This book offers insight into international trade and foreign direct investment competitiveness in Africa. It examines two policies frequently used to enhance international competitiveness in Sub-Saharan African economies: exchange rate policy and productivity-related policy.

Basic Probability Theory and Markov Chains -- Estimation Techniques -- Non-Parametric Method of Estimation -- Unit Root, Cointegration and Related Issues -- VAR Modeling -- Time Varying Volatility Models -- State-Space Models (I) -- State-Space Models (II) -- Discrete Time Real Asset Valuation...

We conducted an analysis on the sources of real and nominal exchange rate movements for the Euro, applying the SVAR methods of Enders and Lee (1997). In particular, our analysis focused on the robustness of the results by considering different combinations of data on nominal exchange rates and...

This paper empirically analyzes the relationship among the prices of Taiwanese stocks, Japanese stocks, and crude oil from January 1980 to July 2008. It provides some interesting results: (1) crude oil prices made an impact on Japanese stock prices, while the latter exerted a strong influence on...

This paper empirically analyzes the size of the underground economy in Japan. The results show that (i) the size of the underground GDP peaked in the early 1990s but has been declining since; (ii) the underground economy reached its peak in around 1992, approximating 25% of nominal GDP; and (iii)...

This paper uses the CCF approach to analyze and determine whether there is a causal relationship between the world energy price index and China’s international competitiveness. The data on the volatility of energy prices can provide information in addition to that available in the price data...