Managed Floating as a Monetary Policy Strategy

Although there seems to be a broad consensus among economists that purely floating or completely fixed exchange rates (the so-called corner solutions) are the only viable alternatives of exchange rate management, many countries do not behave according to this paradigm and adopt a strategy within the broad spectrum of exchange rate regimes that is limited by the two corner solutions. Many of these intermediate regimes are characterized by significant foreign exchange market interventions and a certain degree of exchange rate flexibility with non-preannounced exchange rate targets. While academic research in this area usually concentrates on some specific aspects of intermediate regimes (such as the effectiveness of interventions or institutional aspects), managed floating has rarely been analyzed as a comprehensive monetary policy strategy. In this paper, we present a monetary policy framework in which central banks simultaneously use the exchange rate and the interest rate as operating targets of monetary policy. We explain the mechanics of foreign exchange market interventions and sterilization and we explain why a central bank has an interest of controlling simultaneously the two operating targets. We derive the monetary policy rules for the two operating targets from a simple open economy macro model in which the uncovered interest parity condition and the monetary conditions index play a central role.     

Newspaper juries

This article reports on a field experiment on the effect of media information on people’s attitudes towards the justice system. For the duration of a year a Dutch local newspaper took small groups of readers, called ‘newspaper jurors’, to court sessions of criminal cases and subsequently reported on their experiences and perceptions. Using a quasi-experimental design, we examined whether an attitude change in the general reader population of this particular local newspaper occurred as a result of the jury’s newspaper reports. Findings show that, after the treatment interval of 1 year, no attitude change in the general reader population could be identified that was absent in the control group.     

Ambiguous exchanges and the police

This article analyses exchange relationships involving public police agencies and external institutions. It specifies three general forms of exchange (Coercion, Sale and Gift), then observes that, in practice, the three may not be mutually exclusive. It identifies ambiguities that may exist within exchange relationships, and discusses the implications of these for three important aspects of police performance: efficiency or value for money; equity in the distribution of police services; and the legitimacy of the police organisation. The article concludes that managing ambiguity in exchange relations has become a challenge of 21st century policing, and that police are well advised to have elaborate guidelines in place to govern their exchange relations.     

Methodological aspects of the Dutch National Threat Assessment

This paper discusses issues related to measuring organized crime as they have become manifest in the Dutch contribution to the EU Organised Crime Threat Assessment (OCTA). It intends to convey to a wider academic community certain issues of definition, methodology and accountability, understanding the NTA process in terms of the communication of risks in a context of competitive defining institutions.

Principles on a collision course? State sovereignty meets peoples' right of self-determination in the case of Kosovo

Sovereignty and self-determination are central features of international relations and international law. The concepts are often depicted as conflicting and incompatible. In addition, the meaning, application and relevance of both concepts continue to form the subject of debate. In practice, they remain important, fiercely protected and centrally placed in conflicts concerning territorial integrity or political status. In this paper, we argue that our understanding of the concepts and their interrelationships can be enriched by looking past conventional and often rigid conceptualisations, instead placing more emphasis on the ways in which they are used in particular cases. The aim of this paper is to analyse how state sovereignty and peoples' right to self-determination are given meaning in state practice. The paper focuses on the case of Kosovo, and in particular statements submitted by 36 United Nations member states to the International Court of Justice. Analysing the ways in which states use the concepts to rationalize and justify their position on the Kosovo case reveals several diverging and sometimes conflicting understandings that indicate a need to go beyond and problematize the clear-cut and inflexible conceptualizations that often shape the academic debate on the concepts of state sovereignty and peoples' right of self-determination.     

Towards convergence and cooperation in the global development finance regime: closing Africa's policy space?

The revival of China's interest in Africa is often highlighted as being an opportunity to provide African governments with a choice between development partners that may strengthen negotiation leverage and thereby carve out policy space to define and implement policies that affect social and economic development. This article critically reviews the most recent developments in Chinese and Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) approaches to development finance to Africa. It argues that although we can detect a number of incidents that point towards more policy space for African governments, the revival of China's development finance does not fundamentally alter the power relations between African countries and their financiers, as the tendency now is towards convergence and cooperation between China and Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors—not divergence and competition, which could have created policy space as it did prior to the end of the Cold War. This follows the trend of other ‘emerging’ donors who increasingly play by DAC rules and thereby minimize the future possibility of playing out one partner against the other.     

ABCD to CBT: asset-based community development's potential for community-based tourism

This article conceptualises the potential for a relationship between asset-based community development (ABCD) and community-based tourism (CBT), with a view to improving CBT's patchy record in delivering community development. ABCD has previously been used in international development and community work, but is new to tourism for development. Hence, the article seeks to relate ABCD's characteristics with CBT on a theoretical level, based on a shift away from ‘needs-driven’ development towards a conscious appreciation of community assets. The authors suggest that ABCD can, and should, be applied to CBT, given the positive emphasis it puts on people and their potential.     

Normale Bodenbeschaffenheit als stillschweigend zugesagte,vom Gewährleistungsausschluss nicht erfasste Eigenschaft

Beim Erwerb eines Einfamilienhauses ohne Hinweis auf eine besondere Bodenbeschaffenheit kann im Allgemeinen ein natürlich gewachsener Untergrund erwartet werden (hier: Bau auf einer mit Bauschutt angefüllten ehemaligen Schottergrube). Die Reichweite eines vertraglichen Gew?hrleistungsverzichts ist durch Auslegung zu ermitteln. Auf das Fehlen einer auch nur schlüssig zugesicherten Eigenschaft erstreckt sich selbst ein umfassender Gew?hrleistungsverzicht nicht. Ohne Darlegung besonders berücksichtigungswürdiger Verk?uferinteressen besteht für eine Preisminderung nach der relativen Berechnungsmethode keine Untergrenze mit dem Verkehrswert des mangelhaften Objekts.     

Von öffentlichen Äußerungen des Übergebers abweichende Vereinbarungen / gewöhnlich vorausgesetzte Eigenschaften von umfassendem Gewährleistungsausschluss erfasst

Ob die Sache dem Vertrag entspricht, ist gem § 922 Abs 2 ABGB auch nach den ?ffentlichen (Werbe-)?u?erungen des übergebers (hier: Internetinserat) zu beurteilen, die in die Vertragsauslegung miteinflie?en. Die Parteien k?nnen aber letztlich von ?ffentlichen Ankündigungen des übergebers abweichende Vereinbarungen treffen. Ein umfassender Gew?hrleistungsausschluss erstreckt sich grunds?tzlich auch auf geheime M?ngel und solche M?ngel, die normalerweise vorausgesetzte Eigenschaften betreffen. Allerdings sind Verzichtserkl?rungen im Zweifel restriktiv auszulegen. In diesem Sinn erstreckt sich ein vertraglicher Gew?hrleistungsverzicht weder auf arglistig verschwiegene M?ngel noch auf das Fehlen zugesicherter Eigenschaften.