Government Economic Policy Research Articles

Traditional and new industries in Dundee

Abstract On the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the first Industrial Estate in Dundee this article reviews the industrial development of the city in the post‐war period and identifies the problems of two sectors of the city's industry, the traditional Jute industry and the modern estate based industries. The friction between the two in their post‐war development, and the effects of the change of emphasis in the city's industrial structure during that period, on the demographic and social geography of the city are also discussed. The article concludes with an outline of the possible lines of development for industry in Dundee, with reference being made to present Government economic planning policies for Scotland.

Car makers ride over Nixon tariffs

Behind the broadening smiles of Britain's car bosses, watching production lines slipping into top gear, lies the fervent hope that the industry will no longer be used as an instrument of government economic policy.

Prices and the Guideposts: The Effects of Government Persuasion on Individual Prices

W AGE-PRICE guideposts were part of the government's economic policy from 1962 until the close of the Johnson Administration in 1968.' A particular method of policing the guideposts evolved during this period. The Administration sought, through public and private confrontations, to influence the pricing decisions of firms. We shall describe briefly this policy, propose several alternative hypotheses to explain the resultant behavior of firms, and analyze statistically those variables predicted to be associated with government success and failure in influencing firm behavior.

Sectoral Clashes in Cuban Politics and Development

This essay discusses aspects of contemporary cuban politics and economics, up to but not including the 1969-1970 sugar harvest effort, from the point of view of a theory of sectoral clashes presented by Markos Mamalakis. The essay will focus on those hypotheses, derived from Mamalakis' previous work, which attempt to explain social and political conflict and policy making.Mamalakis defines a clash or collision of sectors as the aggressive and administered struggle for privileges and advantages among an economy's sectors. The clash is administered or manipulated because the transfer of resources from one sector to another is brought about through governmental economic policy; it is aggressive because the transfer of resources goes beyond voluntary saving or nondiscriminatory fiscal policies to such an extent that the government is willing to risk the decay of one economic sector in order to promote another.

Government Policy and Economic Dualism in South Africa

The persistence of the gap between these economies is due to many factors among which are the plethora of market imperfections found in the modern economy, migratory labour and the initial socio-cultural differences between the whites and those Africans resident in the Reserves. In addition, by reinforcing these factors instead of mitigating them, government policy has played a crucial role in perpetuating dualism in South Africa. This paper is concerned with an examination of that policy. The role that government policy has played in the perpetuation of dualism in South Africa can only be understood against the background of the racial policy to which South Africa's white polity has subscribed over the years. The Reserve economy is virtually all African, and therefore the central government's economic policy towards it has been closely linked to the country's overall racial policy. From an historical point of view, the evolution of this racial policy can be divided into two periods: the pursuit of segregation up to 1948 and the development of apartheid since then. This paper gives a summary of the main elements of the racial policy of each period, traces the economic policies that resulted, and then analyzes their impact on the modern and Reserve economies.

Ceylon: Actively Awaiting an Election

As 1969 drew to a close, Government of United National Party (UNP) was brought to within three months of end of its maximum five year term of office. No previous Government, either since independence or beginning of closely fought party competition in 1956, had been both able and desirous of waiting so long before calling a Parliamentary general election to account for its stewardship of office. Its ability to wait rested on a parliamentary majority which became stronger in 1969, provided Federal Party's assumption of an independent status entailed no threat to vote against its former associates in UNP-led coalition. The Government's desire to wait reflected hope, probably increasingly mixed with confidence, that electorate would perceive and appreciate that Government had successfully presided over a restoration of prolonged order in Sinhalese-Tamil relations and an economic renaissance whose combined benefits seemed more apparent and secure with each passing month. While continuing to nurture such a response to their policies and performance of past four years, UNP leaders intensified their concern with party and factional alliances and understandings-both their own and those of their opponents which have been critical for outcome of each general election since 1956. The dominant Parliamentary opposition to Government, a coalition of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and two relatively small Marxist parties-the Lanka Sama Samaja (LSSP) and Ceylon Communist party, also neared a fifth anniversary, thus setting a longevity record for party coalitions in Ceylonese politics. The three parties had allied in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent UNP from returning to power in election of 1965, nine years after its unbroken post-independence rule had been terminated by first SLFP-led coalition. In confronting four year record of Government, opposition coalition (usually referred to as the Coalition) denied that either communal relations or economic welfare had been significantly improved. It continued to warn of ominous consequences-for Sinhalese, Muslims and nation-of UNP's political indebtedness to Tamil parties, especially Federal Party. It depicted Government's economic policies as benefitting rich while impoverishing masses and as both sacrificing nation's independence and mortgaging its future in quest and

Full Circle: Australian Wage Determination 1982-1984

This article, the third by the author for this journal, follows trends in Australia wage fixing from December 1981 to mid-1984. It deals particulary with the effects of the Hawke Labour Government's economic policies as they have affected wage determination and attempts to assess possible future developments.

Some Observations on the Impact of Antitrust Merger Policy on Marketing

The impact of a government economic policy is an extremely complex question, but obviously an important one for rational decision making by enforcement agencies and firms. Facts on the real productivity of mergers are slowly coming to light, gradually replacing a sizable folklore on the sources and magnitude of merger success. Relating marketing, mergers, and the present value of the firm, this article summarizes merger-policy enforcement patterns, some evidence on profitability and scale, and the financial performance of mergers. With particular reference to large mergers, questions are raised as to the social costs and benefits of an even more stringent merger policy.

Some Observations on the Impact of Antitrust Merger Policy on Marketing

The impact of a government economic policy is an extremely complex question, but obviously an important one for rational decision making by enforcement agencies and firms. Facts on the real productivity of mergers are slowly coming to light, gradually replacing a sizable folklore on the sources and magnitude of merger success. Relating marketing, mergers, and the present value of the firm, this article summarizes merger-policy enforcement patterns, some evidence on profitability and scale, and the financial performance of mergers. With particular reference to large mergers, questions are raised as to the social costs and benefits of an even more stringent merger policy.

Government Policies and the Industrialization of Russia

If we were to reconstruct a blueprint of the Russian government's goals and priorities for industrial development in the late nineteenth century, it would include the following: (1) development of a network of internal transportation, (2) stabilization of the ruble in foreign exchanges through convertibility and the buildingup of an export surplus as a prerequisite for enabling the Russian government to borrow abroad, and (3) stimulation of the development of new industries in Russia and their protection in their “infancy.” Given the relative success of Russia's industrialization during the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries and the important role that the government played in this effort, there is no justification for outright rejection or condemnation of Russian government economic policies. There were, however, serious shortcomings in particular government policies, and the presumed effects that they had upon the industrialization process were not always desirable. This essay is a modest attempt to reexamine Russian government policies on the assumption that the industrialization of Russia was a continuing goal of the state policies beginning with the 1880's and one of relatively high priority. The implication of the analysis is that if some of the defects of the state's policies had been avoided, the process of industrialization in Russia would have proceeded at least at as fast a pace and the economic costs to Russian society would probably have been smaller.

ECONOMIC POLICIES IN A DEMOCRACY

SUMMARYAssumptions concerning the political behaviour of voters and politicians have first been made by A. Downs. Using these assumptions and considering several structural characteristics of democracy, the author of this paper attempts to develop some tendencies of economic policy. Since these tendencies are not only subject to the political but also to the economic situation of the country in question, additional assumptions upon the structure of economy have to be made. The present paper deals with a growing economy; it is assumed to work on a high level of diversification and consumption. Some sectors expand however only slowly, others even decline. Given these assumptions, the governmental economic policy will favour I. sectors with low rates of growth, and 2. sectors with low capital/ employment ratios. There exist, however, priorities about the measures to be taken: Import restriction is preferred to export promotion, export promotion to a policy of public buying and storing; even less estimated are public subsidies (provided costs of storing can be neglected and/or elasticities of demand and supply are low). The paper finally shows, how the tendencies of economic policy vary by changing political and economic structures of democracy.

ISRAEL'S SURVEY OF CONSUMER FINANCES

IN RECENT YEARS there has been increasing recognition of the usefulness of cross-sectional data for the formulation of government economic planning and policies. Partly as a result of this recognition, consumer surveys were undertaken not only in well-developed countries such as the United States,1 Great Britain,2 and Sweden but also in relatively underdeveloped countries such as Puerto Rico, Ceylon,8 and These studies vary considerably in scope and purpose, but they are all useful in supplementing aggregative data and in providing insight into forces operating in the economy. The main purpose of the Israeli survey was to collect data on the distribution of income and saving for government and private uses. In addition, it yielded information on the disposition of income between consumption and saving, on the distribution of consumer spending among food, clothing, and durable goods, on the composition of private savings, and on the rate of saving out of windfall income. The survey was conducted early in 1955 (for data pertaining to 1954) by the Israeli Institute for Applied Social Research.4 It included interviews with 2,452 families, representing the non-institutional, non-agricultural Jewish population in Israel. Major results were published in two journal articles, one of which has been translated into English,6 while additional findings as well as methodological discussion are available in unpublished reports in Hebrew.

Federal Reserve Policy-Making-A Study in Government Economic Policy Formation.

Federal Reserve Policy-Making-A Study in Government Economic Policy Formation.

Government Engineering Aid to Railroads Before the Civil War

American historians have commonly given attention to the manner in which the Federal Government stimulated the early growth of railroads by the remission of tariff duties on railway iron and particularly by land grants after 1850. They have said little about government promotion of railroads before the Civil War through the provision of engineering services. But this engineering aid was a major element in the initial progress of railroading and is an important aspect of the history of government economic policy toward transportation and science. This government aid is here discussed in terms of (1) the technical assistance given to railroads directly by the Army engineers and (2) the indirect stimulus given to railroads by government promotion of engineering science.

Federal Reserve Policy-making: A Study in Government Economic Policy Formation. G. L. Bach

<i>Federal Reserve Policy-making: A Study in Government Economic Policy Formation</i>. G. L. Bach

Federal Reserve Policy-Making: A Study in Government Economic Policy Formation

Federal Reserve Policy-Making: A Study in Government Economic Policy Formation

Government Economic Policy: Scope and Principles

Policy, the dictionary tells us, is a course of action adopted as advantageous or expedient. Government policy then is a course of action adopted by a government; presumably it will be alleged to be advantageous and at least believed to be expedient. There is no such clear or ample definition of economic policy. Obviously it is a course of action and probably one directed to economic results; that is, the maximization or steadying of national income or a desired modification of its distribution. However, there are few courses of action which are directed to purely economic results and many of the results so designated really fall within the field of social welfare. There are also many policies directed to non-economic results which produce important economic by-products. The term economic policy tends to be extended to any course of action which affects economic institutions or relations or those which are customarily thought of as such even though the object may be merely general equity. We are left therefore with a field of action which is not precisely defined.Most of the classical economists, and more particularly their lesser followers, saw political economy as the art of managing, or setting the basis for managing, an economy so as to maximize national income either as a total or per capita. In fact, however, few of them consistently and rigorously exclude non-economic considerations from their work. Of them all Adam Smith dealt with economic policy most easily because he never classified himself precisely in the pigeon-hole of political economy and felt free to give the judgment of a moral philosopher and man of the world on everything from the treatment of the American colonies to the relative virtues of claret and port. This older view of political economy was easy to accept against its historical background. The policies supported by the writers and practitioners of mercantilism had by the eighteenth century become so grossly uneconomic that they could be effectively attacked with fairly crude weapons.

(1) Economic Warfare (2) The Economic Effort of War

THE volume of informed criticism of the Government's economic policy and the continued pressure for the inclusion in the Cabinet of a Minister for Economic Affairs, which were in no way dispelled by the speeches of the Prime Minister or the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the recent debate on economic organization in the House of Commons, indicate that there is a far more widespread appreciation of the importance of economic questions at the outset of the present War than at almost any time during the struggle of 1914-18. This difference is brought out strikingly in the early chapters of Dr. Einzig's book, and the existence of such interest and informed opinion make the more regrettable the failure of the Government to take the public into its confidence, to explain what is happening and to enlist its co-operation. (1) Economic Warfare By Paul Einzig. Pp. x + 151. (London: Mac-millan and Co., Ltd., 1940.) 7s. 6d. net. (2) The Economic Effort of War By R. W. B. Clarke. Pp. 252. (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1940.) 7s. 6d. net.

The Place of Agriculture in the Economic Policy of the French Government

The Place of Agriculture in the Economic Policy of the French Government