The Scout Report for Business & Economics - December 16, 1999

December 16, 1999

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

Learning Resources

General Interest

Current Awareness

New Data

In The News


Note: This will be the final Scout Report for Business & Economics for 1999. See you on January 13, 2000. Have a happy New Year.

Research

Greening Industry [.pdf]
http://worldbank.org/nipr/greening/full_text/index.htm
The Greening Industry report, from New Ideas in Pollution Regulation (discussed in the January 24, 1997 Scout Report, is now available online. The culmination of six years of research, Greening Industry has found surprisingly positive results. Contrary to popular belief, factories in developing countries are actually cleaner and more environmentally aware than they were ten years ago, and emissions levels of pollution have also dropped. The report is available in html and .pdf formats and must be downloaded by chapter. In the html version, use the arrows in the top left corner of the screen to turn pages and move about the report. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

E-conomy Project
http://e-conomy.berkeley.edu/
A joint effort of the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE), the College of Engineering, the Haas School of Business, and the School of Information Management and Systems (SIMS), E-conomy Project creates "an intellectual resource to focus on the profound transformation being wrought by new digital technologies." Along with describing the focuses of the project, this Website also includes course descriptions and syllabi, news articles on the E-conomy Project, and papers and presentations from the E-conomy Project-sponsored conference, The Digital Economy in International Perspective: Common Construction or Regional Rivalry. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Fight Against Fraud - 1998 Annual Report [.pdf, 700K]
http://europa.eu.int/comm/off/rep/olaf/1998/index.html
The recently released Fight Against Fraud report for 1998 was created by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). According to this 68-page report, "suspected and established frauds and irregularities affecting traditional own resources to the detriment of the Community budget in 1998 totalled $128,538 million." This has been caused by the black marketing of alcohol and cigarettes. [EM]
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Office of Foreign Assets Control [.pdf]
http://www.treas.gov/ofac/
The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the US Department of Treasury "enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted foreign countries, terrorism sponsoring organizations and international narcotics traffickers based on U.S. foreign policy and national security goals." Their Website consists of overviews of asset control and/or sanction regulations in countries including Iran, Iraq, Cuba, and Libya. A master list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons (SDN) is organized in alphabetical order, and recent changes to the SDN lists are also included. All files must be downloaded in .pdf format. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Brettonwoods Project
http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/
The Brettonwoods Project, founded in 1995, "works to monitor and reform the World Bank and IMF." This London-based organization is particularly interested in the environmental and social impact of these two organizations. Current issues include an update on Social Principles and the Comprehensive Development Framework. The Website also features a broad list of IMF and World Bank briefings, a quarterly newsletter, and a glossary. [EM]
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Learning Resources

ft.com Business Directory
http://www.globalarchive.ft.com/directory/topLevelNavigation.htm
This new resource from ft.com's Financial Times site (originally reviewed in the October 9, 1997 Scout Report), indexes over 20,000 business Websites. Users can search by keyword or browse one of three main categories: Reference, Work, and Current Affairs. Each of the three is further broken down into several levels of subcategories, such as Reference>Industries>Autos>Research and Development. Entries in the Directory include a brief description (usually text copied from the site) and a link. [MD]
[Back to Contents]

Free Management Library
http://www.mapnp.org/library/
Created by Carter McNamara and sponsored by the Virginia McKnight Binger Fund and the Management Assistance Program for Nonprofits, the Free Management Library is a clearinghouse of Websites ranging in topics from Advertising and Promotion to Y2K. The Free Management Library aims to supply "basic, how-to management information to managers -- particularly those with very limited resources." Subjects are arranged in alphabetical order and are subdivided by the focus of the resources. [EM]
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Young Americas Business Network
http://www.ybiz.com/
Young Americas Business Network (Ybiz), is a network for those in the Western Hemisphere starting new business endeavors. The site is divided into two sections: Young Americas Business Network and the Young Americas Business Trust. The Business Network's resource center includes links to helpful resources, an enterprise training manual, and a directory of micro, small, and medium-sized businesses, organized by country. The Business Trust strives to raise awareness and funds for Network members. [EM]
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Internet Prospector
http://w3.uwyo.edu/~prospect/
The "prospect research nuggets" in the Internet Prospector online newsletter are directed to an audience of nonprofit fund raisers. Created by a volunteer staff, this newsletter contains current resources divided into sections on corporations, grants/ foundations, news online, and people. Interested users may subscribe to the email version of the newsletter. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

South Centre
http://www.southcentre.org/
Based in Switzerland, South Centre is a multi-national organization which promotes the global organization of its 46 member nations in order to become "effective in mobilizing its considerable combined expertise and experience or its bargaining power." The site contains a large number of current working papers, South Centre's quarterly newsletter South Letter, and relevant links. [EM]
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MBendi
http://mbendi.co.za/
Compiled by MBendi Information Services, this Website is a one-stop resource for business and commercial information in Africa. MBendi receives nearly one million page views a month, making it one of the most popular business African Websites. Profiles of 60 countries include very basic information such as population, government structure, and leading industries. MBendi also features comprehensive information on industries ranging from communications and information technology, to chemicals, to mining. The font on this Website is incredibly small. However, most Web browsers include a feature to enlarge font. [EM]
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General Interest

Space Business Archives
http://www.spacearchive.org/intro.html
Space Business Archives is a nonprofit archive specializing in the preservation of artifacts dealing with the commercialization of space. Located outside of Washington, DC, this facility contains "thousands of pages of business plans, proposals, video tapes, pictures and other key papers (many one-of-a-kind) that otherwise would be lost to history, or relegated to dusty shelves in company storerooms." The Website includes feature articles about some of the archive's documents, a searchable abstract database, and news and information about the archive. [EM]
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Venture Consult
http://www.ventureconsult.com/
Venture Consult has erected this Website in order to provide the small to medium business community with reliable and helpful information. Using the frame on the left of the screen, interested users may browse Venture Consult's services, news, and articles. Resources include information on international trade, a state-by-state listing of departments of commerce, and a searchable glossary of business terms. [EM]
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NASDAQ glossary
http://www.nasdaq.com/reference/glossary.stm
This glossary of stock market terminology has been created by NASDAQ and contains listings for terms from "Actual EPS, CPS, or DPS" to "Yield." Each entry includes a terse definition and some also are cross-referenced with similar terms in the glossary. [EM]
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Faces of Inclusion -- World Bank
http://www.worldbank.org/faces/index.htm
Continuing its fight to combat world poverty, the World Bank has created this site to bring faces to the plight of poverty. Six people from six different countries are profiled here in photographs and their own words, to examine the ways in which the World Bank has been able to help their causes. Each short essay also links to related World Bank resources. [EM]
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IFIC Risk Watch
http://risk.ifci.ch/index.htm
A comprehensive introduction to financial risk management from the International Finance & Commodities Institute, this Website educates readers on most valuable official documents on this subject. Along with a thirteen-point risk management checklist, this site also includes a regulatory documents library, a collection of risk management case studies, and a risk management glossary. [EM]
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Current Awareness
(For links to additional current awareness on tables of contents, abstracts, preprints, new books, data, conferences, etc., visit the The Scout Report for Business & Economics Current Awareness Metapage: http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/report/bus-econ/metapage/).

Working Papers

Federal Reserve System:
FRB Boston Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wpchrono.htm
Job Creation, Job Destruction, and the Real Exchange Rate
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp99_11.pdf
Gross Job Flows and Firms
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp99_10.pdf
FRB Cleveland Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.clev.frb.org/Research/workpaper/1999/index.htm
The Adequacy of Life Insurance: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Survey
http://www.clev.frb.org/Research/workpaper/1999/Wp9914.pdf
The Impact of Social Security and Other Factors on the Distribution of Wealth
http://www.clev.frb.org/Research/workpaper/1999/Wp9913.pdf

FRB Kansas City Research Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/reswkpap/rwp99.htm
Why are Population Flows so Persistent?
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/reswkpap/PDF/RWP99_13.pdf
How Does Labor Mobility Affect Income Convergence?
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/reswkpap/PDF/RWP99_12.pdf

FRB Philadelphia Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.phil.frb.org/page.asp?page=workpapers99
Using State Indexes to Define Economic Regions in the US
http://www.phil.frb.org/files/wps/1999/wp99-19.pdf
Competitive Theories for Economies with General Transactions Technology
http://www.phil.frb.org/files/wps/1999/wp99-18.pdf
Regime-Switching in Expectations Over the Business Cycle
http://www.phil.frb.org/files/wps/1999/wp99-17.pdf
On Exchange Rate Regimes, Exchange Rate Fluctuations, and Fundamentals
http://www.phil.frb.org/files/wps/1999/wp99-16.pdf

Other Institutions:
Institute for Development Policy and Management Public Policy and Management Working Papers
http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/idpm_dp.htm#ppm_wp
The New Public Management in Developing Countries
http://www.man.ac.uk/idpm/ppm_wp13.htm

Bank of International Settlements Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems [.pdf]
http://www.bis.org/publ/pub_list.htm#BS
Retail payments in selected countries: a comparative study
http://www.bis.org/publ/cpss33.pdf
Securities lending transactions: market development and implications
http://www.bis.org/publ/cpss32.pdf
Payment systems in Australia
http://www.bis.org/publ/cpss31.pdf
Payment systems in the Southern African Development Community
http://www.bis.org/publ/cpss30.pdf

International Monetary Fund Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/shortres.cfm?title=&auth_ed=&subject=&ser_note=working%20papers&Year=1999&datecrit=during&lang_f=all
Regulation of Withdrawals in Individual Account Systems
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99153.pdf
Has the Nature of Crises Changed? A Quarter Century of Currency Crises in Argentina
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/1999/wp99152.pdf

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.oecd.org/eco/wp/onlinewp.htm
Some issues related to the equity-efficiency trade-off in the Sweden tax and transfer system
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/1999doc.nsf/5f293a526e52eb79c125675a00318d4c/73140679e3521e55c125683100601353/$FILE/11E93105.ENG

Stockholm School of Economics Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/
FDI and the Dynamics of Productivity: Microeconomic Evidence
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/papers/hastef0348.pdf
Does Examination Hell Pay Off? The Cost-Benefit Analysis of College Education in Japan
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/papers/hastef0346.pdf
Fourth Moment Structure of a Family of First-Order Exponential GARCH Models
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/papers/hastef0345.pdf
[Back to Contents]

Periodicals

Federal Reserve Board of Governors The Beige Book
http://www.federalreserve.gov/FOMC/BeigeBook/1999/19991208/default.htm
The December 8, 1999 update for The Beige Book (described in the January 24, 1997 Scout Report) shows continued growth for October and November. Consumer spending rose after Thanksgiving, and labor markets "remain tight in all Districts." [EM]

Federal Reserve System:
FRB Chicago Economic Perspectives
http://www.chicagofed.org/publications/economicperspectives/index.cfm
FRB Cleveland Economic Trends
http://www.clev.frb.org/research/Et99/1299/index.htm
FRB Dallas _Southwest Economy
http://www.dallasfed.org/htm/pubs/swe/11_12_99.html
FRB Kansas City Economic Review
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/econrev/ermain.htm
FRB St. Louis Monetary Trends
http://www.stls.frb.org/publications/mt/
The quarterly journal Economic Perspectives offers in-depth articles about regional employment growth, the EMU, and child care costs. The December 1999 issue of Economic Trends, from FRB Cleveland, reports on The Employment Cost Index, Bank Performance, and Interest Rates. The November/ December edition of Southwest Economy consists of the article "The Binational Importance of the Maquiladora Industry." The fourth quarter report of FRB Kansas City's Economic Review includes an overview of electronic payments in the US economy. Monetary Trends, from FRB St. Louis, examines interest rates and policy-based inflation indicators in its December 1999 issue. [EM]

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Federal Consumer News
http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/fall99/index.html
The Fall 1999 issue of Federal Consumer News focuses on the Y2K bug in its special section "The Year 2000, Your Bank and You." [EM]

Bank for International Settlements (BIS)
BIS Review [.pdf]
http://www.bis.org/review/index.htm
Recently released articles and speeches from the BIS Review include an address by Antonio Fazio, Governor of the Bank of Italy, on the need for new strategies in the Italian capitol markets, given at the Euromoney Conference on November 23, 1999; the notes for a November 30, 1999 talk given by Stephen Gremville, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia; and the opening statements given to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, Finance, and Public Administration, given by L.J. Macfarlane, Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia. [EM]

American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI)
AEI Economic Outlook
http://www.aei.org/eo/eo11176.htm
The December 1999 issue of AEI Economic Outlook consists of the article "The Myth of Clintonomics," which considers economics and politics in the 1990s. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Books and Journals

BakerBooks -- Harvard Business School
http://www.library.hbs.edu/bakerbooks/
The latest issues of New Books at Baker Library and New Books from HBS Press are now available from Harvard University's BakerBooks site. These updates are posted by the fifteenth of each month and cover new additions for the preceding month. [EM]

Econbase -- Elsevier
http://www.elsevier.nl/homepage/sae/econbase/menu.sht
The abstracts, tables of contents, and in some cases, full-text, for the following journals are now available online: Journal of Econometrics (Vol 95, No 1), Insurance Mathematics and Economics (Vol 25, No 3), Journal of Income Distribution (Vol 8, No 1), Journal of Corporate Finance (Vol 5, No 3), Regional Science and Urban Economics (Vol 29, No 6), Land Use Policy (Vol 15, No 4), and Journal of Health Economics (Vol 18, No 6). [EM]
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Conferences

Inomics Conference Calls:
Email Conference Alert
http://www.inomics.com/query/alert
Conference Search
http://www.inomics.com/query/conf_search
The economics research service Inomics (described in the June 18, 1998 Scout Report for Business & Economics) includes a conference alert service. Interested parties may specify their interests and receive email notifications of up-coming events, or they may search the Inomics conference database by date, geographic location, or JEL classification. [EM]

Conferences with Econometric Interest
http://www.eur.nl/few/ei/links/#conferences
The Royal Economics Society's Econometrics Journal site lists conferences in econometrics at this Econometric Links section. [EM]
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Jobs

Job Openings from The Chronicle of Higher Education
Job Openings in Economics
http://chronicle.com/free/jobs/faculty/sscience/econ/links.htm
Job Openings in Business and Management
http://chronicle.com/free/jobs/faculty/professional/business/links.htm

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

Inomics: Job Openings for Economists
http://www.inomics.com/query/job_search
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New Data

Annual Survey of Communication Services -- Census Bureau [.pdf]
http://www.census.gov/svsd/www/ascs.html
The 1998 Survey of Communications Services covers the telephone communications, radio and television broadcasting services, and cable and pay television services. [EM]
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US International Transactions -- Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrel/trans399.htm
The third quarter 1999 US International Transactions report shows that, because of "the deficit on goods and services," the current-account deficit has increased $9.0 billion since the second quarter. [EM]
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Price Producer Index -- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
http://stats.bls.gov/ppihome.htm
This monthly report from the BLS shows that November's Price Producer Index for Finished Goods rose 0.2 percent. The crude index recovered from October's 1.6 percent drop, rising 4.0 percent in November. [EM]
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1999 Agency Reports/Schedule -- United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
http://www.usda.gov/news/calindex.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 this calendar site. Notable data for December 1999 include the agricultural outlooks on cotton and wool, feed, oil crops, rice, and wheat. [EM]
[EM]
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Status of State Electric Industry Restructuring Activity -- Energy Information Administration (EIA)
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/chg_str/regmap.html
Click on a state to view the current status of electric industry restructuring. Each report includes regulatory orders, legislation, investigative studies, and links to state regulatory commissions, major utilities, and tables on restructuring issues. [EM]
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In The News

A Christmas "E-Tail"
1) "Online Holiday Shopping Come and Gone?" -- CNet
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1007-200-1495390.html?tag=
2) "Online Shopping's Potential Impact on Traditional Stores" -- National Public Radio [RealPlayer]
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/atc/19991214.atc.02.ram
3) "Holiday Shopping, Especially Online, Off to a Busy Start" -- National Public Radio [RealPlayer]
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/19991129.me.07.ram
4) "Holiday Shopping - The December Rush" -- Census Bureau
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/1999/cb99ff16.html
5) Cybershopping - What You Need to Know -- The Better Business Bureau
http://www.bbb.org/library/cybershop.html
6) The New E-conomy -- Chicago Tribune
http://chicagotribune.com/tech/economy/ws/indx/0,1306,37156-37159,00.html
7) Best Practices -- ZDNet
http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise/e-business/bphome/
As the weather outside turns frightful, retail businesses with "e-tail" (electronic retail) Websites are hoping that consumers will turn to their home computers for their holiday shopping. A Forrester Research report estimates that seven million shoppers will spend close to $4 billion in online shopping, three times more than last year. However, this equals less than one percent of total holiday spending, estimated at $184 billion this holiday season. Most online retailers have increased the capacity and speed of their Websites in order to best serve holiday shoppers, hoping that this year's online shopping experiences will lead consumers to do a greater amount of next year's holiday shopping by way of the World Wide Web. While consumers are willing to try e-commerce sites, as many as 40 percent of experienced Internet users have found the process of online shopping confusing and complicated. This week's In the News examines the trend of online shopping with the following seven resources including news articles, advice, and related Websites.

"Online Holiday Shopping Come and Gone?" (1) examines this year's online holiday shopping and considers its successes and pitfalls. Two excellent audio pieces, (2) and (3), from NPR focus on holiday shoppers's forays into online retail. The Census Bureau (4) provides shopping statistics including department store sales and mail order purchases. This 1997 article from the Better Business Bureau (5) gives practical advice on how to shop online. The New E-conomy (6) is a special report from the Chicago Tribune detailing new developments in electronic commerce. Review a list of the best and worst in e-tail Website design (7) in this list compiled by ZDNet. [EM]
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