Macroprudential Policy:The Case of Brazil

In the wake of 2008 financial crisis there has been growing interest in issues related to macroprudential policy and the coordinated attempt to ensure financial stability as a whole. The main objective of the paper is to provide a combination of both theoretical and empirical analysis of the effectiveness of macroprudential policy, implemented in Brazilian economy in 2010. Based on an existing methodology and using data from 46 countries, the paper develops methods for assessing the sensitivity of capital flows to global financial conditions. The main empirical findings cannot be interpreted in terms of effectiveness of the measures, since the interaction terms aiming to capture potential shift in Brazilian capital inflows turn out to be statistically insignificant both prior and after the introduction of the measures

Assessment of the Target Model Implementation in the Wholesale Electricity Market of Greece

The European Union Target Model aims to integrate European energy market by removing barriers to trade and align markets. The most important goals of the Target Model are to provide consistent prices, enhance liquidity, support cross boarder trading, facilitate interconnections, and coordinate the use of transmission system capacity. In that context, the smooth operation of both forward and spot markets is a core development that directly affects the good operation of the wholesale market. This paper examines the application of the Target Model in the wholesale electricity market of Greece and its impact on electricity prices. The study explores the time period before the implementation of the Target Model, which took place on November 2020, and the first nine months of its execution. Based on the feedback received by the rest of the European countries, which are already part of the European Single Market, this crucial period of time is considered transitional, when many distortions and unethical behaviors take place. Empirical findings indicate a relatively successful implementation of the Target Model in Greece, with price disorders mostly met in the Balancing Market

Μελέτες για το ελληνικό χρηματιστήριο ενέργειας: σχεδιασμός της αγοράς, υλοποίηση του μοντέλου στόχου και ανταγωνισμός

Driven by the liberalization of the energy market that began in the 1990s, the European Union aims to unify its internal market and achieve price convergence among all European economies. The majority of European countries have successfully established Power Exchanges, aiming to conduct cross-border transactions in a transparent and reliable manner. Initially, this dissertation provides a comprehensive overview of prior literature on the market design of the European Power Exchanges. Next, the recent developments in the electricity market of Greece are highlighted accompanied by the market design of the Hellenic Energy Exchange and the newly introduced markets. The introduced Power Exchange is expected to facilitate the integration of Greece with the rest of South-East European electricity markets and increase social welfare. In this context, the Target Model aims to integrate the European energy market by removing barriers to trade and align markets. Target Model aims to provide consistent prices, enhance liquidity, support cross boarder trading, facilitate interconnections, and coordinate the use of transmission system capacity. Subsequently, the third chapter examines the application of the Target Model in the wholesale electricity market of Greece and its impact on electricity prices. This part explores the time period before the implementation of the Target Model, which took place in November 2020, and focus on the first nine months of its execution. Based on the feedback received by the rest of the European countries, this crucial period of time is considered transitional, when many distortions and unethical behaviors take place. Empirical findings indicate a relatively successful implementation of the Target Model in Greece, with price disorders mostly met in the Balancing Market. Finally, the last part of this dissertation presents an extensive comparison between public and private natural gas-fired units in Greece. Both sides seek to maximize their profits by managing the Unit Commitment problem in the context of the Greek electricity market. By implementing a unique hourly dataset from 2015-2019, the introduced approach utilizes risk-weighted performance metrics – Cash Flows at Risk and Risk Weighted Return – to evaluate performance across the public and private units. Empirical findings indicate that publicly owned natural gas-fired units outperform privately owned units in terms of operational efficiency, however, the efficiency of privately owned natural gas-fired units is growing at a faster pace and is expected to surpass the efficiency of public units within 2 or 3 years.Με γνώμονα την απελευθέρωση της αγοράς ενέργειας που ξεκίνησε τη δεκαετία του 1990, η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση στοχεύει στην ενοποίηση της εσωτερικής της αγοράς και στην επίτευξη σύγκλισης των τιμών ανάμεσα στις Ευρωπαϊκές Οικονομίες. Η πλειονότητα των Ευρωπαϊκών χωρών έχει εγκαθιδρύσει με επιτυχία Χρηματιστήρια Ενέργειας, με στόχο τη διενέργεια διασυνοριακών συναλλαγών με διαφανή και αξιόπιστο τρόπο. Αρχικά, η παρούσα διατριβή παρέχει μια ολοκληρωμένη επισκόπηση της υπάρχουσας βιβλιογραφίας αναφορικά με τον σχεδιασμό της αγοράς των Ευρωπαϊκών Χρηματιστηρίων Ηλεκτρικής Ενέργειας. Στη συνέχεια, επισημαίνονται οι πρόσφατες εξελίξεις στην αγορά ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας της Ελλάδας, συνοδευόμενες από τον σχεδιασμό της αγοράς του Ελληνικού Χρηματιστηρίου Ενέργειας και τις νεοεισαχθείσες αγορές. Το Χρηματιστήριο Ενέργειας αναμένεται να διευκολύνει την ενοποίηση της Ελλάδας με τις υπόλοιπες αγορές ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας της Νοτιοανατολικής Ευρώπης και να αυξήσει την κοινωνική ευημερία. Στο πλαίσιο αυτό, το Μοντέλο-Στόχος (Target Model) στοχεύει στην ολοκλήρωση της Ευρωπαϊκής αγοράς ενέργειας με την άρση των εμποδίων στο εμπόριο και την ευθυγράμμιση των αγορών. Το Target Model αποσκοπεί στην παροχή σταθερών τιμών, στην ενίσχυση της ρευστότητας, στην υποστήριξη των διασυνοριακών συναλλαγών, στη διευκόλυνση των διασυνδέσεων και στο συντονισμό της χρήσης της ισχύος του συστήματος μεταφοράς. Στη συνέχεια, το τρίτο κεφάλαιο εξετάζει την εφαρμογή του Target Model στη χονδρεμπορική αγορά ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας της Ελλάδας και τον αντίκτυπό του στις τιμές της ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας. Το μέρος αυτό διερευνά τη χρονική περίοδο πριν από την εφαρμογή του Target Model, η οποία πραγματοποιήθηκε τον Νοέμβριο του 2020, και επικεντρώνεται στους πρώτους εννέα μήνες της εφαρμογής του. Με βάση την υπάρχουσα εμπειρία από οι υπόλοιπες Ευρωπαϊκές χώρες, η μεταβατική αυτή χρονική περίοδος θεωρείται κρίσιμη, κατά την οποία λαμβάνουν χώρα πολλές στρεβλώσεις και ανήθικες συμπεριφορές. Τα εμπειρικά ευρήματα αποτυπώνουν μια σχετικά επιτυχημένη εφαρμογή του Target Model στην Ελλάδα, με τις διαταραχές των τιμών να παρατηρούνται κυρίως στην Αγορά Εξισορρόπησης. Τέλος, στο τελευταίο μέρος της παρούσας διατριβής παρουσιάζεται μια εκτενής σύγκριση μεταξύ δημόσιων και ιδιωτικών μονάδων φυσικού αερίου στην Ελλάδα. Και οι δύο πλευρές επιδιώκουν να μεγιστοποιήσουν τα κέρδη τους διαχειριζόμενες το “Πρόβλημα Ένταξης των Μονάδων, Unit Commitment Problem” στο πλαίσιο της ελληνικής αγοράς ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας. Με τη χρησιμοποίηση μίας μοναδικής βάσης ωριαίων δεδομένων από το 2015-2019, η εμπειρική προσέγγιση χρησιμοποιεί σταθμισμένες ως προς τον κίνδυνο μετρήσεις επιδόσεων - ταμειακές ροές σε κίνδυνο και σταθμισμένη ως προς τον κίνδυνο απόδοση - για την αξιολόγηση των επιδόσεων μεταξύ των δημόσιων και ιδιωτικών μονάδων. Τα εμπειρικά ευρήματα αποδεικνύουν ότι οι δημόσιες μονάδες φυσικού αερίου υπερτερούν των ιδιωτικών μονάδων όσον αφορά τη λειτουργική απόδοση, ωστόσο η απόδοση των ιδιωτικών μονάδων φυσικού αερίου αυξάνεται με ταχύτερο ρυθμό και αναμένεται να ξεπεράσει την απόδοση των δημόσιων μονάδων εντός 2-3 ετών

Electricity pricing using a periodic GARCH model with conditional skewness and kurtosis components

This paper extends the investigation of the stochastic properties of electricity price growth rates beyond their first two conditional moments allowing for the impact of seasonality on their parameters. The main contributions include the breakdown of electricity price risk into its pure and skewness price components and the development of a risk neutral forecasting equation for electricity prices. Empirical results using ten-years of hourly wholesale prices from the Day-Ahead electricity market in Germany depict the presence of seasonality, strong mean reversion and up-to third degree time-varying moments

A Rare Case of Multiple Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors Coexisting with a Rectal Adenocarcinoma in a Patient with Attenuated Familial Adenomatous Polyposis Syndrome and a Mini Review of the Literature

Background: Multiple gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are extremely rare entities that exist either as spontaneous GISTs or as part of various syndromes, such as Carney’s triad and type I neurofibromatosis (NF1). Attenuated familial adenomatous polyposis (AFAP) is a variant of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) with a milder clinical presentation. Both GISTs and AFAP have been reported to coexist with colorectal cancer, but the coexistence of GISTs and AFAP has never been reported in the literature before. Case report: A 45-year-old male patient with known AFAP arrived scheduled for a total colectomy and ileo-rectal anastomosis due to the malignancy of one of the previously biopsied polyps of the upper rectum. Intraoperatively, multiple nodular tumors were found at the jejunum within a length of 45 cm, for which an enterectomy and enteroanastomosis were performed. A histopathological examination of the whole colectomy specimen confirmed the presence of multiple polyps in the large intestine along with a rectal invasive adenocarcinoma. At the same time, in the examined part of the small intestine, 15 GISTs sized from 0.5 to 2.0 cm of prognostic group I, were identified. The patient’s postoperative course was uncomplicated. Conclusion: Multiple GISTs may present as an asymptomatic disease, and the same thing is true for colorectal cancer. Therefore, the appropriate screening is crucial for entities such as AFAP, since the surgery was performed because of the malignant transformation in one of the polyps and revealed multiple GISTs, as well

Ampullary Large-Cell Neuroendocrine Carcinoma, a Diagnostic Challenge of a Rare Aggressive Neoplasm: A Case Report and Literature Review

Ampullary large-cell neuroendocrine carcinomas (LCNECs) are extremely rare, and available data are limited on case reports. They present with jaundice, non-specific abdominal pain, or weight loss, imitating adenocarcinoma. Their incidence increases due to the improved diagnostic techniques. However, preoperative diagnosis remains challenging. We report the case of a 70-year-old man with a history of metabolic syndrome, cholecystectomy, and right hemicolectomy, presenting with jaundice. Laboratory results showed increased liver biochemistry indicators and elevated CA 19-9. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed an ulcerative tumor on the ampulla of Vater, and the biopsy revealed neuroendocrine carcinoma. Although computed tomography (CT) detected enlarged regional lymph nodes, the positron emission tomography (PET) showed a hyperactive lesion only in this area. Pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy with R0 resection was performed. Pathologic evaluation of the 3.1 × 1.9 cm tumor revealed an LCNEC with immunohistochemical positivity at Synaptophysin, EMA, CD56, and cytokeratin CK8/18. The Ki-67 index was 45%. Two out of the nine dissected lymph nodes were occupied by the neoplasm. The patient was discharged home free of symptoms, and adjuvant chemotherapy with carboplatin + etoposide was initiated. A comprehensive review of the reported cases showed that the preoperative biopsy result was different from the final diagnosis in few cases, regarding the subtypes. Conventional radiology cannot identify small masses, and other methods, such as endoscopy, magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), and FDG-PET scan, might aid the diagnosis. Diagnosis is based on histology and immunohistochemical markers of the surgical specimens. The treatment of choice is pancreatoduodenectomy, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. However, recurrence is frequent, and the prognosis remains poor

Data_Sheet_1_The effect of SGLT-2i administration on red blood cell distribution width in patients with heart failure and type 2 diabetes mellitus: A randomized study.pdf

BackgroundRecent studies suggest that the pivotal mechanism of sodium glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2i) favorable action in patients with heart failure (HF) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is the stimulation of erythropoiesis via an early increase in erythropoietin (EPO) production which leads to hematocrit rise. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a simple hematological parameter which reflects the heterogeneity of the red blood cell size (anisocytosis). Since, EPO has been also implicated in the pathophysiology of RDW increase, the current mechanistic study examined the effect of SGLT-2i administration on red blood cells size (RDW) in patients with HF and DM.MethodsThe present was a prospective single-center study. Patients (N=110) were randomly assigned to dapagliflozin (10 mg a day on top of antidiabetic treatment) or the control group. Inclusion criteria were: (a) age > 18 years, (b) history of type 2 DM and hospitalization for HF exacerbation within 6 months. The evaluation of patients (at baseline, 6 and 12 months) included clinical assessment, laboratory blood tests, and echocardiography. Data were modeled using mixed linear models with dependent variable the RDW index. In order to find factors independently associated with prognosis (1-year death or HF rehospitalization), multiple logistic regression was conducted with death or HF rehospitalization as dependent variable.ResultsAn RDW increase both after 6 and after 12 months was observed in the SGLT-2i (dapagliflozin) group (p ConclusionRDW increased with time in patients with HF and DM who received SGLT-2i (dapagliflozin). The increased RDW rates in these patients may stem from the induction of hemopoiesis from dapagliflozin. Baseline RDW was found to be independently associated with outcome in patients with HF and DM.</p