Capital controls and spillover effects: evidence from Latin-American countries

The surge in capital inflows towards emerging countries after 2009 has revived the debate about capital controls. This paper analyzes some of the international implications of restrictions on capital inflows. Focusing on a sample of Latin-American countries, we use detailed balance of payments data and higher frequency data on portfolio bond and equity flows to investigate the potential spillover effects that capital controls imposed in one country may have on neighboring economies. Using various econometric approaches, we find that a rise in the Brazilian tax on portfolio bond inflows has been affecting other Latin-American economies through significant surges in portfolio funds invested either in fixed income or equity securities. The effect is usually short lasting and followed by rapid reductions in those inflows. Yet it can be large. According to our estimates, the increase in the Brazilian tax on portfolio bond inflows may account for the entire surge in bond inflows to Mexico between September and October 2010.capital flows, capital controls, spillovers, Latin America, VAR.

Cartes sur fonds d'images spatiales

La qualité géométrique, la vue synoptique sur de grandes étendues, le caractère souvent expressif des images obtenues à partir de l'espace ont provoqué l'utilisation de fonds d'images spatiales avec des surcharges chorogra phiques. On peut proposer une typologie de ces documents sur fonds d'images satellitaires dont un spécimen au 1/25 000 est présenté à partir des données SPOT

Évaluation de l’état de l’hydromorphologie des cours d’eau : retour d’expérience sur le bassin Adour-Garonne (France)

Pour préparer la mise en oeuvre de la directive 2000-60-CE du Parlement et du conseil européen, établissant un cadre pour une politique communautaire dans le domaine de l’eau, l’Agence de l’Eau Adour-Garonne a réalisé une évaluation de l’état de l’hydromorphologie de plusieurs milliers de kilomètres de cours d’eau selon un protocole original. À partir d’un inventaire normalisé des Aménagements, des Travaux et des Ouvrages, une évaluation des altérations potentielles de l’hydromorphologie a été réalisée à l’aide du système-expert EVACE. Cette approche ne nécessite pas, comme préalable, l’utilisation d’une typologie de cours d’eau ou d’un échantillon représentatif de sites de référence. Elle est en mesure de fournir une image nuancée et réaliste d’un réseau hydrographique étendu ou d’une portion de cours d’eau. Cette évaluation en continu peut constituer la première étape d’une analyse multi échelle de l’altération du milieu physique des rivières, allant du grand bassin-versant à la station de caractérisation de l’état de l’habitat ou de la biologie. Cette démarche emboîtée peut aider à établir des liens entre les altérations de l’hydromorphologie et la qualité écologique des cours d’eau. Ainsi, elle est en mesure d’identifier les causes sur lesquelles il est nécessaire d’agir pour améliorer l’état des cours d’eau.In order to implement the 2000-60-CE Directive of the European Parliament and Council that establishes a framework to community actions in the field of water policy, the Adour-Garonne Water Agency has pursued the analysis of several thousands kilometres of water courses to estimate their hydro-morphological state, using a new study protocol. The hydro-morphological potential state has been estimated by the EVACE assessment system and based on a normalized inventory of modifications, works and buildings. This method does not request any particular river typology nor any relevant reference sites sample as a precondition. This method proposes a varied and realistic picture of a large river basin as well as a short section of a stream. This gradual evaluation method can be considered as the first step of a river multi-scale method of analysis to measure river morphology changes from large river basins to small river biological environment assessment spot. This interlocked method can help determine connections between hydro-morphological changes and rivers’ ecological quality. It directly points down causes of disruptions that can be corrected to improve water courses quality state

Numération bactérienne en épifluorescence par la méthode couplée DAPI-INT : application à un cas concret

Un protocole simple de coloration par la méthode couplée DAPI-INT en microscopie à épifluorescence, associé à une lecture des préparations par caméra et vidéo-Imprimante, permet la mesure de paramètres biologiques impliqués directement dans les processus de dégradation de la matière organique en rivière : numérations de microflore totale, nombre de cellules physiologiquement actives (réduisant l'INT), nombre de cellules avec réserves de PHB, dimensions cellulaires et répartition en classes de taille aboutissant à l'évaluation de la biomasse carbonée.Tous les comptages et mesures sont réalisés à partir de clichés d'imprimante thermique, ce qui assure une reproductibilité et une comparaison entre échantillons plus objective qu'à partir de seules observations directes.Cette méthode permet de différer soit les comptages (échantillons fixés au formol après incubation à l'INT), soit surtout les mesures de dimensions cellulaires (archivage des clichés pour une exploitation ultérieure).Son application au cas de la rivière Charente montre une évolution particulière de la biomasse bactérienne en aval des rejets de l'agglomération d'Angoulême. La mise en évidence de cellules de grande taille (biovolume moyen de 0,3 µm3) et d'une population plus active pourrait traduire une modification physiologique de micro-organismes autochtones réagissant à des conditions de milieu particulières (rejets d'effluents carencés en azote).The increasing appreciation of heterotrophic bacterioplankton as an important and dynamic compartment in the carbon cycle of aquatic ecosystems has led to the development of methods allowing reproducible and reliable direct bacterial counts. Thus, since the 1970's, enumeration of bacteria by epifluorescence microscopy has become a widely used method for the estimation of cell number and biovolume. Cell counts are made using either the acridine orange (Hobbie et al. 1977) or the DAPI (Porter 1980) procedure on fixed samples. A tracer of cellular respiratory activity (INT) can be linked to either of these two methods before the samples are killed by formalin. Two observations of the same field, one in transmitted light, the other by epifluorescence, allow a determination of the percentage of active bacterioplankton (Tabor and Neihof 1982, Dufour 1990).However, the various authors working with these procedures have modified the protocol and up to now there has not been a standard method. Thus, before using it for the first time, numerous verifications about filters, concentration of dye solution and methods for estimating cell volume are necessary.In this study a simultaneous comparison, between three brands of filters, two dye solutions and three methods for numeration and cell volume estimation (by direct count, by photographs and by video graphic printer) has been performed.All the tests have been clone with samples collected from rivera or lakes. In comparison to laboratory cultures, natural bacteria are observed with difficulty on account of their small size and especially because natural organic matter absorbs dye solution and so interferes with counts. We prefer to use DAPI rather than acridine orange, because DAPI is colorless in direct light, so it doesn't interfere with enumeration of respiring bacteria (red crystal inside cell). To obtain the best contrast for observation in epifluorescence microscopy, a very fast drying in the open air and a structure less troublesome for the observation in direct light, we have chosen Millipore black filters. A camera associated with a video printer gives better results compared to the photographs : no fluorescent "halo" around the tell image and no waste of time waiting for development of the film. All counts and measures were made from video graphic printer photographs, which assures reproductibility and more objective comparisons between samples, compared to direct counts (with eyes) that are tiring and subjective. Finally, we can defer counting (samples fixed in formol after INT incubation) or cell size measurements (analysis of recorded photos) to a later time.On the basis of this tests, the DAPI-INT method in fluorescence microscopy, associated with the reading of slides with a camera and a video-printer, allows one to measure biological parameters directly implicated in the degradation of river organic matter : abundance of total microflora, number of physiologically active cells (reducing INT) and cells with PHB reserves, cell sizes and size range distribution used to evaluate carbon biomass.The application of this method to the river Charente (April to November 1991) shows a particular fate of bacterial biomass downstream from the city of Angouleme. A multifactor analysis of variance with a multiple range analyses (Tukey) shows that bacterial cells collected downstream from the effluent discharge of the Angouleme wastewater treatment plant are the largest (average cell volume up to 0.3 µm3) and the more active cells. Similar trends have also been observed by Servais and Garnier (1989) downstream from the Paris wastewater treatment plant (Achères) on the Seine river. These authors suggested that allochtonous populations associated with the urban sewage were different from the autochtonous populations (higher biovolume). To verify this hypothesis, a sampling campaign (June 92) was performed on five stations along an eight kilometers river reach. There weren't large size bacteria downstream from the effluent discharge of Frégeneuil, Fléac and St Michel wastewater treatment plants. We Pound the largest bacteria at Nersac. Thus it seems that these large bacteria don't came from wastewater treatment plant. The increase of autochtonous bacterial size could be interpretated as a nutritional stress, the increase of the C/N ratio preventing cellular division (nitrogen deficient sewages)

Les contributions privées au financement de la dépendance dans le cadre de l'obligation alimentaire : pratiques judiciaires et implications macroéconomiques.

L'objectif de cet article est d'analyser les transferts économiques liés à la mise en œuvre contentieuse de l'obligation alimentaire ascendante dans le financement de la dépendance des personnes âgées. Dans un premier temps, la mise en œuvre concrète de ce dispositif est étudiée à partir d'un échantillon de décisions rendues entre 2000 et 2003. La règle de mise à contribution estimée s'avère anti-redistributive à l'échelle inter-familiale mais redistributive à l'échelle intra-familiale. Dans un second temps, l'utilisation d'un échantillon représentatif des personnes âgées de 75 ans et plus et de leurs obligés alimentaires, simulé à l'aide du model DESTINIE, permet d'étudier les effets distributifs de la règle de mise à contribution mise à jour.This paper seeks to analyze economic transfers relating to the financing of long-term care for the elderly, as they arise from court decisions on the legal duty to financially support ascendants. The first section reviews the computation of the support obligation based on a sample of courtdecisions between2000 and 2003. The financial contribution ruleestimated from the decisions is found to be anti-redistributive in interfamily distribution terms but redistributive in intrafamily distribution terms. The second section uses the DESTINIE model to simulate a representative sample of persons aged 75 or older and those legally responsible for their financial support, and uses the sample to examine the distributive effects of the financial contribution rule.Long-term care; Obligation alimentaire; Microsimulation; Inégalités;

Variété et distribution des sujets d'actualité sur Internet: Une analyse quantitative de l'information en ligne

http://mots.revues.org/19832International audienceThe pluralism of news is supposed to be ensured by the multiplicity of the sources on the Internet. Based on thousands articles from all categories of websites, the ­lexicometric analysis of the titles and the identification of topical issues both highlight a more uneven reality. While websites deal with a wide diversity of issues during a whole day, they simultaneously focus on a few major issues, which treatment and wordings are often quite redundant.Sur Internet, la multiplicité des sources est censée garantir le pluralisme de l'information. Portant sur des milliers d'articles issus de toutes catégories de sites, l'analyse lexicométrique des titres et l'identification des sujets de l'actualité donnent à voir une réalité plus contrastée. La grande variété des sujets abordés sur la toile se traduit simutanément par une concentration sur quelques sujets majeurs, souvent traités de façon redondante jusque dans leur formulation

The side effects of national financial sector policies: framing the debate on financial protectionism

The decrease of financial integration both at the global and European level reflects, to a certain extent, a market response to the crisis. It might, however, also be partly driven by policies such as capital flow management measures (CFMs). In addition, several other measures taken by central banks, regulators and governments in response to the crisis may have had less obvious negative side effects on financial integration. Against this backdrop, this paper explores broad definitions of financial protectionism in order to raise awareness of the fact that the range of policies which could negatively affect financial integration may be much wider than residency-based CFMs. At the same time, the paper acknowledges that these measures have mostly been taken for legitimate financial stability purposes and with no protectionist intentions. The paper considers five categories of policy measures which could contribute to financial fragmentation both at the global and at the EU level: currency-based measures directed towards banks, geographic ring fencing, some financial repression policies, crisis resolution policies with a national bias, and some financial sector taxes