New Forms of Government Intervention in the Era of Global Imbalances

The paper illustrates how the Government role has recently evolved, specifically focusing on the 2008 financial crisis. First, we analyze the Government responsibilities in triggering the crisis, by bloating the supply of credit. We discuss emerging countries\u2019 expansionary monetary policy, in many cases aimed at defending their export, thereby directing huge savings flows towards developed countries. We then expound the role of the US housing and monetary policies, as well as other countries\u2019 policies, particularly regarding financial deregulation. Second, we deal with some critical aspects of Governments\u2019 intervention in the aftermath of the crisis. We show the negative impact of a number of policies, particularly in the accounting field, which contributed to exacerbating the tendency to an inefficient allocation of the available capital, where an excessive weight has been placed on low-risk assets, resulting in a slowdown of economic growth. Finally, we use a simple game theoretic model to emphasize the need for an internationally coordinated financial regulation policy

Nuovi scenari di intervento pubblico nell\u2019epoca degli squilibri globali

L\u2019articolo illustra la recente evoluzione del ruolo dello Stato, con un particolare riferimento agli interventi pubblici in relazione alla crisi finanziaria scoppiata nel 2008. La prima parte analizza le responsabilit\ue0 dei Governi nell\u2019aver scatenato la crisi, ampliando l\u2019offerta di credito. Si esamina innanzitutto la politica monetaria dei Paesi emergenti, in molti casi, come quello cinese, finalizzata alla difesa delle esportazioni, con l\u2019effetto di generare imponenti flussi di risparmio destinati ai Paesi sviluppati. Si discute poi il ruolo delle politiche dei Paesi avanzati, e in particolare delle politiche monetaria e abitativa statunitensi, e della deregolamentazione finanziaria. La seconda parte tratta degli aspetti critici dell\u2019intervento pubblico in risposta alla crisi, evidenziando l\u2019impatto negativo di alcune politiche, in particolare di tipo contabile, che hanno contribuito ad esacerbare la tendenza al dirottamento di capitali verso impieghi inefficientemente poco rischiosi, con la conseguenza di rallentare la crescita economica. Infine, con l\u2019ausilio di un semplice modello di teoria dei giochi, si evidenzia la necessit\ue0 di una politica regolatoria coordinata fra i diversi Paesi, finalizzata a prevenire nuovi fenomeni di cris

Increased urinary volumes in symptomatic Ménière’s Disease

Objective. The purpose of the research is to test the measurement of the total urinary volume, induced by the diuretic osmotic action of mannitol, in a group of symptomatic MD patients and in healthy controls. Results. An altered excretory urinary volume after mannitol challenge was observed in symptomatic MD (874.3\u2009\ub1\u2009302.1) compared to healthy volunteers (361.7\u2009\ub1\u2009181.6) (p\u2009=\u20090.0001). This easy and self-administered method might be proposed to replace the analysis of the urinary sugars\u2019 concentration in symptomatic MD patients

Specializzazione produttiva e crescita: un'analisi mediante indicatori

Il paper analizza l\u2019evoluzione dei percorsi della specializzazione produttiva dell\u2019Italia e dei suoi principali partner commerciali (Francia, Germania e Stati Uniti). Nella sezione metodologica, \ue8 discussa l\u2019efficacia dell\u2019indice di Lafay quale indicatore di specializzazione. In tale prospettiva si propongono alcune modifiche ed integrazioni rispetto alla sua espressione originale, al fine di individuare aspetti specifici riferiti alla teoria dei vantaggi comparati. Si discutono infine alcune implicazioni empiriche, che confermano la specializzazione della manifattura italiana in settori low-tech; esse mostrano come, a differenza di gran parte degli altri Paesi sviluppati, l\u2019Italia sia specializzata in settori scarsamente coinvolti nell\u2019attuale tendenza verso la globalizzazione dei sistemi economici

Blood samples drawn for culture as a surrogate marker for case-mix adjustment of hospital antibiotic use.

Hospital antibiotic consumption is generally adjusted to occupancy. This study hypothesised that the number of blood culture samples could be a surrogate marker for case-mix adjustment. Antibiotic consumption was compared over 16 consecutive trimesters in one medical ward in terms of patient-days or blood culture samples. Compared with patient-days, measurement adjusted to blood culture samples detected three trimesters with an unusually high consumption, and one trimester with consumption falsely classified as high because of a high incidence of infections. Blood culture numbers enabled easy and accurate identification of periods with a drift in antibiotic consumption ina medical ward

TLEP, first step in a long-term vision for HEP

The discovery of H(126) has renewed interest in circular e+e- colliders that can operate as Higgs factories, which benefit from three unique characteristics: i) high luminosity and reliability, ii) the availability of several interaction points, iii) superior beam energy accuracy. TLEP is an e+e- storage ring of 80-km circumference that can operate with very high luminosity from the Z peak (90 GeV) to the top quark pair threshold (350 GeV). It can achieve transverse beam polarization at the Z peak and WW threshold, giving it unparalleled accuracy on the beam energy. A preliminary study indicates that an 80 km tunnel could be constructed around CERN. Such a tunnel would allow a 100 TeV proton-proton collider to be established in the same ring (VHE-LHC), offering a long term vision.Comment: This is a contribution to the the Snowmass process 2013: Frontier Capabilitie

A parallel Block Lanczos algorithm and its implementation for the evaluation of some eigenvalues of large sparse symmetric matrices on multicomputers

In the present work we describe HPEC (High Performance Eigenvalues Computation), a parallel software package for the evaluation of some eigenvalues of a large sparse symmetric matrix. It implements an efficient and portable Block Lanczos algorithm for distributed memory multicomputers. HPEC is based on basic linear algebra operations for sparse and dense matrices, some of which have been derived by ScaLAPACK library modules. Numerical experiments have been carried out to evaluate HPEC performance on a cluster of workstations with test matrices from Matrix Market and Higham’s collections. A comparison with a PARPACKroutine is also detailed. Finally, parallel performance is evaluated on random matrices, using standard parameters

State dependence in labor market fluctuations

This paper documents state dependence in labor market uctuations. Using a Threshold Vector Autoregression model (TVAR), we establish that the unemployment rate, the job separation rate, and the job finding rate exhibit a larger response to productivity shocks during periods with low aggregate productivity. A Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides model with endogenous job separation and on-the-job search replicates these empirical regularities well. We calibrate the model to match the standard deviation of the job-transition rates explained by productivity shocks in the TVAR, and show that the model explains 88 percent of the state dependence in the unemployment rate, 76 percent for the separation rate and 36 percent for the job finding rate. The key channel underpinning state dependence in both job separation and job finding rates is the interaction of the firm's reservation productivity level and the distribution of match-specific idiosyncratic productivity. Results are robust across several variations to the baseline model