Thesis advisor: Peter Ireland / My doctoral research focuses, first, on the effect of central bank transparency on people's expectation formation and, second, on the relationship between financial frictions and the macroeconomy. In Chapter 1, I study how the central bank transparency affects disagreement in inflation expectations. In Chapter 2, I investigate the optimal degree of transparency about inflation target for a central bank. In Chapter 3, I examine the impact of financial factors on the growth of total factor productivity. Chapter 1: In this analysis I measures the transparency of the Federal Reserve Board (FRB) regarding its target inflation rate before its adoption of inflation targeting using data on the disagreement in inflation expectations among U.S. consumers. We construct a model of inflation forecasters employing the frameworks of both an unobserved components model and a noisy information model. We estimate the model and extract the transparency of the FRB regarding the target as the standard deviation of the heterogeneous noise in the inflation trend signal, where the trend proxies the FRB's inflation target. The results show a great improvement in transparency after the mid-1990s as well as its significant contribution to the decline in the disagreement in long-horizon inflation expectations. Chapter 2: We examined the optimal degree of transparency for a central bank about its inflation target. We construct a new Keynesian model with dispersed information in which policy rate signals information about underlying shocks. We have shown that a transparent inflation target is not always optimal in the presence of the signaling effects of the policy rate. In addition, it is shown that the optimal degree of transparency depends on the relative size and the persistence of the underlying shocks. Chapter 3: After the global financial crisis, slowdowns of total factor productivity (TFP), often measured as the Solow residual, have been observed across major countries. This study offers an explanation for this by focusing on Japan’s financial crises during the 1990s. We first incorporate credit constraints, for financial intermediaries (FIs) and firms, and input–output structure into the standard New Keynesian model, and show that the model delivers multiple channels through which damaged balance sheets reduce measured TFP. We then estimate the model using Japanese data, and show that adverse shocks to FIs’ balance sheets played a substantial role in lowering measured TFP. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

South Africa is characterised as having high unemployment rates, low GDP forecast growth rates and a high percentage of the population living in rural areas. Therefore, the research explored the ability of microfinance, using the Grameen Bank model, to increase economic development in the rural areas of South Africa. Grameen Bank is considered to be the mother of conscience driven microfinance. The Bank's approach to poverty alleviation provides the poor with direct access to micro loans in order to increase their earnings from productive self-employment activities. Among other things, the loans are characterised as being advanced to small groups without the requirement of collateral. These loans are considered to have helped to alleviate poverty and increase physical and human resources, and confirm that poverty alleviation and human resource development is possible with targeted credit (Khandker, 1996). The model has been successful in improving the livelihoods of the borrowers using various measures such as providing the ability to afford three meals a day, electricity in their homes and to educate their children. In addition, borrowers are able to grow business and create employment in their communities. Although the Grameen Bank model has been successfully applied throughout the world, it has attainted limited success in South Africa. The business model has not been able to achieve operational or financial sustainability due to high staff and regulatory costs in relation to other emerging markets compounded by the inability to utilise borrower savings. In addition, borrowers are unable to create microenterprises that effectively compete with the formal economy. Microfinance institutions could address operational inefficiency by making use of the community based lending structures already operating under the Grameen philosophy, known as stokvels, and by embracing cell phone technology. In addition, institutions that provide social upliftment should focus on the skills training required by entrepreneurs to operate more successfully and for the employee to be more employable. The Grameen Bank model is not a panacea for South African growth based poverty alleviation. However, when combined with wide reaching economic and social policies, microfinance may assist in the creation of long term economic growth and social upliftment while improving the current lives of the poor.

No description available.

This thesis is a empirical test of the constancy of the real rate of interest in Germany over the period of 1970 to 2000. The methodology, based on Mishkin (1981), employs Ordinary Least Squares regressions to search for correlation in movements of real rates with lagged inflation, time trends, and ten other variables that commonly appear in the literature. Overall results reject the hypothesis of the constancy of the real rate. The Fisher Effect (Fisher, 1930), that movements in nominal interest rates reflect changes in expected inflation, is found to be only moderate for Germany. The monetary policy implication is that nominal interest rates contain little information about real interest rates and therefore on the tightness of monetary policy. Overall lack of significance in the test results may (as Mishkin found) be because there is so little variation in real rate movements. / Master of Arts

Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka sambandet mellan utvalda interna och externa lönsamhetsfaktorer och lönsamheten för svenska bankaktiebolag under perioden 2015-2022. Vidare är studiens syfte att undersöka bankens lönsamhet påverkad av Covid-19-pandemin. Resultaten visar att de interna lönsamhetsfaktorerna hade förväntat samband med lönsamheten, förutom kreditrisken. Bankstorlekens effekt var positiv, kapitalstrukturen hade tvådelat resultat och likviditetsrisken var negativ. Kreditrisken hade däremot ett positivt samband. De externa visade dock inga betydande samband med lönsamheten. Dessutom tyder resultaten på att svenska banker har hanterat Covid-19-pandemins effekter relativt väl, med endast en måttlig minskning av ROAA och en ökning av ROAE under perioden 2020-2022.

In Japan, the basics of living are described as three main elements; clothing, food, and shelter. These elements involve simple daily activities such as changing clothes in the morning, eating lunch, and sleeping at night. It may easily become a mundane topic since they are woven into our daily routines. Nevertheless, a moment in one's day may become joyful when we reconsider and play with the ordinary. The first trace of a dwelling in Japan is a pit shelter. People dug a circular pit in the ground, placed sticks vertically at the perimeter of the pit, and covered it with straws to make a roof. The dwelling protected people from the weather, animals and other tribes. The function of architecture may be as simple as that. Today, the purpose of making architecture is not dramatically different from the ancient times, yet the technology in our profession as well as in our daily routines have developed over thousands of years and changed the way of life. Today, one may easily get trapped in the graphical or stylish looks of architecture and ignore the fundamental reason to make architecture. Making architecture is quite an ordinary act. My intention for this thesis is to examine my daily activities and concerns and extract the essence of the Architecture that beautifully fulfills the function. I believe Architecture strongly influences people's experiences and feelings, and goal as a designer is to orchestrate spaces which will make one's ordinary day into an extraordinary one. / Master of Architecture

No description available.

Sweep accounts have been in existence since the 1970' s but have grown dramatically since 1995. Sweep accounts provide a way for banks to pay interest on the funds in checking accounts even though paying interest on checking accounts is prohibited. In the 1970's, banks used sweep accounts primarily to bypass regulations prohibiting payments of interest on demand deposit accounts. However, today banks are using sweep accounts to lower their reserve requirements. The dramatic increase in the amount of funds being swept has lead to a significant reduction in required reserve balances. Required reserve balances are one of the tools used by the _Federal Reserve to conduct monetary policy. This reduction in required reserve balances has made it more difficult for the Federal Reserve to forecast the demand for funds which could lead to difficulties in the implementation of monetary policy. In this study, I show that the rapid increase in the number of sweep accounts and the amount of the funds being swept, corresponds with a steady decrease in required reserves being held by banks However, the anticipated increase in federal funds rate volatility does not occur. I show that after correcting for the unusual events of 2001, Federal funds rate volatility has actually decreased. I attribute this result to banks' increased use of clearing balances, a return to a lagged accounting system, and effective Federal Reserve open market operations.

Syfte: Syftet med detta examensarbete är att förklara vad som är den främst avgörande faktorn vid privatkundens val av marginalbank, genom att jämföra med demografiska variabler samt hur deras val kan användas vid segmentering. Dessutom vill vi titta på vilka typer av banker privatkunder har. Metod: För att nå fram till resultat för analysen har ett positivistiskt angreppssätt och en deduktiv ansats använts. Det empiriska materialet är baserat på en enkätundersökning gjord på personer i Hässleholm och Ängelholm. Datainsamlingen har sedan analyserats med hjälp av korstabeller. Teoretiskt perspektiv: Studien utgår ifrån tidigare forskning inom området som har använts för att kunna upptäcka faktorer som kan förklara vårt syfte. Resultat:  Analysen visade att vid val av marginalbanker värdesätts faktorer så som bra pris på varor i butik samt bonuscheckar. Vad som också framkom är att vid segmentering av kunder bör bankerna, enligt reslutat från denna uppsats, använda sig av differentierad marknadsföring vid segmentering av kunder. / Purpose: The aim of this study is to explain what the cardinal factor is when clients choose their marginbank by comparing demographic variables and how their choice can be used in segmentation. Method: To reach results for the analysis a positivistic approach and a deductive projection have been used. The research is based on a survey studying people in Hässleholm and Ängelholm. The collected data has been analyzed using crosstabs. Theoretical perspective: This study is based on previous research within the area that have been used to identify factors that can explain the aim of this research. Conclusion: The analysis resulted in a conclusion showing that when private clients choose their margin bank great offers and bonuschecks matters. It also showed that banks, based on this paper, should use differentiated marketing when segmenting their customers.

This paper examines the economic impact of the African Development Bank on the African continent and compares its resources and those of its counterparts, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The first chapter of the paper discusses the evolution of regional development banks and presents the statements of the problem and the hypothesis of the study. The second chapter analyses the history of the African Development Bank Group, and the .third discusses its lending operations to 1979. The fourth chapter compares the lending activities and resources of the three regional development banks (African, Inter-American, and Asian), and the final chapter presents the paper's conclusions and recommendations.