Monetary Exit and Fiscal Spillovers

The aftermath of the Global financial crisis has seen two types of monetary policy concerns. Some economists (e.g. Paul Krugman) worry primarily about possible deflation caused by a secular stagnation. In contrast, others (e.g. John Taylor) worry about excessively high inflation caused by quantitative easing and monetization of fiscal imbalances. We show that some countries should fear both - deflation in the short term and high inflation in the long term - whereas some countries are unlikely to experience either. This is done in a game theoretic framework with dynamic leadership (stochastic revisions of actions). Such framework enables us to examine strategic monetary-fiscal interactions as well as policymakers' incomplete information about the economic recovery (such as during 2010-2014). Our empirical section then quantifies indices of monetary and fiscal leadership for high-income countries to assess their deflationary/inflationary prospects. It is shown, for example, that undesirable departures from price stability, both in the short term and long term, are much more likely in the United States and Japan than in Australia or New Zealand

Monetary Exit and Fiscal Spillovers

The aftermath of the Global financial crisis has seen two types of monetary policy concerns. Some economists (e.g. Paul Krugman) worry primarily about possible deflation caused by a secular stagnation. In contrast, others (e.g. John Taylor) worry about excessively high inflation caused by quantitative easing and monetization of fiscal imbalances. We show that some countries should fear both - deflation in the short term and high inflation in the long term - whereas some countries are unlikely to experience either. This is done in a game theoretic framework with dynamic leadership (stochastic revisions of actions). Such framework enables us to examine strategic monetary-fiscal interactions as well as policymakers' incomplete information about the economic recovery (such as during 2010-2014). Our empirical section then quantifies indices of monetary and fiscal leadership for high-income countries to assess their deflationary/inflationary prospects. It is shown, for example, that undesirable departures from price stability, both in the short term and long term, are much more likely in the United States and Japan than in Australia or New Zealand

Technology of Microclimate Regulation in Organic and Energy-Sustainable Livestock Production

The control of climatic conditions where cattle are kept is one of the challenges in the livestock sector regarding the digital automation of the process. (1) Background: The main purpose of this study is to define the optimal foundations for automatic climatic systems in organic and energy-sustainable livestock production. In particular, the following components are suggested: (a) the determination of current deviations and interdependency between factors; (b) an algorithm for defining the possible sources of regulation; (c) the ranking approach of the optimal sequence of possible sources; and (d) ensuring transparency and coordination of the model with organic and energy certificates. (2) Methods: This investigation accumulates information on the characteristics of the main microclimatic parameters and simulates their possible combinations in a livestock building in Poland within 24 h of a spring day. A few indices are considered that signal the impact on the thermal comfort of cattle based on the example of recommended measures for the Angus steer genotype. (3) Results: The proposed transparent algorithm is designed for selecting and ranking potential sources of microclimate control according to three criteria. (4) Conclusions: This paper potentially contributes to determining the most optimal digital algorithm for managing microclimate conditions to ensure acceptable comfort for animals, meeting the requirements of organic certification with minimum costs of production, and switching to sustainable types of energy with consideration of technologies’ efficiency. The algorithm is scalable and adjustable to the individual conditions of any livestock premise with a digitally controlled environment

Multiplicity of solutions for discrete problems with double-well potentials

This article presents some multiplicity results for a general class of nonlinear discrete problems with double-well potentials. Variational techniques are used to obtain the existence of saddle-point type critical points. In addition to simple discrete boundary-value problems, partial difference equations as well as problems involving discrete $p$-Laplacian are considered. Also the boundedness of solutions is studied and possible applications, e.g. in image processing, are discussed

Macroprudential Policies and Financial Stability

This article attempts to assess to what extent the central bank or the government should respond to developments that can cause financial instability, such as housing or asset bubbles, overextended budgetary policies or excessive public and household debt. To analyse this question, we set up a simple reduced-form model in which monetary and fiscal policy interact, and imbalances (bubbles) can occur in the medium-run. Considering several scenarios with both benevolent and idiosyncratic policy-makers, the analysis shows that the answer depends on a number of characteristics of the economy, as well as on the monetary and fiscal policy preferences with respect to inflation and output stabilisation. We show that socially optimal financial instability prevention should be carried out by: (i) both monetary and fiscal policy (sharing region) under some circumstances; and (ii) fiscal policy only (specialisation region) under others. There is, however, a moral hazard problem: both policy-makers have an incentive to be insufficiently pro-active in safeguarding financial stability and shift the responsibility to the other policy. Specifically, under a range of circumstances, we obtain a situation in which neither policy mitigates instability threats (indifference region). These results can be related to the build-up of the current global financial crisis, and have strong implications for the optimal design of the delegation process

Insights into the Design of SOFC Infiltrated Electrodes with Optimized Active TPB Density via Mechanistic Modeling

A mechanistic model for the prediction of total and active three phase boundary density (TPB), in combination with effective conductivity, of infiltrated solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrodes is presented. Varied porosities, scaffold:infiltrate size ratios, and pore:infiltrate size ratios were considered, each as a function of infiltrate loading. The results are presented in dimensionless form to allow for the calculation of any infiltrate particle size. The model output compares favorably to the available experimental result. The results show that the scaffold:infiltrate size ratio has the greatest impact on the TPB density, followed by the porosity and then the pore:infiltrate size ratio. The TPB density is shown to monotonically decrease with increasing scaffold:infiltrate and pore:infiltrate size ratios; however, it shows a maximum with respect to porosity. Each of these results are explained by examining the interfacial areas of each of the three phases as a function of the infiltrate loading. The model provides insight toward the rational design of infiltrated electrodes

FINANCIAL INSTABILITY PREVENTION

The paper attempts to assess to what extent the central bank or the government should respond to developments that cause ?financial instability, such as housing or asset bubbles, overextended fi?scal policies, or excessive public or household debt. To analyze this question we set up a simple reduced-form model in which mone- tary and fi?scal policy interact, and consider several scenarios with both benevolent and idiosyncratic policymakers. The analysis shows that the answer depends on certain characteristics of the economy, as well as on the degree of ambition and con- servatism of the two policymakers. Speci?fically, we identify circumstances under which fi?nancial instability prevention is best carried out by: (i) both monetary and ?fiscal policy ("sharing"), (ii) only one of the policies ("specialization"), and (iii) nei- ther policy ("indifference"). In the former two cases there are circumstances under which either policy should be more pro-active than the other, and also circum- stances under which fi?scal policy should be ultra-active: ie care about nothing but the prevention of ?financial instability. These results are important in the context of the current crisis. We also show that neither the government nor the central bank should be allowed to freely select the degree of their activism in regard to fi?nancial instability threats. This is because of a moral hazard problem: both policymakers have an incentive to be insufficiently pro-active, and shift the responsibility to the other policy. Such behaviour has strong implications for the optimal design of the delegation process.

greenhousegasemissionsfromthermaltreatmentofnonrecyclablemunicipalwaste

This paper analyses factors affecting the production of greenhouse gases from the treatment of residual municipal waste. The analysis is conducted so that the environmentally-friendly decision-making criteria may be later implemented into an optimisation task, which allocates waste treatment capacities. A simplified method of life cycle assessment is applied to describe environmental impact of the allocation. Global warming potential (GWP) is employed as a unit to quantify greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. The objective is to identify the environmental burdens and credits measured by GWP for the three fundamental methods for treatment of residual waste unsuitable for material recovery. The three methods are waste-to-energy (WTE), landfilling and mechanicalbiological treatment (MBT) with subsequent utilization of refuse-derived fuel. The composition of the waste itself and content of fossil-derived carbon and biogenic carbon are important parameters to identify amounts of GHG. In case of WTE, subsequent use of the energy, e.g., in district heating systems in case of heat, is another important parameter to be considered. GWP function dependant on WTE capacity is introduced. The conclusion of this paper provides an assessment of the potential benefits of the results in optimisation tasks for the planning of overall strategy in waste management