Industries and the bank lending effects of bank credit demand and monetary policy in Germany

This paper presents evidence on the industry effects of bank lending in Germany and identifies the industry effects of bank lending associated with changes in monetary policy and industryspecific bank credit demand. To this end, we estimate individual bank lending functions for 13 manufacturing and non-manufacturing industries and five banking groups using quarterly bank balance sheet and bank lending data for the period 1992:1-2002:4. The evidence from dynamic panel data models shows that industry-specific bank lending growth predominantly responds to changes in industry-specific bank credit demand rather than to changes in monetary policy. In fact, conclusions regarding the bank lending effects of monetary policy are very sensitive to the choice of industry. The empirical results lend strong support to the existence of industry effects of bank lending. Because industries are a prominent source of variation in the bank lending effects of bank credit demand and monetary policy, the paper concludes that the industry composition of bank credit portfolios is an important determinant of bank lending growth and monetary policy effectiveness. --Monetary policy transmission,credit channel,industry structure,dynamic panel data

A note on the expectations hypothesis at the founding of the Fed

One of the most influential tests of the expectations hypothesis is Mankiw and Miron (1986), who found that the spread between the long-term and short-term rates provided predictive power for the short-term rate before the Fed's founding but not after. They suggested that the failure of the expectations hypothesis after the Fed's founding was due to the Fed's practice of smoothing short-term interest rates. We show that their finding that the expectations hypothesis fares better prior to the Fed's founding is due to the fact that the test they employ tends to generate results that are more favorable to the expectations hypothesis during periods when there is extreme volatility in the short-term rate. (Earlier version titled: The expectations theory and the founding of the Fed: another look at the evidence)Interest rates ; Rational expectations (Economic theory) ; Federal Reserve System - History

Surface motion in the pulsating DA white dwarf G 29-38

We present time-resolved spectrophotometry of the pulsating DA white dwarf G 29-38. As in previous broad-band photometry, the light curve shows the presence of a large number of periodicities. Many of these are combination frequencies, i.e., periodicities occurring at frequencies that are sums or differences of frequencies of stronger, real modes. We identify at least six real modes, and at least five combination frequencies. We measure line-of-sight velocities for our spectra and detect periodic variations at the frequencies of five of the six real modes, with amplitudes of up to 5 km/s. We argue that these variations reflect the horizontal surface motion associated with the g-mode pulsations. No velocity signals are detected at any of the combination frequencies, confirming that the flux variations at these frequencies do not reflect physical pulsation, but rather mixing of frequencies due to a non-linear transformation in the outer layers of the star. We discuss the amplitude ratios and phase differences found for the velocity and light variations, as well as those found for the real modes and their combination frequencies, both in a model-independent way and in the context of models based on the convective-driving mechanism. In a companion paper, we use the wavelength dependence of the amplitudes of the modes to infer their spherical degree.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, mn.sty. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Mode identification from time-resolved spectroscopy of the pulsating white dwarf G 29-38

We have used time-resolved spectroscopy to measure the colour dependence of pulsation amplitudes in the DAV white dwarf G 29-38. Model atmospheres predict that mode amplitudes should change with wavelength in a manner that depends on the spherical harmonic degree l of the mode. This dependence arises from the convolution of mode geometry with wavelength-dependent limb darkening. Our analysis of the six largest normal modes detected in Keck observations of G 29-38 reveals one mode with a colour dependence different from the other five, permitting us to identify the l value of all six modes and to test the model predictions. The Keck observations also show pulsation amplitudes that are unexpectedly asymmetric within absorption lines. We show that these asymmetries arise from surface motions associated with the non-radial pulsations (which are discussed in detail in a companion paper). By incorporating surface velocity fields into line profile calculations, we are able to produce models that more closely resemble the observations.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, mn.sty. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Dutch corporate liquidity mangement: New evidence on aggregation

In this paper we investigate Dutch corporate liquidity management in general, and target adjustment behaviour in particular. To this purpose, we use a simple error correction model of corporate liquidity holdings applied to firm-level data for the period 1977-1997. We confirm the existence of long-run liquidity targets at the firm level. We also find that changes in liquidity holdings are driven by short-run shocks as well as the urge to converge towards targeted liquidity levels. The rate of target convergence is higher when we include more firm-specific information in the target. This result supports the idea that increased precision in defining liquidity targets associates with a faster observed rate of target convergence. It also suggests that the slow speeds of adjustment obtained in many macro studies on money demand are artefacts of aggregation bias.corporate liquidity demand, precautionary liquidity

Where do "red and dead" early-type void galaxies come from?

Void regions of the Universe offer a special environment for studying cosmology and galaxy formation, which may expose weaknesses in our understanding of these phenomena. Although galaxies in voids are observed to be predominately gas rich, star forming and blue, a sub-population of bright red void galaxies can also be found, whose star formation was shut down long ago. Are the same processes that quench star formation in denser regions of the Universe also at work in voids? We compare the luminosity function of void galaxies in the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey, to those from a galaxy formation model built on the Millennium Simulation. We show that a global star formation suppression mechanism in the form of low luminosity "radio mode" AGN heating is sufficient to reproduce the observed population of void early-types. Radio mode heating is environment independent other than its dependence on dark matter halo mass, where, above a critical mass threshold of approximately M_vir~10^12.5 M_sun, gas cooling onto the galaxy is suppressed and star formation subsequently fades. In the Millennium Simulation, the void halo mass function is shifted with respect to denser environments, but still maintains a high mass tail above this critical threshold. In such void halos, radio mode heating remains efficient and red galaxies are found; collectively these galaxies match the observed space density without any modification to the model. Consequently, galaxies living in vastly different large-scale environments but hosted by halos of similar mass are predicted to have similar properties, consistent with observations.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted MNRA

Nonlocal ultrafast demagnetization dynamics of Co/Pt multilayers by optical field enhancement

The influence on ultrafast demagnetization dynamics of metallic nano-structured gratings deposited on thin films of magnetic Co/Pt multilayers is investigated by the time-resolved optical Kerr effect. Depending on the polarization of the pump pulse, a pronounced enhancement of the demagnetization amplitude is found. Calculation of the inhomogeneous optical field distribution due to plasmon interaction and time-dependent solutions of the coupled electron, lattice, and spin temperatures in two dimensions show good agreement with the experimental data, as well as giving evidence of non-local demagnetization dynamics due to electron diffusion.BMBF, 05K10KTB, Verbundprojekt: FSP 301 - FLASH: Nanoskopische Systeme. Teilprojekt 1.1: Universelle Experimentierkammer für Streuexperimente mit kohärenten Femtosekunden-Röntgenpulsen Multi Purpose Coherent Scattering Chamber for FLASH and XFEL 'MPscatt

On the completeness of impulsive gravitational wave space-times

We consider a class of impulsive gravitational wave space-times, which generalize impulsive pp-waves. They are of the form $M=N\times\mathbb{R}^2_1$, where $(N,h)$ is a Riemannian manifold of arbitrary dimension and $M$ carries the line element $ds^2=dh^2+ 2dudv+f(x)\delta(u)du^2$ with $dh^2$ the line element of $N$ and $\delta$ the Dirac measure. We prove a completeness result for such space-times $M$ with complete Riemannian part $N$.Comment: 13 pages, minor changes suggested by the referee