54 research outputs found
Developments in private consumption over the past three years
Belgium weathered the 2008-2009 recession relatively well compared to the euro area as a whole and most of its constituent economies. In that context, the article sheds light on the interactions between the general economic situation and private consumption during the recession and in the recent recovery phase. As is generally the case during recessions, private consumption expenditure tended to decline to a lesser degree than general economic activity in Belgium in 2008-2009. The fall in private consumption expenditure turned out to be rather limited, especially when one considers the then plummeting economic activity. The two main avenues through which the crisis affected consumer spending were the erosion of peopleâs financial assets, and a considerable rise in uncertainty in late 2008 and early 2009. However, these effects faded away during the course of 2009. The resilience of private consumption in Belgium â which is also noticeable when compared internationally â can be related to the resilience of employment, which supported householdsâ disposable income. In addition, the sound situation of households and firms and the absence of great structural imbalances prior to the crisis supported general economic activity. In the future, maintaining an economic context free of serious imbalances, including a sustainable path for public finances, is crucial to favour a steady development of private consumption, contributing to balanced economic growth, income generation and job creation.Private consumption, households, wealth effect, savings rate
Industry in Belgium : past developments and challenges for the future
The article constitutes the synthesis of a broad study on industry in Belgium, conducted by the NBB, at the request of social partners. Some contributions were also made by the Federal Planning Bureau. In the past decades, industry has been submitted to two global trends. Firstly, deindustrialisation took the form of nominal activity and employment transfers between branches, i.e. from industry to services, while at the same time real industrial value added kept growing at a similar rate as the total economy, due to large productivity gains. Secondly, and partly linked to what precedes, economic globalisation was generalised thanks to liberalisation and technological progress, which has thoroughly modified the environment in which companies operate by opening up new markets and allowing an increased division of the production process in search of efficiency. Recently, these long-known trends seem to have further accelerated due to the emergence of rapidly growing economies, which are either closely linked to European countries (ten new member states) or are large-scale economies (China). More than ever, the industryâs future lies in safeguarding competitiveness and looking for new competitive edges, a challenge which it shares with the total economy. First of all, it requires a close monitoring of cost developments, especially as competition mainly takes place with neighbouring, thus similar, economies. In this respect, wages are an important, but only one component of production costs. Nevertheless, the competitiveness of an economy increasingly results from a large group of non-cost elements, which together determine its innovation capacity. Among these, we mainly stress the importance of continuous private and public investments, which are necessary to preserve and enhance the capital stock, of a well-educated and continuously trained labour force, of sufficient and well-oriented R&D efforts and of adequate and diversified sources of financing. Broadly speaking, innovation and economic dynamism require an integrated and extended approach, bringing together enterprises, research centres, universities and public authorities, in order for them to agree on a common view and maximise the spillover effects. Industry will still have an important role to play in meeting this objective.industry, deindustrialisation, globalisation, competitiveness, innovation
Behaviour of Belgian firms in the context of globalisation : lessons from the conference on âInternational Trade : Threats and Opportunities in a Globalised Worldâ
The article summarises the main lessons of the Bankâs 2010 conference which focused on international trade and foreign direct investment. The research is based on a microeconomic approach to the behaviour of Belgian firms, with reference to developments in the scientific literature on the subject. Firms active internationally have specific characteristics : they are larger and more productive than firms concentrating on the home market. The costs of entering international markets determine their globalisation strategies, be it in terms of timing, the number of markets canvassed, or the choice between exporting and foreign direct investment. Information technologies have a key role in the development of trade in services, especially for analytical work. It is also shown that, in the face of increased competition from Asian products, firms are tending to concentrate their exports on their leading products and to upgrade quality. The international activities of some firms also have positive repercussions on the productivity and globalisation decisions of firms active solely on the home market. Finally, the impact of globalisation on employment is analysed from various angles. In general, trade with low-wage countries tends to increase demand for skilled labour in Belgium and to reduce demand for unskilled labour. The effects of offshoring are comparable. Finally, while multinationals manage their workforce more flexibly than domestic firms, they have nevertheless been the source of substantial job creation, particularly where the subsidiaries of foreign multinationals are concerned.international trade, foreign direct investment, microeconomic analysis, firm heterogeneity, internationalisation, spillovers, multi-product firms, multinational firms, offshoring, employment, skills
Belgiumâs position in world trade
The objective of the article is to give a general overview of the position that Belgium occupies in the world trade stakes and its ability to adjust in response to changes in the international environment. Over the last two decades, world trade has expanded considerably, buoyed up by the rapid growth of new economic centres, the advanced economies generally having seen a drop in their market share. However, the growth in Belgiumâs exports has lagged behind the average for twelve European countries going through the same major changes ; and the loss of market share has been higher than the average. A classical econometric analysis of price competitiveness shows up the limited role of relative export prices as a determinant in gains/losses of market share. This finding mainly reflects the fact that prices are largely fixed on international markets, producers cannot adjust their export prices according to the costs that they have to bear. In this context, a reasonable development of production costs, and with stronger reason wage costs, is essential in order to ensure the continuity of export activities. Beyond relative price effects, it is necessary to take into account structural elements in order to explain changes in market share. From this standpoint, it appears that the type of production has a crucial role to play. Faced with competition from emerging economies, Belgiumâs external trade performance in the case of standardised products has been well below world demand. On the other hand, high-value-added products or those of a highly innovative nature or with a high research content are the ones that enable it to maintain or improve on its position in global trade. Export activities and innovation share some common features, not least because they are concentrated in the hands of a small number of large enterprises. In view of the high foreign market entry costs, the best performing firms are the ones that tend to be the exporters. However, factors such as the innovative nature of products on offer can of course influence the likelihood of success on foreign markets. Here, innovation efforts by Belgian firms are not creating enough opportunities for marketing new products. Yet, it is most certainly goods with a high value added or highly innovative products that Belgium will be able to count on to ensure sustainable economic development and to support the prosperity of its people.competitiveness, market share, export price, innovation, R&D
Explicit construction of the classical BRST charge for nonlinear algebras
We give an explicit formula for the Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) charge
associated with Poisson superalgebras. To this end, we split the master
equation for the BRST charge into a pair of equations such that one of them is
equivalent to the original one. We find the general solution to this equation.
The solution possesses a graphical representation in terms of diagrams.Comment: 9 pages; v2,v3 minor corrections, references added for v
Symmetries and dynamics in constrained systems
We review in detail the Hamiltonian dynamics for constrained systems.
Emphasis is put on the total Hamiltonian system rather than on the extended
Hamiltonian system. We provide a systematic analysis of (global and local)
symmetries in total Hamiltonian systems. In particular, in analogue to total
Hamiltonians, we introduce the notion of total Noether charges. Grassmannian
degrees of freedom are also addressed in details.Comment: 1+97 pages, No figure, Expanded version of a lecture note by J.-H.
Park at Sogang University, Seoul during 2007-2008. Accepted for publication
in the European Physical Journal C as a review article; Reference adde
Parent formulation at the Lagrangian level
The recently proposed first-order parent formalism at the level of equations
of motion is specialized to the case of Lagrangian systems. It is shown that
for diffeomorphism-invariant theories the parent formulation takes the form of
an AKSZ-type sigma model. The proposed formulation can be also seen as a
Lagrangian version of the BV-BRST extension of the Vasiliev unfolded approach.
We also discuss its possible interpretation as a multidimensional
generalization of the Hamiltonian BFV--BRST formalism. The general construction
is illustrated by examples of (parametrized) mechanics, relativistic particle,
Yang--Mills theory, and gravity.Comment: 26 pages, discussion of the truncation extended, typos corrected,
references adde
First order parent formulation for generic gauge field theories
We show how a generic gauge field theory described by a BRST differential can
systematically be reformulated as a first order parent system whose spacetime
part is determined by the de Rham differential. In the spirit of Vasiliev's
unfolded approach, this is done by extending the original space of fields so as
to include their derivatives as new independent fields together with associated
form fields. Through the inclusion of the antifield dependent part of the BRST
differential, the parent formulation can be used both for on and off-shell
formulations. For diffeomorphism invariant models, the parent formulation can
be reformulated as an AKSZ-type sigma model. Several examples, such as the
relativistic particle, parametrized theories, Yang-Mills theory, general
relativity and the two dimensional sigma model are worked out in details.Comment: 36 pages, additional sections and minor correction
Reduction of microglial activity in a model of multiple sclerosis by dipyridamole
BACKGROUND: Despite extensive and persistent activation of microglia in multiple sclerosis (MS), microglia inhibitors have not yet been identified for treatment of the disorder. We sought to identify medications already in clinical use that could inhibit the activation of microglia. On the basis of the reported inhibitory effects of dipyridamole on phosphodiesterase activity that result in the production of various anti-inflammatory outcomes, we selected it for study. Dipyridamole is used clinically for secondary prevention in stroke. In this study, dipyridamole was examined using microglia in culture and in the mouse model of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). RESULTS: We found that dipyridamole attenuated the elevation of several cytokines and chemokines in human microglia caused by Toll-like receptor stimulation. Morphological characteristics of activated microglia in culture were also normalized by dipyridamole. In mice, dipyridamole decreased the clinical severity of EAE and reduced microglial activity and other histological indices of EAE in the spinal cord. CONCLUSIONS: Dipyridamole is an inhibitor of microglia activation and may have a role in MS and other neurological conditions to attenuate microglial activity
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