Uncertainty and UK Monetary Policy

This paper provides empirical evidence on the response of monetary policymakers to uncertainty. Using data for the UK since the introduction of inflation targets in October 1992, we find that the impact of inflation on interest rates is lower when inflation is more uncertain and is larger when the output gap is more uncertain. These findings are consistent with the predictions of the theoretical literature. We also find that uncertainty has reduced the volatility but has not affected the average value of interest rates and argue that monetary policy would have been less passive in the absence of uncertainty

Do the gravitational corrections to the beta functions of the quartic and Yukawa couplings have an intrinsic physical meaning?

We study the beta functions of the quartic and Yukawa couplings of General Relativity and Unimodular Gravity coupled to the $\lambda\phi^4$ and Yukawa theories with masses. We show that the General Relativity corrections to those beta functions as obtained from the 1PI functional by using the standard MS multiplicative renormalization scheme of Dimensional Regularization are gauge dependent and, further, that they can be removed by a non-multiplicative, though local, field redefinition. An analogous analysis is carried out when General Relativity is replaced with Unimodular Gravity. Thus we show that any claim made about the change in the asymptotic behaviour of the quartic and Yukawa couplings made by General Relativity and Unimodular Gravity lack intrinsic physical meaning.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Uncertainty and Monetary Policy Rules in the United States

This paper analyses the impact of uncertainty about the true state of the economy on monetary policy rules in the US since the early 1980s. Extending the Taylor rule to allow for this type of uncertainty, we find evidence that the predictions of the theoretical literature on responses to uncertainty are reflected in the behaviour of policymakers, suggesting that policymakers are adhering to prescriptions for optimal policy. We find that the impact of uncertainty was most marked in 1983, when uncertainty increased interest rates by up to 140 basis points, in 1989-90, when uncertainty increased interest rates by up to 50 basis points and in 1996-2001 when uncertainty reduced interest rates by up to 50 basis points over five years

BEES. THEIR VISION, CHEMICAL SENSES, AND LANGUAGE by Karl von Frisch

BEES. THEIR VISION, CHEMICAL SENSES, AND LANGUAGE. Karl von Frisch, the University of Munich. Revised edition. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York and London. 157 pages. $7.50 ( 3.50), paperback$2.45