Journal of Economic Issues articles from December 2003

Journal of Economic Issues archives from December 2003

Timeliness and the Fed's daily tactics.(Federal)
December 1, 2003... A recent development in neoclassical monetary economics is the flurry of research on the Federal Reserve's (hereafter, the Fed's) daily implementation of monetary policy in the federal funds market. In the late summer of 2001, for instance, a...

Employer of last resort: could it deliver full employment and price stability?
December 1, 2003... The idea that the government should stand ready to provide work to all who seek paid employment but cannot otherwise find a job has been advanced by a number of authors in recent years. The term employer of last resort (hereafter ELR) has been...

Extreme monetary regime change: evidence from currency board introduction in Bulgaria.
December 1, 2003... The introduction of the Currency Board in Bulgaria in July 1997 may be viewed as an extreme institutional change of the monetary regime and as its discrete interruption. Bulgaria switched from a regime of discretionary and subjective money...

Was shock therapy really a shock?
December 1, 2003... The shock therapy model derived its name from Poland's stabilization and liberalization program, initiated on January 1, 1990, which became known as "shock therapy" or "big bang." The countries that followed with the shock therapy approach were...

Veblen's Q--Tobin's Q.(market valuation of firms)
December 1, 2003... The possible discrepancy between the market valuation of firms and the replacement costs of the underlying assets has long been noted by economists, going back at least as far as Knut Wicksell (1) and Thorstein Veblen. For the modern period,...

The economic case for mergers: old, new, borrowed, and blue.
December 1, 2003... Over several years I have worked on a project that looked at the implications for women's work of new technology. (1) Part of this project involved case studies and interviewing female workers every two months for twenty-four months. Even...

Institutional restructuring in the Japanese economy since 1985.
December 1, 2003... The Japanese economy has experienced an unprecedented period of macroeconomic turbulence over recent years. (1) Even before the 1997 Asian crisis, this had led to a sharp rise in the number of financial institutions experiencing bankruptcy,...

Access to supervisory jobs and the gender wage gap among professionals.
December 1, 2003... Significant gender wage gap exists in the U.S. labor market. Some of the factors attributed to the gender earnings gap include differential human capital attainment by males and females (Mincer 1962; Becker 1981), occupational segregation...

On the natural intelligence of women in a world of constrained choice: how the feminization of clerical work contributed to gender pay equality in early twentieth century Canada.
December 1, 2003... This article examines some of the more pertinent details of the feminization of clerical work in the context of early twentieth century Canada and the impact that this had upon gender pay inequality. More generally, we address the question of...

Understanding the retail business potential of inner cities.
December 1, 2003... Inner city areas are often significantly "under-stored" (Loukaitou-Sideris 2000), with inadequate opportunities for residents to shop near their homes. More residents are transit dependent in inner cities than in the general metro area, making...

Ethnic business development: toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework.
December 1, 2003... There has been a growing interest in both Europe and North America in the high rate of self-employment among ethnic minority groups. The evidence indicates that some ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in self-employment (Razin...

Thorstein Veblen's theory of business competition.
December 1, 2003... Although almost all dimensions of Thorstein Veblen's analysis of modern capitalism have attracted adequate attention, his theory of business or market competition that lies in the heart of his understanding of modern capitalism has not received...

Marshall's dilemma: equilibrium versus evolution.(Alfred Marshall)
December 1, 2003... Alfred Marshall remains somewhat of an enigmatic figure in the evolution of economic analysis. Historians of economic thought almost invariably accord Marshall a prominent role in the early development of "neoclassical" economics and in partial...

Notes and communications.(a critique of James L. Webb's article)
December 1, 2003... Ayres and Dewey: Forward to the Future--A Critique of James L. Webb's Article. James L. Webb provided a stimulating and insightful interpretation of the ideas of John Dewey in his provocative article, "Dewey: Back to the Future" (2002). I...

Two reviews of The Institutionalist Approach to Public Utility Regulation.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... edited by Edythe S. Miller and Warren J. Samuels. East Lansing, Mich.: Michigan State University Press. 2002. ISBN: 0870136240, $62.95. 496 pages. The Institutionalist Approach to Public Utility Regulation explains and assesses the...

The recent collapses of firms such as WorldCom and Enron have whetted public and academic interest in accounts of why regulation policy in the United States has been changing and in interpretations of what these changes portend for the future.(The Institutionalist Approach to Public Utility Regulation)(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... The recent collapses of firms such as WorldCom and Enron have whetted public and academic interest in accounts of why regulation policy in the United States has been changing and in interpretations of what these changes portend for the future....

Visions of Development: a Study of Human Values.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by David A. Clark. Cheltenham, U.K., and Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar. 2002.ISBN: 1840649828, $95.00. 282 pages. This is a wide-ranging book. It spans the space from abstract ideas about development to surveying people about their...

Innovation and the Growth of Cities.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by Zoltan J. Acs. Northampton, Mass.: Edward Elgar Publishing. 2002. Cloth, ISBN 8406493964, $85.00. 247 pages. In my experience, someone who claims to be eclectic in approach is often trying to mask confusion. How could one combine the...

The Basic Income Guarantee: Ensuring Progress and Prosperity in the 21st Century.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by Charles M. A. Clark. Dublin, Ireland: The Liffey Press. 2003. ISBN: 1904148077, $24.95. 150 pages. Proposals to unconditionally guarantee that no one's income falls below a certain level have been around in one form or another since...

Encyclopedia of Political Economy.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... edited by Phillip Anthony O'Hara. London and New York: Routledge, 1999 (reprinted 2001). Paper, ISBN: 0-415-24188-X, 50 [pounds sterling]. Two volumes, 1302 pages. The publication of this encyclopedia underscores the extent to which...

The Economics of Power, Knowledge, and Time.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by Michele Javary. Cheltenham, U.K., Northampton, Mass., USA: Edward Elgar. 2002. ISBN 1840646314, $80.00. 179 pages. This book, a restatement of Michele Javary's doctoral dissertation, examines the effects upon capitalism and the process...

Learning and Innovation in Organizations and Economies.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by Bart Nooteboom. New York: Oxford University Press. 2000. Paper, ISBN: 0199241007, $30.00. 343 pages. Professor Nooteboom constructs and defends a general theory of innovation and learning applicable at the individual, organizational,...

The Conscience of Capitalism: Business Social Responsibility to Communities.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by Terry L Besser. London: Praeger, 2002. Cloth, ISBN: 0275975894, $62.95. 216 pages. First a confession: I'm an economist reviewing a sociological study. However, in nay defense, the assumption that underlies this study is near and dear...

Human Ecology: Following Nature's Lead.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by Frederick Steiner; foreword by Richard T. T. Forman. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. 2002. Cloth, ISBN 1559639954, $25.00. 256 pages. Frederick Steiner has thrown down the gauntlet to economists, especially institutional and public...

Decisions, Uncertainty, and the Brain: the Science of Neuroeconomics.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by Paul W. Glimcher. Cambridge: The MIT Press. 2003. Cloth, ISBN: 0262072440, $37.95. 375 pages. Combining neurology and economics is an intriguing prospect, which might be undertaken in either of two ways. Knowledge of the brain could be...

Engendering Economics: Conversations with Women Economists in the United States.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by Paulette I. Olson and Zohreh Emami. London and New York: Routledge. 2002. Paper, ISBN: 0415205565, $31.95. 267 pages. In their book, Engendering Economics: Conversations with Women Economists in the United States, Paulette I. Olson and...

Beyond the Market: the Social Foundations of Economic Efficiency.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by Jens Beckert. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2002. ISBN: 0691049076, $39.95. 368 pages. The book critiques orthodox economic theory, arguing that rational choices do not necessarily lead to optimum outcomes. The problem lies in...

Thinking the Unthinkable: the Immigration Myth Exposed.(Book Review)
December 1, 2003... by Nigel Harris. New York: I. B. Tauris. 2002. Paper, ISBN: 1860646719, $19.95. 183 pages. Those interested in the causes and consequences of increasingly selective immigration policies shall be both delighted and disturbed by this book....