{"title":"Do deeds match words? India’ monetary policy needs to “walk the talk” for inflation anchoring","authors":"Smitaroy Trivedi, Saibal Ghosh","doi":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.06.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.06.002","url":null,"abstract":"Transparent and consistent communication is integral for effective central bank policymaking. The challenge is more acute in emerging markets where the spectrum of audience is wide and significantly heterogenous, each with their own information needs. To cater to this diverse spectrum, several central banks publish the records on Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision, detailing the minutes and voting by members. Whether such voting pattern by the members is consistent with their sentiments as embedded in the minutes of meetings remains an open question. To address this issue, we utilise data from Indian MPC, compute a sentiment index across member-meetings, and correlate it with their voting behaviour, after controlling for other confounding factors. Unlike prior studies, our analysis onboards a neutral sentiment, in addition to hawkishness and dovishness. The findings reveal that sentiments expressed by members in the MPC meetings is not always reflected in their voting behaviour, creating a chasm between deeds (voting) and words (sentiments). Robustness tests reinforce these findings, although there exist differential effects across internal versus external members. From a policy standpoint, the analysis suggests that MPCs need to ‘walk the talk' for effective inflation anchoring.","PeriodicalId":48015,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Modeling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141553085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Occupation and Demand for Health Services in Italy: Ways and Means to Reduce the Opportunity Costs Imposed on Patients","authors":"Giuliana De Luca, Michela Ponzo","doi":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.05.010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.05.010","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48015,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Modeling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141414816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Isaac Koomson, Clifford Afoakwah, Martinson Ankrah Twumasi
{"title":"Racial diversity, child stunting and underweight: Policies design and promotion in South Africa","authors":"Isaac Koomson, Clifford Afoakwah, Martinson Ankrah Twumasi","doi":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.05.009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.05.009","url":null,"abstract":"We examine the effect of racial diversity on child stunting and underweight in post-apartheid South Africa, which has a strong history of systemic racial segregation. Using five waves of longitudinal data from the National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS), and employing instrumental variable and propensity score matching methods, we find that racial diversity significantly reduces child stunting and underweight. This result is consistent across alternative measures of racial diversity, child stunting and underweight, and is also robust to different endogeneity-correction methods. The negative effect of racial diversity on child stunting and underweight is more pronounced among children under 5 years of age. Further analyses highlight increased employment opportunities, food expenditure per capita and financial inclusion as important channels through which racial diversity decreases stunting and underweight. We discuss the policy implications of these findings.","PeriodicalId":48015,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Modeling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141552365","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Interest subvention for crop loans in India: Win-win or win-lose ?","authors":"Disha Bhanot, Vivek Farias, Deeksha Sinha","doi":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.05.006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.05.006","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48015,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Modeling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141152982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Socioeconomic and demographic determinants of financial inclusion in South Asia: Integrated policy for targeted groups of population","authors":"Sumit Kumar, Kalandi Charan Pradhan","doi":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.03.002","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.03.002","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This paper aims to analyze the individual’s socioeconomic and demographic determinants of financial inclusion and its barriers among for South Asian countries in the lens of existing financial inclusion policy, using World Bank Global Findex database for the period 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2021. We use the Probit regression model to explore the main objective of this study. In addition, we also analyze the trend, pattern, and barriers of financial inclusion for the period 2011- 2021 to identify differences among south Asian countries. Our results reveal that Sri Lanka is the best performer in the inclusivity of financial products as well as removing barriers to financial inclusion in all four periods. While Pakistan and Afghanistan are the least financially included countries, also they failed to remove barriers to financial inclusion. Moreover, our empirical results suggest that individuals who are male, older, wealthier, and more educated are more likely to access financial services, with income and education exerting a higher influence. Further, age shows a non-linear (inverted U-shaped) relationship with financial inclusion indicators. Additionally, we found that individuals having a formal account are the most important indicators of financial inclusion. And the reasons for financial exclusion (i.e., not having an account) are mainly voluntary among South Asian individuals. In fact, it is found that policies like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana for India and National Financial Inclusion Strategy across all South Asian countries play a significant role in accelerating financial inclusion and helping in removing its barriers with different magnitudes. Therefore, our finding stresses the importance of heterogeneous integrated policy measures for the targeted groups of the population, particularly the most vulnerable group among South Asian countries.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48015,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Modeling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140201592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Xiaoliang Yang , Lucy Barros , Kent Matthews , David Meenagh
{"title":"The dynamics of redistribution, inequality and growth across China’s regions","authors":"Xiaoliang Yang , Lucy Barros , Kent Matthews , David Meenagh","doi":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.01.011","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.01.011","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>China’s experience has triggered debate over a trade-off between aggregate growth and regional equity. We develop a three-region model of China where local government decisions are driven by central government tax transfer instruments. These affect local TFP dynamics and regional inequality. We find regional asymmetry in how transfers are awarded. Transfer policies pursued since the 1994 tax-sharing reform prevented a 15% rise in regional inequality, at an 8% cost to aggregate GDP. Temporarily reducing local government non-tax fees on private firms in poorer regions lowers regional inequality permanently at no aggregate growth cost, as would imposing uniformity in central transfer rules.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48015,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Modeling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161893824000139/pdfft?md5=7714380bdfe8b4607ab7fd09e8391334&pid=1-s2.0-S0161893824000139-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139873231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Political favouritism and inefficient management: Policy-makers’ birth town bias in EU quality certifications","authors":"Giuliano Resce , Cristina Vaquero-Piñeiro","doi":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.03.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.03.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In the current era of EU-driven strategies for sustainable local development, the EU Commission has designated the geographical indication (GI) policy as a flagship initiative in 2024. The certification procedure has been simplified, with increased involvement from national and local authorities. This study explores the potential impact of reforms on GIs in Italy, focusing on whether the birthplaces of regional council members receive preferential acknowledgment. Analysing municipal-level data, we employ a Difference in Differences approach and machine learning for counterfactual analysis. Results indicate a higher likelihood of GIs for councillors' birth municipalities, particularly in areas with lower ex-ante institutional quality. These findings underscore the potential consequences of EU reform, warning against political favouritism and inefficient policy management.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48015,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Modeling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0161893824000309/pdfft?md5=ac80a4e561b52e0cf68d89908c35b2d1&pid=1-s2.0-S0161893824000309-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140408152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Should the South African Reserve Bank lower the inflation target band? Insights from the GDP-inflation nexus","authors":"Eliphas Ndou , Nombulelo Gumata","doi":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.02.004","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.02.004","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Should the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) lower the inflation target (IT) band? Does lowering the IT band impact the relationship between GDP growth and inflation? This paper explores these questions considering the SARB Governor, Lesetja Kganyago statements that there is a need to lower the IT band from 3–6% to a point target of 3%. We estimate the VAR model to determine whether the passthrough of positive GDP growth shocks to inflation is nonlinear in South Africa. The inflation effects are delineated into bands (i) above 6% (ii) between 4.5% and 6% (iii) between 3% and 4.5% (iv) between 0% and 3% and (v) when there are no IT bands. Evidence reveals that the passthrough is elevated when inflation exceeds 6% and is lower when inflation is within the (i) 3 to 4.5% and (ii) 0 to 3% IT bands. The passthrough from positive GDP growth shocks is more than halved when inflation is less than 3%. The policy implication is that lowering the IT band from 3 to 6% to 0 to 3% will reduce the passthrough of GDP growth shocks to inflation. It allows expansionary monetary to have more real effects as prices are more rigid in the low inflation environment.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48015,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Modeling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016189382400019X/pdfft?md5=452b517ca443e3ca407c6861abb45fa5&pid=1-s2.0-S016189382400019X-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139920990","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Aggregate demand and inflation response to monetary policy shocks in Tunisia","authors":"Mohamed Ben Mimoun , Jamel Boukhatem , Asma Raies","doi":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.01.009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.01.009","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p><span>We investigate the response of aggregate demand (AD) components and inflation<span> to monetary policy (MP) shocks in the Tunisian context where studies on this issue are rare. By estimating SVAR models on historical data ending in 2021, we found that: i) The Tunisian Central Bank’s (TCB) efforts to control inflation through interest rate tightening end up significantly slowing down private investment and consumption, while inflation response is not enough to mitigate the recently exacerbated inflationary trend; ii) Such efforts are hampered, if not outweighed, by the “pass-through” effect associated with exchange-rate continued depreciation; iii) The interest rate is Granger-caused by the exchange rate rather than the inflation rate, suggesting that </span></span><em>de jure</em> and <em>de facto</em><span> objectives of the TCB are divergent; and iv) The continued exchange rate depreciation alone is not enough to address the structural trade deficit. In light of these findings, we suggest that i) The transition from a discretionary MP to a rule-based inflation-targeting MP and with a well-defined role for the exchange rate, would help TCB gain credibility and improve efficiency of its MP; and ii) Tunisian policymakers should also consider consolidating MP in achieving its price stabilization objective particularly through implementing “supply-side policy” actions aiming at promoting economic growth and addressing unsustainable fiscal and external imbalances.</span></p></div>","PeriodicalId":48015,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Modeling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139590067","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Does foreign currency borrowing make firms vulnerable? Experience of emerging India","authors":"Abhisek Sur , Amarendu Nandy , Partha Ray","doi":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.01.003","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jpolmod.2024.01.003","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The Asian Financial Crisis during the late 1990 s revealed the fault lines of foreign currency loans of corporates. It starkly demonstrated that a combination of semi-pegged exchange rates and unregulated foreign currency borrowing could expose corporates and, subsequently, the entire economy to heightened vulnerability. To mitigate these risks, implementing certain capital account restrictions emerged as a potential remedy. Against this backdrop, this paper investigates the changing contours of vulnerability arising from the rising foreign currency leverage of 818 non-financial corporates in India during 2004–2022. In particular, this paper examines the impact of exchange rate shocks and changes in certain key macroeconomic policy variables on the financial vulnerabilities of these firms. Our findings unequivocally indicate that during exchange rate depreciation, unhedged exposures significantly amplified the vulnerability of Indian firms. While our study centres on India, the overarching conclusions and insights derived from our analysis possess broader ramifications for emerging economies grappling with capital account restrictions. The policy implications of our research underscore the need to proactively strengthen the macroprudential toolkit to address the risks associated with foreign currency borrowing and ensure more robust risk management practices to prevent the buildup of systemic vulnerabilities.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48015,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Policy Modeling","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139516108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}