The algebra of price stability

Prices

The federal funds rate as an indicator of monetary policy: evidence from the 1980s

Recently, several economists have argued that movements in the federal funds rate are a good proxy for changes in monetary policy. In this article, Nathan Balke and Kenneth Emery critically examine this view and the evidence supporting it. Using simple vector autoregressions, they find that before 1980 the correlations between the federal funds rate and other important macroeconomic variables are consistent with a traditional monetary policy interpretation of the federal funds rate. However, they show that after 1982 the relationships between the federal funds rate and other macroeconomic variables change significantly. Most important, the correlations between the federal funds rate and other macroeconomic variables observed during the 1980s are not as consistent with a traditional monetary policy view of the federal funds rate as they were before 1980. ; Balke and Emery's work highlights how relationships between important macroeconomic variables can change when institutions or policy regimes change. While the federal funds rate may still be a good indicator of monetary policy, its relationship with other important macroeconomic variables is now clearly different from what it was before 1980.Interest rates ; Economic indicators

Understanding the price puzzle

Recent developments in measuring the stance of monetary policy have highlighted an interesting puzzle--namely, that an unexpected tightening in monetary policy leads to an increase rather than a decrease in the price level. In this article, Nathan Balke and Kenneth Emery present evidence on the price puzzle and discuss possible explanations for it. ; Balke and Emery find that the most plausible explanation is that, during the 1960s and '70s, monetary policy was not implemented in a way that fully offset inflationary supply shocks. During this period, monetary policy would tighten in response to a supply shock but not by enough to prevent inflation from rising. In the data, therefore, contractionary policy is positively correlated with inflation. Since the early 1980s, however, the price puzzle has disappeared for either one, or both, of two reasons: the Federal Reserve has placed greater emphasis on achieving price stability, or there have been fewer inflationary supply shocks to the economy.Prices

Inflation and monetary restraint: too little, too late?

Inflation (Finance) ; Monetary policy

Environmental conditions of a salt-marsh biodiversity experiment on the island of Spiekeroog (Germany)

Field experiments investigating biodiversity and ecosystem functioning require the observation of abiotic parameters, especially when carried out in the intertidal zone. An experiment for biodiversity–ecosystem functioning was set up in the intertidal zone of the back-barrier salt marsh of Spiekeroog Island in the German Bight. Here, we report the accompanying instrumentation, maintenance, data acquisition, data handling and data quality control as well as monitoring results observed over a continuous period from September 2014 to April 2017. Time series of abiotic conditions were measured at several sites in the vicinity of newly built experimental salt-marsh islands on the tidal flat. Meteorological measurements were conducted from a weather station (WS, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.870988), oceanographic conditions were sampled through a bottom-mounted recording current meter (RCM, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.877265) and a bottom-mounted tide and wave recorder (TWR, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.877258). Tide data are essential in calculating flooding duration and flooding frequency with respect to different salt-marsh elevation zones. Data loggers (DL) for measuring the water level (DL-W, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.877267), temperature (DL-T, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.877257), light intensity (DL-L, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.877256) and conductivity (DL-C, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.877266) were deployed at different elevational zones on the experimental islands and the investigated salt-marsh plots. A data availability of 80% for 17 out of 23 sensors was achieved. Results showed the influence of seasonal and tidal dynamics on the experimental islands. Nearby salt-marsh plots exhibited some differences, e.g., in temperature dynamics. Thus, a consistent, multi-parameter, long-term dataset is available as a basis for further biodiversity and ecosystem functioning studies

Competitive Information Systems in Support of Pricing

Considerable attention has recently been paid to the opportunities presented by information systems technology for implementing, or even driving, corporate strategy. But organizations attempting to identify systems that provide competitive advantage are finding the search to be frustrating and often unrewarding. This paper combines two familiar information systems concepts, the Anthony model and information attributes, to produce a framework for identifying one class of competitive information systems, systems in support of product pricing. For the vast majority of companies operating in imperfect markets, pricing is an information intensive process, in which ambiguous cost projections are balanced with elusive estimates of demand in an attempt to satisfy conflicting stakeholders. As such, pricing presents a rich opportunity to creatively apply information systems technology for competitive advantage. To assist in identifying applications we present a framework to structure the search and a series of working examples that can motivate synergistic discovery. The framework, shown below, categorizes pricing information systems according to decision type and information attributes. The Y-axis contains the three levels of management decision making proposed by Anthony [1965]; four areas of pricing decision-choosing a pricing strategy, setting the basic price level, determinign the price structure, and the price administration- are mapped into the Anthony model. The X-axis includes categories of information attributes taht information systems are likely to impact. We illustrate the matrix by mapping examples into the cells. We are hopeful that readers familiar with a particular firms\u27s attributes and competitive environment will find that the examples help stimulate the discovery of new pricing applications. The paper concludes with some thoughts on using the framework. An appendix to the paper presents a pricing primer for those unfamiliar with the pricing process and its information requirements

Monitoring surface resonances on Co2MnSi(100) by spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy

The magnitude of the spin polarization at the Fermi level of ferromagnetic materials at room temperature is a key property for spintronics. Investigating the Heusler compound Co$_2$MnSi a value of 93$\%$ for the spin polarization has been observed at room temperature, where the high spin polarization is related to a stable surface resonance in the majority band extending deep into the bulk. In particular, we identified in our spectroscopical analysis that this surface resonance is embedded in the bulk continuum with a strong coupling to the majority bulk states. The resonance behaves very bulk-like, as it extends over the first six atomic layers of the corresponding (001)-surface. Our study includes experimental investigations, where the bulk electronic structure as well as surface-related features have been investigated using spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-UPS) and for a larger probing depth spin-integrated high energy x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES). The results are interpreted in comparison with first-principles band structure and photoemission calculations which consider all relativistic, surface and high-energy effects properly.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Heusler alloy, electronic structure and photoemissio