Business Economics articles from October 1991

Business Economics archives from October 1991

U.S. productivity performance in perspective.
October 1, 1991... This article examines U.S. productivity performance since World War II, by sub-period, in relation to its record over the century since 1889. The U.S. record then is compared with that of other OECD countries after 1950. Results of a recent...

Economic growth in the 1990s.
October 1, 1991... Since the end of World War II, the U.S. has witnessed two distinct periods of economic growth with the dividing line falling somewhere around 1970. In the first half of the period real GNP expanded at rates approaching 4 percent, driven in...

Worldwide convergence of productivity levels: recent empirical evidence.
October 1, 1991... This paper examines international productivity trends from 1960 to 1985 using a new approach. Convergence of productivity levels is tested for in a worldwide sample using output per worker data, adjusted for purchasing power parity. In...

Productivity trends in selected industries.
October 1, 1991... BASED ON LABOR productivity measures compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this article examines differences in productivity trends over the 1973-88 period for 149 separate mining, manufacturing and service industries. (1) Although this...

A guide to organizational productivity and quality improvement.
October 1, 1991... Business organizations need to improve to meet the challenge of world competitiveness. Productivity and quality improvement is most effective when it is done in a balanced manner to include managerial, behavioral and technical initiatives....

International perspective: Japan's economic outlook: revving up the export machine.
October 1, 1991... This was the year when Japan's economy was supposed to slow down -- perhaps even experience a "growth recession" of less than 3 percent real growth -- thanks to recessions elsewhere in the world and tight money at home. But that's not...

Ecological economics.
October 1, 1991... IS A SWAMP worth more than a shopping mall? Perhaps not, at first blush. But what if we discover that the swamp is cleaning sewage and trapping atmospheric carbon? Does its "value" increase? If so, by how much? How many such valuable...

An evaluation of the composite index of leading indicators for signaling turning points in business and growth cycles.
October 1, 1991... This study of cyclical indicators found: (1) the composite indexes contain more reliable turning point information than most of the individual indicators; (2) the Commerce Department's composite index would benefit by some component...

Forecasts of the Canada-U.S. exchange rate: efficient markets versus purchasing power parity.
October 1, 1991... WIDESPREAD, and justified, perception prevails that economists' forecasts of exchange rates are even more error prone than other types of economic forecasts.(1) The present article will evaluate this issue by examining the actual record of...

The statistics corner: more new products from the Census Bureau.
October 1, 1991... THE 1990 CENSUS will provide this century's single best "portrait" of our Nation's people and housing. The first block-level data were released in March 1991. By the end of 1993, the 1990 product "line" will grow to include 500,000 published...

The PC corner. (MicroTSP statistical software package) (evaluation)
October 1, 1991... I AM SHARING my column this quarter with my guest columnist, Bill Brown, for a joint review of MicroTSP - for both the IBM PC and the Macintosh. Those of you who have read my columns over the years are aware of my preference for MicroTSP....

The Process of Change in American Banking: Political Economy and the Public Purpose.
October 1, 1991... THE AMERICAN banking industry experienced turbulent times in the 1980s. These conditions were brought on, in part, by changes in the cost of funds; cross-intermediation from banks to mutual funds as investors sought higher yields; advances in...