Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DEBT STABILIZATION IN A NON-RICARDIAN ECONOMY

In models with a representative infinitely lived household, tax smoothing implies that the steady state of government debt should follow a random walk. This is unlikely to be the case in overlapping generations (OLG) economies, where the equilibrium interest rate may differ from the policy maker's rate of time preference. It may therefore be optimal to reduce debt today to reduce distortionary taxation in the future. In addition, the level of the capital stock in these economies is likely to be suboptimally low, and reducing government debt will crowd in additional capital. Using a version of the Blanchard-Yaari model of perpetual youth, with both public and private capital, we show that it is optimal in steady state for the government to hold assets. However, we also show how and why this level of government assets can fall short of both the level of debt that achieves the optimal capital stock and the level that eliminates income taxes. Finally, we compute the optimal adjustment path to this steady state.
Precautionary wealth among U.S farm households

Using a cross sectional farm-level data we find that farm households who face higher income uncertainty save more and accumulate more wealth. Precautionary savings is about 6 percent of the total farm household wealth. In addition to precautionary saving, and consistent with theory we found that the age, education, occupation, and the number of acres operated are all important factors that influence wealth accumulation by U.S farm households.
Why Does Aggregate Earnings Growth Reflect Information about Future Inflation

We propose two explanations for the previously documented relation between aggregate earnings growth and future inflation: one based on firms changing their investment in response to earnings growth and the other based on consumers varying their consumption in response to wealth effects of profitability growth. As the supply of goods and services is relatively inelastic in the short run, our arguments imply that changes to near-term demand for investment (consumption) will affect the prices of investment (consumption) goods and services. Consistent with the investment-based argument, we find that profitability changes predict investment and Producer Price Index (PPI) shifts in subsequent quarters. Our analyses also reveal that aggregate earnings growth predicts future investment and PPI forecast errors. We find, at best, weak evidence for the consumption-based link between aggregate earnings growth and future inflation.
The changing role of central banks

Although central banks have pursued the same objectives throughout their existence, primarily price and financial stability, the interpretation of their role in doing so has varied. We identify three stable epochs, when such interpretations had stabilised, i.e. the Victorian era, 1840s–1914; the decades of government control, 1930s–60s; the triumph of the markets, 1980s–2007. Each epoch was followed by a confused interregnum, searching for a new consensual blueprint. The final such epoch concluded with a crisis, when it became apparent that macro-economic stability, the Great Moderation, plus (efficient) markets could not guarantee financial stability. So the search is now on for additional macro-prudential (counter-cyclical) instruments. The use of such instruments will need to be associated with controlled variations in systemic liquidity, and in the balance sheet of the central bank. Such control over its own balance sheet is the core, central function of any central bank, even more so than its role in setting short-term interest rates, which latter could be delegated. We end by surveying how relationships between central banks and governments may change over the next period.
Visualization of Cardiac Valve Motion in Man During External Chest Compression Using Two‐dimensional Echocardiography: Implications Regarding the Mechanism of Blood Flow

Five patients who underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) were studied by twodimensional echocardiography to assess valve motion. The mitral valve remained open throughout the entire compression-release cycle of CPR. The aortic valve opened during the compression phase of CPR and closed during the release phase. The pulmonic valve moved toward the closed position during the compression phase and the valve leaflets opened during release. Tricuspid valve leaflets never completely apposed, even during maximum chest compression, and they were widely open during release. Left ventricular dimensions did not change appreciably during CPR.These findings support the theory that forward blood flow during CPR depends on a generalized increase in intrathoracic pressure and not on direct compression of the heart itself. The left heart appears to act as a conduit for passage of blood, and mitral valve closure is not necessary for forward blood flow during CPR.
Does Body Awareness Influence Visual Spatial Intelligence

The embodiment approach suggests that processes in the body influence cognitive performance. Due to this in the present study, female patients with high body awareness-elite athletes and patients with Anorexia Nervosa- as well as healthy controls performed a mental rotation task with different kinds of stimuli. Mental rotation is the ability to imagine objects from different perspectives. The results show that both experimental groups revealed a better mental rotation performance than the control group in form of faster reaction times. This result is independent of the kind of stimuli, i.e., if the mental rotation requires the transformation of the self (egocentric) or the object (object-based). We further found that BMI and IQ correlated with reaction time. Because there was no difference between the elite athletes (positive body awareness) compared to the patients with Anorexia Nervosa (negative body awareness) the results suggest that any occupation with the body relates to visual spatial intelligence. This result is discussed regarding its importance in the educational context.
Bayesian Estimation of the Timing and Severity of a Population Bottleneck from Ancient DNA

In this first application of the approximate Bayesian computation approach using the serial coalescent, we demonstrated the estimation of historical demographic parameters from ancient DNA. We estimated the timing and severity of a population bottleneck in an endemic subterranean rodent, Ctenomys sociabilis, over the last 10,000 y from two cave sites in northern Patagonia, Argentina. Understanding population bottlenecks is important in both conservation and evolutionary biology. Conservation implications include the maintenance of genetic variation, inbreeding, fixation of mildly deleterious alleles, and loss of adaptive potential. Evolutionary processes are impacted because of the influence of small populations in founder effects and speciation. We found a decrease from a female effective population size of 95,231 to less than 300 females at 2,890 y before present: a 99.7% decline. Our study demonstrates the persistence of a species depauperate in genetic diversity for at least 2,000 y and has implications for modes of speciation in the incredibly diverse rodent genus Ctenomys. Our approach shows promise for determining demographic parameters for other species with ancient and historic samples and demonstrates the power of such an approach using ancient DNA.
Business Cycle Synchronization in the Enlarged EU: The Role of Bilateral Trade and FDI

The aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants of business cycle (BC) synchronization across 21 (old and new) countries of the enlarged European Union (EU). It utilizes international data to evaluate the linkages among bilateral trade in goods, bilateral foreign direct investment (FDI) flows and BC co-movements. The paper contributes to the current literature by examining the relationship using the latest available data (sample range: 1998–2011), and thus taking into account the European sovereign debt crisis period. It also examines the role of FDI, which though increasingly important in the flows of international production factors, is currently neglected by the literature. Preliminary results show that FDI has no direct effect on BC synchronization while international trade helps to synchronize BCs but only before the recent financial crisis (pre-2008) and only for the traditional EU countries.
A general two-sector model of endogenous growth with human and physical capital: balanced growth and transitional dynamics

Abstract We examine a two-sector endogenous growth model with general constant-return-to-scale production technologies governing the evolution of human and physical capital. We prove the existence, uniqueness, and saddle-path stability of the balanced growth equilibrium. A dual approach drawing on techniques from international trade theory is used to provide complete characterization of the transitional dynamics of consumption, goods and education outputs, human and physical capital inputs, and the relative price of human capital investment. We investigate the long-run effects of changes in time preference and factor taxation, and show the emergence of instability or indeterminacy when factor taxes are too distortionary.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Number: D90.
Gate-Stack Engineering for Self-Organized Ge-dot/SiO2/SiGe-Shell MOS Capacitors

We report the first-of-its-kind, self-organized gate-stack heterostructure of Ge-dot/SiO2/SiGe-shell on Si fabricated in a single step through the selective oxidation of a SiGe nano-patterned pillar over a Si3N4 buffer layer on a Si substrate. Process-controlled tunability of the Ge-dot size (7.5−90 nm), the SiO2 thickness (3−4 nm), and as well the SiGe-shell thickness (2−15 nm) has been demonstrated, enabling a practically-achievable core building block for Ge-based metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices. Detailed morphologies, structural, and electrical interfacial properties of the SiO2/Ge-dot and SiO2/SiGe interfaces were assessed using transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and temperature-dependent high/low-frequency capacitance-voltage measurements. Notably, NiGe/SiO2/SiGe and Al/SiO2/Ge-dot/SiO2/SiGe MOS capacitors exhibit low interface trap densities of as low as 3-5x10^11 cm^-2·eV^-1 and fixed charge densities of 1-5x10^11 cm^-2, suggesting good-quality SiO2/SiGe-shell and SiO2/Ge-dot interfaces. In addition, the advantage of having single-crystalline Si1-xGex shell (x > 0.5) in a compressive stress state in our self-aligned gate-stack heterostructure has great promise for possible SiGe (or Ge) MOS nanoelectronic and nanophotonic applications.
Capacity Analysis of Multicell CDMA Networks with Fast Power Control under Mutltipath Fading

This paper presents a theoretical analysis of the intercell interference statistics and capacity of CDMA systems in a multipath environment where every multipath signal is affected by Rayleigh fading. The power control is assumed to be fast enough to compensate the rapid fluctuations of the radio channel due to multipath fading. Unlike many previous works, mobile users are assumed to connect to a base station on a minimum attenuation basis. The effect of the number of resolvable paths on system capacity is also investigated.
Intranight Trading Behaviour

This paper examines 'intranight' patterns in quoted bid-ask spreads, price volatility and trading volume. Using data for the overnight market of the Sydney Futures Exchange, an elevation in both price volatility and trading volume at the open and close of overnight trading sessions is documented, consistent with prior research examining daytime markets. In contrast to existing theory and prior research, quoted bid-ask spreads are found to widen throughout night-time trading sessions. Bid-ask spreads, price volatility and trading volume also appear to increase at approximately 00:30. Apart from the behaviour of quoted bid-ask spreads, a number of tests are carried out documenting that these patterns are consistent with the effects of contagion from overseas markets, overseas information releases, and strategic trading by informed and uninformed traders.
Comprehensive rehabilitation in chronic heart failure--better psycho-emotional status related to quality of life, brain natriuretic peptide concentrations, and clinical severity of disease.

PURPOSE To evaluate the effects of a comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation program in chronic heart failure (CHF) on quality of life (QoL) in relation to emotional status and clinical severity of disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS 25 patients with CHF were included in the 12-week comprehensive rehabilitation program. Initially, and at the end of the program, patients underwent graded cardio-pulmonary exercise testing, echocardiography, and determination of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) concentration. In addition, they were assessed using: The Minnesota Living with Health Failure Questionnaire [MLHFQ]) for disease Specific QoL, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS], and the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory [STAXI]). RESULTS After 12 weeks of rehabilitation improvements in NYHA class, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and peak oxygen consumption were found, while mean BNP concentrations did not change. Disease specific QoL demonstrated improvements in physical component and the total score. Relative improvement of psycho-emotional scores correlated positively with relative improvement of disease specific QoL. In patients with LVEF > or =30% at baseline, changes in BNP concentration were positively associated with both anxiety and state anger, and with the emotional component score of MLHFQ. CONCLUSION Improvements in disease-specific QoL were closely associated to improvements of psycho-emotional status and clinical severity of CHF.
Conservation Agriculture Practices in Rainfed Uplands of India Improve Maize-Based System Productivity and Profitability

Traditional agriculture in rainfed uplands of India has been experiencing low agricultural productivity as the lands suffer from poor soil fertility, susceptibility to water erosion and other external pressures of development and climate change. A shift toward more sustainable cropping systems such as conservation agriculture production systems (CAPSs) may help in maintaining soil quality as well as improving crop production and farmer’s net economic benefit. This research assessed the effects over 3 years (2011–2014) of reduced tillage, intercropping, and cover cropping practices customized for maize-based production systems in upland areas of Odisha, India. The study focused on crop yield, system productivity and profitability through maize equivalent yield and dominance analysis. Results showed that maize grain yield did not differ significantly over time or among CAPS treatments while cowpea yield was considered as an additional yield in intercropping systems. Mustard and horsegram grown in plots after maize cowpea intercropping recorded higher grain yields of 25 and 37%, respectively, as compared to those without intercropping. Overall, the full CAPS implementation, i.e., minimum tillage, maize–cowpea intercropping and mustard residue retention had significantly higher system productivity and net benefits than traditional farmer practices, i.e., conventional tillage, sole maize cropping, and no mustard residue retention. The dominance analysis demonstrated increasing benefits of combining conservation practices that exceeded thresholds for farmer adoption. Given the use of familiar crops and technologies and the magnitude of yield and income improvements, these types of CAPS should be acceptable and attractive for smallholder farmers in the area. This in turn should support a move toward sustainable intensification of crop production to meet future household income and nutritional needs.
Social Networks: Rational Learning and Information Aggregation

This thesis studies the learning problem of a set of agents connected via a general social network. We address the question of how dispersed information spreads in social networks and whether the information is efficiently aggregated in large societies. The models developed in this thesis allow us to study the learning behavior of rational agents embedded in complex networks. We analyze the perfect Bayesian equilibrium of a dynamic game where each agent sequentially receives a signal about an underlying state of the world, observes the past actions of a stochastically-generated neighborhood of individuals, and chooses one of two possible actions. The stochastic process generating the neighborhoods defines the network topology (social network). We characterize equilibria for arbitrary stochastic and deterministic social networks and characterize the conditions under which there will be asymptotic learning—that is, the conditions under which, as the social network becomes large, the decisions of the individuals converge (in probability) to the right action. We show that when private beliefs are unbounded (meaning that the implied likelihood ratios are unbounded), there will be asymptotic learning as long as there is some minimal amount of expansion in observations. This result therefore establishes that, with unbounded private beliefs, there will be asymptotic learning in almost all reasonable social networks. Furthermore, we provide bounds on the speed of learning for some common network topologies. We also analyze when learning occurs when the private beliefs are bounded. We show that asymptotic learning does not occur in many classes of network topologies, but, surprisingly, it happens in a family of stochastic networks that has infinitely many agents observing the actions of neighbors that are not sufficiently persuasive. Finally, we characterize equilibria in a generalized environment with heterogeneity of preferences and show that, contrary to a nave intuition, greater diversity (heterogeneity)
The American Woman, 1992-93: A Status Report

Prepared by the Women's Research and Education Institute, this is the fourth in a series documenting the current social, economic, and political status of American women. While it contains the most comprehensive statistical profile yet published, the volume focuses on women and politics. Includes profiles on prominent and powerful women in government and their initiatives and priorities. Photographs.
Methods How Bad Is Depression ? Preference Score Estimates from Depressed Patients and the General Population

Objective. To compare depression health state preference scores across four groups: (1) general population, (2) previous history of depression but not currently depressed, (3) less severe current depression, and (4) more severe current depression. Data Sources. Primary data were collected from 95 general population, 163 primary care, and 83 specialty mental health subjects. Study Design. Stratified sampling frames were used to recruit general population and patient subjects. Subjects completed cross-sectional surveys. Key variables included rating scale and standard gamble scores assigned to depression health state descriptions developed from the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and SF-12. Data Collection/Extraction Methods. Each subject completed an in-person interview. Forty-nine subjects completed test/retest reliability interviews. Principal Findings. Depressed patient preference scores for three of six SF-12 depression health states were significantly lower than the general population using the rating scale and two of six were significantly lower using standard gamble. Depressed patient scores for five of six PHQ-9 depression health states were significantly lower than the general population using the rating scale and two of six were significantly lower using standard gamble. Conclusions. Depressed patients report lower preference scores for depression health states than the general population. In effect, they perceived depression to be worse than the general public perceived it to be. Additional research is needed to examine the implications for cost-effectiveness ratios using general population preference scores versus depressed patient preference scores.
Inflation and Growth

Models of inflation and growth in the sixties emphasized the portfolio substitution mechanism by which higher inflation made capital more attractive to hold relative to money, leading to higher capital intensity, and in the transition period to higher growth.The empirical evidence, however, is that growth and inflation are negatively correlated. Reasons for this negative correlation are investigated, and then embodied in a simple monetary maximizing model. Higher inflation is associated with lower growth because lower real balances reduce the efficiency of factors of production, and because there may be a link between government purchases and the use of the inflation tax. Comparative steady states and comparative dynamics is analyzed and the generally negative association between inflation and growth, both in steady states and in transition processes, is demonstrated.
The age of dualization : the changing face of inequality in deindustrializing societies

Poverty, increased inequality, and social exclusion are back on the political agenda in Western Europe, not only as a consequence of the Great Recession of 2008, but also because of a seemingly structural trend towards increased inequality in advanced industrial societies that has persisted since the 1970s. How can we explain this increase in inequalities? Policies in labor markets, social policy, and political representation are strongly linked in the creation, widening, and deepening of insider-outsider divides--a process known as dualization. While it is certainly not the only driver of increasing inequality, the encompassing nature of its development across multiple domains makes dualization one of the most important current trends affecting developed societies. However, the extent and forms of dualization vary greatly across countries. The comparative perspective of this book provides insights into why Nordic countries witness lower levels of insider-outsider divides, whereas in continental, liberal and southern welfare states, they are more likely to constitute a core characteristic of the political economy. Most importantly, the comparisons presented in this book point to the crucial importance of politics and political choice in driving and shaping the social outcomes of deindustrialization. While increased structural labor market divides can be found across all countries, governments have a strong responsibility in shaping the distributive consequences of these labor market changes. Insider-outsider divides are not a straightforward consequence of deindustrialization, but rather the result of political choice. A landmark publication, this volume is geared for faculty and graduate students of economics, political science, social policy, and sociology, as well as policymakers concerned with increasing inequality in a period of deep economic and social crisis. Available in OSO: