Mixed signals: central bank independence, coordinated wage bargaining, and European Monetary Union

Plans for European Monetary Union are based on the conventional postulate that increasing the independence of the central bank can reduce inflation without any real economic effects. However, the theoretical and empirical bases for this claim rest onmodels of the economy that make unrealistic information assumptions and omitinstitutional variables other than the central bank. When the signaling problems between the central bank and other actors in the political economy are considered,we find that the character of wage bargaining conditions the impact of central bankindependence by rendering the signals between the bank and the bargainers moreor less effective. Greater independence can reduce inflation without majoremployment effects where bargaining is coordinated, but it brings higher levels ofunemployment where bargaining is uncoordinated. Thus, currency unions like the EMU may require higher levels of unemployment to control inflation than their proponents envisage; they will have costs as well as benefits, costs which will bedistributed unevenly among and within the member nations based on the changesinduced in the status of the bank and of wage coordination -- Die Konzepte für die Europäische Währungsunion basieren auf dem allgemeinvertretenen Postulat, daß mit größerer Unabhängigkeit der Zentralbank die Inflationohne reale ökonomische Effekte verringert werden kann. Allerdings beruht die theoretische wie empirische Basis für diesen Anspruch auf Modellvorstellungen einer Volkswirtschaft, die auf unrealistischen Annahmen der Bedeutung von Informationen beruhen und institutionelle Variable - mit Ausnahme der Zentralbank - außer acht lassen. Wird allerdings die wechselseitige Wahrnehmung und Interpretation vonInformationen (signaling problems) zwischen Zentralbank und den anderenAkteuren in der politischen Ökonomie in die Analyse einbezogen, dann ist festzustellen, daß die Art der Lohnfindung die Intensität der Auswirkungen derZentralbankunabhängigkeit beeinflußt je nachdem, wie wirksam die wechselseitige Wahrnehmung und Interpretation von Informationen zwischen der Zentralbank und den Tarifpartnern vermittelt ist.Im Falle koordinierter Tarifverhandlungen kann eine größere Unabhängigkeit derZentralbank die Inflation in der Tat ohne größere Beschäftigungseffekte vermindern,im Falle unkoordinierter Tarifverhandlungen führt dies allerdings zu einem höherenNiveau der Arbeitslosigkeit. Daraus leitet sich die Überlegung ab, daß eineWährungsunion vom Typ Europäische Währungsunion ein höheres Maß an Arbeitslosigkeit erfordert, um die Inflation unter Kontrolle zu halten, als es ihre Befürworter erwarten. Bei den sich dann einstellenden Vor- und Nachteilen werden die Nachteile zwischen und innerhalb der Mitgliedstaaten ungleich verteilt sein, abhängig von dem letztendlich verwirklichten Grad der Unabhängigkeit derZentralbank und der Form der Lohnfindung.

Re-integrating Design Education: Lessons from History

Throughout its short history, formal design education has struggled to find a balance between imparting technical skills and fostering bigger picture, critical and conceptual thinking; and also between notions of passive and active learning. As educators become ever cognizant of a future marked by environmental crisis and accompanying complex problems of population flux, civil unrest, pollution and waste, achieving a balance between “know how” and meta-level thinking has become more pressing. The premise of this paper is that a 21st Century design education can further this goal by confronting the productivist entanglements of its past. It will argue that the lessons of its turbulent relationship with industry provide the seeds for an approach to learning that is better integrated with industry and society than conventional hypothetical studio assignments allow

Grid-connected renewables, storage and the UK electricity market

This article is a critical counterpoint to an article by published by Swift-Hook in the journal of Renewable Energy entitled "Grid-connected intermittent renewables are the last to be stored". In contrast to Swift-Hook we found evidence that "grid-connected intermittent renewables" have been, and will continue to be stored when it suits the "UK market" to do so.  This article is important to policy makers as energy storage (through EV battery demand side management for example) may well have an important role to play in facilitating the integration of high wind penetrations

A Capabilities Approach to Successful Societies

Governmen

When white working-class men feel society no longer values them

The Brexit referendum exposed deep political divisions within British society, and more than a year after that vote, those divisions show no signs of disappearing

Varieties of capitalism and institutional complementarities in the macroeconomy : an empirical analysis

Using aggregate analysis, this paper examines the core contentions of the "varieties of capitalism" perspective on comparative capitalism. We construct a coordination index to assess whether the institutional features of liberal and coordinated market economies conform to the predictions of the theory. We test the contention that institutional complementarities occur across sub-spheres of the macroeconomy by examining the correspondence of institutions across sub-spheres and estimating the impact of complementarities in labor relations and corporate governance on rates of growth. To assess the stability of the institutional features central to the theory, we assess the dynamics of institutional change in recent years. The evidence suggests that there are powerful interaction effects among institutions across sub-spheres of the political economy that must be considered if the economic impact of institutional change in any one sphere is to be accurately assessed.Mit Hilfe von Aggregatdaten analysiert dieses Papier Kernaussagen des "Varieties-of-Capitalism"-Ansatzes. Um beurteilen zu können, ob die Aussagen der Theorie mit den institutionellen Begebenheiten liberaler und koordinierter Ökonomien übereinstimmen, konstruieren wir einen ländervergleichenden Index der ökonomischen Koordination. Wir überprüfen die These von der institutionellen Komplementarität zwischen den verschiedenen Sphären politischer Ökonomien, indem wir das Zusammenwirken von Institutionen analysieren und den Einfluss komplementärer Institutionen der Arbeitsbeziehungen und der Unternehmenskontrolle auf die Höhe von Wachstumsraten untersuchen. Wir diskutieren darüber hinaus, wie stabil die institutionellen Begebenheiten in den vergangenen Jahren waren. Im Ergebnis zeigen sich starke Interaktionseffekte zwischen den Sphären politischer Ökonomien, die berücksichtigt werden müssen, um die wirtschaftlichen Wirkungen institutionellen Wandels in einzelnen Sphären zu verstehen

Measuring a cell's response to stress: the p53 pathway

The characterization of complex cellular responses to diverse stimuli can be studied by the use of emerging chip-based technologies

Depletion-Isolation Effect in Vertical MOSFETs During the Transition From Partial to Fully Depleted Operation

A simulation study is made of floating-body effects (FBEs) in vertical MOSFETs due to depletion isolation as the pillar thickness is reduced from 200 to 10 nm. For pillar thicknesses between 200–60 nm, the output characteristics with and without impact ionization are identical at a low drain bias and then diverge at a high drain bias. The critical drain bias Vdc for which the increased drain–current is observed is found to decrease with a reduction in pillar thickness. This is explained by the onset of FBEs at progressively lower values of the drain bias due to the merging of the drain depletion regions at the bottom of the pillar (depletion isolation). For pillar thicknesses between 60–10 nm, the output characteristics show the opposite behavior, namely, the critical drain bias increases with a reduction in pillar thickness. This is explained by a reduction in the severity of the FBEs due to the drain debiasing effect caused by the elevated body potential. Both depletion isolation and gate–gate coupling contribute to the drain–current for pillar thicknesses between 100–40 nm

Associations of blood pressure with body composition among Afro-Caribbean children in Barbados

Despite complex presentation of adult hypertension and a concomitant obesity epidemic, little is known about overweight in relation to blood pressure among Caribbean children. We examined blood pressure in relation to body size in a cross-sectional study of 573 Barbadian children aged 9–10 years (2010-2011).The United States normative blood pressure percentiles were used to identify children with high (≥ 95th percentile) or high normal blood pressure (90th – 95th percentile). The World Health Organization body mass index cut-off points were used to assess weight status. Major findings: Thirty percent of children were overweight/obese. Percentage fat mass differed between girls (20.4%) and boys (17.72%) (p< 0.05). Mean systolic blood pressure among girls was 106.11 (95% CI 105.05, 107.17) mmHg and 105.23 (104.09, 106.38) for boys. The percentages with high or high-normal mean systolic blood pressurewere14.38% (10.47, 18.29) for girls and 8.08% (4.74, 11.41) for boys. Height and body mass index were independent correlates of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Mean systolic blood pressure was related to lean mass but not fat mass, while diastolic blood pressure was associated with fat mass index and overweight. Principal conclusion: One third of 9-10 year old children in Barbados were overweight/obese and 12% had elevated mean systolic blood pressure. BP was related to body size. These findings signal potential adverse trends in weight gain and BP trends for children growing up in the context of a country that has recently undergone rapid economic transition