Dependent plural pronouns with Skolemized choice functions

The present paper discusses two interesting phenomena concerning phi-features on plural pronouns: (i) plural pronouns that denote atomic individuals (‘dependent plural pronouns’), and (ii) plural pronouns with more than one binder (‘partial binding’). A novel account of these two phenomena is proposed, according to which all occurrences of phi-features are both semantically and morphologically relevant. For such a ‘uniformly semantic account’ of phi-features, dependent plural pronouns constitute a theoretical challenge, while partial binding is more or less straightforwardly accounted for. In order to make sense of the semantic effects of the phi-features on dependent plural pronouns, the following idea is pursued: the phi-features on a dependent plural pronoun reflect the range of values that the pronoun takes, rather than the particular value it denotes at a time. This idea is implemented in a compositional semantics by making use of (Skolemized) choice functions. An appealing feature of the present account is that, unlike its predecessors, it accounts for dependent plural pronouns without c-commanding antecedents in essentially the same way as for those with c-commanding antecedents. It is also shown how this account of dependent plural pronouns can straightforwardly be augmented with set indices to account for partial binding

Sectoral Co-Movement, Monetary-Policy Shock, and Input-Output Structure

The co-movement of output across the sector producing non- durables (that is, non-durable goods and services) and the sector producing durables is well-established in the monetary business-cycle literature. However, standard sticky-price models that incorporate sectoral heterogeneity in price stickiness (that is, sticky non-durables prices and flexible durables prices) cannot generate this feature. We argue that an input-output structure provides a solution to this problem. Here we develop a two-sector model with an input-output structure, which is calibrated to the U.S. economy. In the model, each sector's output affects those of the others by acting as an intermediate input This connection between the sectors provides a channel through which sectoral co-movement is induced.Monetary Policy, Input-Output Matrix, Durables, Non-durables

Accounting for Oil Price Variation and Weakening Impact of the Oil Crisis

Recent empirical studies reveal that the oil price-output relationship is weakening in the US. Oil price-output correlation is less negative, and output reduction in response to oil price rise is more moderate after mid 1980s. In contrast to the conventional view that there have been changes in the economic structures that have made output less responsive to oil price shocks, we show that what have changed are the sources of oil price variation. We develop a DSGE model where oil price and US output are endogenously determined by the exogenous movements of US TFP and the oil supply. Having no changes in economic structure, our model yields dynamics of the oil price and output that show a weakening in the oil price-output relationship. There are changes in the way that the exogenous variables evolve. Two changes are important. First, oil supply variation has become moderate in recent years. Second, oil supply shortage is no longer followed by a large decline in TFP. We show that less volatile oil supply variation results in less negative oil price- output correlations, and a smaller TFP decline during oil supply shortfall implies a smaller output decline during oil price increases.Oil Price Accounting, DSGE Model, Total Factor Productivity (TFP)

Inventory-Theoretic Model of Money Demand, Multiple Goods, and Price Dynamics

Despite the theoretical prediction based on sticky-price models, it is empirically suggested that the tie between the frequencies of price adjustment across goods and the relative price responses of goods (price index of specific goods over non-durable aggregate price index) to a monetary policy change is limited.We offer an alternative view of the price dynamics of goods. We develop a multi-sector extension of an inventory-theoretic model of money demand (segmented market model). In our model, the diversity in the characteristics of goods, that is, durability, luxuriousness and cash intensity (the portion of the payment that is paid by cash in the purchase of goods), yields the dispersion of relative prices responses to a monetary policy shock, across goods. The model implies that the relative prices of durables, luxuries and less cash-intensive goods tend to decline in a monetary contraction. We test the empirical plausibility of our model, using two approaches: a measure of monetary policy shock developed by Romer and Romer (2004), and a factor-augmented VAR used in Bernanke et al. (2005). In both econometric methodologies, we find that the data are consistent with our model, in terms of durability and luxuriousness.Baumol-Tobin model, Durable; Luxury, Credit goods, Monetary policy

Productivity and Fiscal Policy in Japan: Short Term Forecasts from the Standard Growth Model

Japan is facing severe fiscal challenges. The aging of the population is projected to raise total pension and health expenditures. There is already a huge debt to output ratio which is the highest in advanced economies. In this paper we ask `if the consumption tax rate is raised to 15%, will there be a primary surplus, and what factors are important in achieving a fiscal balance?' Using the standard growth model 's simulations as `modern back-of-the-envelope' calculations, the quantitative findings indicate the critical need to contain government expenditures. Even an annual growth rate of 3% in GDP over the next 20 years may be insufficient to turn consistent primary surpluses, combined with a new consumption tax rate of 15%, unless prudent expenditure policies are implemented.Primary Balance, Fiscal Policy, Productivity, Growth Theory

The hepatic sympathetic nerve plays a critical role in preventing Fas induced liver injury in mice

Background: Although previous studies have shown that the hepatic sympathetic nerve controls various physiological functions in the liver, the role of this nerve in liver injury has yet to be clarified.Aims: The purpose of this study was to elucidate the role of this nerve, based on our newly developed technique for selectively removing the activities of the hepatic sympathetic nerve.Subjects and methods: Male C57BL/6 mice were operated on for hepatic sympathetic denervation. Thereafter, mice were intravenously administered 0.25 or 0.35 mg/g weight of the Fas agonist antibody, Jo-2, after which mortality by fulminant hepatitis was evaluated. Apoptosis in the liver was also examined by both terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP nick end labelling and caspase-3 assay.Results: Mortality in sympathectomised mice was significantly higher than that in sham operated mice following administration of Jo-2. This result was also supported by apoptosis data in which sympathectomised livers exhibited a significant elevation in the number of apoptotic hepatocytes and caspase-3 activity after Jo-2 treatment compared with sham operated livers. Moreover, pretreatment with norepinephrine dose dependently inhibited the hepatic sympathectomy induced increase in mortality after Jo-2 injection. Antiapoptotic protein levels of FLICE inhibitory protein, Bcl-xL, and Bcl-2 in the liver were significantly lower in sympathectomised mice at one and two hours following Jo-2 treatment than in sham operated animals. In addition, interleukin 6 supplementation dose dependently suppressed the hepatic sympathectomy induced increase in mortality after Jo-2 treatment.Conclusions: These results suggest that norepinephrine released from the hepatic sympathetic nerve plays a critical role in protecting the liver from Fas mediated fulminant hepatitis, possibly via mechanisms including antiapoptotic proteins and interleukin 6

Social disruption stress exacerbates alpha-galactosylceramide-induced hepatitis in mice

Objective: Psychosocial stress has been suggested as a possible aggravating factor in liver diseases, however, the underlying mechanism has yet to be clarified. Recently, our research revealed that electric foot-shock stress aggravated NK1.1 Ag+ T cell-dependent a-galactosylceramide (alpha-GalCer)-induced hepatitis in mice via a mechanism mediated by endogenous glucocorticoids. In this study, we examined whether or not such aggravation could be applied to a psychosocially stressful situation, e.g. social disruption stress. Methods: Male wildtype C57BL/6 (B6) or B6 hepatitis virus type B surface antigen transgenic (HBs-tg) mice, a hepatitis B virus carrier mouse model, were exposed 3 times in 1 week to social disruption stress in which an 8-month-old aggressive male intruder was placed into their home cage (5 mice per group) for 2 h. Twelve hours after the final exposure to the stress, the wild-type and HBs-tg mice were intravenously injected with alpha-GalCer. Results:The stress-exposed wild-type mice exhibited significantly reduced thymus weight loss compared with the control animals. Moreover, this stress regimen led to a significant increase in serum alanine aminotransferase levels in both the wild-type and the HBs-tg mice, although the increase in the HBs-tg mice was higher than that in the wild-type mice. Conclusion: These findings demonstrated that, similar to electric foot-shock stress, social disruption stress exacerbated alpha-GalCer-induced hepatitis. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel