Exchange Rate Regimes, Location, and Specialization

This paper investigates the effects of fixed versus flexible exchange rates on firms' location choices and on countries' specialization patterns. In a two-country, twodifferentiated-goods monetary model, uncertainty arises after wages are set and prices are optimally chosen. The paper shows that countries are more specialized under flexible than fixed rates, which indicates that the pattern of specialization is not uniquely defined by trade models but also depends on the exchange rate regime. The creation of a currency area endogenously increases the desirability of such an area by reducing the asymmetry of shocks across member countries. The results also shed light on the effects of exchange rate variability on trade. Copyright 2006, International Monetary Fund

PPP and the Balassa Samuelson Effect: the Role of the Distribution Sector

This paper investigates the impact of the distribution sector on the real exchange rate, controlling for the Balassa-Samuelson effect, as well as other macro variables. Long-run coefficients are estimated using a panel dynamic OLS estimator. The main result is that an increase in the productivity and competitiveness of the distribution sector with respect to foreign countries leads to an appreciation of the real exchange rate, similarly to what a relative increase in the domestic productivity of tradables does. This contrasts with the result that one would expect by considering the distribution sector as belonging to the non-tradable sector. One explanation may lie in the use of the services from the distribution sector in the tradable sector. Our results also contribute to explaining the so-called PPP puzzle.Real exchange rates; purchasing power parity; Balassa-Samuelson; distribution sector; PPP puzzle

Probing the presence of planets in transition discs' cavities via warps: the case of TW Hya

We are entering the era in which observations of protoplanetary discs properties can indirectly probe the presence of massive planets or low mass stellar companions interacting with the disc. In particular, the detection of warped discs can provide important clues to the properties of the star-disc system. In this paper we show how observations of warped discs can be used to infer the dynamical properties of the systems. We concentrate on circumbinary discs, where the mass of the secondary can be planetary. First, we provide some simple relations that link the amplitude of the warp in the linear regime to the parameters of the system. Secondly, we apply our method to the case of TW Hya, a transition disc for which a warp has been proposed based on spectroscopic observations. Assuming values for the disc and stellar parameters from observations, we conclude that, in order for a warp induced by a planetary companion to be detectable, the planet mass should be large ($M_{\rm p} \approx 10 - 14M_{\rm J}$) and the disc should be viscous ($\alpha \approx 0.15 - 0.25$). We also apply our model to LkCa 15 and T Cha, where a substellar companion has been detected within the central cavity of the transition discs.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Productivity, networks, and export performance: evidence from a cross-country fi rm dataset

This paper uses a newly assembled multi-country multi-industry fi…rm-level dataset to test the effect of productivity and networking on the export probability of …firms. Results are in line with the new-new trade theory and with the literature on the information value of networks. Firms are more likely to export if they are more productive, larger, and if they bene…fit from foreign networks (ownership and …financial linkages), domestic networks (chamber of commerce, links to regulation), and communication networks (E-mail, internet). Firms bear a lower probability of exporting if they have state or labor networks. Overall, …firms with better network connections by one standard deviation enjoy a 15% higher probability of exporting.new-new trade theory; export probability

An ALMA Continuum Survey of Circumstellar Disks in the Upper Scorpius OB Association

We present ALMA 880 micron continuum observations of 20 K and M-type stars in the Upper Scorpius OB association that are surrounded by protoplanetary disks. These data are used to measure the dust content in disks around low mass stars (0.1-1.6 Msun) at a stellar age of 5-11 Myr. Thirteen sources were detected in the 880 micron dust continuum at >3 sigma with inferred dust masses between 0.3 and 52 Mearth. The dust masses tend to be higher around the more massive stars, but the significance is marginal in that the probability of no correlation is p ~ 0.03. The evolution in the dust content in disks was assessed by comparing the Upper Sco observations with published continuum measurements of disks around ~ 1-2 Myr stars in the Class II stage in the Taurus molecular cloud. While the dust masses in the Upper Sco disks are on average lower than in Taurus, any difference in the dust mass distributions is significant at less than 3sigma. For stellar masses between 0.49 Msun and 1.6 Msun, the mean dust mass in disks is lower in Upper Sco relative to Taurus by Delta log Mdust = 0.44 +/-0.26.Comment: Accepted by Ap

Christian Success or Pagan Assimilation? The Christianization of the Germanic-Speaking Tribes in the Late Roman Empire

Luca Ricci is a sophomore majoring in History and Classics at the University of Adelaide in Australia. Apart from reading Vergil, he spends his summer roaming the Italian countryside looking for archaeological sites

Microbial valorization of C1 waste gases for 2,3-butanediol production: a single and a double stage approach

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Why Was Celebrating the Olympic Games So Important in Hellenic Culture?

About the Author Luca Ricci just graduated with Honors from the University of Adelaide (Australia). He has just started his Research Master of Art at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands

Inventing Patron Saints: The Cult of St Fulk between Civic Reality and Historical Fiction

Seventeenth-century sources attest the cult of English pilgrims in southern Lazio. Focusing on the case of Fulk, I argue that the seventeenth-century tradition is supported neither by the literary accounts nor by topographical analyses. Instead, Fulk’s cult, based on Peter Deacon’s twelfth-century Vita Fulconis, was central in processes of civic formation. Changing religious attitudes in the twelfth/thirteenth century are linked with lay sainthood. An English pilgrim coming back from the Holy Land, through the sanctuary on Mount Gargano, brought great prestige to the urban centre vis-à-vis other urban centres, having visited and, thus, been a witness to some of the greatest places in Christendom