ISFIRE an Exclusive Interview With: Islamic Nancereview.Co

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

ISFIRE an Exclusive Interview With: Islamic Nancereview.Co Special Focus on Risk and Trust in Islamic Banking & Finance ISFIRE An Exclusive Interview with: islamicnancereview.co DATO’ ADNAN ALIAS Volume 4 - Issue 4 | November 2014 - £20 CEO, IBFIM A Special Report on GLOBAL ISLAMIC FINANCE AWARDS 2014 Sponsored by: Published by: ibm.com edbizconsulting.com EDBIZ CORPORATION Product Development Shari’a Advisory Edbiz Consulting (London) Edbiz Research & Analysis Edbiz Corporation Consulting (Pakistan) Publications Training & Conferences Our products and services are underpinned by a common goal: promoting and advocating the ethical values inherent in Islamic nance Edbiz Consulting is a truly unique, international Islamic nance think tank, committed to engendering the value proposition that Islamic nance serves to oer in the global nancial markets. Edbiz Consulting provides multiple services that balance the dual purpose of developing thought leadership in this niche industry and strengthening the Islamic nance capacity for businesses and banks. Our client base is diverse and includes nancial institutions, governments, education providers, established businesses and entrepreneurs. Global Islamic Finance ISFIRE Report islamicnancereview.co 2015 ISLAMIC FINANCE LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME www.edbizconsulting.com ’ala Wa’d Gha l Ju rar M Visit us on: www.gifr.net afu ai ak sa at anking Mud r R c B a ib an ic at Mu ra a B ba Zak amlat b m r Ri Taw a Z l a isa ar a fu l a ru M k a Is M q a ar Is u t k r la a e ha m d M T G - c ic a u d F e n ’ i r a a n i m R a W a b n l a c l n l e a u i a ’ t f I R u s a F J l T a a k l a c m a u b w f i i T c a b a k B a r a k m t - Global r n a u u k a u c l k i q n n l Islamic a u g s - B M I S M M l u u Finance u f k a d s a a a e k h r k a e a Report a a l T b a - r l a e a r 2014 m R k a D M a a t i a m n t i h i t i u s n I M s B i s r - h u u m a i a n a i l s g a b h a M M S l a a u w e l s t l g h h a a w r n r a n a a P i k u a a m M a h l m u a M s S a M w a w m a s - i a u GLOBAL ISLAMIC FINANCE REPORT 2014 a n i r s S h a m i j a a I r D a The Global Islamic Finance Report 2014 (GIFR 2014) is a comprehensive annual k a l a h m review of the activity, trends, new developments and thinking in the Islamic fi- a r a P j I a r a nance industry. It commissions contributions from leading global practitioners a n l i l t e s l I S a l m and thinkers in the field combining technical experience and invaluable knowl- a edge and insight to propel Islamic finance forward in the post recessionary glob- al financial markets. The core theme of this year’s report is “Human Resource Development in Islamic Finance” with chapters on Islamic financial literacy as a tool for promoting Islamic finance, ethics and human resource development, need for talent ecosystem to support sustainable growth, and many others. In addition, the report also includes developments in different industry segments and asset classes, expert analysis on the state of Islamic banking and finance globally. Along with the customary sections, “Review of Industry Segments” and “Country Sketches”, the GIFR 2014 endeavours to educate and incentivise those with a stake in the industry to continue pushing the boundaries of knowledge and innovation. WHAT GIFR 2014 BRINGS TO THE INDUSTRY • Reportage and analysis of the global practices of the Islamic financial ser- vices industry in over 10 sectors • An exposition of Islamic micro-finance • Discussion on ethics and corporate social responsibility in Islamic finance • Inspire the discourse on the integration of commercial objectives and social responsibility • Building effective leadership in Islamic banking and finance • Analysis of the challenges facing the human resource development • Assessment of Islamic financial literacy as a tool for economic reform Edbiz Consulting Volume 4 - Issue 4 | NOVEMBER 2014 Islamic Finance Review | www.islamicfinancereview.co CONTENTS ISSN 2049 - 1905 05 From the Editor 06 Ethics, Rebuilding Trust in Finance & Some Lessons from Islamic Finance - Dr. Nasser Saidi 10 Sheikh Abdelkader Amor, CEO, Al- Maali Consulting Group - Interview 14 Dato’ Adnan Alias, CEO, IBFIM - Interview 18 Do I Trust You? - ISFIRE Insight 24 Risk Management in Islamic Financial Institutions - Mujtaba Khalid 30 Awqaf Properties in Malaysia - Dr. Siti Mashitoh Mahamood 34 Global Islamic Finance Awards 2014 - Special GIFA Report Editor-in-Chief Designed By What’s Wrong with the Current 48 Professor Humayon Dar Fahad Alvi Financial System - Patrick Mahdi PhD, Cambridge University [email protected] O’Neill International Editorial Board Executive Staff Dr. Mehmet Asutay Zia Ullah Zia 54 Gold and Wishful Thinking - Durham University Khuram Shehzad Rizwan Rahman Dato’ Dr. Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki Usaid Hasan Yayasan Dakwah Islamiah Malaysia Advertisements, Commercial and 55 Personality - Issam Al-Tawari Dr. Mian Farooq Haq Subscription Enquiries State Bank of Pakistan Moinuddin Malim Rizwan Malik 57 Pause for Thought - Professor E: [email protected] Alternative International Management Services Humayon Dar Professor Kabir Hassan T: +44 (0) 7791 762 047 Usaid Hasan University of New Orleans 58 Technology Entertainment and Datuk Noripah Kamso E: [email protected] T: +92 (0) 323 7533 723 Islamic Investing Revisited - Islamic Finance Expert Professor Humayon Dar Dr. Asmadi Mohamed Naim Published by University Utara Malaysia Edbiz Consulting Limited Professor Joseph Falzon 4th IFAP Pakistan - IFAP Report 4 Montpelier Street Knightbridge 64 University of Malta London SW7 1EE M. Saleem Ahmed Ranjha United Kingdom Akhuwat T: +44(0) 207 709 3050 Professor Muhamad Rahimi Osman E: [email protected] University Teknologi MARA W: www.edbizconsulting.com Dr. Usamah Ahmed Uthman King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals Printed by: Manor Creative, UK From the Editor The vision behind launching ISFIRE was to bring out opportunity by different stakeholders in the Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan, who became a publication that should serve as something similar Islamic financial services industry. Mujtaba Khalid’s our fourth GIFA Laureate this year. We also extend to HBR for Islamic finance, and I am happy to report article on operational risk management in IBF is a our special congratulations to His Excellency Najib that we are inching towards our goal. In a period of continuation of the focus on trust and risk. Within Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia, for receiving three years, ISFIRE has emerged as one of the most operational risk, reputational risk is a major concern, Global Islamic Finance Leadership Awards 2014 trusted publications in Islamic banking and finance which is directly related with the notion of trust. (Country Category) on behalf of Malaysia. (IBF). While a number of publications have gone This was in fact topic of our fourth Islamic Finance Patrick Mahdi discusses what is wrong with the out of print in the last three years, ISFIRE continues Access Programme in Pakistan (IFAP-PAK4), which Western capitalistic system and the role of fiat to grow with the industry. It is now the only print Edbiz Consulting held at COMSATS Institute of money therein. It is an interesting article, which magazine being published from London. With an Information Technology Lahore. An IFAP Report must be read in conjunction with Rizwan Rahman’s estimated size of the industry of nearly US$2 trillion, covers the event that was attended by a large brief article on the topic of gold money. My own our aim is to make ISFIRE as the top publication number of bankers from around the Lahore region. Pause for Thought in this issue is on the issue of covering all aspects of IBF. Incidentally, this is the There are two interviews included in this issue, money and inflation. These three pieces should give last issue of Volume 4 (2014); so we would like to bid which the readers will find educational as well as a balanced view on the topic to the readers. goodbye to our readers, with good wishes for 2015. inspiring. Dato’ Adnan Alias, CEO of IBFIM, shares Apple’s success has been widely discussed in the This issue of ISFIRE brings to you a number of stories with us the crucial role his organisation is playing world, including in IBF. This issue have a special and reports but perhaps the most interesting one is in developing the required talent for the Islamic focus on the treatment of entertainment in IBF, with an analysis of trust in IBF. Our special report on the financial services industry. He is certainly an a special focus on Apple’s iTune business. This issue most trusted and least trusted brands in IBF reveals inspirational personality, who is revered by his staff. is relevant to other companies running social media a story. While there has in the recent past been a His interview suggests that he believes in taking his platforms, e.g., Twitter and Facebook etc.
Recommended publications
  • The Effect of Commodity Price Shocks on Underlying Inflation: the Role of Central Bank Credibility*
    Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Globalization and Monetary Policy Institute Working Paper No. 134 http://www.dallasfed.org/assets/documents/institute/wpapers/2012/0134.pdf The Effect of Commodity Price Shocks on Underlying Inflation: The Role of Central Bank Credibility* J. Scott Davis Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas December 2012 Abstract This paper seeks to document and explain the effect of a commodity price shock on underlying core inflation, and how that effect changes both across time and across countries. Impulse responses derived from a structural VAR model show that across many countries there was a break in the response of core inflation to a commodity price shock. In an earlier period, a shock to commodity prices would lead to a large and significant increase in core inflation, but in later periods, the effect was insignificant. To explain this, we construct a large-scale DSGE model with both headline and core inflation, and most significantly, a mechanism whereby fluctuations in inflation caused by purely transitory shocks can become incorporated into long-term inflation expectations. Inflation has a trend and a cyclical component. Private agents cannot distinguish between the two, so a cyclical fluctuation in inflation may be confused for a shift in the trend component. Bayesian estimation reveals that there was a change between the earlier and the later periods in the parameter that governs the anchoring of expectations. Impulse responses derived from simulations of the model show that this change in the effect of commodity prices on core inflation is driven by the change in the anchoring of inflation expectations.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rising Thunder El Nino and Stock Markets
    THE RISING THUNDER EL NINO AND STOCK MARKETS: By Tristan Caswell A Project Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Business Administration Committee Membership Dr. Michelle Lane, Ph.D, Committee Chair Dr. Carol Telesky, Ph.D Committee Member Dr. David Sleeth-Kepler, Ph.D Graduate Coordinator July 2015 Abstract THE RISING THUNDER EL NINO AND STOCK MARKETS: Tristan Caswell Every year, new theories are generated that seek to describe changes in the pricing of equities on the stock market and changes in economic conditions worldwide. There are currently theories that address the market value of stocks in relation to the underlying performance of their financial assets, known as bottom up investing, or value investing. There are also theories that intend to link the performance of stocks to economic factors such as changes in Gross Domestic Product, changes in imports and exports, and changes in Consumer price index as well as other factors, known as top down investing. Much of the current thinking explains much of the current movements in financial markets and economies worldwide but no theory exists that explains all of the movements in financial markets. This paper intends to propose the postulation that some of the unexplained movements in financial markets may be perpetuated by a consistently occurring weather phenomenon, known as El Nino. This paper intends to provide a literature review, documenting currently known trends of the occurrence of El Nino coinciding with the occurrence of a disturbance in the worldwide financial markets and economies, as well as to conduct a statistical analysis to explore whether there are any statistical relationships between the occurrence of El Nino and the occurrence of a disturbance in the worldwide financial markets and economies.
    [Show full text]
  • Macroeconomic Effects of Falling Commodity Price: Evidence from Democratic Republic of the Congo
    Munich Personal RePEc Archive Macroeconomic effects of falling commodity price: Evidence from Democratic Republic of the Congo PINSHI, Christian P. University of Kinshasa May 2018 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/101068/ MPRA Paper No. 101068, posted 14 Jun 2020 18:40 UTC Macroeconomic effects of falling commodity price: Evidence from Democratic Republic of the Congo Christian P. Pinshi1 Abstract This paper assesses the shock impact of commodity prices on the macroeconomic framework in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Using a Vector autoregressive (VAR) model, we determine the impulses of each macroeconomic sector to lower prices. The results indicate that this shock leads to complex effects that can lead to systemic risks and crises. We suggest that it would be important for governments, given such shocks, to learn from and take immediate action to strengthen the resilience of the economy and the financial system to future shocks in based. JEL Classification: Q02, F41, E60 Keywords: Commodity prices, macroeconomic behavior 1 University of Kinshasa, [email protected] 1 1. Introduction Commodities are the economic preserve of many developing countries. They are of systemic importance in these countries, so that their economic growth is stimulated by soaring commodity prices (Helbling et al., 2008) and the dynamics of capital inflows and sovereign wealth funds. is fueled by commodity revenues. Between 2012 and 2016, there was a sharp downward shift in the prices of several commodities (Table 1). Many sub-Saharan countries exporting commodities have seen their economies enter a crisis (Banque de France, 2015) following the collapse in commodity prices.
    [Show full text]
  • Impact of Commodity Price Volatility on External Debt: the Role of Exchange Rate Regimes
    Munich Personal RePEc Archive Impact of Commodity Price Volatility on External Debt: The Role of Exchange Rate Regimes Majumderad, Monoj Kumar and Raghavan, Mala and Vespignani, Joaquin L. University of Tasmania 4 January 2021 Online at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/105269/ MPRA Paper No. 105269, posted 25 Jan 2021 14:20 UTC Impact of Commodity Price Volatility on External Debt: The Role of Exchange Rate Regimes Monoj Kumar Majumder a,d, Mala Raghavan a,b, Joaquin Vespignani a,b a Tasmanian School of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania, Australia c Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Australian National University, Australia d Department of Agricultural Economics, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Bangladesh Abstract This study explores the impact of commodity price volatility on external debt accumulation under fixed, managed, and floating regimes. We estimate dynamic panel data models for 97 countries from 1993 to 2016. Our empirical findings show that commodity price volatility increases external debt accumulation for commodity-exporting countries. This impact is three- times higher for countries with fixed exchange rate regimes compared to managed floating exchange rate regimes. Under floating exchange regimes, the effect of commodity price volatility on external debt is statistically insignificant. Our results suggest that the adoption of a floating exchange rate regime by commodity-exporting countries is critical to mitigate the effects of commodity price volatility on external debt accumulation. Keywords: Commodity price volatility, external debt, commodity-exporting countries, exchange rate regime JEL classification: E62, F31, F34, G01 Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M. K. Majumder) [email protected] (M.
    [Show full text]
  • 2020 DC HISTORIC PRESERVATION PLAN Plan Methodology Connections to Long-Range Planning B Seeking Public Views
    2020 District of Columbia Historic Preservation Plan Preserving For Progress 1 introduction 1 Preserving for progress The district of columbia’s vision for historic preservation 2 dc history and heritage 9 People and progress A legacy of visionary plans Landmarks and milestones A succession of eras 3 preservation achievements 45 What works about preservation in dc 4 preservation challenges 55 Gathering public views Balancing growth and character Protecting neighborhoods Communicating preservation basics Leading the nation Planning for preservation Evaluating available resources 5 goals, objectives, and actions 65 Setting shared goals Sustaining our progress Preservation in context A new planning cycle Recognizing historic resources Engaging communities Improving protections Maintaining our heritage 6 implementation 79 Achieving our goals 7 resources and appendices 89 Bibliography Credits and acknowledgements introduction 1 Preserving for progress Introduction Continuing on a Path Forward A Guide for Everyone Plan Organization Now well into its third century, the District of Columbia is This plan for 2020 updates the goals established in the Preservation requires collective action. Community The 2020 plan is organized in seven chapters: fortunate in the exceptional value of its cultural, historical, District’s historic preservation plan for the four years ending organizations and volunteers foster pride in our history and and architectural heritage. This is a rich and varied legacy, in 2016. That plan introduced a new framework for planning advocate for the benefits of preservation. Schools, cultural • First, it describes a common vision, and reviews our manifested not just in the city’s majestic museums and that could be sustained through regular updates in the institutions, and a multitude of congregations maintain history and heritage — Chapters 1 and 2.
    [Show full text]
  • The Foundations of the Valuation of Insurance Liabilities
    The foundations of the valuation of insurance liabilities Philipp Keller 14 April 2016 Audit. Tax. Consulting. Financial Advisory. Content • The importance and complexity of valuation • The basics of valuation • Valuation and risk • Market consistent valuation • The importance of consistency of market consistency • Financial repression and valuation under pressure • Hold-to-maturity • Conclusions and outlook 2 The foundations of the valuation of insurance liabilities The importance and complexity of valuation 3 The foundations of the valuation of insurance liabilities Valuation Making or breaking companies and nations Greece: Creative accounting and valuation and swaps allowed Greece to satisfy the Maastricht requirements for entering the EUR zone. Hungary: To satisfy the Maastricht requirements, Hungary forced private pension-holders to transfer their pensions to the public pension fund. Hungary then used this pension money to plug government debts. Of USD 15bn initially in 2011, less than 1 million remained at 2013. This approach worked because the public pension fund does not have to value its liabilities on an economic basis. Ireland: The Irish government issued a blanket state guarantee to Irish banks for 2 years for all retail and corporate accounts. Ireland then nationalized Anglo Irish and Anglo Irish Bank. The total bailout cost was 40% of GDP. US public pension debt: US public pension debt is underestimated by about USD 3.4 tn due to a valuation standard that grossly overestimates the expected future return on pension funds’ asset. (FT, 11 April 2016) European Life insurers: European life insurers used an amortized cost approach for the valuation of their life insurance liability, which allowed them to sell long-term guarantee products.
    [Show full text]
  • Empirical and Normative Economics: a Game Theoretic Approach
    Theoretical Economics Letters, 2020, 10, 655-695 https://www.scirp.org/journal/tel ISSN Online: 2162-2086 ISSN Print: 2162-2078 Empirical and Normative Economics: A Game Theoretic Approach Frederick Betz Institute for Policy Models, Enumclaw, WA, USA How to cite this paper: Betz, F. (2020). Abstract Empirical and Normative Economics: A Game Theoretic Approach. Theoretical Eco- An important problem in public finance is the interaction of public finance with nomics Letters, 10, 655-695. private finance—particularly when private financial markets crash, then bank https://doi.org/10.4236/tel.2020.103042 runs occur, and a central bank needs to bail out the banks to prevent an eco- Received: March 2, 2020 nomic depression. Historically, private financial markets have periodically Accepted: June 25, 2020 crashed (financial bubbles); and then public finance (central bank reserves) have Published: June 28, 2020 sometimes bailed out banks, to prevent a depression. The reason this pattern (of Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and a lack of regulation to prevent financial bubbles, but then bailing out banks) Scientific Research Publishing Inc. has historically recurred has been the use of an idealized economic theory of This work is licensed under the Creative “perfect market”—used in economic policy to avoid appropriate regulation of Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). a financial market. In this research, we formulate a “game-theoretic ap- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ proach” to include financial regulation as an explicit part of the model of a Open Access financial market. Future research direction from this game approach can ex- tend the traditional “endogenous economic theory of markets” into an em- pirical modeling technique—which can ground economic theory in the real history of market instabilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Economics and National Security: the Dangers of Overcommitment
    Chapter 10 Economics and National Security: The Dangers of Overcommitment David P.H. Denoon† s the global economy races ahead, more and more demands for U.S. security services are surfacing throughout the world. With this rapidly evolving sce- Anario comes a pressing need for the United States to study the situation care- fully and develop a comprehensive strategy in this arena. How best to proceed, from an economist’s point of view, is explored in this chapter. The crux of the problem is the growing connection between the global economy and security policy, including defense plans. The fact that such a connection exists should come as no surprise, for national policy saw these entities as connected during the Cold War. During that conflict, containment strategy sought to bottle up the So- viet bloc and employed a strong defense effort to support it. In tandem, U.S. policy also sought sustained economic growth across the entire Western alliance system, both to achieve prosperity and to build strategic strength for containment. In the cur- rent era of globalization, policies for security and economics must still be blended, but in ways different from those of the past. The United States has an interest in fos- tering worldwide economic growth as one way to help promote peace. It also needs an active security policy to address the turmoil and dangers that have bubbled up in the wake of the Cold War. A strong U.S. defense posture will be needed. It should be guided by economic thinking not only in using scarce resources wisely but also in being selective about military involvement and in prodding allies to contribute more to common defense burdens.
    [Show full text]
  • A Regional Study of Secular and Sectarian Orphanages and Their Response to Progressive Era Child-Saving Reforms, 1880-1930
    Closer Connections: A Regional Study of Secular and Sectarian Orphanages and Their Response to Progressive Era Child-Saving Reforms, 1880-1930 A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In the Department of History of the College of Arts and Sciences by Debra K. Burgess B.A. University of Cincinnati June 2012 M.A. University of Cincinnati April 2014 Committee Chair: Mark A. Raider, Ph.D. 24:11 Abstract Closer Connections: A Regional Study of Secular and Sectarian Orphanages and Their Response to Progressive Era Child-Saving Reforms, 1880-1930 by Debra K. Burgess Child welfare programs in the United States have their foundation in the religious traditions brought to the country up through the late nineteenth century by immigrants from many European nations. These programs were sometimes managed within the auspices of organized religious institutions but were also found among the ad hoc efforts of religiously- motivated individuals. This study analyzes how the religious traditions of Catholicism, Judaism, and Protestantism established and maintained institutions of all sizes along the lines of faith- based dogma and their relationship to American cultural influences in the Midwest cities of Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh during the period of 1880-1930. These influences included: the close ties between (or constructive indifference exhibited by) the secular and sectarian stakeholders involved in child-welfare efforts, the daily needs of children of immigrants orphaned by parental disease, death, or desertion, and the rising influence of social welfare professionals and proponents of the foster care system.
    [Show full text]
  • Asymmetric Information and Financial Crises: a Historical Perspective
    This PDF is a selection from an out-of-print volume from the National Bureau of Economic Research Volume Title: Financial Markets and Financial Crises Volume Author/Editor: R. Glenn Hubbard, editor Volume Publisher: University of Chicago Press Volume ISBN: 0-226-35588-8 Volume URL: http://www.nber.org/books/glen91-1 Conference Date: March 22-24,1990 Publication Date: January 1991 Chapter Title: Asymmetric Information and Financial Crises: A Historical Perspective Chapter Author: Frederic S. Mishkin Chapter URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c11483 Chapter pages in book: (p. 69 - 108) Asymmetric Information and Financial Crises: A Historical Perspective Frederic S. Mishkin In recent years there has been a growing concern with the fragility of the financial system. Increasing defaults on junk bonds and the stock market crash of October 1987 have raised the specter of major financial crises which might inflict severe damage on the economy. Policymakers, particularly those in the central bank, are faced with the questions of what they should do to prevent financial crises and what their response should be when a financial crises ap- pears imminent. In order to start providing intelligent answers to these ques- tions, we must first understand the nature of financial crises and how they might affect the aggregate economy. This paper seeks to understand the nature of financial crises by examining their history in the United States using the new and burgeoning literature on asymmetric information and financial structure, which has been excellently surveyed recently by Gertler (1988a). After describing how an asymmetric information approach helps to understand the nature of financial crises, the paper focuses on a historical examination of a series of financial crises in the United States, beginning with the panic of 1857 and ending with the stock market crash of 19 October 1987.
    [Show full text]
  • WERTHAN Family Early Generations
    The Werthan Family of Rotenburg an der Fulda Hesse Kassel This book is the work of an amateur Jewish genealogist. I have made every effort to refrain from offending anyone in the book, and have tried to make this work as accurate as possible, stating my doubts in places where I am unsure. Any comments, suggestions, corrections, questions or criticism should be directed to me personally. The cover photo is of Breitenstrasse, the main street of Rotenburg. This book is self-published and is printed in Tel Aviv, Israel, 2010. © Ellen Stepak, Ramat Gan, Israel Dedicated to the memory of those who have gone before To my beloved mother Lorry, descendant of the Werthan family And to my three children, Avner, Amir, Raquel and their families Foreword Every family’s story is unique. We may be part of a pattern, but still we are unique. As to the pattern, at the time our first ancestors emigrated, in the mid-19th century, there was a “wave” of immigration to the United States from Germany. At first our ancestors were very poor. Gradually the standard of living improved. And some of the Werthan descendants have done very well indeed. Along with this improved economic status came improved education, and also migration to other parts of the United States (and Israel). And, inevitably came assimilation, which is part of the pattern of Americanization, and seems impossible to avoid. In this book, I describe a journey of discovery, from knowing very little about the family, to finding names of members of four more generations of ancestors, as well as filling out branches sideways on the tree.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Interest Rate Policy in the Generation and Propagation of Business Cycles: What Has Changed Since the 30’S?
    The Role of Interest Rate Policy in the Generation and Propagation of Business Cycles: What Has Changed Since the 30’s? by Christopher A. Sims Pre-conference draft #2, June 19, 1998 Post-conference draft revised August 19, 1998 Introduction Governments have two broad classes of macroeconomic impact. One has to do with the way government liabilities, including cash, interact with other traded assets in the financial system. The other has to do with government absorption and production of real resources through non- neutral taxation and provision of government goods and services like roads, schooling and public health measures. There is some evidence that fluctuations in the latter class of impact are important1, and it can be shown theoretically that the effects could be substantial and are hard to pin down quantitatively on the basis of a priori reasoning2. Policy discussion and the macroeconomic literature may have overemphasized the former, financial class of impacts. Nonetheless, this paper focuses on the financial impact. It presents empirical evidence, similar to much that has appeared previously using time series statistical modeling, that only a small portion of business cycle variation in the US since 1948 can be attributed to fluctuations in monetary policy. Though this conclusion is not universally accepted, it is far from new. This paper therefore goes on to consider two additional possible ways of demonstrating important effects of monetary policy. It expands the usual time frame of the literature, extending its model to the interwar period, and it examines the behavior of the model with counterfactual variations in the equation describing policy behavior.
    [Show full text]