José Sanchez Fung has presented "Examining the role of monetary aggregates in China" to the research seminar series of the Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT).

Economics Letters is publishing 'Catholic schooling and further education' by Young-Joo Kim in its March 2012 issue. This paper shows uses longtitudinal data from the USA that attending a Catholic high school has a
permanent impact on educational attainment.

Paul Auerbach presents The Giant Firm as a Model of Socialist Co-ordination: How the Centrally Planned Economy was Inspired by the Second Industrial Revolution to the Modern and Comparative Economic History Seminar Group at the LSE.

With sadness, we note the passing of Emeritus Professor Subrata Ghatak, who has unexpectedly suffered a fatal heart attack. Subrata led our research activities from 1997 until his retirement in 2005, since when he continued a close association with the School. His passing is mourned by an extensive network of friends and colleagues throughout the UK and abroad. A funeral will take place on Saturday 21 January 2012 at 9.45am at the Heart of England Crematorium, Heart of England Way, Nuneaton, Warwickshire CV11 6WZ, England.

The International Journal of Economic Issues has published Financial Liberalisation and Endogenous Growth in Bangladesh: cointegration analysis with regime shifts by Subrata Ghatak and Jalal Siddiki, as pages 191-207 of its July-December 2011 issue. This paper identifies a long-run relationship between growth and financial liberalisation when regime shifts are incorporated into the empirical analysis.

A book launch for “A Modern Guide To Keynesian Macroeconomics And Economic Policies”, edited by Eckhard Hein and Engelbert Stockhammer, takes place on Tuesday, 8 November 2011, 5.30 – 7.30 pm at UCL, organised by the Post Keynesian Economics Study Group.

The Oxford Review of Economic Policy (2011 27: 295-311) has published "Wage norms, capital accumulation, and unemployment: a post-Keynesian view" by Engelbert Stockhammer.

Dr. Simrit Kaur, Professor of Public Policy at the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, India, begins a three-week visit to establish collaborative research projects.

Metropolis Verlag have published the volume Stabilising an unequal economy? Public debt, financial regulation and income distribution (ISBN: 978-3895188787), co-edited by Engelbert Stockhammer

An article in the Guardian newspaper (page 5 in G2 on 09.08.11) referred to work by Engelbert Stockhammer to support its argument for wage-led economic recovery in the Eurozone. Wage-led growth was the focus of a research workshop organised by our Political Economy Research Group in June 2011.

The journal Economic Modelling publishes 'Estimating monetary policy reaction functions for emerging market economies: the case of Brazil' by José Sanchez Fung: vol. 28(4), pp: 1730-8

Engelbert Stockhammer presents 'Determinants of functional income distribution' to the conference Regulating for Decent Work: Regulating for a Fair Recovery at the International Labour Office in Geneva.

Engelbert Stockhamer gives an invited lecture, "The finance-dominated accumulation regime, polarisation of income distribution and the crisis", at the 2011 Summer School of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) in Rome.

A one day workshop organised by the Political Economy Research Group (PERG) under the title 'Wage-led growth – An alternative to finance-led capitalism?' attracted speakers and participants from universities and other national and international organisations.

The International Journal of Economics and Finance has accepted for publication in November 2011 “Asymmetric Effects in Emerging Stock Markets-The case of Iran’s stock market” by PhD student Seyyed Ali Paytakhti Oskooe.

Final year student, Katerina Petrova, was honoured at the University's annual Teaching and Learning Awards ceremony. Katerina received an award and prize for her work as a student representative on course committees.

Engelbert Stockhammer presents "Income distribution and the causes of the crisis" to the symposium Getting Out of the Crisis: the role of distribution at the Centre d’Économie de l’Université Paris Nord (CEPN), Paris.

Julian Wells presents "Fat Cats and Fat Tails" (details below) to the Sixth Forum of the World Association for Political Economy on Responses to Capitalist Crisis: Neoliberalism and Beyond, May 27 to May 29, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA, USA.

Hong Li presents China’s Stock Market Reforms and its International Stock Market Linkages at the Brunel Macroeconomic Research Centre Conference on Macro and Financial Economics, 24/5/2011 at Brunel University.

Julian Wells is presenting 'Fat Cats and Fat Tails' at the IIPPE (International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy) 2nd international conference: Neoliberalism and the Crises of Economic Science, May 20-22, Istanbul University. This paper explores, from the perspective of prababalistic marxism, some implications of kurtosis ('fat tails') in the probability distributions of returns to financial assets.

José Sánchez-Fung convenes a workshop - The Dominican Republic: Issues and Prospects, at the University of London's Institute for the Study of the Americas. Paper presenters are from the UK, the USA, the UN and the Dominican Republic.

The Romanian Journal of Economic Forecasting has published "Why Don't they Move from the Rural to the Urban Areas? Inter-regional Migration in Romania" by Subrata Ghatak and Monica PopSilaghi (Babes Bolyai U.) in its March 2011 issue.

The International Journal of Public Policy has published 'Peripheral Europe's debt and German wages: the role of wage policy in the Euro area' by Engelbert Stockhammer: vol 7 (1-3): 83-96. The paper argues that the debt crises in the EU periphery must be seen in the context of EMU-wide macroeconomic accounts. The peripheral countries can only solve their public debt problems if there is a change in German current account surpluses. The paper explores the implications of this for wage policy in the Euro zone.

The Economics of Education Review has published 'Catholic schools or school quality? The effects of Catholic schools on labor market outcomes' by Young-Joo Kim: vol. 30, 546–558. This is Young-Joo's first puublication since completing her PhD. Using a longitudinal earnings survey, coupled with data on Schools’ characteristics, she investigates the effects of schooling on wages and finds that Catholic schooling is associated with higher wages, with teacher quality and the number of mathematics courses seeming to matter the most for students’ later earnings.

The journal Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies has published A note on modelling economic growth determinants in the Dominican Republic by José Sanchez Fung, with Susan Pozo (W. Michigan) and Amelia U. Santos-Paulino (U.N.). This paper identifies globalisation, the USA economy, government expenditures and market distiortions as all having a significant impact on the growth rate of the Dominican Republic.

Engelbert Stockhammer and Erik Klär: Capital accumulation, labour market institutions and unemployment in the medium run has been published in the Cambridge Journal of Economics : vol 35(2), pages 437-457.

‘Neoliberalism, Income Distribution and the Causes of the Crisis’ by Engelbert Stockhammer has been published in: Philip Arestis, Rogério Sobreira, José Luis Oreiro (eds., 2011): The 2008 Financial Crisis, Financial Regulation and Global Impact. Volume 1 The Financial Crisis: Origins and Implications. (Palgrave Macmillan)

Andrea Ingianni has received the award of PhD from Kingston University for a thesis entitled Output convergence in the Central and Eastern European member countries

ALi Shamsavari's lectures on Transnational Corporations and World Development have been published by Pearson Custom Publishing

Engelbert Stockhammer presents 'Greek Debt and German Wages' at the conference Economic Policy: In Search of an Alternative Paradigm at Middlesex University, London.

The article “The Effect of Wages and Demographic Pressure on Migration from the Habsburg Monarchy to the United States of America in 1910” by Engelbert Stockhammer (with A. Steidl and H. Zeitlhofer) has appeared in Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte 2010, 2, pages 201-221: Berlin, Akademie Verlag: ISSN 00752800

The article “Globalization and the effects of changes in functional income distribution on aggregate demand in Germany” by Engelbert Stockhammer (with E. Hein and G. Grafl) is forthcoming in the International Review of Applied Economics, Volume 25 Issue 1, 1-23.

Vince Daly presents Convergence Testing and Modelling as the opening keynote address at the Quantitative Methods in Economics conference at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj Napoca (Romania).

José Sanchez-Fung has co-authored with Susan Pozo (W. Michigan) and Amelia U. Santos-Paulino (UNU WIDER) Working Paper No. 2010/115 "Economic Development Strategies in the Dominican Republic" at the World Institute for Development Economics Research. The authors argue that diversification of production, special economic zones and international openness are the key features of development strategies in the DR.

Monetary Economics in Developing Countries, the textbook by Subrata Ghatak and José Sanchez-Fung, has received a favourable review in the Journal of International Development (22: 1042–1043)

Engelbert Stockhammer was a member of the organising committee for the IMK conference "Stabilising an Unequal Economy? - Public Debt, Financial Regulation, and Income Distribution." As well as chairing the session on "Modelling financial fragility" he gave an invited lecture on "A Post Keynesian model of demand, distribution, inflation and employment" and presented a research paper: "Why have wage shares fallen in OECD countries? Determinants of functional income distribution".

Willem Spanjers presents Liquidity Provision, Ambiguous Asset Returns and the Financial Crisis to the 14th Conference of the Research Network for Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies (FMM): Stabilizing an unequal economy? Public Debt, Financial Regulation, and Income Distribution in Berlin on 29th – 30th October 2010

The Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money has accepted for publication: Assessing McCallum and Taylor rules in a cross-section of emerging market economies co-authored by José Sanchez-Fung and Aaron Mehrotra (Bank of Finland).

The International Research Journal of Finance and Economics has published "The Random Walk Hypothesis in an Emerging Stock Market" by PhD student S. Ali Paytakhti Oskoee, co-authored with Hong Li and Ali Shamsavari.

Fidelma Murphy joins the School as a lecturer in Economics, following doctoral studies at Galway, Ireland. Fidelma’s research interests are in Political Economy, currently focussing on the consequences for employer/employee relations that follow from the increasing ease with which operational facilities can be relocated internationally.

Aaron Mehrotra (Bank of Finland) and José R. Sánchez-Fung have co-authored “China’s monetary policy and the exchange rate” as Discussion paper 10/2010 at the Bank of Finland’s Institute for Economies in Transition.

The Review of Finance publish Asymmetric Momentum Under Uncertainty by D Kelsey (Exter), R Kozhan (Warwick) and W Pang. This article demonstrates how conditions of Knightian uncertainty can have an asymmetric impact on market momentum, adding weight to downward trends.

José Sanchez Fung has been awarded University of London funding to organise a workshop on the topic of 'The Dominican Republic: Issues and prospects' at the Institute for the Study of the Americas.

José Sanchez-Fung’s paper, “A note on modelling economic growth determinants in the Dominican Republic, written with with Susan Pozo (W. Michigan) and Amelia U. Santos-Paulino (UNU-WIDER) has been accepted for publication by the journal Macroeconomics And Finance In Emerging Market Economies.

In addition to his work with Susan Pozo - Western Michigan U., and Amelia U. Santos-Paulino - United Nations U., José Sanchez-Fung has also co-authored "Monetary policy and the exchange rate in China" with Aaron Mehrotra - Bank of Finland, which is now forthcoming in the journal Comparative Economic Studies.

Dr. Engelbert Stockhammer has been promoted from Senior Lecturer to Professor in the School of Economics.

Kingston University has formally confirmed the award of PhD to Peter Prazmowski. Doctor Prazmowski's research and thesis - "Essays on Stabilisation", was supervised by Dr. José Sanchez Fung and Prof. Subrata Ghatak.

Our Economics research students' conference was opened by Nick Butler, as the newly appointed Head of School of Economics. The conference featured student presentations on economic developments in Iran and Syria: see our research degrees pages for details.

The School's Political Economy Research Group is organising a one day workshop on 15 June: 'Beyond the Headlines', to explore the political economy of the global financial and economic crisis.

Willem Spanjers presents Undervaluation and Overvaluation of Assets in the Presence of Ambiguity, co-authored with Wei Pang, at the Rimini Conference in Economics and Finance, 10th - 13th June.

Our latest Economics Discussion papers are 2010/2: "Birth Order, Gender and Schooling" by Young-Joo Kim and 2010/3: "Outsourcing: a Critique of the Value-Chain Model" by Ali Shamsavari.

The Vice Chancellor has appointed Nick Butler to be the Head of School of Economics. Prior to his appointment, Nick was a Principle Lecturer within the School and undertaking the duties of Head on an acting basis, following Vince Daly's retirement from the post.

The guest editor for the EEFS 2009 special issue of the Review of Development Economics has accepted for publication “Monetary Policy Rules for Transition Economies: An Empirical Analysis” by Subrata Ghatak and Tomoe Moore (Brunel).

'Asymmetric Momentum Effects Under Uncertainty', by Wei Pang and co-authors David Kelsey (Exeter) and Roman Kozhan (Warwick), has been listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for papers in the area of Behavioral Economics.

CXO, a financial research reviewing service, feature the new working paper Asymmetric Momentum Effects Under Uncertainty co-authored by Wei Pang, with David Kelsey (Exeter) and Roman Kozhan (Warwick).

Alan Mulhern gives a public lecture: 'The Great Recession - new insights on the economic crisis'.

Willem Spanjers presents Liquidity Provision, Ambiguous Asset Returns and the Financial Crisis at the international workshop on Liquidity and Trust in Incomplete Markets organised jointly by the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS) and Deutsche Bundesbank.

Dr. Young-joo Kim has published "Head Start, four years after completing the program" as Economics Discussion Paper 2010/1. This paper uses survey data to investigate the value of a pre-school support program in terms of pupil performance in early school years. The benefits of the program are found to vary between ethnic groups and in some cases appear to be insubstantial.

How productive is optimism? the Impact of ambiguity on the big push, by David Kelsey (Exeter) and Wei Pang is published in the Economics Bulletin, vol. 30 Issue1, pp. 855-865

The International Journal of Economics Issues publishes Small Firms and Diverging Regions: The Case of Poland by Alan Mulhern.

Doctoral student Vina Theodorakopoulou publishes Consumer Debt Decisions: The Role of Ambiguity in the International Journal of Economics Issues

Willem Spanjers has co-authored with Wei Liu, of the United Nations, Social Capital and Credit Constraints in Informal Finance. This paper has been published in the International Journal of Economics Issues 2(2) July-December 2009, pp 187-207

Rob Watkins contributes a short article syurveying the literature on 'assessment of group work' to a briefing document produced by the Centre for BioScience at the Higher Education Academy. This follows Rob's earlier chapter on 'group work' for the Economics teachers' handbook published by the Academy.

José Sánchez-Fung's paper, "Assessing Mccallum and Taylor Rules in a Cross-Section of Emerging Market Economies", has been listed on the SSRN Top Ten download list for Econometric Modeling in Macroeconomics.

Vince Daly presented a summary account of the origins of the financial crisis at a "Moral Maze" event at Southwark Cathedral: "Greed or Need? What have we learned from the financial crash?"

Willem Spanjers presents a paper to a workshop on “Liquidity and Trust in Incomplete Markets” at the University of Freiburg.

Dr. José R. Sanchez-Fung and João R. Faria (U. Texas, El Paso) have co-authored ‘The economy and the environment in the Dominican Republic and Haiti: what explains the differences?’ as Economics Discussion Paper 2009/3. This paper demonstrates how extending standard neoclassical growth models to recognise the use and maintenance of natural resources can explain the contrast between Haiti and the DR with regards to their economic and environmental development .

Prof. Subrata Ghatak and Monica Pop Silaghi (Babes Bolyai, Romania) have co-authored ‘Inter-regional migration in Romania’ as Economics Discussion Paper 2009/4. This paper assesses the extent to which relative wage rates and relative unemployment levels have influenced inter-regional migration, finding evidence only for the former.

Willem Spanjers begins a period of secondment as Full Professor (Acting) to the Institute for Research in Economic Evolution at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

José R. Sánchez-Fung presents “China's Monetary Policy and the Exchange Rate” to The Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT) seminar participants.

'Assessing McCallum and Taylor rules in a cross-section of emerging market economies' by Aaron Mehrotra (Bank of Finland) and José R. Sanchez-Fung was presented at the 7th Emerging Markets Workshop in Madrid, sponsored by the Banco de Espana.

The American Economic Association has accepted Monetary policy and the exchange rate in China by José Sanchez-Fung and Aaron Mehrotra (Bank of Finland) for presentation at its annual meetings, to be held in Atlanta on January 3-5, 2010. This paper is an outcome of Dr. Sanchez-Fung's research visit to the Bank of Finland.

'Testing the balanced growth hypothesis: evidence from China', by Hong Li and Vince Daly, has been published in Empirical Economics. This paper finds some evidence of (neo)classical balanced growth prior to China's economic reforms but not thereafter.

Applied Economics Letters has published ‘The twin deficits in OECD countries: cointegration analysis with regime shifts’ by Vince Daly and Jalal Siddiki in its July/August issue. This paper argues that conclusions concerning the interdependence of budget deficits and current account deficits are sensitive to whether or not the econometric methods recognise structural breaks.

Vince Daly has retired as Head of School of Economics, having occupied the post since 1988. Vince will continue to work within the School as Director of Research.

The Journal of Economic Integration has published "Real Convergence in the New Member States: Myth or Reality?" by Andrea Ingianni and Václav Zdárek (Prague). This paper demonstrates that conclusions concerning growth convergence are sensitive to the methodology employed.

Wei Pang and David Kelsey (Exeter) have published ‘How Productive is Optimism: a Simple Keynes-type “Big Push” Model’ as Economics Discussion Paper 2009/2. This paper uses formal modelling of ambiguity within the context of industrialisation to show how pessimism may cause economies to settle in a sub-optimal state.

The Vice Chancellor has appointed Vince Daly, the Head of School of Economics, to be a Professor. Vince’s field of expertise is applied econometrics.

Wei Pang, Christian Richter and Willem Spanjers were local organisers for an international (INFER) workshop hosted by the School of Economics. The workshop focus was “The Credit Crunch: Financial Regulation and Monetary Policy under Market (In)efficiencies” The keynote speaker was Prof. Andrew Hughes Hallett (George Mason University, USA), with further papers presented by workshop participants.

The International Network for Economics Research (INFER) has published a collection of papers, edited by Willem Spanjers, under the title "Monetary Policy, Trade and Convergence". These are a selection of the papers presented to INFER workshops on "Monetary Policy in Emerging Markets" and "Trade, Convergence and Factor Mobility" that were held previously at Kingston.

Alan Mulhern and John Watson (Aplicaciones Estadisticas, Madrid) have published "Spanish Internal Migration: is there anything new to say" as Economics Discussion Paper 2009/1. This paper demonstrates empirical support for traditional explanations of internal migration when this is examined at the provincial, rather than regional, level.

As part of our "Research-informed teaching" activities, Prof. Philip Arestis (Cambridge) made a presentation to undergraduate students enitled "Financial Crises: Regulatory and Policy Implications".

Charles van Marrewijk (Utrecht), Professor of International Economics and Director of the Tjalling C. Koopmans Institute, visited the School of Economics as part of the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences visiting professors programme. Prof. van Marrewijk met with staff and research students in the School of Economics to advise on their research projects and also gave an open lecture dealing with the linkages between cross-border mergers and acquisitions and issues associated with pollution and natural resources.

The journal, Spatial Economic Analysis, has published "Spanish Internal Migration: Is there Anything New to Say?" by Alan Mulhern and John Watson. This article applies spatial econometrics to recent data on migration between Spanish provinces. It finds that, at this level of regional disaggregation, an augmented Harris-Todara model for migration, incorporating a spatial dimension in the error structures, has good explanatory power.

The Journal of Financial Decision Making have published "Financial Repression and Economic Growth in Pakistan:A Co-integration Analysis", co-authored by Subrata Ghatak and former PhD student, Dr. Rafiq Chandio.

The Journal of International Trade and Economic Development has published "Trade and Migration flows between some CEE countries and the UK" by Subrata Ghatak, Monica Pop Silaghi (Babes-Bolya, Romanaia) and Vince Daly. This paper finds some evidence that migration flows have led to increased international trade.

(25/3/2009) Marianne Schulze-Ghattas, economist at the International Monetary Fund, presents 'Crisis and contagion: deja vu or all new?' to an audience of students and staff.

Dr Willem Spanjers has been appointed as Managing Editor of the International Journal of Economic Issues.

Pluto Press has published "Cyprus: the post-imperial constitution" by Vassilis Fouskas (Piraeus University) and Alex Tackie. This book argues the case for an independent and united Cyprus.

Prof. David Kelsey (Exeter) visited the School of Economics to present a paper drawing on his current research into decision-making under ambiguity and to discuss this area of research with colleagues working on related topics.

Routledge have published Development Macroeconomics: Essays in Memory of Anita Ghatak, edited by Subrata Ghatak and Paul Levine (Surrey). These essays include The Asian crisis and macroeconomic development By Willem Spanjers and Monetary policy rules and the impact of ambiguity in transition economies by Subrata Ghatak and Willem Spanjers.

The journal, The World Economy, has accepted for publication " Economics in the Backyard: How much Convergence is there between China and her Special Regions?" by Andrew Hughes Hallett (George Mason) and Christian Richter.

Willem Spanjers gave his analysis of the current global downturn and liquidity crisis in an edition of the "Fine Print" current affairs programme broadcast by Press TV.

The results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise show that all of our assessed research activity is considered to meet national standards in terms of significance, originality and rigour. The great majority is assessed as deserving international recognition and a significant proportion of this has been judged excellent (and some "world-leading") in relation to international standards.

Willem Spanjers joined a panel discussion broadcast by international news channel, Press TV. The main topic for discussion was the global economic and financial context of the G20 summit.

Luis Fernandez, a graduate of our Business and Economic Forecasting MSc course, now working in the commercial sector, has co-authored 'On Democratizing Financial Turmoil: A Minskyan Analysis of the Subprime Crisis ' as Working Paper #548 of the Levy Economics Institute, New York. Luisa's contribution draw on her experience working for Maryland's Housing Department after her MSc course.

The journal Spatial Economic Analysis has accepted for publication 'Spanish Internal Migration: Is there anything new to say?', written by Alan Mulhern and John Watson. (John was previously Alan's undergraduate student in the School of Economics.)

Subrata Ghatak and Tomoe Moore (Brunel) have published 'Monetary Policy Rules for Transition Economies: an empirical analysis' as Kingston University Economics Discussion Paper # 2008/5. This paper argues that the 'Taylor Rule' description of central bank policy actions is less evident in transition economies than it is in developed economies.

The INFER workshop on Globalisation Integration and Transition, at Babes-Bolyai univerrsity, Romania, included three of our papers. Andrea Ingianni presented "Trade and output convergence in the new members of the European Union"; Willem Spanjers presented "The Asian crisis and macroeconomic development: the impact of ambiguity" and the conference papesr also included "Interregional migration in Romania during Transition" by Subrata Ghatak and Monica Pop Silaghi (Babes-Bolyai).

Dr. José Sanchez-Fung has been invited to join the group of Associate Fellows of the Institute for the Study of the Americas. This Institute, within the University of London, promotes, coordinates and provides a focus for research and postgraduate teaching on the Americas.

The Journal of Developing Areas, in its Fall 2008 issue, has published “Money demand in a dollarizing economy: The case of the Dominican Republic” by Dr. José R. Sánchez-Fung.

The China Economic Journal has accepted for publication 'Forecasting Inflation in China' by José Sanchez-Fung and co-author Aaron Mehrotra (Bank of Finland).

Applied Economics Letters have published 'Measuring Inflation Targeting's Impact on the Macroeconomy' by José Sánchez-Fung in their October 2008 issue. This paper offers evidence to suggest that Inflation Targeting policies are effective in both developed and also emerging market economies.

Willem Spanjers joined the presenter of 'Behind the Headlines' at Press TV to give his analysis of events in the financial markets and other headline news stories.

Empirical Economics have published 'Testing the balanced growth hypothesis: Evidence from China' by Hong Li and Vince Daly, on-line at DOI: 10.1007/s00181-008-0229-7. This paper finds some evidence for common stochastic trends in major macroeconomic aggregates but less evidence, particularly in China’s post-liberalisation period, for the parameter restrictions that would imply stationarity of the ‘great ratios’, as is required by the balanced growth hypothesis.

Ali Shamsavari and Mehdi Majidpour (National Research Institute for Science Policy: Tehran, Iran) have published “Innovation In Technology Transfer: Host-Oriented Strategic R&D Alliance” as Economics Discussion paper 2008/4. This paper proposes a new model for technology transfer, illustrating it with a case study of an alliance between Iranian and German enterprises.

Julian Wells, with co-organisers from the Open University and the University of Minnesota, welcome conference delegates from around the world to Probabilistic Political Economy -
"Laws of Chaos" in the 21st Century, a conference at Kingston University to celebrate 25 years since the publication of Farjoun and Machover's book, "Laws of Chaos".

Dr. José R. Sánchez-Fung is presenting “Development strategies and economic growth in the Dominican Republic”, written with Professor Susan Pozo (W Michigan U) and Dr Amelia U. Santos-Paulino (UNU-WIDER) in the Conference Country role models for development success at the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) in Helsinki, Finland, 13-14 June 2008.

'Forecasting Inflation in China', co-authored by José R. Sánchez-Fung and Aaron Mehrotra (Bank of Finland) as Discussion Paper 2/2008 in the Bank of Finland’s Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT) series, was recently included in SSRN's Top Ten download list for its ERN Government & Public Agency Research Paper Series.

Prof. Srikanta Chatterjee and Dr. Rukmani Gounder, both of Massey University, NZ, are visiting Kingston's School of Economics with a view to initiating joint research projects.

Dr. Willem Spanjers has published 'The Asian Crisis and Macroeconomic Development: the Impact of Ambiguity' as Economics Discussion Paper 2008/3. This paper provides a framework for the analysis of growth, uncertainty and crisis, employing the concept of incalculable risk - 'ambiguity'.

Dr M A B Siddique, Director of the Trade, Migration and Development Research Centre at the University of Western Australia is visiting the School of Economics with a view to initiating collaborative research activity.

The editors of the forthcoming EEFS conference issue of the Journal of Economic Integration have accepted for publication 'Real Convergence In The New Member States: Myth or Reality?' by doctoral student Andrea Ingianni and his co-author Václav Zdárek, who is also a doctoral student, affiliated to the University of Economics and Management, Prague.

Charles van Marrewijk, Professor of Economics at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, and visiting Professor in the School of Economics, gave an open lecture based on his current research into cross-border mergers & acquisitions. During his visit Prof Marrewijk also gave a special class for our MA students and advised staff and doctoral students on their research projects.

The Journal of International Trade and Economic Development has accepted for publication “Trade and migration flows between some CEE countries and the UK” by Subrata Ghatak, Monica Ioana Pop Silaghi (Babeş Bolyai University, Romania) and Vince Daly. This is a revised version of Economics Discussion Paper 2008/1, which uses gravity models in a panel framework to argue that migration from CEE countries to the UK has enhanced those countries’ exports to the UK.

Aaron Mehrotra (Bank of Finland) and José R. Sánchez-Fung have jointly written “Forecasting Inflation in China”, comparing the accuracy of alternative approaches to inflation forecasting. This is published as Discussion Paper 2/2008 by the Bank of Finland’s Institute for Economies in Transition.

Local newspaper, the Kingston Guardian, has interviewed Willem Spanjers concerning the current “credit crunch” – particularly prospects for the local housing market and employment. This follows recent publication (see our news for March 2008) of Dr. Spanjers’ theoretical monograph on banks and financial markets as alternative providers of liquidity.

Dr. Marianne Schulze-Ghattas, on study leave from the IMF, presented a discussion of the question “Are Emerging Market Crises Predictable?” as a guest speaker in our staff research seminar programme.

Professor Philip Arestis of the Centre for Economic and Public Policy at the University of Cambridge gave a guest presentation to our final year undergraduates on the topic of “ASSESSING THE UK MONETARY POLICY”.

Empirical Economics has accepted for publication “Testing the balanced growth hypothesis: Evidence from China' by Hong Li and Vince Daly. This paper finds some evidence of common trends in Chinese macroeconomic aggregates, nationally and regionally, but little evidence of the additional constraints required by the balanced growth hypothesis.

Hong Li recently presented her paper, co-authored with Vince Daly, “Testing the balanced growth hypothesis: Evidence from China” at the 19th annual conference of the Chinese Economics Association held at New Hall, Cambridge on 1st and 2nd April 2008. Hong also chaired a conference session on Chinese economic reforms and was a nominated discussant for several papers.

José R. Sánchez-Fung has published “The day-to-day interbank market, volatility, and central bank intervention in a developing economy” as Economics Discussion Paper 2008/2. Taking the particular case of the Dominican Republic, this paper shows how, particularly in crisis, a Central Bank’s obligations as lender of last resort might weaken the channels for transmission of monetary policy.

Macroeconomics and Finance in Emerging Market Economies has selected ‘Modelling the term structure of interest rates in a small emerging market economy’ by José R. Sánchez-Fung for publication in its first issue: Vol 1(1), March 2008, pp 93-103. Print ISSN: 1752-0843; Online ISSN: 1752-0851.

Second year undergraduate Economist, Andre Campbell, was a member of the team that won the 2008 London regional final of the Flux 500 business planning and entrepreneurship challenge.

Engelsdorfer Verlag have published (in German) Willem Spanjers' monograph on “Liquidity Provision under Knightian Uncertainty: a Theoretical Comparison of Banks and Markets”.

The theoretical economic background for the current credit crisis is discussed in this book. The cause of such crises is presented as a loss of confidence in the stability of the international financial system, in which financial jugglers invest short term deposits in long term assets, without having sufficient equity to absorb losses.

The Journal of Developing Areas has accepted for publication “Money demand in a dollarizing economy: The case of the Dominican Republic” by Dr. José R. Sánchez-Fung.

The Review of Development Economics have published, in the February 2008 Issue, 'Inter-Regional Migration in Transition Economies: The Case of Poland' by Subrata Ghatak, Alan Mulhern, and John Watson. John, who contributed the econometrics expertise to the research project, was formerly our undergraduate student.

Subrata Ghatak, Monica Pop-Silaghi and Vince Daly have published 'Trade and migration flows between some CEE countries and the UK' as Economics Discussion Paper 2008/1. Dr. Pop Silaghi is a member of staff at Babes-Bolyai university in Romania. This paper finds some evidence to suggest that migration leads to increased trade between countries.

The International Journal of Economics and Finance is publishing 'Central Banks and Ambiguity' by Dr Willy Spanjers in Issue 1 of its 2008 volume. This article, which explores the interplay between monetary policy and the extent of public uncertainty over future inflation rates, is a revised version of Kingston Economics Discussion Paper 2004/3.

(In August 2007) Palgrave-MacMillan published Monetary Economics in Developing Countries by Subrata Ghatak and José R. Sánchez-Fung. This is a significantly updated edition with four new chapters, dealing with topics such as financial crises, inflation targeting, the role of financial institutions and informed by the authors’ research projects.

Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis in Social Sciences has published 'Inflation targeting and monetary analysis in Chile and Mexico' by José Sánchez-Fung in its December 2007 issue.

Dr. José R. Sánchez-Fung has been invited to present 'Forecasting inflation in China' (co-authored with Aaron Mehrotra) in the seminar programme of the Bank of Finland's Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT), in Helsinki, on 20 December 2007.

The annual Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences research prize for staff other than Readers and Professors was shared this year between Dr Matthew Birchwood (English) and Dr Joachim Stibora. Dr Stibora was nominated for the prize in recognition of the high quality of his series of papers dealing with aspects of international trade between countries at differing stages of development.

The Journal of Financial Decision Making has accepted for publication an article written by former doctoral student, Dr. Rafiq Chandio, in collaboration with his Director of Studies, Prof. Subrata Ghatak.

Dr. José Sánchez Fung has been invited to lead the research project 'Assessing fiscal policy sustainability in the Dominican Republic', funded by the Washington-based Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Former Kingston Economist, Professor Jacek Rostowski, assumed office on 16/November 2007 as Minister of Finance of the Republic of Poland. Professor Rostowski taught Economics at Kingston as a member of the School of Economics & Politics in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Whilst at Kingston, he wrote several research papers with colleague Paul Auerbach and later he collaborated with Paul Auerbach and Geoff Davison, then also at Kingston, in co-authoring `Secondary Currencies and High Inflation: Implications for Monetary Theory and Policy', which was published in 1992 in the Discussion Paper series of the LSE Centre for Economic Performance. This paper, with its focus on currency stabilisation in post-communist economies, was used at the time as the basis for an article in the Financial Times by Samuel Brittan.

Kingston's Economics courses were given a clean bill of health by a Subject Review panel of senior academics and subject specialists. As part of the subject review, the panel met a group of past and present Economics students. The panel's commendations and their suggestions for continuing developments were based in part on their conversations with our students.

Auerbach, P.R. (2007a) ‘U.S. Decline in the context of Formal Education and In Situ Learning’ Journal of Economic Issues. September 2007 41(3): 715-28.

(2007b) ‘The Left Intellectual Opposition in Britain 1945 – 2000: the case of the alternative economic strategy’ in Francis King (ed.) Is There No Alternative? Historical Problems of Socialist Economic Strategies, Socialist History Society Occasional Paper no. 24.

Paul Auerbach is Reader in Economics.

John Watson, previously an undergraduate student in the School of Economics, has collaborated with Subrata Ghatak and Alan Mulhern in the writing of 'Inter-regional Migration in Transition Economies: the case of Poland', now printed as Economics Discussion Paper 2007/7. This paper is also forthcoming as an article in the Journal of Developent Economics.

At the Annual Conference of the International Network for Economic Research (INFER), Dr. Willy Spanjers was elected to the INFER management board. Willy will take on the office of Treasurer of INFER.

The Annual Conference of the International Network for Economic Research (INFER) was held at the University of Loughborough from 12th October to 14th October.

José Sánchez-Fung presents 'The Day-to-day Interbank Market, Volatility, and Central Bank Intervention in a Developing Economy' to the Economics Research Seminar at the University of Dundee.

Ali Shamsavari, and his former PhD student Dr. Yasser Taha, have co-authored “Technology transfer by transnational corporations in Egypt’s car industry”, which has been published as a chapter in Science, Technology and Sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa, edited by A.Ahmed. They argue that the available evidence calls into question traditional models of technology transfer. An earlier version is available as Economics Discussion Paper No. 2005/01

The journal Applied Economics has accepted for publication 'The Ricardian Equivalence Hypothesis: Evidence from Bangladesh' by Jalal Siddiki.

An interview with Willy Spanjers was reported by the Surrey Comet, giving his views on the likelihood of a house-price crash. Dr Spanjers suggested that actions by the Bank of England had reduced the risk considerably.

The School of Economics hosts a regional workshop for the METAL project, which is launching a set of materials to support the teaching of mathematics in economics courses.

Dr. Willy Spanjers was invited to give his views, as an international financial expert, in a panel debate of the topic 'Are we heading for a financial Tsunami?', in PressTV's televised discussion programme 'The Agenda'.

Dr. José R. Sánchez-Fung has been invited to join the research project “Country Role Models for Development Success” which is managed by the United Nations University’s World Institute for Development Economics Research. He will be researching into the Dominican Republic’s economic development strategies and economic growth performance during the last three decades.

Subrata Ghatak and Tomoe Moore (Brunel) have published 'Migration and the EU labour market: Granger causality tests on a panel VAR' as Economics Discussion Paper 2007/6. Their main conclusion is that the data show no evidence of migration adversely affecting the EU labour markets.

The August 2007 issue of the Review of Development Economics includes “Is Fiscal Policy Sustainable in Developing Economies?” by Subrata Ghatak and José R. Sánchez-Fung. This paper finds evidence for the existence of a fiscal policy reaction function consistent with sustainable debt levels in some developing countries.

Jalal Siddiki and Vince Daly have published an extended version of “The Twin Deficits in OECD Countries: Cointegration Analysis with Regime Shifts” as Economics Discussion Papers 2007/5. An abbreviated version is forthcoming in Applied Economics Letters.

Julian Wells has been awarded PhD by the Open University for a thesis entitled The rate of profit as a random variable.

Paul Auerbach has been invited to present 'Social Capabilities and Economic Development' to a conference organised by the ESRC Research Group on Wellbeing in Developing Countries, at Bath university 27th / 30th June 2007.

The journal Research in International Business and Finance has accepted for publication “Testing stock market linkages for Poland and Hungary: A multivariate GARCH approach”, written by Dr. Hong Li in collaboration with Dr. Ewa Majerowska of the University of Gdansk, Poland.

Vince Daly has presented a 4-day short course 'The Practice of Econometrics using Eviews: Intermediate Theory and Modelling' to staff members of the European Central Bank.

The International Journal of Development Issues has accepted for publication.'Monetary Policy Rules in Transition Economies: The Impact of Ambiguity' by Subrata Ghatak and Willy Spanjers.

Ali Shamsavarai has published “The Technology Transfer Paradigm: A Critique” as Economics Discussion Paper 2007/4. This paper critically assesses central themes common to literature on technology transfer and considers the role of transnational corporations in the transfer of technology.

Willy Spanjers' “Liquidity and Ambiguity: Banks or Asset Markets?” , written jointly with Jurgen Eichberger of the University of Heidelberg, has been published as Discussion Paper no. 444 of the Alfred Weber Institute, Heidelberg, and also as DP 07-18 in the Discussion Paper series of the national research centre, SonderForschungsbereich 504 (SFB 504), at the University of Mannheim.

The Journal of Development Economics has announced the publication in September 2007 (vol. 84/1) of “Trade Policy in a Ricardian Model with a Continuum of Goods under Nonhomothetic Preferences” by Joachim Stibora and Albert de Vaal Nijmegen).

Three papers with Kingston (Economics) authorship were presented at the annual conference of the European Economics and Finance Society, held at the University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria 31/May - 3/June 2007.

Research student, Andrea Ingianni presented 'Real Convergence In The New Member States: Myth or Reality?'.

Monica Pop Silaghi (Babeş Bolyai University, Romania ) presented 'Trade and migration between UK and CEEC', co-authored with Subrata Ghatak and Vince Daly.

Subrata Ghatak also presented 'The impact of Eastern European immigration to UK trade' with his co-author, A. Piperakis (University of Nottingham, UK and National Statistical Service of Greece).

The International Journal of Economic Research has accepted for publication 'Loss of confidence and currency crises' by Willy Spanjers.

Dr. José Sánchez-Fung gives an invited address to the International Studies Colloquium Series at Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, Illinois, USA. The lecture, Explaining monetary policy and economic performance in the Dominican Republic during the last 50 years, is based on Dr. José Sánchez-Fung's recent research and his experience as Director of Research ar the DR central bank.

On 16-17 March, the INTAS-EU Migration Conference Organised by Subrata Ghatak, will address topics such as The impact of Eastern European immigration to UK trade and Recent Migration into Greece from Albania and Russia. Attendance is by invitation only.

The journal Applied Economics Letters has accepted for publication 'The Twin Deficits in OECD Countries: Cointegration Analysis with Regime Shifts' by Jalal Siddiki and Vince Daly. This paper shows how the conclusions regarding the potential relationship between countries’ trade deficits and government budget deficits is influenced by the statistical model employed in the investigation.

Dr. Paul Auerbach, Reader in Economics, presents Stalin as a totalitarian democrat to the Helen Bamber Centre's Research Seminar series at Kingston University.

Sami Daniel, who died in November 2006, aged 67, was an energetic and convivial leading light in the development of Economics education in the (then) polytechnic sector of UK Higher Education. Born Sasson Daniel in Iraq, Sami came to the UK as a student at Woolwich Polytechnic, then the LSE. After his postgraduate studies he taught Economics at Enfield College of Technology (later a constituent college of Middlesex Polytechnic) before taking the post of Head of School of Economics and Politics at Kingston Polytechnic, which he held from 1971 until 1989. During those years he served on the Council of the Royal Economic Society and also the Council for National Academic Awards, which oversaw the introduction of degree-level courses within the polytechnic sector. He was instrumental in launching the Association of Polytechnic Teachers of Economics, was its National Secretary for 8 years and served on its National Committee for almost the complete span of its existence. He gave his energy and enthusiasm to the management of its annual conference and also the launch of its sponsored journal, the British Review of Economic Issues (now Economic Issues), being managing editor for many years. Sami maintained close links with fellow economists encountered in his time at the LSE and later in universities and polytechnics throughout the UK. Sami’s scholarly interests were wide-ranging. In economics his preferred fields were business economics - especially the economics of the firm, and the history of thought – particularly Marxian economics. In 1999 he was lead editor for a three-volume collection of essays published in honour of Bernard Corry and Maurice Peston. Outside of economics, his academic interests included philosophy and politics and he was an accomplished Arabic linguist.

Sami Daniel made an outstanding contribution to the development of Economics teaching at Kingston and more widely within an expanding UK Higher Education system. He will be remembered for his energy and good humour and for his enthusiasm as a teacher, and academic innovator, always eager to encourage and promote new talent and ideas.

Sami Daniel Memorial Lecture

A memorial lecture will be given on the evening of Thursday 1/March 2007 to celebrate the life of Sami Daniel, former Associate Dean of the Faculty and previously Head of School of Economics and Politics.

The lecture will be given by Bob Sutcliffe, a former colleague and an expert commentator on human development, sustainability and equality. Bob will talk about international migration, linking this to Sami’s life experience as an émigré from Iraq.

After the lecture there will be a reception in the Picton Room.

The event is sponsored by the School of Economics, the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Kingston University.

You are warmly invited to enjoy Bob’s engaging style, and his reminiscences of Sami – and to add your own in the reception afterwards.

Dr. Bob Sutcliffe, renowned political economist and former colleague, gave a public lecture entitled International Migration During the Lifetime of Sami Daniel: 1939-2006 at an event organised to honour the memory of Sami, former Head of School and Associate Dean of Faculty. Bob discussed data, literature and migration experience and the role and meaning of the welfare state. His talk was interspersed with memories of Sami – who immigrated to the UK in his teens and went on to be an enthusiastic leading light in the development of Economics teaching and research in the British Polytechnics. The lecture was attended by members of Sami’s family, and many of his former students, colleagues and friends, drawn from many universities and other organisations, both national and international.

Julian Wells, together with Eric Sheppard (Minnesota) and Ian Wright (Open University), have issued a call for papers for a July 2008 conference they are organising to celebrate 25 years since the publication of the ground-breaking 'Laws of Chaos: a Probabalistic Approach to Political Economy' by Emmanuel Farjoun and Moshe Machover.

Subrata Ghatak and Willy Spanjers have published 'Monetary Policy Rules in Transition Economies: the impact of ambiguity' as Economics Discussion Paper 2007/2. This paper argues that the extent of economic uncertainty in transition economies can be a significant factor in selecting an appropriate monetary policy rule.

Joachim Stibora and Albert de Vaal (Nijmegen) have published 'Trade Liberalisation and its Fiscal Implications in a North-South Trade Model' as Economics Discussion Paper 2007/1. They analyse the fiscal impact of tariff reductions on poor and rich countries when consumers' preferences are not homothetic.

The recently launched journal Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis in Social Sciences has accepted for publication the article “Inflation targeting and monetary analysis in Chile and Mexico” by José R. Sánchez-Fung.

Dr. Monica pop Silaghi, visiting from Babes-Bolyai University in Romania, has published 'Cointegration and causlity betwen trade and growth: evidence from Romania, the CEE countroes and the EU' as Economics Discussion paper 2006/8. This paper identifies a 'virtuous cycle' of exports and growth in the EU countries overall and in some of the CEE countries.

With sadness, the School of Economics notes the passing of former Head of School, Sami Daniel. Sami led the early developments in Economics at Kingston and enjoyed national renown within UK academic circles. Sami died peacefully and in good spirits from the effects of a throat cancer; his funeral on November 6th was well attended by former colleagues and students as well as other friends and family.

Palgrave MacMillan have scheduled publication of the 3rd edition of Monetary Economics in Developing Countries by Subrata Ghatak and José Sánchez-Fung for 2007.

The university has awarded a PhD to Rafiq Chandio for his thesis 'Economic Growth, Financial Liberalisation and Poverty Reduction in Pakistan, 1970-2000', following a programme of research supervised by Prof. Subrata Ghatak and Dr. Jalal U. Siddiki.

Journeyman pictures have released a series of educational DVDs looking at economic aspects of Globalisation: Global Exchange, Global Resources, Economic Development, Global Finacial Markets. Ali Shamsavari and Willy Spanjers are featured as academic experts, alongside economists from Harvard and the LSE.

Mr. Carsten Linnemann, under the supervision of Dr. Willy Spanjers as Director of Studies, obtained his Doctorate at Chemnitz University of Technology with a Dissertation on 'Liberalisation of cross border road transportation services within the world trade order'. During the final two years of his PhD-studies, Mr. Linnemann's research was funded by the prestigeous Konrad Adenauer Foundation. His post-doctoral appointment is as Executive Assistant to the Head of Research in a leading international bank.

Julian Wells presents 'The dogs that didn't bark: Marx and Engels and statistical fatalism' as an invited paper for the Dissent in Science seminar, Centre for the Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics and Political Science.