The Effects of Monetary Policy Shocks: Some Evidence from the Flow of Funds

This paper uses the Flow of Funds accounts to assess the impact of a monetary policy shock on the borrowing and lending activities of different sectors of the economy. Our measures of contractionary monetary policy shocks have the following properties: (i) they are associated with a fall in nonborrowed reserves, total reserves, M1, the Federal Reserves' holdings of government securities and a rise in the federal funds rate, (ii) they lead to persistent declines in real GNP, employment, retail sales and nonfinancial corporate profits as well as increases in unemployment and manufacturing inventories, (iii) they generate sharp, persistent declines in commodity prices and (iv) the GDP price deflator does not respond to them for roughly a year. After that the GDP price deflator declines. Our major findings regarding the borrowing activities of different sectors can be summarized as follows. First, following a contractionary shock to monetary policy, net funds raised by the business sector increases for roughly a year. Thereafter, as the recession induced by the policy shock gains momentum, net funds raised by the business sector begins to fall. This pattern is not captured by existing monetary business cycle models. Second, we cannot reject the view that households do not adjust their financial assets and liabilities for several quarters after a monetary shock. This is consistent with a key assumption of several recent monetary business cycle models.

Nominal rigidities and the dynamic effects of a shock to monetary policy

The authors’ model, embodying moderate amounts of nominal rigidities, accounts for the observed inertia in inflation and persistence in output. The key features of their model are those that prevent a sharp rise in marginal costs after an expansionary shock to monetary policy. Of these features, the most important are staggered wage contracts of average duration (three quarters) and variable capital utilization.Inflation (Finance) ; Monetary policy ; Wages

Welding of precipitation-hardening stainless steels

Welding of precipitation hardening stainless steel

Nominal rigidities and the dynamic effects of a shock to monetary policy

We present a model embodying moderate amounts of nominal rigidities which accounts for the observed inertia in inflation and persistence in output. The key features of our model are those that prevent a sharp rise in marginal costs after an expansionary shock to monetary policy. Of these features, the most important are staggered wage contracts of average duration three quarters, and variable capital utilization.Monetary policy

The Miltonic Moment

Milton\u27s poems invariably depict the decisive instant in a story, a moment of crisis that takes place just before the action undergoes a dramatic change of course. Such instants look backward to a past that is about to be superseded or repudiated and forward, at the same time, to a future that will immediately begin to unfold. Martin Evans identifies this moment of transition as the Miltonic Moment. This provocative new study focuses primarily on three of Milton\u27s best known early poems: On the Morning of Christ\u27s Nativity, A Mask Presented at Ludlow Castle (Comus), and Lycidas. These texts share a distinctive perceptual and cognitive structure, which Evans defines as characteristically Miltonic, embracing a single moment that is both ending and beginning. The poems communicate a profound sense of intermediacy because they seem to take place between the boundaries that separate events. The works illuniated here, which also include Samson Agonistes and Paradise Regained , are all about transition from one form to another: from paganism to Christianity, from youthful inexperience to moral maturity, and from pastoral retirement to heroic engagement. This transformation is often ideological as well as historical or biographical. Evans shows that the moment of transition is characteristic of all Milton\u27s poetry, and he proposes a new way of reading one of the seminal writers of the seventeenth century. Evans concludes that the narrative reversals in Milton\u27s poetry suggest his constant attempts to bring about an intellectual revolution that, at a time of religious and political change in England, would transform an age. A very readable, fascinating and well-documented short study of Milton’s early poems. -- Anglia Evan\u27s clear, well-written study represents a permanent contribution to the reading of Milton\u27s poems, certainly the earlier work. -- Choice Elegantly written. . . . An important reinterpretation of Milton\u27s poetry. -- John T. Shawcross Evan’s arguments are strong enough to change one’s mind. -- Journal of English and Germanic Philology Any good book is good because of its intermittent aphoristic sentences and individual insights. For me The Miltonic Moment meets the grade. -- Leland Ryken, Christianity and Literature The latest in a long line of accomplished critical studies of John Milton’s poetry by Evans. -- Notes and Queries What Evans does by way of integrating classical allusions with Milton s Christian and ethical concerns impresses me as both new and convincing. . . . This work will take its place among the essential studies of John Milton s poetry. -- Richard J. DuRocher A first-rate, gracefully engaging piece of scholarship. -- Seventeenth-Century News This concise and well-written book provides full-scale analyses of three of Milton’s early poems: the Nativity Ode, A Masque, and Lycidas. -- South Atlantic Review There are some nice close readings here, and a useful exposition of the various revisions and interpretative cruces. -- Year’s Work in English Studieshttps://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_british_isles/1001/thumbnail.jp

The effects of polydispersity and metastability on crystal growth kinetics

We investigate the effect of metastable gas-liquid (G-L) separation on crystal growth in a system of either monodisperse or slightly size-polydisperse square well particles, using a simulation setup that allows us to focus on the growth of a single crystal. Our system parameters are such that, inside the metastable G-L binodal, a macroscopic layer of the gas phase "coats" the crystal as it grows, consistent with experiment and theoretical free energy considerations. Crucially, the effect of this metastable G-L separation on the crystal growth rate depends qualitatively on whether the system is polydisperse. We measure reduced polydispersity and qualitatively different local size ordering in the crystal relative to the fluid, proposing that the required fractionation is dynamically facilitated by the gas layer. Our results show that polydispersity and metastability, both ubiquitous in soft matter, must be considered in tandem if their dynamical effects are to be understood.Comment: Published in Soft Matter. DOI: 10.1039/C3SM27627

Building audiences: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts

Building Audiences examines the barriers to and the strategies for increasing audiences in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts sector. This research investigates the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of current and potential audiences. What is in the report? The findings reveal the key barriers facing audience attendance include: uncertainty about how to behave at cultural events and fear of offending lack of awareness with audiences not actively seeking information about Indigenous arts and outdated perceptions of the sector – that it is only perceived as ‘serious or educational’. Building Audiences also considered several strategies to build audiences for Indigenous arts: providing skills development, advice and resourcing to Indigenous practitioners within the arts sector; increasing representation of Indigenous artists in the main programing of arts companies by including more Indigenous people in decision making roles; promoting relationships between Indigenous arts and non-Indigenous companies to present their work to wider audiences; introducing children and young people to Indigenous arts through schools and extracurricular activities; allowing audiences to feel comfortable engaging by creating accessible experiences; implementing long-term strategies to change negative perceptions of Indigenous arts. The project was commissioned by the Australia Council for the Arts and funding partners include Australia Council for the Arts; Faculty of Business and Law and Institute of Koorie Education, Deakin University; Melbourne Business School, The University of Melbourne