The Economic Consequences of Banking Crises: The Role of Central Banks and Optimal Independence

A large literature establishes the benefits of central bank independence, yet very few have shown directly negative economic consequences. Furthermore, while prevailing monetary theory suggests CBI should enhance management of economic distress, I argue that independent central banks exhibit tepid responsiveness to banking instability due to a myopic focus on inflation. I show that banking crises produce larger unemployment shocks and credit and stock market contractions when the level of central bank independence is high. Further, I show that these significant economic costs are mitigated when central banks do not have the inflation-centric policy mandates predominantly considered necessary. When the bank has high operational and political independence, banks’ whose policy mandate does not rigidly prioritize inflation produce significantly better outcomes during banking crises. At the same time, I show that this configuration does not produce higher inflation, suggesting it achieves a more flexible design without incurring significant costs.

The Demands of Liberal Non-Domination

This chapter develops the specific demands of liberal non-domination. It argues that they cover protection against dominatory groups as well as against power relations which are not mediated by authority, or otherwise public; demonstrates how different choices, such as those falling under the basic liberties, connected to intimate personal relationships, or at stake in resource-intensive programs and policies to enhance life options, call for different thresholds of intensity of protection; and how protection must itself be appropriately respectful of people’s moral agency. It goes on to show how the resulting requirements give a wide policy mandate to combat domination not only through formal institutions, but also by fostering a societal ethos and informal social norms, and argues that liberals should not be worried by this wide mandate. It concludes by analysing in which ways demands of protection against domination can, and cannot, be understood as distributive demands.

Co-production, multiplied: Enactments of sex as a biological variable in US biomedicine

In 2016 the US National Institutes of Health introduced a policy mandating consideration of Sex as a Biological Variable (SABV) in preclinical research. In this article, I ask what, precisely, is meant by the designation of sex as a ‘biological variable’, and how has its inclusion come to take the form of a policy mandate? Given the well documented complexity of ‘sex’ and the degree to which it is politically and scientifically contested, its enactment via policy as a biological variable is not a given. I explore how sex is multiply enacted in efforts to legitimate and realize the SABV policy and consider how the analytical lens of co-production sheds light on how and why this occurs. I show that the policy works to reassert scientific and political order by addressing two institutional concerns: the so-called reproducibility crisis in preclinical research, and pervasive gender inequality across the institution of biomedicine. From here, the entity that underpins this effort – sex as a biological variable – becomes more than one thing, with enactments ranging from an assigned category, to an outcome, to a causal biological force in its own right. Sex emerges as simultaneously entangled with yet distinct from gender, and binary (female/male) yet complex in its variation. I suggest that it is in the very attempt to delineate natural from social order, and in the process create the conditions to privilege a particular kind of science and account of embodied difference, that ontological multiplicity becomes readily visible. That this multiplicity goes unrecognized points to the unifying role of an overarching ideological commitment to sex as a presumed binary and biological scientific object, the institutional dominance of which is never guaranteed.

Core Correctional Practices in Community Supervision: An Evaluation of a Policy Mandate to Increase Probation Officer Use of Skills

Community supervision officer training programs aim to translate core correctional practices into routine practice. These training programs emphasize skill-building designed to shift supervision strategies from law enforcement/compliance-oriented to a focus on promoting and supporting behavior change. Despite evidence of their effectiveness, research finds trained officers use newly learned skills infrequently. The current study examined the impact of a policy, implemented post-training, designed to encourage trained officers to use skills emphasized by the Staff Training Aimed at Reducing Rearrest (STARR) training program more frequently. The current study examined the effectiveness of this policy on the frequency and type of skills used by officers in their interactions with individuals on their caseload. Analyses suggested the policy mandate was effective in increasing skill use, however officers still used trained skills in less than half of their interactions. Implications and considerations for increasing the use of skills are discussed.

Democracy and Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship has been claimed to matter and deserve priority because it has been linked to some of the most compelling economic and social issues of our time. This paper suggests that entrepreneurship is also inextricably linked to a fundamental value common among the western developed economies, democracy. Three distinct contexts are examined to link democracy to entrepreneurship, two historical and one contemporary. The first is National Socialism in Germany, which emerged by suppressing both entrepreneurship and democracy. The second is the rise of the Trusts, or dominant large corporations and concomitant decline of small business in the United States at the end of the nineteenth century. Finally, both measurement and perception suggest a decline in democracy as well as entrepreneurship in the contemporary era. These concerns are only exacerbated in the current Covid-19 crisis. The paper concludes that an important policy mandate for entrepreneurship may be to ensure the independent, decentralized and autonomous decision-making serving as a cornerstone of democracy.

Simbabwe Bestandsaufnahme der Förderpolitik und -praxis der evangelischen Hilfswerke EZE / BfdW

The development policy concepts of the ‘Brot für die Welt’ (BfdW) and ‘Evangelische Zentralstelle für Entwicklungshilfe’ (EZE) exemplary, both in terms of their content and in terms of their formulation, in comparison with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide. A conceptual weak point, however, is their rather ecclesiastical postulate, based on general church policies, i.e. that the pastoral mandate on the one side and the charitable or development policy mandate on the other could easily be reconciled without compromise. In the practice of development cooperation, this postulate leads to the dogmatisation of the choice of the local partner overseas, irrespectively of their qualification. Yet, exactly this form of labour-division is demanded by most of the donor- and partner institutions in pursuit of their shared principle of equal partnership and their maxim of helping the people to help themselves. This is an impact study of programmes and projects of the above named relief organizations in Zimbabwe, 1980 to 1993

Environmental and Energy Policy

This chapter explores the interrelated nature of the environmental and energy policies in the United States, particularly since 1900. As new technologies made new sources of energy viable, formal and informal political arrangements and laws were used to prioritize the United States’ ability to acquire necessary supplies. During the twentieth century, the essential need for energy has defined the concept of geopolitics and even served as a rationale for war. By the 1970s and 1980s, a separate policy mandate moved environmental concerns into formal local and federal politics. Although these applications of policy developed distinct from one another, a general chronology of their development from 1900 to the present demonstrates the growing interplay between environmental policy and energy management. In the twenty-first century, a new paradigm of economic development has moved energy and environmental policies together to wrestle with complex issues, including the sustainability of energy supplies and climate change.

Through growth to achievement: Examining edtech as a solution to Australia’s declining educational achievement

In many educational jurisdictions, school systems are striving to demonstrate constant improvement. In Australia, the latest iteration of this concern is represented by the recent federal government report, Through growth to achievement. The report offers a number of recommendations to address declining achievement in Australian schooling. Pulling together scholarship on policy and educational technology I provide an analysis of key aspects of this report. This analysis draws attention to three salient features of the report: continuous assessment for continuous improvement; education as personalized learning; and growth mindset as a policy mandate. I explore the implications for schooling in Australia if these features were to be taken up. Analysis indicates that Australia could undergo significant change: teaching would be reconstituted as a process of continuous assessment; processes of personalized learning would lead to algorithmically tethered educative opportunities based upon students’ previous achievement and choices; and learners would be reshaped by technologies of persuasion. Given that educational jurisdictions globally are increasingly advocating for these types of educational solutions, this research is valuable as it provides a basis for further critique of such technologies being proffered as a panacea for educational disadvantage.

Current Views on the Nature and Origins of Central Banks

Chapter 1 first restates the present dominant view on the nature and origin of central banking, which can be summarized as follows: (1) Defining central banking is ‘by no means straightforward’; (2) the Riksens Ständers Bank and the Bank of England would have been the first sort-of central banks; (3) early central banks did not have a policy mandate and the orientation towards public objectives would go back only to the nineteenth century; (4) there has been no concept of central banking before 1800; (5) early central banking developed out of the largest commercial banks; (6) the lender of last resort (LOLR) would have developed only in the second half of the nineteenth century or even later. Second, the chapter reviews a recent literature which started again to question this view. It is explained how this book will take up the challenge to correct the myth about the origins of central banking.

Singapore

Macroprudential policy in Singapore has centered on the property market, given the importance of this market for households’ balance sheets, banks’ loan portfolios, and the potential systemic risks. In the last decade, the authorities have been proactive in using property-related macroprudential tools to promote a stable and sustainable property market and to encourage financial prudence among borrowers. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is the authority with a macroprudential policy mandate.