Globalization

A long and rich tradition in Western-dominated social psychology has examined the effects of people's observations of their own behavior on their subsequent attitudes and behaviors. Studies in this tradition examine and find moderating effects of various contextual factors (e.g., volition and publicness) on people's tendencies to align their attitudes/behaviors with their observed behaviors. Conversely, there has been a historical tradition for examining the effects of social influences and group pressure on human thought and behavior.

This paper considers the current thrust in marketing to create global products, brands and strategies but also to "act local" when appropriate. Deciding which elements have similar effects and which are significantly different conceptually requires meta-analysis of each of the elements. Reviews some applications of marketing meta-analysis with a focus on international research.

This study identifies the main factors that explain the recovery of the Mexican economy after the currency crisis of 1995. A growth decomposition exercise shows that export growth mitigated somewhat the effect of the crisis in 1995, but contributed only modestly to the recovery afterwards. The V-shaped behavior of fixed investment was the main factor behind the economic slowdown during the crisis and the strength of the subsequent recovery.

Amnesty International has long been an effective champion of free speech. Amartya Sen, the winner of the Nobel Prize in economics, has argued that famines do not occur in societies in which there is a free press. In this lecture, I want to set forth the case for greater openness and transparency in government.

Economists seeking explanations for the global financial crisis of 1997-99 are reaching consensus that a major factor was weak financial institutions, which resulted in part from inadequate government regulations. At the same time many developing countries are struggling with an overregulated financial system - one that stifles innovation and the flow of credit to new entrepreneurs and that can stunt the growth of well-established firms. In particular, too many countries are relying excessively on capital adequacy standards, which are inefficient and sometimes counterproductive.

The author argues that although we do not have, and are not likely to have, a complete theory of what precipitated the Asian financial crisis, there are certain characteristics of the evonomy and certain government policies that increased these countries' vulnerability to a crisis and amplified the aftershocks.

From the publisher: From the "guru to Wall Street's gurus" comes the fundamental techniques of value investing and their applications. Bruce Greenwald is one of the leading authorities on value investing. Some of the savviest people on Wall Street have taken his Columbia Business School course on the subject. Now this dynamic and popular teacher, with some colleagues, reveals the fundamental principles of value investing, the one investment technique that has proven itself consistently over time.

In a dynamic model of moral hazard, competition can undermine prudent bank behavior. While capital-requirement regulation can induce prudent behavior, the policy yields Pareto-inefficient outcomes. Capital requirements reduce gambling incentives by putting bank equity at risk. However, they also have a perverse effect of harming banks' franchise values, thus encouraging gambling. Pareto-efficient outcomes can be achieved by adding deposit-rate controls as a regulatory instrument, since they facilitate prudent investment by increasing franchise values.

At the turn of the century, the author examined changes in thinking about effective strategies for development.