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The Scout Report for

Business & Economics

Volume 2, Number 3
October 22, 1998

A Publication of the Internet Scout Project
Computer Sciences Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison


The target audience of the new Scout Report for Business & Economics is faculty, students, staff, and librarians in business and economics. Each biweekly issue offers a selective collection of Internet resources covering topics in the field that have been chosen by librarians and content specialists in the given area of study.

The Scout Report for Business & Economics is also provided via email once every two weeks. Subscription information is included at the bottom of each issue.


In This Issue


Research

East Asia: The Road to Recovery--World Bank (6,317 KB) [.pdf]
http://www.worldbank.org/html/extpb/rdtorec2.htm
This new book by the World Bank Group examines factors contributing to East Asia's financial collapse and makes suggestions for economic recovery. Seven chapters spanning East Asian trade and competition and the sector at the heart of the crisis--the financial sector, may be downloaded individually. Figures displaying the evolution of interest rates in Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Phillippines, and Thailand (January 1996-July 1998) and a discussion of social effects are provided in the final chapter entitled "Priorities for a Sustainable Recovery." [MW]
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NepalNet
http://www.panasia.org.sg/nepalnet/
Sponsored by Canada's International Development Research Centre's Pan Asia Networking Project and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, NepalNet is a new discussion forum and resource center on sustainable development in Nepal. An extensive archive of fulltext documents cover the Nepali economy, social indicators, and natural resources. Other features include a concise factsheet, email discussion groups, and a photogallery of mountain scenes and rhododendrons. [MW]
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Entropy and Inequality Measures
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/SMIPP/frmentro.htm
Electrical Engineer Goetz Kluge presents this resource on measuring the inequality of wealth (English and German language options). Inequality coefficients used in sociology, economy, biostatistics, ecology, physics, image analysis and information processing are analysed in order to shed light on economic disparity world-wide. Goetz Kluge's ideas are well-documented and include links to fulltext documents by theorists such as recent Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen. Readers must choose the heading "Literature" for the complete webliography corresponding to Goetz's work. [MW]
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FCC State Link [.pdf,.zip]
http://www.fcc.gov/ccb/stats
Recent Publications:
http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Reports/FCC-State_Link/recent.html
Researchers interested in telecommunications industry data and trends may download Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reports at the FCC State Link page. Archived documents are arranged by topic and may include specific information such as telephone industry revenues, rates, and market shares. Recent additions on site include the Long Distance Market Share Report (2nd Quarter 1998) with times series showing market share for long distance telephone companies by minutes, presubscribed lines, and toll service revenues, and 1998 Trends in the International Telecommunications Industry which traces the economic development of the international telecommunications industry since 1980. [MW]
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William A. Barnett's Recommendations
http://econwpa.wustl.edu:80/~barnett/
William Barnett, Professor of Economics at Washington University, created this annotated metapage for professional economists. Resources are organized by topic and range from online publications to data and computer programs. Professor Barnett ranks each site according to usefulness; also included are links to business travel information, employment, and "diversions" such as news, consumer information, and maintaining privacy on the Web. [MW]
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Learning Resources

AccountingStudents
http://www.accountingstudents.com/
AccountingStudents is a new resource center for accounting students by AccountingNet (discussed in the June 18, 1998 Scout Report for Business & Economics). Tips on taking the CPA exam, campus interviews, and finding a job are provided in addition to scholarship and discussion forum listings. A research library is also available with links to university homepages, accounting firms, and GAAP and GAAS guides, among other resources. [MW]
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The Web Word RoadMap to Banking, Finance and Investment
http://www.euro.net/innovation/ift/FinMap/Sites.htm
Steve Bennett of Information Innovation, the business information provider, created this "RoadMap" metapage of banking, finance and investment sites. Over fifty links are included and readers may re-arrange lists according to the level of detail desired (by topic, title, or with annotation). Frequently-viewed categories include Financial Newsletters, Market Data, SEC Filings, and Stock Quotes, among others. [MW]
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The William King Server
http://william-king.www.drexel.edu/
Named in honor of the Reverend William King, Roger A. McCain, Drexel University, aims to promote a discussion of the ideal of a Cooperative Commonwealth at the William King Server site. McCain's views on capitalism, socialist economic systems, democracy, and game theory are provided in addition to background information on cooperative commonwealth. Instructional material (discussed in the September 25, 1997 Scout Report for Business & Economics), game theory examples, and working papers by Roger McCain are provided. [MW]
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Supervision: Management 1374
http://ollie.dcccd.edu/mgmt1374/
Gemmy Allen, Mountain View College, Dallas, TX, provides the hyperlinked book Supervision among other resources at her Management 1374 site. Students may browse Supervision chapters on management history, roles, and skills or develop their professional skills at Professor Allen's Cyber Cafe. A syllabus, lecture notes and assignments are also provided online. [MW]
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Victorian Economics: An Overview
http://landow.stg.brown.edu/victorian/economics/econov.html
Part of the Victorian Web at Brown University, Victorian Economics: An Overview links synopses of Victorian economic thought with related ideas and cultural contexts. The perspectives of Adam Smith, Thomas Robert Malthus, and David Ricardo are presented in addition to opposing view-points from Thomas Carlyle, Charles Dickens,and John Ruskin. Additional resources on the Victorian publishing industry, intellectual property, and conceptions of social class complete the site. [MW]
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General Interest

MoneyCentral
http://moneycentral.msn.com/
MoneyCentral is a new personal finance site by Microsoft now in public beta test. An expanded and more user-friendly form of MSN's Money Insider (discussed in the October 23, 1997 Scout Report for Business & Economics), MoneyCentral encompasses a wide variety of guides and tools on everything from Family Financing to Real Estate, Taxes and Investing. Visitors may view the full range of MoneyCentral topics from a clearly-arranged and clickable site map among other helpful links. [MW]
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Investors Alley
http://www.investorsalley.com/index.shtml
Created by JP Interactive Media, Investors Alley is a personal investment site offering daily news and stock opinion. Mutual fund insights, over-views of global marketplaces and guides to money management are also provided in addition to research tools such as economic calendars, tipsheets, an a glossary of investment terms. [MW]
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Public Citizen
http://www.citizen.org/
Public Citizen is the Internet brainchild of the consumer advocacy group bearing the same name, itself founded by consumer advocate Ralph Nader. Information on auto safety, campaign finance, the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), and NAFTA, among other topics, is available from an alphabetical pull-down list. Current news and recent reports by Public Citizen authors enumerate and comment on current consumer issues and trends. [MW]
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The Hollywood Stock Exchange
http://www.hsx.com/
The Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX) is a stock market game based on the entertainment industry (registration required). According to the logic of HSX, stars have a bond rating based on their popularity and the potential gross sales of films may be traded as stocks. Players are encouraged to research their "MovieStocks" and "StarBonds" via Variety.com or the HSX Journal. Complete game instructions, a glossary of terms, and registration information are provided online. [MW]
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Mothers' Home Business Network (MHBN)
http://www.homeworkingmom.com/
Established in 1984, the Mothers' Home Business Network (MHBN) provides ideas, inspiration and support for mothers who choose to work at home. Home entrepreneur mom resources include a daily success strategy tip, the newsletter HomeWorkingMom Monthly, and Mom-to-Mom--a list of recommended home business opportunities. Readers may also view MHBN book selections on related topics via the Homeworking Mom Bookshelf. [MW]
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Current Awareness

(For links to additional current awareness on periodicals, journals, working papers, new books, etc., visit the Business & Economics Current Awareness Metapage: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/bus-econ/metapage/).

Working Papers
A. Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
Basle Committee on Banking Supervision [.pdf]
http://www.bis.org/publ/pub_list.htm#BS
No 43: Sound Practices for Loan Accounting, Credit Risk Disclosure and
Related Matters
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs43.htm
No 42: Operational Risk Management
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs42.htm
No 41: Enhancing Bank Transparency
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs41.htm
No 40: Framework for Internal Control Systems in Banking Organisations
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs40.htm

B. Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
International Finance Discussion Papers 1998 [.pdf]
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/ifdp/1998/default.htm
No 626: A Framework for Economic Forecasting
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/ifdp/1998/626/default.htm
No 625: Are Technology Improvements Contractionary?
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/ifdp/1998/625/default.htm
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Working Papers [.pdf]
"Weekends Can Be Rough: Revisiting the Weekend Effect in Stock Prices"--WP986
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp98.htm#6
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports [.pdf]
"Skilled Labor-Augmenting Technical Progress in U.S. Manufacturing"--SR47
http://www.ny.frb.org./rmaghome/staff_rp/sr47.html

C. Stockholm School of Economics (S-WoPEc)
Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance [.pdf]
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/
No 271: An Assessment of the Macroeconomic Determinants of Inequality
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/abs/hastef0271.htm
No 270: Did the European Unification Induce Economic Growth? In Search of Scale-Effects and Persistent Changes
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/abs/hastef0270.htm
No 268: Technology Transfer and Spillovers: Does Local Participation with Multinationals Matter?
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/abs/hastef0268.htm
No 267: Cambodia: The Challenge of Productive Employment Creation
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/abs/hastef0267.htm
No 266: Rational Bubbles and Fractional Alternatives
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/abs/hastef0266.htm
No 265: Nonlinear error-correction and the UK demand for broad money, 1878-1993
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/abs/hastef0265.htm

D. Wharton Financial Institutions Center
Working Paper Series [.pdf]
http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/98.html
"Diversity of Opinion and Financing of New Technologies"--WP9830
http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/98/p9830.html
"Designing the Future of Banking: Lessons Learned from the Trenches"--WP9829
http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/98/p9829.html
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Periodicals
A. Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Federal Reserve Bulletin
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/bulletin/default.htm
October 1998 articles from the Federal Reserve Bulletin discuss changes in international trading relationships such as the establishment of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). In response to these changes, members of the Board's staff have developed several new indexes of the dollar's over-all foreign exchange value. [MW]

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Regional Update
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/region_updat/v11n3/index.htm
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Economic Perspectives [.pdf]
http://www.chicagofed.org/publications/economicperspectives/index.cfm#Jul/Aug98
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Economic Review [.pdf]
http://www.dallasfed.org/publications/er/pdf/er_current.pdf
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis The Region
http://woodrow.mpls.frb.fed.us/pubs/region/98-09/index.html
Federal Reserve Bank of New York Economic Policy Review [.pdf]
http://www.ny.frb.org/rmaghome/econ_pol/1998.htm
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia SRC Insights [.pdf] & Business Outlook Survey
http://www.phil.frb.org/pubs/src398.pdf
http://www.frb.libertynet.org/econ/bos/bos1098.html
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta addresses Southeastern economic issues in the quarterly Regional Update. This July-September 1998, homebuilder John Wieland assesses housing industry developments and FED Atlanta staff discuss new petroleum drilling prospects off Louisiana's coast. Third Quarter 1998 articles from FRB Chicago cover the importance of retailers' inventories, the effects of government purchases on the US economy, and real-time Taylor Rules and the Federal Funds Futures Market, among others. The Fourth Quarter 1998 Economic Review from FED Dallas takes a look at US labor markets, Eastern European privatizations, and the costs and benefits of global warming policy. The September 1998 issue of The Region from FRB Minneapolis includes an introduction to the Central Bank of Thailand and an analysis of FDIC reserves, among other articles. The October 1998 issue of Economic Policy Review from FRB New York presents proceedings from a February 26-27, 1998 conference "Financial Services at the Crossroads: Capital Regulation in the Twenty-First Century." A keynote address by Alan Greenspan on the role of capital in optimal banking supervision and regulation is included. The most recent issue of SRC Insights from FRB Philadelphia discusses credit risk in the current economic expansion, alternate delivery channels, and maintaining sound compliance programs in an era of electronic delivery. This month's Business Outlook Survey, also from FED Philadelphia, reported a deterioration in business conditions among manufacturing firms in the third Federal Reserve District. [MW]

B. Other Institutions
Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
BIS Review
http://www.bis.org/review/index.htm
Recently released articles and speeches from important central bankers in the BIS Review include Mr. Tietmeyer's statement as Governor of the Fund for Germany; Remarks by Mr. Gordon Thiessen, Governor of the Bank of Canada, on the Canadian economy; and an address by the Governor of the Bank of Sweden, Mr. Urban Backstom. [MW]

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
FDIC Consumer News
http://www.fdic.gov/consumer/consnews/sum98/index.html
Survey of Real Estate Trends [.pdf]
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/survey/index.html
The Summer 1998 edition of FDIC Consumer News is now available with articles on the Year 2000 date change, fighting fraud on the Internet, and the US Treasury Department's decision regarding electronic benefit payments. The Summer issue of Survey of Real Estate Trends was recently added with reports on commercial market conditions by region. [MW]

International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Finance & Development
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/1998/09/index.htm
The September 1998 issue of Finance & Development covers issues of public spending on human development, the effects of the Asian financial crisis on other regions, and energy tax reforms in Russia and other former Soviet Union countries. Book reviews and a special focus section of poverty and economic policy in the Philippines are also included. [MW]

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Observer/L'Observateur
http://www.oecd.org/publications/observer/214/index-en.htm
The October/November 1998 (No 214) issue of Observer/L'Observateur entitled "Pathways to Lifelong Learning," spotlights the German economy. Also included are analyses of Russian agricultural transformations and Asian capital flows. [MW]

United States International Trade Commission (USITC)
International Economic Review
http://www.usitc.gov/ier.htm
Industry, Trade, and Technology Review
http://www.usitc.gov/ittr.htm
The recently released June/July/August 1998 edition of International Economic Review covers US economic performance relative to other Group of Seven (G-7) members, and the international investment position of the United States in 1997. The September 1998 edition of Industry, Trade, and Technology Review discusses internet advertising, progress in recognizing and regulating global professional service providers, and deregulation effects on the globalization of the electric power industry. [MW]
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Books and Journals
HarperCollins New Business Books
http://www.harpercollins.com/scripts/sf/CTG.plx?Business-Economics
Harvard Business School Publishing Hot Off the Press
http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/noframes/groups/press/hot.html

Econbase--Elsevier
http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/econbase/
The abstracts and tables of contents for the following journals are now available online: Ecological Economics (Vol 26 No 3), Economic Letters (Vol 60 No 2), Journal of Accounting and Economics (Vol 24 No 3), Journal of Banking and Finance (Vol 22 No 9), Journal of Development Economics (Vol 56 No 2), Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (Vol 36 Nos 2-3), Journal of Financial Economics (Vol 50 No 1), Journal of Health Economics (Vol 17 No 5), Mathematical Social Sciences (Vol 36 No 2), Pacific-Basin Finance Journal (Vol 6 Nos 3-4). [MW]
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Conferences
European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE)
http://www.agr.kuleuven.ac.be/aee/clo/eaae99.htm
The Ninth Triennial Scientific Congress of the European Association of Agricultural Economists will be held August 24-28, 1999 in Warsaw, Poland. Sessions will address the theme of "European Agriculture Facing the 21st Century in a Global Context" and allow for small group discussion. Important due dates, submission forms, and contact information is provided at the EAAE site. [MW]

Euroconference Series in Quantitative Economics and Econometrics/(EC)^2
http://www.fee.uva.nl/vak_groep/AKE/EC2/ecsquare.htm
The 1998 Euroconference Series in Quantitative Economics and Econometrics or "(EC)^2" will be held at the Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden, December 17-19, 1998 on the general theme of Forecasting in Econometrics. Both senior and junior European researchers in quantitative economics and econometrics are invited to attend and speakers will include Frank Diebold, Henk Don, Clive Granger, David Hendry and Svend Hylleberg. [MW]

The Business & Economics Society International Conference
http://www.assumption.edu/HTML/Faculty/Kantar/HKANTAR2.html
The Business & Economics Society International Conference will be held in the Canary Islands/Spain (Melia Las Palmas Hotel), July 22-26, 1999. Participants may serve as panel organizers, presenters, moderators or observers, and the deadline for abstract submission and participation is March 30, 1999. All papers will pass a blind peer review process for possible publication in the anthology Business & Economics for the 21st Century. [MW]

24th colloquium of the International Association for Research in Economic Psychology
http://www.cisi.unito.it/associazioni/iarep1999
The 24th annual colloquium of the IAREP will take place in Belgirate, a lake resort on Lago Maggiore, Piedmont, Italy, from June 30 to July 3, 1999. Papers are being solicited in any field of economic psychology and psychological economics, but experimental works on animal and human economic behavior, qualitative methods, ethics and economics, culture and economics and time and economic behavior are particularly welcome. Registration, social activities, and paper submission information are provided online. [MW]
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Jobs
Job Openings from The Chronicle of Higher Education
Job Openings in Economics
http://thisweek.chronicle.com/.ads/.ads-by-group/.faculty/.sscience/.econ/.links.html
Job Openings in Business and Management
http://thisweek.chronicle.com/.ads/.ads-by-group/.faculty/.professional/.business/.links.html

Job Openings for Economists (JOE)
http://www.eco.utexas.edu/joe/joe
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New Data

(For links to additional sources of new data see the Business & Economics Current Awareness Metapage: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/bus-econ/metapage/).

Census Bureau
Quarterly Financial Report for Manufacturing, Mining and Trade, Second Quarter 1998 [.pdf]
http://www.census.gov/prod/3/98pubs/qfr-98q2.pdf
Housing Starts and Building Permits, September 1998
http://www.census.gov/pub/indicator/www/housing.html
The US Census Bureau provides estimated statements of income and retained earnings, balance sheets, and related financial and operating ratios for all manufacturing corporations and large mining and trade corporations in the Quarterly Financial Report for Manufacturing, Mining, and Trade Corporations (Series QFR). Statistical data for the Second Quarter of 1998 are classified by industry and asset size. The annual rate of housing units authorized by building permits in September totalled 1,545,000 (seasonally adjusted) according to the Census Bureau. This is 5 (+/-1) percent below the revised August rate of 1,618,000 and 5 (+/-1) percent above the September 1997 estimate of 1,475,000. [MW]
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Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Producer Price Indexes, September 1998
http://stats.bls.gov/ppihome.htm
Consumer Price Index, September 1998
http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.toc.htm
Real Earnings, September 1998
http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/realer.toc.htm
Following a decrease of 0.4 percent in August, the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods increased 0.3 percent in September, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the US Department of Labor recently reported. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in September, following increases of 0.2 percent in each of the preceding two months. Stemming from a 0.6 decrease in average weekly hours and a 0.1 percent rise in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), real average weekly earnings decreased by 0.6 percent from August to September after seasonal adjustment. [MW]
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Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
US International Trade in Goods and Services, August 1998
http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrel/trad0898.htm
A weak export total of $74.8 billion was reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis for August 1998. Total August imports soared, however, at $91.6 billion, resulting in the largest goods and services deficit since 1992 at $16.8 billion. [MW]
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United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
USDA Reports Calendars--October 1998
USDA Agency Reports Calendar
http://www.usda.gov/news/calindex.htm
ERS Calendar
http://www.econ.ag.gov/whatsnew/calendar/
NASS Calendar
http://www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/rptscal.htm
USDA summarizes its report releases from various sources (the Economic Research Service, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, the Foreign Agricultural Service, and the world Agricultural Outlook Board) at these three calendar sites. Notable data for October 1998 includes the Wheat Outlook with world trade forecasts for 1998/99. According to the ERS, large supplies dominate the 1998/99 wheat balance sheet, but a drop in demand will put significant pressure on prices. The preliminary farm price for all wheat in September 1998 was $2.37 per bushel, a decline of 40 cents from June. [MW]
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Energy Information Administration (EIA)
Impacts of the Kyoto Protocol on Us Energy Markets & Economic Activity
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/kyoto/kyotorpt.html
Chile Country Analysis Brief
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/chile.html
Projections on the impact on US energy markets and the economy (2008-2012) from Kyoto Protocol limitations on greenhouse gas emissions is now available from the EIA. Up-to-date data concerning the natural gas and electricity sectors in Chile can now also be obtained in addition to a country map and links to other Chile-related web sites. [MW]
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In the News

Federal Reserve Rate Cuts
1) Not Enough for Wall Street--Time Daily
http://cgi.pathfinder.com/time/daily/0,2960,14966-101980929,00.html
2) Cut-Rate Rate Cut: Chat with Veronica White, VP First Union Bank--ABCNews
http://chat.abcnews.com/chat/chat.dll?room=abc_white093098
3) It's a Small World After All--CBS MarketWatch
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/19981005/news/current/zapman.htx?source=htx/http2_mw
4) Federal Reserve Press Release--October 15, 1998
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/boarddocs/press/General/1998/19981015/
5) US Cuts Interest Rates--BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/the_economy/newsid_194000/194487.stm
6) US Stocks Soar on Fed Rate Cut--CNNfn
http://cnnfn.com/markets/9810/15/marketwrap/
7) Fed's Nimble Efforts to Keep Credit Flowing--Christian Science Monitor October 19, 1998
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1998/10/19/f-p1s2.shtml
8) What to do about Lower Interest Rates--Money.com
http://pathfinder.com/money/moneytalk/archive/981001.html
9) Interest Rates in a Nutshell--Channel3000
http://www.Channel3000.com/news/interest.html
This week's In the News chronicles recent Federal Reserve Board decisions to lower interest rates. These eleven resources provide news, opinion, and consumer information on the FRB BOG action. Following the first US interest rate cut in three years on September 29, 1998, FED Chairman Alan Greenspan caught fire from Wall Street. "Traders were disappointed" in the mere quarter point drop, according to Time business reporter Bernard Baumohl, but "Greenspan will have to make do with the gratitude of the rest of the world." Although the DOW initially fell 54 points Tuesday, a second 0.25% cut to short-term interest rates on October 15, 1998 sent stocks soaring 330 points--the third largest one-day point gain in history. Analysts now hope that US investor optimism--coupled with IMF and World Bank action in Brazil, Russia, and Asia--will ease the world-wide economic crises.

Opinion on the September 29, 1998 FED rate cut are provided in the Time Daily article "Not Enough for Wall Street" (1) and "Cut-Rate Rate Cut"--a chat with Veronica White, VP First Union Bank from ABCNews (2). CBS MarketWatch commentary by Zapman! covers international reaction to the September US cut in "It's a Small World After all" (3). Coverage of the October 15, 1998 FED action is available in press release form at the FRB BOG home site (4), or via audio reports, economic figures, and hyperlinked articles at BBC News (5). CNNfn follows subsequent Wall Street gains (6), and Christian Science Monitor staff writer Ron Scherer addresses the issue of additional rate cuts in the future in "Fed's Nimble Efforts to Keep Credit Flowing" (7). For information on what rate cuts mean for consumers, Money.com (8) is a good source of investment advice and WISC TV's Channel 3000 (9) provides definitions and background information on the Federal Open Market Committee. [MW]
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