The monetary pillar and the great financial crisis

Since its inception, a most distinctive (and controversial) feature of the ECB monetary policy strategy has been its emphasis on money and monetary analysis, which constitute the basis of the so-called monetary pillar. The present paper examines the performance of the monetary pillar around the recent financial crisis episode, and discusses its prospects in light of the renewed emphasis on financial stability and the need for enhanced macro-prudential policies.monetary policy strategy, two pillar strategy, monetarism, financial stability.

Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) regulates mesenchymal stem cells through let-7f microRNA and Wnt/β-catenin signaling

Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases 1 (TIMP-1) is a matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-independent regulator of growth and apoptosis in various cell types. The receptors and signaling pathways that are involved in the growth factor activities of TIMP-1, however, remain controversial. RNA interference of TIMP-1 has revealed that endogenous TIMP-1 suppresses the proliferation, metabolic activity, and osteogenic differentiation capacity of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs). The knockdown of TIMP-1 in hMSCs activated the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway as indicated by the increased stability and nuclear localization of β-catenin in TIMP-1–deficient hMSCs. Moreover, TIMP-1 knockdown cells exhibited enhanced β-catenin transcriptional activity, determined by Wnt/β-catenin target gene expression analysis and a luciferase-based β-catenin– activated reporter assay. An analysis of a mutant form of TIMP-1 that cannot inhibit MMP indicated that the effect of TIMP-1 on β-catenin signaling is MMP independent. Furthermore, the binding of CD63 to TIMP-1 on the surface of hMSCs is essential for the TIMP-1–mediated effects on Wnt/β-catenin signaling. An array analysis of microRNAs (miRNAs) and transfection studies with specific miRNA inhibitors and mimics showed that let-7f miRNA is crucial for the regulation of β-catenin activity and osteogenic differentiation by TIMP-1. Let-7f was up-regulated in TIMP-1–depleted hMSCs and demonstrably reduced axin 2, an antagonist of β-catenin stability. Our results demonstrate that TIMP-1 is a direct regulator of hMSC functions and reveal a regulatory network in which let-7f modulates Wnt/β-catenin activity

Leaders of the future : differentiating leaders among high school seniors

The present study investigated high school leadership at two independent high schools using a peer nomination technique. Seniors nominate classmates who best fit each of 20 items indexing attributes of business world leaders. The seniors also nominated students they liked most and liked least. The leadership attributes were conceptualized to fit into four constructs: Other oriented, Inner oriented, Situationally oriented, and Derailment characteristics. The like most and like least items were used for measuring social impact and social preference and for classifying students into the sociometric groups of popular, controversial, rejected, neglected, and average. Test-retest correlations at a one month interval on the leadership constructs and sociometric indices ranged from .65 to .93. One-way analysis of variance revealed that student leaders vs. nonleaders had higher scores on the four leadership constructs, the social acceptance index, and the social impact scale. In addition, the leader group included more controversial and popular students than the nonleader group. A sub-analysis of the leaders revealed a clear and consistent differentiation between controversial leaders and popular, rejected, neglected, and average leaders. The construct validity and stability of the measures, differences between leaders and nonleaders, and differences among the leaders were discussed. Future research examining informal leaders and controversial leaders was suggested

Quantum electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions, confinement, and the stability of U(1) spin liquids

Compact quantum electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions often arises as an effective theory for a Mott insulator, with the Dirac fermions representing the low-energy spinons. An important and controversial issue in this context is whether a deconfinement transition takes place. We perform a renormalization group analysis to show that deconfinement occurs when $N>N_c=36/\pi^3\approx 1.161$, where $N$ is the number of fermion replica. For $N<N_c$, however, there are two stable fixed points separated by a line containing a unstable non-trivial fixed point: a fixed point corresponding to the scaling limit of the non-compact theory, and another one governing the scaling behavior of the compact theory. The string tension associated to the confining interspinon potential is shown to exhibit a universal jump as $N\to N_c^-$. Our results imply the stability of a spin liquid at the physical value N=2 for Mott insulators.Comment: 4 pages; 1 figure; v4: version accepted for publication in PRL. Additional material: the detailed derivation of the RG equations appearing in this preprint can be downloaded from http://www.physik.fu-berlin.de/~nogueira/cqed3.htm

The New Basel Accord: some potential implications of the new standards for credit risk

This paper discusses some potential implications – both intended and unintended – of The New Basel Accord, which is to be finalized by the end of 2001. Our focus is on the reforms of the rules for determining minimum capital requirements for credit risk. The discussion is divided into effects at the level of an individual bank, effects on the structure of the financial markets, and macroeconomic implications. We present a survey of potential effects rather than a profound analysis of any of them. Therefore conclusions are inevitably preliminary, and in many cases they are likely to be controversial. Although the new capital accord as a whole is a major improvement on many properties of the current framework, our aim is to find potential problems that might need to be considered in the implementation and application of the new rules. Overall, the new accord will be largely an experiment, of which many of the consequences remain to be seen.capital adequacy requirements; credit crisk; banking stability

Reflecting on non-reflective action: An exploratory think-aloud study of self-report habit measures

Objectives. Within health psychology, habit – the tendency to enact action automatically as a learned response to contextual cues – is most commonly quantified using the ‘Self-Report Habit Index’, which assesses behavioural automaticity, or measures combining self-reported behaviour frequency and context stability. Yet, the use of self-report to capture habit has proven controversial. This study used ‘think aloud’ methods to investigate problems experienced when completing these two measures. Design. Cross-sectional survey with think-aloud study. Methods. Twenty student participants narrated their thoughts while completing habit measures applied to four health-related behaviours (active commuting, unhealthy snacking, and one context-free and one context-specific variant of alcohol consumption). Data were coded using thematic analysis procedures. Results. Problems were found in 10% of responses. Notable findings included participants lacking confidence in reporting automaticity, struggling to recall behaviour or cues, differing in interpretations of ‘commuting’, and misinterpreting items. Conclusions. While most responses were unproblematic, and further work is needed to investigate habit self-reports among larger and more diverse samples, findings nonetheless question the sensitivity of the measures, and the conceptualisation of habit underpinning common applications of them. We offer suggestions to minimise these problems

Impact-Oriented Microfinance Investment Vehicles: A Preliminary Investigation on the Controversial Link between Performance and Stability

Social impact finance can foster economic and financial stability by promoting investments with social goals and non-speculative financial returns. The aim of this paper is to test whether Microfinance Investment Vehicles (MIVs) — labeled impact-oriented MIVs — contribute to economic and financial stability via their performance. Specifically, we test MIVs financial performance and risk-adjusted performance, assuming that: (i) financial returns below the market rate of return (MRR) are likely to contribute to economic stability via higher social and financial inclusion rates and via the promotion of microentrepreneurship; (ii) higher adjusted returns, characterized by low volatility, support financial stability. Results show that impact-oriented MIVs perform below the MRR only if we look at financial performance; when risk-adjusted performance is taken into consideration, impact-oriented MIVs outperform the market. We tested our results with a comparative sample of alternative MIVs aiming for social impact, but not labeled as impact-oriented. Results show that impact-oriented MIVs outperform the comparative sample, while their risk-adjusted performance is lower than that of alternative MIVs. The analysis shows that the market offers different investment options to investors, blending different level of financial return, risks and social goals, with different potential impact on economic and financial stability