The role of fundamentals on the persistence of real exchange rate misalignments in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela

This research analyses the behaviour of misalignments of the structural real exchange rate (relative tradable to non-tradable prices) and PPP real exchange rate (relative foreign to domestic prices adjusted by the nominal exchange rate) for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela. Both real exchange rate misalignments exhibit an overshooting behaviour (monotonous, but not linear, adjustment), a pattern showing an up and down movement, when a temporary shock hits the economy. After a temporary (permanent, due to fundamentals) shock hits the economy, real exchange rate misalignment disappear between 10 to 17 (21 to 45) months.Esta trabajo analiza la persistencia de los desalíneos del tipo de cambio de paridad y estructural (precio relativo entre los bienes transables y no transables) en Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico y Venezuela. Hay evidencia de una conducta de overshooting en el desalineo de los dos tipos de cambio reales cuando un shock temporario afecta a la economía, pero no en el caso de shocks permanents o en los fundamentals. Los desalineos del tipo de cambio desaparecen entre 10 y 17 meses en el caso de shocks temporarios y entre 21 a 45 meses en el caso de shocks en los fundamentals.http://www.aaep.org.ar/anales/works/works2017/zarzosa.pdfFil: Zarzosa Valdivia, Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Zarzosa Valdivia, Fernando. Universidad Católica de Córdoba; Argentina.Economía, Econometrí

Characterizing real exchange rate misalignments in Latin America: the case of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela

This research finds that the persistence of the real exchange rate misalignment varies between Latin-American countries and for different real exchange rate measures (the purchasing power parity concept, the wholesale/consumer price indices and the relative tradable to non-tradable price).Our results show that in most of the cases, the autoregressive coefficients of order oneand two are positive and negative, respectively, which reflects a pattern showing an up and down movement in the adjustment process. We also find heterogeneity on the necessary months in which the misalignment (or the 50% of it) disappears after a shock has hit the economy.Este trabajo analiza la persistencia de los desvíos de distintos conceptos de tipo de cambio real (paridad del poder de compra, cociente índice de precios al productor /consumidor e índice de precios transables /no transables) en Latinoamerica. Encontramos evidencia que el ajuste al equilibrio después de que un shock ha afectado la economía no es monótono (el coeficiente autoregresivo de primer y segundo orden son positivos y negativos, respectivamente) y que el período total en que el ajuste (o el 50% del mismo) se lleva a cabo difiere entre conceptos de tipo de cambio real y países.http://www.aaep.org.ar/anales/works/works2016/zarzosa_valdivia.pdfFil: Zarzosa Valdivia, Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Economía, Econometrí

From meme to memegraph: The curious case of Pepe the Frog and white nationalism

This thesis explores Pepe the Frog, a comic book character that became a meme, then went mainstream, and then became appropriated by the Alt-Right in support of the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Users in the Internet have declared this meme a god, others have claimed it as a piece of crypto-art, while White Nationalists use it to propagate their ideology. I draw on McGee’s notion of the ideograph to argue that, in a networked environment characterized by limited attention and heightened speed of circulation, memes have the capacity to ideologically condense publics. This gives rise to what I label the memegraph. The memegraph accounts for the birth, evolution, and constitution of publics around nascent, memetic ideographs. By inspecting the role of time and attention in memetic media, and examining the circulation of verbal and visual arguments, this thesis conceptualizes the role of memetic media in constituting and mobilizing publics

Comparison between Different Prescription Methods for Aerobic Training in Young Adults

Anaerobic threshold and respiratory compensation are used to determine the intensity of aerobic exercise. This study aims to compare heart rate values relative to the percentages of 50%, 60%, 70%, and 80%, a comparison calculated through the reserve heart rate (HRR) and reserve oxygen consumption (VO2R) equations corresponding to the oxygen consumption obtained by the direct method. The sample was composed of 11 men and 10 women: mean age, 21.4 2.8 years. Volunteers performed a maximal treadmill test in which oxygen uptake was measured using the VO2000® metabolic analyzer. The mean body fat percentage was 15.68 8.02% corresponding to a lean body mass of 54.8 13.0 kg and a maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) of 56.0 8.4 mL/Kg min-1. The measured intensities (50%, 60%, 70% and 80% of VO2max) presented significant differences (p < 0.05) for each reference value. Mean values calculated by the HRR equation demonstrated a tendency to underestimate the intensities, while the values calculated by the VO2R equation showed a tendency to overestimate the intensities. As the main conclusion, it is pointed out that both methods were effective for determining the intensity of aerobic training. However, they presented significant differences, and the equations should be adjusted to increase precision. Thus, the use of HRR is recommended for the determination of training intensities

Grid computing application for brain magnetic resonance image processing

This work emphasizes the use of grid computing and web technology for automatic postprocessing of brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) in the context of neuropsychiatric (Alzheimer’s disease) research. Post-acquisition image processing is achieved through the interconnection of several individual processes into pipelines. Each process has input and output data ports, options and execution parameters, and performs single tasks such as: a) extracting individual image attributes (e.g. dimensions, orientation, center of mass), b) performing image transformations (e.g. scaling, rotation, skewing, intensity standardization, linear and non-linear registration), c) performing image statistical analyses, and d) producing the necessary quality control images and/or files for user review. The pipelines are built to perform specific sequences of tasks on the alphanumeric data and MRIs contained in our database. The web application is coded in PHP and allows the creation of scripts to create, store and execute pipelines and their instances either on our local cluster or on high-performance computing platforms. To run an instance on an external cluster, the web application opens a communication tunnel through which it copies the necessary files, submits the execution commands and collects the results. We present result on system tests for the processing of a set of 821 brain MRIs from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative study via a nonlinear registration pipeline composed of 10 processes. Our results show successful execution on both local and external clusters, and a 4- fold increase in performance if using the external cluster. However, the latter’s performance does not scale linearly as queue waiting times and execution overhead increase with the number of tasks to be executed

Tipo de cambio real estructural y las interdependencias con el desempleo en Argentina

Based on a three-sector micro-founded model of a small open economy, this paper investigates the interdependences between the structural real exchange rate (defined as the relative prices tradable to non-tradable goods prices) and the unemployment rate with an application to Argentina. The empirical results suggest a significant, negative relationship between the structural real exchange rate and the rate of unemployment, suggesting that an appreciating real exchange rate may lead to Dutch disease effects – which effectively contract the size of the manufacturing sector – and damage long-term growth and employment opportunities.Utilizando un modelo micro-fundamentado de tres sectores para una pequeña economía abierta, se analiza la interdependencia entre la tasa de cambio real estructural (definida como el cociente entre el precio de los bienes transables y el de los no transables) y la tasa de desempleo, aplicándolo al caso de Argentina. Los resultados empíricos sugieren una relación negativa y significativa entre el tipo de cambio real estructural y la tasa de desempleo, lo cual indicaría que frente a una apreciación del tipo de cambio real se puede producir un efecto del tipo enfermedad holandesa - contrayendo el sector productor de manufacturas - afectando negativamente las oportunidades de crecimiento y empleo en el largo plazo.

An exploration of the interdependencies betweeen the real exchange rate and the size of the tradable sector in a small open economy

A pesar de su importancia y complejidad, la interdependencia entre el tipo de cambio real y el tamaño del sector transable no ha sido estudiada en detalle por la literatura existente. Este artículo busca cubrir dichas deficiencias elaborando un modelo neoclásico de equilibrio general para una economía pequeña que explica como las variaciones en la productividad total de los factores, en la dotación de factores, en los términos de intercambio y en los servicios de la deuda impactan en el tipo de cambio real de equilibrio y en el tamaño del sector transable. Midiendo las variaciones en la asignación de recursos por los cambios en la participación del sector transable en el producto, mostramos efectos adicionales a los ya conocidos efecto del gasto y de los movimientos de recursos; a decir, el efecto de las ganancias extraordinarias, el efecto precio transable, y los efectos gasto y sustitución generados relacionados a los servicios de la deuda.The complex interdependences between the real exchange rates and the size of the tradable goods sector have not been fully explored in the existing literature. This article aims to full this gap by developing a neo-classical Australian general equilibrium model to further explore these linkages and to explain the impact of total factor productivity, factor endowments, terms of trade and debt services (net of transfers and/or aid flows) on the equilibrium real exchange rate and the size of the tradable sector. Measuring changes in the allocation of resources by changes in the share of tradable goods in GDP, we show that in addition to the well-known spending and resource movement effects, that there are four further separately identifiable effects, which we refer to as the extraordinary profit effect, the traded price effect, the expenditure movement effect and the debt substitution effect. The relative strengths of these additional effects help to determine the size of the tradable goods sector and hence the economic structure of a small open economy

Mapping the elasticity of economic growth to financial development: A 1980 - 2012 empirical analysis for 100 countries

This research analyzes the impact of financial development on economic growth for a set of 100 countries. It applies cointegration methods taking into account country heterogeneities, which have not been studied up to now at a detailed level. Financial development is measured by a broad index or one of its three dimensions (deepness, accessibility and efficiency). Mapping the estimated elasticities of economic growth to financial development, deepness and accessibility exhibit, graphically, a bellshaped quadratic form. The evidence of strong country heterogeneity suggests that policy prescriptions should take into account the idiosyncratic factors of each country.Esta investigación evalúa el impacto del desarrollo financiero al crecimiento económico para un conjunto de 100 países a través del método DOLS de cointegración teniendo en cuenta heterogeneidades entre los países, algo que no se ha estudiado en detalle en la literatura. El desarrollo financiero es medido por un índice amplio o por los subíndices de profundidad, acceso y eficiencia financiera. El mapeo de las elasiticidades del crecimiento económico con respecto al desarrollo financiero (índice amplio, al de profundidad y al de acceso) muestra una forma de campana.http://www.aaep.org.ar/anales/works/works2017/zarzosa_ayala.pdfFil: Zarzosa Valdivia, Fernando. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Zarzosa Valdivia, Fernando. Universidad Católica de Córdoba; Argentina.Fil: Ayala, Simón Lisandro. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Economía, Econometrí