Financial safety nets and incentive structures in Latin America

The literature on safety nets has become technically more precise by drawing on advances in contract theory and optimal governance structure. This paper begins with a treatment of some aspects of the theory. The author's approach draws more on institutional economics, and more precisely on the approach taken by Kindleberger (1978), in the sense that he believes the design of good financial safety nets for Latin America depends upon an understanding of the way that formal ex-ante safety nets have broken down during times of crisis over the past one hundred years. In this paper then author explores issues surrounding safety nets for financial systems in small open economies like those in Latin America. The starting point in Section 2 is the idea that asymmetric information will generally restrict the scope for lending to potential borrowers. Section 3 shows that government regulation of financial intermediaries can frequently lower the cost of lending. Section 4 discusses the creation of central banks in Latin America in the 1920s as an innovation to promote financial deepening. Section 5 shows that the extension of the safety net to depositors is a relatively new and untested development. Section 6 concludes with a discussion of the design of safety nets that takes into account the principles developed in the paper.Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Financial Intermediation,Banks&Banking Reform,Labor Policies,Financial Intermediation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform

Transforming Bad Banks into Good Banks: Lessons from the Chilean Financial Crisis

This paper provides a narrative account of the 1980s Chilean banking crisis. The Chilean crisis saw the nationalization of the two largest financial conglomerates and resulted in more than half of the financial system’s assets and liabilities falling under direct control of the government. The paper provides details of the bank rescue measures as well as the resolution of the banks' nonperforming debt problem. By providing a detailed chronology of the financial crisis, the paper highlights the evolutionary process that characterized the interventions taken by the Chilean authorities to restore the financial system to solvency. Despite the pessimism that accompanied the early stages of the banking crisis, the fifteen-year process of intervention, restructuring, and recapitalization left the financial system well-positioned to finance Chile’s economic growth, which averaged six percent per year (in real terms) for the 20 years following 1985.

A Close and Supportive Interparental Bond During Pregnancy Predicts Greater Decline in Sexual Activity From Pregnancy to Postpartum: Applying an Evolutionary Perspective

A common topic for advice given to parents after childbirth – both from relationship experts and popular media – is how to “bounce back” to one’s pre-pregnancy sexuality, with warnings that postpartum declines in sexual frequency will take a serious toll on one’s relationship. However, these admonishments may not accurately reflect the ways in which the unique reproductive context of pregnancy and the postpartum transition alter associations between sexual frequency and relationship quality. Evolutionary perspectives on reproductive strategies would suggest that in the postpartum context, decreased sexual activity would help target parental investment in the current offspring (rather than creating new offspring); however, if the parental relationship is lacking in intimacy and support, continued sexual activity may help seal the cracks in the bond. We tested this theory in a longitudinal dyadic study of changes in relationship quality and sexual frequency from pregnancy to 6 months postpartum among 159 heterosexual couples. We found that across three different measures of relationship quality taken from interviews and behavioral observation of couple interactions, higher relationship quality (i.e., greater support, intimacy, and responsiveness) predicted greater decline in sexual frequency whereas sexual frequency remained relatively stable in lower quality relationships. These findings suggest that, during the postpartum transition, decreased sexual frequency may not be a reliable signal of poor relationship quality

The Growth and Welfare Consequences of Differential Tariffs With Endogenously-Supplied Capital and Labor

This paper analyzes the impact of differential tariffs on consumption and investment in a specific factors model of a small open economy in which capital is accumulated over time. Particular attention is devoted to the welfare aspects. highlighting the cost of the intertemporal distortions produced by protective trade policies. Several specific welfare propositions are obtained. First, tariff protection is shown to create short-run benefits but long-run costs in welfare. Secondly, the second-best policy for the two tariffs is characterized. Finally, several propositions summarizing the implications of our analysis for tariff reform are derived.

Dynamic Model and Control of an Artificial Muscle Based on Contractile Polymers

A dynamic model and control system of an artificial muscle is presented. The artificial muscle is based on a contractile polymer gel which undergoes abrupt volume changes in response to variations in external conditions. The device uses an acid-base reaction to directly convert chemical to mechanical energy. A nonlinear sliding mode control system is proposed to track desired joint trajectories of a single link controlled by two antagonist muscles. Both the model and controller were implemented and produced acceptable tracking performance at 2Hz

Posttraumatic Stress and Parenting Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation

Maternal trauma has been linked with problematic parenting, including both harsh and permissive behaviors. However, little is known about mechanisms accounting for this association. The current study examined the potential impact of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and emotion regulation on dysfunctional parenting behaviors in a sample of community mothers. We hypothesized a mediation model wherein PTSD would be associated with dysfunctional parenting (i.e., lax and overreactive behaviors) indirectly through deficits in maternal emotion regulation. Seventy-eight community mothers of 18- to 36-month-old children were administered the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5) and 19 mothers met criteria for PTSD. Mothers also completed self-report measures of difficulties with emotion regulation and maternal laxness and overreactivity in parenting. Results revealed that emotion dysregulation fully mediated relations between PTSD status and lax (but not overreactive) parenting behaviors. Compared to mothers without PTSD, those with PTSD reported greater lax parenting behaviors indirectly through greater emotion dysregulation. Mothers with PTSD may struggle to parent assertively when trauma symptoms interfere with emotion regulation abilities. The current study highlights the need to design interventions focused on helping trauma-exposed mothers manage distress, ultimately aiming to enhance parenting effectiveness and improve child outcomes

Review of Artificial Muscle Based on Contractile Polymers

An artificial muscle with strength and speed equal to that of a human muscle may soon be possible. Polymer gels exhibit abrubt volume changes in response to variations in their external conditions -- shrinking or swelling up to 1000 times their original volume. Through the conversion of chemical or electrical energy into mechanical work, a number of devices have already been constructed which produce forces up to 100N/cm2 and contraction rates on the order of a second. Through the promise of an artificial muscle is real, many fundamental physical and engineering questions remain before the extent or limit of these devices is known

The Principals\u27 Role in Mentor Programs

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New Gis Tools for Implementing Broad-Scale Wildlife Connectivity Models in Land Use Planning and Management

Wildlife habitat connectivity at regional scales is necessary for the conservation of wide-ranging species and to provide opportunities for species to respond to a changing climate. Conservation planning and wildlife management must incorporate a broad-scale perspective to provide the best chance for long-term persistence of complete species assemblages. Much of the crucial linkage habitat in the U.S. Northern Rockies occurs on private lands at lower elevations. Therefore, land use decisions that ultimate influence broad-scale connectivity occur at fine (parcel level) scales. The ability to integrate broad-scale conservation planning that wildlife need with the scales where decisions are made has been difficult. New GIS tools provide advances in multi-scale conservation planning. These tools assist decision makers in identifying opportunities, setting priorities, and targeting actions at very fine scales but within the context of regional planning. These tools also facilitate scenario analysis to allow practitioners to as “what if” questions and help them understand potential outcomes of proposed actions

The Project of German Bomb Disposal: Temporal Imaginaries and Materiality after WWII

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard Colleg