Optimal Budget Deficit Rules

This paper discusses the problem of the optimal determination of budget deficit limits in cases where the fiscal authority wishes to keep the budget deficit close to a reference value. It is assumed that the fiscal authority minimizes the expected discounted value of squared deviations from the reference value. Lump-sum and proportional intervention costs are considered. This paper is also an example of integration between stochastic process optimal control methods and the continuous time stochastic models. In fact, the characteristics of the stochastic process that rules the path of the budget deficit are taken from a previously developed continuous time stochastic model (Amador, 1999). Finally, simulation methods are used in order to conduct a comparative dynamics analysis. The paper concludes that, in the case of proportional intervention costs, the optimal ceiling depends positively on the cost parameter and on the variance of the budget deficit. On the contrary, the optimal ceiling depends negatively on the average budget deficit. These results remain valid in the case where there are both lump-sum and proportional intervention costs. Finally, in a stationary equilibrium context, we conclude that economies with higher tax rates and lower public expenditure should set higher budget deficit ceilings. The same is true for economies with a higher variance in technology and public expenditure shocks.

The Teacher: another Variable in the Use of Foreign Language Learning Strategies?

The Bologna process aims to create the European Higher Education Framework (EHEF) by making academic degree and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe. The EHEF has different implications for university students, representing a change in emphasis from ‘teaching’ to ‘learning’, from a teacher-centred approach to a student-centred approach. In the last thirty years, researchers have discussed the role of teachers and students in the language learning-teaching process. Until then, the acquisition of a foreign language was focused on the teacher’s methodology. In the 80s and 90s, a series of student-centred approaches emerged, with the aim of making students more autonomous and independent in their learning. Language learning strategies are part of the tools used to improve language learning. There are different definitions and taxonomies of language learning strategies (Chamot (2001), Cohen (1998), Oxford (1990), O'Malley (1990) and Wenden & Rubin (1987) and there have been extensive descriptive studies on the different variables affecting the use of learning strategies including gender, previous linguistic knowledge, motivation, learning styles and/or second language versus foreign language acquisition. This paper aims to explore the instructor’s conscious or unconscious influence students’ use of learning strategies. To undertake this study, a group of teachers was asked to assess the 50 strategies presented in an adapted version of the Strategies Inventory Language Learning (Oxford 1990) according to their suitability and practicality for their students. The participants were lecturers from the French and English Department at Cádiz University. The languages included in the study were English, French and German for specific and general purposes

Curricular noticing: A comprehensive framework to describe teachers’ interactions with curriculum materials

Building on the work of Professional Noticing of Children’s Mathematical Thinking, we introduce the Curricular Noticing Framework to describe how teachers recognize opportunities within curriculum materials, understand their affordances and limitations, and use strategies to act on them. This framework builds on Remillard’s (2005) notion of participation with curriculum materials, connects with and broadens existing research on the relationship between teachers and written curriculum, and highlights new are as for research. We argue that once mathematics educators better understand the strategic curricular practices that support ambitious teaching, which we refer to as professional curricular noticing, then this knowledge can lead to recommendations for how to support the curricular work of teachers, particularly novice teachers

Texas Citrus Diseases Affecting the Fruit.

4 p

Texas Citrus Fungal Diseases and Nematodes.

4 p

Texas Citrus Fungal Diseases and Nematodes.

4 p