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We explore whether lenders’ decisions to provide liquidity in periods of distress are affected by the extent to which they internalize the negative spillovers of industry downturns. We conjecture that high-market-share lenders are more likely to internalize negative spillovers and show that they provide liquidity to industries in distress when fire sales are likely to ensue. High-market-share lenders also provide liquidity to customers and suppliers of distressed industries when the disruption of supply chains is expected to be costly. Our results suggest a novel channel to explain why credit concentration may favor financial stability.

We document in the Survey of Income and Program Participation covering the period 1990–2013 that a surprisingly large share of workers return to their previous employer after a jobless spell, and experience very different unemployment and employment outcomes than job switchers. The probability of recall is much less procyclical and volatile than the probability of finding a new employer. We add to a quantitative, and otherwise canonical, search-and-matching model of the labor market a recall option, which can be activated freely following aggregate and job-specific productivity shocks. Recall and search effort significantly amplify the cyclical volatility of new job-finding and separation probabilities.

We build a model in which the Fed and the market disagree about future aggregate demand. The market anticipates monetary policy “mistakes,” which affect current demand and induce the Fed to partially accommodate the market’s view. The Fed expects to implement its view gradually. Announcements that reveal an unexpected change in the Fed’s belief provide a microfoundation for monetary policy shocks. Tantrum shocks arise when the market misinterprets the Fed’s belief and overreacts to its announcement. Uncertainty about tantrums motivates further gradualism and communication. Finally, disagreements affect the market’s expected inflation and induce a policy trade-off similar to “cost-push” shocks.

Firm values can substantially change between the time deal terms are set and the actual deal closing, risking renegotiation, or termination. We find increases in market volatility decrease subsequent deal activity, but only for public targets subject to an interim period. The effect is strongest when volatility is highest, for deals taking longer to close, and for larger targets. Merging parties attempt to shorten the interim window as risk increases. Firmand industry-level uncertainty measures reveal similar findings, ruling out an unobserved macro variable. We conclude interim uncertainty contributes to understanding the timing and intensity of public firms' merger activity.

Special IssueSites in Contestation: Reading Contemporary Popular Culture in AfricaZoë Wicomb. Race, Nation, Translation: South African Essays, 1990- 2013. Edited by Andrew van der Vlies. Johannesburg: U of Witwatersrand P, 2018. 352 pp. ISBN 978-1-77614-324-5I am at a bit of a loss to know quite what to say about what is self-evidently a superb and long overdue collection of the seminal essays of one of South Africa’s most intellectually formidable and uncompromising literary and cultural critics (and authors), especially since the volume so obviously recommends itself. Beautifully presented (with a stunning cover photo by Wicomb’s partner, Roger Palmer) and meticulously edited and introduced by Andrew van der Vlies, Race, Nation, Translation: South African Essays, 1990-2013 has been published simultaneously by the Wits and Harvard University Presses, and contains sixteen essays in total, spanning three decades from the early nineties to the mid-2010s. The essays are, however, not arranged chronologically, but have been divided thematically into “Part I: Hearing the Variety of Discourses” and “Part II: Intertextuality and the Postcolonial Author,” the subtitles of which are derived from two of Wicomb’s most influential pieces, published in 1990 and 2004/5 respectively. Part III consists of an in-depth interview with Wicomb, conducted by van der Vlies in 2017 and subtitled “Intertextualities, Interdiscourses and Intersectionalities.” Here the writer revisits some of her earlier positions, responding with both candour and generosity to van der Vlies’s questions: no doubt readers already familiar with her work will find this interview quite fascinating.

Based on Rosstat data and Input-Output tables developed by the IEF RAS, we study the changes in the price system, in production technologies, in the proportions of income distribution, and in the structure of final demand, that have been observed since the early 1990s. The paper also estimates the effect of these shifts on the dynamics and branch structure of gross output.

The author asserts that while many economists so policy-relevant research, economists are not trained in graduate schools or as academics on how to contribute to actual policy development or policy formation.

This paper considers Ireland's growth prospects through 2030. Real GDP growth averaging 3 per cent per year is possible but will require a stronger labour productivity growth performance than is currently projected by OECD. Success depends on a favourable external environment and would be jeopardised by a return to the pre-crisis \"bubble economy\" but can be underpinned by exploiting the remaining scope for catch-up growth. \"Appropriate growth theory\" provides a useful lens through which to review Ireland's growth policy and performance as a \"close-to-frontier\" economy and this underlines the importance of further strengthening and rationalising innovation policies. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]