Inflation persistence when price stickiness differs between industries

There is much evidence that price-adjustment frequencies vary widely across industries. This paper shows that inflation persistence is lower with heterogeneity in price stickiness than without it, taking as given the degree of persistence in variables affecting inflation. Differences in the frequency of price adjustment mean that the pool of firms which responds to any macroeconomic shock is unrepresentative, containing a disproportionately large number of firms from industries with more flexible prices. Consequently, this group of firms is more likely to reverse any initial price change after a shock has dissipated, making inflation persistence much harder to explain

Inflation Persistence When Price Stickiness Differs Between Industries

There is much evidence that price-adjustment frequencies vary widely across industries. This paper shows that inflation persistence is lower with heterogeneity in price stickiness than without it, taking as given the degree of persistence in variables affecting inflation. Differences in the frequency of price adjustment mean that the pool of firms which responds to any macroeconomic shock is unrepresentative, containing a disproportionately large number of firms from industries with more flexible prices. Consequently, this group of firms is more likely to reverse any initial price change after a shock has dissipated, making inflation persistence much harder to explain.Inflation persistence, heterogeneity, price stickiness, New Keynesian Phillips Curve

Intrinsic Inflation Persistence

It is often argued that the New Keynesian Phillips curve is at odds with the data because it cannot explain inflation persistence — the difficulty of returning inflation immediately to target after a shock without any loss of output. This paper explains how a model where newer prices are stickier than older prices is consistent with this phenomenon, even though it introduces no deviation from optimizing, forwards-looking price setting. The probability of adjusting new and old prices is estimated using a novel method that draws only on macroeconomic data, and the findings strongly support the premise of the model.inflation persistence, hazard function, time-dependent pricing, New Keynesian Phillips curve

'Between bodies': an implicit relational model

The main aim of this study was to generate a theory of what happens between the body of the therapist and the body of the client in a psychotherapeutic setting. This was achieved through documenting and analysing first-hand therapists’ experiences of their own embodied being in the psychotherapeutic process. A descriptive phenomenological design was adopted using a grounded theory methodology. Participants were experienced psychological therapists, nine of whom were female and three of whom were male. Through use of semi-structured interviews the research captured therapists’ direct experience of their embodied interaction with clients. It was discovered that at any given juncture the body of the therapist registers a considerable amount of intersubjective somatic information. The Core Category of Between Bodies emerged from this analysis and this is divided into five sub-categories. These include (i) Body to Body (ii) Connection (iii) Somatic Experiencing of Other (iv) Embodied Process and (v) Intersubjective Space. Findings describe a theoretically salient Implicit Relational Model of what happens between bodies in the psychotherapeutic encounter. Movement to and between each of the sub-categories is mediated by the embodied processes of the first sub-category Body to Body. These embodied relational processes are co-created and act as a mediator between client and therapist for generating one or more of the sub-categories Connection, Somatic Experiencing of Other, Embodied Process and Intersubjective Space. This research study highlights the importance of exploring and attending to implicit processes. The findings are discussed in relation to current research on neuroscience and infant studies. Such theory will add to knowledge and understanding of the implicit intersubjective field of the therapeutic relationship. It will also help to inform specific recommendations for supervisors, trainers, therapists and researchers

A Model of Equilibrium Institutions

Institutions that serve the interests of an elite are often cited as an important reason for poor economic performance. This paper builds a model of institutions that allocate resources and power to maximize the payoff of an elite, but where any group that exerts sufficient fighting effort can launch a rebellion that destroys the existing institutions. The rebels are then able to establish new institutions as a new elite, which will similarly face threats of rebellion. The paper analyses the economic consequences of the institutions that emerge as the equilibrium of this struggle for power. High levels of economic activity depend on protecting private property from expropriation, but the model predicts this can only be achieved if power is not as concentrated as the elite would like it to be, ex post. Power sharing endogenously enables the elite to act as a government committed to property rights, which would otherwise be time inconsistent. But sharing power entails sharing rents, so in equilibrium power is too concentrated, leading to inefficiently low investment.institutions, political economy, power struggle, property rights, time inconsistency

CIVIL LAW JURISDICTIONS AND THE ENGLISH TRUST IDEA: LOST IN TRANSLATION?

This piece is a short discussion on the English; and more widely the common law concept of the trust and its traditional exclusion from civil law systems.  It seeks to unearth that the apparent distaste civil law systems have for the common law trust is rooted in each system’s respective attitude to rights in property and at least some degree of mistranslation.  This apparent gulf in understanding can be bridged by incorporating the trust into the more ancient Roman law concept of the patrimony, thereby making the trust sit more comfortably in civil law jurisdictions.  In bridging the divide, this new appreciation for the trust challenges us as common lawyers to reconsider the traditional common law premise of the trust as being less about proprietary interest as it is about personal rights and obligations

Turning 21: Induction of miR-21 as a Key Switch in the Inflammatory Response

miR-21 is one of the most highly expressed members of the small non-coding microRNA family in many mammalian cell types. Its expression is further enhanced in many diseased states including solid tumors, cardiac injury and inflamed tissue. Whilst the induction of miR-21 by inflammatory stimuli cells has been well documented in both hematopoietic cells of the immune system (particularly monocytes/macrophages but also dendritic and T-cells) and non-hematopoietic tumorigenic cells, the exact functional outcome of this elevated miR-21 is less obvious. Recent studies have confirmed a key role for miR-21 in the resolution of inflammation and in negatively regulating the proinflammatory response induced by many of the same stimuli that trigger miR-21 induction itself. In particular, miR-21 has emerged as a key mediator of the anti-inflammatory response in macrophages. This suggests that miR-21 inhibition in leukocytes will promote inflammation and may enhance current therapies for defective immune responses such as cancer, mycobacterial vaccines or Th2-associated allergic inflammation. At the same time, miR-21 has been shown to promote inflammatory mediators in non-hematopoietic cells resulting in neoplastic transformation. This review will focus on functional studies of miR-21 during inflammation which are complicated by the numerous molecular targets and processes that have emerged as miR-21 sensitive. It may be that the exact functional outcome of miR-21 is determined by multiple features including the cell type affected, the inducing signal, the transcriptomic profile of the cell, which ultimately affect the availability and ability to engage different target mRNAs and bring about its unique responses. Reviewing this data may illustrate that RNA-based oligonucleotide therapies for different diseases based upon miR-21 may have to target the unique and operative miRNA:mRNA interactions functionally active disease