Coronavirus and financial stability 3.0: Try equity – risk sharing for companies, large and small

This policy letter adds to the current discussion on how to design a program of government assistance for firms hurt by the Coronavirus crisis. While not pretending to provide a cure-all proposal, the advocated scheme could help to bring funding to firms, even small firms, quickly, without increasing their leverage and default risk. The plan combines outright cash transfers to firms with a temporary, elevated corporate profit tax at the firm level as a form of conditional payback. The implied equity-like payment structure has positive risk-sharing features for firms, without impinging on ownership structures. The proposal has to be implemented at the pan-European level to strengthen Euro area resilience

Eine „dienende Rolle“ für den Finanzsektor? Nicht dienen, sondern funktionieren!

The image is undisputed in the political debate that the function of the financial sector is to "play servant" to the real economy, but the consequences derived from this debate are controversial. Clearer is the academic concept to restrict the functions of the financial sector deliberately. But such restriction is hardly convincing from the different persepectives of functionality. Because of this indetermination and, respectively, restriction, a "servant role" is apparently inappropriate as a useful yardstick for reorienting the financial sector. In line with this image, it would certainly be possible to improve crisis prevention, but at the price of cuts in important functions so that a "sevant role" as a concept of crisis prevention would not be desirable either

A model for cathodic blister growth in coating degradation using mesomechanics approach

The paper presents a novel theoretical model of blistering initiation and propagation especially useful for coating life assessment. The focus is on initially circular blisters. A two-part theoretical analysis of blistering is conducted using mesomechanics approach coupling diffusion concepts with fracture mechanics concepts. The diffusion concept is used to treat the corrosive species transport, eventually causing corrosion and blistering, while the fracture mechanics concept is used to treat the blister growth as circular crack propagation. Effects of thickness ratio and modulus ratio on blistering propagation are discussed. A simple criterion is identified which excludes the possibility of widespread blister propagation. Furthermore, a comparative study with the existing blistering models is carried out. Experiments are reported for blistering using a model coating-substrate system, chosen to allow visualisation of interface and to permit coupled (diffusion and residual) stresses in the coating over a full range of interest. The predicted limits from theoretical model are expected to be useful for the manufacturers in the design and deposition of coatings