Exchange Rates and Monetary Policy in Emerging Market Economies

This paper investigates the effects of exchange rate regimes and alternative monetary policy rules for an emerging market economy that is subject to a volatile external environment in the form of shocks to world interest rates and the terms of trade. In particular, we highlight the impact of financial frictions and the degree of exchange rate pass through in determining the relative performance of alternative regimes in stablizing the economy in the face of external shocks. Our results are quite sharp. When exchange rate pass-through is high, a policy of non-traded goods inflation targeting does best in stablizing the economy, and is better in welfare terms. When exchange rate pass-through is low, however, a policy of strict CPI inflation targeting is better. In all cases, a fixed exchange rate is undesirable. In addition, financial frictions have no implications for the ranking of alternative policy rules.

Exchange Rates and Monetary Policy in Emerging Market Economies

This paper investigates the effects of exchange rate regimes and alternative monetary policy rules for an emerging market economy that is subject to a volatile external environment in the form of shocks to world interest rates and the terms of trade. In particular, we highlight the impact of financial frictions and the degree of exchange rate pass through in determining the relative performance of alternative regimes in stablizing the economy in the face of external shocks. Our results are quite sharp. When exchange rate pass-through is high, a policy of non-traded goods inflation targeting does best in stablizing the economy, and is better in welfare terms. When exchange rate pass-through is low, however, a policy of strict CPI inflation targeting is better. In all cases, a fixed exchange rate is undesirable. In addition, financial frictions have no implications for the ranking of alternative policy rules.

Exchange Rates and Monetary Policy in Emerging Market Economies

This paper compares alternative monetary policy rules in a model of an emerging market economy that experiences external shocks to world interest rates and the terms of trade. The model is a two-sector dynamic open economy, with endogenous capital accumulation and slow price adjustment. Two key factors are highlighted in examining the response of the economy to shocks, and in the assessment of the effectiveness of monetary rules.These are: a) balance-sheet related financial frictions in capital formation; and b) delayed pass-through of changes in exchange rates to imported goods prices. We find that, while financial frictions cause a magniFcation of real and financial volatility, they have no effect on the comparison or ranking of alternative monetary policies. But the degree of exchange rate pass-through is very important for the assessment of monetary rules. With high pass-through, there is a trade-off between between real stability (in output or employment) and inflation stability. Moreover, the best monetary policy rule in this case is to stabilise non-traded goods prices. But, with delayed pass-through, the same trade off between real stability and inflation stability disappears, and the best monetary policy rule is CPI price stability Classification-Monetary Policy, Exchange Rate Pass-through, Balance Sheet Constraints

Some Major Structural Features of the Taconic Allochthon in the Hoosick Falls Area, New York - Vermont

Guidebook for field trips in New York, Massachusetts and Vermont: 61st annual meeting at the State University of New York at Albany, Albany, New York October 10, 11, 12, 1969: Trip 1

Delivering Quality Motivational Interviewing Training: A Survey of MI Trainers

The MI community places an emphasis on attempting to understand the training process. Yet little is known about what MI trainers perceive as the important variables in training MI. A mixed method survey of 92 members of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers was used to elicit important variables to consider in providing quality MI training. Based on results, it appears that MI trainers are familiar with Miller and Moyers’ (2006) eight stages of learning MI and used them to develop trainings. However, the respondents reported that they do not use these stages to evaluate trainings. Moreover, the respondents emphasized the importance of trainee and trainer variables in organizing trainings. They also provided varied opinions regarding the important ingredients in developing MI competency. The authors discuss the need for further empirical exploration of the important training ingredients and the eight stages model. Finally, the need for exploration of how these ingredients help trainees develop competency and future focus on the integration of best practices in adult learning is discussed

Core excitations across the neutron shell gap in ²⁰⁷Tl

The single closed-neutron-shell, one proton-hole nucleus 207Tl was populated in deep-inelastic collisions of a 208Pb beam with a 208Pb target. The yrast and near-yrast level scheme has been established up to high excitation energy, comprising an octupol

Rescue of the MERTK phagocytic defect in a human iPSC disease model using translational read-through inducing drugs.

Inherited retinal dystrophies are an important cause of blindness, for which currently there are no effective treatments. In order to study this heterogeneous group of diseases, adequate disease models are required in order to better understand pathology and to test potential therapies. Induced pluripotent stem cells offer a new way to recapitulate patient specific diseases in vitro, providing an almost limitless amount of material to study. We used fibroblast-derived induced pluripotent stem cells to generate retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) from an individual suffering from retinitis pigmentosa associated with biallelic variants in MERTK. MERTK has an essential role in phagocytosis, one of the major functions of the RPE. The MERTK deficiency in this individual results from a nonsense variant and so the MERTK-RPE cells were subsequently treated with two translational readthrough inducing drugs (G418 & PTC124) to investigate potential restoration of expression of the affected gene and production of a full-length protein. The data show that PTC124 was able to reinstate phagocytosis of labeled photoreceptor outer segments at a reduced, but significant level. These findings represent a confirmation of the usefulness of iPSC derived disease specific models in investigating the pathogenesis and screening potential treatments for these rare blinding disorders

3414 Association of blood pressure and biochemical knee cartilage composition assessed by T2 relaxation time measurements: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: The goal of this study was to investigate the associations of systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and pulse pressure (PP) with knee articular cartilage composition using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based T2 relaxation time measurements in study participants from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI). METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: In this longitudinal study, 1,139 participants from the OAI, a multi-center, observational study of the evolution of knee OA, were selected using the following inclusion criteria: right knee Kellgren Lawrence (KL) score (radiographic classification of OA severity) 0-2 indicating no to mild radiographic OA at baseline, no history of rheumatoid arthritis at baseline, available blood pressure measurements at baseline, available T2 measurements in at least three knee compartments at baseline and 48-month follow-up. Linear regression models were performed using standardized values for SBP, DBP and PP as primary predictors and change in cartilage T2 over 48 months, a measure of cartilage matrix quality and degeneration, as the primary outcome. PP was defined as SBP minus DBP. Change in superficial layer and deep layer cartilage T2, which reflect differences in the laminar organization of knee cartilage T2, were also included as outcomes. Statistical models were adjusted for common risk factors for knee OA (baseline age, sex, BMI, KL score) as well as number of currently used anti-hypertensive medications (AHM) reported at baseline. We included AHMs whose primary indication was the treatment of hypertension including beta blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB), thiazides, chlorthalidone, dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (CCB) and aliskiren. All predictors, outcomes and covariates (except sex) were analyzed as continuous variables. We included interaction terms in the models to evaluate whether the covariates (age, sex, BMI, KL score, number of AHMs) modified the association of SBP, DBP and PP with cartilage T2. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The average age of all study participants was 58.8 years (SD ± 8.6) with a higher proportion of men (59.4%), average body mass index (BMI) was 28.3 (SD ± 4.5), average SBP was 122.4 (SD ± 15.4) mmHg, average DBP was 75.5 (SD ± 9.6) mmHg and 469 (38.1%) study participants were taking at least one AHM. Higher baseline DBP was significantly associated with a faster increase in global T2 (0.22 [0.10,0.35], P < 0.001), global deep layer T2 (0.20 [0.03,0.36], P < 0.022) and global superficial layer T2 (0.39 [0.20,0.58], P < 0.001). These associations were significant in both unadjusted and the models adjusted for age, sex, BMI and KL score. No significant associations were found between SBP or PP and cartilage T2 and no significant interactions were found between SBP, DBP, PP and the covariates. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Higher baseline DBP was associated with a faster increase in knee cartilage T2, suggesting accelerated cartilage degeneration. This association was stronger for the superficial layer of knee cartilage T2 compared to the deep layer. Although further basic mechanistic studies are needed to elucidate the underlying pathophysiology of this relationship, these results suggest lowering DBP may influence knee OA

Search versus Search for Collapsing Electoral Control Types

Electoral control types are ways of trying to change the outcome of elections by altering aspects of their composition and structure [BTT92]. We say two compatible (i.e., having the same input types) control types that are about the same election system E form a collapsing pair if for every possible input (which typically consists of a candidate set, a vote set, a focus candidate, and sometimes other parameters related to the nature of the attempted alteration), either both or neither of the attempted attacks can be successfully carried out [HHM20]. For each of the seven general (i.e., holding for all election systems) electoral control type collapsing pairs found by Hemaspaandra, Hemaspaandra, and Menton [HHM20] and for each of the additional electoral control type collapsing pairs of Carleton et al. [CCH+ 22] for veto and approval (and many other election systems in light of that paper's Theorems 3.6 and 3.9), both members of the collapsing pair have the same complexity since as sets they are the same set. However, having the same complexity (as sets) is not enough to guarantee that as search problems they have the same complexity. In this paper, we explore the relationships between the search versions of collapsing pairs. For each of the collapsing pairs of Hemaspaandra, Hemaspaandra, and Menton [HHM20] and Carleton et al. [CCH+ 22], we prove that the pair's members' search-version complexities are polynomially related (given access, for cases when the winner problem itself is not in polynomial time, to an oracle for the winner problem). Beyond that, we give efficient reductions that from a solution to one compute a solution to the other. For the concrete systems plurality, veto, and approval, we completely determine which of their (due to our results) polynomially-related collapsing search-problem pairs are polynomial-time computable and which are NP-hard.Comment: The metadata's abstract is abridged due to arXiv.org's abstract-length limit. The paper itself has the unabridged (i.e., full) abstrac

Separating and Collapsing Electoral Control Types

[HHM20] discovered, for 7 pairs (C,D) of seemingly distinct standard electoral control types, that C and D are identical: For each input I and each election system, I is a Yes instance of both C and D, or of neither. Surprisingly this had gone undetected, even as the field was score-carding how many std. control types election systems were resistant to; various "different" cells on such score cards were, unknowingly, duplicate effort on the same issue. This naturally raises the worry that other pairs of control types are also identical, and so work still is being needlessly duplicated. We determine, for all std. control types, which pairs are, for elections whose votes are linear orderings of the candidates, always identical. We show that no identical control pairs exist beyond the known 7. We for 3 central election systems determine which control pairs are identical ("collapse") with respect to those systems, and we explore containment/incomparability relationships between control pairs. For approval voting, which has a different "type" for its votes, [HHM20]'s 7 collapses still hold. But we find 14 additional collapses that hold for approval voting but not for some election systems whose votes are linear orderings. We find 1 additional collapse for veto and none for plurality. We prove that each of the 3 election systems mentioned have no collapses other than those inherited from [HHM20] or added here. But we show many new containment relationships that hold between some separating control pairs, and for each separating pair of std. control types classify its separation in terms of containment (always, and strict on some inputs) or incomparability. Our work, for the general case and these 3 important election systems, clarifies the landscape of the 44 std. control types, for each pair collapsing or separating them, and also providing finer-grained information on the separations.Comment: The arXiv.org metadata abstract is an abridged version; please see the paper for the full abstrac