Feasible Limits For External Deficits And Debt

Rising current account deficits and foreign debt levels remain a source of concern for international financial markets and policymakers. Yet, exactly what constitutes an "excessive" external deficit or liability position for an economy at any time has not been adequately defined. This paper addresses this question by proposing measures of the maximum feasible limits of current account deficits and foreign debt levels based on international macroeconomic relationships. It proposes that investment opportunities essentially define the limit of feasibility for current account deficits, whereas the capital to output ratio sets the feasible foreign debt to GDP limit. Benchmark estimates of these limits are presented for advanced economies that have borrowed heavily since 1990.

The Welfare Cost Of Capital Immobility And Capital Controls

This paper examines the macroeconomic welfare effects of interest risk premia and controls that limit international capital mobility. Using extended loanable funds analysis, it first demonstrates how perfect capital mobility maximises national income, contrary to a prevalent view that it is inimical to economic welfare. As a corollary, the analysis then shows that capital controls, irrespective of their form, generally reduce national income and economic welfare by widening real cross-border interest differentials. Capital controls in the form of quantitative controls, such as the Chilean unremunerated reserve requirement system, and explicit taxes on foreign investment flows impose similar welfare losses. However, quantitative controls are relatively more costly than options to tax capital flows, due to revenue effects.

Feasible Limits For External Deficits And Debt

Rising current account deficits and foreign debt levels remain a source of concern for international financial markets and policymakers. Yet, exactly what constitutes an "excessive" external deficit or liability position for an economy at any time has not been adequately defined. This paper addresses this question by proposing measures of the maximum feasible limits of current account deficits and foreign debt levels based on international macroeconomic relationships. It proposes that investment opportunities essentially define the limit of feasibility for current account deficits, whereas the capital to output ratio sets the feasible foreign debt to GDP limit. Benchmark estimates of these limits are presented for advanced economies that have borrowed heavily since 1990

The Welfare Cost Of Capital Immobility And Capital Controls

This paper examines the macroeconomic welfare effects of interest risk premia and controls that limit international capital mobility. Using extended loanable funds analysis, it first demonstrates how perfect capital mobility maximises national income, contrary to a prevalent view that it is inimical to economic welfare. As a corollary, the analysis then shows that capital controls, irrespective of their form, generally reduce national income and economic welfare by widening real cross-border interest differentials. Capital controls in the form of quantitative controls, such as the Chilean unremunerated reserve requirement system, and explicit taxes on foreign investment flows impose similar welfare losses. However, quantitative controls are relatively more costly than options to tax capital flows, due to revenue effects

Managing blood pressure in older adults

No abstract available

Ten common statistical mistakes to watch out for when writing or reviewing a manuscript

Inspired by broader efforts to make the conclusions of scientific research more robust, we have compiled a list of some of the most common statistical mistakes that appear in the scientific literature. The mistakes have their origins in ineffective experimental designs, inappropriate analyses and/or flawed reasoning. We provide advice on how authors, reviewers and readers can identify and resolve these mistakes and, we hope, avoid them in the future

Sartorial elegance - Should it be maintained in the training hospital obstetrician-patient relationship?

No Abstract

Analytic solutions of the 1D finite coupling delta function Bose gas

An intensive study for both the weak coupling and strong coupling limits of the ground state properties of this classic system is presented. Detailed results for specific values of finite $N$ are given and from them results for general $N$ are determined. We focus on the density matrix and concomitantly its Fourier transform, the occupation numbers, along with the pair correlation function and concomitantly its Fourier transform, the structure factor. These are the signature quantities of the Bose gas. One specific result is that for weak coupling a rational polynomial structure holds despite the transcendental nature of the Bethe equations. All these new results are predicated on the Bethe ansatz and are built upon the seminal works of the past.Comment: 23 pages, 0 figures, uses rotate.sty. A few lines added. Accepted by Phys. Rev.

The potential for preventing the delivery and perinatal mortality of lowbirth- weight babies in a black urban population

Objective. To determine the potentiaJ for preventing the delivery and perinatal  mortality of low-birth-weight (LBW) babies in a black urban population.Design. Cross-sectionaJ descriptive study.Setting. All women delivering babies weighing less than 2 500 g at Kalafong  Hospital in a 6-month period (December 1991 - May 1992).Main outcome measures. The primary obstetric reason for delivery; whether the  labour was of spontaneous onset or iatrogenic; whether labour was theoretically  preventable using currently accepted practice; the number of patients in whom suppression of delivery was attempted in the theoretically preventable group; and the perinatal mortality rate of that group.Results. There were 124 perinatal deaths (22.5%) in the 550 LBW babies delivered from 465 singleton pregnancies, 42 twin pregnancies and 1 triplet pregnancy. The  primary obstetric reasons for delivery were spontaneous preterm labour (28%), hypertensive diseases (19%), premature rupture of membranes (180/0),  spontaneous labour in lightfor-gestational-age babies (16%), unexplained intra-uterine deaths (8%), antepartum haemomhage (8%) and other causes (3%). A medical decision to terminate the pregnancy before labour was made in 177 (34.8%) cases, the major reason being hypertensive diseases (84 mothers;  47.5%). In the remaining 331 mothers with spontaneous onset of labour, labour was theoretically preventable in 63 (19%) and prevention was only attempted in 12 (2.4% of the total mothers). The major reason for not attempting to suppress labour in the others was that the patients arrived too late at the hospital for intervention to take place.Conclusion. Hospital staff can do little to prevent the delivery of LBW babies in a black urban population