Purchasing power

About: Purchasing power is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2714 publications have been published within this topic receiving 36866 citations. The topic is also known as: adjusted for inflation.

Money : lectures on the basis of general equilibrium theory and the economics of institutions

Abstract: I. Theoretical Foundations: An Elementary Overview.- 1. General Equilibrium Theory: An Outline.- 1.1 General Equilibrium Theory Without Production.- 1.2 General Equilibrium Theory With Production.- 1.3 The Purchasing Power of Money: Definition.- 1.4 The Determination of the Purchasing Power of Money.- 1.4.1 The Case of a Commodity Standard: The Pure Gold Coin Standard.- 1.4.2 The Case of a Paper Standard: A Pure Paper Circulation.- 1.5 The Classical Dichotomy and the Patinkin Controversy.- Appendix to Chapter 1.- 1. The Determination of the Optimal Consumption Plan of a Household.- 2. The Determination of the Optimal Production Plan of a Firm.- 3. Walras's Law With Any Number of Households and Firms.- Suggested Readings to Chapter 1.- 1. Theory of General Equilibrium.- 2. The Purchasing Power of Money.- 3. Determination of the Purchasing Power of Money.- 2. Capital Theory.- 2.1 The General Approach.- 2.2 A Simple Robinson Economy.- 2.3 Two Present and Two Future Goods: Does "the" Real Rate of Interest Exist?.- 2.4 The Robinson Economy in Stationary Equilibrium.- 2.5 The Young and the Old Robinsons: The Stationary Theory of Overlapping Generations.- 2.5.1 An Overlapping Generations Model Without Production.- 2.5.2 An Overlapping Generations Model With Production.- Appendix to Chapter 2.- The Stationary Rate of Interest May be Different from Zero.- Suggested Readings to Chapter 2.- 1. The Robinson Economy.- 2. The General Case.- 3. The Optimal Capital Stock of an Economy.- 4. Two Approaches to Capital Theory.- 5. General Discussion of Capital and Interest Theory.- 6. The Model of Overlapping Generations.- 3. The Economics of Institutions.- 3.1 Topics of Modern Institutional Economics.- 3.2 What are Transaction Costs?.- 3.3 Transaction Costs in General Equilibrium Theory: A Simple Example.- 3.4 Why Economic Institutions?.- 3.4.1 The Market as an Institution: Auction Markets or Direct Negotiations?.- 3.4.2 Why Do Firms Exist?.- 3.4.3 Why Relational Contracts?.- 3.4.4 Why Public Regulation?.- 3.5 General Equilibrium and Institutional Economics: Some Conceptual Considerations.- Appendix to Chapter 3.- Utility Maximization of the Household Including Transaction Costs.- Suggested Readings to Chapter 3.- 1. Property Rights and Transaction Costs in General.- 2. Transaction Costs in General Equilibrium Theory.- 3. Why Economic Institutions?.- a) Auction Markets or Direct Negotiations?.- b) Why Do Firms Exist?.- c) Why Relational Contracts?.- d) Internalization of External Effects.- e) Why Public Regulation?.- 4. On the Economic Theory of Institutions.- II. Monetary Theory.- 4. The Nature of Money.- 4.1 The Elementary Currency Order: Some Basic Considerations.- 4.2 Further Discussion of the Elementary Currency Order.- 4.2.1 The Bookkeeping Order.- 4.2.2 The Order of Safeguarding the Value of Money.- 4.3 Economic Explanation of an Elementary Currency Order: The Bookkeeping Order.- 4.3.1 An Illustration of the Advantages of a General Unit of Account.- 4.3.2 An Illustration of the Advantages of General Means of Exchange as a Means of Payment.- 4.4 Economic Explanation of the Elementary Currency Order: The Value Safeguarding Order.- 4.5 Money Loans.- 4.6 Competition in Currencies.- Appendix to Chapter 4.- The Black-Fama-Hall System.- Suggested Readings to Chapter 4.- 1. The Elementary Currency Order.- 2. The Economic Explanation of the Use of Money.- 3. The Economic Explanation of the Order of Safeguarding the Value of Money.- 4. The Early History of Money.- 5. The Law of Money.- 6. On Currency Competition.- 5. An Abstract Book-Money Economy.- 5.1 A Central Accounting System.- 5.1.1 The Account of the Household Robinson.- 5.1.2 The Account of the Firm Robinson.- 5.2 Money Loan Transactions.- 5.3 The Neo-Classical Theory of the Money or Nominal Rate of Interest: A Simple Case.- 5.4 The Neo-Classical Theory of the Money or Nominal Rate of Interest: Some Extensions.- 5.4.1 Two Present and Two Future Goods.- 5.4.2 One Good and Three Periods.- 5.5 Interest and Prices.- 5.6 The Case of Two Currencies: Some Elementary Arbitrage Calculations.- 5.7 Fixed or Flexible Exchange Rates? Some Elementary Considerations.- 5.7.1 Flexible Exchange Rates.- 5.7.2 Fixed Exchange Rates.- 5.8 Neutral Money.- Suggested Readings to Chapter 5.- 1. A Pure Book-Money System.- 2. The Neoclassical Theory of the Nominal Rate of Interest.- 3. The Theory of Commodity Futures Markets.- 4. The Term Structure of Interest Rates.- 5. Wicksell's Theory on the Spread Between Real and Nominal Interest Rates.- 6. The Purchasing-Power-Parity Theory (PPP).- 7. The Theory of Forward Exchange.- 8. Fixed versus Flexible Exchange Rates.- 9. Neutral Money.- 6. The Quantity of Money and the Prices of Goods.- 6.1 A World With Transaction Costs.- 6.2 Optimal Cash Balances.- 6.3 Cash Balances in General Equilibrium: A Monetary Overlapping Generations Model.- 6.4 An Illustration of the Monetary Overlapping Generations Model.- 6.5 A Simple Stationary Equilibrium With Rational Expectations.- 6.6 Neutrality of Money With Cash Balances.- Appendix to Chapter 6.- 1. The Dimension of the Marginal Costs of Transaction.- 2. The Optimal Consumption and Investment Plan of the Household: An Example.- 3. On the Direct Utility Approach to the Demand for Money and Bonds.- Suggested Readings to Chapter 6.- 1. Temporary Equilibrium.- 2. Optimal Cash Balances.- 3. Once More: The Model of Overlapping Generations.- 4. Rational Expectations.- 5. The Problem of the Non-Neutrality of Money.- 6. The Monetarism Debate.- 7. Safeguarding the Value of Money - Some Basic Institutional Solutions.- 7.1 Safeguarding the Value of Money With a Redeemable Paper Currency: The Case of a Single Currency.- 7.2 Safeguarding the Value of Money With Redeemable Paper Currencies: The Case of Two Currencies.- 7.3 Safeguarding the Value of Money With an Inconvertible Paper Currency: The Case of a Single Currency.- 7.4 Safeguarding the Value of Money With Inconvertible Paper Currencies: Two Currencies.- 7.4.1 The System of Flexible Exchange Rates.- 7.4.2 The System of Fixed Exchange Rates.- 7.5 Gold or Paper? A Retrospective of This Chapter.- Suggested Readings to Chapter 7.- 1. The Gold Standard.- 2. The Paper Standard.- 3. Balance of Payments Theories.- 4. The Problem of the Stability of Flexible Exchange Rates.- 5. Arguments and Proposals for an International Coordination of Exchange Rate Policy.- 6. Gold or Paper?.- 8. Money and Banks.- 8.1 The Theory of the Banking Firm: Preliminary Considerations.- 8.2 The Banking Firm as a Financial Intermediary: A Simple Model.- 8.3 The Demand For Bank Money.- 8.4 The Banking Firm as the Central Agent of a Primary Currency Community: The Commodity Standard.- 8.5 The Banking Firm as the Central Agent of a Primary Currency Community: The Paper Standard.- 8.6 The Banking Firm as the Central Agent of a Secondary Currency Community.- 8.7 Comments on the Public Regulation of Money and Banking.- 8.7.1 Public Regulation of the Central Agents of Primary Currency Communities (Central Banks).- 8.7.2 Public Regulation of the Central Agents of Secondary Currency Communities (Commercial Banks).- Appendix to Chapter 8.- 1. Profit Maximization of the Bank Assuming Cost of Obtaining Reserves (Section 8.2).- 2. Determination of the Optimal Intertemporal Consumption and Investment Plans of the Consumer: The Direct Utility Approach (Section 8.3).- 3. Determination of the Optimal Intertemporal Consumption and Investment Plan of the Consumer: The Transaction Costs Approach (Section 8.3).- Suggested Readings to Chapter 8.- 1. The Theory of the Banking Firm.- 2. The Currency-Banking Debate.- 3. The Real Bills Doctrine.- 4. Maximization of Seigniorage.- 5. The Theory of Credit Creation.- 6. Minimum Reserves.- 7. The New Monetary Economics.- 8. The Rational Justification of a Central Bank: Free Banking or Central Banking?.- 9. The Theory and Practice of Central Bank Constitutions.- 10. Bank Regulation.- Name Index.

Zambia under the imf regime

Abstract: THE ZAMBIAN ECONOMY is in a dismal situation. Up to the mid-1970 s Zambia had one of the most prosperous economies in Sub-Saharan Africa, based on copper mining which contributed more than 90 per cent of merchandise exports. Since real copper prices started to decline rapidly in 1975,1 conditions have been worsening continually. A development like this is not at all unique; the economic plight is shared by a great number of developing countries, which are notably concentrated in black Africa. Nor is Zambia worst off in every respect. It is only for the development of the terms-of-trade that Zambia's recent experience is unmatched by any other country in the world. The terms-of-trade index, which indicates the relationship of the purchasing power of one unit of the country's exports against her imports, dropped by 70 per cent from 1974 to 1985. But for every other economic indicator there seem to be countries against which even Zambia's weak performance can be compared favourably. However, taken collectively, the economic trends together fit into a syndrome that is most typical of a small primary exporting developing country in today's world environment. 2 A collapse in the price of primary exports together with rising prices for imports leads to a drastic reduction in the availability of imports. Since local production is heavily dependent on imported inputs, capacity utilization and value-added are seriously affected. Sinking profits and a shrinking tax-base tend to restrain capital maintenance and the rate of investment in private and public capital, thereby reducing efficiency still further. Lack of private and public savings, together with the severe trade balance deficit, induce increasing levels of external borrowing which, by the resulting burden of debt servicing, act as a further drain on domestic saving and foreign exchange earnings. The country thus becomes trapped in a vicious circle. In the case of Zambia the protracted crisis revealed inherent weaknesses in the economic and social structure which, during the prosperous years, were veiled by seemingly plentiful material resources and positive growth rates

The Rise of Fringe Competitors in the Wake of an Emerging Middle Class: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract: The "emerging middle class" has become a force of economic importance in many consumer markets around the globe. A striking phenomenon in some of these markets is the growth of "generic," low-price brands that compete with established premium brands over the expanding consumer purchasing power. In this paper we examine the impact of a substantial rise in Brazil's living standards on the development of the country's large soft-drink market, during a six-year period that saw unprecedented growth in the share of generic soda brands. Our demand study draws on data sources that capture both social mobility and market outcomes. Our analysis suggests that the emergence of a price-sensitive, new middle class aided the growth of the fringe. Our estimated demand model rationalizes a drastic price cut by Coca-Cola that allowed it to contain the fringe's growth.

Extraversion strategies within a peripheral research community: Nigerian scientists' responses to the state and changing patterns of international science and development cooperation

Abstract: Labelled ‘giant of Africa’ in the 1970s on account of its promising human and natural resources, Nigeria entered in the early 1980s in an unprecedented period of recession following the domination of corruption over government operations, the fall of the oil market price and the introduction of a structural adjustment programme in 1986. Despite its potential wealth, Nigeria is ranked today as part of the world’s thirty least developed countries. This has, of course, had severe repercussions on institutions of higher learning and the scientific community through the twin effects of the deterioration of working conditions and that of the purchasing power of the academic staff. However, our study, based on visits in nine of the most prestigious research institutions and interviews with forty five scientists working there, reveals that, contrary to all expectations, research has not died. It has, rather, been transformed in various ways along the survival strategies evolved by scientists and the needs of the international community.

The Measure of Value

Abstract: Hollander is undoubtedly correct when he says that in recent years there has emerged a remarkable consensus concerning Adam Smith’s measure of value. Smith’s labour command measure is seen as an index of purchasing power designed to measure welfare; and the relationships between labour commanded and labour embodied, given so much attention by earlier commentators on Smith, are dismissed as having played no significant part in his thought. Yet there is a striking contradiction between the conventional view, as expressed by Hollander, and Smith’s emphatic statement, quoted above, that the labour commanded (and labour embodied) value of a given commodity is not an index of its general purchasing power. In view of this, a reexamination of Smith’s measure of value seems warranted.