Was the credit channel a key monetary transmission mechanism following the recent financial crisis in the Republic of Korea?

The author investigates whether the credit channel is a key monetary transmission mechanism in the Republic of Korea, especially after its recent financial crisis. To identify the existence of a distinctive credit channel (especially the bank lending channel), he applies two empirical tests to both aggregate financial data and disaggregated bank balance sheet data. As a more definitive analysis of the role of the credit channel, he estimates a disequilibrium model of the bank loan market, specifying separate loan demand and supply equations to characterize the credit crunch and identify its intensity in the wake of the crisis. The author finds convincing evidence ofthe importance of the credit channel in the aftermath of the crisis. Bank lending plays a significant independent role in amplifying the real effects of the tightened monetary policy implemented in response to the crisis. There is strong evidence to suggest a substantial excess demand for bank loans following the crisis. This excess demand was caused by a sharp decline in loan supply largely attributable to pervasive and stringent bank capital regulation (a capital-induced bank credit crunch), rather than by weak demand for loans.Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Financial Intermediation,Banks&Banking Reform,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Stabilization,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation

Top-bottom mass hierarchy, s−μs-\mu puzzle and gauge coupling unification with split multiplets

A supersymmetric 5D SU(5) grand unification is considered. The SU(5) is broken down to $G_{SM}=SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)$ by the $Z_2\times Z_2'$ assignment of the bulk field(s). The matter fields are located at the fixed point(s). In the bulk, a Higgs multiplet $\bar 5_H$(containing the bottom doublet $H_1$) and the SU(5) gauge multiplet are located. At one fixed point, $H_2$(the top doublet) and the standard model matter multiplets are presented. Because of the difference of the locations of $H_1$ and $H_2$, one can obtain a hierarchy between top and bottom Yukawa couplings. We also present a possibility to understand the $s-\mu$ mass puzzle in this framework of the split multiplet.Comment: LaTeX file of 17 pages including 3 eps figures. A note is added and typo errors corrected. To appear in Euro. Phys. J.

Blandford-Znajek process as a gamma ray burst central engine

We investigate the possibility that gamma-ray bursts are powered by a central engine consisting of a black hole with an external magnetic field supported by a surrounding disk or torus. The rotational energy of the black hole can be extracted electromagnetically as a Poynting flux, a mechanism proposed by Blandford and Znajek(1977). Recently observed magnetars indicate that some compact objects have very high magnetic fields, up to $10^{15}$ G, which is required to extract the energy within the duration of a GRB, i.e., in 1000 s or less. We demonstrate also that the Poynting flux need not be substantially dominated by the disk.Comment: 7 pages, no figure, paspconf.sty, to appear in Proceedings " Gamma Ray Bursts: The First Three Minutes", Gr\"aft{\aa}vallen, Sweden, Feb. 6 - 11, 199

Influences of an impurity on the transport properties of one-dimensional antisymmetric spin filter

The influences of an impurity on the spin and the charge transport of one-dimensional antisymmetric spin filter are investigated using bosonization and Keldysh formulation and the results are highlighted against those of spinful Luttinger liquids. Due to the dependence of the electron spin orientation on wave number the spin transport is not affected by the impurity, while the charge transport is essentially identical with that of spinless one-dimensional Luttinger liquid.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. To appear in Physical Review

Narrative Health Communication and Behavior Change: The Influence of Exemplars in the News on Intention to Quit Smoking.

This study investigated psychological mechanisms underlying the effect of narrative health communication on behavioral intention. Specifically, the study examined how exemplification in news about successful smoking cessation affects recipients\u27 narrative engagement, thereby changing their intention to quit smoking. Nationally representative samples of U.S. adult smokers participated in 2 experiments. The results from the 2 experiments consistently showed that smokers reading a news article with an exemplar experienced greater narrative engagement compared to those reading an article without an exemplar. Those who reported more engagement were in turn more likely to report greater smoking cessation intentions

Emergent Geometry and Quantum Gravity

We explain how quantum gravity can be defined by quantizing spacetime itself. A pinpoint is that the gravitational constant G = L_P^2 whose physical dimension is of (length)^2 in natural unit introduces a symplectic structure of spacetime which causes a noncommutative spacetime at the Planck scale L_P. The symplectic structure of spacetime M leads to an isomorphism between symplectic geometry (M, \omega) and Riemannian geometry (M, g) where the deformations of symplectic structure \omega in terms of electromagnetic fields F=dA are transformed into those of Riemannian metric g. This approach for quantum gravity allows a background independent formulation where spacetime as well as matter fields is equally emergent from a universal vacuum of quantum gravity which is thus dubbed as the quantum equivalence principle.Comment: Invited Review for Mod. Phys. Lett. A, 17 page