Does inflation targeting matter?

This paper studies the inflation and interest rate performances since the late 1970s for six former highinflation countries that adopted inflation targeting (IT) in the early 1990’s. Using Germany, Switzerland and the US for comparison, we look at various aspects of central bank performance in a pre-IT period (1978-92) and a post-IT period (1993-01). The results of all types of evidence considered uniformly lead to the general conclusion that IT has proven a useful strategy for reducing the level and volatility of inflation. However, IT central banks did not outperform the central banks used as reference cases during the second period. We then present an event study of monetary policy comparing inflation and interest rate developments after the 1978 and the 1998 oil price shocks. Here we find that IT central banks realized significantly larger gains in credibility than the central banks in the reference group. . This result corroborates the conclusion that IT is a useful framework for communicating a monetary policy strategy aiming at low inflation rates. --

Spin Seebeck and Spin Nernst Effects of Magnons in Noncollinear Antiferromagnetic Insulators

Our joint theoretical and computer experimental study of heat-to-spin conversion reveals that noncollinear antiferromagnetic insulators are promising materials for generating magnon spin currents upon application of a temperature gradient: they exhibit spin Seebeck and spin Nernst effects. Using Kubo theory and spin dynamics simulations, we explicitly evaluate these effects in a single kagome sheet of potassium iron jarosite, KFe$_3$(OH)$_6$(SO$_4$)$_2$, and predict a spin Seebeck conversion factor of $0.2 \mu\mathrm{V}/\mathrm{K}$ at a temperature of $20 \mathrm{K}$.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Head over Feels? Differences in Online Rating Behavior for Utilitarian and Hedonic Service Aspects

Online reviews play a considerable role in reducing the information asymmetry between sellers and potential consumers. Despite the rich body of literature on online reviews, little is known about how the chosen content of reviews influences the rating behavior. As products or services offer more than one possible evaluation characteristic, different reviews on a product or service refer to different characteristics. In our research-in-progress we investigate to what extent the valence of online ratings differs depending on whether the rating refers to utilitarian characteristic or hedonic characteristics. To answer this question, we crawled 55,601 customer reviews on Google Maps of visits to 149 German theaters and classified each review as being primarily utilitarian, hedonic, or ambiguous. For our dataset we can determine that reviews with hedonic content are on average 0.48 stars higher rated than utilitarian reviews. Our results carry substantial managerial implications for designers of review platforms and customers

Bring me my Meal on your Wheel - An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Food Delivery Platforms on Local Restaurant Employment

Food delivery platforms have become an established part of the urban dining culture, but their success is reliant upon gig workers. While prior research has uncovered substantial socioeconomic consequences associated with the platform economy, little is known about how delivery platforms affect local employment. Using a quasi-experimental research design, this paper explores the impact of the spatiotemporal market entry of Grubhub, Postmates, DoorDash, and UberEats on local restaurant employment. Expanding upon prior theoretical work, our analysis suggests that the entry of delivery platforms does not affect restaurants’ demand, as the number of food preparation-related workers remain unchanged. However, as those platforms fundamentally reduce the number of dine-in service workers, we find an overall negative impact on local restaurant employment, which is only partially compensated for by an increase in gig workers (i.e., delivery drivers). Our findings inform policy makers and the restaurant industry on the macroeconomic impact of such platforms

The semantics of rational contractions

This paper is concerned with the revision of beliefs in the face of new and possibly contradicting information. In the Logic of Theory Change developed by Alchourron, Gärdenfors and Makinson this nonmonotonic process consists of a contraction and an expansion of a set of formulas. to achieve minimal change they formulated widely accepted postulates that rational contractions have to fulfill. Contractions as defined by Alchourron, Gärdenfors and Makinson only operate on deductively closed sets of Formulas. Therefore they cannot be used in practical applications, eg. knowledge representation, where only finitely representable sets can be handled. We present a semantical characterization of rational finite contractions (the class of rational contractions maintaining finite representability) which provides an insight into the true nature of these operations. This characterization shows all possibilities to define concrete functions possessing these properties. When regarding concrete contractions known from literature in the light of our characterization we have found that they are all defined according to the same semantical strategy of minimal semantical change. As this strategy does not correspond to the goal of keeping as many important fotmulas as possible in the contracted set, we suggest a finite contraction defined according to the new strategy of maximal maintenance

Systematic review on inhaled corticosteroid monotherapy and its efficacy and safety in longterm treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)

--chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,COPD,corticosteroids,systematic review,chronisch obstruktive Lungenerkrankung,COPD,Kortikosteroid,systematischer Review

Kinetics and mechanism for the conformational transition in p-guanidinobenzoate bovine trypsinogen induced by the isoleucine-valine dipeptide

Nolte H-J, Neumann E. Kinetics and mechanism for the conformational transition in p-guanidinobenzoate bovine trypsinogen induced by the isoleucine-valine dipeptide. Biophysical Chemistry. 1979;10(3-4):253-260

The nematocyst extract of Hydra attenuata causes single channel events in lipid bilayers

Weber J, Schürholz T, Neumann E. The nematocyst extract of Hydra attenuata causes single channel events in lipid bilayers. Toxicon. 1990;28(4):403-409

Dear Guests, Please Pay for my License – Analyzing the Heterogenous Cost-Pass-Through of Commercial and Non-Commercial Rental Suppliers in Response to Regulatory Policies

Peer-to-peer rental markets have been shown to adversely impact the traditional hospitality industry and housing affordability, fueling the demand for regulation. While localities have implemented policies to address these issues, little is known about how rental suppliers respond to those regulations. Analyzing a policy implemented in New Orleans, which introduced annual bring-to-market costs while simultaneously banning listings from one city-center neighborhood, we reveal that hosts increase their prices as a result of the policy. We show that non-commercial hosts completely pass their additional costs onto their consumers. By contrast, commercial hosts with legalized listings located in the city center only partially pass on their costs to their guests, while decreasing prices in the rest of the city. Our results indicate that the policy falls short of reducing pressure on housing affordability in the city center, as peer-to-peer renting remains attractive when bring-to-market costs can easily be passed through to consumers

INFLUENCE OF FATIGUE ON RACE WALKING STABILITY

In competition race walkers have to demonstrate ground contact and knee straightening stable although the coordination of the body segments varies. The aim of this study was to investigate the stability of the movement structure adhering to the rules under the influence of increasing fatigue. Four female race walkers of the National Junior Team performed two training sessions on a treadmill. With the help of video analysis and dynamometric platforms underneath the treadmill relevant gait variables of all steps could be analyzed. Although velocity and performance level of the four athletes were comparable, the results showed individual characteristics of stability - variability of the movement structure and individual compensating effects under increasing fatigue