Deflation and relative prices : evidence from Japan and Hong Kong

We test the menu cost model of Ball and Mankiw (1994, 1995), which implies that the impact of price dispersion on inflation should differ between inflation and deflation episodes, using data for Japan and Hong Kong. We use a random cross-section sample split when calculating the moments of the distribution of price changes to mitigate the small-cross-sectionsample bias noted by Cecchetti and Bryan (1999). The parameter on the third moment is positive and significant in both countries during both the inflation and deflation periods, and the parameter on the second moment changes sign in the deflation period, as the theory predicts. Keywords: inflation, deflation, menu costs, Hong Kong, Japan JEL Numbers: E3

We\u27re all Horacians : Listening to international students at an American liberal arts college

The current intensifying climate of internationalized higher education has led to feverishly increased recruitment of international students in and beyond the United States. Amidst competition for this student population, the complexity of the international student experience, the voices of internationals, and the focus on individuals\u27 lives are of lesser consequence than mapping global flows and tracking aggregate trends through statistical measures and meta-level reporting. As a result, international students in the twenty-first century are often commodified, homogenized, and Othered in the scholarships to which they are a subject and on the campuses in which they are enrolled. However, I contend - and show in this dissertation - that these students are also powerful commentators on their own lives who share invaluable insights about international study, the situatedness of globally mobile persons navigating transnational social fields, and the ways in which international students are agential actors within the globalized system of higher education. In this qualitative case study dissertation, I investigate salient dimensions of internationals\u27 lives at Horace College, a Midwestern liberal arts college, by mapping and analyzing the self-reported stories and the perceptions of my informants. Based on nine months of fieldwork, I explore the particular contours of internationalization, international student inclusion, and diversity within the social justice legacy of and liberal arts mission at Horace College. I also give attention to how international students and other participants perceive the moniker Horacian and the ways in which this label has implications for expectations regarding international student adjustment and relationships between domestic and international peers on campus. Finally, I investigate meanings internationals ascribe to the term international student as well as the transnational ties to family, friends, and home countries most salient to these students\u27 experience at and beyond Horace

Deflation and Relative Prices: Evidence from Japan and Hong Kong

We test the menu cost model of Ball and Mankiw (1994, 1995) on data from the inflation and deflation periods in Japan and Hong Kong. We calculate the moments of the distribution of price changes using a random split procedure to overcome the bias noted by Cecchetti and Bryan (1999). The key implication of the model, that the parameter on skewness is positive during both inflation and deflation, is strongly supported. The data are less clear on, but does not reject, the hypothesis that the parameter on the standard deviation changes sign between inflation and deflation periods

Inflation Targeting and Inflation Persistence in Asia

Following the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-98, a number of regional central banks have adopted inflation targeting. We explore how successful this framework has been by looking at the persistence of inflation as measured by the sum of the coefficients in an autoregressive model for inflation using Hansen's (1999) median unbiased estimator. In contrast to non-Asian economies, we find that persistence has not declined in recent years. We hypothesise that could reflect the continued importance of the exchange rate in monetary policy in Asia or the large weight attached to food in Asian consumer prices

“The Management of Creativity”, Managing the Creative Mind: A Business Elective

The immediate problem facing the authors was replacing someone with the background and stature of Joseph Abboud with an individual or, as it eventually worked out, four individuals with differing creative backgrounds and levels of success that would be of benefit to the students (in the spring 2006 semester the course was offered to undergraduate business students) enrolled in the course. Replacing Abboud proved to be not as difficult as the authors originally imagined. Within a period of three weeks, four individuals with diverse backgrounds in film, music, sports entertainment, and entrepreneurship were identified and agreed to take part in the newly redesigned course. In hindsight, these individuals created a dynamic new learning environment for the students enrolled in this course, one they could not have benefited from previously. It should be kept in mind that the purpose of the class was, and continues to be, to offer business students the opportunity to hear from successful individuals from various creative disciplines and to offer students opportunities to hear of the challenges they faced and continue to face with regard to financing and marketing their respective businesses and careers. It is not unusual for individuals with creative backgrounds to have little or any experience or knowledge of the challenges with regard to financing and marketing their ideas. This, once again, was the onus for the development and continuation of this class

“The Management of Creativity”, Managing the Creative Mind: A Business Elective

The immediate problem facing the authors was replacing someone with the background and stature of Joseph Abboud with an individual or, as it eventually worked out, four individuals with differing creative backgrounds and levels of success that would be of benefit to the students (in the spring 2006 semester the course was offered to undergraduate business students) enrolled in the course. Replacing Abboud proved to be not as difficult as the authors originally imagined. Within a period of three weeks, four individuals with diverse backgrounds in film, music, sports entertainment, and entrepreneurship were identified and agreed to take part in the newly redesigned course. In hindsight, these individuals created a dynamic new learning environment for the students enrolled in this course, one they could not have benefited from previously. It should be kept in mind that the purpose of the class was, and continues to be, to offer business students the opportunity to hear from successful individuals from various creative disciplines and to offer students opportunities to hear of the challenges they faced and continue to face with regard to financing and marketing their respective businesses and careers. It is not unusual for individuals with creative backgrounds to have little or any experience or knowledge of the challenges with regard to financing and marketing their ideas. This, once again, was the onus for the development and continuation of this class

“They’re All the Same!” Stereotypical Thinking and Systematic Errors in Users’ Privacy-Related Judgments About Online Services

Given the ever-increasing volume of online services, it has become impractical for Internet users to study every company’s handling of information privacy separately and in detail. This challenges a central assumption held by most information privacy research to date—that users engage in deliberate information processing when forming their privacy-related beliefs about online services. In this research, we complement previous studies that emphasize the role of mental shortcuts when individuals assess how a service will handle their personal information. We investigate how a particular mental shortcut—users’ stereotypical thinking about providers’ handling of user information—can cause systematic judgment errors when individuals form their beliefs about an online service. In addition, we explore the effectiveness of counter-stereotypic privacy statements in preventing such judgment errors. Drawing on data collected at two points in time from a representative sample of smartphone users, we studied systematic errors caused by stereotypical thinking in the context of a mobile news app. We found evidence for stereotype-induced errors in users’ judgments regarding this provider, despite the presence of counter-stereotypic privacy statements. Our results further suggest that the tone of these statements makes a significant difference in mitigating the judgment errors caused by stereotypical thinking. Our findings contribute to emerging knowledge about the role of cognitive biases and systematic errors in the context of information privacy

Optical Readout in a Multi-Module System Test for the ATLAS Pixel Detector

The innermost part of the ATLAS experiment at the LHC, CERN, will be a pixel detector. The command messages and the readout data of the detector are transmitted over an optical data path. The readout chain consists of many components which are produced at several locations around the world, and must work together in the pixel detector. To verify that these parts are working together as expected a system test has been built up. In this paper the system test setup and the operation of the readout chain is described. Also, some results of tests using the final pixel detector readout chain are given.Comment: 6 pages, 10 figures, Pixel 2005 proceedings preprin

Local Support Assembly of the ATLAS Pixel Detector

The barrel part of the ATLAS pixel detector will consist of 112 carbon-carbon structures called "staves" with 13 hybrid detector modules being glued on each stave. The demands on the glue joints are high, both in terms of mechanical precision and thermal contact. To achieve this precision a custom-made semi-automated mounting machine has been constructed in Wuppertal, which provides a precision in the order of tens of microns. As this is the last stage of the detector assembly providing an opportunity for stringent tests, a detailed procedure has been defined for assessing both mechanical and electrical properties. This note gives an overview of the procedure for affixation and tests, and summarizes the first results of the production.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure