Bank credit and economic activity

Bank loans ; Vector autoregression ; Supply and demand ; Monetary policy - United States

After A While

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/5524/thumbnail.jp

The Purposes and Accountability of the Corporation in Contemporary Society: Corporate Governance at a Crossroads

Little attention has been paid to how the governance structures of public corporations adapt to structural changes in the social, political, economic and legal environments in which they operate. Bradley et al chronicle the recent changes in the conduct of business enterprise and establish the necessary conditions for a system of corporate governance capable of accommodating these changes

Contrasts in European awareness between Irish and Zimbabwean students

This paper summarises the results of a suvey of the level of recognition of European countries by university level students in Ireland and Zimbabwe. While Irish students have a significantly higher level of recognition there are a number of common features between the results of both surveys. Countries with distinctive shapes, large size and/or coastal locations are best recognised. Also the member state"s of the European Community are generally better known than members of other regional groupings. There is also a high degree of confusion amongst both student samples in relation to members of groupings that are frequently identified by historical/regional labels such as Scandinavia or the Balkan states

Income Distribution and Redistribution in Ireland: A Geographical Exploration

The distribution and redistribution of household incomes are explored at multiple geographical scales (state, region, county, metropolitan area and electoral district) using several databases compiled by the Central Statistics Office. This work complements an extensive body of published research that has been mostly undertaken at the level of the State without much consideration of trends and patterns at the levels of regions and smaller units. The focus here is primarily on a geographical exploration at different spatial scales of the distribution of incomes and of the factors that have influenced the distributions. International research has concluded that the transition to neoliberal economic strategies in most economically advanced countries over the last forty years was accompanied by an increasing divergence in per capita incomes between regions. In Ireland, however, the impact of neoliberal economic strategies in the context of an exceptionally open economy, was moderated for a period of over twenty years from the mid 1980s by an innovative and dynamic national model of social partnership. Personal and household incomes in Ireland increased significantly over the last 30 years and the overall level of inequality measured across all households in the State decreased, but it is still high in comparison to other EU countries, especially for market-based income. At the regional level, disparities in household incomes have declined but there remain large differences between the Dublin-dominated East region and the strongly rural Border and Midland regions. The transition to lower levels of inequality occurred in phases linked to the trajectory of the national economy. Inter-regional convergence was more likely during periods of significant economic slow-down as in the 1980s and again in the immediate aftermath of the economic and financial crisis in 2008. This particular form of convergence was not due to poorer regions ‘catching up’ with richer regions. It was instead more likely to be associated with a weakening of the stronger regions, while State transfers to low-income households and regions remained more resilient. Over the longer term, the evidence points towards a pattern of convergence between urban and rural areas in average household incomes. The micro-geographical data for 2016 at the level of Electoral Districts provide two important insights that are not apparent from regional data. Firstly, after exclusion of the five largest cities, there is no statistical relationship between median household incomes and the population size of settlements. The relative location of settlements in relation to the larger centres of employment, and especially the extent of commuting, is much more important. Secondly, the 2016 data show that the highest levels of inequality in income distribution profiles occur in both the cities and in some of the poorest rural counties, while the lowest levels are found in counties that experienced the highest levels of population increase over recent decades. The overall distribution map of household incomes is directly influenced by two sets of factors. The first relates to the spatial distributions of employment and earnings in different economic sectors. The second relates to the role of State transfers that provide benefits to a wide range of persons and households. They are especially important for places that may be considered ‘left-behind’ in the overall restructuring of the economy and society. In addition to the direct influences on the geography of incomes levels there are important background factors related especially to demography, education, female participation in the labour force and where households choose to live. The findings from the research have implications for many areas of public policy, most especially in relation to the spatial organisation of economic and social development. These challenges are not unique to Ireland and have contributed to narratives that extend beyond economic considerations to include potential adverse impacts on social cohesion, spatial justice and on basic principles of democracy if the underlying processes are not addressed. The experience from other countries, along with the patterns that remained dominant in Ireland, is that traditional approaches to regional development are no longer adequate. Policies that sought to overcome market failures and that relied on welfare transfers from rich to poor regions did not succeed. Neither did policies that sought to maximise the national economic growth by promoting agglomeration into the largest cities. The more recent focus on place-based development with a more explicit concern for a holistic, human-centred approach informed by principles of spatial justice offers a prospect for a better future in all regions and places. While this research was being undertaken, there were some significant events that may impact on the future geography of incomes in Ireland. These include such international events as the departure of the UK from the EU, the legacy of the COvID 19 pandemic which accelerated a transition to new working arrangements including remote working, and the disruption of the global economy following the Russian invasion of Ukraine with consequent impacts on the costs of living especially for the elderly and those living in some rural areas. In addition, in Ireland there are very significant challenges in relation to the supply and affordability of housing. The critical roles of further and higher education in relation to employment and regional development are being addressed through recent reforms in both sectors, though these need to be linked more strongly to the overall strategy for regional development. Further research is needed to examine in more detail the relationship between the geographical distribution of incomes and commuting, and how it may be impacting on summary measures for rural and urban areas. In addition, a more sophisticated approach to the identification of a multi-level typology of places that includes both urban and rural areas and the linkages between them is urgently required to avoid a risk of over-simplification in the interpretation of the patterns revealed by the data

A Farm-Level Evaluation of Conditions Under Which Farmers Will Supply Biomass Feedstocks for Energy Production

This study evaluated the risk management potential of including biomass crops as a diversification strategy for a grain farm in northwest Tennessee. Results indicate that adding biomass crops to the farm enterprise mix could improve mean net revenues and reduced net revenue variability.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Disease activity flares and pain flares in an early rheumatoid arthritis inception cohort; characteristics, antecedents and sequelae

© 2019 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.Background: RA flares are common and disabling. They are described in terms of worsening inflammation but pain and inflammation are often discordant. To inform treatment decisions, we investigated whether inflammatory and pain flares are discrete entities. Methods: People from the Early RA Network (ERAN) cohort were assessed annually up to 11 years after presentation (n = 719, 3703 person-years of follow up). Flare events were defined in 2 different ways that were analysed in parallel; DAS28 or Pain Flares. DAS28 Flares satisfied OMERACT flare criteria of increases in DAS28 since the previous assessment (≥1.2 points if active RA or ≥ 0.6 points if inactive RA). A ≥ 4.8-point worsening of SF36-Bodily Pain score defined Pain Flares. The first documented episode of each of DAS28 and Pain Flare in each person was analysed. Subgroups within DAS28 and Pain Flares were determined using Latent Class Analysis. Clinical course was compared between flare subgroups. Results: DAS28 (45%) and Pain Flares (52%) were each common but usually discordant, with 60% of participants in DAS28 Flare not concurrently in Pain Flare, and 64% of those in Pain Flare not concurrently in DAS28 Flare. Three discrete DAS28 Flare subgroups were identified. One was characterised by increases in tender/swollen joint counts (14.4%), a second by increases in symptoms (13.1%), and a third displayed lower flare severity (72.5%). Two discrete Pain Flare subgroups were identified. One occurred following low disease activity and symptoms (88.6%), and the other occurred on the background of ongoing active disease and pain (11.4%). Despite the observed differences between DAS28 and Pain Flares, each was associated with increased disability which persisted beyond the flare episode. Conclusion: Flares are both common and heterogeneous in people with RA. Furthermore our findings indicate that for some patients there is a discordance between inflammation and pain in flare events. This discrete flare subgroups might reflect different underlying inflammation and pain mechanisms. Treatments addressing different mechanisms might be required to reduce persistent disability after DAS28 and Pain Flares.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio