Low growth and high unemployment in Europe - Causes and policy options

The stock market crash of October 1987 was not followed by the widely-feared recession in the world economy. Most forecasts have been revised upward again, and many are even more favorable than before the crash. This is also the case for Western European countries. However, beyond the very short run, there are serious cyclical risks. In the 1980s, the economic performance of Western European countries in terms of real GNP growth has been weaker than in previous decades, and unemployment is now more than twice as high as it was ten years ago. These developments are due to the poor performance of business investment. Rising labor costs have prevented employment and, hence, potential output from growing faster. This sharply contrasts with conditions in the United States and Japan. If the growth of potential output is to be increased, the rentability of investment and the flexibility in the labor market must be strengthened. As case studies for West Germany show, regulations, high minimum wages, wage costs and unemployment benefits have contributed to the longterm rise in unemployment. Therefore, demand stimulation will not induce faster growth and more employment. In the past 25 years, the acceptance of more inflation has not led to a lasting reduction of unemployment. Only a more market-oriented strategy can go to the root of the problem. An important prerequisite for a stable economic development is that monetary policy in industrial countries returns to a path compatible with price level stability. Monetary aggregates are still the most reliable anchor; alternative strategies for monetary policy — targeting interest rates, exchange rates or commodity prices — may well increase instability in industrial countries. Also, international coordination of macroeconomic policies is not necessary and may even be harmful if policymakers rely on wrong models. Given the failures of several attempts to coordinate (the locomotive strategy or the Louvre accord), industrial countries would fare better if they relied on sound policies at home rather than pointing toward mistakes of other countries. --

Molecular particle-core model and its application to 13C-13C scattering

On the basis of the two-center shell model a theory is developed for the excitation of loosely bound nucleons in heavy ion collisions. These nucleons move in the two-center shell model potential generated by all the nucleons and are described by molecular wave functions. The model is applied to calculate the cross sections for the elastic and inelastic 13C-13C scattering. The cross sections show intermediate structures caused by the excitation of quasibound resonances in the molecular nucleus-nucleus potential. NUCLEAR REACTIONS 13C(13C,13C) molecular wave functions, dynamical two-center shell model, quasimolecular resonances, radial and Coriolis coupling, coupled channel calculations for σ(θ)

A closed form formula for the intersection of two complex matrices under the star order

AbstractWe present an interesting method for computing the intersection A ∧ B under the star order, for arbitrary pairs of complex m × n matrices A and B

Testing Forbearance Experimentally - Duopolistic Competition of Conglomerate Firms

Like Feinberg and Sherman (1985) and Phillips and Mason (1992) we test experimentally whether conglomerate firms, i.e., firms competing on multiple structurally unrelated markets, can effectively limit competition. Our more general analysis assumes differentiated rather than homogeneous products and distinguishes strategic substitutes as well as complements to test this forbearance hypothesis. Rather than only a partners design we also explore a random strangers design to disentangle effects of forbearance and repeated interaction. Surprisingly, conglomerate firms do not limit competition, they rather foster it. More in line with our expectations we find more cooperation in complement markets than in substitute markets and also more cooperation in a partners than in a strangers matching.Experiment, Forbearance, Competition

X-Rays from the Nearby Solitary Millisecond Pulsar PSR J0030+0451 - the Final ROSAT Observations

We report on X-ray observations of the solitary 4.8 ms pulsar PSR J0030+0451. The pulsar was one of the last targets observed in DEC-98 by the ROSAT PSPC. X-ray pulses are detected on a $4.5\sigma$ level and make the source the $11^{th}$ millisecond pulsar detected in the X-ray domain. The pulsed fraction is found to be $69\pm18$. The X-ray pulse profile is characterized by two narrow peaks which match the gross pulse profile observed at 1.4 GHz. Assuming a Crab-like spectrum the X-ray flux is in the range $f_x= 2-3\times 10^{-13}$ erg s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$ ($0.1-2.4$ keV), implying an X-ray efficiency of $L_x/\dot{E}\sim 0.5-5 \times 10^{-3} (d/0.23 {kpc})^2$.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Duality and regularization for INF-SUP problems

Zu dieser Veröffentlichung liegt kein Abstract vor. There is no abstract found for this paper

The non-obligatory role of endothelial cells in the relaxation of arterial smooth muscle by acetylcholine

The concept of Endothelium Derived Relaxing Factor (EDRF), put forward by Furchgott in the earlier 80s of the past century, implies that nitric oxide (NO) produced by NO synthase (NOS) in the endothelium in response to acetylcholine (ACh) passively diffuses to the underlying vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) thereby reducing vascular tension. It was thought that VSMC do not express NOS by themselves, but to the time of those studies immunohistochemical techniques were not what they are now. State-of-the-art immunohistochemistry permits nowadays to localize NOS both to the endothelium and to VSMC. However, the principal question remained unanswered, is the NO generation by VSMC physiologically relevant? We hypothesized that the destruction of the vascular wall anatomical integrity by rubbing the blood vessel intimal surface may increase vascular superoxides that, in turn, reduce NO bioactivity. To address this issue, we examined ACh-induced vasorelaxation in endothelium-deprived blood vessels under protection against oxidative stress and found that superoxide scavengers - tempol and N-acetyl-L-cysteine - restored vasodilatory responses to ACh in endothelium-deprived blood vessels without influencing the vascular wall tension in intact blood vessels. Herewith we provided the first evidence that VSMC can release NO in amounts sufficient to account for the vasorelaxatory response to ACh. In contrast to the commonly accepted concept of the obligatory role of endothelial cells in the relaxation of arterial smooth muscle, the local NO generation by VSMC can modulate vascular functions in an endothelium-independent manner