The Output Cost of Disinflation in Traditional and Vector Autoregressive Models

macroeconomics, vector autoregressive model, disinflation

Hidden Stimuli to Capital Formation: Debt and the Incomplete Adjustment of Financial Returns

There is a common belief that the disappointing economic performance in the 1970s can be attributed in good part to the interaction of tax rules, inflation, and capital formation. In this paper, we reassess the relationships between inflation, the tax code, and investment incentives because previous results are based on a number of tenuous assumptions whose impact has not been fully appreciated. We also question the appropriateness of the conventional user cost formulation, and derive an alternative measure taking explicit account of the role of debt -- acquisition,retirement, and net-of-tax interest payments -- and the equity holders' ownership of the firm. Our numerical results show that previously reported disincentives for acquiring capital goods in generaland against longer-lived capital in particular are attenuated, and in a number of cases reversed, under various sets of assumptions. Differences in results stemming from the conventional and modified user costs are highlighted, and are illustrated by a comparison of the U.S. Treasury's tax reform proposals under the two formulations.

Getting a Seat at the Table: Giving the Indigenous Peoples of the Russian Far East Control over Local Government

The traditional homelands of the indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Russian Far East harbor vast wealth in the form of timber, minerals, oil, and gas. Throughout much of the 20th Century, the Soviet Union used forced relocation of native peoples, expropriation of native lands, and other harsh means to gain access to these resources. The native peoples received little or no compensation for the vast natural wealth that the Soviet government took from their lands, and the government often left the land so polluted that it could no longer support the native people\u27s hunting and herding ways-of-life. The Russian Federation currently has sovereignty over these native lands, and continues to extract resources as a way of supporting its distressed economy. Russian environmental laws are poorly enforced, and Russia\u27s fluid political structure makes it difficult to determine which level of government controls these lands. To protect native lands and the indigenous peoples whose livelihoods and cultures depend on them, the Russian Federation must create native-controlled local governments

Lifting of Ir{100} reconstruction by CO adsorption: An ab initio study

The adsorption of CO on unreconstructed and reconstructed Ir{100} has been studied, using a combination of density functional theory and thermodynamics, to determine the relative stability of the two phases as a function of CO coverage, temperature and pressure. We obtain good agreement with experimentaldata. At zero temperature, the (1X5) reconstruction becomes less stable than the unreconstructed (1X1) surface when the CO coverage exceeds a critical value of 0.09 ML. The interaction between CO molecules is found to be repulsive on the reconstructed surface, but attractive on the unreconstructed, explaining the experimental observation of high CO coverage on growing (1X1) islands. At all temperatures and pressures, we find only two possible stable states: 0.05 ML CO c(2X2) overlayer on the (1X1) substrate, and the clean (1$\times$5) reconstructed surface.Comment: 31 page

The pricing and hedging of market index deposits

Bank deposits ; Interest ; Hedging (Finance) ; Futures

Spatial and temporal variation in crop diversity in agroforestry homegardens of southern Ethiopia

A key assumption in many homegarden studies is that homegardens are ecologically and socio-economically sustainable due to their species diversity. The precise relation between diversity and sustainability is still heavily debated, however. A basic question is how diversity in homegardens can best be characterized in view of the various dimensions of species diversity and their variation in time and space. This paper assesses different types of species diversity in the homegardens of Sidama region of southern Ethiopia. In a survey of crop species in 144 homegardens a total of 78 cultivated crop species (excluding trees) belonging to 10 functional groups were recorded; there were on average 16 crop species and 8 functional groups per farm. Within homegardens, plots differ in species composition and crop diversity. Four types of homegarden systems are distinguished differing in both type and area-share of dominant species, relative orientation at subsistence or cash production and overall crop diversity. The gradual replacement of enset by maize and of coffee by more financially attractive cash crops khat and pineapple causes a decrease in overall crop diversity. Our data demonstrate that it is incorrect to consider homegardens as generic systems with a uniform distribution of species diversity: important within and between homegarden variation exists. Ecological and socio-economic sustainability is not just related to species diversity per se, but rather to more specific features such as presence of keystone species and diversity in functional species groups. Socio-economic sustainability in terms of adjustment to socio-economic change implies dynamics in species diversit

Proceedings of the 26th Annual Meeting, Southern Soybean Disease Workers (March 20-22, 1999, Robinson, Mississippi)

Contents Soybean Disease Loss Estimates for the Southern United States during 1998. Phillip W Pratt Treasurer report. Peggy S King Contributed paper session Resistance Ratings for 288 soybean Cultivars to the Reniform Nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis. RT Robbins, L Rakes, and L Jackson Evaluation of Azoxystrobin on Two Foliar Soybean Diseases in Arkansas. CM Coker Early Soybean Production System in Missouri: Progress and Potential. JA Wrather, and DA Sleper A New Phomopsis Disease of Soybeans in Mississippi. GL Sciumbato and BL Keeling Reaction of Soybean Genotypes to Sudden Death Syndrome. JH Klein, ME Schmidt, RE Whelan, JS Russin, RJ Suttner, MA Shenaut, and PT Gibson Additional Studies on the Use of Soybean as a Rotation Crop for the Management of Root-knot Nematodes in Peanut. CF Weaver, R Rodriguez-Kabana and CR Taylor Comparison of Soybean Meal with Other Legume Meals as Amendments to Soil for Control of Plant-Parasitic Nematodes. PS King, R Rodriguez-Kabana, and CR Taylor Tolerance of Selected Roundup Ready Soybean Cultivars to Columbia Lance Nematode. SR Koenning Proceedings of the Southern Disease Workers are published annually by the Southern Soybean Disease Workers. Text, references, figures, and tables are reproduced as they were submitted by the authors. The opinions expressed by the participants at this conference are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of the Southern Soybean Disease Workers. Mention of trademark or propriety products in this proceedings does not constitute a guarantee, warranty, or endorsement of that product by the Southern Soybean Disease Workers

Raised immunoglobulin E and idiopathic bronchiectasis

SummaryWe describe a series of 4 subjects with markedly raised immunoglobulin E levels in association with idiopathic bronchiectasis. This has not been described previously and appears to be a distinct entity from other conditions such as allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis

Occurrence and Severity of the Viruses of Strawberry in Minnesota

Approximately 900 plants of commercially grown strawberries of 45 varieties and experimental seedling selections were collected from various parts of the state of Minnesota and indexed for the presence of viruses. Their presence in these plants was demonstrated by the appearance of symptoms in the indicator plant, Fragaria vesca L., after they were inarch-grafted. 93 % of the plants indexed were virus-infected. Based on symptoms, the viruses have been classified into 14 symptomtypes. It was found that mottle and mild yellow-edge were the two dominant viruses, whereas crinkle and vein chlorosis were of rare occurrence. There was no indication that certain symptom-types are associated with particular commercial varieties of strawberries or experimental seedling selections