Zero Nominal Interest Rates, Unemployment, Excess Reserves and Deflation in a Liquidity Trap

We present a dynamic and monetary model that consistently explains such various phenomena as unemployment, deflation, zero nominal interest rates and excess reserves held by commercial banks. These phenomena are commonly observed during the Great Depression in the United States, the recent long-run stagnation in Japan, and the worldwide financial crisis triggered by the US subprime loan problem of 2008. We show that an excessive liquidity preference leads to a liquidity trap and thereby generates the phenomena.

A Reinterpretation of the Keynesian Consumption Function and Multiplier Effect

We propose a microeconomic foundation of the multiplier effect and that of the consumption function using a dynamic optimization model that explains a shortage of aggregate demand and unemployment. We show that government purchases boost aggregate demand through a multiplier-like process but that the implication is quite different. It works through not an increase in disposable income but moderation of deflation, which makes money holding costly and stimulates consumption.

Growth, Stagnation and Status Preference

We consider three objects of people's status preference, consumption, physical capital holding and money holding, and show that an economy grows or stagnates depending on which object people most seriously take as status. If the main object of status preference is consumption, a steady state with full employment is reached. If it is physical capita (viz. a producible asset), permanent growth with full employment occurs. However, if it is money (viz. an unproducible asset), stagnation with persistent unemployment arises.

Explosive Nucleosynthesis in Magnetohydrodynamical Jets from Collapsars II. Heavy-Element Nucleosynthesis of s, r, p-Processes

We investigate the nucleosynthesis in a massive star of 70 M_solar with solar metallicity in the main sequence stage. The helium core mass after hydrogen burning corresponds to 32 M_solar. Nucleosynthesis calculations have been performed during the stellar evolution and the jetlike supernova explosion of a collapsar model, where the weak s-, p-, and r-processes are taken into account. We confirm that s-elements of 60 < A < 90 are highly overproduced relative to the solar abundances in the hydrostatic nucleosynthesis. During oxygen burning, p-elements of A > 90 are produced via photodisintegrations of seed s-elements. However, the produced p-elements are disintegrated in later stages except for ^{180}Ta. In the explosive nucleosynthesis, elements of 90 < A < 160 are significantly overproduced relative to the solar values owing to the r-process. Only heavy p-elements (N > 50) are overproduced via the p-process. Compared with the previous study of r-process nucleosynthesis calculations in the collapsar model of 40 M_solar by Fujimoto et al. 2007, 2008, our jet model cannot contribute to the third peak of the solar r-elements and intermediate p-elements. Averaging the overproduction factors over the progenitor masses with the use of Salpeter's IMF, we suggest that the 70 M_solar star could contribute to the solar weak s-elements of 60 < A < 90 and neutron-rich elements of 90 < A < 160. We confirm the primary synthesis of light p-elements in the ejected matter of high peak temperature. The ejected matter has [Sr/Eu] \sim -0.4, which is different from that of a typical r-process-enriched star CS22892-052 ([Sr/Eu] \sim -1). We find that Sr-Y-Zr isotopes are primarily synthesized in the explosive nucleosynthesis in a similar process of the primary production of light p-elements, which has been considered as one of the sites of a lighter element primary process (LEPP).Comment: 25 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in Progress of Theoretical Physic

Asymmetric Synthesis of Optically Active Malic Acid

Chiral reduction of 2-oxosuccinic acid esters with fermenting bakers' yeast gave (S)-(-)- malic acid esters in 34-54% isolated yield with 85-100% ee