West Indies Economics Conference (WECON) Call For Papers
The Department of Economics, University Of The West Indies, Mona, will be hosting its second West Indies Economic Conference (WECON). The department welcomes papers in every field of economics. Papers which cover economic issues of developing economies are especially welcome. Inter-disciplinary papers which incorporate economics are also encouraged. Read More
Quick Guide to Courses and Degrees AY 2017-18
Welcome all new and returning students please feel free to peruse the range of courses and degrees offered to you by the Department of Economics. We wish you success in your pursuits and look forward to assist you on your academic journey. Here is a quick guide of our programmes.
New Publication: Developing Sustainable Balance of Payment in Small Countries: Lessons from Macroeconomic Deadlock in Jamaica
This book analyses Jamaica’s ability to satisfy its short and long run foreign currency obligations in light of recurrent balance of payment support from international lending agencies. Jamaica is one of the top five indebted nations in the world, and despite entering 13 successive arrangements with the International Monetary Fund over the past 40 years, its depreciating currency continues to drive up debt servicing requirements. Read More.
New Publication: The trouble with approximating industry concentration from Compustat
The article shows that using data on company level data from firms listed on US stock exchanges to measure industry concentration in the U.S. is problematic. Popular approximations of the Herfindahl Index based on this data set have a vanishingly low correlation with the more comprehensive Census measure. Census concentration ratios are excellent measures. Providing a newly compiled data set based on all concentration data ever produced by the Department of Commerce eliminates the need to use the convenient but flawed Compustat files. Click here to view presentation.
Bank Branching Deregulation and the Syndicated Loan Market
Dr Jan Keil presented a joint article with Karsten Mueller on how the lifting of interstate branching restrictions affected syndicated lending in the US. Presentations were held at the International Finance and Banking Society conference in Oxford and at the EFiC conference in Essex in July. Click here to view presentation.
