Vol. 5 No. 2 (2020)
La Revue Internationale des Économistes de Langue Française
Published:
30-12-2020
Articles
-
The State and Economy in Postpandemia. Old and New Theoretical and Practical Questions
Where will the world go to, what roles and relations will be formed between the state and economy in face of redefined globalization, all-embracing Internet, risk and uncertainty growth and periodical economic, ecologic and epidemic turbulances ? Will solely modified version of existing market mechanism emerge based on an old paradigm : "more, faster, better" ? Or will changes be so deep that the social and economic world to follow a new paradigm ? Answers to those questions are issues of greatest intelectual challenge in this paper. In order to find answer : "What state in what economy ?" three subsequent problems are considered : -- identification of main conclusions of economic thought on the role of state and economy within last 2500 years, -- capacity of leading socio-economic doctrines functionning in the European and American practice to deal effectively with upcoming challenges in particular social expectations, -- new challenges facing states, economies and societies from the future world economic development point of view (the Polish case is included). From the methodological perspective postulates and conclusions of the paper are based on holistic approach merging main streams of theory of economy with institutionalism, organization and management theory, sociology and political science. Based on research made the general conclusion was drawn the revision of economic philosophy, role and relations of state and economy is necessary. Economy based on existing paradigm is dominated by primacy of economic and quantitative goals while social and qualitative goals are undervalued. These goals should be equivalent, interdependent, cosignificant and co-contributing to an expected well-being and quality of life. Additionally balance, harmony and adequacy of economic, social and institutional capital are required. Apart from stimulating an economic growth this is a main task of the state. There is also a need to have an economy based on freedom, equality and competition and these values must be protected by state. In turn the state is needed that is above market if it fails and when it realizes important social goals aiming at quality of life growth. The state which is out of class organization with neutral philosophy of life and at once organization of consented social coercion only to a degree to get enough capacity to achieve national, social and economic goals.(original abstract)
-
Poland's Transformation : Facts and Myths about the Period 1990-2020 and the Country's Chances of Attaining the Economic Level of the USA and Germany after 2020
This paper studies path-breaking economic developments in Poland following the start of the systemic transformation in 1989. Three groups of countries are used for comparative analysis : those economically most advanced, those less developed but striving to catch up during the last 30-40 years, and as a subgroup of the latter, the transition economies. The paper has three objectives. The first is to show that many opinions regarding major aspects of the Polish transformation are at variance with the plain statistical facts. The second is to evaluate the pace and the extent of the progress so far in the effort to narrow the income and wealth gaps between Poland and most developed countries, particularly pre-2004 members of the European Union. The third consists of a discussion of factors which are likely to impede the pace of Poland ' s economic development in the years to come.(original abstract)
-
Optimal Tax Rate and Economic Growth : an Empirical Application to the Case of Lebanon
Many studies highlight the significant impact of fiscal policy on the economic growth rate, in countries with a precarious financial and economic situation, similar to the Lebanese case. An empirical study, covering the period 1971-2017, is conducted in this paper, to determine the optimal tax burden that maximizes the economic growth rate in Lebanon. A non-linear relationship between the tax burden and economic growth is examined, using the Scully static model Scully (1996, 2003). Looking at the country ' s periods of political conflict and economic instability, the econometric model estimates lead to an optimal tax burden of 20.62%.(original abstract)
-
The Evolution of Regional Differences in French University Supply Between 1980 and 2000: Specialisation or Diversification?
The aim of this article is to examine the distribution of university training supply in France. Has there been regional university specialisation or, on the contrary, has there been a diversification of regions? After studying the evolution of regional differences for each university discipline between 1980 and 2000, we attempt to identify the specific features of each region in the supply of training. The results obtained show that there is a certain attenuation of regional differences, mainly for economically profitable disciplines. On the other hand, if we do not really identify regional specialisations, we highlight a type of specialisation that could be called "historical specialisation".(original abstract)
-
Differentiated Impact of the Common Monetary Policy on the Member States of a Monetary Union : Case of CEMAC
This paper analyses the misalignments that could result from the common CEMAC monetary policy under macroeconomic stabilization in case of the implementation of the standard Taylor rule by the Central Bank of Central African States (BEAC). Considering a Taylor rule per country solely based on national economic conditions, on the one hand, and another with aggregate data for all countries on the other hand, it transpired that the BEAC ' s monetary policy decision depends on the overall size of the union, whose priority goal is to maintain the fixed parity of its currency with the euro. Thus, its monetary policy has limited efficiency in macroeconomic stabilization due to the asymmetric effects of the common monetary policy. In fact, the BEAC should strengthen its common monetary policy by coordinating national budgetary policies, carry out structural reforms, set up a federal budget and a banking union, obey the Mundell incompatibility triangle or choose a flexible exchange rate regime.(original abstract)
-
A Monetary Policy for Employment in the WAEMU
Despite great results of member countries of the West African Monetary and Economic Union (WAEMU) in the attainment of the convergence conditions the issues of poverty incidence and employment remain important in the eight economies. The renewed debate on macroeconomic linkages in the aftermath of the 2008 global crisis, leads us to wonder whether there would not be a room to improve significantly the effectiveness of current economic policies in developing economies especially those in the WAEMU. Indeed unemployment remains high even if inflation is duly under control and growth has reached unprecedented levels in the Union. The main message of this paper is that targeting inflation solely is not sufficient to promote economic and social development. The Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO) may recourse to (in) direct instruments (reserve requirement or even quantitative objectives for banks in terms of credit to SMEs) to induces the right incentives for the financial system to finance more directly small business and other SMEs that create jobs.(original abstract)
-
Market Power and Pricing of Loan : Evidence from the WAEMU Banking Sector
This article assesses the relationship between market power and the credit pricing using a sample of 49 banks drawing from seven West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries for the period 2003-2014. Our empirical methodology relies on a panel data analysis and nonlinear estimation. We find that market power influences positively the credit pricing in the WAEMU. This is consistent with the market power hypothesis, which stipulates that concentrated markets encourages strong pricing of banking products (higher debtors rates and lower creditors rates, so more important interest margins), and limits access to financing. The nonlinear regression highlights the existence of a threshold that is not significant in ours sample because only the first or second percentile of our data verify the second regim. While the remaining 98% to 99% confirm the results of the linear model. These results have importantes implications for bank regulation policies in the WAEMU.(original abstract)
-
Is There a Link Between the Exchange Rate Regime and Export Diversification in ECOWAS Countries?
The choice of exchange rate regimes remains an important but controversial issue in developing countries that remain open to the rest of the world and whose exports depend on primary products. The objective of this paper is to analyse the effect of the exchange rate regime on export diversification of ECOWAS countries. To do this, we adopted an empirical investigation based on a regression of a linear panel data model of 10 ECOWAS countries over the period 1990 to 2014 using the IV-2SLS estimation technique. Our results mainly indicate that the fixed exchange rate regime is significantly conducive to export diversification in ECOWAS countries. In the light of these results, in order to improve export diversification, the governments of these countries need to undertake policies aimed at maintaining the stability of their national currencies vis-à-vis foreign currencies through an appropriate exchange rate policy.(original abstract)
-
Does Institutional Quality Improve Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa?
This article studies the impact of institutional quality on financial inclusion in forty (40) countries in sub-Saharan Africa over the period 2000-2017. We use the Generalized Moments Method (GMM) in dynamic panel. Three measures of financial inclusion were highlighted : the number of ATMs per 100,000 adults, the number of commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults, and the number of depositors with commercial banks per 1,000 adults. The first two assess access to financial services and the third measures their use. The results obtained that the quality of regulation, control of corruption, and government efficiency positively impact access to financial services. In contrast, the rule of law as well as expression and democratic accountability exert the opposite effect. In addition, the use of financial services is positively influenced by the quality of regulation, the rule of law and the control of corruption. However, effective government as well as democratic expression and political stability have the opposite effect. In addition, the conclusions reached stress the importance of other control variables, such as GDP per capita, private credit-to-GDP ratio and gross secondary school enrollment rate.(original abstract)
-
Climate Variability in West Africa : Official Development Assistance Impact on Food Security
The objective of this paper is to assess the effect of official development assistance in the mitigation of climate variability on food security in West African. Using panel data from 14 countries over the period 1990 to 2016, the results of econometric estimates show that the negative effect of rainfall variability on food supply in the countries of the region is indirectly reduced with official development assistance. Moreover, official development assistance alone does not seem to have a significant effect on the food supply of countries in this region. Thus, official development assistance is a factor that helps to mitigate the effects of climate change and should be given greater consideration in climate change adaptation policies in order to reduce the effects of climate change on food security in the countries of the region.(original abstract)
-
Decentralized Cooperation Effect on Local Investment Analysis : Case Study of Collines Department in Benin
Decentralized cooperation constitutes a territory to territory cooperation which registers for a local development dynamic. If it is largely admitted that this kind of cooperation contributes positively to local development resources mobilization for southern partners, number of analyzers feel that those contributions are weak. Through the analysis of experiences of the former Picardie Region (France) and Collines Department (Benin), this paper studies the effect of decentralized cooperation on local investment. In studied context, only central government subsidies have a significant positive incidence on such investment.(original abstract)
