The Scout Report for Business & Economics - May 20, 1999


The Scout Report for Business & Economics

May 20, 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


Research

Smart Library on Urban Poverty
http://www.societyonline.org/partners/harvard/
The Kennedy School at Harvard University and the National Institute for Social Science Information (NISSI) provide "the best research on urban poverty from leading academic journals" at the Smart Library on Urban Poverty. This complex site allows six pathways into its databases, which cover a range of topics: welfare and work facts, first-person narratives, and evaluations of major economic experiments. A Headlines section links readers to Smart Library contents via the latest news concerning urban economies, communities, and families in the US. [MW]
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Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics -- World Bank [.pdf]
http://www.worldbank.org/research/abcde/home.html
Tenth Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics
http://www.worldbank.org/html/rad/abcde/index.htm
Since 1988, the World Bank Group (described in the September 25, 1997 Scout Report for Business & Economics) has addressed issues of economic architecture, corporate governance, crime, land reform, and the economics of transition at the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE). Currently, papers from the April 20-21, 1998 ABCDE are available online with a keynote address by nobel laureate James Tobin, and interested individuals are invited to comment on forthcoming 1999 conference papers at the ABCDE homepage. [MW]
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Brazilian Electronic Journal of Economics
http://www.beje.decon.ufpe.br/
A new Universidade Federal de Pernambuco Department of Economics (UFPE) publication, the Brazilian Electronic Journal of Economics (BEJE), aims to "serve as an outlet for original research on economic problems within the context of the New Information Economy." BEJE is the first Brazilian economics journal published entirely online and covers Economics of the Internet, Network Economics, and Economics of Information topics. All issues are published in English. The site currently features the inaugural BEJE issue on Microsimulation in addition to paper submission information, UFPE contacts, and a publications archive for future issues. [MW]
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Payment Systems Research Database
http://www.frbchi.org/paysys/database/paysys.html
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago provides this banking industry database for the "convenience of financial services industry researchers and executives." The Payment Systems Research Database is both browseable and searchable by general reference, payment instrument, public policy, or research topic. Each entry includes a brief bibliographic citation with links to full-text articles where available. [MW]
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Learning Resources

Highway Investment and Rural Economic Development: An Annotated Bibliography -- USDA ERS [.pdf]
http://www.econ.ag.gov/epubs/pdf/bla133/
Compiled by Dennis M. Brown, Food and Rural Economics Division, US Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS) (described in the July 2, 1999 Scout Report for Business & Economics), this annotated bibliography summarizes studies on the rural economic development implications of highway investment. The bibliography includes some urban studies in addition to rural and covers the effects of highway investment on different industries, local and regional spatial effects, and highway effects over time, among other issues. [MW]
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Gilbert Lui's Econometrics World
http://home.netvigator.com/~csglui/main.htm
Chinese University of Hong Kong student Gilbert C. S. Lui has created this extensive compilation of econometrics, statistics, and mathematics Internet resources. Gilbert Lui's Econometrics World links readers to university departments worldwide, journals of interest, and statistical software information in addition to econometric society and personal homepages. [MW]
[Note: Resource(s)/URL(s) mentioned above is no longer available.]
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EMU: Facts, Challenges and Policies -- OECD [.pdf]
http://www.oecd.org/subject/euro/
Readings related to the print publication EMU: Facts, Challenges and Policies by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (described in the December 18, 1997 Scout Report for Business & Economics) are available at this OECD site. These texts include working papers by OECD economists on European Monetary Union (EMU) finance, investment, taxation, and competition; an EMU Glossary; and media criticism of OECD policy (in German, English, and French). [MW]
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BUS 680: Business Strategies
http://mars.wnec.edu/~achelte/bus680spring.htm
Professor Anthony F. Chelte of Western New England College presents this outline and syllabus for the graduate-level course Business Strategies. In addition to readings, assignments, and sample test questions, the site hosts how-to information on case analysis and sample case studies. [MW]
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General Interest

SmartMoney Map of the Market
http://www.smartmoney.com/marketmap/
The Wall Street Journal magazine of personal business SmartMoney.com provides this new financial tool for investors. The Map of the Market allows users to customize their own color-coded maps of stock activity for up to 500 companies. Map regions are divided by industry sector, and each area yields detailed company earnings reports, analyst recommendations, and business news with a click of the mouse. Note: red/green colorblind users may alter map colors to blue/yellow with the Map Control Panel. [MW]
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Worth Online's Top 50 CEOs
http://www.worth.com/articles/Z9905C02.html
The financial magazine Worth Online ranks American CEOs at this Top 50 site. Each listing consists of an in-depth profile including anecdotes on CEO success and tidbits such as favorite book, type of car driven, and number of social functions attended each week. 1999 winners include Dell Computer head Michael Dell and Amazon.com's Jeffrey Bezos. [MW]
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Upside's Hot 100 Awards: 1999
http://www.upside.com/texis/feature/99/hot100
The business technology magazine Upside Today authors this list of the "hottest private high-tech companies of 1999." Upside editors considered entrepreneurial passion as well as the "staying power" of companies to be top criteria for the Hot 100 Awards. Each listing includes a company profile with homepage links where available. [MW]
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Intellifact.com
http://www.intellifact.com/
Intellifact.com is a business research portal for business people, academics, and investors offered by the online information provider Intellifact.com, Inc. The site includes complex search screens for company, market, and patent research as well as links to business reference pages, news organizations, and book reviews. [MW]
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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/scout/report/bus-econ/metapage/).

Working Papers

Wharton Financial Institutions Center Working Paper Series [.pdf]
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99.html
Service Competition, Outsourcing and Co-Production in a Queuing Game
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99/p9920.html
Blockholder Identity, Equity Ownership Structures, and Hostile Takeovers
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99/p9919.html

Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Basle Committee on Banking Supervision Documents
http://www.bis.org/publ/pub_list.htm#BS
Credit Risk Modelling: Current Practices and Applications
http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbs49.htm

Stockholm School of Economics:
Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance (S-WoPEc: SSE/EFI) [.pdf, .ps, .zip]
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/
Retail Price Levels and Concentration of Wholesalers, Retailers, and Hypermarkets
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/abs/hastef0318.htm
ARCH Robust STAR Test
http://swopec.hhs.se/hastef/abs/hastef0317.htm

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):
Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.oecd.org/eco/wp/onlinewp.htm
The Problems and Prospects Faced by Pay-As-You-Go Pension Systems: A Case Study of Greece
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/1999doc.nsf/linkto/eco-wkp(99)7
Greek Public Enterprises: Challenges for Reform
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/1999doc.nsf/linkto/eco-wkp(99)6
The Levels and Cyclical Behaviour of Mark-Ups Across Countries and Market Structures
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/1999doc.nsf/linkto/eco-wkp(99)5

International Monetary Fund (IMF):
IMF Working Papers [.pdf]
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/date.cfm
Inflation Targeting and Output Stability
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3013.0
Inequality and Optimal Redistributive Tax and Transfer Policies (60)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3012.0
Fixed Capital Adjustment: Is Latin America Different? Evidence from the Colombian and Mexican Manufacturing Sectors (59)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=2999.0
The Role of Inter- and Intraindustry Trade in Technology Diffusion
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=2998.0
Copper and the Chilean Economy, 1960-98 (57)
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=2993.0
International Trade and the Business Cycle
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=2988.0

IMF Staff Country Reports [.pdf]
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/scr.cfm?issue=1999
Brunei Darussalam - Recent Economic Developments
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=2991.0
Cambodia - Statistical Annex
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3006.0
Grenada - Statistical Annex
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3009.0
Hungary - Selected Issues
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3000.0
Islamic Republic of Iran - Statistical Appendix
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3010.0
Kyrgyz Republic - Recent Economic Developments
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3004.0
Mali- Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=2992.0
People's Republic of China - Hong Kong Special Administrative Region - Recent Economic Developments
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3007.0
Republic of Poland - Selected Issues
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3005.0
Samoa - Statistical Appendix
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3001.0
San Marino - Recent Economic Developments
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3002.0
Singapore - Selected Issues
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3008.0
St. Lucia - Statistical Annex
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3011.0
Switzerland - Selected Issues and Statistical Appendix
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=3003.0
United Kingdom - Selected Issues
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=2994.0
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Periodicals

Federal Reserve System:
FRB Dallas Houston Business
http://www.dallasfed.org/htm/pubs/houston.html
FRB Philadelphia Business Review [.pdf]
http://www.phil.frb.org/econ/br/brmj99in.html
FRB San Francisco Economic Letter
http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/wklyltr/index.html
The May 1999 issue of Houston Business from FRB Dallas explores recent privatization stalls in Mexico's petrochemical industry. The latest Business Review from FRB Philadelphia looks at forecasts, indicators, and monetary policy in addition to product diversification in nonfinancial firms. The most recent issue of Economic Letters from FRB San Francisco compares Bank of Japan asset purchases with Colonial America and business cycle fluctuations since 1854. [MW]

International Monetary Fund (IMF):
IMF Staff Papers [.pdf]
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/staffp/index.htm
March 1999 Issue
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/staffp/1999/03-99/index.htm
The quarterly journal IMF Staff Papers "makes available to a wider audience research papers prepared by the members of the IMF staff." The March 1999 issue looks at skilled and unskilled workers in Spain, deindustrialization in advanced economies, and the story of exchange rate deviations from purchasing power parity in two monetary unions. [MW]

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 remarks from Gordon G. Thiessen, Governor of the Bank of Canada, on Canadian economic reaction to recent global financial turbulence and a speech on the benefits of the European Monetary Union on growth and stability for Europe by European Central Bank President Dr. W. F. Duisenberg. [MW]

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):
Focus Hot File
http://www.oecd.org/puma/focus/
This May, the OECD examines new banking arrangements for Commonwealth agencies in Australia and property registration in Iceland, among other international issues, in the Focus Hot File.[MW]
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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. [MW]

Econbase -- Elsevier
http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/econbase/
The abstracts and tables of contents for the following journals are now available online: European Journal of Political Economy (Vol 15 No 1), Journal of Accounting and Economics (Vol 26 Nos 1-3, Vol 27 No 1), Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (Vol 38 Nos 2-3), Journal of International Economics (Vol 47 No 2), Journal of International Financial Markets (Vol 9 No 2), Labour Economics (Vol 6 No 1), Mathematical Social Sciences (Vol 37 No 3), Resource and Energy Economics (Vol 21 No 2). [MW]
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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. [MW]

Conferences with Econometric Interest
http://www.eur.nl/few/ei/links/#conferences
Midwest Econometrics Group Ninth Annual Meeting
http://www.nd.edu/~meg/1999.html
Journal of Empirical Finance Risk Management Conference
http://www.rulimburg.nl/~life/callfpap.htm
The Royal Economics Society's Econometrics Journal site lists conferences in econometrics at this Econometric Links section. Forthcoming international conferences currently listed include the Midwest Econometrics Group Ninth Annual Meeting to be held October 8-9, 1999 in Ames, Iowa, and the Journal of Empirical Finance Risk Management Conference to be held November 5-6, 1999 in Algarve, Portugal. [MW]

1999 Economic History Association Annual Meeting
http://www.eh.net/EHA
Martha Olney's Website
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~olney/eha/
The 59th annual meeting of the Economic History Association (EHA) will be held October 8-10, 1999 in Baltimore, Maryland. A preliminary program is now available on the EHA Website in addition to 1998 conference paper abstracts. Registration material, book display information, and doctoral dissertation contest information may be found at Martha Olney's Website. [MW]
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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

Census Bureau:
1997 Economic Census Manufacturing, Industry Series [.pdf]
Ice Manufacturing
http://www.census.gov/prod/ec97/97m3121c.pdf
Plastics Bottle Manufacturing
http://www.census.gov/prod/ec97/97m3261i.pdf
These data from the US Department of Commerce Census Bureau constitute the first two in a series of several hundred reports on individual industries in the manufacturing sector from the 1997 Economic Census. According to the 1997 Economic Census Manufacturing, Industry Series on Ice Manufacturing, Texas expended the most on ice manufacturing in 1997. The 1997 Economic Census Manufacturing, Industry Series on Plastics Bottle Manufacturing reports that California, Illinois, and Ohio accounted for a third of the $6.4 billion worth of 1997 goods shipped by the nation's plastics bottle manufacturers. [MW]
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Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS):
Employment Experience and Other Characteristics of Youths: Results from a New Longitudinal Survey
http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/nlsyth.toc.htm
Findings from the BLS longitudinal survey Employment Experience and Other Characteristics of Youths indicate that sixteen percent of youths who had attended ninth grade or higher in 1997 had been involved in gifted and talented programs, and working youths spent less time watching television than those not working. These data stem from the first round of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, and more information on the employment experiences, schooling, family background, and social behavior of American young people will become available at this BLS site in the future. [MW]
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United States Department of Agriculture (USDA):
USDA Reports Calendars -- May 1999
USDA Agency Reports Calendar
http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/rptcal/may99tbl.htm
ERS Calendar
http://www.econ.ag.gov/whatsnew/calendar/may99.htm
World Agricultural Production
http://www.fas.usda.gov/WAP/circular/1999/99-05/toc.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 May 1999 includes the World Agricultural Production tables with international production estimates by crop. This month, world 1999-2000 wheat production is forecast down from 1998-99 levels, primarily in the United States, China, EU-15, and Eastern Europe, and 1999-2000 rice production is forecast at a record level. Overall, this preliminary forecast expects world agricultural production to exceed 1998-99 levels, due to large US outputs. [MW]
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Energy Information Administration (EIA) [.pdf, .xls]:
Uranium Industry Annual 1998
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/uia/uia.pdf
Uranium Quarterly Production Data for 1999
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/at_a_glance/qtr_upd/qupd.html
According to the Uranium Industry Annual 1998 from the US Energy Information Administration, 1998 US uranium production decreased by seventeen percent from 1997 levels at 4.7 million pounds, and US utilities purchased 42.7 million pounds of uranium from US and foreign suppliers in 1998 at $12.14 per pound, a six percent decrease from 1997 prices. Currently, uranium production in the US has fallen slightly from fourth quarter 1998 figures to 1,193,348 pounds for the first quarter of 1999. Additional statistics as of March 31, 1999 are available from the EIA's Uranium Quarterly Production Data for 1999 page. [MW]
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In The News

Fed Leaves Interest Rates Alone
(1) Fed Adopts Tight Policy Bias, but Leaves Rates Steady -- CBS.MarketWatch.com
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/19990518/news/current/fed.htx?source=htx/http2_mw
(2) Eyes on the Fed -- CNNfn
http://www.cnnfn.com/specials/eyes_on_fed/
(3) Issue in Depth: Federal Reserve -- NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/financial/fed/index-fed.html
(4) Federal Open Market Committee -- FRB
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/fomc/
(5) Economy at a Glance -- BLS
http://stats.bls.gov/eag.table.html
(6) FOMC Meeting and Minutes Analysis -- The Dismal Scientist
http://www.dismal.com/economy/releases/fomc_meeting.asp
(7) The Impact of Inflation -- FRB Boston
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/nerr/hell97_1.htm
(8) How to Act When Interest Rates Move -- Quicken.com
http://www.quicken.com/investments/articles/876594735_11961
This week's In the News looks at the recent Federal Reserve Board decision to leave interest rates unchanged. These eight resources provide background information on interest rates and inflation, Federal Reserve news, and current US economic data. With the stock market at record highs and global economic crises fading, the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) showed increased concern about the risk of inflation this month at a May 18, 1999 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Although committee members ultimately decided not to raise the rate at which banks lend to each other, they cited a "tight" domestic labor market and "ongoing strength in demand in excess of productivity gains" as possible reasons for future rate hikes. Wall Street reacted to the Fed news with a 100 point Dow Jones Industrial Average fall on May 18 but recovered by the end of the day down just 16.52, and many market watchers expressed optimism over the FOMC action. Irwin Kellner, chief economist at CBS.MarketWatch.com, for example, deemed the decision "great" and praised the Fed for a flexible policy that is not locked into a particular course of action should the economy change unexpectedly.

The CBS.MarketWatch.com report Fed Adopts Tight Policy Bias, but Leaves Rates Steady (1) includes market news and commentary by Irwin Kellner and other economists. The CNNfn special report Eyes on the Fed (2) and NY Times Issue in Depth on Federal Reserve news (3) are ongoing compilations with US monetary policy reports from November 1998 to the present. Minutes from the twelve-member Federal Open Market Committee are available from the Federal Reserve site (4) in addition to member biographies. A current statistical picture of the US economy is posted at the Bureau of Labor Statistics page Economy at a Glance (5). The Dismal Scientist site (6) also offers current economic statistics as well as analyses of recent FOMC activity. Background information on the meaning of inflation as well as advice on what to do when interest rates change is provided by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston (7) and Quicken.com (8). [MW]
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