Natural Selection: A Stethoscopic Amphibious Installation.

This paper discusses emergence as a complex behaviour in the sound domain and presents a design strategy that was used in the creation of the sound installation Natural Selection to encourage the perception of sonic emergence. The interactions in Natural Selection are based on an algorithm derived from an innately sonic emergent ecological system found in nature, that of mating choices by female frogs within a calling male frog chorus. This paper outlines the design and implementation of the installation and describes the research behind its design, most notably the notion of embodiment within a sonic environment and its importance to the perception of sonic emergence

Aggregate returns to scale: why measurement is imprecise

The extent to which there are aggregate returns to scale at the level of aggregate production has important implications both for the types of shocks generating business cycles and for optimal policy. However, prior attempts to measure the extent of these returns using instrumental variable techniques have yielded quite imprecise estimates. In this article, we show that the production shocks implied by a range of returns to scale that encompasses both large increasing returns and large decreasing returns are almost identical. This makes clear that there is a fundamental reason for the imprecision of prior estimates and casts doubt on our ability to generate more precise estimatesBusiness cycles

Long-run growth expectations and "global imbalances" : [January 5, 2011]

This paper examines to what extent the build-up of "global imbalances" since the mid-1990s can be explained in a purely real open-economy DSGE model in which agents’ perceptions of long-run growth are based on filtering observed changes in productivity. We show that long-run growth estimates based on filtering U.S. productivity data comove strongly with long-horizon survey expectations. By simulating the model in which agents filter data on U.S. productivity growth, we closely match the U.S. current account evolution. Moreover, with household preferences that control the wealth effect on labor supply, we can generate output movements in line with the data. JEL Classification: E13, E32, D83, O4

"A Chegada dos Aviadores" : crónica visual por Domingos Rebelo

Um conjunto de seis aguarelas intituladas genericamente "A Chegada dos Aviadores" foi executado por Domingos Rebelo cerca de 1926 para celebrar o raid aéreo realizado nesse mesmo ano entre Lisboa, Funchal e Ponta Delgada. O artigo dá conta desse trabalho pictórico que incide sobre o acontecimento histórico produzindo, simultaneamente, uma crónica de costumes

The predicament of Young Journalists: The study of Portugal

This article attempts to draw a portrait of young Portuguese journalists. Who are these young professionals dedicated to a profession which is in turmoil? The reasons for the instability of the sector are many and varied. We could mention the trend towards media concentration into business groups: the resulting mergers lead to diminish the importance of journalists, which in turn leads to contraction of the job market. An issue which is proving intractable is the job insecurity affecting mainly younger journalists - those who actually get the jobs, since there are large numbers of journalism graduates who run up against almost insurmountable barriers to make an entry into the profession. Power relations in the editing rooms are also changing. Relations with supervisors become impersonal, mediated by editors or managers who may not have an access to the board of directors. Within the profession, there are certain facets which differentiate one generation of journalists from another. The new information technologies also play an important role here: in addition to exponentially strengthening the dominance of time management, they completely transform communication models based on the traditional media. The role of the journalist becomes more elusive. In other words, the traditional mediating role of the journalist is disappearing

Gaps and Triangles

We derive principles of optimal short run monetary policy in a real business cycles model, with money and with monopolistic firms that set prices one period in advance. The only distortionary policy instruments are the nominal interest rates and the money supplies. In this environment it is feasible to undo both the cash in advance and the price setting restrictions. We show that the optimal allocation is achieved under the Friedman rule. We also show that, in general, it is not optimal to undo the restriction that prices are set one period in advance. Sticky prices provide the planner with tools to improve upon a distorted flexible prices allocation.

Adjudication Acts of State in Suits Against Foreign Sovereigns: A Political Question Analysis

We discuss how one can identify CP violation (and conservation) in multi-Higgs-doublet potentials. After a brief review of CP violation in the 2HDM, we refer to the fact that for NHDM with N ≥ 3 the well known methods useful in the case N = 2 have not been generalized in order to provide a set of well defined necessary and sufficient conditions for CP conservation. We then present a simple method, proposed by the authors, to be used in such cases. Two non-trivial examples based on an S3-symmetric three-doublet model are analyzed by means of this new method.publishedVersio