The Stabilizing Properties of Floating Exchange Rates: Some International Evidence

This paper analyzes the stabilizing properties of alternative monetary policy regimes. In practice there is a choice between two broad types of monetary policy regimes: a fixed exchange rate regime or a floating exchange rate regime. In this paper I compare exchange rate targeting with different floating exchange rate regimes: strict price level targeting, flexible price level targeting and output gap targeting. The paper also evaluates the actual choice of monetary policy regime for seven countries with a pure floating exchange rate regime. In most cases the actual regime can be described as flexible price level targeting. The results suggest that flexible and strict price level targeting gives lower real and nominal variability than both exchange rate targeting and output gap targeting.Monetary policy; exchange rates; macroeconomic stability

What Determines Real Exchange Rates? The Nordic Countries

This paper presents a model yielding testable implications concerning the long-run co-movements of real exchange rates, relative productivity, the trade balance and terms of trade. Countries with higher productivity, trade deficits or improved terms of trade are found to have more appreciated real exchange rates, with the main channel of transmission working through the relative price of nontraded goods. Exogenous terms of trade shocks are found to be the most important determinant of long run movements in the real exchange rate for Denmark and Norway, while demand shocks account for most of the long run variance in the real exchange rate for Finland and Sweden.Real exchange rates; cointegration; variance decomposition

Spectral footprints of impurity scattering in graphene nanoribbons

We report a detailed investigation of the interplay between size quantization and local scattering centers in graphene nanoribbons, as seen in the local density of states. The spectral signatures, obtained after Fourier transformation of the local density of states, include characteristic peaks that can be related to the transverse modes of the nanoribbon. In armchair ribbons, the Fourier transformed density of states of one of the two inequivalent sublattices takes a form similar to that of a quantum channel in a two-dimensional electron gas, modified according to the differences in bandstructure. After addition of the second sublattice contribution, a characteristic modulation of the pattern due to superposition is obtained, similar to what has been obtained in spectra due to single impurity scattering in large-area graphene. We present analytic results for the electron propagator in armchair nanoribbons in the Dirac approximation, including a single scattering center within a T-matrix formulation. For comparison, we have extended the investigation with numerics obtained with an atomistic recursive Green's function approach. The spectral signatures of the atomistic approach include the effects of trigonal warping. The impurity induced oscillations in the local density of states are not decaying at large distance in few-mode nanoribbons.Comment: 21 pages, 12 figure

Massive (?) starburst hosts of blue compact galaxies (BCGs)

We present optical spectroscopy and deep optical/near-IR photometry of 4 luminous metal-poor blue compact galaxies (BCGs) and two of their companions. With the aid of spectral evolutionary models (SEMs) and structural parameters derived from the surface photometry we discuss the properties of the central starbursts and the halo populations of the galaxies. Special attention is paid to the effects of dust, chemical inhomogeneities and contamination of nebular emission to the halo light. The optical/near-IR colour index profiles show a sharp distinction between the starburst and the host. The hosts have luminosity profiles characteristic of massive ellipticals and remarkably red colours, typical of a relatively {\it metal-rich} stellar population of {\it old age}. These properties are in conflict with the relatively low luminosities. The situation can best be explained if the hosts have an unusually large amount of dark matter that can hinder the outflow of metals from the system. The indicated difference in metallicity between the halo and the young starburst disproves the recurrent burst scenario and supports different origins of the two populations. We conclude that these BCGs are undergoing mergers between early type galaxies/thick disks and gas-rich galaxies or intergalactic HI clouds, in many respects reminiscent of a retarded formation of massive ellipticals.Comment: 30 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic