Interpreting the Hours-Technology time-varying relationship

We investigate the time varying relation between hours and technology shocks using a structural business cycle model. We propose an RBC model with a Constant Elasticity of Substitution (CES) production function that allows for capital- and labor-augmenting technology shocks. We estimate the model with Bayesian techniques. In the full sample, we find (i) evidence in favor of a less than unitary elasticity of substitution (rejecting Cobb-Douglas) and (ii) a sizable role for capital augmenting shock for business cycles fluctuations. In rolling sub-samples, we document that the transmission of technology shocks to hours worked has been varying over time. We argue that this change is due to the increase of the elasticity of factor substitution. That is, labor and capital became less complementary throughout the sample inducing a change in the sign and size of the response of hours. We conjecture that this change may have been induced by a change in the skill composition of the labor input.Hours Worked and Business Cycles, Bayesian Methods.

Seizures of In Transit Generics at the EU Borders: India and Brazil v. the EU

On May 2010 India and Brazil filed a complaint at the WTO claiming that customs rules in the EU, Regulation 1383/2003 in particular, recently allowed customs authorities to detain certain lots of Indian generics in transit to non-EU states. India and Brazil maintain that these measures contradict relevant TRIPS and GATT provisions. The case has spurred a debate because these measures could affect or impede the protection of public health in some countries, namely the African and Latin American states that are usually the final destination of the Indian manufactured generics

The ECJ Rules on Private Copying Levy

On 21 October 2010 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave its decision in Padawan v SGAE, an interesting case regarding the so-called “private copying levy”. The ECJ held that such a levy is in conformity with Directive 2001/79 (on the harmonization of certain aspects of copyright in the information society) when charged on copying devices sold to individuals, as it can reasonably be assumed that those equipments will be used for copying. Yet the levy should not be charged when said devices are sold to companies and professionals

Another One BITes the Dust: The Distance between Luxembourg and the World is Growing after Achmea

The CJEU has become a gatekeeper. Ever since Opinion 1/91, the CJEU has been imposing barriers to the recognition of decisions by foreign jurisdictions. Its recent Achmea decision is the natural consequence of case law so far. This attitude would not be problematic by itself since, through this attitude, the European Union would still be liable at the international plane, even if it did not implement its international obligations (liability- over property rules). This is not the end of the story. The CJEU accepts the, in principle, relevance of decisions by some international jurisdictions. However, the CJEU has repeatedly failed to establish clear criteria to identify ex ante the circumstances under which this will be the case. As things stand, recognition of foreign judgments is more of a line in the sand, than a dictum set in stone. This attitude is hardly reconcilable with the quintessential elements of a Rechtsstaat

Sultans of Swing? The Emerging WTO Case Law on TBT

Following years of silence after EC-Sardines, three cases were adjudicated by Panels under the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) in 2011: US-Clove Cigarettes, US-Tuna II (Mexico), and US-COOL. These three cases dealt with key provisions of the Agreement, but the Panels adopted irreconcilable approaches. All three decisions were appealed before the Appellate Body (AB), but even the latter failed to apply a coherent methodology to adjudicate similar. In Section II, we provide a brief account of the facts and the outcomes of the cases, whereas, in Section III we discuss the methodology applied by the WTO judiciary in the three cases

A fiscal stimulus with deep habits and optimal monetary policy

A New-Keynesian model with deep habits and optimal monetary policy delivers a larger-than-one multiplier and consumption crowding-in. Optimized Taylor-type rules dominate a conventional Taylor rule. Consumption is crowded out if the Taylor rule is sub-optimal or if commitment is absent

Development of gasoline-ethanol blends laminar flame speed correlations at full-load Si engine conditions via 1D simulations

Nowadays, most of the engineering development in the field of Spark-Ignited (SI) Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) is supported by 3D-CFD simulations relying on flamelet combustion models. Such kind of models require laminar flame speed as an input to be specified by the user. While several laminar flame speed correlations are available in literature, for gasoline and pure ethanol at ambient conditions, there is a lack of correlations describing laminar flame speed of gasoline-ethanol blends, for different ethanol volume content, at conditions deemed to be representative of engine-like conditions. Toluene Reference Fuel surrogates with addition of ethanol (ETRF), suitable for representing gasoline-ethanol blends up to 85% vol. ethanol content are formulated. Thanks to these surrogates, 1D premixed laminar flame speed calculations are performed at selected engine-relevant conditions for a E5, E20 and E85 fuels. As a final outcome, three different laminar flame speed correlations based on the chemistry-based calculations are derived for E5, E20 and E85 gasoline-ethanol fuel blends focusing on typical full-load engine conditions. Such kind of correlations can be easily implemented in any 3D-CFD code to provide a chemistry-grounded estimation of laminar flame speed during combustion calculations. Such correlations are of practical use, since they might help in developing the next generation of bio-fuels powered internal combustion engines