Bostonia. Volume 28

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Normalization in econometrics

The issue of normalization arises whenever two different values for a vector of unknown parameters imply the identical economic model. A normalization does not just imply a rule for selecting which point, among equivalent ones, to call the maximum likelihood estimator (MLE). It also governs the topography of the set of points that go into a small-sample confidence interval associated with that MLE. A poor normalization can lead to multimodal distributions, disjoint confidence intervals, and very misleading characterizations of the true statistical uncertainty. This paper introduces the identification principle as a framework upon which a normalization should be imposed, according to which the boundaries of the allowable parameter space should correspond to loci along which the model is locally unidentified. The authors illustrate these issues with examples taken from mixture models, structural VARs, and cointegration.

Hacia una agenda de gobernanza para el Hemisferio Atlántico emergente

La cuenca atlántica está resurgiendo como un subsistema importante dentro de la economía política global: corrientes interrelacionadas de personas y energía, dinero y armas, bienes y servicios, tecnología y terrorismo, drogas y delincuencia; mayor acceso recíproco a los mercados, recursos y talento. Pero las crecientes interdependencias generan nuevas vulnerabilidades y retos: cooperación en recursos y conexiones energéticas; promoción del comercio y la inversión; migración e integración; construcción de sociedades resistentes; mejora de la buena gobernanza; inversión en desarrollo humano; y lucha contra las organizaciones criminales transnacionales y sus crecientes vínculos con terroristas e insurgentes. Aunque los mecanismos de gobierno y cooperación diplomática panatlánticos todavía están en sus inicios, una serie de hechos sugieren que es posible una cooperación hemisférica amplia y entrelazada. De hecho, la cuenca atlántica puede emerger como un laboratorio mundial para una gobernanza interregional e interconectada entre países desarrollados y países emergentes

Still Too Close to Call? Rethinking Stampp\u27s The Concept of a Perpetual Union

In a classic article in the Journal of American History, which was based on his presidential address to the Organization of American Historians in 1978, the great Civil War historian Kenneth Stampp made the claim that the arguments in favor of the constitutionality of secession made by the Southern states were as strong, if not stronger than the constitutional arguments made, then and now, in opposition to secession. Stampp is to my mind the greatest Civil War historian of the 20th century and his views on secession remain required reading and are cited routinely today. This is not to say Stampp was correct, only to use his classic article on the 150th anniversary of secession as a jumping off point for reconsidering the legality and constitutionality of secession and also, I think, to go to first principles to consider whether it is possible or useful to definitively try and answer the question: was secession legal

The effect of heat stable bacterial lipase (S) on the flavor and fat degradation of pasteurized milk cheddar cheese

Two species of psychrophilic bacteria, Pseudomonas fragi 169 and Pseudomonas fluorescens 31, chosen for their high production of heat stable lipase(s) in a milk medium, were each inoculated into five lots of raw milk. The samples were incubated until counts were from 3 to 5 million cells per ml. as determined by the Direct Microscopic Count and were then pasteurized at 63°C for 30 minutes. Lots of the same milk not inoculated were pasteurized at 63°C for 30 minutes and used as controls. After pasteurization, inoculated and control lots of milk were made into Cheddar cheese. Acid Degree Values were determined on extracted fat after two weeks and again at successive three month intervals for one year. Flavor differences between treated and control samples were determined by a triangle taste test. The Acid Degree Values of fat from inoculated lots of cheese increased significantly over those from controls in the first three months of curing. Significant differences in Acid Degree Values were noted at every curing period. The Acid Degree Values produced by the lipases of Pseudomonas fragi 169 were significantly higher than those produced by Pseudomonas fluorescens 31. No significant difference in the flavor of cheese made from milk inoculated with Pseudomonas fragi 169 or its controls was noted until after nine months of curing. A significant difference was noted between cheese lots made from milk inoculated with Pseudomonas fluorescens 31 and control lots after twelve months curing. Inoculated and control lots of cheese scored very close in flavor