Signaling Virtue or Vulnerability? The Changing Impact of Exchange Rate Regimes on Government Bond Yields

Do exchange rate regimes affect the conditions under which developed countries borrow? This paper argues that they do, but their impact on yields depends on the prevailing macroeconomic context. When investors regard inflation as the most relevant risk to bond holdings, monetary union has a distinct advantage over floating and fixed exchange rates because of its credible in-built mechanism to control inflation. However, once default is seen as the most relevant risk, exchange rate rigidity becomes a liability due to its constraining effect on governments’ ability to respond to adverse shocks. We test our argument with a moving window panel analysis for twenty-three OECD countries from 1980 to 2017. We find that before the late 2000s, inflation was penalized under floating and (to a lesser extent) fixed exchange rate regimes, but not in countries in monetary union. Since the 2010s, inflation carries no penalty under any exchange rate regime. Variables linked to default risk (debt and entitlement spending) did not affect yields under any exchange rate arrangements until the mid-2000s. Afterwards, countries in monetary union (and to a lesser extent in fixed exchange rate regimes) were significantly penalized for public debt and entitlement spending, whereas countries with floating regimes were not. Our results speak to the literatures on governments’ institutional commitments and “room to move.”Haben Wechselkursregime einen Einfluss auf die Konditionen, zu denen entwickelte Länder Staatsanleihen ausgeben können? Wir argumentieren in diesem Beitrag, dass dies der Fall ist, wobei ihre Wirkung auf die Anleiherenditen vom vorherrschenden makroökonomischen Kontext abhängt. Erachten Investoren Inflation als das entscheidende Risiko für Investitionen in Anleihen, so hat eine Währungsunion durch ihren glaubwürdigen inte­grierten Mechanismus zur Inflationskontrolle klare Vorteile gegenüber flexiblen und festen Wechselkursen. Wird jedoch ein Ausfall der Rückzahlungen als das entscheidende Risiko angesehen, werden starre Wechselkurse zum Nachteil, da sie die Fähigkeit von Regierungen, auf negative Schocks zu reagieren, verringern. Wir testen unser Argument mithilfe einer für den Zeitraum von 1980 bis 2017 mit gleitenden Zeitfenstern durchgeführten Panelana­lyse von 23 OECD-Ländern. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Inflation vor den späten 2000er-Jahren in flexiblen und (weniger stark) in festen Wechselkursregimen finanziell abgestraft wurde, jedoch nicht in den Ländern einer Währungsunion. Seit den 2010er-Jahren wirkt sich Inflation in keinem der Wechselkursregime auf die Renditen aus. Mit dem Ausfallri­siko verknüpfte Variablen (Staatsverschuldung und Sozialausgaben) hatten bis zur Mitte der 2000er-Jahre in keinem der Wechselkursregime einen Einfluss auf die Renditen. Danach wurden Länder in einer Währungsunion erheblich (und Länder in festen Wechselkursregimen weniger stark) für Staatsverschuldung und Sozialausgaben abgestraft, während dies bei Ländern in flexiblen Regimen nicht der Fall war. Unsere Ergebnisse tragen zur Literatur über institutionelle Selbstverpflichtungen und Handlungsspielräume von Regierungen bei.Contents 1 Introduction 2 Commitment devices and policy autonomy from a theoretical perspective 3 Inflation risk, default risk, and exchange rate regimes: An analysis of twenty-three OECD countries 4 Results section Results Robustness checks 5 Discussion and conclusion Appendix A Sources used for identifying sample countries’ exchange rate regimes over time Appendix B Results controlling for capital mobility (measured via the Chinn-Ito capital account openness index) Appendix C Results excluding countries with a greater share of foreign currency-denominated debt than 2 percent (Canada and Sweden) Appendix D Results for crawling peg exchange rate regime Appendix E Results excluding heavily indebted EMU countries (Belgium, Greece, and Italy) Appendix F Results excluding EMU countries with the lowest sovereign credit ratings prior to the crisis (Greece, Italy, and Portugal) Reference

Synthesis of Enantioenriched Amines by Iron-Catalysed Amination of Alcohols Employing at Least One Achiral Substrate

The synthesis of a broad range of enantioenriched amines by the direct Fe-catalysed coupling of amines with alcohols through the borrowing hydrogen strategy, while at least one of these substrates is achiral is reported. When starting from α-chiral amines and achiral alcohols, a wide range of enantioenriched amine products, including N-heterocyclic moieties can be obtained with complete retention of stereochemistry and the power of this method is demonstrated in the one-step synthesis of known pharmaceuticals from commercially available, simple enantiopure primary amines and achiral alcohols. It was also found that the use of β-branched enantioenriched primary alcohols and achiral amines as reaction partners leads to a partial loss of stereochemical integrity in the final product, however, a systematic optimization enabled partial retention of enantiopurity and possible parameters effecting for racemization were identified.</p

“Anything that benefits the workers should benefit the client”: Opportunities and Constraints in Self-Directed Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses.Self-directed care (SDC) models allow Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) consumers to direct their own care, thus supporting flexible, person-centered care. There are many benefits to the SDC model but access to resources is essential to successful outcomes. Considering the autonomy and flexibility associated with SDC, it is important to understand how SDC responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resources available to help manage this situation. We conducted 54 in-depth interviews with HCBS consumers, direct support workers, family caregivers, and providers to examine the impact of COVID-19 on HCBS services in Kansas. Findings illuminate how self-directed consumers carried a lot of employer responsibility, with limited resources and systemic barriers constraining self-determination and contributing to unmet care needs, stress, and burden. Policy flexibilities expanding the hiring of family members were beneficial but insufficient to address under-resourced working conditions and labor shortages that were exacerbated by the pandemic

Haptoglobin Polymorphism: A Novel Genetic Risk Factor for Celiac Disease Development and Its Clinical Manifestations

Background: Haptoglobin (Hp) α-chain alleles 1 and 2 account for 3 phenotypes that may influence the course of inflammatory diseases via biologically important differences in their antioxidant, scavenging, and immunomodulatory properties. Hp1-1 genotype results in the production of small dimeric, Hp2-1 linear, and Hp2-2 cyclic polymeric haptoglobin molecules. We investigated the haptoglobin polymorphism in patients with celiac disease and its possible association to the presenting symptoms. Methods: We studied 712 unrelated, biopsy-proven Hungarian celiac patients (357 children, 355 adults; severe malabsorption 32.9%, minor gastrointestinal symptoms 22.8%, iron deficiency anemia 9.4%, dermatitis herpetiformis 15.6%, silent disease 7.2%, other 12.1%) and 384 healthy subjects. We determined haptoglobin phenotypes by gel electrophoresis and assigned corresponding genotypes. Results: Hp2-1 was associated with a significant risk for celiac disease (P = 0.0006, odds ratio [OR] 1.54, 95% CI 1.20–1.98; prevalence 56.9% in patients vs 46.1% in controls). It was also overrepresented among patients with mild symptoms (69.2%) or silent disease (72.5%). Hp2-2 was less frequent in patients than in controls (P = 0.0023), but patients having this phenotype were at an increased risk for severe malabsorption (OR 2.21, 95% CI 1.60–3.07) and accounted for 45.3% of all malabsorption cases. Celiac and dermatitis herpetiformis patients showed similar haptoglobin phenotype distributions. Conclusions: The haptoglobin polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to celiac disease and its clinical presentations. The predominant genotype in the celiac population was Hp2-1, but Hp2-2 predisposed to a more severe clinical course. The phenotype-dependent effect of haptoglobin may result from the molecule’s structural and functional properties

Evolution of cooperation driven by zealots

Recent experimental results with humans involved in social dilemma games suggest that cooperation may be a contagious phenomenon and that the selection pressure operating on evolutionary dynamics (i.e., mimicry) is relatively weak. I propose an evolutionary dynamics model that links these experimental findings and evolution of cooperation. By assuming a small fraction of (imperfect) zealous cooperators, I show that a large fraction of cooperation emerges in evolutionary dynamics of social dilemma games. Even if defection is more lucrative than cooperation for most individuals, they often mimic cooperation of fellows unless the selection pressure is very strong. Then, zealous cooperators can transform the population to be even fully cooperative under standard evolutionary dynamics.Comment: 5 figure

Interrogating Genes That Mediate Chlamydia trachomatis Survival in Cell Culture Using Conditional Mutants and Recombination

Intracellular bacterial pathogens in the family Chlamydiaceae are causes of human blindness, sexually transmitted disease, and pneumonia. Genetic dissection of the mechanisms of chlamydial pathogenicity has been hindered by multiple limitations, including the inability to inactivate genes that would prevent the production of elementary bodies. Many genes are also Chlamydia-specific genes, and chlamydial genomes have undergone extensive reductive evolution, so functions often cannot be inferred from homologs in other organisms. Conditional mutants have been used to study essential genes of many microorganisms, so we screened a library of 4,184 ethyl methanesulfonate-mutagenized Chlamydia trachomatis isolates for temperature-sensitive (TS) mutants that developed normally at physiological temperature (37°C) but not at nonphysiological temperatures. Heat-sensitive TS mutants were identified at a high frequency, while cold-sensitive mutants were less common. Twelve TS mutants were mapped using a novel markerless recombination approach, PCR, and genome sequencing. TS alleles of genes that play essential roles in other bacteria and chlamydia-specific open reading frames (ORFs) of unknown function were identified. Temperature-shift assays determined that phenotypes of the mutants manifested at distinct points in the developmental cycle. Genome sequencing of a larger population of TS mutants also revealed that the screen had not reached saturation. In summary, we describe the first approach for studying essential chlamydial genes and broadly applicable strategies for genetic mapping in Chlamydia spp. and mutants that both define checkpoints and provide insights into the biology of the chlamydial developmental cycle. IMPORTANCE: Study of the pathogenesis of Chlamydia spp. has historically been hampered by a lack of genetic tools. Although there has been recent progress in chlamydial genetics, the existing approaches have limitations for the study of the genes that mediate growth of these organisms in cell culture. We used a genetic screen to identify conditional Chlamydia mutants and then mapped these alleles using a broadly applicable recombination strategy. Phenotypes of the mutants provide fundamental insights into unexplored areas of chlamydial pathogenesis and intracellular biology. Finally, the reagents and approaches we describe are powerful resources for the investigation of these organisms

Solar science with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array - A new view of our Sun

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is a new powerful tool for observing the Sun at high spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution. These capabilities can address a broad range of fundamental scientific questions in solar physics. The radiation observed by ALMA originates mostly from the chromosphere - a complex and dynamic region between the photosphere and corona, which plays a crucial role in the transport of energy and matter and, ultimately, the heating of the outer layers of the solar atmosphere. Based on first solar test observations, strategies for regular solar campaigns are currently being developed. State-of-the-art numerical simulations of the solar atmosphere and modeling of instrumental effects can help constrain and optimize future observing modes for ALMA. Here we present a short technical description of ALMA and an overview of past efforts and future possibilities for solar observations at submillimeter and millimeter wavelengths. In addition, selected numerical simulations and observations at other wavelengths demonstrate ALMA's scientific potential for studying the Sun for a large range of science cases.Comment: 73 pages, 21 figures ; Space Science Reviews (accepted December 10th, 2015); accepted versio

Rare Copy Number Variants in \u3cem\u3eNRXN1\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eCNTN6\u3c/em\u3e Increase Risk for Tourette Syndrome

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a model neuropsychiatric disorder thought to arise from abnormal development and/or maintenance of cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits. TS is highly heritable, but its underlying genetic causes are still elusive, and no genome-wide significant loci have been discovered to date. We analyzed a European ancestry sample of 2,434 TS cases and 4,093 ancestry-matched controls for rare (\u3c 1% frequency) copy-number variants (CNVs) using SNP microarray data. We observed an enrichment of global CNV burden that was prominent for large (\u3e 1 Mb), singleton events (OR = 2.28, 95% CI [1.39–3.79], p = 1.2 × 10−3) and known, pathogenic CNVs (OR = 3.03 [1.85–5.07], p = 1.5 × 10−5). We also identified two individual, genome-wide significant loci, each conferring a substantial increase in TS risk (NRXN1 deletions, OR = 20.3, 95% CI [2.6–156.2]; CNTN6 duplications, OR = 10.1, 95% CI [2.3–45.4]). Approximately 1% of TS cases carry one of these CNVs, indicating that rare structural variation contributes significantly to the genetic architecture of TS

The N-terminus of IpaB provides a potential anchor to the Shigella type III secretion system tip complex protein IpaD

The type III secretion system (T3SS) is an essential virulence factor for Shigella flexneri, providing a conduit through which host-altering effectors are injected directly into a host cell to promote uptake. The type III secretion apparatus (T3SA) is comprised of a basal body, external needle, and regulatory tip complex. The nascent needle is a polymer of MxiH capped by a pentamer of invasion plasmid antigen D (IpaD). Exposure to bile salts (e.g. deoxycholate) causes a conformational change in IpaD and promotes recruitment of IpaB to the needle tip. It has been proposed that IpaB senses contact with host cell membranes, recruiting IpaC and inducing full secretion of T3SS effectors. While the steps of T3SA maturation and their external triggers have been identified, details of specific protein interactions and mechanisms have remained difficult to study due to the hydrophobic nature of the IpaB and IpaC translocator proteins. Here we explored the ability for a series of soluble N-terminal IpaB peptides to interact with IpaD. We found that DOC is required for the interaction and that a region of IpaB between residues 11–27 is required for maximum binding, which was confirmed in vivo. Furthermore, intramolecular FRET measurements indicated that movement of the IpaD distal domain away from the protein core accompanied the binding of IpaB11-226. Together these new findings provide important new insight into the interactions and potential mechanisms that define the maturation of the Shigella T3SA needle tip complex and provide a foundation for further studies probing T3SS activation