Technological choice under environmentalists’ participation in Emissions Trading Systems

We model competition in an emissions trading system (ETS) as a game between two firms and environmental group. In a previous stage, firms endogenously choose their manufacturing technologies. Our results show that there is an inverted U-shape relationship between how polluting the chosen technology is and the degree of the environmentalists' impure altruism. Firms choose a less polluting technology in the presence of the environmentalists than in their absence only if they are characterised by intermediate degrees of impure altruism.ETS; Technology Choice; Induced Technological Change; Impure Altruism

What lies beneath the euro's effect on financial integration? Currency risk, legal harmonization, or trade?

Although recent research shows that the euro has spurred cross-border financial integration, the exact mechanisms remain unknown. We investigate the underlying channels of the euro’s effect on financial integration using data on bilateral banking linkages among twenty industrial countries in the past thirty years. We also construct a dataset that records the timing of legislative-regulatory harmonization policies in financial services across the European Union. We find that the euro’s impact on financial integration is primarily driven by eliminating the currency risk. Legislative-regulatory convergence has also contributed to the spur of cross-border financial transactions. Trade in goods, while highly correlated with bilateral financial activities, does not play a key role in explaining the euro’s positive effect on financial integration. JEL Classification: F1, F3, G2, K0euro, European Union, financial integration, FSAP, law and finance, regulation, Trade

Financial Regulation, Integration and Synchronization of Economic Activity

We investigate the effect of financial integration on the degree of international business cycle synchronization. For identfication, we use a confidential database on banks' bilateral exposure over the past three decades and employ a novel bilateral country-pair panel instrumental vari- ables approach. First, we show that conditional on global shocks and country-pair fixed factors countries that become more financially integrated over time have less synchronized growth pat- terns, in line with the standard theories of output fluctuations. Second, to isolate the one-way impact of financial integration on output co-movement and account for measurement error in the financial integration measure, we exploit variation in the transposition dates of the European Union-wide legislative acts (the "Directives") from the Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP). These laws are designed to harmonize regulation of financial markets in the European Union. We find that increases in financial integration stemming from regulatory-legislative harmoniza- tion policies in capital markets are followed by more divergent output cycles, even when we condition on monetary unification. Our results contrast with those of the previous empirical studies. We reconcile the different results by showing that the earlier estimates suffer from the standard identification problems.Banking Integration, Co-movement, Fluctuations, Financial Legislation

Mineralogy and provenance of the TiO₂ - ilmenite heavy mineral sand deposit of Nataka

The Nataka heavy mineral sand deposit occurs along the northeast Mozambique coastline. It comprises a regional Pleistocene elliptical structure extending from Somalia, passing through Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique, to Richards Bay in South Africa. The deposit consists of fine- to medium- grained, unconsolidated red sediments, hosting heavy minerals. The deposit mineral assemblage is made up of non-valuable phases comprising mostly magnetite, hematite, chromite, monazite, and the valuable phases dominated by ilmenite (50.91 wt. %), with additional zircon and rutile (9.96 and 3.52 wt. % respectively). The total heavy minerals comprise about 5% volume, of which 2 % are valuable heavy minerals making up about 445 Mt (million tonnes) probable resources. This study focuses on the mineralogical characterization of ilmenite from the Nataka deposit, alongside with sediment provenance. Mineralogical and chemical characterisation of ilmenite undertaken on 32 samples from 16 selected drill holes using a combination of QEMSCAN and EPMA revealed that the ilmenite has undergone different stages of alteration, at distinct environment conditions, yielding products spanning from hydrated ilmenite to leucoxene. The alteration dominantly involved groundwater, which was oxidizing and acidic, hence the predominance of ilmenite-pseudorutile alteration. Long exposure to direct sunshine has been hypothesized as a different process that might have favoured the direct alteration of ilmenite to leucoxene and of pseudorutile to leucoxene, on a smaller scale. The major impurities in the ilmenite are Al and Si, which are enriched in the advanced ilmenite alteration products (leucoxene), where they fill pores and cracks. Chromium impurities occur as discrete grains of chrome spinel. The compositional variety of magnetite, Cr-spinel, tourmaline, zircon and rutile indicate major contribution from granitoid terranes, subjected to granulite metamorphic facies (750 to 1000 :C), and minor contribution from mafic plutonic intrusions. The granitoid field as a sediment source area if analysed in conjunction with zircon ages (1100 – 900 Ma, 900 – 700 Ma, and 650 – 500 Ma), and zircon δ¹⁸O (7.07 ‰) is consistent with preferential sourcing from the proximal Mesoproterozoic Nampula Complex, with some contribution from igneous plutonic rocks from Xixano, Lalamo and Montepuez Complexes

The Constitutional Protection of Property Rights in Argentina: A Reappraisal of the Doctrine of Economic Emergency

This dissertation addresses the topic of the constitutional protection of property rights in the context of economic emergencies, especially —although not exclusively— in cases of financial crises. In so doing, it brings together several different strands that seldom appear side-by-side in the constitutional theory literature: emergency powers, property theory (especially, takings-related notions), constitutional interpretation, legal and institutional history, public choice, and theories of justice. It also resorts to recent empirical work on the legitimacy of courts and relies on insights from the fields of economics and behavioral economics to shed light on some of the more disquieting questions posed by the phenomenon of economic emergency. Throughout this journey, I will try to convince the reader that many of our most common assumptions regarding the role of courts in socio-economic matters and the place of property rights in the constitutional space, among others, deserve a profound revision. Conventional wisdom will be frequently put to question. While this work uses Argentina‘s history as a case study, it certainly aspires to offer quite a few insights that may contribute to the broader, global debate over constitutional property and over emergency powers

Estudo anatômico e palinológico de Antônia ovata Pohl (Loganiaceae)

Nesta comunicação o autor considera a anatomia do caule, pecíolo, lâmina foliar e madeira, além dos aspectos morfológicos externo e palinológico, de espécimes de Antonia ovata, ocorrentes na floresta da região do rio Jarí (Estado do Pará) e nos cerrados da Amazônia e do Brasil Central; nomeia os espécimes da mata como sendo uma variedade nova para a ciência: Antonia ovata Pohl var. excelsa Paula.In this paper the author studies extern morphological, palinological and anatomical aspects, aiming to put an end to the doubts in the taxonomic studies of the specimens of Antonia ovata Pohl (or aiming make clear the taxonomy of the specimens of Antonia ovata. Specimens of Antonia ovata from the woods of the region of Jarí river (Amazônia) are considered by the author as a new variety. With its description, the number of varieties of Antonia ovata rose to three: pilosa, ovata and excelsa (new variety). The extern morphological aspect is found among the individuals from three habitats: "cerrados" of Amazônia, Brasil Central and forest of the region Jarí river. The identification of the three varieties is based on the following characteristic. Presence or lack of hairs on the leaves and branches; microscopic structure of wood (see comparative table); height and diameter of the specimens; and finally the habitat. Pollen grains of these two varieties excelsa and ovata present polymorphism. The leaf of that species has structure of a higrophyllous plants. The stem is rich in mucilaginous cells; vascular bundles are bicollateral; the leafknot is bilacunar, and the trace is formed by two vascular bundles

Anatomical caracterization of seven woods from Amazonia for energy and paper production

Foram estudadas as características anatômicas da madeira de 7 espécies ocorrentes na floresta Amazônia com vistas a geração de energia ou produção de papel. Para qualificação de madeira para produção de papel consideraram-se, dentre outros parâmetros, o coeficiente de rigidez e de flexibilidade, densidade, índice de Runkel, percentual de fibras, vasos, parênquimaaxial e de raios. Para produção de energia determinaram-se a densidade, a fração parede (%) das células em relação a área ocupada por cada tipo de células, percentual de fibras, de vasos e de parênquima axial e radial. O estudo foi baseado em 3 áreas de seções transversais, orientadas do centro em direção ao alburno. Com base nas características anatômicas e na densidade, Bellucia grossularioides, Cecropia palmata, Duguetia cauliflora, Eschweilera matamata e Parkia multuijuga podem ser usadas para polpa destinada a produção de papel, e Myrocarpus frondosus, Sloaneagrandis podem ser usadas na produção de carvão. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTThe wood anatomy of 7 species from the Brazilian Amazon forest was studied to evaluate them for energy production (charcoal and alcohol) and for paper production. Trans-verse. For paper production, the wood was qualified according to the coefficient of rigidity and flexibility, density, Runkel index, the percent of fibers, vessel, axial parenchyma and percent of area occupied by rays. For energy production, wall fraction in relation to the area occupied bycells (%), percent of fibers, vessel, and both axial and ray parenchyma, as well as wall density were considered. The study was based on 3 areas of the cross section of the trunk, from the center towards the sapwood. On the basis of anatomy and density, Bellucia grossularioides, Cecropia palmata, Duguetia cauliflora, Eschweilera matamata and Parkia multijuga can be used for pulp for paper production, and Myrocarpus frondosus, Sloanea grandis can be used for charcoal production

Biogás a partir de plantas aquáticas

Apresenta artigo de testes para obtenção de biogás foram feitos com plantas secas de duas espécies de Monocotiledônea:Eleocharis elegans Roem. & Schult e Pontederia cordata L. var. ovalis (Mart.) Solms. Para cada espécie, foram realizados dois testes: um no período de temperatura mais baixa (entre maio e agosto) e o outro no período de temperatura mais alta (entre dezembro e março). Também foi analisada a estrutura interna do caule e da folha das duas espécies