https://journals.econsciences.com/index.php/JEB <p>^{JEB (ISSN: 2149-2387) is published as four issues per year, March, June, September and December and all publication policies and processes are conducted according to the international standards. JEB is an international, double-blind peer-reviewed, quarterly, open-access journal published by the Journals. JEB accepts and publishes the research articles in the fields of economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, fiscal economics, applied economics, labour economics and econometrics. JEB, without depending on any institution or organisation, is a non-profit journal that has an International Editorial Board specialists on their fields. Papers which are inappropriate to its scientific purpose, scope and fields are kindly rejected. It strictly depends on the scientific principles, rules and ethical framework that are required to this qualification.}</p> en-US Journal of Economics Bibliography 2149-2387 <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" rel="license"><img style="border-width: 0;" src="https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc/4.0/88x31.png" alt="Creative Commons License" /></a><br />This article licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/" rel="license"> Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license (4.0)</a> https://journals.econsciences.com/index.php/JEB/article/view/2482 <p>There is a widespread popular view that American manufacturing is in decline. This declinist view reflects many factors. First, real GDP growth during the current business expansion has been the weakest in the post-WWII period. Second, over the decade from 2000 to 2010, manufacturing employment has declined by about 6 million. Third, persistent manufacturing trade deficits have led many observers to conclude U.S. competitiveness has eroded. This paper discusses these arguments and suggests a competing view that, instead, U.S. manufacturing is a leading growth sector and has remained strongly competitive internationally. On balance, we show that traditional domestic economic forces adequately explain recent trends in U.S. manufacturing output and employment growth. Finally, we argue that the recent reduction in the corporate income tax rate may further boost the fortunes of the U.S. manufacturing sector, although this favorable development could be offset by a more restrictive international trade regime.</p> <p><strong>Keywords. </strong>Intra-industry trade; Imperfect competition; Classical theories of trade.</p> <p><strong>JEL. </strong>F11; F12; F13.</p> Kevin L. KLIESEN John A. TATOM Copyright (c) 2024 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 2024-06-03 2024-06-03 11 1-2 1 23 https://journals.econsciences.com/index.php/JEB/article/view/2483 <p>The CFA Franc zone was established in 1945 and linked France’s African colonies to the French franc while at the same time allowing for some degree of separation. Reflecting a cleavage that had developed during World War II, the zone consisted of a West African and a Central African component, represented today by two regional central banks, BCEAO and BEAC, respectively. Despite the technical distinction between the currencies, their parities with the French franc and later the euro have remained identical for over 70 years; thus, the zones can be treated together. This paper reviews the history of the CFA franc zone and highlights the major shifts it has undergone. Next, it analyzes the various components of the two central banks’ balance sheets, with a focus on each bank’s composition of assets and liabilities and how these have evolved over time. Subsequently, it applies statistical approaches to the balance sheets to assess to what extent the CFA franc zone resembles a currency board. An accompanying spreadsheet workbook digitizes certain balance sheet data for the first time.</p> <p><strong>Keywords. </strong>Banking; Balance sheet; French Equatorial Africa; French West Africa.</p> <p><strong>JEL. </strong>E58; N 17; N18.</p> Spencer ABROHMS Copyright (c) 2024 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 2024-06-03 2024-06-03 11 1-2 24 40 https://journals.econsciences.com/index.php/JEB/article/view/2484 <p>Front Matter</p> EconSciences Contact Copyright (c) 2024 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0 2024-06-03 2024-06-03 11 1-2 i iv