Why Do Countries Float the Way They Float?

Countries that are classified as having floating exchange rate systems (or very wide bands) show strikingly different patterns of behavior. They hold very different levels of international reserves and allow very different volatilities in the movements of the exchange rate relative to the volatility that they tolerate either on the level of reserves or in interest rates. We document these differences and present a model that explains them as the optimal response of a Central Bank that attempts to minimize a standard loss function, in an environment in which firms are credit-constrained and incomplete markets limit their ability to avoid currency mismatches. This model suggests that the difference in the way countries float could be related to their differing levels of exchange rate pass-through and differences in their ability to avoid currency mismatches. We test these implications and find a very strong and robust relationship between the pattern of floating and the ability of a country to borrow internationally in its own currency. We find weaker and less robust evidence on the importance of pass-through to account for differences across countries with respect to their exchange rate/monetary management.

Budget Institutions and Fiscal Performance in Latin America

In this paper detailed information on the budget institutions of Latin American countries is collected. These institutions are classified on a hierarchical/collegial scale, as a function of the existence of constraints on the deficit and voting rules.

El desajuste financiero y la elección de régimen cambiario

(Disponible en idioma inglés únicamente) El desajuste financiero se está convirtiendo en algo corriente en América Latina. Los años 90 se caracterizaron por una gran inestabilidad en la magnitud y el costo de los flujos de capitales. La correlación de los vaivenes de los capitales entre países distintos sugiere que la calidad de las políticas de los mercados emergentes, además de los factores mundiales, han sido los factores principales de esta situación. Por lo tanto, la responsabilidad del desajuste financiero se ha alejado de las políticas internas inadecuadas. En vez de ello, el paradigma se ha desplazado hacia uno de determinar cuáles políticas internas o internacionales son las más eficaces para atemperar las repercusiones desestabilizadoras de los flujos de capitales inherentemente inestables.

How to Track Protists in Three Dimensions

We present an apparatus optimized for tracking swimming microorganisms in the size range 10-1000 microns, in three dimensions (3D), far from surfaces, and with negligible background convective fluid motion. CCD cameras attached to two long working distance microscopes synchronously image the sample from two perpendicular directions, with narrowband dark-field or bright-field illumination chosen to avoid triggering a phototactic response. The images from the two cameras can be combined to yield 3D tracks of the organism. Using additional, highly directional broad-spectrum illumination with millisecond timing control the phototactic trajectories in 3D of organisms ranging from Chlamydomonas to Volvox can be studied in detail. Surface-mediated hydrodynamic interactions can also be investigated without convective interference. Minimal modifications to the apparatus allow for studies of chemotaxis and other taxes.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Cisplatin-Based Chemotherapy for Pulmonary Metastasized Germ Cell Tumors of the Testis - Be Aware of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

Background: Cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy is regarded as standard of care for patients with advanced germ cell tumors. In patients with lung metastases and a high tumor load, an association between induction chemotherapy and the development of a `tumor-associated' acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has been hypothesized. Case Report: We report the clinical course of a 19-year-old patient who rapidly developed fatal ARDS during the first cycle of chemotherapy using the PEI regimen (cisplatin, etoposide and ifosfamide) for a metastasized (lung, liver, lymph nodes) germ cell tumor of the testis. Conclusion: Further clinical research in order to better define risk factors for developing ARDS in this patient population as well as novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of ARDS in those patients are necessary

Putting hydrodynamic interactions to work: tagged particle separation

Separation of magnetically tagged cells is performed by attaching markers to a subset of cells in suspension and applying fields to pull from them in a variety of ways. The magnetic force is proportional to the field gradient, and the hydrodynamic interactions play only a passive, adverse role. Here we propose using a homogeneous rotating magnetic field only to make tagged particles rotate, and then performing the actual separation by means of hydrodynamic interactions, which thus play an active role. The method, which we explore here theoretically and by means of numerical simulations, lends itself naturally to sorting on large scales.Comment: Version accepted for publication - Europhysics Letter

Unter Mordverdacht: Differenzialdiagnose einer Arsenvergiftung

Zusammenfassung: Es wird ein Fall vorgestellt, der auf den ersten Blick an spektakuläre Arsenmorde der Vergangenheit anzuknüpfen scheint. Im Rahmen von Scheidungsstreitigkeiten zwischen einem 70-jährigen Mann und seiner knapp 30Jahre jüngeren Frau war es beim Betroffenen zu Symptomen einer Arsenvergiftung gekommen. Nach dem unerwarteten Tod seines Hundes hatte der Mann seinen Hausarzt aufgesucht, der bei einer Blutuntersuchung einen erhöhten Arsenspiegel feststellte. Bei chemisch-toxikologischen Analysen von Probenmaterial, das im Rahmen rechtsmedizinischer Untersuchungen der Betroffenen sowie einer Exhumierung des Hundes gewonnen wurde, fanden sich bei dem Mann und seiner Frau auffällig erhöhte Arsenspiegel. Die vorliegende Kasuistik unterstreicht eindrücklich die Wichtigkeit der Arsenspezifizierung in einem qualifizierten Labor im Fall einer erhöhten Arsenkonzentration in Probenmateria

Growing up in the inner city: Exploring the adolescent development and acculturation of urban suicidal Latinas.

This chapter examines how adolescent development and acculturation impact suicidal behavior among Latinas living in the US inner city. After providing an overview of conceptual and empirical premises underlying immigrant youth development, acculturation, and suicidal behaviors, the article discusses cultural influences on Latina adolescents and their families. Drawing on data collected between 2005 and 2009, it then explores the various individual and interpersonal changes that Latina teens go through as a result of developmental and acculturative processes and how these changes relate to risks for suicide attempts. Based on cases that illustrate the developmental and acculturation trajectories of Latina nonattempters and attempters, the chapter suggests that acculturation to street culture shapes the suicidal behavior of Latina teens growing up in urban poverty