The Need for Transparency in Commodity and Commodity Derivatives Markets. ECMI Research Report No. 3, 15 December 2008

This paper argues that transparency-boosting measures specifically tailored to commodity and commodity derivatives markets are much needed. In particular, encouraging the creation of a clearing infrastructure for OTC commodity and commodity derivatives markets would be desirable. Moreover, EU regulators should consider setting up a new, more effective market abuse regime aimed at preventing manipulation in both the physical and financial commodities markets. Finally, in cooperation with the G20, EU authorities should consider the creation of an International Commodity Agency to increase transparency and restore confidence in international physical markets for commodities. The paper is structured as follows: Section 2 briefly discusses the fundamentals of commodity spot and futures markets. Section 3 presents both physical commodity markets and commodity derivative markets in their usual breakdown categories: agriculture, metals and energy. Section 4 discusses the regulations in the EU and the US concerning commodity derivatives. Section 5 advances certain policy proposals and the last section draws the conclusions

Debt and net financial wealth: a comparative analysis for some European countries

The impact of the different financial frameworks on the long-run growth is one of the most debated arguments in the economic theory. In this paper we present a theoretical and empirical analysis of the financial systems which characterize the financial interrelation in some European countries: the bank oriented model and the market oriented one. The first one was developed during the last part of the nineteenth century in the countries where the court system was based on the civil law principles, the other one became the financial model for the countries historically characterized by a regulatory framework with the common law approach. Considering the financial accounts of some European countries (source: EUROSTAT data, OECD data), we calculate the Goldsmith’s ratios and other indicators for the period 2000-2008. For each considered country as regard to the European Monetary Union, first of all we asses the financial interrelation and intermediation and then we analyze the debt and the net financial wealth of the private non financial sector and of the Households one.financial framework, civil law, common law, bank and market oriented, financial accounts, Goldsmith’s ratios.

The yield curve and the prediction on the business cycle: a VAR analysis for the European Union

The literature on the yield curve deals with the capacity to predict the future inflation and the future real growth from the term structure of the interest rates. The aim of the paper is to verify this predictive power of the yield curve for the European Union at 16 countries in the 1995-2008 years. With this regard we propose two VAR models. The former is derived from the standard approach, the later is an extended version considering explicitly the macroeconomic effects of the risk premium. We propose the estimates of the models and their out-of-sample forecasts through both the European Union GDP (Gross Domestic Product) quarterly series and the European Union IPI (Industrial Production Index) monthly series. We show that the our extended model performs better than the standard model and that the out-of-sample forecasts of the IPI monthly series are better than ones of the GDP quarterly series. Moreover the out-of-sample exercises seems us very useful because they show the crowding out arising from Lehman Brother’s unexpected crash and the becoming next fine tuning process.yield curve, monetary policy, business cycle, risk premium, real growth

The Presidential Succession Act at 75 | The Bumping Provisions of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947: Policy and Constitutional Considerations

These remarks were delivered as part of the program entitled The Presidential Succession Act at 75: Praise It or Bury It?, which was held on April 6, 2022, and hosted by the Fordham University School of Law. The Presidential Succession Act sets out the presidential line of succession and other procedures for situations in which the president and vice president have both died, resigned, been removed, or become unable to discharge the presidency’s powers and duties. The Act also addresses succession scenarios before Inauguration Day. In light of the statute’s seventy-fifth anniversary, this program explored relevant history and analyzed whether reform to the statute is needed. In these remarks, Americo Cinquegrana, a former Deputy Counsel for Intelligence Policy to the U.S. Attorney General, discusses the dangers of the Presidential Succession Act of 1947’s “bumping provision,” which provides that a Cabinet secretary acting as president can be supplanted by the Speaker of the House or Senate president pro tempore

Framework for fluid-structure interaction simulations with uzen and precice: simulations procedure and validation

The paper illustrates a new framework developed to face with Fluid Structure Interaction phenomena in a partitioned approach. The CIRA multi-block structured flow solver[1] for unsteady RANS equations, UZEN, was updated and tightly coupled with an open-source FEM code CalculiX[2]. The solvers are glued in space and time through an open source library, preCICE[3] to deliver exchanging data. preCICE manages the communications, loads mapping and time coupling. Motivation of the work is the simulation of unsteady aerodynamic problems strongly dependent upon structural behaviour, like flexible aircraft, rotor-craft, counter-rotating rotors, etc. As validation tests, the results of 2D and 3D panel flutter response at supersonic velocity are illustrated. The results are compared in terms of Limit Cycle Oscillation amplitude and frequency of panel flutter with data available in literature