Showing papers on "Shadow (psychology) published in 2016"

shadow banking: a review of the literature

Abstract: The shadow banking system is a web of specialised financial institutions that channel funding from savers to investors through a range of securitisation and secured funding techniques. Although shadow banks—the institutions that constitute the shadow banking system—conduct credit and maturity transformation similar to that of traditional banks, they do so without the direct and explicit public sources of liquidity and tail risk insurance available through the Federal Reserve’s discount window and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Shadow banks are therefore inherently fragile, not unlike the commercial banking system prior to the creation of the public safety net. This definition closely follows that of Pozsar et al., (2010).

Self-Organization and the Role of Government: How and why does self-organization evolve in the shadow of hierarchy?

Abstract: Self-organization is a concept that is often used to legitimize a government’s retreat from sectors in which it has traditionally played a vital role In this article, we analyse how the emergence of new welfare services is mutually shaped by factors that stimulate self-organization among citizens and by meta-governing interventions by local governments Self-organization seems to takes place in the shadow of a government hierarchy: either a fear-based one or a benevolent one Boundary spanners play an important role in establishing these new arrangements, thereby making use of, and developing, trustworthy relationships between citizen groups and government

Size and Development of the Shadow Economies of 157 Worldwide Countries: Updated and New Measures from 1999 to 2013

Abstract: This paper is a first attempt to study the size and development of the shadow economies of 157 countries between 1999 and 2013. Using a MIMIC model, we find that higher tax and regulatory burden, unemployment and self-employment rates are drivers of the shadow economy, meaning that an increase in these causal variables increases the shadow economy. Our result also confirms previous findings of Friedrich Schneider, Andreas Buehn and Claudia Montenegro. The estimated average of informality of 157 countries around the world, including developing, eastern European, central Asian and high income OECD countries averaged over 1999 to 2013 is 33.77% of official GDP. A critical discussion about the size of these macro-estimates comes to the conclusion that most likely the “true” shadow economy of these countries is only 69% of their estimated macro-MIMIC-values.

Grey matter in shadow banking: international organizations and expert strategies in global financial governance

Abstract: Who controls global policy debates on shadow banking regulation? We show how experts secured control over how issues in shadow banking regulation are treated by examining the policy recommendations of the Bank of International Settlements, the International Monetary Fund and the Financial Stability Board. The evidence suggests that IO experts embedded a bland reformism opposed to both strong and ‘light touch’ regulation at the core of the emerging regulatory regime. Technocrats reinforced each other's expertise, excluded some potential competitors (legal scholars), co-opted others (select Fed and elite academic economists), and deployed measurement, mandate, and status strategies to assert issue control. In the field of shadow banking regulation, academic economists’ influence came from their credibility as arbitrageurs between several professional fields rather than their intellectual output. The findings have important implications for how we study the relationship between IO technocrats and exp...

Size and Development of the Shadow Economies of 157 Countries Worldwide: Updated and New Measures from 1999 to 2013

Abstract: This paper is a first attempt to study the size and development of the shadow economies of 157 countries over 1999 to 2013 Using a MIMIC model, we find that higher tax and regulatory burden, unemployment and self-employment rates are drivers of the shadow economy, meaning that an increase of these causal variables increases the shadow economy Our result also confirms previous findings of Friedrich Schneider, Andreas Buehn and Claudia Montenegro (2010) The estimated average of informality of 157 countries around the world, including developing, eastern European, central Asian and high income OECD countries averaged over 1999 to 2013 is 3377% of official GDP A critical discussion about the size of these macro-estimates comes to the conclusion that most likely the "true" shadow economy of these countries is only 69% of their estimated macro-MIMIC-values

Reflections on the Meaning and Measurement of Unobserved Economies: What Do We Really Know About the 'Shadow Economy'

Abstract: This paper reviews the meaning and measurement of unobserved economies germane to tax evasion and macroeconomic information systems. These include the unreported, non-observed, underground, illegal, informal and unrecorded economies. It reviews the progress and shortcomings of national and international agency efforts to measure these unobserved economies, noting what they have in common, what distinguishes one from another and their interconnections. It then examines the meaning of Professor Schneider’s Shadow Economy (SSE), and the veracity of his claim to have accurately estimated its size and trend worldwide by employing a MIMIC model methodology. It concludes that SSE estimates suffer from conceptual flaws, apparent manipulation of results and insufficient documentation for replication, questioning their place in the academic, policy and popular literature.

Shadow Banking: China's Dual-Track Interest Rate Liberalization

Abstract: Shadow banking in China is mainly conducted by banks to evade the excessive credit control, which constitutes a dual-track approach to liberalize the country's rigid interest rate policy. The market track of shadow banking can lead to efficiency gain by allowing credit resale to fund the more productive yet credit-deprived private enterprises (PEs). Pareto improvement can be achieved as the banks and state owned enterprises (SOEs) participate in shadow banking and share the efficiency gain. Full interest rate liberalization may not lead to additional efficiency gain, as it magnifies the credit mis-allocation in favor of the less productive SOEs.

The Long Shadow: Family Background, Disadvantaged Urban Youth, and the Transition to Adulthood

Abstract: Baltimore entered the national spotlight in April 2015 with the death of Freddie Gray and the ensuing citywide protests. While The Long Shadow: Family Background, Disadvantaged Urban Youth, and the Transition to Adulthood does not deal specifically with issues of police brutality, its focus on the urban disadvantaged in Baltimore feels particularly important given these recent events. This book is the culmination of over two decades of research by some of sociology’s most respected scholars. Utilizing a life course developmental perspective, the authors examine the long-term outcomes of the Beginning School Study Youth Panel (BSSYP), a representative sample of Baltimore public school first-graders selected in the fall of 1982 and followed through 2006. A particular strength of the sample is the oversampling of poor whites. The existence and inclusion of poor and lower SES whites allows the researchers to examine racial differences within, and not simply across, socioeconomicstrata,a strategy that is often missing from studies of urban poverty. While the BSSYP study followed the children through high school, the authors fielded additional surveys after high school when the sample averaged age 22 (the Young Adult Survey, YAS) and 28 (the Mature Adult Survey, MAS). Sprinkled throughout the text are also short qualitative quotes used to illustrate some statistical points. The first chapter of the book introduces the reader to Baltimore, discusses the challenges facing the urban poor, and describes the study’s sampling and methods. The second chapter provides a relatively brief synopsis of Baltimore’s movement from ‘‘industrial boom’’ to ‘‘industrial bust.’’ While this narrative will be familiar to those with knowledge of the deindustrialization of Northeastern and Midwestern cities through the twentieth century, the authors do a particularly nice job of reminding readers that while these events might now seem to be in the distant past, they were crucial events in the life course of their sample’s parents. Chapters Three and Four focus on the early life of the BSSYP, paying specific attention to how family (Chapter 3) and neighborhood and school (Chapter 4) influence young people. Given that the research looks at these young people and their families in the early 1980s, much of what is discussed in these chapters should be familiar to readers. In Chapter Five, the authors move beyond the BSSYP and examine their sample’s transition into adulthood. The authors analyze four demographic markers: gaining employment, marrying (or partnering), moving out of the parental home, and becoming parents. They then identify the most common patterns of completion (or lack thereof) of these markers and the family background most often attached to these patterns. Those still reading this review carefully will notice educational completion is not included in the patterns discussed above. This is unique, as education has generally been treated as one of the ‘‘traditional’’ markers of the transition to adulthood by scholars. The authors argue that while the other transitions are clear-cut (that is, one clearly becomes a parent or does not), education does not have as finite an end and therefore is not included in these analyses. Instead, levels of education and employment (occupational status and earnings) are the socioeconomic destinations of the sample the authors focus on in Chapters Six through Eight. The authors find that baccalaureate completion by age 28 is particularly difficult for those from the lowest socioeconomic strata in the sample. There are also differences in employment by race and gender, a topic examined

Shadow States: India, China and the Himalayas, 1910–1962

Abstract: Since the mid-twentieth century China and India have entertained a difficult relationship, erupting into open war in 1962. Shadow States is the first book to unpack Sino-Indian tensions from the angle of competitive state-building - through a study of their simultaneous attempts to win the approval and support of the Himalayan people. When China and India tried to expand into the Himalayas in the twentieth century, their lack of strong ties to the region and the absence of an easily enforceable border made their proximity threatening - observing China and India's state-making efforts, local inhabitants were in a position to compare and potentially choose between them. Using rich and original archival research, Berenice Guyot-Rechard shows how India and China became each other's 'shadow states'. Understanding these recent, competing processes of state formation in the Himalayas is fundamental to understanding the roots of tensions in Sino-Indian relations.

Measuring the Global Shadow Economy

Abstract: This book brings together two leading researchers in the field to provide a comprehensive overview of the shadow economy from a global perspective. Reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of different ways of measuring the informal sector, the authors evaluate its size and key determinants across the world. Williams and Schneider clearly establish the persistence and prevalence of the shadow economy, analysing the narrowness of existing policy approaches and explaining how these fail to address the key factors for its existence and may even exacerbate the problem.

Shadow economies at times of banking crises: Empirics and theory ☆

Abstract: This paper investigates the response of the shadow economy to banking crises. Our empirical analysis, based on a large sample of countries, suggests that the informal sector is a powerful buffer, which expands at times of banking crises and absorbs a large proportion of the fall in official output. To rationalise our evidence, we build a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model which accounts for financial and labour market frictions and for nominal rigidities. In line with the empirical literature on the shadow economy, we assume that in the informal sector access to external finance is limited, and the production technology is relatively more labour intensive. Following a banking shock in the official sector, the model predicts a large negative transmission to the unofficial economy that substantially dampens the overall effect of the shock.

A step too far? The European financial transactions tax on shadow banking

Abstract: This paper focuses on the European Commission's proposals to include the repo market – a market systemic to European (shadow) banking – in the financial transactions tax (FTT). It asks why the FTT governments negotiating under the enhanced co-operation procedure quickly removed the repo market from the scope of the FTT. It argues that the European repo market, rather than a shadow market energized by regulatory arbitrage, as it is customary to portray it, grew out of a public–private joint venture before the crisis. Thus, regulators became deeply embedded – through their government bond markets and policy frameworks – in (repo) market-based finance. This convergence in public and private interests creates new trade-offs and ambiguous preferences that allow private finance to successfully mobilize resistance to reform, creating coalitions with public actors such as the European Central Bank.

The Shadow of Unfairness: A Plebeian Theory of Liberal Democracy

Abstract: In this sequel to his prize-winning book,AThe Eyes of the People, Jeffrey Edward Green draws on philosophy, history, social science, and literature to ask what democracy can mean in a world where it is understood that socioeconomic status to some degree will always determine opportunities for civic engagement and career advancement. Under this shadow of unfairness, Green argues that the most advantaged class are rightly subjected to compulsory public burdens. And just as provocatively, he urges ordinary citizens living in polities permanently darkened by plutocracy to acknowledge their second-class status and the uncomfortable civic ethics that come with it -- specifically an ethics whereby the pursuit of egalitarianism is informed, at least in part, by indignation, envy, uncivil modes of discourse, and even the occasional suspension of political care. Deeply engaged in the history of political thought,AThe Shadow of UnfairnessAis still first and foremost an effort to illuminate present-day politics. With the plebeians of ancient Rome as his muse, Green develops a plebeian conception of contemporary liberal democracy, at once disenchanted yet idealistic in its insistence that the Few-Many distinction might be enlisted for progressive purpose. Green's analysis is likely to unsettle all sides of the political spectrum, but its focus looks beyond narrow partisan concerns and aims instead to understand what the ongoing quest for free and equal citizenship might require once it is accepted that our political and educational systems will always be tainted by socioeconomic inequality. Available in OSO:

Post-Ottoman coexistence: sharing space in the shadow of conflict

Abstract: In Southeast Europe, the Balkans, and Middle East, scholars often refer to the “peaceful coexistence” of various religious and ethnic groups under the Ottoman Empire before ethnonationalist conflicts dissolved that shared space and created legacies of division. "Post-Ottoman Coexistence", interrogates ways of living together and asks what practices enabled centuries of cooperation and sharing, as well as how and when such sharing was disrupted. Contributors discuss both historical and contemporary practices of coexistence within the context of ethno-national conflict and its aftermath. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.

The political economy of shadow banking

Abstract: When most political economists talk about finance they mean the conventional banking sector that is subject to reserve requirements and other regulations but enjoying the safety nets offered by cen...

How capital regulation and other factors drive the role of shadow banking in funding short-term business credit

Abstract: This paper empirically analyzes how capital regulation, risk, and other factors altered the relative use of shadow banking-funded, short-term business debt since the early 1960s. Results indicate that the share was affected over the long run not only by changing information and reserve requirement costs, but also by shifts in relative regulation of bank versus nonbank credit sources—such as Basel I in 1990 and reregulation in 2010. In the short-run, the shadow bank share rose when deposit interest rate ceilings were binding on traditional banks, the economic outlook improved, or risk premia declined, and fell when event risks arose.

Banking upside down: the implicit politics of shadow banking expertise

Abstract: What is shadow banking and what is political about it? To address these questions, the paper first unpacks the mechanics of shadow banking and compares them to traditional banking. Based on this stylized explanation, it problematizes the use of the term ‘banking’. Indeed, shadow banks turn long-term liabilities into short-term financial instruments, effectively turning traditional banking on its head. Next, it draws on three political science frameworks to bring to the fore and develop the political content of mainstream economic expertise on shadow banks. First, it shows that shadow banks played a significant role in the rent-seeking behavior of the financial sector by extracting regulatory rents and subsidies. Second, in spite of this, the extension of public backstops to shadow banks has largely been treated as logical institutional adaptation to a changing financial landscape. Third, shadow banking emerged alongside and contributed to growing economic inequality. It did so by acting as a credi...

What the Shadows Know: The Crime-Fighting Hero the Shadow and His Haunting of Late-1950s Literature

Abstract: During the Depression era of the 1930s and the war years of the 1940s, millions of Americans sought escape from the tumultuous times in pulp magazines, comic books, and radio programs. In the face of mob violence, joblessness, war, and social upheaval, masked crusaders provided a much needed source of security where good triumphed over evil and wrongs were made right. Heroes such as Doc Savage, the Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Captain America, and Superman were always there to save the day, making the world seem fair and in order. This imaginative world not only was an escape from less cheery realities but also ended up providing nostalgic memories of childhood for many writers of the early Cold War years.But not all crime fighters presented such an optimistic outlook. The Shadow, who began life in a 1931 pulp magazine but eventually crossed over into radio, was an ambiguous sort of crime fighter. Called "the Shadow" because he moved undetected in these dark spaces, his name provided a hint to his divided character. Although he clearly defended the interests of the average citizen, the Shadow also satisfied the demand for a vigilante justice. His diabolical laughter is perhaps the best sign of his ambiguity. One assumes that it is directed at his adversaries, but its vengeful and spiteful nature strikes fear into victims, as well as victimizers. He was a tour guide to the underworld, providing his fans with a taste of the shady, clandestine lives of the criminals he pursued. Relishing his role, the Shadow went beyond the simple exploits of a superhero like Superman, and even those he saved were not sure whether they would like to come across him on a dark night in a strange alley.This paper explores the role that the Shadow plays in the work of Sylvia Plath, Jack Kerouac, and LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka and the reasons these writers were attracted to him. At first glance, this seems an odd assortment of writers to bring together. Though these writers shared an interest in the confessional writing that gained momentum in the 1950s, their differences are more striking than their similarities. Plath, who married the British poet Ted Hughes and had two children, spent a good deal of time in England writing highly controlled verse. Kerouac, a peripatetic loner who celebrated America, insisted on spontaneous, free-flowing production. Baraka, an African American writer struggling with a racist America, eventually took the uptown train from the village to Harlem in order to produce more politicized work meant to directly affect his community. What unites these different writers is their mutual interest in the undercurrent of ambiguity that permeates the Shadow. All three writers penned tributes to this crime fighter, using him to examine the loss of childhood innocence and entry into the adult world. But the ambiguity the Shadow represented also provided a means of critiquing the binary dichotomies that helped define the postwar world. Plath, Kerouac, and Baraka used the Shadow to explore the obverse side of American optimism, simultaneously questioning the innocence of childhood and the conformism of America along the way.1The Shadow KnowsAlthough the pulps and the radio both shared the Shadow, the character manifested differently in each. In the pulps, the Shadow is part hardboiled detective and part mysterious avenger in equal turns. Lamont Cranston, his alter ego, is the same man about town as in the radio programs and resorts to the same type of deduction to solve his cases. But the pulp Shadow draws heavily on the detective novels of the period. He is tough, streetwise, and lives by his own code of vigilante justice outside the law. The pulp Shadow also has a stable of helpers (along with several alter egos) to do his bidding. He and his gang battle villains in streets and alleyways until the Shadow ends victorious, with the evildoers either dead or behind bars. The illustrations for the pulps likewise point to the influence of the hardboiled genre on Walter Gibson's writing [Figure 1]. …

An Exploration of the Greek Shadow Economy: Can Its Transfer into the Official Economy Provide Economic Relief Amid the Crisis?

Abstract: We explore the determinants of the Greek shadow economy, its interaction with the official economy, and its relationship with corruption. In doing so, we undertake — for the first time — an interdisciplinary review of economic and political studies on the size and determinants of the shadow economy, tax evasion, undeclared work and, moreover, of their relation with corruption in Greece in order to reveal the extent and complexity of these phenomena. We estimate the size and determinants of the shadow economy via a multiple-indicators-multiple-causes (MIMIC) approach. Our findings indicate that the important determinants are factors related to macroeconomic conditions, such as unemployment and GDP growth, and institutional factors, such as tax morale and the rule of law. We also indicate that the shadow economy and corruption are complementary and that the official and the shadow economy substitute each other over the business cycle. An adoption of policy based on these findings would lead to a suc...

The Contribution of the Human Body in Young Children’s Explanations About Shadow Formation

Abstract: This paper begins with the view that the generation of meaning is a multimodal process. Props, drawings, graphs, gestures, as well as speech and written text are all mediators through which students construct new knowledge. Each semiotic context makes a unique contribution to the conceptualization of scientific entities. The human body, in particular, can function as a factor in both representation and explanation, serving as a link between verbal discourse and setting. Considering this perspective, a body-based activity was designed for kindergarten children, involving the concept of a shadow. The 3-D arrangement of the light from the light source, the human body (the obstacle), and the resulting shadow plays a central role. Using their own bodies as obstacles to the light, the children were able to explore the direction of the light and to change the relative positions of the light source and the obstacle. They formed hypotheses and were able to test them by moving on the stage. This body-centered activity explicitly incorporates the rectilinear movement of light into the process of shadow formation, while also providing learning through direct experience. Positive effects on learning were achieved for the group of children who participated in the activity, while the video analysis showed that many of the children were able to use their bodies to transfer to a different setting the embodied knowledge they acquired. This, according to researchers in the field of science education, is a powerful indication of conceptual change.

Politics, time and space in the era of shadow banking

Abstract: In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, there has been an understandable focus on the financial fragility and contagion aspects of shadow banking. This article argues that shadow banking is important for another set of reasons. It has been well established that shadow banking permits the transformation of assets and financial claims. It has also been established that fiscal and regulatory arbitrage occurs through shadow banking, and associated offshore financial activities. The article develops the argument that together these are transforming the times and spaces of modern finance, and directly challenging earlier spatio-temporal concepts of finance, and the regulatory/jurisdictional order built on them. The article suggests that the longer term significance of shadow banking may not just be its role in financial crisis, or even tax and regulatory arbitrage, but that it was here that innovative forms of capital were produced and generalised which transcended the spaces and times of earlier in...

What We Learn from China's Rising Shadow Banking: Exploring the Nexus of Monetary Tightening and Banks' Role in Entrusted Lending

Abstract: We argue that China's rising shadow banking was inextricably linked to potential balance-sheet risks in the banking system. We substantiate this argument with three didactic findings: (1) commercial banks in general were prone to engage in channeling risky entrusted loans; (2) shadow banking through entrusted lending masked small banks' exposure to balance-sheet risks; and (3) two well-intended regulations and institutional asymmetry between large and small banks combined to give small banks an incentive to exploit regulatory arbitrage by bringing off-balance-sheet risks into the balance sheet. We reveal these findings by constructing a comprehensive transaction-based loan dataset, providing robust empirical evidence, and developing a theoretical framework to explain the linkages between monetary policy, shadow banking, and traditional banking (the banking system) in China.