Demand for money in Iran: An ARDL approach

The objective of this study is to estimate the demand for money in Iran using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration analysis. The empirical results show that there is a unique cointegrated and stable long-run relationship among M1 monetary aggregate, income, inflation and exchange rate. We find that the income elasticity and exchange rate coefficient are positive while the inflation elasticity is negative. This indicates that depreciation of domestic currency increases the demand for money, supporting the wealth effect argument and people prefer to substitute physical assets for money balances that are supporting our theoretical expectation. Our results also after incorporating the CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests reveal that the M1 money demand function is stable between 1985 and 2006.Money demand; ARDL; Stability; Iran

Protectivity Versus Productivity And Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence From Selected Countries

This paper tries to cast light on the effects of terrorism on some macroeconomic variables at the international level. Using the Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) we investigate the effects of terrorism on such variables as GDP growth, foreign direct investment (FDI) and total factor productivity (TFP) with cross section data of 2005 for a sample of both developed and developing countries. The results suggest that terrorism has adversely and significantly affected economic growth, FDI and TFP around the world. In line with Abadie and Gardeazabal (2007) we find that once the effects of other country-specific characteristics such as country risk, good governance, and restrictions on FDI are taken into account these results are still robust

The U.S. Economic Downturn And The Euro-Dollar Exchange Rates

In this article, we test the forecasting performance of empirical exchange rate models to assess in-and out-of-sample fits. The recent U.S. economic downturn has induced the Federal Reserve to decrease the federal fund rate (FFR) regularly, which has further weakened the dollar against major currencies, particularly the euro. To overcome the economic recession, the European Central Bank has also followed this trend by lowering the Euribor. Therefore, the parity power of these two currencies is basically affected by the reaction of European Central Bank against the Federal Reserve. By using the generalized method of moments (GMM), we attempt to predict the behavior of the euro-dollar exchange rates according to various empirical models. Based on different criteria which includes the root mean squared error (RMSE), the mean absolute error (MAE), the Theil coefficient, and variance proportion, our results suggest that the interest rate parity model can predict the euro-dollar exchange rate more accurately than other structural models including a random walk, which alters the results of Meese and Rogoff’s work

Demand for money in Iran: An ARDL approach

The objective of this study is to estimate the demand for money in Iran using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration analysis. The empirical results show that there is a unique cointegrated and stable long-run relationship among M1 monetary aggregate, income, inflation and exchange rate. We find that the income elasticity and exchange rate coefficient are positive while the inflation elasticity is negative. This indicates that depreciation of domestic currency increases the demand for money, supporting the wealth effect argument and people prefer to substitute physical assets for money balances that are supporting our theoretical expectation. Our results also after incorporating the CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests reveal that the M1 money demand function is stable between 1985 and 2006

Demand for money in Iran: An ARDL approach

The objective of this study is to estimate the demand for money in Iran using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration analysis. The empirical results show that there is a unique cointegrated and stable long-run relationship among M1 monetary aggregate, income, inflation and exchange rate. We find that the income elasticity and exchange rate coefficient are positive while the inflation elasticity is negative. This indicates that depreciation of domestic currency increases the demand for money, supporting the wealth effect argument and people prefer to substitute physical assets for money balances that are supporting our theoretical expectation. Our results also after incorporating the CUSUM and CUSUMSQ tests reveal that the M1 money demand function is stable between 1985 and 2006

A method for cancer elemental risk assessments in hookah: An example in two common types of traditional and flavored tobaccos in Iran

Aim: This study aimed to compare the elemental composition of traditional and flavored hookah tobacco, with a focus on heavy metals. Methods: We used inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to analyze the concentrations of 29 elements in the raw tobacco, tobacco ash, hookah water after smoking, and tobacco smoke. Results: The results showed that the traditional tobacco had significantly higher metal concentrations than the flavored tobacco in all samples. Most of the toxic metals (more than 98 %) remained in the smoke of both types of tobacco. The tobacco and hookah smoke contained high levels of harmful metals that can pose health risks to hookah users. • ICP-MS provides a comprehensive analysis of multiple elements simultaneously and it allows for precise quantification of metal concentrations in different samples. • ICP-MS requires specialized equipment and trained personnel and it may not detect elements present in extremely low concentrations

Effects of evolutionary history on genome wide and phenotypic convergence in Drosophila populations.

BackgroundStudies combining experimental evolution and next-generation sequencing have found that adaptation in sexually reproducing populations is primarily fueled by standing genetic variation. Consequently, the response to selection is rapid and highly repeatable across replicate populations. Some studies suggest that the response to selection is highly repeatable at both the phenotypic and genomic levels, and that evolutionary history has little impact. Other studies suggest that even when the response to selection is repeatable phenotypically, evolutionary history can have significant impacts at the genomic level. Here we test two hypotheses that may explain this discrepancy. Hypothesis 1: Past intense selection reduces evolutionary repeatability at the genomic and phenotypic levels when conditions change. Hypothesis 2: Previous intense selection does not reduce evolutionary repeatability, but other evolutionary mechanisms may. We test these hypotheses using D. melanogaster populations that were subjected to 260 generations of intense selection for desiccation resistance and have since been under relaxed selection for the past 230 generations.ResultsWe find that, with the exception of longevity and to a lesser extent fecundity, 230 generations of relaxed selection has erased the extreme phenotypic differentiation previously found. We also find no signs of genetic fixation, and only limited evidence of genetic differentiation between previously desiccation resistance selected populations and their controls.ConclusionOur findings suggest that evolution in our system is highly repeatable even when populations have been previously subjected to bouts of extreme selection. We therefore conclude that evolutionary repeatability can overcome past bouts of extreme selection in Drosophila experimental evolution, provided experiments are sufficiently long and populations are not inbred

Effects of evolutionary history on genome wide and phenotypic convergence in Drosophila populations

Abstract Background Studies combining experimental evolution and next-generation sequencing have found that adaptation in sexually reproducing populations is primarily fueled by standing genetic variation. Consequently, the response to selection is rapid and highly repeatable across replicate populations. Some studies suggest that the response to selection is highly repeatable at both the phenotypic and genomic levels, and that evolutionary history has little impact. Other studies suggest that even when the response to selection is repeatable phenotypically, evolutionary history can have significant impacts at the genomic level. Here we test two hypotheses that may explain this discrepancy. Hypothesis 1: Past intense selection reduces evolutionary repeatability at the genomic and phenotypic levels when conditions change. Hypothesis 2: Previous intense selection does not reduce evolutionary repeatability, but other evolutionary mechanisms may. We test these hypotheses using D. melanogaster populations that were subjected to 260 generations of intense selection for desiccation resistance and have since been under relaxed selection for the past 230 generations. Results We find that, with the exception of longevity and to a lesser extent fecundity, 230 generations of relaxed selection has erased the extreme phenotypic differentiation previously found. We also find no signs of genetic fixation, and only limited evidence of genetic differentiation between previously desiccation resistance selected populations and their controls. Conclusion Our findings suggest that evolution in our system is highly repeatable even when populations have been previously subjected to bouts of extreme selection. We therefore conclude that evolutionary repeatability can overcome past bouts of extreme selection in Drosophila experimental evolution, provided experiments are sufficiently long and populations are not inbred