The captioned article was earlier published in “Economic Horizons” volume 18, #72 – AH 1418 – 1997 (4) Pages (65-78). I had some concerns about the article regarding the methodology adopted for analysis in deriving the macroeconomic parameters and the derivation and interpretation of...

A so-called “asset market meltdown hypothesis” predicts that baby boomers’ large savings will drive asset market booms that will eventually collapse because of the boomers’ large retirement dissavings. As good news to baby boomers, our analysis shows that this meltdown hypothesis is...

This paper makes three contributions: First, I construct annual time series of gross domestic investment and national saving in the U.S. for the 1897–1949 period using historical component series. I compare the qualitative and quantitative properties of the newly constructed series with the...

Several studies have recommended reliance on subordinated debt as a tool for monitoring banks by investors and for enhancing depositors’ protection. However, subordinated debenture increases the level of leverage and thus the probability of costly failure. We propose a novel financial...

Just when China’s leaders receive conflicting signals of “overheating” and “below-potential growth”, they encounter tremendous external pressure to revalue the Renminbi (RMB) substantially. Our conclusion is that the major macroeconomic challenges have their roots in China’s...

This paper investigates new ways to transfer entrepreneurial education to previously disadvantaged individuals. It analyses the case of the ASDSE project, implemented in the form of partnership between the Namibian Government, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) and a commercial bank. The main...

This paper studies the benefits of participation in micro credit programs, and examines whether membership in these programs is an effective instrument in smoothing inter-seasonal consumption. We hypothesize that the benefits to participation accrue differentially over time, as more experienced...

Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world; this is largely due to the fact that more than 80% of the total export revenue is generated by the agricultural sector, which represents 36% of the gross domestic product; over eighty percent of the population is engaged in the agricultural...

South Africa has been facing the double challenge of integrating into global markets as a competitive economy and of overcoming the internal problems created and constantly reinforced by the previous regime. To realize the objective of economic growth through competitiveness on the one hand and...

It has been argued that most of Malawi’s smallholder farmers are too poor to benefit from any kind of credit, and that, even if they had access to adequate credit and inputs, their land constraints are so severe that any increase in productivity would fall short of guaranteeing their food...