Essays in financial stability and public policy

This dissertation is a collection of essays in two areas of financial stability. The first part deals with systemic risk in the banking sector. First, it asks whether countercyclical macroprudential policy tools can be an effective way of reducing cyclicality in bank lending. The main finding is that these policies can be counterproductive and may incentivize more intertwined banks, and hence, endanger financial stability. The next paper investigates, and provides some evidence of, the possibility that banks actively change their portfolios in order to influence the likelihood of joint bank failure. The second part of this dissertation studies the connection between public finance and financial stability. Chapter 4 looks into the interaction between bank capital regulation and taxation and finds that banks trade off leverage risk against portfolio risk in response to a higher corporate income tax rates. Finally, Chapter 5 analyses banks’ excessive holdings of domestic government debt as one of the sources of the interrelatedness of public finance and bank stability. Two possible explanations of banks’ home bias are tested: voluntary government bond hoarding and government induced bond buying

Lyophilized human cells stored at room temperature preserve multiple RNA species at excellent quality for RNA sequencing

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Low-carbon building innovation trends and policy perspectives in Hungary between 2020 and 2030

Abstract Regarding the aspects of climate policy, the building sector in Hungary is one of the best performing industries. This means that the GHGs (Greenhouse Gasses) the sector emits can be decreased more effectively and at less cost than in the case of other sectors. This is no surprise in the European Union, since there is a continual demand on behalf of society to develop old and outdated buildings, thus modern technological solutions also inherently result in operating efficacy. The ‘climate policy targeted’ development of the built environment based on EU funds is thus one of the most popular developments amongst European Union Member States. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to assess the climate policy effects of the presently preferred strategy approach(es) between 2020 and 2030.</jats:p

A légköri széndioxid megkötése és a nitrogénkörforgalom közötti összefüggések vizsgálata erdei ökoszisztémákban = Studies of the interactions of carbon sequestration and the nitrogen cycle of forest ecosystems

Kutatásunk fő célja három fontos fafajunk (bükk, kocsánytalan tölgy és luc) szén- és nitrogénkörforgalmának vizsgálata volt. A Soproni-hegység területén kijelölt erdőállományokban rendszeresen végeztünk méréseket és gyűjtöttünk be növény-, talaj- és vízmintákat, laboratóriumban elemezve azokat. A C- és N-körforgalmak más tápelemekével összefüggésben, a klimatikus tényezők egyidejű felmérésével kerültek leírásra. Jelentős eltéréseket találtunk a három erdőállomány között mind a talajkémiai- és -fizikai paraméterekben, mind a C- és N-körforgalmak egyes elemeiben. Az őshonos fafajú bükkös és kocsánytalan tölgyes állományokban kevésbé előrehaladott savasodási folyamatokat írtunk le, ezekben a C- és N-körforgalom is jóval intenzívebb volt, mint a legkedvezőtlenebb állapotokat mutató lucos állományban. A kutatások hangsúlyozottan kiterjedtek a talajban lejátszódó mikrobiológiai tevékenységek aktivitásának, ökológiájának leírására is. A talajállapotnak megfelelően, a lombos állományokban az avar és az ásványi talaj felső rétegének együttes metabolikus aktivitása és mikrobiális biomasszája szignifikánsan magasabb volt, mint a lucosé. A mikrobiális közösségi összetétel alapján mégis a bükkös vált el legjobban, főleg fakultatív és obligát anaerobok jelenlétével, míg a lucos és a tölgyes állományok egymástól kevésbé különültek el, bennük inkább aerob körülményekre utaló mikrobák, eukarióta egysejtűek és cianobaktériumok, valamint mikrogombák markerei fordultak elő. | Carbon and nitrogen cycles of a beech, a Norway spruce and a sessile oak forest were compared. In the Sopron-mountains regularly measurements, collection and laboratory analyses of leaf, soil and water samples, and the collection of climate data have been done for nearly 4 years. Soils of all three stands showed acidic conditions. Strongest acidification occurred under spruce, which lead to a major loss of exchangeable cations, ending up in a critically low base saturation. Forest stands of both deciduous trees differed by weaker soil acidification, but more intense transformation of organic matter's C and N content, in the forest floor and the upper mineral soils. Parts of the research focused on the microbial ecology of the forest floor and soil. Total metabolic activity and microbial biomass of the deciduous forests? soils were significantly higher, for both the litter and the upper mineral soil. The metabolic quotient (q) was highest in both the litter and the mineral soil of the spruce stand, indicating that in the stronger acidified soil not only the volume of microbial decay, but it's efficiency too is altered negatively. Yet the statistical analyses of the microbial community structure resulted in a clear separation of the beech stand with mostly facultative and obligate anaerobic soil microbes, while under spruce and oak eukaryotic protozoon and cyanobacteria, as markers of microscopic fungi pointed rather to aerobic conditions