Profesor Julio H. G. Olivera In Memoriam: Su contribución al pensamiento económico

Profesor Julio H. G. Olivera In Memoriam: Su contribución al pensamiento económic

Vida, pasión y muerte de la convertibilidad en Argentina

Almost 100 years after the creation of its Currency Board, Argentina recreated it, at a time when most countries in the world had adopted more flexible exchange rate regimes. Instead of pegging the domestic currency to gold as in the XIXth century, this time the peso was pegged to the U.S. dollar. This paper explores the nature of this regime, its historical origin, its functioning in Argentina, the difficulties it generated in manufacturing, and its traumatic end.Casi cien años después de la creación de la Caja de Conversión, la Argentina procedió a recrearla, precisamente cuando la gran mayoría de los países del mundo habían optado por regímenes de tipo de cambio más flexibles. A diferencia de lo ocurrido en el siglo XIX, en que el peso se fijaba en términos de oro, la moneda de referencia de la Convertibilidad fue el dólar estadounidense. El presente trabajo explora la naturaleza de este régimen, sus orígenes históricos, su funcionamiento en Argentina, las dificultades que implicó para el aparato productivo, y su traumático final

La teoría macroeconomica y la crisis

El plan del artículo es el siguiente. En la sección 1 recordamos el origen de la macroeconomía como una rama de la economía; luego se menciona el gran giro que experimentó la misma bajo la influencia de la llamada ¨crítica de Lucas¨. La sección 2 se refiere a cómo a partir de dicha crítica se produjo el surgimiento y desarrollo de la teoría neoclásica del ciclo económico real. En la sección 3 se presenta un análisis de la reciente crisis hecho desde dicha perspectiva y se exponen sus falencias. La sección 4 destaca cómo el estado del arte permitió hacer frente a la Gran Recesión evitando que se transformara en una reedición de la Gran Depresión de 1930. La sección 5 revisa los aportes de Keynes a la macroeconomía mientras que la sección 6 postula el regreso de la disciplina a sus fuentes. Las secciones 7, 8, 9 y 10 se concentran en la discusión de aspectos controvertidos de la perspectiva keynesiana: el efecto riqueza, el rol de la inversión, el papel de los ahorros y del de la inflación. Finalmente, la sección 11 está dedicada a las conclusiones

SOME METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

From the financial crisis of 2007/2008 mainstream economic theory is in crisis. Most mainstream economists not only did not anticipate the depth of the crisis but not even considered that something like that was possible. This state of things has reawakened the interest in methodological issues in economic analysis. In this article some outstanding questions in economic methodology are analyzed. They are: the difference between economic science and natural sciences; how refutation works in economics;the possibilities of predicting in this science; the use of the mathematics; the relation between positive and normative economics and, finally, explores the possibility of using the complexity approach in economics.</p

Algunas cuestiones metodológicas en el análisis económico

From the financial crisis of 2007/2008 mainstream economic theory is in crisis. Most mainstream economists not only did not anticipate the depth of the crisis but not even considered that something like that was possible. This state of things has reawakened the interest in methodological issues in economic analysis. In this article some outstanding questions in economic methodology are analyzed. They are: the difference between economic science and natural sciences; how refutation works in economics;the possibilities of predicting in this science; the use of the mathematics; the relation between positive and normative economics and, finally, explores the possibility of using the complexity approach in economics.A partir de la crisis financiera de 2007/2008 la teoría eco­nómica predominante se encuentra en estado de crisis. La mayoría de sus economistas no sólo no previeron la pro­fundidad de la crisis sino que ni siquiera consideraban que algo así fuera posible. Este estado de cosas ha resucitado el interés por las cuestiones metodológicas del análisis económico. En este trabajo se revisan algunas cuestiones destacadas en materia de metodología económica. Ellas son: la diferencia entre la ciencia económica y las ciencias naturales; cómo opera la refutación en economía; las posibilidades de predecir en esta cien­cia; el uso de la matemática; la relación entre economía positiva y economía normativa y se explora la posibilidad de utilizar el enfoque de complejidad en economí

THE EUROPEAN DEBT CRISIS: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

A common explanation for the European debt crisis has been that the introduction of the euro in 2001 caused interest rates to fall in those countries where expectations of high inflation previously kept interest rates high. Bond buyers assumed that a bond issued by any government in the European Monetary Union was equally safe. As a result, the interest rates on Greek, Italian, etc. government bonds were not significantly different from the interest rate on the German government bonds. Governments responded to the low interest rates by increasing their borrowing. However, data do not endorse this explanation, as is shown in the paper. An alternative explanation has been that the European debt crisis was just a consequence of the American subprime one. Again, data do not entirely support this hypothesis although the connection between both crises is explored in the paper. A third argument states that the introduction of the euro, and its effects on external competitiveness, triggered mounting disequilibria and debt accumulation in the noncore countries or periphery. This argument seems to be valid to a certain extent just in the cases of Greece and Portugal, but not for the rest of the countries involved in the crisis where other factors seem to have played a major role. A distinction is made between a first group of countries whose debt problems have roots before 2007 but did not worsen significantly after that year and a second one of ¨new¨ highly indebted countries. Finally, Spain appears as a special case. The development of the indebtedness process in these three different types of countries allows isolating the factors which were determinant in each case. The conclusion is that the European indebtedness process does not accept a unique explanation and its solution will necessarily require resource transfers from the richer to the poorer countries of the euro-zone

Observing Non-Gaussian Sources in Heavy-Ion Reactions

We examine the possibility of extracting non-Gaussian sources from two-particle correlations in heavy-ion reactions. Non-Gaussian sources have been predicted in a variety of model calculations and may have been seen in various like-meson pair correlations. As a tool for this investigation, we have developed an improved imaging method that relies on a Basis spline expansion of the source functions with an improved implementation of constraints. We examine under what conditions this improved method can distinguish between Gaussian and non-Gaussian sources. Finally, we investigate pion, kaon, and proton sources from the p-Pb reaction at 450 GeV/nucleon and from the S-Pb reaction at 200 GeV/nucleon studied by the NA44 experiment. Both the pion and kaon sources from the S-Pb correlations seem to exhibit a Gaussian core with an extended, non-Gaussian halo. We also find evidence for a scaling of the source widths with particle mass in the sources from the p-Pb reaction.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, 5 tables, uses RevTex3.

Charged seven-dimensional spacetimes with spherically symmetric extra-dimensions

We derive exact solutions of the seven-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell equations for a spacetime exhibiting Poincare invariance along four-dimensions and spherical symmetry in the extra-dimensions. Such topology generically arises in the context of braneworld models. Our solutions generalise previous results on Ricci-flat spacetimes admitting the two-sphere and are shown to include wormhole configurations. A regular coordinate system suitable to describe the whole spacetime is singled-out and we discuss the physical relevance of the derived solutions.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, uses RevTeX. Physical discussion clarified, wormhole solutions added. References adde

Two-Proton Correlations near Midrapidity in p+Pb and S+Pb Collisions at the CERN SPS

Correlations of two protons emitted near midrapidity in p+Pb collisions at 450 GeV/c and S+Pb collisions at 200A GeV/c are presented, as measured by the NA44 Experiment. The correlation effect, which arises as a result of final state interactions and Fermi-Dirac statistics, is related to the space-time characteristics of proton emission. The measured source sizes are smaller than the size of the target lead nucleus but larger than the sizes of the projectiles. A dependence on the collision centrality is observed; the source size increases with decreasing impact parameter. Proton source sizes near midrapidity appear to be smaller than those of pions in the same interactions. Quantitative agreement with the results of RQMD (v1.08) simulations is found for p+Pb collisions. For S+Pb collisions the measured correlation effect is somewhat weaker than that predicted by the model simulations, implying either a larger source size or larger contribution of protons from long-lived particle decays.Comment: 10 pages (LaTeX) text, 4 (EPS) figures; accepted for publication in Phys. Lett.

Interprocess and Interprocessor Data Flow in the Kloe Data Acquisition System

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