Monitoring Macroeconomic Imbalances: Is EU SurveillanceMore Effective than IMF surveillance?

The paper examines the macroeconomic imbalance procedure (MIP) with the purpose of assessing its potential effectiveness compared to International Monetary Fund (IMF) surveillance. The comparison reveals that the MIP performs better than the Fund\u2019s surveillance in terms of the provision of clear and practical advice, knowledge of domestic polities and ease of activating sanctions. Neither the MIP nor the IMF, however, provide for mechanisms to prevent political considerations from interfering with the activation of sanctions and the distribution of the burden of adjustment. The MIP also does not attenuate problems of asymmetric treatment that create the conditions for public backlashes. Its single-country focus and the limited integration of macroeconomic and financial analysis are further factors that may undermine the effectiveness of the MIP. In the conclusions, the paper reflects on the factors that may help explain the limited incorporation of the lessons available from the Fund\u2019s experience into the MIP

Back to basics : the Great Recession and the narrowing of IMF policy advice

This article contributes to the literature on the dynamics of change and continuity in the International Monetary Fund's (IMF's) policy paradigm. The IMF embarked on a process of “streamlining conditionality” during the 2000s, but many observers have argued that the IMF's policy paradigm from the 1990s remains intact. This article examines whether the scope of the IMF's policy advice to borrowers during the Great Recession narrowed in comparison to its advice to borrowers during the heyday of the Washington consensus in the 1980s and 1990s. The article uses qualitative content analysis to establish the frequency of a series of policy dialogue indicators in four sample sets of countries requesting IMF stand-by arrangements over three decades. The evidence suggests that contemporary IMF policy advice to borrowers continues to stress the importance of fiscal consolidation, with reduced emphasis on promoting the structural economic reforms associated with the Washington consensus era

Going Beyond Mixed Methods to Mixed Approaches: A Systems Perspective for Asking the Right Questions

An impact evaluation's primary task is to determine which impacts were caused by an intervention, distinguishing them from those produced by other causes. However, in complex systems, interventions may contribute towards less apparent forms of impact (such as negative, unintended, indirect and secondary) that are no less significant, but which require a different way of asking questions. Rather than advocating for a particular evaluation approach or methodology, we propose that (1) beyond the intervention's theory of change (TOC), the complex system within which the intervention has taken place and intends to make an impact must also be examined, and (2) specific elements of an intervention's TOC and the larger system must be understood to have a systematic basis for determining what evaluation questions need to be asked. Only then can the appropriate evaluation approaches and methods be identified, and adapted as this understanding increases over the course of the evaluation

IEO VIRTUAL: el Centro Oceanográfico de Baleares como experiencia piloto

COB VIRTUAL es un proyecto de divulgación que tiene por objeto mostrar de una forma virtual, audiovisual e interactiva algunos de los equipos y tecnologías de muestreo que utiliza un centro de investigación oceanográfica. En primer lugar, se han diseñado unas animaciones en tres dimensiones de instrumentos científicos que utilizan los grupos de investigación del IEO en las campañas oceanográficas y en segundo, se muestran imágenes y un vídeo time-lapse de la remodelación integral del buque de investigación oceanográfica Francisco de Paula Navarro

Austerity: Neoliberal dreams come true?

The 2008 global economic crisis paved the way for the construction of a new, elitedriven, capitalcentric, shrunken welfare state project founded on ideology disguised as pragmatism and objective ‘truths’. Today, welfare states exist in a context in which a new politics of austerity sets the parameters of the debate. Austerity incorporates the neoliberal desire to shrink the (social welfare) state, deregulate labour markets and emphasise private markets as the drivers of growth, enabling a reconfiguration of the interests of capital, the needs of people and the role of the state. The new politics of austerity looks like a ‘dream come true’ for neoliberals. Or is it? There is also a powerful counternarrative that suggests that the global crisis exposed the fundamental weaknesses and limitations of neoliberalism and forced policy makers to question core principles and change direction. Focusing on the International Monetary Fund (IMF), perhaps the preeminent global neoliberal interlocutor, and using quantitative textual analysis, the article locates some evidence of movement, but little to suggest that the fundamental assumptions of neoliberalism have been displaced

A lightweight framework for secure life-logging in smart environments

As the world becomes an interconnected network where objects and humans interact with each other, new challenges and threats appear in the ecosystem. In this interconnected world, smart objects have an important role in giving users the chance for life-logging in smart environments. However, smart devices have several limitations with regards to memory, resources and computation power, hindering the opportunity to apply well-established security algorithms and techniques for secure life-logging on the Internet of Things (IoT) domain. The need for secure and trustworthy life-logging in smart environments is vital, thus, a lightweight approach has to be considered to overcome the constraints of smart objects. The purpose of this paper is to present in details the current topics of life-logging in smart environments, while describing interconnection issues, security threats and suggesting a lightweight framework for ensuring security, privacy and trustworthy life-logging. In order to investigate the efficiency of the lightweight framework and the impact of the security attacks on energy consumption, an experimental test-bed was developed including two interconnected users and one smart attacker, who attempts to intercept transmitted messages or interfere with the communication link. Several mitigation factors, such as power control, channel assignment and AES-128 encryption were pplied for secure life-logging. Finally, research into the degradation of the consumed energy regarding the described intrusions is presented

Examining legitimatisation of additive manufacturing in the interplay between innovation, lean manufacturing and sustainability

In response to hypercompetition, globalisation and increasing consumer expectations, many manufacturing firms have embraced lean manufacturing (LM). The primary goal of LM is to reduce/eliminate waste (muda). There is broad consensus as to what constitutes waste, but not on LM implementation. Implementation is not prescriptive with each firm relying on a different combination of administrative, process and routine change/innovation. Lean manufacturing brings about incremental change relying on administrative, process and routine levers. It best fits mass production where process variability is low and demand is high and stable. Lean manufacturing can significantly reduce waste but not eliminate waste, and the attained benefits have not always lived up to expectations. Additive manufacturing (AM) promises to revolutionise manufacturing beyond recognition by eliminating or drastically removing the waste thereby achieving sustainability. But AM is at its formative stage – the space between the concept and growth - where many promising breakthrough technologies fail. To reach its full potential, it needs to achieve high-scale adoption. In this paper, we examine how AM can significantly reduce/eliminate waste and how it can deliver triple bottom line on an unprecedented scale. We contend that AM, if adopted deeply and widely, will take LM to its final frontier, but there are a number of impediments to this end. We identify legitimation as critical to its wide diffusion and develop a number of propositions expediting AM's legitimation. Legitimation of AM will ensure its deep and broad diffusion and should this happen, waste will be a thing of the past an important stride towards sustainable future

Interspecific Hybridization Increased in Congeneric Flatfishes after the Prestige Oil Spill

Marine species with relatively low migratory capacity are threatened by habitat alterations derived from human activities. In November 2002 the tanker Prestige sank off the Spanish northwest coast releasing 70,000 tons of fuel and damaging biota in the area. Despite efforts to clean the damaged areas, fuel remnants have affected marine species over the last nine years. This study is focused on two flatfish, Lepidorhombus boscii (four-spotted megrim) and L. whiffiagonis (megrim), whose spawning areas are located at the edge of the continental platform. We have analyzed megrim samples from North Spanish and French waters obtained before and after the oil spill. Genotypes at the nuclear marker 5S rDNA indicate a significant increase in interspecific hybridization after the Prestige accident, likely due to forced spawning overlap. The mitochondrial D-Loop region was employed for determining the direction of hybrid crosses, which were most frequently L. boscii female x L. whiffiagonis male. Reduced ability of L. boscii females to select conspecific mates would explain such asymmetric hybridization. To our knowledge this is the first time that increased hybridization between fish species can be associated to an oil spill. These results illustrate the potential long-term effect of petrol wastes on wild fish species