The Scout Report for Business & Economics - July 29, 1999

July 29, 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

History of the Eighties: Lessons for the Future -- FDIC [.pdf]
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/historical/history/
"Between 1980 and 1994, over 1,600 banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) were either closed or received FDIC financial assistance." This large, indexed report from the FDIC analyses the reasons why more banks struggled during that time period than any since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Examining the economic, financial, legislative, and regulatory elements that led to the failure of these banks, this study looks at the overall national picture as well as regional failures in Illinois, California, and the Southwest. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Experimental Poverty Measures [.pdf]
http://www.census.gov/prod/99pubs/p60-205.pdf
This 133-page report from the US Census Bureau focuses on experimental measures, as opposed to standardized measures, of poverty in the US such as an after-tax income measure; the value of food stamps, housing vouchers, and other in-kind benefits; and government policies aimed at needy families. The study found that including in-kind benefits greatly decreased the instances of poverty and that "deducting taxes from income on balance reduces the percentage of people who are viewed as being poor." [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Overview of the World Dairy Situation -- FAO
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/ECONOMIC/ESC/escb/dairy/dairywor.htm
Charting the shift of milk production from developed countries to developing countries, this report from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations demonstrates the market and consumption trends of world dairy production. The increasing urbanization of developing countries, the growth of supermarkets world-wide, and the increasing popularity of dairy products all point to an increase in growth of the dairy industry. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

B&E DataLinks
http://www.econ-datalinks.org/
American Statistical Association (ASA) offers B&E DataLinks, a searchable index of statistical data. Each link is annotated, with the date last modified, and is rated by the ASA. Browse by categories including finance, macroeconomics, and labor and general economics, or use the site's keyword search. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Learning Resources

Improving Women's Access to Credit
http://www.soc.titech.ac.jp/icm/wind/wind.html
Improving Women's Access to Credit, created by Dr. Hari Srinivas of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, is an extensive list of resources and information pertaining to women and banking throughout the world. Included are studies and documents from sources such as the International Co-operative Alliance, UNICEF, and the Institute for Global Communications and links to women's organizations, international networks, and programs. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Human Resources and the Internet
http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/reference/GUIDES/HRI_Manual/default.html
Catherwood Library at Cornell University presents this extensive and in-depth resource to provide human resource professionals with Websites, articles, and programs on how the Internet can aid in their work. Topics such as Diversity in Employment, Retirement, and Benchmarking and Best Practices link to a multitude of information from sources including the US government, the International Personnel Management Association, and Institute for Global Communications. There are also links to online human resources magazines; Internet, Intranet, and HTML guides; and graduate programs in human resources. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Web Features -- Economic Policy Institute
http://www.epinet.org/webfeatures/webfeat.html
Web Features, presented by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), is a collection of online resources for consumers about public opinion data. An economic snapshot, updated weekly, provides graphs and charts to highlight an economic issue, and this site also includes a selection of opinions from the EPI staff and their analysis of current economic data written in layperson's terms. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

"Prescription Drug Pricing in the United States: Drug Companies Profit at the Expense of Older Americans"
http://www.house.gov/berry/prescriptiondrugs/Natl3.htm#exb
Sponsored by the US House of Representatives Prescription Drug Task Force, this report compares the pricing of the five name brand drugs most prescribed to seniors with the prices that large insurance companies and HMOs pay for the same drugs. The findings conclude that, on average, seniors pay 99% more than the insurance companies for the same drugs. Along with the findings, charts, and graphs, this report also includes case studies of seniors throughout the United States who are struggling to pay for prescriptions. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

General Interest

NeedCom [.wav]
http://www.pbs.org/weblab/needcom/
Recently launched by Weblab and the Public Broadcasting Service, NeedCom, created by artist Cathy Davies, explores market research for panhandlers. NeedCom begins with a survey of six real New York City panhandlers and their business tactics, complete with location information, photos, and .wav files of their pitches. Users are asked to record how much they would give each panhandler -- from $0.00 to $1.00. As users work their way through this truly interactive site, thought-provoking survey questions address their feelings about the pitches and tactics panhandlers use and an extensive network of postings reveals other users' views about different aspects of panhandling. Focus groups of panhandlers help illustrate their approaches and feelings about the work they do. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Let's Do Launch
http://www.business2.com/articles/1999/07/content/cover-story.html
The experts from Business2.0 magazine have put together a comprehensive collection of information dealing with the elements of forming a successful start-up company. Articles include such topics as the economics of start-ups, making a funding pitch, and figuring out start-up taxes. Experts in the management of technology companies, including Esther Dyson, chair of EDventure Holdings, and Adam R. Dell, associate partner with Crosspoint Venture Partners, have also contributed to this report. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Gulf Business
http://www.gulfbusiness.com/
Gulf Business, a monthly online magazine, highlights business in the Middle East and presents international news from a Gulf perspective. The news digest is searchable by region and country, and each issue features several lengthy articles about business and economics in the Middle East. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

"The Sound of Wedding Bells May Make the Taxman Smile"
http://www.savewealth.com/news/9905/marriagepenalty.html
This article from SaveWealth explores the "marriage penalty," which raises the taxes up to 40 percent for all married couples in the United States. An explanation of the penalty is provided along with easy-to-use charts, as well as tips on how to avoid the extra taxes. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

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 Atlanta [.pdf]
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/work_papers/1999.htm
Barriers to International Capital Flows: Who Should Erect Them and How Big Should They Be?
http://www.frbatlanta.org/publica/work_papers/wp99/wp9906.pdf

FRB Boston [.pdf]
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wpchrono.htm
Are "Deep" Parameters Stable? The Lucas Critique as an Empirical Hypothesis
http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/wp99_4.pdf

FRB Kansas City [.pdf]
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/reswkpap/rwp99.htm
Do the Spreads Between the E/P Ratio and Interest Rates Contain Information on Future Equity Market Movements?
http://www.kc.frb.org/publicat/reswkpap/PDF/rwp99-03.pdf

World Bank Group [.pdf]
Bank-Based and Market-Based Financial Systems: Cross-Country Comparisons
http://www.worldbank.org/html/dec/Publications/Workpapers/wps2000series/wps2143/wps2143.pdf
Mutual Funds and Institutional Investments: What Is the Most Efficient Way to Set Up Individual Accounts in a Social Security System?
http://www.worldbank.org/html/dec/Publications/Workpapers/wps2000series/wps2099/wps2099.pdf

Bank of International Settlements [.pdf]
http://www.bis.org/publ/pub_list.htm#PO
The term structure of announcement effects
http://www.bis.org/publ/work71.pdf
Interbank exposures: quantifying the risk of contagion
http://www.bis.org/publ/work70.pdf

Wharton Financial Institutions Center [.pdf]
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99.html
Real Estate Booms and Banking Busts: An International Perspective
http://wrdsenet.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/wfic/papers/99/9927.pdf

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) [.pdf]
Working Papers
http://www.oecd.org/eco/wp/onlinewp.htm#1999
Estimating prudent budgetary margins for 11 EU countries: A simulated SVAR model approach
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/1999doc.nsf/5f293a526e52eb79c125675a00318d4c/67a1970d81458377c125679b003c385f/$FILE/06E97177.ENG

Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy (BRIE)
Working Papers
http://brie.berkeley.edu/~briewww/pubs/wp/
The Policy Study Group on China-Japan-US Cooperation in Asia-Pacific Regional Trade and Investment Liberalization (Trilateral Forum)
http://brie.berkeley.edu/~briewww/pubs/wp/135.htm
A Developmental German State? Explaining Growth in German Biotechnology and Venture Capital.
http://brie.berkeley.edu/~briewww/pubs/wp/wp134.htm
[Back to Contents]

Periodicals

Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB BOG)
Federal Reserve Bulletin [.pdf]
http://www.bog.frb.fed.us/pubs/bulletin/default.htm
The June 1999 issue of the Federal Reserve Bulletin consists of two articles. The first, "Profits and Balance Sheet Developments at U.S. Commercial Banks in 1998," reports on the commercial banking industry's progress during 1998, and "Treasury and Federal Reserve Foreign Exchange Operations" examines US foreign currency exchange rates in the first quarter of 1999. [EM]

Federal Reserve System:
FRB Atlanta Financial Update
http://209.239.32.240/publica/finan_update/v12n2/index.html
FRB Cleveland Economic Trends [.pdf]
http://www.clev.frb.org/research/Et99/0799/index.htm
FRB Dallas Houston Business [.pdf]
http://www.dallasfed.org/htm/pubs/houston/9906.html
FRB San Francisco Western Economic Developments [.pdf]
http://www.frbsf.org/econrsrch/wed/1999/wed9906.pdf
FRB St. Louis National Economic Trends [.pdf]
http://www.stls.frb.org/docs/publications/net/1999/cover6.pdf
Financial Update, (Vol 12, No 2) from the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, includes the cover story "Credit Scoring in Small Business Lending: Bane or Blessing?" as well as an article on the Atlanta FRB's strategy for the coming millennium. The latest issue of the Cleveland FRB's Economic Trends includes the articles "The Economy in Perspective," "Money Growth and Inflation," and "Interest Rates." Houston Business focuses on Houston's oil industry and the economy. Download the .pdf format to view tables, equations, and other non-text material. The June 1999 issue of Western Economic Developments from the San Francisco FRB looks at growth in the twelfth district, as well as economic growth in Alaska, Oregon, and Washington. National Economic Trends consists of a short article, "Saving Up: Gross and Personal." [EM]

American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Economic Outlook
http://www.aei.org/eo/eo10654.htm
The July 1999 issue of Economic Outlook, "1999: A year of Living Less Dangerously," looks at the joint American-Japanese defense of the yen. [EM]

International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Economic Issues
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/issues/issues17/index.htm
The seventeenth Economic Issues focuses on the analytical issues concerning liberalizing capital movements. Included are sections on systemic policy issues, asymmetric information, and capital account liberalization. [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 the July 12, 1999 speech on the euro as the new stable currency for Europe, which was delivered by Christian Noyer, Vice-President of the European Central Bank. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Books and Journals

Baker & Taylor
Baker & Taylor Latest Books in Business -- August 1999
http://www.baker-taylor.com/Academia/M08/UBBS/ubbs17.html
Baker & Taylor Latest Books in Economics -- August 1999
http://www.baker-taylor.com/Academia/M08/UBBS/ubbs16.html
Baker & Taylor lists business and economics books published in August 1999. [EM]

Econbase -- Elsevier
http://www.elsevier.nl/locate/econbase/
The abstracts and tables of contents for the following journals are now available online: European Economic Review (Vol 21, Issue 3), Journal of Econometrics (Vol 91, No 1), Journal of Banking and Finance (Vol 23, No 6), European Journal of Political Economy (Vol 15, No 2), Research Policy (Vol 28, No 5), Journal of Mathematical Economics (Vol 31, No 4). [EM]
[Back to Contents]

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]
[Back to Contents]

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
[Back to Contents]

New Data

Census Bureau
1997 Economic Census, Geographic Area Series, Professional, Scientific and Technical Services: Wyoming [.pdf]
http://www.census.gov/prod/ec97/97s54-wy.pdf
Using the data collected from Wyoming business, this report shows that the cities of Casper and Cheyenne account for almost half of the 1997 receipts from that state's certified public accountants. Legal offices made up to one third of the "$388.8 million received by taxable firms in 1997 in the Professional, Scientific and Technical Services sector of the state's economy." The information gathered by this census has been organized by size of industry, business, and community, among other variables including tax status (taxable and tax-exempt) of the industry. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
US International Trade in Goods and Services
http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrel/trad0599.htm
According to the findings of this May 1999 report by the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, through the Department of Commerce, the U.S. experienced a goods and services deficit of $21.3 billion in May, which is $2.7 billion more than the previous month. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Extended Mass Layoffs (quarterly)
http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/mslo.toc.htm
During the period from January 1999 to March 1999, 1,484 employers laid off 267,214 workers for more than 30 days. Thirty-three percent of the lay-offs occurred in the manufacturing industry. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
USDA Reports Calendars -- July 1999
USDA Agency Reports Calendar [.pdf]
http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/rptcal/jul99tbl.htm
ERS Calendar
http://www.econ.ag.gov/whatsnew/calendar/jul99.htm
NASS Publications Calendar
http://www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/rpts907.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 July 1999 include "Tobacco: World Markets and Trade," which highlights developments in World and US tobacco production. [EM]
[Back to Contents]

In The News

US Imposes Penalty Tariffs on the EU
1) "It's the Beef: US to up prices of EU goods" -- Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/07/26/p1s2.htm
2) EC Measures Concerning Meat and Meat Products (Hormones) -- World Trade Organization [.pdf]
http://www.wto.org/wto/dispute/hormab.pdf
3) "WTO Finds US Trade Damaged by EU Beef Import Ban" -- Office of the United States Trade Representative [.pdf]
http://www.ustr.gov/releases/1999/07/99-58.pdf
4) US Hails WTO Sanction Move On EU In Beef Dispute -- ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/Reuters19990726_1340.html
5) "U.S. set for trade retaliation against EU" -- Farm Bureau News
http://www.fb.com:80/news/fbn/html/u.s..html
6) US Beef Banned in Britain -- Official Mad Cow Disease Home Page
http://mad-cow.org/~tom/ban_on_US_beef.html
7) The Beef War -- BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/the_economy/newsid_343000/343475.stm
Starting this week, American gourmets may find the prices of imported goods such as Roquefort cheese, truffles, and goose pate skyrocketing, as the United States's stiff penalty tariff on European exports goes into effect. This week's In The News looks at looks at the history of, reasoning behind, and effects of these tariffs. In 1988, the European Union banned the import of US beef, citing that hormones injected into the animals could cause cancer. Earlier this year, however, the World Trade Organization ruled that the EU's reasoning for the ban was unfounded and allowed the US up to $116.8 million a year of penalty tariffs on European Union exports. The following seven resources provide documents, news, background information, and commentary on this issue.

"It's in the Beef: US to up prices of EU goods," from the Christian Science Monitor, provides background information and links to resources about the causes and effects of the tariffs. The World Trade Organization's 1998 report, EC Measures Concerning Meat and Meat Products (Hormones), agrees with the United States and Canada that the EU's ban on American meat is unfounded. "WTO Finds US Trade Damaged by EU Beef Import Ban," a four-page release from July 12, 1999 from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, reiterates findings that hormones do not affect beef. ABC News's "US Hails WTO Sanction Move on EU in Beef Dispute" addresses the issues at hand from the eyes of food lovers in both the United States and Europe. Farm Bureau News explains the effect that the US beef ban has had on American farmers in its article, "US set for trade retaliation against the EU." The Mad Cow Disease Home Page, a British site, chronicles the events leading up to this trade war. The BBC Report, "The Beef War," also presents the penalty tariffs from the European perspective, as well as linking to a special report encompassing all of the recent trade wars. [EM]
[Back to Contents]


Subscription and Contact Information

To subscribe to the Scout Report for Business & Economics, send email to:
listserv@cs.wisc.edu
In the body of the message type:
subscribe SRBUSECON

For subscription options, send email to:
listserv@cs.wisc.edu
In the body of the message type:
query SRBUSECON

Internet Scout team member information

The Scout Report for Business & Economics
Brought to You by the Internet Scout Project

The Scout Report for Business & Economics is published every other Thursday by the Internet Scout Project, located in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Department of Computer Sciences.

Susan Calcari
Rachael E. Bower
Megan Waters
Emily Missner
Travis Koplow
Paul M Schwartz
--
--
--
--
--
--
Director
Managing Editor
Editor
Editor
Production Editor
Webmaster

Below are the copyright statements to be included when reproducing annotations from The Scout Report for Business & Economics.

The single phrase below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing any portion of this report, in any format:

From The Scout Report for Business & Economics, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-1999. http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/

The paragraph below is the copyright notice to be used when reproducing the entire report, in any format:

Copyright Susan Calcari and the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, 1994-1999. The Internet Scout Project (http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/), located in the Computer Sciences Department of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, provides information about the Internet to the U.S. research and education community under a grant from the National Science Foundation, number NCR-9712163. The Government has certain rights in this material. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of the entire Scout Report provided this paragraph, including the copyright notice, are preserved on all copies.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Wisconsin - Madison or the National Science Foundation.


Internet Scout
A Publication of the Internet Scout Project

Comments, Suggestions, Feedback
Use our feedback form or send email to scout@cs.wisc.edu.

© 1999 Internet Scout Project
Information on reproducing any publication is available on our copyright page.