Too many cooks? Committees in monetary policy

How many people should decide about monetary policy? In this paper, we take an empirical perspective on this issue, analyzing the relationship between the number of monetary policy decisionmakers and monetary policy outcomes. Using a new data set that characterizes Monetary Policy Committees (MPCs) in more than 30 countries from 1960 through 2000, we find a U-shaped relation between the membership size of MPCs and inflation; our results suggest that the lowest level of inflation is reached at MPCs with about seven to ten members. Similar results are obtained for other measures, such as inflation variability and output growth. We also find that MPC size influences the success of monetary targeting regimes. In contrast, there is no evidence that either turnover rates of MPC members or the membership composition of MPCs affect economic outcomes. --Central bank design,monetary policy committee,central bank board,central bank council,governance,inflation.

Too many cooks or too many recipes? The CDT student on teaching practice

There is general agreement between teachers in school, lecturers in teacher education and students in training on the importance of teaching practice to initial teacher education courses. It not only provides a vital learning experience but is also the arena in which a student is expected to prove his competence for the award of qualified teacher status. This dual role assigned to teaching practice, experiential learning on the one hand and assessment process on the other, is one of a number of factors which make teaching practice a most complex activity and present student, teacher and tutor with a series of dilemmas about its supervision and assessment

Too Many Cooks: Redesigning the English Program Website

The purpose of this project was to produce new content for the English Program webpages for Dr. Patterson’s course, ENGL 875 Seminar: Writing for the Web. Throughout all stages of this project, we consulted Janice Redish’s book Letting Go of the Words. The first stage of the project was to identify the webpages’ target audiences; this was achieved through the creation of personas that reflected the demographics of users. Through these personas, we developed a series of tasks for a preliminary usability test. Subsequently, we conducted the preliminary test on the existing English Program webpages using test subjects that reflected these audiences. The failing test results revealed issues with accessibility, consistency, and optimization. In response, we audited the existing content, which involved cataloging the information on each page. Next, we created new content that fit the parameters we developed. Finally, we assessed the effectiveness of this content through extended workshops. After finalizing the content, we created mock-up webpages to simulate the user experience. The final stage of our project was implementing the content into the program webpage. With this new webpage, we hope to improve the user experience and attract more students to not only the English Program but to the university at large

Too many cooks?: changing wages and job ladders in the food industry

Consolidation and outsourcing in the food industry have created higher-paying food prep jobs, but also have erected barriers for lower-skilled workers trying to move up the ladder.Food industry and trade

The Right Mix

Many collaborators focused on common research goal. Whoever said that too many cooks in the kitchen will spoil the broth was obviously not a scientist

Collaborative public legal education: a case of ‘many hands make light work’, or ‘too many cooks’?!

The following opinion piece offers views on the benefits and challenges of collaborating with other individuals or entities to deliver public legal education, and some practical tips to consider when embarking on such a venture

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen? Local Government Fragmentation and Economic Growth

In the US, the 49 largest metro regions account for more than 70% of GDP. Large metro regions are, and will continue to be, the centers of US growth and prosperity. Therefore, it is important to determine how to govern metro regions to ensure their continued economic success. Do united metro region governance structures result in better spending policies oriented towards long-term economic growth, or, do fragmented metro regions prosper because local government competition fuels more effective spending policies? By looking at metro region unity, local government spending policies, and the economic growth of the 49 largest US metro regions, I find that united local government is better for economic growth. In united regions, local governments face less pressure from neighboring municipalities to compete for people and firms in the short-term. This allows municipalities in united regions to engage in less short-term consumption spending designed to lure consumer-voters from neighboring municipalities, resulting in improved economic growth prospects for the entire region. These conclusions suggest that to encourage economic growth in our large metro regions, we should pursue governance structures at the metro region level, rather than the village, town, city, or county level.Honors thesi