The Implosion of the Brussels Economic Consensus.

Underlying the current political crisis of EU is a decade of cumulative malaise produced by low growth, high unemployment and welfare cuts. The poor economic record of the core Eurozone states is attributable neither to supply-side sclerosis nor top-heavy welfare, but rather to the ECB’s obsession with inflation and the fiscal strait-jacket imposed by the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), referred to here as ‘Brussels Consensus’ economics. The paper critically examines the SGP rules, argues that the 2005 SGP compromise reached at Luxembourg has not addressed the fundamental problem of Europe’s asymmetric economic institutions, and proposes radical remedies.Eurozone growth; unemployment; Maastricht; EIB; SGP rules; EU fiscal and monetary policy; neo-liberal Brussels consensus.

Inequality and the Anglo-American Economic Model

The rollback of the state and the redistribution initiated during the Reagan-Thatcher period in the US and Britain has resulted in these countries being the least egalitarian in the OECD, with wages increasingly de-coupled from productivity growth and gains accruing to top CEOs. The view that inequality is attributable solely to the new premium on human capital is challenged; it is argued that inequality has resulted from mainly from personal tax breaks and the corporate drive for ‘shareholder value’. The social costs are evident from the sociological and epidemiological evidence. Equally, inequality has helped fuel US consumer spending, facilitated by low interest rates, holding gains and credit deregulation. The result is a ‘triple deficit’. The risk is that by relying exclusively on market-led devaluation, a crisis of confidence will result; righting financial imbalances requires not merely a Plaza-type solution, but a major reversal in the growth of inequality.

Structureborne noise control in advanced turboprop aircraft

Structureborne noise is discussed as a contributor to propeller aircraft interior noise levels that are nonresponsive to the application of a generous amount of cabin sidewall acoustic treatment. High structureborne noise levels may jeopardize passenger acceptance of the fuel-efficient high-speed propeller transport aircraft designed for cruise at Mach 0.65 to 0.85. These single-rotation tractor and counter-rotation tractor and pusher propulsion systems will consume 15 to 30 percent less fuel than advanced turbofan systems. Structureborne noise detection methodologies and the importance of development of a structureborne noise sensor are discussed. A structureborne noise generation mechanism is described in which the periodic components or propeller swirl produce periodic torques and forces on downstream wings and airfoils that are propagated to the cabin interior as noise. Three concepts for controlling structureborne noise are presented: (1) a stator row swirl remover, (2) selection of a proper combination of blade numbers in the rotor/stator system of a single-rotation propeller, and the rotor/rotor system of a counter-rotation propeller, and (3) a tuned mechanical absorber

The oxidation degradation of aromatic compounds

A series of experiments were conducted which focused on understanding the role that the O atom addition to aromatic rings plays in the oxidation of benzene and toluene. Flow reactor studies of the oxidation of toluene gave an indication of the amount of O atoms available during an oxidation and the degree to which the O atom adds to the ring. Flow reactor studies of the oxidation of toluene and benzene to which NO2 was added, have shown that NO2 appears to suppress the formation of O atoms and consequently reduce the amount of phenols and cresols formed by O atom addition. A high temperature pyrolysis study of phenol has confirmed that the major decomposition products are carbon monoxide and cyclopentadiene. A preliminary value for the overall decomposition rate constant was also obtained