Masa Depan Sempurna : Tantangan dan Janji Globalisasi

Pembangunan ekonomi sesungguhnya adalah proses menuju kebebasan. Ini adalah proses yang ditandai, antara lain, oleh globalisasi. Globalisasi membantu proses interaksi agen-agen ekonomi global menjadi lebih efisien. Dan karena itu, lebih cepat pula mereka mencapai kebebasan: kemampuan berinteraksi secara sukarela dengan keuntungan di kedua belah pihak. Bagi penulis buku ini, globalisasi adalah suatu kekuatan yang bukan hanya mampu memperbaiki nasib orang miskin tapi juga memajukan kebebasan. Globalisasi bergerak dengan kecepatan berbeda di berbagai wilayah dan masyarakat di planet ini. Maka, Homogenisasi tak terjadi. Dan kita bisa dengan mudah melihat bukti di sekeliling kita. Bagaimana mungkin dunia bisa rata, seperti dikatakan Thomas Friedman? Kita renungkan lagi bahwa perdagangan selalu meningkatkan kesejahteraan total, selama transaksi tanpa paksaan (bagi penulis buku ini, “perdagangan tidak adil” adalah oksimoron). Berdagang adalah bertukar dan untuk bertukar, maka perlu ada perbedaan. Globalisasi bukanlah tujuan. Ia adalah proses. Ia bukan akhir dari merajanya produk-produk Cina di toko-toko New York City atau London, ia adalah proses Cina membangun ekonominya. Dan itu ditandai oleh semakin mendekatnya Negara tersebut dengan Amerika Serikat dalam lintasan pacu. Jika globalisasi adalah tujuan, maka dunia akan rata. Tapi, mana mungkin? Buku ini menekankan bahwa globalisasi adalah proses yang terus-menerus. Namun, masa depan yang “sempurna” adalah sesuatu yang final. Ketika proses mencari ekuilibrium telah selesai. Ketika dunia telah “rata”. Tapi, mungkinkah itu? Selagi kita masih saling membutuhkan, dan saling berbeda, jawabnya adalah: semoga tidak

Too-Small-To-Survive versus Too-Big-To-Fail banks: The two sides of the same coin

In the recent crisis, the U.S. authorities bailed out numerous banks through TARP, whilst let many others to fail as going concern entities. Even though both interventions fully protect depositors, a bail out represents an implied subsidy to shareholders, which is not yet the case with closures where creditors are not subsidised. We investigate this non-uniform policy, demonstrating that size and not performance is the decision variable that endogenously determines one threshold below which banks are treated as TSTS by regulators and another one above which are considered to be TBTF. Our results suggest that regulators do not bailout the shareholders or the other uninsured creditors of a distressed bank if the bank is considered to be TSTS. Further, that the more complex a bank is the more likely is to be bailed out and, hence, to have all of its creditors protected. Banks which are perceived as being TBTF are also found to be too-complex-to-fail

International genome-wide meta-analysis identifies new primary biliary cirrhosis risk loci and targetable pathogenic pathways.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a classical autoimmune liver disease for which effective immunomodulatory therapy is lacking. Here we perform meta-analyses of discovery data sets from genome-wide association studies of European subjects (n=2,764 cases and 10,475 controls) followed by validation genotyping in an independent cohort (n=3,716 cases and 4,261 controls). We discover and validate six previously unknown risk loci for PBC (Pcombined<5 × 10(-8)) and used pathway analysis to identify JAK-STAT/IL12/IL27 signalling and cytokine-cytokine pathways, for which relevant therapies exist

Adjunctive rifampicin for Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (ARREST): a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia is a common cause of severe community-acquired and hospital-acquired infection worldwide. We tested the hypothesis that adjunctive rifampicin would reduce bacteriologically confirmed treatment failure or disease recurrence, or death, by enhancing early S aureus killing, sterilising infected foci and blood faster, and reducing risks of dissemination and metastatic infection. METHODS: In this multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, adults (≥18 years) with S aureus bacteraemia who had received ≤96 h of active antibiotic therapy were recruited from 29 UK hospitals. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) via a computer-generated sequential randomisation list to receive 2 weeks of adjunctive rifampicin (600 mg or 900 mg per day according to weight, oral or intravenous) versus identical placebo, together with standard antibiotic therapy. Randomisation was stratified by centre. Patients, investigators, and those caring for the patients were masked to group allocation. The primary outcome was time to bacteriologically confirmed treatment failure or disease recurrence, or death (all-cause), from randomisation to 12 weeks, adjudicated by an independent review committee masked to the treatment. Analysis was intention to treat. This trial was registered, number ISRCTN37666216, and is closed to new participants. FINDINGS: Between Dec 10, 2012, and Oct 25, 2016, 758 eligible participants were randomly assigned: 370 to rifampicin and 388 to placebo. 485 (64%) participants had community-acquired S aureus infections, and 132 (17%) had nosocomial S aureus infections. 47 (6%) had meticillin-resistant infections. 301 (40%) participants had an initial deep infection focus. Standard antibiotics were given for 29 (IQR 18-45) days; 619 (82%) participants received flucloxacillin. By week 12, 62 (17%) of participants who received rifampicin versus 71 (18%) who received placebo experienced treatment failure or disease recurrence, or died (absolute risk difference -1·4%, 95% CI -7·0 to 4·3; hazard ratio 0·96, 0·68-1·35, p=0·81). From randomisation to 12 weeks, no evidence of differences in serious (p=0·17) or grade 3-4 (p=0·36) adverse events were observed; however, 63 (17%) participants in the rifampicin group versus 39 (10%) in the placebo group had antibiotic or trial drug-modifying adverse events (p=0·004), and 24 (6%) versus six (2%) had drug interactions (p=0·0005). INTERPRETATION: Adjunctive rifampicin provided no overall benefit over standard antibiotic therapy in adults with S aureus bacteraemia. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment

Capitalism in America : A history

From even the start of his fabled career, Alan Greenspan was duly famous for his deep understanding of even the most arcane corners of the American economy, and his restless curiosity to know even more. To the extent possible, he has made a science of understanding how the US economy works almost as a living organism--how it grows and changes, surges and stalls. He has made a particular study of the question of productivity growth, at the heart of which is the riddle of innovation. Where does innovation come from, and how does it spread through a society? And why do some eras see the fruits of innovation spread more democratically, and others, including our own, see the opposite?In Capitalism in America, Greenspan distills a lifetime of grappling with these questions into a thrilling and profound master reckoning with the decisive drivers of the US economy over the course of its history. In partnership with the celebrated Economist journalist and historian Adrian Wooldridge, he unfolds a tale involving vast landscapes, titanic figures, triumphant breakthroughs, enlightenment ideals as well as terrible moral failings. Every crucial debate is here--from the role of slavery in the antebellum Southern economy to the real impact of FDR's New Deal to America's violent mood swings in its openness to global trade and its impact. But to read Capitalism in America is above all to be stirred deeply by the extraordinary productive energies unleashed by millions of ordinary Americans that have driven this country to unprecedented heights of power and prosperity.At heart, the authors argue, America's genius has been its unique tolerance for the effects of creative destruction, the ceaseless churn of the old giving way to the new, driven by new people and new ideas. Often messy and painful, creative destruction has also lifted almost all Americans to standards of living unimaginable to even the wealthiest citizens of the world a few generations past. A sense of justice and human decency demands that those who bear the brunt of the pain of change be protected, but America has always accepted more pain for more gain, and its vaunted rise cannot otherwise be understood, or its challenges faced, without recognizing this legacy. For now, in our time, productivity growth has stalled again, stirring up the populist furies. There's no better moment to apply the lessons of history to the most pressing question we face, that of whether the United States will preserve its preeminence, or see its leadership pass to other, inevitably less democratic powers.ilus.; 486 hlm.: 24 cm