Fiscal federalism and procyclical spending: the cases of Argentina and Brazil

Este trabajo estudia las Fuentes de la prociclicalidad del gasto para gobiernos subnacionales en Argentina y Brasil. Encontramos que los esquemas de coparticipación de los impuestos explican solo una parte menor de la prociclicalidad de los recursos de las entidades subnacionales, siendo la mayor parte explicada por la prociclicalidad de los propios recursos. Esto es especialmente visible cuando esa prociclicalidad se mide relativa al producto de cada entidad subnacional. Usando evidencia de corte transversal para distintas jurisdicciones podemos concluir que, a su vez, la prociclicalidad del gasto resulta de la prociclicalidad de los recursos, mediante el llamado "voracity effect". La conclusión es que el debate sobre la prociclicalidad del gasto de entidades subnacionales debiera concentrarse mucho mas en mejorar los sistemas impositivos locales que en cambiar los regimenes de coparticipación.This paper studies the sources of procyclicality for the spending of subnational governments in Argentina and Brazil. We find that tax sharing schemes explain only a marginal share of the prociclicality of revenues, with most of the prociclicality coming from subnational government's own resources. This is more so when the prociclicality of each source is measured vis a vis each jurisdiction's output. Cross jurisdiction evidence supports the claim that procyclicality of spending results from the procyclicality of revenues, through the so called "voracity effect". The conclusion is that the debate on prociclical subnational spending should focus on improving the tax collection schemes at the local level and not on reforming the tax sharing agreements.Instituto de Investigaciones Económica

Fiscal federalism and procyclical spending: the cases of Argentina and Brazil

Este trabajo estudia las Fuentes de la prociclicalidad del gasto para gobiernos subnacionales en Argentina y Brasil. Encontramos que los esquemas de coparticipación de los impuestos explican solo una parte menor de la prociclicalidad de los recursos de las entidades subnacionales, siendo la mayor parte explicada por la prociclicalidad de los propios recursos. Esto es especialmente visible cuando esa prociclicalidad se mide relativa al producto de cada entidad subnacional. Usando evidencia de corte transversal para distintas jurisdicciones podemos concluir que, a su vez, la prociclicalidad del gasto resulta de la prociclicalidad de los recursos, mediante el llamado "voracity effect". La conclusión es que el debate sobre la prociclicalidad del gasto de entidades subnacionales debiera concentrarse mucho mas en mejorar los sistemas impositivos locales que en cambiar los regimenes de coparticipación.This paper studies the sources of procyclicality for the spending of subnational governments in Argentina and Brazil. We find that tax sharing schemes explain only a marginal share of the prociclicality of revenues, with most of the prociclicality coming from subnational government's own resources. This is more so when the prociclicality of each source is measured vis a vis each jurisdiction's output. Cross jurisdiction evidence supports the claim that procyclicality of spending results from the procyclicality of revenues, through the so called "voracity effect". The conclusion is that the debate on prociclical subnational spending should focus on improving the tax collection schemes at the local level and not on reforming the tax sharing agreements.Instituto de Investigaciones Económica

Inherited cavernous malformations of the central nervous system: clinical and genetic features in 19 Swiss families

Cavernous malformations (CCMs) are benign, well-circumscribed, and mulberry-like vascular malformations that may be found in the central nervous system in up to 0.5% of the population. Cavernous malformations can be sporadic or inherited. The common symptoms are epilepsy, hemorrhages, focal neurological deficits, and headaches. However, CCMs are often asymptomatic. The familiar form is associated with three gene loci, namely 7q21-q22 (CCM1), 7p13-p15 (CCM2), and 3q25.2-q27 (CCM3) and is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait with incomplete penetrance. The CCM genes are identified as Krit 1 (CCM1), MGC4607 (CCM2), and PDCD10 (CCM3). Here, we present the clinical and genetic features of CCMs in 19 Swiss families. Furthermore, surgical aspects in such families are also discusse

Diffusion-weighted MRI in acute spinal cord ischaemia

Abstract : Acute spinal cord ischaemia is often undetectable with conventional MRI. Diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) has been difficult to use in the spine because of susceptibility artefacts. We assessed the diagnostic value of echoplanar DWI for early confirmation of spinal cord ischaemia. We performed conventional MRI and DWI in two men and three women, aged 54-75years with clinically suspected acute spinal cord ischaemia. Imaging was performed 9-46h after the onset of symptoms, and 2-9days later to assess the extent of ischaemic signal change. Spatial resolution of DWI within the spine using standard equipment was poor, but in all patients, early DWI revealed areas of high signal indicating decreased diffusion, confirmed by measurement of apparent diffusion coefficients. Follow-up MRI showed high signal on T2-weighted images and contrast enhancement at the expected levels. Neurological deficits corresponded with radiological findings in four patients: various syndromes, including isolated bilateral weakness or sensory change and combined deficits, were found. Echoplanar DWI may be helpful for confirmation of spinal cord ischaemia in the acute stage, but follow-up T2-weighted images have superior spatial resolution and correlation with clinical findings and lesion exten

Political institutions and debt crises

This paper shows that political institutions matter in explaining defaults on external and domestic debt obligations. We explore a large number of political and macroeconomic variables using a non-parametric technique to predict safety from default. The advantage of this technique is that it is able to identify patterns in the data that are not captured in standard probit analysis. We find that political factors matter, and do so in different ways for democratic and non-democratic regimes, and for domestic and external debt. In democracies, a parliamentary system or sufficient checks and balances almost guarantee the absence of default on external debt when economic fundamentals or liquidity are sufficiently strong. In dictatorships, high stability and tenure play a similar role for default on domestic debt

Crypto-currency bubbles: an application of the Phillips–Shi–Yu (2013) methodology on Mt. Gox bitcoin prices

The creation of bitcoin heralded the arrival of digital or crypto-currency and has been regarded as a phenomenon. Since its introduction, it has experienced a meteoric rise in price and rapid growth accompanied by huge volatility swings, and also attracted plenty of controversies which even involved law enforcement agencies. Hence, claims abound that bitcoin has been characterized by bubbles ready to burst any time (e.g. the recent collapse of bitcoin’s biggest exchange, Mt Gox). This has earned plenty of coverage in the media but surprisingly not in the academic literature. We therefore fill this knowledge gap. We conduct an econometric investigation of the existence of bubbles in the bitcoin market based on a recently developed technique that is robust in detecting bubbles – that of Phillips et al. (2013a). Over the period 2010–2014, we detected a number of short-lived bubbles; most importantly, we found three huge bubbles in the latter part of the period 2011–2013 lasting from 66 to 106 days, with the last and biggest one being the one that ‘broke the camel’s back’ – the demise of the Mt Gox exchange

A cross-institutional analysis of the effects of broadening trainee professional development on research productivity

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Brandt, P. D., Sturzenegger Varvayanis, S., Baas, T., Bolgioni, A. F., Alder, J., Petrie, K. A., Dominguez, I., Brown, A. M., Stayart, C. A., Singh, H., Van Wart, A., Chow, C. S., Mathur, A., Schreiber, B. M., Fruman, D. A., Bowden, B., Wiesen, C. A., Golightly, Y. M., Holmquist, C. E., Arneman, D., Hall, J. D., Hyman, L. E., Gould, K. L., Chalkley, R., Brennwald, P. J., Layton, R. L. A cross-institutional analysis of the effects of broadening trainee professional development on research productivity. Plos Biology, 19(7), (2021): e3000956, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000956.PhD-trained scientists are essential contributors to the workforce in diverse employment sectors that include academia, industry, government, and nonprofit organizations. Hence, best practices for training the future biomedical workforce are of national concern. Complementing coursework and laboratory research training, many institutions now offer professional training that enables career exploration and develops a broad set of skills critical to various career paths. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded academic institutions to design innovative programming to enable this professional development through a mechanism known as Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST). Programming at the NIH BEST awardee institutions included career panels, skill-building workshops, job search workshops, site visits, and internships. Because doctoral training is lengthy and requires focused attention on dissertation research, an initial concern was that students participating in additional complementary training activities might exhibit an increased time to degree or diminished research productivity. Metrics were analyzed from 10 NIH BEST awardee institutions to address this concern, using time to degree and publication records as measures of efficiency and productivity. Comparing doctoral students who participated to those who did not, results revealed that across these diverse academic institutions, there were no differences in time to degree or manuscript output. Our findings support the policy that doctoral students should participate in career and professional development opportunities that are intended to prepare them for a variety of diverse and important careers in the workforce.Funding sources included the Common Fund NIH Director’s Biomedical Research Workforce Innovation Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) Award. The following institutional NIH BEST awards (alphabetical by institution) included: DP7OD020322 (Boston University; AFB, ID, BMS, LEH); DP7OD020316 (University of Chicago; CAS); DP7OD018425 (Cornell University; SSV); DP7OD018428 (Virginia Polytechnic Institute; AVW, BB); DP7OD020314 (Rutgers University; JA); DP7OD020315 (University of Rochester; TB); DP7OD018423 (Vanderbilt University; KAP, AMB, KLG, RC); DP7OD020321 (University of California, Irvine; HS, DAF); DP7OD020317 (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; PDB, PJB, RLL); DP7 OD018427 (Wayne State University; CSC, AM). National Institutes of Health (NIH) General Medical Sciences - Science of Science Policy Approach to Analyzing and Innovating the Biomedical Research Enterprise (SCISIPBIO) Award (GM-19-011) - 1R01GM140282-01 (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; RLL, PDB, PJB)