How Transparent Are Central Banks?

Central bank transparency has become the topic of a lively public and academic debate on monetary policy. Unfortunately, it has been complicated by the fact that transparency is a qualitative concept that is hard to measure. This paper proposes a comprehensive index for central bank transparency that comprises the political, economic, procedural, policy and operational aspects of central banking. The index is compiled for nine major central banks. It is based on a detailed analysis of actual information disclosure and reveals a rich variety in the degree and dynamics of central bank transparency

Subresultants in multiple roots: an extremal case

We provide explicit formulae for the coefficients of the order-d polynomial subresultant of (x-\alpha)^m and (x-\beta)^n with respect to the set of Bernstein polynomials \{(x-\alpha)^j(x-\beta)^{d-j}, \, 0\le j\le d\}. They are given by hypergeometric expressions arising from determinants of binomial Hankel matrices.Comment: 18 pages, uses elsart. Revised version accepted for publication at Linear Algebra and its Application

Global medicine: Is it ethical or morally justifiable for doctors and other healthcare workers to go on strike?

BACKGROUND: Doctor and healthcare worker (HCW) strikes are a global phenomenon with the potential to negatively impact on the quality of healthcare services and the doctor-patient relationship. Strikes are a legitimate deadlock breaking mechanism employed when labour negotiations have reached an impasse during collective bargaining. Striking doctors usually have a moral dilemma between adherence to the Hippocratic tenets of the medical profession and fiduciary obligation to patients. In such circumstances the ethical principles of respect for autonomy, justice and beneficence all come into conflict, whereby doctors struggle with their role as ordinary employees who are rightfully entitled to a just wage for just work versus their moral obligations to patients and society. DISCUSSION: It has been argued that to deny any group of workers, including "essential workers" the right to strike is akin to enslavement which is ethically and morally indefensible. While HCW strikes occur globally, the impact appears more severe in developing countries challenged by poorer socio-economic circumstances, embedded infrastructural deficiencies, and lack of viable alternative means of obtaining healthcare. These communities appear to satisfy the criteria for vulnerability and may be deserving of special ethical consideration when doctor and HCW strikes are contemplated. SUMMARY: The right to strike is considered a fundamental right whose derogation would be inimical to the proper functioning of employer/employee collective bargaining in democratic societies. Motivations for HCW strikes include the natural pressure to fulfil human needs and the paradigm shift in modern medical practice, from self-employment and benevolent paternalism, to managed healthcare and consumer rights. Minimizing the incidence and impact of HCW strikes will require an ethical approach from all stakeholders, and recognition that all parties have an equal moral obligation to serve the best interests of society. Employers should implement legitimate collective bargaining agreements in a timely manner and high-handed actions such as mass-firing of striking HCWs, or unjustifiable disciplinary action by regulators should be avoided. Minimum service level agreements should be implemented to mitigate the impact of HCW strikes on indigent populations. Striking employees including HCWs should also desist from making unrealistic wage demands which could bankrupt governments/employers or hamper provision of other equally important social services to the general population

Sylvester, Edward C. (3)

389 RChttps://dh.howard.edu/prom_corres/1144/thumbnail.jp

Sylvester, Edward C.

389 RChttps://dh.howard.edu/prom_corres/1142/thumbnail.jp

Sylvester, Edward C. (2)

389 RChttps://dh.howard.edu/prom_corres/1143/thumbnail.jp

Thinking Like An Artist-Researcher About War

In Method Meets Art (2015), Patricia Leavy argues for thinking like both a researcher and an artist in order to create socially useful works. Christine Sylvester teams up with visual artist Jill Gibbon to think through one of her drawings and practices that can radicalize art/war consciousness and motivate action. Both authors bear in mind words George Grosz screamed nearly100 years ago: "What does it matter if you spend your time gold-plating the heels of boots or carving Madonnas. People are being shot…” The essay unfolds from a brief remembrance of debates about art and function and considers what it is to think like a researcher-artist (or not, as is often the case in IR war studies and art making) on issues of war. The co-authors then present separate viewpoints on the drawing and end by working together toward a researcher-artist mode of being, doing and thinking about war through art