists.(inside influence, information, insight, interpretation and involvement in innovation)
January 1, 1999... In many organizations, the Economics Department is regarded as an ivory tower; a staff function on the periphery of the organization, populated by intelligent, highly educated, articulate people who are often interesting to listen to but...

The business economist at work: Macroeconomic Advisers LLC.
January 1, 1999... In 1982 I resigned my position as senior economist at IBM to travel to Saint Louis and become, along with Chris Varvares, a founding partner and Vice President of the consulting firm of Laurence Meyer & Associates, specializing in macroeconomic...

Industry corner: industrial distribution: how goods will go to market in the electronic marketplace.
January 1, 1999... Industrial distribution is the industry that moves goods and services through the supply chain, or channels of distribution, from materials producers to end-product manufacturers. Information technology (IT) is threatening the ways that...

What it takes to be a consultant.(The Consultants' Corner)
January 1, 1999... Consultants come in all sizes, shapes and formats. The universe of consultants is much bigger than that we might normally consider. For example, physicians are consultants, lawyers are consultants and many authors are consultants. Consulting...

The Statistics Corner: recent and planned improvements to the CPI.(Consumer Price Index)
January 1, 1999... The improvements introduced in 1995-96 were principally concerned with issues relating to formulas used in index calculation. The procedures referred to as "seasoning" eliminated an upward bias in the calculation of price changes for food items...

Annual revision to the indexes of industrial production and capacity utilization.(The Statistics Producers' Corner)(Federal Reserve Board)
January 1, 1999... The 1998 annual revision to the Federal Reserve Board's indexes of industrial production and capacity utilization, which was released late last year, introduced several improvements. Most notably, new indexes were developed for four production...

Evaluation of GDP estimates.(The Statistics Producers' Corner)(gross domestic product)
January 1, 1999... Office of Management and Budget Statistical Policy Directive Number 3, issued in the September 25, 1985, Federal Register, requires agencies compiling "principal federal economic indicators" to evaluate the performance of these series every...

Happiness is a new computer.(The PC Corner)
January 1, 1999... I now have a new Pentium II computer at work. It has a 300 mhz processor, 64 megs of RAM, and a 4.2 gig hard drive. By some standards this machine is already obsolescent, but when you have been using an old 100 mhz Pentium with an 800 meg hard...

Electronic commerce on the Web: digital drivers for 1999.(Window on the Web)
January 1, 1999... The Web is changing the way firms do business. From a consumer behavior standpoint, we have seen mounting evidence of consumer readiness for electronic commerce (e-commerce). Rising numbers of consumers and businesses are equipped with PCs and...

Deflation.(Review)
January 1, 1999... By A. Gary Shilling, Short Hills, NJ, Lakeview Publishing Company, 1998, pp. xxviii, 372, $16 The U.S. inflation rate has preoccupied policymakers and economists, not to mention the general public, for some time. However, after months of...

Trading the Fundamentals: The Trader's Guide to Interpreting Economic Indicators and Monetary Policy, Revised ed.(Review)
January 1, 1999... By Michael P. Niemira and Gerald F. Zukowski, New York, McGraw Hill, 1998, pp. 278, $40.00. Business economists may work for a financial firm or, as corporate economists, they may have a working relationship with the Chief Financial...

Climate of Fear: Why We Shouldn't Worry About Global Warming.(Review)
January 1, 1999... By Thomas Gale Moore, Washington, DC, Cato Institute, 1998, 175 pp. Paperback, $9.95. Measurement of costs and benefits is one of the economist's favorite tools. Oddly, however, when it comes to global warming, economists have focused only...