Short-Term Capital Flows, The Real Economy and Income Distribution in Developing Countries

The volatility of short-term capital flows (or 'capital surges') is now recognized as a major problem for macroeconomic management in developing countries; but the consequences for the 'real' economy - that is, the behaviour of government, firms and households which subsequently translates into investment, growth, employment and welfare - is less well understood. Short-term capital flow instability arises from the desire of investors to hold liquid assets in the face of uncertainty; affecting the real economy both through variations in both prices such as the interest rate and the exchange rate, and quantities such as levels of bank credit and government bond sales. In this chapter, government expenditure is shown to respond in an asymmetric manner to sudden changes in investor perceptions of fiscal solvency associated with portfolio capital surges. The impact of short flows on output and investment by firms through the availability of bank credit is also found to be large and asymmetric. The macroeconomic effect of capital surges on employment levels and the real wage rate is shown to arise from their influence on real exchange rates and domestic demand levels, although whether employment or wages adjust depends the monetary stabilization policy adopted. The chapter concludes with some implications of the analysis for longer-term growth and policy design.

Preliminary evaluation of a liquid belt radiator for space applications

The liquid belt radiator (LBR) is discussed. The LBR system operates either in the sensible heat mode or in the latent heat mode. Parametric analysis shows that the LBR may reduce the mass of heat pipe radiators by 70 to 90% when the LBR surface has a total emissivity in excess of 0.3. It is indicated that the diffusion pump oils easily meet this criteria with emissivities greater than 0.8. Measurements on gallium indicate that its emissivity is probably in excess of 0.3 in the solid state when small amounts of impurities are on the surface. The point design exhibits a characteristic mass of 3.1 kg/kW of power dissipation, a mass per unit prime radiating area of approximately 0.9 kg/sq ms and a total package volume of approximately 2.50 cubic m. This compares favorably with conventional technologies which have weights on the order of 4 kg/sq m

Liquid belt radiator design study

The Liquid Belt Radiator (LBR) is an advanced concept developed to meet the needs of anticipated future space missions. A previous study documented the advantages of this concept as a lightweight, easily deployable alternative to present day space heat rejection systems. The technical efforts associated with this study concentrate on refining the concept of the LBR as well as examining the issues of belt dynamics and potential application of the LBR to intermediate and high temperature heat rejection applications. A low temperature point design developed in previous work is updated assuming the use of diffusion pump oil, Santovac-6, as the heat transfer media. Additional analytical and design effort is directed toward determining the impact of interface heat exchanger, fluid bath sealing, and belt drive mechanism designs on system performance and mass. The updated design supports the earlier result by indicating a significant reduction in system specific system mass as compared to heat pipe or pumped fluid radiator concepts currently under consideration (1.3 kg/sq m versus 5 kg/sq m)

What happened to the inventory overhang?

The large inventory buildup in the first half of 1997 led to media warnings of a substantially weaker economy by year's end. The authors examine the rationale for these warnings, and argue that inventory accumulation is an unreliable predictor of future economic strength.Inventories ; Business cycles

The Ord River catchment regeneration project. 1. The nature, extent and causes of erosion in the Ord River catchment area

OF the 17,800 square miles of Ord River catchment area, an estimated 1,450 square miles of country is subject to varying degrees of erosion. This lies astride the Ord River and its major tributaries, the Elvire, Negri, Stirling, Panton, Turner, Nicholson and RB rivers. The bulk of the eroded country lies in W.A. but part projects into the Northern Territory

Buffel grass

Buffel grass occurs in various forms in tropical and sub-tropical parts of Africa and Southern Asia and extends from Arabia to India. It has been found in Madagascar, Socotra and, in more recent years, in the northern parts of Australia. The exact date of introduction into north-western Australia is not known for certain, but it was probably brought in accidentally in camel fodder from India about 1910. The spread of the plant along the coastal areas since that time has been both spectacular and rapid

A seed box for sowing Buffel and Birdwood grass seed.

A major drawback to the more widespread use of Buffel grass, Birdwood grass and Kapok bush for reseeding our eaten-out and denuded pastoral areas has been the absence of a seed-box capable of handling this type of seed. Officers of the Northwest Branch of the Department of Agriculture have now designed, built and tested a simple yet effective seed-box capable of handling either class of seed, or a combination of the three, with equal facility. It makes possible the cultivation and reseeding in the one operation, with provision for regulating the seeding rate to practically any desired level

The Ord River regeneration project. 2. Dealing with the problem

THE PROGRAMME of protective and remedial work being undertaken in the Ord River catchment area had as its major objective the re-establishment of perennial vegetation, as a means of controlling erosion and reducing the silt load of the rivers. It is now in its seventh year of operation

Soil conservation in the Kimberley area of Western Australia

OFFICERS of the Soil Conservation Branch of the West Australian Department of Agriculture, have not been engaged in soil conservation work in the Kimberleys prior to this year, not because a serious erosion problem did not exist, but rather because with limited trained staff available they were too fully occupied elsewhere. The recent arrival of a senior Soil Conservation Officer in the area to assist and plan an approach to the problem of soil erosion in the Ord River catchment area is therefore very welcome