Modern Monetary Policy and Central Bank Governance:A Story of Two Tales

The objective of this note is to present the evolution of both the economics and the political economy of monetary policy in the last three decades – first the Great Moderation and then the Financial Crisis – as a story of two intertwined tales: on the one side the tale of how to govern money and interest rates in the short run; on the other side the tale of how to design in a longer horizon the monetary architectures. In the tradition the two tales are told separately, where the academic scholars preferred to focus essentially on the first perspective while only the central bankers and partially the policymakers were also sensible to the engineering of the monetary settings. The big innovation in the modern monetary policy was the progressive merger of the analysis of the macroeconomic effects of the public choices in the monetary games played day by day (monetary policy) with the study of the structural features that characterized both the monetary players – governments and central bankers – as well as the rules and institutions of the monetary games that shape goals and incentives of the players (central bankers and other economic agents)

Are Bankers “Crying Wolf”? Type I, Type II Errors and Deterrence in Anti-Money Laundering: The Italian Case

Excessive and useless reporting, called the "crying wolf effect," is a crucial shortcoming that any anti-money laundering (AML) design aims to address. For this reason, in recent years, AML policies in both the US and Europe have switched from a rule-based to a risk-based approach. This study theoretically and empirically investigates whether the risk-based approach delivers the expected results. The theoretical model shows that a trade-off can emerge between accuracy (fewer type-I and type-II errors) and deterrence. The empirical analysis, conducted after the risk-based approach was introduced in Italy, confirms this trade-off. More specifically, deterrence seems a priority, whereas accuracy is sacrificed. In this respect, the data suggest that Italian bankers are likely to "cry wolf.

Enzyme activity as an indicator of soil quality changes indegraded cultivated acrisols as the mexican trans-volcanic belt.

9 P.Soils located at the Mexican Trans-volcanic Belt (MTB) have a worrying degree of degradation due to inappropriate management practices. Early indicators of soil changes are very useful to alert about negative impacts of wrong managements on these volcanic soils. The aim of this work was to evaluate the short-term effects (4 years) of different agricultural practices on soil organic matter (SOM) quality and to validate the potential of the selected biochemical properties as optimal early indicators of soil quality in Mexican cultivated Acrisols. During 2002–2005 four agronomic management systems: conventional (Tc); improved conventional (Ti); organic (To) and fallow (Tf) were assayed in plots located at the MTB. An uncultivated soil under grass cover (Sg) was used as reference. Soil samples were collected at 0–10 cm depth and were analysed chemically (soil organic C, total N, water-soluble C and humic C), and biochemically (total and extra-cellular enzyme activity). After 4 years, soil organic C, total N, water-soluble C and dehydrogenase activity had higher values in To, followed by Ti treatment. A similar response pattern was observed in the extra-cellular enzyme activity. The highest total enzyme activity was found in Sg, followed by Ti and To treatments, and the lowest values appeared in Tc and Tf. To and Ti increased SOM contents of the degraded Acrisols studied, while Tc and Tf managements decreased the quality of these soils. The results showed that the assayed soil enzymes can be used as indicators of quality changes of these Mexican volcanic soils.The authors thank the European Union for supporting the REVOLSO Project (INCO-DEV Program) and the Spanish Ministry of Education & Science. Thanks are also due to C. I. Hidalgo (Colegio de Postgraduados de Montecillo, Mexico) for the mineralogical identification of soil clays analysis and J. Padilla (Colegio de Postgraduados de Montecillo, Mexico), C. Macci, S. Doni and laboratory technicians from the Istituto per lo Studio degli Ecosistemi (CNR, Italy) for theirs lab assistance.Peer reviewe

European Banking Union

Ulazak u Europsku uniju, za novije zemlje članice nužno znači ulazak i u europsku Ekonomsku i monetarnu uniju nakon ispunjavanja nominalnih kriterija konvergencije te ostalih propisanih preduvjeta. Budući da je propast Lehman Brothers-a 2008. godine i pojava financijske krize dovela do razdora i nesigurnosti cjelokupnog bankarskog sustava, kako u cijelom svijetu tako i u Europskoj uniji, odnosno europskoj Ekonomskoj i monetarnoj uniji, osnivanje bankovne unije kao dijela integriranog financijskog okvira predstavlja odgovor na za sve gospodarske i financijske probleme koji su pritom nastali. Cilj ovog diplomskog rada je analizirati proces nastanka bankovne unije te utvrditi njenu ulogu u bankarskom sektoru zemalja članica Europske unije, kao i saniranju posljedica financijske krize. Isto tako, cilj je opisati važnost tri stupa bankovne unije koja čine: jedinstveni nadzorni mehanizam, jedinstveni sanacijski mehanizam te povezani mehanizmi financiranja. Njihove odrednice predstavljaju glavne smjernice uspješnog djelovanja gospodarskog i financijskog sustava. Nadalje, analizira se i uloga, odnosno važnost Europske središnje banke i Europskog mehanizma stabilnosti u nadzoru bankovne unije koji je bitan za uspješno funkcioniranje sustava.Joining the European Union, for the newer Member States necessary means entering into the European Economic and Monetary Union after filling the nominal convergence criteria and other prescribed requirements. Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008 and the emergence of the financial crisis led to discord and uncertainty of the overall banking system, both worldwide and in European Union and European Economic and Monetary Union, the establishment of banking union as part of an integrated financial framework is a response to all the economic and financial problems that are pushing incurred. The aim of this diploma work is to analyze the process of creating banking union and to determine its role in the banking sector the EU Member States, as well as dealing with the consequences of the financial crisis. Also, the aim is to describe the importance of the three mechanisms that creates banking union: a Single Supervisory Mechanism, a Single Recovery Mechanism and related funding mechanisms. Their guidelines are the main guidelines for successful operation of the economic and financial system. Furthermore, assesses the role or importance of the European Central Bank and the European stability mechanism to control banking union that is essential for the successful function of the system

Estímulo no crescimento e na hidrólise de ATP em raízes de alface tratadas com humatos de vermicomposto: i - efeito da concentração.

O vermicomposto contém uma concentração elevada de substâncias húmicas e já é bem conhecido o efeito do seu uso sobre as propriedades do solo. No entanto,a ação direta das substâncias húmicas sobre o metabolismo das plantas é menos conhecida. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o uso de humatos extraídos de vermicomposto de esterco de curral com KOH 0,1 mol L-1 sobre o desenvolvimento e metabolismo de ATP em plântulas de alface. Após a germinação, plântulas de alface foram tratadas com os humatos em concentrações que variaram de 0 a 100 mg L-1 de C, durante quinze dias. Foram avaliados o crescimento da raiz e a atividade das bombas de H+ isoladas da fração microssomal do sistema radicular. Foi observado aumento na matéria fresca e seca do sistema radicular, bem como no número de sítios de mitose, raízes emergidas do eixo principal, na área e no comprimento radiculares, com o uso do humato na concentração de 25 mg L-1 de C. Também foi observado, nessa concentração, aumento significativo na hidrólise de ATP pelas bombas de H+, responsáveis pela geração de energia necessária à absorção de íons e pelo crescimento celular

Cross-tolerance to abiotic stresses in halophytes: Application for phytoremediation of organic pollutants

International audienceHalopytes are plants able to tolerate high salt concentrations but no clear definition was retained for them. In literature, there are more studies that showed salt-enhanced tolerance to other abiotic stresses compared to investigations that found enhanced salt tolerance by other abiotic stresses in halophytes. The phenomenon by which a plant resistance to a stress induces resistance to another is referred to as cross-tolerance. In this work, we reviewed cross-tolerance in halophytes at the physiological, biochemical, and molecular levels. A special attention was accorded to the cross-tolerance between salinity and organic pollutants that could allow halophytes a higher potential of xenobiotic phytoremediation in comparison with glycophytes