Safeguarding the banking system in an environment of financial cycles: an overview

Banks and banking ; Risk ; Banking law ; Bank supervision

Insurance companies as financial intermediaries: risk and return

Insurance industry ; Risk ; Investments

Paramyxovirus V proteins interact with the RNA helicase LGP2 to inhibit RIG-I-dependent interferon induction

This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant AL087751/B)RIG-I and mda-5 are activated by viral RNA and stimulate type I interferon production. Laboratory of genetics and physiology 2 (LGP2) shares homology with RIG-I and mda-5 but lacks the CARD domains required for signaling. The V proteins of paramyxoviruses limit interferon induction by binding mda-5 and preventing its activation; however, they do not bind RIG-I and have not been considered inhibitors of RIG-I signaling. Here we uncover a novel mechanism of RIG-I inhibition in which the V protein of parainfluenzavirus type 5 (PIV5; formerly known as simian virus type 5 [SV5]) interacts with LGP2 and cooperatively inhibits induction by RIG-I ligands. A complex between RIG-I and LGP2 is observed in the presence of PIV5-V, and we propose that this complex is refractory to activation by RIG-I ligands. The V proteins from other paramyxoviruses also bind LGP2 and demonstrate LGP2-dependent inhibition of RIG-I signaling. This is significant, because it demonstrates a general mechanism for the targeting of the RIG-I pathway by paramyxoviruses.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

EPA Pats Itself on the Back

The Environmental Protection Agency's report to Congress on the benefits and costs of the Clean Air Act from 1990 to 2010 is uninformative and unreliable. It considers no regulatory alternatives, overstates likely benefits and understates costs. Successive reviews under the auspices of EPA's Science Advisory Board and the Office of Management and Budget did not prevent these shortcomings. We recommend that Congress should ask for major reviews of regulatory programs only from entities that are independent of the agencies that administer the programs.Environment, Regulatory Reform

An equilibrium model of the business cycle with household production and fiscal policy

We estimate a dynamic general equilibrium model of the U.S. economy that includes an explicit household production sector and stochastic fiscal variables. We use our estimates to investigate two issues. First, we analyze how well the model accounts for aggregate fluctuations. We find that household production has a significant impact and reject a nested specification in which changes in the home production technology do not matter for market variables. Second, we study the effects of some simple fiscal policy experiments and show that the model generates different predictions for the effects of tax changes than similar models without home production.Business cycles

Mis-Specification and Frequency Dependence in a New Keynesian Phillips Curve

Phillips Curve, spectral regression, time series analysis

NONMARKET VALUE OF WESTERN VALLEY RANCHLAND USING CONTINGENT VALUATION

With the irreversible loss of agricultural land to develop uses in certain areas, there is increased concern that land be preserved for posterity'Â’s sake. We estimate the nonmarket value of a ranchland protection program in the Yampa River Valley in Routt County, Colorado, including the Steamboat Springs resort. The case study builds on previous land preservation studies by adding several preferences indicators. We find that local residentsÂ’' willingness to pay is substantial, but insufficient, to justify protecting the existing quantity of valley ranchland in the study area.Land Economics/Use,

Putting home economics into macroeconomics

The implications of adding household production to an otherwise standard real business cycle model are explored in this article. The model developed treats the business and household sectors symmetrically. In particular, both sectors use capital and labor to produce output. The article finds that the household production model can outperform the standard model in accounting for several aspects of U.S. business cycle fluctuations. ; This article is a summary of a chapter prepared for a forthcoming book, Frontiers of Business Cycle Research, edited by Thomas F. Cooley, to be published by Princeton University Press.Business cycles