One Money, One Market: A Revised Benchmark

The introduction of the euro generated substantial interest in measuring the impact of currency unions (CUs) on trade flows. Rose’s (2000) initial estimates suggested a tripling of trade and created a literature in search of “more reasonable” CU effects. A recent meta-analysis of this literature shows that subsequent papers quantify CU trade impacts at 30–90 percent. However, most recent studies use shorter time series and fewer countries than Rose in his original work. We revisit Rose’s original benchmark, extend the dataset, and address Baldwin’s (2006) critiques of gravity implementation in large panels by simultaneously accounting for multilateral resistance and unobserved bilateral heterogeneity. This produces a robust average CU trade effect of 45 percent. Yet, the trade impacts of individual CUs vary substantially and are generally lower than those of preferential trade agreements (PTAs). Our revised benchmark can be used as a yardstick for future studies to delineate how estimates differ due to new data or differences in econometric specifications.

In Search of WTO Trade Effects: Preferential Trade Agreements Promote Trade Strongly, But Unevenly

The literature measuring the impact of Preferential Trade Agreements (PTA) and WTO membership on trade flows has produced remarkably diverse results. Rose’s (2004) seminal paper reports a range of specifications that show no WTO effects, but Subramanian and Wei (2007) contend that he does not fully control for multilateral resistance (which could bias WTO estimates). Subramanian and Wei (2007) address multilateral resistance comprehensively to report strong WTO trade effects for industrialized countries but do not account for unobserved bilateral heterogeneity (which could inflate WTO estimates). We unify these two approaches by accounting for both multilateral resistance and unobserved bilateral heterogeneity, while also allowing for individual trade effects of PTAs. WTO effects vanish and remain robustly insignificant once multilateral resistance, unobserved bilateral heterogeneity, and individual PTA effects are introduced. The result is robust to the use of alternative definitions and coding conventions for WTO membership that have been employed by Rose (2004), Tomz et al. (2007), or by Subramanian and Wei’s (2007).

Pussy made of steel: os sentidos inaugurados por um cartaz da Women’s March na página Supergirl Brasil

The paper analyzes the semiotic processuality established from the publication of the poster that Melissa Benoist took to the Women’s March on the page Supergirl Brasil. The methodology called Analysis of the Construction of Senses in Social Networks, used for the study of cyberevents, has enabled, from theoretical tensions, to find the emergence of six constellations: political confrontations, fan performances, contextualizations, chauvinism and disconnections. The articulation between the potentialities of social networking sites, issues of gender and sexuality and pop culture can signal new paths in relation to the mediatic representations of heroines and help study the issues surrounding contemporary feminism, such as the realization that these movements would be the opposite of chauvinism. We point out directions that can be taken in relation to these problems from the narrative potentialities of pop culture and the use of the methodology adopted here in future research that will unfold over the digital dynamics.Keywords: feminism, pop culture, social networking sites.O artigo analisa a processualidade semiótica instaurada a partir da publicação na página Supergirl Brasil do cartaz que Melissa Benoist levou à Women’s March. A metodologia denominada como Análise de Construção de Sentidos em Redes Sociais, utilizada para estudos de ciberacontecimentos, possibilitou, a partir de tensionamentos teóricos, que constatássemos a emergência de seis constelações de sentidos: enfrentamentos políticos, performances fãs, contextualizações, críticas ao machismo nerd, machismos e desconexões. Notamos, assim, que a articulação entre as potencialidades dos sites de redes sociais, das questões de gênero e sexualidade e da cultura pop podem sinalizar novos caminhos em relação às representações midiáticas de heroínas e ajudar a tensionar as problemáticas em torno do feminismo na contemporaneidade, como, por exemplo, a compreensão de que esses movimentos seriam o oposto do machismo. Apontamos direcionamentos que podem ser tomados em relação a essas problemáticas a partir das potencialidades narrativas da cultura pop e a utilização da metodologia adotada aqui em futuras pesquisas que se desdobram sobre as dinâmicas digitais.Palavras-chave: feminismo, cultura pop, sites de redes sociais

Hyponormal and strongly hyponormal matrices in inner product spaces

Complex matrices that are structured with respect to a possibly degenerate indefinite inner product are studied. Based on earlier works on normal matrices, the notions of hyponormal and strongly hyponormal matrices are introduced. A full characterization of such matrices is given and it is shown how those matrices are related to different concepts of normal matrices in degenerate inner product spaces. Finally, the existence of invariant semidefinite subspaces for strongly hyponormal matrices is discussed

Jordan lives for the applause: performances de si como propulsoras de ciberacontecimentos // Jordan lives for the applause: performances of self as triggers of cyberevents

Brendan Jordan tornou-se uma celebridade instantânea ao ter a sua coreografia, da canção Applause, de Lady Gaga, capturada durante uma transmissão televisiva. O menino diva, como foi chamado, passou a constituir a si mesmo em programas televisivos, canais específicos de redes sociais e propagandas envolvendo questões identitárias. O objetivo desse texto é o de refletir sobre o que as possibilidades e as tensões que as performatizações de si em sites de redes sociais produzem no que se refere aos gêneros e às sexualidades, buscando perceber como, nesses múltiplos espaços, o self é constituído

Prospective Prediction of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Using Fear Potentiated Auditory Startle Responses

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been most consistently associated with exaggerated physiologic reactivity to startling sounds when such sounds occur in threatening contexts. There is conflicting evidence about whether startle hyperreactivity is a preexisting vulnerability factor for PTSD or an acquired result of posttrauma neural sensitization. Until now, there have been no prospective studies of physiologic reactivity to startling sounds in threatening contexts as predictors of PTSD symptoms. Methods: One hundred and thirty-eight police academy cadets without current psychopathology were exposed to repeated 106-dB startling sounds under increasing (low, medium, or high) threat of mild electric shock while their eye-blink electromyogram, skin conductance, heart rate, and subjective fear responses were recorded. Measures of response habituation were also calculated. Following 1 year of exposure to police-related trauma, these participants were assessed for PTSD symptom severity. Results: After accounting for other baseline variables that were predictive of PTSD symptom severity (age and general psychiatric distress), more severe PTSD symptoms were prospectively and independently predicted by the following startle measures: greater subjective fear under low threat, greater skin conductance under high threat, and slower skin conductance habituation. Conclusions: These results imply that hypersensitivity to contextual threat (indexed by greater fear under low threat), elevated sympathetic nervous system reactivity to explicit threat (indexed by larger responses under high threat), and failure to adapt to repeated aversive stimuli (evidenced by slower habituation) are all unique preexisting vulnerability factors for greater PTSD symptom severity following traumatic stress exposure. These measures may eventually prove useful for preventing PTSD

A puta em pauta: Performances queer de Madonna e territorialidades semióticas no jornalismo de cultura pop

Algumas performances de Madonna podem ser percebidas em uma dimensão queer. Através da análise de construção de sentidos em redes digitais, percebemos como notícias e matérias em veículos distintos podem acionar diferentes sentidos sobre a cantora, configurando territorialidades semióticas. Defendemos, por fim, novas miradas críticas dos processos jornalísticos que se voltam ao pop, assim como a necessidade de entender os vínculos de fãs com tais processualidades

O Desafio do Balde de Gelo como ciberacontecimento: celebridades como vetores-chave de espalhamento e apropriações

This article is part of a broader research on cyberevent developed in Laboratório de Investigação do Ciberacontecimento (LIC), at the Graduate Program in Social Sciences at Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos). From an analysis based on observation and construction of meaning in digital networks on the Ice Bucket Challenge, which was spread throughout social networks in support of research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), we observed the formation of the case as a cyberevent. We identify celebrities as key vectors in the spreading of the challenge and in the proliferation of appropriations of it, looking for visibility throughout the networks.Keywords: cyberevent, Ice Bucket Challenge, appropriations.Este artigo é parte de uma pesquisa mais abrangente sobre ciberacontecimento, desenvolvida no Laboratório de Investigação do Ciberacontecimento (LIC), no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Comunicação da Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (Unisinos). A partir de uma análise baseada em observação e na construção de sentidos em redes digitais sobre o Desafio do Balde de Gelo, que se espalhou pelas redes sociais em prol da pesquisa sobre esclerose lateral amiotrófica (ELA), observamos a constituição do caso como ciberacontecimento. Destacamos as celebridades como vetores-chave na propagação do desafio e na proliferação de apropriações do mesmo, a partir da busca pela visibilidade nas redes.Palavras-chave: ciberacontecimento, Desafio do Balde de Gelo, apropriações