Exchange Rates and Inflation under EMU: An Update

In our recent Economic Policy article(Honohan and Lane, 2003), we argued that the strength of the US dollar 1999-2001 had an important impact on inflation divergence within the EMU and in particular the surge in Ireland’s inflation to over 7 per cent. This hypothesis has been subjected to a grueling out-of-sample test: would the dollar’s subsequent weakness contribute to inflation convergence and in particular to a fall in Irish inflation? Fortunately for us, the theory has passed the test with flying colours. Irish inflation stopped dead in its tracks: consumer prices were unchanged between May and November of 2003. Regression analysis on quarterly inflation data across EMU members 1999.1-2004.1 confirms the importance of the exchange rate channel, although pinning down the exact dynamic specification will require a further span of data.

The networking effects of OER

Open Educational Resources (OER) give an openly available set of content and tools that in principle provide a basis for formal and informal communication and collaboration between groups of individuals around teaching and/or learning. In practice, most communication and collaboration around OER appears to be asynchronous, loosely connected and not sustained. The success of social networking sites is also based upon content and tools to enable and support communication and collaboration. However, that success is seemingly based upon more immediate, closely connected and sustained activities. In both cases much is made of the online, virtual aspects of networking and less about its relationship to offline, real world networking. This paper reviews the experiences with the OpenLearn site from the UK Open University which combines open content within a learning environment that offers tools for communication. Drawing upon the action research findings from its first two years of operation this paper describes examples of individual learners and institutions communicating and collaborating online and considers the influences of offline networks. It examines the motivations behind the communication and collaboration and suggests an emerging typology for such effects depending on who is involved and what the drivers (and restraints) are for their activities

Divergent Inflation Rates in EMU

We analyze the sources of divergent national inflation rates among EMU member countries. At one level, we review the Irish ‘outlier’ experience; at another, we estimate panel regressions for the 1999-2001 period. We highlight the role played by differential exposure to euro exchange rate movements in explaining inflation divergence. In addition, we find evidence that output gaps and a “price level convergence” effect have also been important. We draw some policy conclusions for the accession countries that are hoping to join EMU.CIS7, international financial institutions, policy reform, external debt

Divergent Inflation Rates in EMU

We analyse the sources of divergent national inflation rates among EMU member countries. At one level, we review the Irish 'outlier' experience; at another, we estimate panel regressions for the 1999-2001 period. We highlight the role played by differential exposure to euro exchange rate movements in explaining inflation divergence. In addition, we find evidence that ouput gaps and a "price level convergence" effect have also been important. We draw some policy conclusions for the accession countries that are hoping to join EMU.

Will the Euro trigger more monetary unions in Africa?

The authors analyze the prospects for greater monetary integration in Africa, in the wake of the European Monetary Union. They argue that the structural characteristics of African economies, are quite different from those of European economies, but that much can be gained from monetary cooperation - as an external agency of restraint, and for promoting stability in the financial sector. But one should not expect too much from such arrangements. There is little evidence of contagious attacks on African currencies requiring the coordination of exchange rate policies. And economies of scale in the prudential regulation of financial systems, could be achieved through international cooperation without the need for a common currency. The same is true of enhanced risk-pooling through the financial system. The European Monetary Union has only a marginal impact on the net benefits of monetary cooperation, but the euro would be a natural anchor for any African monetary union - especially if the United Kingdom, and the sterling were to join the European Monetary Union. Indeed, the most likely route to new monetary cooperation in Africa, is through a common peg to the euro.Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Financial Intermediation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Banks&Banking Reform,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Financial Intermediation,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Stabilization,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring

Medieval death trip

Dissertation supervisor: Dr. Trudy Lewis.Includes vita.This dissertation presents two related works, one creative non-fiction and the other fiction, that engage in representing and adapting medieval texts. The non-fiction work consists of annotated transcripts of twelve episodes of a podcast entitled Medieval Death Trip. These episodes provide commentary on selected medieval texts drawn primarily from monastic chronicles but including other genres as well, each of which is presented as a featured performative reading in the middle of the episode enhanced by audio production that adds music and sound effects. The purpose of this show is to help a non-expert audience appreciate and become engaged with these rather remote and sometimes inaccessible texts. The fiction is a linked collection of short narratives entitled The Libellus de Mutationis, whose narrator is a monk writing tales of changes and transformations he has heard of as a way of justifying the fictionalizations he has wrought in a work of hagiography that he has completed. The fiction imitates elements of medieval rhetoric and narrative tropes, and in its own way offers novel variations on the same kinds of authentic texts presented in the podcast episodes.Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-285)

Job stress as it relates to social workers in a locked state mental health hospital

This research examines the level of stress experienced by social workers employed in a locked mental health hospital. A comparative analysis was completed measuring the level of stress associated with the type of unit: acute or chronic

A Failure of Policy: How U.S. Leaders Neglected to Shape, Lead, and Leverage Intelligence Concerning Japan During the Interwar Period, 1918-1941

This dissertation explores the perspective and performance of U.S. intelligence professionals and the intelligence organizations in which they served concerning Japan during the interwar period, the timespan ranging approximately from the conclusion of World War I in November 1918 through the entry of the United States into World War II in December 1941. Research for this dissertation focused predominantly on official and other primary documents, including U.S. intelligence reports and memoranda; intercepted, decrypted, and translated Japanese cablegrams; personal letters by and concerning U.S. intelligence professionals; and other primary source materials related to intelligence professionals and services available via the U.S. National Archives in College Park, Maryland. Some of these official and other primary documents were available from a number of online repositories providing access to U.S. intelligence documents concerning Japan during the interwar period. The published memoirs of particular key intelligence professionals, who focused particularly on Japan, and other actors, also proved important primary resources to completing this dissertation. Secondary sources augmented and occasionally corroborated the events related in the primary documents and memoirs. U.S. intelligence professionals produced intelligence informing U.S. civilian and military leaders of the increasing competition between U.S. and Japanese national interests and commercial objectives in the Asia-Pacific region, in addition to Japan’s perspective concerning the growing impasse. Particular intelligence professionals, whose exploits and experiences focusing particularly on Japan during the interwar period, provided an important foundation for this dissertation. These intelligence professionals took seriously the increasing threat that Japan posed to U.S. interests. For approximately two decades, they acquired intelligence from Japanese counterparts; defended U.S. interests against Japanese counterintelligence threats; and endeavored to influence their Japanese counterparts, often intelligence professionals and officers in Japan’s armed services, into reducing their concern regarding U.S. objectives in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly regarding Japan. In the end, war arrived in the form of a widespread and shocking series of Japanese attacks and invasions by sea, air, and land, reaching as far east as the waters just off of the California coast and targeting U.S., British, and Dutch military bases and colonies. The most famous aspect of the Pacific War’s start was the multiple air and sea attacks against Pearl Harbor and other U.S. military installations in the Hawaiian Islands, which sank of the U.S. Pacific fleet, claimed 2,403 lives, and caused the United States to declare war against Japan. Although some U.S. civilian and military leaders realized that war was increasingly likely as negotiations with Japan failed to yield solutions to U.S.-Japanese disagreements, the United States remained unprepared for war with Japan. Ultimately, the failure of U.S. leaders to use intelligence resources at their disposal and to empower intelligence collectors, in order to prepare the United States for a war with Japan, constituted a comprehensive leadership failure, rather than an intelligence failure

The evolution and dynamic behaviour of the Northern Uummannaq Ice Stream System, West Greenland

This thesis considers the evolution and dynamic behaviour of the northern Uummannaq Ice Stream System (UISS), a large ice stream which extended to the Greenland shelf edge during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The Uummannaq region has been shown to be dominated by areas of selective linear erosion (SLE) and areal scour. Over multiple glacial cycles, enhanced by favourable geology and uplift, SLE controlled the formation of a confluent fjord system which triggered the onset and development of the UISS. At the LGM, northern UISS ice thicknesses reached 1400-1968 m a.s.l., comparable to data from the southern UISS. However, in the north, thicknesses were not sufficient to overtop fjord confines, with ice flow remaining topographically controlled. The presence of thick, fast ice flowing ice in the onset zone suggests that subglacial conditions within the study area were characterised by intense basal sliding. The evolution of bedforms (roches moutonnées and whalebacks) was influenced by basal ice dynamics, but bedrock type, joints and bedding were also critical controls on bedform morphometry. Deglaciation following the LGM began on the outer shelf by 14.9 kyr, with increased air temperature, rising relative sea-level and bathymetric over-deepening driving the UISS to the outer edge of coastal fjords by 11.4-11.0 kyr. Geochronological data demonstrate that the retreat rate of the northern and southern UISS became highly asynchronous during the early-Holocene. In the south, topographic constrictions stabilised the ice from 11.0-9.3 kyr, before it retreated beyond its present ice margin at 8.7 kyr. Ice in the north became pinned at the mouth of Rink-Karrat Isfjord between 11.6-6.9 kyr, remaining stable through the Holocene Thermal Maximum, demonstrating the ability of topography to override climate and sea-level drivers. Geomorphological and sedimentological evidence has demonstrated that the Svartenhuk Peninsula in the northern Uummannaq region, previously cited as an LGM ice-free enclave, was overrun by ice during the LGM. Ice was sourced from the Svartenhuk interior, and expanded radially to the present coastline. This is contrary to existing work, and suggests there may be a need to reassess the evidence for interstadial, high sea-level conditions throughout Greenland

The Challenges Faced by Older, Incarcerated Adults: How Age Impacts the Prison Experience

The number of aging prisoners in North America has increased substantially in recent years. This group of inmates often experiences challenges that their younger counterparts do not, such as health issues, difficulty accessing health care, a lack of programming, navigating an environment that is not designed for aging individuals, and challenges related to post-release, such as securing adequate housing.  In this paper, we discuss the aforementioned challenges, as well as address implications from a health care perspective