Good luck to all teams!

Good luck to all the Blue Bull and Shark supporters for tomorrow's Currie Cup Final!

Since my team is not in the final (Cheetahs), I will be cheering with my husband for the Bulls.

Edited on Monday - congrats to the Sharks!

Single Market for 26 African countries

+ +

Leaders of the Tripartite Summit from 26 African countries belonging to the three regional economic blocs in the East and southern Africa on Wednesday resolved to merge the blocs into a single regional market.

The summit, bringing together leaders of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), the East African Community (EAC), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), have agreed to establish a free trade bloc and a single customs union, stretching from South Africa to Egypt and from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kenya.

South African President Kgalema Motlanthe who joined the leaders as SADC Chairperson said the launch of the free trade bloc will place the African continent in a stronger position to respond effectively to intensifying global economic competition.

The merger, he said, would lead to the creation of the largest free trade area in Africa, with a population of over 248 million people and a combined GDP of $650 billion.

The three blocs will have a single airspace within a year and an inter-regional broadband network for Internet. He said it would also help the continent to overcome the challenges posed by multiple memberships of regional organisations.

Read the full article

Nobel prize for Economic Sciences

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2008 this year has been awarded to Prof Paul R. Krugman from Princeton University "for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity".

The Prize Lecture will be held on Monday 8 December 2008, at the Aula Magna, Stockholm University. The lecture will be held in English and will be published on the Nobel site at a later date.

You can listen to an interview with Paul Krugman recorded immediately after the announcement of the 2008 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, 13 October 2008.

You can also read his blog at the NY Times.



The UJ Library has one title from Prof Krugman:

• International economics : theory and policy / Paul R. Krugman, Maurice Obstfeld.
  Publisher New York, N.Y. : HarperCollins, 1990. 2nd Edition
  EAST RAND OPEN SHELVES AT DFC EEE KRUG

Our databases also contain some of his articles:

EbscoHost

1. Crisis on the continent. By: Krugman, P.R.. U.S. News & World Report, 6/29/92, Vol. 112 Issue 25, p62, 1p,
2. Ignorance and inequality. By: Krugman, P.R.. U.S. News & World Report, 6/1/92, Vol. 112 Issue 21, p48, 2p
3. Disparity and despair. By: Krugman, P.R.. U.S. News & World Report, 3/23/92, Vol. 112 Issue 11, p54, 2p
4. No inflation threat. By: Krugman, P.R.. U.S. News & World Report, 11/25/91, Vol. 111 Issue 22, p58
5. The importance of housing. By: Krugman, P.R.. U.S. News & World Report, 11/25/91, Vol. 111 Issue 22, p58, 1/2p
6. Double-dip recession? By: Krugman, P.R.. U.S. News & World Report, 11/25/91, Vol. 111 Issue 22, p58
7. The painful cost of workplace discrimination. By: Krugman, P.R.. U.S. News & World Report, 11/4/91, Vol. 111 Issue 19, p63, 1p
8. Why the unemployment rate is surprisingly low. By: Krugman, P.R.. U.S. News & World Report, 10/14/91, Vol. 111 Issue 16, p62, 1p
9. Fractured market system. By: Krugman, P.R.. U.S. News & World Report, 9/30/91, Vol. 111 Issue 14, p75
10. America's reduced role. By: Krugman, P.R.. U.S. News & World Report, 9/30/91, Vol. 111 Issue 14, p75

ProQuest

1. Asset Returns and Economic Growth/Comments and Discussion Dean Baker, J Bradford DeLong, Paul R Krugman, N Gregory Mankiw, William D Nordhaus. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Washington: 2005. p. 289 (42 pages)
2. Technology, trade and factor prices Paul R Krugman. Journal of International Economics. Amsterdam: Feb 2000. Vol. 50, Iss. 1; p. 51
3. It's baaack: Japan's slump and the return of the liquidity trap Paul R Krugman. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Washington: 1998. p. 137 (69 pages)
4. The Adam Smith address: What difference does globalization make? Krugman, Paul R. Business Economics. Washington: Jan 1996. Vol. 31, Iss. 1; p. 7 (4 pages)
5. International economics -- NAFTA: An assessment by Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Jeffrey J. Schott assisted by Robin Dunnigan and Diana Clark Krugman, Paul R. Journal of Economic Literature. Nashville: Jun 1995. Vol. 33, Iss. 2; p. 849
6. NAFTA: An Assessment Krugman, Paul R. Journal of Economic Literature. Nashville: Jun 1995. Vol. 33, Iss. 2; p. 849 (3 pages)
7. Leapfrogging in international competition: A theory of cycles in national technological leadership Brezis, Elise S, Krugman, Paul R, Tsiddon, Daniel. The American Economic Review. Nashville: Dec 1993. Vol. 83, Iss. 5; p. 1211 (9 pages)
8. What do undergrads need to know about trade? Krugman, Paul R. The American Economic Review. Nashville: May 1993. Vol. 83, Iss. 2; p. 23 (4 pages)
9. Target Zones and Exchange Rate Dynamics Krugman, Paul R.. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. Cambridge: Aug 1991. Vol. 106, Iss. 3; p. 669 (14 pages)
10. Debt Relief Is Cheap Krugman, Paul R. Foreign Policy. Washington: Fall 1990. p. 141 (12 pages)
11. Developing Countries in the World Economy Krugman, Paul R.. Daedalus. Boston: Winter 1989. Vol. 118, Iss. 1; p. 183 (21 pages)
12. U. S. Competitiveness: Beyond the Trade Deficit Hatsopoulos, George N., Krugman, Paul R., Summers, Lawrence H.. Science. Washington: Jul 15, 1988. Vol. 241, Iss. 4863; p. 299 (9 pages)
13. Krugman, Paul R. Strategic Trade Policy And The New International Economics // Review Krugman, Paul R. The Canadian Journal of Economics. Malden: May 1988. Vol. 21, Iss. 2; p. 434
14. Is Free Trade Passe? Paul R Krugman. The Journal of Economic Perspectives (1986-1998). Nashville: Fall 1987. Vol. 1, Iss. 2; p. 131 (14 pages)
15. The Persistence of the U.S. Trade Deficit; Comments and Discussion Krugman, Paul R., Baldwin, Richard E., Bosworth, Barry, Hooper, Peter. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity. Washington: 1987. p. 1 (55 pages)
16. The Problem of U.S. Competitiveness in Manufacturing Krugman, Paul R., Hatsopoulos, George N.. New England Economic Review. Boston: Jan/Feb 1987. p. 18 (12 pages)
17. Inflation, Interest Rates, and Welfare Krugman, Paul R., Persson, Torsten, Svensson, Lars E. O.. The Quarterly Journal of Economics. Cambridge: Aug 1985. Vol. 100, Iss. 3; p. 677 (19 pages)
18. Intraindustry Specialization and the Gains from Trade Krugman, Paul R.. The Journal of Political Economy. Chicago: Oct 1981. Vol. 89, Iss. 5; p. 959 (15 pages)

Google Scholar also has lists of his books and journal articles. Remember to check on the A-Z list if we have the journal and on the UJ Catalogue if we have the book.

The rich cheat more on their taxes

Copyright: vivre

A new study The Distribution of Income Tax Noncompliance reveals what we've all been suspecting - the rich hide their income come tax season.

The previously unreported study estimates that taxpayers whose true income was between $500,000 and $1 million a year understated their adjusted gross incomes by 21% overall in 2001, compared to an 8% under reporting rate for those earning $50,000 to $100,000 and even lower rates for those earning less.

In all, because of their higher noncompliance rates, those with true incomes of $200,000 or more received 25% of all income, but accounted for 40% of net under reported income and 42% of under reported tax in 2001, the new analysis finds.

The study was written by Joel Slemrod, an economics professor and director of the Office of Tax Policy Research at the University of Michigan's business school and IRS economist Andrew Johns. It has not been officially endorsed or even released by the IRS and seems sure to add fuel to the election season debate over whether those earning $250,000 or more should pay higher tax rates, as Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, has proposed.
The Slemrod/Johns analysis uses unpublished data from special research audits the IRS conducted on a sample of 45,000 individual returns filed for 2001. It was the IRS' first such research effort since 1988, and it led the agency to estimate the 2001 gross "tax gap" at $345 billion.

The main reason for the income-related cheating disparity: Higher income folks receive more of their income from sources that are easier to hide, including self-employment earnings; income from rents, partnerships and S corporations; and capital gains. (Forbes)

Looking into the future

Copyright:Marzie

Every year The Futurist makes some forecasts on changes and trends we can expect in the following year.

This year they have released an article: OUTLOOK 2009: Recent Forecasts from World Future Society for 2009 and Beyond .

The forecasts are not “predictions” of what the future will be like, but rather glimpses of what may happen or proposals for preferred futures.

So what can you expect? In a nutshell: more sex, fewer antidepressants; more religious influence in China, less religious influence in the Middle East and the United States; more truth and transparency online, but a totally recorded real life.

The forecasts is divided into sections:

• Business and Economics

China will most likely become the world’s largest economy within the next three decades.

Tourism is expected to nearly double worldwide, from 842 million international tourist arrivals in 2006 to 1.6 billion in 2020

Retirees in the United States will increasingly return to the workforce. (The report is large US-based, however, this is a global trend)

Socioeconomic disparities will become more pronounced in aging societies.Social safety nets will get cut. Governments across the industrialized world will pare down or scrap altogether their pension and health-care programs for retirees.

• Computers

Watch out! HAL from 2001 is on the way. Selfaware machine intelligence could be achieved by midcentury.

Search engines will become humanlike by 2050. With the “semantic” Web, AI-based search engines will comprehend users’ questions and queries just like a human assistant.

Rainbow traps may improve computing abilities.

“Serious gaming” will help train tomorrow’s health workers.

• Demography

Urbanization will hit 60% by 2030.

Workforces on the move will exacerbate social conflicts. Increased migrations of workers from developing countries to developed countries will help offset worker shortages in host countries.

• Energy

Access to electricity will reach 83% of the world by 2030.

Architects will harness energy from the movement of crowds.

Pursuit of alternatives to oil could help stabilize gas prices.

• Information Society

Everything you say and do may be recorded. By the late 2010s, ubiquitous unseen nanodevices will provide seamless communication and surveillance among all people everywhere.

Identity theft and other Internet crimes will increase at a faster pace.

You’ll have more friends whom you’ll never meet, and cyberfriends may outnumber real-life friends. (This has already happened in places like Facebook and MySpace, even perhaps Linked-In?)

• Technology and Science

The Internet will become more factually reliable and more transparent.

TV in 3-D.

Optical clocks may enable us to measure time much more precisely.

• Transportation

The car’s days as king of the road may soon be over.

Mobility is becoming a priority to more people in rising economies: More people will travel farther faster. Personal mobility is increasing in rapidly expanding economies.

Research labs are coming closer to “beaming” us up.

Star Trek–type transporters may soon be possible for data transmission, but not for sending people places.

• Values and Society

People will have more sex. With women’s growing economic power around the world, arranged marriages are becoming less likely. As a result, women will feel freer to express their sexuality.

U.S. cultural hegemony may be over. The days of U.S. and First World dominance over the world’s culture and economy may soon be over.

New generations, new values. Self reliance and cooperation will become prevalent societal values as Generation X and Generation Y replace the baby-boom generation.

More people will consume ethically.

• Work and Careers

Succeeding in future niche careers may mean choosing an unusual major.

Tomorrow’s high-tech cowboys will telecommute.

Professional knowledge will become obsolete more quickly.

• World Affairs

The world’s legal systems will be networked. The Global Legal Information Network (GLIN), a database of local and national laws for more than 50 participating countries, will grow to include more than 100 counties by 2010.

Militaries will use neuroscience breakthroughs to win future wars.

Climate change is already spurring armed conflict.

University news from Africa

US-AFRICA: Donors re-commit to African higher education Karen MacGregor
The seven big United States donors that comprise the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa have announced that they will continue support for universities across the continent beyond their original 10-year commitment - but the form of their collaboration after 2010 has still to be firmed up. By then the Partnership will have made grants worth $350 million to universities, institutions and programmes in nine African countries.


CAMEROON: New university part of tertiary reforms Emmanuel T Nwaimah
The latest of Cameroon's public universities opens this month at a temporary site while construction work continues on its main campus. The University of Maroua was created by a presidential decree on 9 August and is located in the city of Maroua in Far North Province. It represents the continuation of a process of decentralising the country's public university system away from the capital Yaoundé under higher education reforms that began in 1993.


SOUTH AFRICA: OECD urges university funding changes Karen MacGregor
A just-published review by the OECD of South African education has praised "impressive forward thinking" and reform post-apartheid, but has also called for improved management of change in higher education and a reappraisal of university funding. It suggests studies into factors affecting student performance in the face of high drop-out rates, a proactive approach to preparing and integrating new students, and pedagogical training for junior academics.


ZIMBABWE: Desperate universities launch income projects Clemence Manyukwe
The Zimbabwean government last week cancelled the academic year as universities and schools found it impossible to continue operating with the collapse of the country's economy. At the University of Zimbabwe, the country leading tertiary institution, a notice on a faculty building told students lectures would begin "on a date to be advised". But university vice-chancellor Levy Nyagura was quoted as saying the university had no water, no electricity and no funds

ZIMBABWE: Nursing education abandoned Clemence Manyukwe
Zimbabwean nursing colleges have abandoned specialised training for students because of a lack of medical equipment and poor funding. The latest development is likely to have a catastrophic effect on the country's health delivery system, itself currently in the intensive care unit arising from the 'brain drain' and poor salaries for medical practitioners.


ALGERIA: Start of new academic year
Nearly 1,160,000 students have started the new academic year in Algeria, including 260,000 freshers, according to the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. But despite the assurances of the Minister, Rachid Haraouabia, La Tribune of Algiers questioned whether universities had the capacity to cater for so many students.


NIGERIA: Top medical college rejects PhD directive Tunde Fatunde
The governing council of Nigeria's National Postgraduate Medical College has rejected moves by the National Universities Commission to undermine its autonomy on the issue of academics needing doctoral qualifications. Many lecturers at the country's only postgraduate medical college possess post-degree fellowship qualifications from the institution rather than PhDs.

University news from the West

Culture and Decisions in Higher Ed Scholar explains themes of his new book on why colleges and universities function as they do.

HR at a Global University As colleges set up branch campuses abroad, how do these outposts change the institutional role as employers? Experts say many institutions have yet to grapple with the legal and equity issues involved.


UWN is a year old and carries some reflective articles in the new issues, one of which asks the question: What effect would a higher education story in one part of the world have on someone in another country's university system?

It also carries a special report on: Trends in higher education a report back on the international conference: Enhancement of Knowledge on Higher Education and its Dissemination hosted by Babes-Bolyai Univ in Romenia.
UNIVERSITIES: The information revolution
Universities are generally stable institutions but they are buffeted by new developments, such as rankings exercises and the 'world class university' concept that have grabbed the attention of academics, politicians and the media. Other new realities are a massive growth in research output and a digital revolution that is changing higher education's relationship to information and knowledge, says Dr Jan Sadlak, Director of Unesco's Bucharest-based European Centre for Higher Education.

PUBLISHING: World's 200+ higher education journals
A study by Unesco's European Centre for Higher Education has identified 210 journals on higher education worldwide, though the number fluctuates and could be an under-count. Half of the journals were published in North America while Europe produced 23% and Asia-Pacific 19%, according to Melanie Seto, editor and programme specialist for Unesco-CEPES. Among them were 17 'international' higher education publications.

GLOBAL: Trends in higher education studies
The field of higher education studies is growing, driven by the practical needs of a post-school system that is expanding worldwide. Professor Philip Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College in the US, predicts that the field will spread into more countries, and will increasingly focus on the process of teaching, learning and assessment and on training of university administrators. It will remain interdisciplinary but, unfortunately, large-scale research will be limited by lack of funds.

INTERNATIONALISATION: A research agenda
The position of higher education and its international dimension in the global arena are more dominant than ever before, says Dr Hans de Wit, editor of Journal of Studies in International Education. In a 2006 International Association of Universities survey, 73% of institutions gave internationalisation high priority, 23% medium priority and only 2% low priority. But despite an increase in studies on internationalisation, research on the topic is struggling to find a disciplinary, conceptual or methodological 'home'.

MEDIA: Higher education in the news Karen MacGregor
In most countries mass media reporting on higher education is primarily the preserve of newspapers, not of television or radio. Newspapers - print and electronic - report on news and developments in higher education, provide a platform for debate, and reflect current issues concerning the public, students, academics, tertiary organisations and governments - and, through this coverage, themselves influence the higher education agenda.

In other news:
GLOBAL: Revealed: best producers of top universities
John Gerritsen*
New Zealand, Finland, Ireland and Australia are the most efficient producers of top universities, according to a University World News analysis of the latest THE-QS ranking of the world's top 500 universities.
CHINA: Record numbers studying abroad
Jane Marshall
The number of students from China enrolling for the first time at universities in other countries is estimated to reach a record 200,000 this year compared with 144,500 who went abroad in 2007. That latter number represented a 170-fold increase on the 860 students who opted to go offshore 30 years ago. Since then, more than 1.2 million students have left China to study abroad although only 320,000 returned home after completing their studies.

US: New clearing house for ranking systems
The Institute for Higher Education Policy in the United States has launched an online global resource centre pulling together information on university rankings systems worldwide. The IHEP Ranking Systems Clearinghouse, it says, "provides a road map of the complex ranking landscape for more than 30 countries", and includes links to national and international rankings systems and a collection of thousands of rankings-related publications.

GERMANY: Chinese Minister awarded doctorate
Mike Gardner
China's Minister of Science and technology, Professor Wan Gang, has been awarded the title of an Honorary Doctor by Berlin's Technical University. Wan Gang, who was President of Shanghai's Tongji University from 2004-07, has played a leading role in the development of environmentally friendly cars in China.

UK: Commonwealth scholarships restored
Commonwealth scholarships will be available to students in all Commonwealth countries to study in Britain next year. This follows a new partnership between British universities and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills after a cut in funding by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in March meant that students in more developed Commonwealth countries would have been no longer be eligible to apply for the scholarships.


Fight or flight Universities tried to stop further education colleges gaining the power to award foundation degrees. Hannah Fearn reports on the tension between the two sectors and asks whether their formerly close relationship will be ruined by a fight...


Why No Academic Freedom For Adjuncts steven bell
Although the use of adjuncts has increased, one thing remains the same: Adjuncts are still treated like stepchildren and orphans on their campuses. But the one insult that an increasing number of adjuncts across the nation cannot abide is the continued lack of academic freedom. Based on my personal experiences and based on reports of recent trends, adjuncts increasingly are being fired and not being rehired because administrators do not like catching flak for what their part-timers say in the classroom.

What's in a (domain) name?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

IASB Committee Foundation Latest News

IASB and FASB create advisory group to review reporting issues related to credit crisis
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today announced that they will create a global advisory group comprising regulators, preparers, auditors, investors and other users of financial statements.

IASB and FASB launch consultation on proposed enhancements to the presentation of financial statements
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) today published for public comment a discussion paper on financial statement presentation.

Call for papers: European Finance Management

EUROPEAN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYMPOSIUM

Risk Management in Financial Institutions
When: April 23-25, 2009
Where: AUDENCIA SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT-NANTES, FRANCE
Keynote Speaker: Philippe Jorion, University of California, Irvine

Deadline: The deadline for submissions is November 1, 2008
Objective: The Symposium will focus on all aspects of risk management in financial institutions.

Topics suitable for the Symposium include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Market, credit, operational, liquidity and integrated risk management
• Investment management and hedge fund risk
• Energy and commodity market evolution and the impact on risk management
• Capital adequacy, Solvency II, IAS/IFRS and Basel II
• Financial institution failures and systemic risk
• Valuation and pricing techniques for financial products
• Microfinance, micro-insurance and risk management

Publication: All papers accepted for the symposium are eligible to be considered for publication in the EUROPEAN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT in a special issue devoted to the symposium. (The EFM is an internationally accredited journal)

Electronic Submission: Authors are invited to submit papers electronically (MS Word or PDF format) via the EFMA website www.efmaefm.org where further information about the symposium is available.

For more information, click here or visit www.efmaefm.org

IMF Releases

New releases of the IMF are:

Policy Papers

• 2008 Triennial Surveillance Review - Overview Paper
  Summary: This triennial surveillance review (TSR) takes place in a time of change, with the Fund in the midst of a major refocusing effort. That surveillance has not been as effective as it should be has been amply documented, notably in previous surveillance reviews and several IEO evaluations. Since the 2004 review of bilateral surveillance (BSR), considerable efforts have been made to enhance its effectiveness, including an overhaul of the policy framework with the adoption of a new Surveillance Decision in 2007. And as part of the refocusing effort, more change is underway to deliver on the Managing Director's vision of an institution making better use of its comparative advantage, to be "more alert to emerging issues, more critical in its assessments (especially in good times), and more assertive in communicating its concerns."
• Progress Report on the Activities of the Independent Evaluation Office
  Summary: The reports provides an update on the activities of the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF since its last report to the the IMF's policy-guiding body, the International Monetary and Finance Committee, in April 2008.
• Fuel and Food Price Subsidies - Issues and Reform Options
  Summary: Government price subsidies are pervasive in developed, emerging, and low-income countries. A subsidy is a form of government intervention resulting in a deviation of an actual price facing consumers and producers from a specified benchmark price. Subsidies affect consumption and production patterns as well as the distribution of resources, with important implications for the budget, expenditure composition, and long-term growth. They can and often do involve fiscal costs, but not all affect government fiscal accounts in the same way. Price subsidies have spillover effects onto prices and quantities in domestic, regional, or global markets. This paper discusses the key issues and policy options in the reform of subsidies for fossil fuels and selected food commodities, and their implications for the work of the Fund.
• The Fund's Response to the 2007-08 Financial Crisis - Stocktaking and Collaboration with the Financial Stability Forum
  Summary: The present financial crisis is testing the resilience of the global financial system as well as the robustness of national and multilateral policy frameworks. As requested by Executive Directors, this paper reviews recent progress in meeting these challenges, focusing on the role of the Fund and its collaboration with the Financial Stability Forum (FSF). In concert with other international bodies, the Fund has sought to promote appropriate policy responses to the financial turmoil, including through its report on The Recent Financial Turmoil-Initial Assessment, Policy Lessons, and Implications for Fund Surveillance, in the Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) and the World Economic Outlook (WEO), as well as in recent Article IV consultations and Financial Sector Assessment Programs (FSAPs). The Fund has also responded to the International Monetary and Financial Committee's (IMFC) call for closer collaboration with other international fora, including by supporting the implementation of policy lessons from the crisis, such as the 67 FSF recommendations issued in April 2008.
• Report of the Executive Board Working Group on IMF Corporate Governance
  Summary: On May 21, 2008, the Executive Board discussed the report of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) on "Aspects of IMF Corporate Governance - Including the Role of the Executive Board". The Joint Statement issued by the Executive Board and the Managing Director following the Board discussion noted that many of the issues raised by the IEO were complex and interrelated. Furthermore, the follow-up discussion would require the engagement of all parties at many different levels, involving not only the Executive Board and Management, but also the Fund's membership and other stakeholders more broadly.
  This report presents the recommendations of the Working Group, based on work carried out during June-July 2008. The proposed detailed work plan in Table 1 is an integral part of this report. Section II of the report describes the work streams. Section III discusses issues beyond the IEO report and proposes a monitoring process. Section IV presents the recommendations.
• Provisional Agenda for the Eighteenth Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee
  Summary: The following is the provisional agenda for the Eighteenth Meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee, which is to be convened on Saturday, October 11, 2008, at the IMF's Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
• Statement by the Managing Director to the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) on the IMF's Lending Role and Surveillance Priorities
  Summary: IMF staff has done extensive analysis of the crisis and its spillovers drawing on lessons from past crises, and disseminated information, analysis and policy advice through the Executive Board and intensive contacts with our members. We have also stepped up crisis preparedness efforts and are in close touch with individual members experiencing stress, standing ready to help with further advice and financial assistance.
• Report of the Managing Director to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on the IMF's Policy Agenda-IMF Responses to Global Economic Challenges
  Summary: The report provides an update on work in the following areas: global stability, IMF lending, food and fuel price developments, and modernizing the IMF.
• Review of the Fund's Financing Role in Member Countries
  Summary: This paper raises and discusses issues related to how the Fund provides financial assistance to its members. It is part of the strategic review to ensure the Fund remains relevant and effective. The objective is not to increase Fund lending, but to make sure the Fund has the right instruments and policies to help all of its members-with appropriate protection of Fund resources-as they integrate into a world of growing and increasingly complex cross-border flows. Other institutions (including major central banks and the World Bank) also are retooling their lending instruments and in the process grappling with similar issues. The paper offers a high-level view of the issues and does not make specific policy proposals. Policy proposals will be presented in follow-up papers, some of which are planned for Board discussion later in 2008.
• Proposed Reforms to the Exogenous Shocks Facility
  Summary: The review of the ESF is being accelerated in light of experience and worsening global economic conditions, in particular the surge in food and fuel prices. Despite having become effective in 2006, the ESF has yet to be used. Recent discussions with creditors, donors, potential users, and outside observers have highlighted a number of ways to enhance its effectiveness.
• Policy for Country Contributions for Capacity Building
  Summary: This paper proposes a strengthened country contributions policy for capacity-building services. It builds on the recent Executive Board discussions on capacity-building reforms, which included proposals for the use of charges (country contributions) to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the Fund's capacity-building activities. On the basis of this country contributions policy, management intends to issue a staff guidance note on implementation and to take steps to bring it to the attention of members and other recipients of Fund capacity-building activities.
• The Spending and Absorption of Aid in PRGF Supported Programs
  Author/Editor: Berndt, Markus; Dudine, Paolo; Martijn, Jan Kees; Shonchoy, Abu
  Summary: This paper studies the spending and absorption of aid in PRGF-supported programs, verifies whether the use aid is programmed to be smoothed over time, and analyzes how considerations about macroeconomic stability influence the programmed use of aid. It finds that PRGF-supported programs allow countries to use most or almost all increases in aid within a few years. The paper finds some evidence that the programmed absorption of aid is higher in countries where reserve coverage is above a certain threshold, whereas programmed spending does not seem to depend on inflation. Finally, it shows that the presence of a PRGFsupported program does not constrain the actual spending and absorption of aid.
• Update on the Financing of the IMF's Concessional Assistance and Debt Relief to Low-Income Member Countries
  Summary: This paper provides a semi-annual review of the status of financing for Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility-Exogenous Shocks Facility (PRGF-ESF) lending, subsidization of emergency assistance to PRGF-eligible countries, and Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) debt relief. The last review was completed by the IMF Executive Board on April 21, 2008.
  

Surveys

• IMF Welcomes Euro Zone Plan to Combat Crisis
  IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn welcomes a plan by the 15 European countries that use the euro to halt the financial crisis and says the U.S. rescue plan should be implemented "the sooner the better."
• World Finance Chiefs Back Action Plan to Combat Crisis
  World financial leaders endorsed an action plan announced by the seven leading advanced economies to combat the international financial crisis in what IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn called the "first big success in coordination" to halt the downward spiral in world markets and support the global financial system.
• IMF Presses Four-Step Plan to Halt Financial Spiral
  IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn calls on world financial leaders meeting in Washington to address the crisis of confidence in financial markets with coordinated international action.
• African Growth Eases as Region Responds to Price Shocks
  Growth in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to slow slightly, as the continent's worsening, though still strong performance reflects increases in food and fuel prices, slower world growth, and global financial turmoil.
• Africa Conference to Share Lessons from Economic Successes
  President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss Kahn will host a high-level international conference in Dar es Salaam on March 10-11, 2009, to discuss how Africa can meet the challenge of sustaining and building on recent economic successes.
• Global Economy Hit by Three Major Shocks
  The IMF's October 2008 World Economic Outlook projects that global growth will slow substantially, hit by three major shocks-illustrated in this series of animated charts based on IMF projections.
• House Prices Compounding Crisis
  Housing prices have begun falling this year in several advanced economies. This decline is amplifying the effects of the current financial turmoil.
• Fair Value Accounting Gathers Interest in Current Turmoil
  The International Monetary Fund weighs in on a complicated and controversial question of how financial institutions should value assets and liabilities on their books.
• Emerging Equity Markets Pulled Into Global Crisis
  After more than a year of small spillovers from financial turmoil in advanced economies, equities in emerging markets succumbed to financial distress. However, unlike in past crises, the size of the spillover has not been uniform, the IMF says in a new report.

Country Reports

• Ghana: Selected Issues
• Morocco: Selected Issues
• St. Lucia: Statistical Appendix
• Bosnia and Herzegovina: Selected Issues
• Georgia: Request for Stand-By Arrangement - Staff Report; Staff Supplement; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for Georgia

Working Papers

• Wage-Price Setting in New EU Member States
  Author/Editor: Goretti, Manuela
  Summary: This paper analyzes wage- and price-setting relations in new EU member countries. Panel estimates indicate a strong and significant relationship between real wages and labor productivity, as well as evidence of wage pass-through to inflation. Terms of trade shocks do not feed through to real wages. Country-specific wage developments, beyond differences in labor productivity growth, are mostly explained by real wage catch-up from different initial levels and different labor market conditions. Qualitative evidence also suggests that public sector wage demonstration effects and institutional factors may play a role in wage determination.
• Does Openness to International Financial Flows Raise Productivity Growth?
  Author/Editor: Kose, M. Ayhan; Prasad, Eswar; Terrones, Marco
  Summary: This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between financial openness and total factor productivity (TFP) growth using an extensive dataset that includes various measures of productivity and financial openness for a large sample of countries. We find that de jure capital account openness has a robust positive effect on TFP growth. The effect of de facto financial integration on TFP growth is less clear, but this masks an important and novel result. We find strong evidence that FDI and portfolio equity liabilities boost TFP growth while external debt is actually negatively correlated with TFP growth. The negative relationship between external debt liabilities and TFP growth is attenuated in economies with higher levels of financial development and better institutions.
• Household Income As A Determinant of Child Labor and School Enrollment in Brazil: Evidence From A Social Security Reform
  Author/Editor: Carvalho Filho, Irineu E.
  Summary: This paper studies the effects of household income on labor participation and school enrollment of children aged 10 to 14 in Brazil using a social security reform as a source of exogenous variation in household income. Estimates imply that the gap between actual and full school enrollment was reduced by 20 percent for girls living in the same household as an elderly benefiting from the reform. Girls' labor participation rates reduced with increased benefit income, but only when benefits were received by a female elderly. Effects on boys' enrollment rates and labor participation were in general smaller and statistically insignificant.
• International Competitiveness of the Mediterranean Quartet:A Heterogeneous-Product Approach
  Author/Editor: Bennett, Herman Z.; Zarnic, Ziga
  Summary: The real effective exchange rate (REER) is the most commonly used measure for assessing international competitiveness. We develop a methodology to estimate the REER that incorporates two distinctive elements that are not considered in the current literature and apply it to the Mediterranean Quartet (MQ) of Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, whose common pattern of real appreciation has created concern in policy and academic circles. The two elements that we add to the existing literature are (i) product heterogeneity when identifying each country's international competitors and their weights and (ii) a comprehensive treatment of services exports. Our refined measure suggests a modest reduction in the observed REER gap between the MQ countries and the other euro area countries. In particular, considering product heterogeneity and services exports implies a lower real appreciation from 1998 to 2006 on the order of 2-3 percent for all MQ countries. These are differenc!
  e-in-difference estimates relative to the results obtained for the rest of the euro area countries using the same methodology.
• Latin America: Highlights from the Implementation of the System of National Accounts 1993 (1993 SNA)
  Author/Editor: Ramos, Roberto Olinto; Pastor, Gonzalo C.; Rivas, Lisbeth
  Summary: This paper reviews the Latin American experience with the implementation of 1993 SNAand the updating of the national accounts' base year. It also makes a preliminary assessment of the possible estimation biases in nominal GDP estimates stemming from the use of outdated national accounts base years, downwards biases with household final consumption estimates, and an overestimation of gross fixed capital formation in construction activities.
• A Theory of International Crisis Lending and IMF Conditionality
  Author/Editor: Jeanne, Olivier; Ostry, Jonathan D.; Zettelmeyer, Jeromin
  Summary: We present a framework that clarifies the financial role of the IMF, the rationale for conditionality, and the conditions under which IMF-induced moral hazard can arise. In the model, traditional conditionality commits country authorities to undertake crisis resolution efforts, facilitating the return of private capital, and ensuring repayment to the IMF. Nonetheless, moral hazard can arise if there are crisis externalities across countries (contagion) or if country authorities discount crisis costs too much relative to the national social optimum, or both. Moral hazard can be avoided by making IMF lending conditional on crisis prevention efforts-"ex ante" conditionality.
• The Costs of Sovereign Default
  Author/Editor: Borensztein, Eduardo; Panizza, Ugo
  Summary: This paper evaluates empirically four types of cost that may result from an international sovereign default: reputational costs, international trade exclusion costs, costs to the domestic economy through the financial system, and political costs to the authorities. It finds that the economic costs are generally significant but short-lived, and sometimes do not operate through conventional channels. The political consequences of a debt crisis, by contrast, seem to be particularly dire for incumbent governments and finance ministers, broadly in line with what happens in currency crises.
• Growing Apart? A Tale of Two Republics: Estonia and Georgia
  Author/Editor: Gylfason, Thorvaldur; Hochreiter, Eduard
  Summary: We compare and contrast the economic growth performance of Estonia and Georgia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 in an attempt to understand better the extent to which the growth differential between the two countries can be traced to increased efficiency in the use of capital and other resources (intensive growth) as opposed to brute accumulation of capital (extensive growth). On the basis of a simple growth accounting exercise, we infer that advances in education at all levels, good governance, and institutional reforms have played a more significant role in raising economic output and efficiency in Estonia than in Georgia which remains marred by various problems related to weak governance in the public and private spheres.

World Economics Outlook

• Financial Stress, Downturns, and Recoveries, October 2008
• IMF Global Financial Stability Report -- October 2008
  With financial markets worldwide facing growing turmoil, internationally coherent and decisive policy measures will be required to restore confidence in the global financial system. The process of restoring an orderly system will be challenging, as a significant deleveraging is both necessary and inevitable. It is against this challenging and still evolving backdrop that the October 2008 Global Financial Stability Report frames recent events to suggest potential policy measures that could help address the current circumstances.

Finance of HE in SA 2007 report

copyright: yirsh

StatsSA has just released P9103.1 - Financial statistics of higher education institutions, 2007 This statistical release provides information on the sources and uses of cash of higher education institutions for the financial years 2006 and 2007, classified economically and functionally.

Here are some of the highlight:

Net change in the stock of cash from higher education institutions amounted to R1 480 million for the 2007 financial year.


The net change in the stock of cash from higher education institutions amounted to R1 480 million for the 2007 fiscal year. The amount has increased from R900 million in 2006.

Major Influences

• The major contributors to the amount of R1 480 million of the net change in the stock of cash of higher education institutions for the financial year 2007 are the cash receipts from operating activities, R30 217 million (2006: R26 925 million)
• cash payments for operating activities, R24 012 million, (2006: R21 316 million)
• purchases of non-financial assets, R2 325 million, (2006: R1 557 million); sales of non-financial assets, R88 million (2006: R37 million)
• net acquisition of financial assets other than cash, R2 640 million (2006: R3 091 million)
• net incurrence of liabilities, R152 million (2006: -R98 million), (see Table A, p.5).

OECD releases

New reports released:

Improving cost effectiveness in the health care sector in Iceland
Health outcomes and the quality of health care in Iceland are very good by international comparison, while income related health inequality appears to be smaller than in most other countries. However, the health care system is costly and, according to OECD estimates, public expenditure on health and long term care could reach 15% of GDP by 2050 if no restraining measures are taken.

The challenges of monetary policy in Turkey
Monetary policy has been one of the main pillars of the post-2001 stabilisation programme. Encouraged by its success, the central bank shifted from implicit to explicit inflation targeting in 2006 and set a medium-term inflation target of 4%, applicable from end 2007.

Understanding Russian regions' economic performance during periods of decline and growth – an extreme bound analysis approach
This article uses “extreme-bound”-type analysis to revisit the determinants behind widely differing economic growth in Russian regions. Using data of 77 regions for 1993-2004, it separately examines the growth drivers for the phase of economic decline up to 1998, and for the period of strong growth afterwards.

Do tax structures affect aggregate economic growth? Empirical evidence from a panel of OECD countries
This paper examines the relationship between tax structures and economic growth by entering indicators of the tax structure into a set of panel growth regressions for 21 OECD countries, in which both the accumulation of physical and human capital are taken into account.

The Economics of Education

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The World Bank has released their newest report on HE in Sub-Saharan Africa, Accelerating Catch-Up: Tertiary Education for Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa and reports that African governments must invest more in tertiary education--and those investments must be smarter-- if their graduates are to succeed in today’s intensely competitive global environment.

A new Bank study, launched at the roundtable, titled Accelerating Catch-up: tertiary education for growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, highlights some of the options available for countries to develop reform strategies towards more efficient, more relevant and higher quality tertiary education systems.

Economics Down Under

The Australian economy, which is in its 17th consecutive year of growth, has benefited from remarkable results. But difficult challenges lie ahead.

How to balance inflation threats and risks of a strong downturn? How to strengthen labour supply? How to enhance education performance? What reforms are needed for labour and product markets? How to implement climate change policy and sustainable water management?

These are some of the questions addresses by the OECD Economic Survey of Australia 2008.

FDI spillovers report

Copyright:majeye

The OECD has released their newest report on Foreign direct investment (FDI).

Here is the abstract from the report:

Foreign direct investment (FDI) represents an increasingly important dimension of international economic integration with global FDI flows growing faster than output over the past two decades. FDI is a particular form of investment, as it transfers knowledge as well as finance that may otherwise be unavailable in the domestic economy.



This paper uses firm-level data to identify FDI spillovers across countries, sectors and time. The analysis suggests that knowledge-related spillovers from FDI vary considerably across sectors. Services industries enjoy the strongest productivity-enhancing effects of FDI, particularly through backward linkages.

There is no strong evidence of horizontal productivity spillovers at the aggregate level. The results also indicate a significant and positive correlation between the degree of trade openness and output when measuring the impact of foreign presence in the domestic economy.

A positive interaction is found between trade liberalisation and productivity spillovers. Thus, trade liberalisation can be seen as an important component of any reform package designed to help countries maximise the benefits of FDI.

Credit crunch impacting retailers

Copyright: svilen001

The credit squeeze that culminated in a major financial meltdown last week has been impacting U.S. consumers, as well as retail businesses, throughout 2008.

According to a telephone survey of 100 CFOs at leading chains nationwidstudy by BDO Seidman, LLP, one of the USA’s leading accounting and consulting organizations:

• Nearly half (41%) of CFOs at U.S. retailers have experienced a tightening of credit by their lenders
• More than a third (37%) of the CFOs report a reduction of planned inventory purchases for 2008, further illustrating a difficult lending and economic environment
• One-in-four (24%) of the retail CFOs cite that they have had, or plan to have, significant staff reductions in 2008. When looking at the top 100 retailers specifically, 32 percent of those CFOs are experiencing layoffs this year
• 36 percent of the retail CFOs say that they have, or will, close stores in 2008, with 27 percent citing that they will close more stores this year than they did in 2007.
• three quarters (77%) of CFOs have not or do not plan to delay store opening plans in 2008.
• nearly a third (28%) of the retail CFOs stated that they are evaluating, or considering changing from U.S. accounting standards to IFRS
• The majority (91%) of retail CFOs reported that the weak U.S. dollar has not increased their concern of being acquired by an international entity

October is in the Pink!

October is not just the "mooiste, mooiste maand" as Leipoldt referred to it, it is also International Breast Cancer awareness month.

Breast cancer is the 4th biggest cancer cause of death of South Africans, the 2nd biggest for women and the 18th biggest for men (remember 1% of breast cancer patients are men) and has overtaken cervical cancer as the most common cancer among women in South Africa.

As a survivor of a breast cancer scare last year, when I was diagnosed with a non cancerous tumor, I want to urge all my lecturers to regularly check your body for lumps and consult with your doctors immediately, because it is the only way to get peace of mind and the necessary treatment.

Here are a few websites with more information:

• CANSA
• Breastcancer.org
• Dept. of Health

ERSA's new papers

The Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA) has released three new working papers:

Working Paper 94
Title: Nonparametric estimation when income is reported in bands and at points
Author(s): Martin Wittenberg
Abstract

We show how to estimate kernel density functions of distributions in which some of the responses are provided in brackets, by inverse probability weighting. We consider two cases, one where the data are CAR and where the data are not CAR. We show how the selection probabilities can be estimated by means of the EM algorithm without specifying a parametric distribution function for the variable. A Monte Carlo experiment shows that this procedure estimates the selection parameters fairly precisely. We apply these techniques to earnings data from South Africa’s first post-apartheid nationally representative survey, the 1994 October Household Survey.

Working Paper 95

Title: Perceptions regarding Entrepreneurship in an Emerging and Culturally Diverse Economy: A South African Survey
Author(s): John Luiz and Martine Mariotti
Abstract
Of all the developing countries that participated in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey, South Africa was ranked the lowest, in terms of entrepreneurial activity. It is clear that South Africa is not producing a sufficiently entrepreneurial economy and this needs to be addressed so as to create employment, expand markets, increase production and revitalise communities. This paper examines the entrepreneurial traits of a diverse group of young adults in South Africa. It looks at their attitudes towards and perceptions of entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial opportunities and the broader environment.

Working Paper 96
Title: On the Real Exchange Rate Effects of Higher Electricity Prices in South Africa
Author(s): Jan van Heerden, James Blignaut and André Jordaan
Abstract
The paper uses a static Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model of South Africa and simulates various shocks to the price of electricity. We attempt different closures to the model and compare their respective effects on the Consumer Price Index. In a CGE model, this is measuring the real appreciation of the exchange rate, or international trade competitiveness. In general, we conclude that electricity prices per se does not significantly influence the real exchange rate, regardless of which closure is used.

Support for IASB's reaction on the financial crisis

At their meeting in Beijing today, the Trustees of the IASC Foundation announced their unanimous support for the approach that the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) laid out last Friday to accelerate its response to the credit crisis.
Under this approach, the IASB will seek appropriate language to eliminate any differences in how International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs) and US generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) address the issue of reclassification of financial instruments. The Trustees support the IASB’s intention to complete this work by the end of next week. Read More

New books

For Finance & Investment:

1. Advanced capital budgeting : refinements in the economic analysis of investment projects / Harold Bierman, Jr. and Seymour Smidt. New York, N.Y. : Routledge, 2007.

As always, if you want to take out this title, please let me know.