Effectiveness of capital controls in dampening international shocks

This study is a contribution to the ongoing debate on whether capital controls are effective in buffering international shocks and reducing capital flows volatility. The author demonstrates that capital controls can considerably mitigate the effects of monetary and exchange rate shocks and reduce the volatility of capital inflows to emerging markets. This study analyses quarterly data of 28 emerging economies over the period between 2000 and 2015 and proposes two methods to identify capital controls actions. Using panel analysis, autoregressive distributed lag, and local projections approaches, this study finds that tighter capital controls may diminish monetary and exchange rate shocks and reduce capital inflows volatility. Furthermore, capital controls respond anti-cyclically to monetary shocks. Under capital controls, countries with floating exchange rate regimes have more potential to buffer monetary shocks. The author also finds that capital controls on inflows are more effective for reducing the volatility of capital flows compared to capital controls on outflows.

New Zealand’s 1989 skill ecosystem reform: preparations, implementation, outputs and outcomes

<p>This thesis assesses the impact of the 1989 skill ecosystem reform, whereby New Zealand initiated a comprehensive reform of its skill ecosystem. The reforms radically transformed the education and training system and were driven primarily by the approval of the Education Act 1989 and the Industry Training Act 1992 and their amendments. For this thesis, the reform ended in 2020 with the approval of the Education and Training Act 2020. The reforms were part of a broader political transformation in New Zealand that ended up embarking on market policies to increase its productivity. Education and training were identified as a necessary condition to achieve that goal. New Zealand’s skill ecosystem has its foundations in the strong system built in the country since the arrival of the first settlers, but that had slowed its dynamism in the 1970s, with enrollment rates lagging behind comparable countries and concerns about the ability of the skill ecosystem to respond to current and future skill needs. The reform decentralized the education system at the primary / secondary and post-secondary levels but created an institution, the New Zealand Qualification Authority (NZQA) that should allow students and trainees a seamless navigation across it. The reform had a strong involvement of the private sector. To evaluate the impact of the reform, the thesis faces several challenges: there is no adequate counterfactual, the design is continually changing, and the country experienced a series of international shocks during its implementation. To address these challenges, the thesis presents a comprehensive set of indicators to evaluate the reform's outputs and outcomes at different levels. In terms of outputs, which include the reform, enrollment in education and training, participation rates increased. In terms of outcomes, which include indirect and behavioural changes, the measures are mixed. At the end of the reform, the ease of finding high-level skills in New Zealand is similar to its long-term trend despite the more sophisticated economic structure, albeit with significant differences by firm size and industries. And the ease is lower than in comparison countries, raising questions about whether that level could change given the small size and remoteness of New Zealand's economy.</p>

New Zealand’s 1989 skill ecosystem reform: preparations, implementation, outputs and outcomes

<p>This thesis assesses the impact of the 1989 skill ecosystem reform, whereby New Zealand initiated a comprehensive reform of its skill ecosystem. The reforms radically transformed the education and training system and were driven primarily by the approval of the Education Act 1989 and the Industry Training Act 1992 and their amendments. For this thesis, the reform ended in 2020 with the approval of the Education and Training Act 2020. The reforms were part of a broader political transformation in New Zealand that ended up embarking on market policies to increase its productivity. Education and training were identified as a necessary condition to achieve that goal. New Zealand’s skill ecosystem has its foundations in the strong system built in the country since the arrival of the first settlers, but that had slowed its dynamism in the 1970s, with enrollment rates lagging behind comparable countries and concerns about the ability of the skill ecosystem to respond to current and future skill needs. The reform decentralized the education system at the primary / secondary and post-secondary levels but created an institution, the New Zealand Qualification Authority (NZQA) that should allow students and trainees a seamless navigation across it. The reform had a strong involvement of the private sector. To evaluate the impact of the reform, the thesis faces several challenges: there is no adequate counterfactual, the design is continually changing, and the country experienced a series of international shocks during its implementation. To address these challenges, the thesis presents a comprehensive set of indicators to evaluate the reform's outputs and outcomes at different levels. In terms of outputs, which include the reform, enrollment in education and training, participation rates increased. In terms of outcomes, which include indirect and behavioural changes, the measures are mixed. At the end of the reform, the ease of finding high-level skills in New Zealand is similar to its long-term trend despite the more sophisticated economic structure, albeit with significant differences by firm size and industries. And the ease is lower than in comparison countries, raising questions about whether that level could change given the small size and remoteness of New Zealand's economy.</p>

The International Aspects of Macroprudential Policy

Countries are making more active use of macroprudential tools than in the past with the goal of improving the resilience of their broader financial systems. A growing body of evidence suggests that these tools can accomplish specific domestic goals and should reduce a country's vulnerability to many domestic and international shocks. The evidence also suggests, however, that these policies are not an elixir. They will not insulate economies from volatility, and they generate leakages to the nonbank financial system and spillovers through international borrowing, lending, and other cross-border exposures. Some of these unintended consequences can mitigate the effectiveness of macroprudential policies and generate new vulnerabilities and risks. The COVID-19 crisis provides a lens to evaluate the effectiveness of current macroprudential regulations during a period of extreme market volatility and economic stress. The experience to date suggests that macroprudential tools provide some benefits and should remain a focus of macroeconomic policy, but with realistic expectations about what they can accomplish. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Economics, Volume 13 is August 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

The Internal Labor Markets of Business Groups

This paper provides micro evidence of labor mobility inside business groups. We show that worker flows between firms in the same group are stronger than with unaffiliated firms. Moreover, the reallocation of top workers between group firms is more sensitive to international shocks. Top workers that move within the group in response to shocks reach higher positions and earn higher wages. We find suggestive evidence that productivity increases when firms receive same-group top workers. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that, in response to changing opportunities, joint ownership eases the redeployment of workers endowed with general management skills.

Economic Globalisation and Economic Growth Dynamics in Nigeria

Globalisation has been a topical issue both in the industrialized and developing nations of the world, this is not unconnected with the impacts it had on the attainment of macroeconomic objectives of these nations. This connotes that globalisation is crucial because it is typically affected by exogenous shocks such as political regime shifts, international conflicts or trade liberalization and unexpected changes to business condition. It is on this premise that the study examined the impact of globalisation on economic growth in Nigeria. This study adopted ex post facto research design. The data were obtained from the KOF globalisation index of Swiss economic institute and World development Indicator of World Bank for the period 1970-2017 for Nigeria representing a total of forty-eight observations. The documents were already exposed to the scrutiny of the appropriate regulatory agencies and the data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics employing the time series techniques of asymmetric co-integration. The study found that economic globalisation had long-run asymmetric cointegrating effect on economic growth in Nigeria (ɸ = 11.965, R2 =0.24, KOFECGI = 1.657, t- Stat = (46) = 3.784, p<0.05). The study further recommends that government policy should be designed in such way that it reduce overdependence on the highly industrialized economy, so as to avoid international shocks that might affect the economy negatively.

Exploring the UN and OPCW Partnership in Syrian Chemical Weapons Disarmament

After reviewing recent literature on international organizations’ autonomy and cooperation, this article explores the unprecedented partnership between the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons—implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention—and the UN Secretariat during the 2013–2014 chemical weapons disarmament in Syria. The article explores how this collaboration, embodied on the ground through the creation of a Joint Mission, evolved from hesitant, bureaucratic rivalry to an increasingly intense relationship in the aftermath of a large-scale attack near Damascus in August 2013. The research is based on wide-ranging interviews with senior OPCW and UN staff, and relevant state officials. The article shows how international shocks, high-level support from key Member States, and leadership at the Secretariat level produced requisite intra- and interorganizational consensus to mitigate turf wars. Relative autonomy of mission staff and bureaucratic flexibility further allowed skilled boundary spanners to build trust and increase the mission’s leeway, allowing it to navigate complex political challenges.