Return Predictability in the Treasury Market: Real Rates, Inflation, and Liquidity

Estimating the liquidity differential between inflation-indexed and nominal bond yields, we separately test for time-varying real rate risk premia, inflation risk premia, and liquidity premia in U.S. and U.K. bond markets. We find strong, model independent evidence that real rate risk premia and inflation risk premia contribute to nominal bond excess return predictability to quantitatively similar degrees. The estimated liquidity premium between U.S. inflation-indexed and nominal yields is systematic, ranges from 30 bps in 2005 to over 150 bps during 2008-2009, and contributes to return predictability in inflation-indexed bonds. We find no evidence that bond supply shocks generate return predictability.

A Journey Through Time: From The Present Value To The Future Value And Back Or: Retirement Planning: A Comprehensible Application Of The Time Value Of Money Concept

Real-life applications of financial concepts are a valuable method to get students engaged in financial topics. While especially non-finance majors often struggle to understand the importance of financial topics for their personal lives, applying these theories to real-life examples can significantly improve their learning experience and increase their understanding. This teaching case demonstrates how the time value of money concept can be applied to one’s private retirement planning. Because of its simple assumptions, the case is targeted at an audience with little financial knowledge and can be used in finance as well as in accounting classes

Burgernomics: An Instructional Case on the Law of One Price

Jane just moved back to her hometown in Western New York to start a job at a bank. One evening, she meets her old friend Sally, who traveled the world for the past five months and tells Jane about her experiences with the different price levels in all the countries that she visited. Jane, being a recent graduate in international economics and finance, understands the underlying dynamics that are due to exchange rate theory and sheds light on the price discrepancies prevailing between the different currencies.This case focuses on the construction of the Big Mac index and on conveying the theoretical basis of the index (Purchasing Power Parity and the Law of One Price) to undergraduate students in business and economics. It is appropriate for use in undergraduate courses such as international finance, financial markets or international economics. It could also be used in (international) marketing courses to show the importance of product pricing.

Inflation-Indexed Bonds and the Expectations Hypothesis

This paper empirically analyzes the Expectations Hypothesis (EH) in inflation-indexed (or real) bonds and in nominal bonds in the US and in the UK. We strongly reject the EH in inflation-indexed bonds, and also confirm and update the existing evidence rejecting the EH in nominal bonds. This rejection implies that the risk premium on both real and nominal bonds varies predictably over time. We also find strong evidence that the spread between the nominal and the real bond risk premium, or the break-even inflation risk premium, also varies over time. We argue that the time variation in real bond risk premia mostly likely reflects both a changing real interest rate risk premium and a changing liquidity risk premium, and that the variability in the nominal bond risk premia reflects a changing inflation risk premium. We estimate significant time series variability in the magnitude and sign of bond risk premia.

A practical guide for the study of human and murine sebaceous glands in situ

The skin of most mammals is characterised by the presence of sebaceous glands (SGs), whose predominant constituent cell population is sebocytes, that is, lipid-producing epithelial cells, which develop from the hair follicle. Besides holocrine sebum production (which contributes 90% of skin surface lipids), multiple additional SG functions have emerged. These range from antimicrobial peptide production and immunomodulation, via lipid and hormone synthesis/metabolism, to the provision of an epithelial progenitor cell reservoir. Therefore, in addition to its involvement in common skin diseases (e.g. acne vulgaris), the unfolding diversity of SG functions, both in skin health and disease, has raised interest in this integral component of the pilosebaceous unit. This practical guide provides an introduction to SG biology and to relevant SG histochemical and immunohistochemical techniques, with emphasis placed on in situ evaluation methods that can be easily employed. We propose a range of simple, established markers, which are particularly instructive when addressing specific SG research questions in the two most commonly investigated species in SG research, humans and mice. To facilitate the development of reproducible analysis techniques for the in situ evaluation of SGs, this methods review concludes by suggesting quantitative (immuno-)histomorphometric methods for standardised SG evaluation

Risk factors associated with poorly controlled diabetes in a rural population of Karnataka: a case-control study

Background: The worldwide prevalence of diabetes has risen dramatically over the past two decades. India with the highest absolute number of cases has become the diabetes capital of the world. The aim of the study was to identify the factors associated with poorly controlled diabetes and comparing them between poorly controlled and well controlled subjects. Methods: This is a case-control study carried out in a rural population of villages in Devanahalli Taluk, Karnataka. Study population included adults above 20 years having type II diabetes for a minimum of one year currently under treatment. 50 poorly controlled and 50 well controlled patients willing to participate were enrolled for the study. A pre-determined questionnaire was used after taking a verbal consent from each participant. Results: Long duration of diabetes, presence of co-morbidities, irregular visit to physicians and skipping medicines were the factors associated with poorly controlled diabetes. Conclusion: The study emphasizes that regular follow up and control of co-morbidities are important factors in optimal control of disease.

Development of a Mechanics Reasoning Inventory

Strategic knowledge is required to appropriately organize procedures and concepts to solve problems. We are developing a standardized instrument assessing strategic knowledge in the domain of introductory mechanics. This instrument is inspired in part by Lawson's Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning and Van Domelen's Problem Decomposition Diagnostic. The predictive validity of the instrument has been suggested by preliminary studies showing significant correlation with performance on final exams administered in introductory mechanics courses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Georgia Institute of Technology. In order to study the validity of the content from the student's perspective, we have administered the instrument in free-response format to 40 students enrolled in calculus-based introductory mechanics at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. This procedure has the additional advantage of improving the construct validity of the inventory, since student responses suggest effective distractors for the multiple-choice form of the inventory.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (PHY-0757931)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (DUE-1044294)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (1-RC1-RR028302-01