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Business and Economics > Banks and Banking

You are looking at 1 - 6 of 6 items for :

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Cover IMF Working Papers
Who Dares, Wins: Labor Market Reforms and Sovereign Yields
Mr. Christian H Ebeke
The paper shows that investors value the adoption of structural reforms by lending at lower cost. The reform-induced reduction of long-term yields is bigger when reforms are initiated in good times and in countries facing high borrowing costs. Importantly, there is no statistical evidence that markets systematically punish countries that launch reforms concomitantly with fiscal stimulus. The paper also finds that the social context matters: structural reforms lead to a short-lived overshooting of yields when followed by strikes or lockouts. Controlling for endogeneity issues does not reject the central finding of the paper. These results are economically plausible and confirmed even after using sovereign credit ratings as an alternative dependent variable. These results have two main implications: (i) on average, labor market reforms lower borrowing costs; and (ii) country-specific circumstances also play a role.
Keywords:
WP; yield; long-term yield; Long-term bond yields; Structural reforms; Institutions; yield country; country outlook; dependent variable; control group; reforming country; Output gap; Employment protection; Bond yields; Banking crises; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Wage-Price Dynamics and Structural Reforms in Japan
Davide Porcellacchia
Structural reforms in the liquidity trap need not be deflationary. This paper develops a simple framework to study the role that key characteristics of Japan’s labor and product markets—labor-market duality and weak corporate governance—play in generating unfavorable wage-price dynamics. The model allows a discussion of whether and in what form structural reforms may contribute to Japan’s short-run goal of reflating the economy. It finds that boosting inflation with structural reforms implies an unusual trade-off with employment, that is an inverted Phillips curve. Simultaneous implementation of labor-market and product-market reforms is most effective in terms of reflating the economy.
Keywords:
WP; liquidity trap; labor market; nominal interest rate; price level; real wage; Abenomics; corporate governance; inflation; Japan; labor-market duality; structural reforms; wage-price dynamics; single open-ended contract; market power; cash holding; Phillips curve; Zero lower bound; Labor markets; Liquidity; Global
Cover IMF Research Bulletin
IMF Research Bulletin, December 2013
International Monetary Fund. Research Dept.
In the December 2013 IMF Research Bulletin, the Research Summaries look at “Reforming Dual Labor Markets in Advanced Economies” (Giovanni Ganelli) and “Rating Through-The-Cycle: What Does the Concept Imply for Rating Stability Accuracy” (John Kiff, Michael Kisser, and Liliana Schumacher). The Q&A discusses Seven Questions on Financial Crises (Stijn Claessens, M. Ayhan Kose, Luc Laeven, and Fabián Valencia). This issue also includes a listing of recent IMF Working Papers and IMF Staff Discussion Notes, as well as Recommended Readings from the IMF Bookstore. The top-viewed articles from recent of issues of “IMF Economic Review” are featured.
Keywords:
IRB; IMF research bulletin; policy relevance; table-of-contents alert; research; bulletin; energy subsidy reform; visit IMF publication; high-impact research; Labor markets; Banking crises; Employment protection; Energy subsidies; Global; Sub-Saharan Africa; Southern Europe
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Japan: Selected Issues
International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept
This Selected Issues paper examines implications for long-term bond yields in case of Japan. The analysis finds that so far, upward pressure on interest rates from high public debt has been offset by domestic factors, including a stable investor base with a preference for safe assets. As these effects could decline with population aging, yields could rise unless reforms are implemented to stimulate growth and reduce the public debt-to-GDP ratio. In such a scenario, long-term Japanese government bond rates would remain relatively low and stable. The paper also analyzes to what extent rising health care spending poses a fiscal risk to Japan’s economy.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; bank; GDP; Japan; worker; inflation dynamics; labor market duality; copayment rate; BoJ purchase; Japanese bank; Labor markets; Long term interest rates; Aging; Employment protection; Global; Asia and Pacific
Cover IMF Working Papers
Banks and Labor as Stakeholders: Impact on Economic Performance
Mr. Kenichi Ueda
and
Mr. Stijn Claessens
Traditionally, the impacts of the rights of financial institutions and workers on corporate performance have been analyzed independently. Yet, theory clearly indicates that the combination of relative powers of different stakeholders affects a firm overall performance. Using U.S. state level and state-industry level data, we investigate how output growth is affected by bank branch deregulation and employment protection occurring over 1972-1993. We find that financial liberalization positively impact overall state growth but greater workers' rights affects it ambiguously. At the industry level, however, employment protection promotes those industries that are more knowledge intensive, while the effect of financial liberalization does not differ across industries that vary in external financing dependency. The results hold controlling for changes in shareholders' rights, which itself is not significant. The findings suggest that financial liberalization operates mostly through an efficiency channel, better reallocating resources across sectors, while employment protection creates higher incentives and encourages more sector-specific, human capital investments. Overall, the results show that the strength of stakeholders' protection affects performance through efficiency channels and provide support for a stakeholders' view of corporate governance.
Keywords:
WP; output growth; minimum wage; public policy; firm performance
Cover IMF Staff Country Reports
Republic of Croatia: Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix
International Monetary Fund
This Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix paper analyzes monetary transmission in Croatia. The evidence analyzed in this paper supports the view that monetary policy in Croatia is not an effective tool for aggregate demand management. One of the main conclusions is that financial conditions in the economy are only weakly correlated with the monetary policy stance. Monetary policy can exercise some control over money-market interest rates, but its influence on lending rates is uncertain and comes with long lags. The paper also examines determinants of lending rates and domestic spreads in Croatia.
Keywords:
ISCR; CR; rate; lending rate; interest rate; lending; monetary policy; money market rate; EPL index; lending spread; interest rate channel; Employment protection; Money markets; Exchange rates; Informal economy; Credit; Eastern Europe