On the Gross order of vanishing conjecture for large vanishing orders

We prove the Gross order of vanishing conjecture in special cases where the vanishing order of the character in question can be arbitrarily large. In almost all previously known cases the vanishing order is zero or one. One major ingredient of our proofs is the equivalence of this conjecture to the Gross-Kuz'min conjecture. We present here a direct proof of this equivalence, using only the known validity of the Iwasawa Main Conjecture over totally real fields

The United States-European Union Open Aviation Area: The American Perspective

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of current United States-European Union (U.S.-E.U.) aviation relations. Following a brief historical review, the proposed North-Atlantic Open Aviation Area is discussed. Specifically, the associated economic benefits are assessed, and the causes of the current deadlock in U.S.-E.U. negotiations are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the interests and actions of U.S. stakeholders, most notably U.S. airlines, labor organizations, the Department of Transportation and Congress

What do we know about poverty in North Korea?

Reliable quantitative information on the North Korean economy is extremely scarce. In particular, reliable income per capita and poverty figures for the country are not available. In this contribution, we provide for the first time estimates of absolute poverty rates in North Korean subnational regions based on the combination of innovative remote-sensednight-time light intensity data (monthly information for built areas) with estimated income distributions. Our results, which are robust to the use of different methods to approximatethe income distribution in the country, indicate that the share of persons living in extreme poverty in North Korea may be larger than previously thought. We estimate a poverty rate for the country of around 60% in 2018 and a high volatility in the dynamics of income at the national level in North Korea for the period 2012–2018. Income per capita estimates tend to decline significantly from 2012 to 2015 and present a recovery since 2016. The subnational estimates of income and poverty reveal a change in relative dynamics since the second half of the 2012–2018 period. The first part of the period is dominated by divergent dynamics inincome across regions, while the second half reveals convergence in regional income