Monetary Policy Strategies of the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of the U.S.

In the debate on monetary policy strategies on both sides of the Atlantic, it is now almost a commonplace to contrast the Fed and the ECB by pointing out the former’s flexibility and capacity to adjust rigidity, and the latter’s extreme caution, and obsession with low inflation. In looking at the foundations of the two banks’ strategies, however, we do not find differences that can provide a simple explanation for their divergent behavior, nor for the very different economic performance in the U.S. and Euroland in recent years. Not surprisingly, both central banks share the same conviction that money is neutral in the long period, and even their short-term policies are based on similar fundamental principles. The two policy approaches really differ only in terms of implementation, timing, competence, etc., but not in terms of the underlying theoretical orientation. We then draw the conclusion that monetary policy cannot represent a significant variable in the explanation of the different economic performances of Euroland and U.S. The two economic areas’ differences must be explained by considering other factors among which the most important is fiscal policy.monetary policy, federal reserve, European central bank, fiscal policy, aggregate demand, growth

"Fixed and Flexible Exchange Rates and Currency Sovereignty"

This paper provides an analysis of Keynes's original "Bancor" proposal as well as more recent proposals for fixed exchange rates. We argue that these schemes fail to pay due attention to the importance of capital movements in today's economy, and that they implicitly adopt an unsatisfactory notion of money as a mere medium of exchange. We develop an alternative approach to money based on the notion of currency sovereignty. As currency sovereignty implies the ability of a country to implement monetary and fiscal policies independently, we argue that it is necessarily contingent on a country's adoption of floating exchange rates. As illustrations of the problems created for domestic policy by the adoption of fixed exchange rates, we briefly look at the recent Argentinean and European experiences. We take these as telling examples of the high costs of giving up sovereignty (Argentina and the European countries of the EMU) and the benefits of regaining it (Argentina). A regime of more flexible exchange rates would have likely produced a more viable and dynamic European economic system, one in which each individual country could have adopted and implemented a mix of fiscal and monetary policies more suitable to its specific economic, social, and political context. Alternatively, the euro area will have to create a fiscal authority on par with that of the U.S. Treasury, which means surrendering national authority to a central government--an unlikely possibility in today's political climate. We conclude by pointing out some of the advantages of floating exchange rates, but also stress that such a regime should not be regarded as a sort of panacea. It is a necessary condition if a country is to retain its sovereignty and the power to implement autonomous economic policies, but it is not a sufficient condition for guaranteeing that such policies actually be aimed at providing higher levels of employment and welfare.

Big whorls carry little whorls

The aim of the research was to explore the space-time structure of homogeneous turbulence by computing and then interpreting the two-point spectra and correlations of the velocity and pressure fields. Many of these statistics are of considerable practical importance. In particular, it is of interest to compare the different time and length integral scales and microscales for Eulerian and Lagrangian qualities, and to compare the space and time spectra

The Journey Starts Here: Finding special education research in subscription databases

When providing reference services to students in multidisciplinary or emerging fields, it can be especially challenging to identify which subscription databases offer the best access to relevant mate- rials. By using citation analysis methods to create a balanced checklist, librarians can not only identify prominent resources in the field, but can also have a better understanding of which disciplines are contributing to the field. This study examined special education, identified 39 journals from five disciplines that were highly cited across disciplines, and found that EBSCO’s Academic Search Premier provided the best access to the materials

From Limp Lettuce to Kaleidoscope Salad: Making Your Instruction Sessions Pop for All Patrons with Universal Design for Learning Principles

Universal Design for learning is an instructional design framework that promotes inclusive classrooms and environments where multiple learners at multiple levels are learning together in a general education setting. The fundamental idea of universal design is that you can teach material in a way that is accessible to ALL learners instead of being designed for a specific ability level. The Universal Design for Learning framework takes it a step further and introduces three key concept. When designing instruction we should: • Provide multiple means of representation • Provide multiple means of expression • Provide multiple means of engagement This can be challenging at any time, but how does this translate to one shot instruction sessions? In this presentation you will learn more about the guiding principles of universal design for learning and how to transform the theory of universal design into practical application that can be incorporated into your library instruction sessions

Everyday Assistive Technology on the Go: Identifying Characteristic of Popular Apps for People with Disabilities

This study examined 287 applications (apps) available in Apple’s iTunes App Store that had been identified as popular apps for people with disabilities using the tiered checklisting method compiled from lists of apps recommended by developers, caregivers, service providers and people with disabilities as being useful for people with disabilities. These apps were examined to discover patters regarding content, platform, cost and popularity to help with the selection of apps for libraries’ circulating mobile technology. This study found that popular apps tended to be more supportive than skill acquisitions based and apps popular for people with disabilities tended to be more expensive, especially if the app was marketed for people with autism spectrum disorders. Further research is needed to identify the causes of the cost disparity as well as identifying key characteristics of successful apps for people with disabilities

An experimental investigation of leading-edge vortex augmentation by blowing

A wind tunnel test was conducted to determine the effects of over-the-wing blowing as a means of augmenting the leading-edge vortex flow of several pointed-tip, sharp-edged planforms. Arrow, delta, and diamond wings with leading-edge sweeps of 30 and 45 degrees were mounted on a body-of-revolution fuselage and tested in a low-speed wind tunnel at a Mach number of 0.2. Nozzle location data, pitch data, and flow-visualization pictures were obtained for a range of blowing rates. Results show pronounced increases in vortex lift due to the blowing

A Financial Market Model Incorporating Herd Behaviour

Herd behaviour in financial markets is a recurring phenomenon that exacerbates asset price volatility, and is considered a possible contributor to market fragility. While numerous studies investigate herd behaviour in financial markets, it is often considered without reference to the pricing of financial instruments or other market dynamics. Here, a trader interaction model based upon informational cascades in the presence of information thresholds is used to construct a new model of asset price returns that allows for both quiescent and herd-like regimes. Agent interaction is modelled using a stochastic pulse-coupled network, parametrised by information thresholds and a network coupling probability. Agents may possess either one or two information thresholds that, in each case, determine the number of distinct states an agent may occupy before trading takes place. In the case where agents possess two thresholds (labelled as the finite state-space model, corresponding to agents’ accumulating information over a bounded state-space), and where coupling strength is maximal, an asymptotic expression for the cascade-size probability is derived and shown to follow a power law when a critical value of network coupling probability is attained. For a range of model parameters, a mixture of negative binomial distributions is used to approximate the cascade-size distribution. This approximation is subsequently used to express the volatility of model price returns in terms of the model parameter which controls the network coupling probability. In the case where agents possess a single pulse-coupling threshold (labelled as the semi-infinite state-space model corresponding to agents’ accumulating information over an unbounded state-space), numerical evidence is presented that demonstrates volatility clustering and long-memory patterns in the volatility of asset returns. Finally, output from the model is compared to both the distribution of historical stock returns and the market price of an equity index option