Credit constraints and the propagation of the Great Depression in Germany

We evaluate the role played by loan supply shocks in the decline of investment and industrial production during the Great Depression in Germany from 1927 to 1932. We identify loan supply shocks in the context of a time varying parameter vector autoregression with stochastic volatility. Our results indicate that credit constraints were a significant driver of industrial production between 1927 and 1932, supporting the view that a structurally weak banking sector was an important contributor to the German Great Depression. We find further that loan supply shocks were an important driver of investment in the early phase of the depression, between 1927 and 1929, but not between 1930 and 1932. We suggest possible explanations for this puzzle and directions for future research

Note on VCG vs. Price Raising for Matching Markets

In \cite{EK10} the use of VCG in matching markets is motivated by saying that in order to compute market clearing prices in a matching market, the auctioneer needs to know the true valuations of the bidders. Hence VCG and corresponding personalized prices are proposed as an incentive compatible mechanism. The same line of argument pops up in several lecture sheets and other documents related to courses based on Easley and Kleinberg's book, seeming to suggest that computing market clearing prices and corresponding assignments were \emph{not} incentive compatible. Main purpose of our note is to observe that, in contrast, assignments based on buyer optimal market clearing prices are indeed incentive compatible

Stability of marginally outer trapped surfaces and existence of marginally outer trapped tubes

The present work extends our short communication Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 111102 (2005). For smooth marginally outer trapped surfaces (MOTS) in a smooth spacetime we define stability with respect to variations along arbitrary vectors v normal to the MOTS. After giving some introductory material about linear non self-adjoint elliptic operators, we introduce the stability operator L_v and we characterize stable MOTS in terms of sign conditions on the principal eigenvalue of L_v. The main result shows that given a strictly stable MOTS S contained in one leaf of a given reference foliation in a spacetime, there is an open marginally outer trapped tube (MOTT), adapted to the reference foliation, which contains S. We give conditions under which the MOTT can be completed. Finally, we show that under standard energy conditions on the spacetime, the MOTT must be either locally achronal, spacelike or null.Comment: 33 pages, no figures, typos corrected, minor changes in presentatio

Large negotiable certificates of deposit

Certificates of deposit ; Money market

What does it mean to be a 'national' gallery when the notions of 'nation' transform radically?: An analysis of the Iziko South African National Gallery's practices and policies in historical contexts

Includes bibliographical references.While much has been written on the European display of non - western art and artefact collected from their colonies in Africa, less has been documented about the European settler arts institutions, like the South African National Gallery (SANG), whose distant location away from the imperial centre initially presented particular challenges. In South Africa, since colonialism, these challenges have been expanded by settler nationalisms, a racially oppressive regime, a liberation movement, and a relatively peaceful transition to a democracy. In its form and its function, the SANG has reflected the redefined nationalisms that accompanied these historical moments. In light of the global history of national galleries and more recent theoretical discussions about cultural institutions, this study probes the complex layering of histories evidenced in collection and exhibition practices at the SANG in its historical contexts. Historically South African galleries have reflected colonial and later apartheid ideologies. With the transition to a democratic society in 1994, the ‘new’ South Africa ushered in a radically redefined national identity. If national collections reflect the nations to which they belong, this study questions the SANG’s ability in reflecting successive redefinitions of South African nationhood, and its adaptability in meeting shifting social and political requirements. By examining shifts in collections and display practices and policies, in the SANG’s historical contexts, this paper ultimately asks the question: What does it mean to be a ‘national’ gallery when the notions of ‘nation’ transform radically

Abhängigkeitserkrankungen und Persönlichkeitsstörungen: Übersicht aus neurobiologischer und psychodynamischer Perspektive

Zusammenfassung: Abhängigkeitserkrankungen und Persönlichkeitsstörungen treten klinisch häufig gemeinsam auf. In dieser Übersicht werden klinische und neurobiologische Befunde dargestellt, die durch psychodynamische Überlegungen ergänzt werden. Dies geschieht mit dem Ziel, ein Vorgehen für die psychotherapeutische Behandlung abhängigkeitserkrankter Patienten mit und ohne Persönlichkeitsstörung zu entwickeln. Der Substanzkonsum beginnt häufig mit einer Form der Selbstmedikation. Patienten mit Persönlichkeitsstörungen versuchen, durch den Substanzkonsum Affektüberflutungen zu vermeiden und ihren Selbstwert zu regulieren. Bei der chronischen Abhängigkeitserkrankung kommt es zu strukturellen Veränderungen im Gehirn. Die klinischen Symptome der Abhängigkeitserkrankung erschweren dabei häufig die Diagnostik einer spezifischen Persönlichkeitsstörung. Die Behandlung erfolgt nach den Schwergraden der Abhängigkeitserkrankung und der Persönlichkeitsstörung. Bei einer Abhängigkeitserkrankung können suchtspezifische Therapiemethoden angewandt werden. Bei der Komorbidität aus Abhängigkeitserkrankung und schwerer Persönlichkeitsstörung werden störungsspezifische Psychotherapieverfahren mit Erfolg eingesetz

Incidental radiological finding of a renal tumour leading to the diagnosis of Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome

Birt-Hogg-Dubé (BHD) syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant condition characterised by benign tumours of the hair follicle, renal cancer, pulmonary cysts and spontaneous pneumothorax. We report the diagnosis of a BHD syndrome achieved after incidental radiological finding of a renal tumour in a 24-year old man. The patient also displayed recurrent pneumothoraces and showed to have cysts in the basis of both lungs. The association of recurrent pneumothoraces and renal neoplastic disease should alert for the possible presence of this syndrome