PRIORITIZING ECONOMIC GROWTH: ENHANCING MACROECONOMIC POLICY CHOICE

This paper spells out a logic for increasing macroeconomic policy space in order to prioritize the goals of growth, employment creation and poverty reduction. First, there is the need to create additional policy instruments so that a greater number of policy goals can be addressed. Frequently, real economy goals get partly crowded out by financial objectives because there are too few instruments for too many goals. Second, the calibrated use of policy tools by degrees of commitment, deployment and assignment can create space for different policy-mixes. Selective capital controls, intermediate exchange rate regimes, and some monetary policy autonomy create the policy space within which a variety of policy combinations and mixes are possible and a greater number of instruments are available. Prioritization of real economy goals becomes both more feasible and more likely with a broader range of policy alternatives. Third, along with selective use of capital controls, fiscal policy-based stabilization instead of exchange rate-based stabilization delinks the exchange rate from the goal of internal financial stability to which it is yoked in a regime of fixed exchange rates. This delinkage enables the use of intermediate exchange rate regimes (soft pegs and managed floating). The use of these regimes in “the missing middle” between fixed and flexible exchange rates creates policy space where different mixes are possible generating a greater range of policy alternatives. Fourth, prioritizing real economy goals is also facilitated by the design of a larger strategic framework for accelerated development including institutions, norms, behaviours and governance. The larger strategic framework mobilizes more assets and power toward a dynamic growth trajectory that creates a more favourable context for macroeconomic policy. The impact of macroeconomic policies on growth, employment creation and poverty reduction is likely to be stronger when they are part of a wider effort to marshal resources for accelerated development. The examples of the East Asian success stories provide the evidence for this conclusion. These four steps in the logic for increased macroeconomic policy choice – new policy tools, selective and pragmatic use of capital controls and exchange rate intervention, fiscal policy-based stabilization, and strategic frameworks – reinforce each other in their capacity to create more policy space.

A Streaming Multi-GPU Implementation of Image Simulation Algorithms for Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy

Simulation of atomic resolution image formation in scanning transmission electron microscopy can require significant computation times using traditional methods. A recently developed method, termed plane-wave reciprocal-space interpolated scattering matrix (PRISM), demonstrates potential for significant acceleration of such simulations with negligible loss of accuracy. Here we present a software package called Prismatic for parallelized simulation of image formation in scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) using both the PRISM and multislice methods. By distributing the workload between multiple CUDA-enabled GPUs and multicore processors, accelerations as high as 1000x for PRISM and 30x for multislice are achieved relative to traditional multislice implementations using a single 4-GPU machine. We demonstrate a potentially important application of Prismatic, using it to compute images for atomic electron tomography at sufficient speeds to include in the reconstruction pipeline. Prismatic is freely available both as an open-source CUDA/C++ package with a graphical user interface and as a Python package, PyPrismatic

Comparison of two-dimensional and three-dimensional droplet trajectory calculations in the vicinity of finite wings

Computational predictions of ice accretion on flying aircraft most commonly rely on modeling in two dimensions (2D). These 2D methods treat an aircraft geometry either as wing-like with infinite span, or as an axisymmetric body. Recently, fully three dimensional (3D) methods have been introduced that model an aircrafts true 3D shape. Because 3D methods are more computationally expensive than 2D methods, 2D methods continue to be widely used. However, a 3D method allows us to investigate whether it is valid to continue applying 2D methods to a finite wing. The extent of disagreement between LEWICE, a 2D method, and LEWICE3D, a 3D method, in calculating local collection efficiencies at the leading edge of finite wings is investigated in this paper

Do marketing margins change with food scares?: Examining the effects of food recalls and disease outbreaks in the us red meat industry

This paper examines the impact of food scares on marketing margins in the US beef and pork industry. We analyze how market stresses induced by different food recalls and disease outbreaks affect price margins and the extent of price transmission at the slaughter-to-wholesale and wholesale-to-retail levels. We use monthly data for the period 1986–2008. The results indicate that marketing margins are differentially affected by Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recalls and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) outbreaks at different levels of the beef and pork marketing chain, although the effects are generally quite modest. Only BSE discoveries in the United States considerably affect marketing margins in the beef industry, specifically at the wholesale-to-retail level, as well as the extent of price transmission at the bottom of the beef and pork marketing channel. We also find that food safety incidents have minor cross-industry and cross-country effects on marketing margins.marketing margins, price transmission, food recalls, BSE outbreaks, red meat industry,

Projected Self

Projected Self is a solo audiovisual performance from the artist C. Watson of original experimental music & video. Using pre-rendered visuals and live manipulated effects, the performance explores mental health themes of anxiety, depression, self-hatred, rage, and finally acceptance. Instead of simply telling a story about a mental health journey, Projected Self uses light and sound to bring the audience on the journey along with the artist; to evoke the feelings in the audience and not just explain them. The music borrows heavily from experimental music genres such as noise and drone while also retaining more rhythmic themes present in electronica and trap. The project went through multiple iterations until an ideal technical setup for one performer was developed. For the artist, writing, editing, mixing, filming, synthesizing visuals, and prepping a performance performing all while dealing with anxiety, fear, and depression was exceedingly difficult but after sharing the multiple versions of Projected Self with peers and Berklee faculty, the response started to show that people did in fact feel the emotions portrayed. In the future, the project has the potential to evolve into multiple new mediums—film, art gallery installation, interstitial during a longer set—but all in all, the project was a successful study in shared emotional experience.https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-production-technology/1108/thumbnail.jp

Measurements of pressures on the tail and aft fuselage of an airplane model during rotary motions at spin attitudes

An investigation was conducted in the Langley Spin Tunnel to measure the pressures on the surface of the horizontal and vertical tail and the aft fuselage of an aircraft model. The pressures were measured on a model of a proposed Australian Primary Trainer airplane configuration while the model was rotating at spinning attitudes. The test results indicate that the presence of the horizontal tail adversely modifies the surface pressure on the vertical tail. The presence of the wing also adversely modifies the pressures on the horizontal and vertical tails

Interview with Franklin Miller Jr.

Franklin Miller Jr. talks about growing up in Knox County and being a Professor at Kenyon.https://digital.kenyon.edu/ps_interviews/1040/thumbnail.jp