A Search Model with a Quasi-Network

In a standard search model the expected duration of unemployment is independent of the duration of previous employment, as well as of the current length of the unemployment spell. This paper offers a network mechanism to generate these correlations. Here, employed workers invest in social contacts with other employed workers, which will help them find jobs in the event of unemployment. These social contacts "depreciate" because they can also become unemployed and unemployed contacts are assumed to be useless. In this model the longer you have been working, the more contacts you are likely to have, and the more contacts you have the shorter your expected unemployment duration will be. The model is a simple and tractable way of introducing network ideas in one of the workhorses of labour and macroeconomics. The model also suggests that networks are less productive during periods of high unemployment, mainly because high unemployment destroys part of the network. In addition, the model provides guidance for indirect inference of network effects from the data.

Fiscal indicators - Proceedings of the the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs Workshop held on 22 September 2006 in Brussels

Fiscal indicators are the backbone of effective fiscal policy-making, including the coordination and surveillance of budgetary policy at the EU level. The quality and success of the EU surveillance framework, in particular the timeliness and appropriateness of any policy recommendation or decision taken in the context of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), crucially depend on the quality of its diagnostic instruments. The right conclusions can only be drawn if the underlying analysis is comprehensive and accurate.fiscal indicators, government budget, EU fiscal surveillance, sustainability of fiscal policy, cyclically adjusted budget balance, Larch, Nogueira Martins

Finding Australia’s social enterprise sector: final report

Executive Summary Social enterprises are organisations that: Are led by an economic, social, cultural, or environmental mission consistent with a public or community benefit; Trade to fulfil their mission; Derive a substantial portion of their income from trade; and Reinvest the majority of their profit/surplus in the fulfilment of their mission. This document reports on the research findings of the Finding Australia’s Social Enterprise Sector (FASES) project. FASES is a joint initiative of Social Traders and the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies, Queensland University of Technology. It is a first attempt to identify the range and scope of social enterprises in Australia. The methodology utilised in this research included: a review of existing literature and methods of social enterprise mapping; establishment of a project website and preliminary discussion paper to stimulate public engagement with defining and identifying Australian social enterprises, which resulted in four online responses to the discussion paper and 157 nominations of social enterprises to be included in the research; a series of workshops and interviews with 34 key informants to assist in defining social enterprise for the purposes of the research; identification of the social enterprise population through a combination of web and media review, review of existing databases and feedback through the project website; development and administration of an online survey; and collation and analysis of secondary data. Five hundred and thirty-nine organisations commenced the online survey, of which 365 were valid social enterprises according to our definition. Based on pre-existing research data and information from our survey, we estimate that there are up to 20 000 Australian social enterprises. This estimate takes into account that some not for profit organisations have multiple business ventures, and that not all social enterprises are incorporated as not for profits. Our survey results suggest that the Australian social enterprise sector is mature, sustainable and internally diverse with regard to mission and organisational structure. Amongst the 365 survey respondents, 73% had been operational for at least five years, and 62% were at least 10 years old. Australian social enterprises seek to fulfil a diversity of missions and serve a wide variety of beneficiaries. As a whole, the dominant foci of our survey respondents were on creating opportunities for people to participate in their community, and on finding new solutions to social, environmental, cultural and economic problems. Australian social enterprises operate in every industry of our economy. Our survey data suggest that they trade predominantly in local and regional markets and focus on fulfilling their missions at local and regional goals. However, some social enterprises operate in international markets and seek to respond to missions of international scope

How reliable are the statistics for the Stability and Growth Pact?

The aim of this paper is to assess the reliability of the government deficit and debt figures reported to the European Commission by Member States. Reliability is one of the several dimensions of quality in statistics; it refers to the magnitudes of data revisions after the publication of the first outcomes. The measurement of the data reliability and inference about potential future revisions are particularly relevant for fiscal surveillance in the EU since statistical institutes take a long time - usually four years - to provide final data, while the decisions on the Stability and Growth Pact context are taken on the basis of the first estimates available shortly after the end of each year. The paper shows that there are very significant differences in reliability among Member States and indicates the margins of uncertainty in relation to the most recent years' data. It also compares the reliability of deficit and debt figures; checks that the shift from ESA79 to ESA95 did not generally harm the reliability of data and suggests that the size of deficits may have an impact on the way statistical offices revise data.reliability, quality of statistics, Stability and Growth Pact, government deficit, Gordo Mora, Nogueira Martins

Discurso do presidente Roberto Nascimento na solenidade de posse do conselho curador da Funda????o Jo??o Pinheiro

Discurso proferido no dia 21 de setembro de 2015

Trypsin Inhibitor Activity and Condensed Tannin Content in Bambara Groundnut (Vigna Subterranea (L.) Verdc) Grown in Southern Africa

Legumes are an important source of protein in many developing countries. However this protein is not readily available because of antinutrients. Farmers are being encouraged to grow bambara groundnut to meet food sufficiency, hence information on the content of antinutrients is required. The objective of the study was to compareantinutrients trypsin inhibitor activity and condensed tannin content in nine landraces of bambara groundnut grown in three Southern African countries, Botswana, Swaziland and Namibia respectively. Trypsin inhibitor activity was determined in raw seeds using the method developed by Kakade et al. (1974). Six landraces from Namibia (AHM968, NC2, NC1, DIP C and GAB C and AHM753), three from Swaziland (OM1, NC2 and UR/SR) and two from Botswana (DIPC and UR/SR) had high trypsin inhibitor activity. DIPC had the highest overall trypsin inhibitor activity (units/mg protein) of 60.4 while AHM 753 had low trypsin inhibitor activity of 49.1 (p< 0.05). The trypsin inhibitor activity of each landrace differed from country to country with no simple pattern revealed but the landraces from Namibia had the highest activity and those grown in Botswana had the least. The trypsin inhibitor activityreported is higher than in soybean and pigeon pea. The condensed tannin content was determined using butanol-HCl method by Porter et al. (1986). It ranged from 0.02% in NC1 and OM1 grown in Swaziland and Namibia respectively to 0.49% in AHM 753 cultivated in Namibia. Thirteen out of the 27 samples analysed had tannin content below theallowed limit of 0.10%; three were cultivated in Botswana and five each from Namibia and Swaziland. Seeds that had the highest condensed tannin content were brown, tan and red while those with the lowest condensed tannin content were cream coloured are they are recommended to be used in weaning formula