Can EU Conditionality Remedy Soft Budget Constraints in Transition Countries?

Soft budget constraints (SBCs) are a persistent feature of transition economies and have been blamed for i.a. a lack of fiscal consolidation and sluggish growth. EU eastward enlargement has - among other things - been conditioned on tackling SBCs. This paper analyzes such outside conditionality theoretically and empirically. First, modelling the SBC problem as a war of attrition between the applicant countries' governments and firms we find that outside conditionality can foster SBC hardening. Yet, toughening the EU stance or reducing the number of enlargement rounds may have ambiguous effects. Second, estimating SBC hardening in a partial adjustment model by measuring the reaction of employment to output changes we find that EU conditionality did indeed help candidates to fight SBCs.soft budget constraint, EU enlargement, war of attrition

Doorkeepers and Gatecrashers: EU Enlargement and Negotiation Strategies

This paper discusses the eastward enlargement process of the EU in the framework of a simple war of attrition bargaining game. Both players - the existing EU members and the applicants - benefit from enlargement, yet for the applicants reform to the acquis is costly, while the EU prefers substantially reformed candidates. A waiting game unfolds. Within this framework the present enlargement round is analyzed and policy results are deduced. For example, it is shown that delegating the evaluation of applicants to a third party, compensating applicants for their reform efforts or increasing the benefits for new members are all effective negotiation strategies for the EU that have been applied in the process.EU enlargement, eastern enlargement, bargaining, reform, war of attrition.

Open-charm enhancement at FAIR?

We have calculated the D-meson spectral density at finite temperature within a self-consistent coupled-channel approach that generates dynamically the $\Lambda_c$ (2593) resonance. We find a small mass shift for the D-meson in this hot and dense medium while the spectral density develops a sizeable width. The reduced attraction felt by the D-meson in hot and dense matter together with the large width observed have important consequences for the D-meson production in the future CBM experiment at FAIR.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of 9th International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter (SQM2006), Los Angeles, USA, March 26-31, 200

In vitro characterisation of the MS2 RNA polymerase complex reveals host factors that modulate emesviral replicase activity

Host proteins are identified which are required to reconstitute a functional RNA phage MS2 replication machinery, providing a promising platform for cell-free gene expression. The RNA phage MS2 is one of the most important model organisms in molecular biology and virology. Despite its comprehensive characterisation, the composition of the RNA replication machinery remained obscure. Here, we characterised host proteins required to reconstitute the functional replicase in vitro. By combining a purified replicase sub-complex with elements of an in vitro translation system, we confirmed that the three host factors, EF-Ts, EF-Tu, and ribosomal protein S1, are part of the active replicase holocomplex. Furthermore, we found that the translation initiation factors IF1 and IF3 modulate replicase activity. While IF3 directly competes with the replicase for template binding, IF1 appears to act as an RNA chaperone that facilitates polymerase readthrough. Finally, we demonstrate in vitro formation of RNAs containing minimal motifs required for amplification. Our work sheds light on the MS2 replication machinery and provides a new promising platform for cell-free evolution

Chiral SU(3) dynamics and Λ\Lambda-hyperons in the nuclear medium

We present a novel approach to the density dependent mean field and the spin-orbit interaction of a $\Lambda$-hyperon in a nuclear many-body system, based on flavor-SU(3) in-medium chiral perturbation theory. The leading long-range $\Lambda N$-interaction arises from kaon exchange and from two-pion exchange with a $\Sigma$-hyperon in the intermediate state. The empirical $\Lambda$-nucleus potential depth of about $-28$MeV is well reproduced with a single cutoff scale, $\bar \Lambda = 0.7$GeV, effectively representing all short-distance (high-momentum) dynamics not resolved at scales characteristic of the nuclear Fermi momentum. This value of $\bar\Lambda$ is remarkably consistent with the one required to reproduce the empirical saturation point of isospin-symmetric nuclear matter in the same framework. The smallness of the $\Lambda$-nuclear spin-orbit interaction finds a natural (yet novel) explanation in terms of an almost complete cancellation between short-range contributions (properly rescaled from the known nucleonic spin-orbit coupling strength) and long-range terms generated by iterated one-pion exchange with intermediate $\Sigma$-hyperons. The small $\Sigma\Lambda$-mass difference figures prominently in this context.Comment: 9 pages, 4figure

A consistent approach for probabilistic residential flood loss modeling in Europe

In view of globally increasing flood losses, a significantly improved and more efficient flood risk management and adaptation policy are needed. One prerequisite is reliable risk assessments on the continental scale. Flood loss modeling and risk assessments for Europe are until now based on regional approaches using deterministic depth‐damage functions. Uncertainties associated with the risk estimation are hardly known. To reduce these shortcomings, we present a novel, consistent approach for probabilistic flood loss modeling for Europe, based on the upscaling of the Bayesian Network Flood Loss Estimation MOdel for the private sector, BN‐FLEMOps. The model is applied on the mesoscale in the whole of Europe and can be adapted to regional situations. BN‐FLEMOps is validated in three case studies in Italy, Austria, and Germany. The officially reported loss figures of the past flood events are within the 95% quantile range of the probabilistic loss estimation, for all three case studies. In the Italian, Austrian, and German case studies, the median loss estimate shows an overestimation by 28% (2.1 million euro) and 305% (5.8 million euro) and an underestimation by 43% (104 million euro), respectively. In two of the three case studies, the performance of the model improved, when updated with empirical damage data from the area of interest. This approach represents a step forward in European wide flood risk modeling, since it delivers consistent flood loss estimates and inherently provides uncertainty information. Further validation and tests with respect to adapting the model to different European regions are recommended

EURISCO: The European search catalogue for plant genetic resources

The European Search Catalogue for Plant Genetic Resources, EURISCO, provides information about 1.8 million crop plant accessions preserved by almost 400 institutes in Europe and beyond. EURISCO is being maintained on behalf of the European Cooperative Programme for Plant Genetic Resources. It is based on a network of National Inventories of 43 member countries and represents an important effort for the preservation of world's agrobiological diversity by providing information about the large genetic diversity kept by the collaborating collections. Moreover, EURISCO also assists its member countries in fulfilling legal obligations and commitments, e.g. with respect to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources, the Second Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization, or the Convention on Biological Diversity. EURISCO is accessible at http://eurisco.ecpgr.org

The in-medium isovector pi N amplitude from low energy pion scattering

Differential cross sections for elastic scattering of 21.5 MeV positive and negative pions by Si, Ca, Ni and Zr have been measured as part of a study of the pion-nucleus potential across threshold. The `anomalous' repulsion in the s-wave term was observed, as is the case with pionic atoms. The extra repulsion can be accounted for by a chiral-motivated model where the pion decay constant is modified in the medium. Unlike in pionic atoms, the anomaly cannot be removed by merely introducing an empirical on-shell energy dependence.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. Minor changes, to appear in PR