Path-dependent independence: the Central Bank of Russia in the 1990s

"Independent central banks, because of their purported ability to restrain government officials from manipulating their economies in pursuit of short-term political goals, have been championed by scholars and policy makers alike as guarantors of macroeconomic stability for emerging post-communist democracies. However, Russia's experience in the 1990s calls this argument into question. Although the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) was able to develop a significant degree of freedom from political interference during its early years, its monetary policies at that time were anything but conservative and anti-inflationary. Then, when the CBR's political autonomy began to erode after mid-1993 while its technical capabilities improved, its increasingly monetarist actions began to appear more typical of an "independent" central bank and inflation receded accordingly. This should lead us to rethink our theories on central bank independence - both how we define independence and what we can and cannot expect of an independent central bank. Given the CBR's continuity of personnel, historical objectives, and technical capabilities, even a politically autonomous CBR can not have been expected to internalize and implement new policy goals overnight." [author's abstract

Solid-waste management strategies in Indonesia : contracting, community participation and commercialization

Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1992.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 80-85).by Juliet E. Johnson.M.C.P

A cautionary tale of topography and tilt from Kīlauea Caldera

We conduct finite element analysis to investigate the effect of sharp topography on surface ground deformation caused by pressure changes in a magma reservoir. Tilt data expresses the horizontal gradient of vertical deformation and therefore can emphasise small variations in deformation that go unnoticed using other methods. We find that the vertical displacement profile at a surface with a cliff can be thought of as the superposition of the deformation from shallow and deeper sources. This combination can create a small peak in vertical displacement that acts as a pseudo‐source, creating a reversal of the deformation gradient and therefore anomalous tilt magnitude and a rotation of up to 180° . We apply these models to Kīlauea Caldera and find that surface geometry creates a tilt rotation of ∼10°, partially explaining anomalous tilt that has been observed. Our analysis highlights the importance of considering topography when assessing tilt measurements at active volcanoes

Structured Pathways, Reinforced Plans: Exploring the Impact of a Dual Enrollment Program on the College Choice and Career Interests of Future Teachers of Color

In response to the critical shortage of a diverse teacher workforce, Temple Education Scholars is a “Grow Your Own dual enrollment program model designed to promote access to postsecondary education and educator diversity. Grow Your Own programs have frequently been cited as a promising and potentially sustainable model for addressing the disparity between the racial identifications of students and those of their teachers. Using social cognitive career theory, we explore how three participants in the Temple Education Scholars program develop academic and career interests in teaching and make educational choices related to their career aspirations. Following case study analysis, we illustrate how three participants with interests in teaching described what attracted them to the program, how the program supported their college and career aspirations, and their visions for careers in education

Currency crises in post-Soviet Russia

Currency crises have been a recurrent feature of Russia’s post-Soviet experience. This paper examines three episodes of sudden and sharp ruble depreciation in 1998, 2008, and 2014-16. We examine these crises and their political consequences as iterative episodes in the Russian government’s ongoing efforts to deal with its structural dependence on energy revenues and international capital flows. We argue that the 1998 crisis and the Russian government’s response to it proved effective in transforming policies and institutions that had contributed to the ruble’s collapse, but also paradoxically reinforced the central role of resource revenues and international capital flows in Russia’s political economy. Policy decisions after 2008 then represented variations on a theme, leaving the Russian government better able to manage future currency crises while simultaneously maintaining and deepening the state’s underlying structural vulnerabilities as well as its patronage-based political-economic system. The crisis of 2014-16 may, however, ultimately bring greater shifts in policy as Russia adapts to fundamentally changed international circumstance