There is no bank lending channel!

The bank lending channel (BLC) has found entrance into standard economic textbooks. But the approach, as presented by Bernanke and Blinder [1988] operates with lopsided loan demand, money demand and money supply functions. This invalidates the idea that potential changes in the supply of loans may impact on aggregate demand for goods and services. Above, a reduction of loans may restrict an individual investors, but the macroeconomic logic of the IS curve suggests that such a constraint is not binding. --

Drei Essays zum Bankkreditkanal

Monetary policy is commonly assumed to impact on commodity demand via relative prices. The bank lending channel (BLC) proposes an additional effect via the quantity of loans. This has found its way into economic textbooks, although it remains empirically controversial. I present various theoretical criticisms of the BLC and its building block, the formal model by Bernanke and Blinder (1988). This model operates with lopsided loan demand, money demand and money supply functions. The logic of the BLC is valid for individual investors who are affected by a cut in bank loans. For a whole sector with a given level of interest rates a reduction of loans does not however dry up investment, but only the holding of money. Since 1988 academics have been using model by Bernanke and Blinder as a work horse to empirically address the question of the quantitative relevance of the BLC. Cecchetti (1995) und Hubbard (1995) summarize the overall evolution of the controversial debate up to then. The data used for the research is mainly from the United States. In this literature review, I mainly focus on the next and more recent cohort of empirical investigations on the BLC in Europe that follow papers by Kashyap and Stein (1995, 2000) and Kishan and Opiela (2000) on U.S. transmission mechanisms. It is crucial that these authors are the first to address the question using individual bank balance sheet data for the U.S. Until now, empirical research has produced largely inconsistent results. This is more revealing as many of these investigations have deficiencies in controlling for other transmission channels that relate to relative prices. The debate on how monetary policy works has not ended: the BLC, which stresses the importance of potential changes in the supply of loans as a result of monetary policy, and its subsequent impact on aggregate demand, became prominent recently, but the concluding empirical evidence is absent. I attempt to contribute to this debate by conducting a cross-section and panel data analysis of developed and developing countries and by choosing the availability of bank loans as a dependent variable. The latter circumvents identification problems that appear when analyzing the response of aggregated bank loans to monetary policy changes. This evidence finds no support for the prediction of the BLC that there is an additional channel of monetary transmission mechanism

How Can We Advance Integrative Biology Research in Animal Science in 21st Century?:Experience at University of Ljubljana from 2002 to 2022

In this perspective analysis, we strive to answer the following question: how can we advance integrative biology research in the 21st century with lessons from animal science? At the University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Animal Science, we share here our three lessons learned in the two decades from 2002 to 2022 that we believe could inform integrative biology, systems science, and animal science scholarship in other countries and geographies. Cultivating multiomics knowledge through a conceptual lens of integrative biology is crucial for life sciences research that can stand the test of diverse biological, clinical, and ecological contexts. Moreover, in an era of the current COVID-19 pandemic, animal nutrition and animal science, and the study of their interactions with human health (and vice versa) through integrative biology approaches hold enormous prospects and significance for systems medicine and ecosystem health

A comparative analysis of different procedures for measuring speech recognition threshold in quiet

In Slovenia, the adapted Freiburg Monosyllabic Word Test (FT-SI) has been used to assess the communication function in an audiology patient. To measure the speech recognition threshold (SRT), the ascending procedure that is applied in FT-SI may be very time consuming. The aim of our study was to compare several adaptive procedures with the FT-SI ascending procedure. Based on the analysis of comprehensibility and commonness of stimuli used in FT-SI, the most appropriate words were selected and used in three adaptive procedures: two variants of a descending procedure, both recommended by the ISO 8523-3 standards for measuring an SRT, and the staircase method. On a normal-hearing sample (N = 36 in test measurement and N = 24 in retest measurement), comparable SRTs were obtained with the adaptive procedures, whereas the FT-SI ascending procedure yielded slightly higher SRTs. When a selected pool of words was used in FT-SI, SRTs became more comparable to the results of the adaptive methods. The study therefore showed that the pool of words used in FT-SI should be revised. Considering relatively short administration time, satisfactory convergent validity, precision and test-retest reliability, the staircase method seems to be the best alternative to the FT-SI ascending procedure

Development of speech processing tests

Govorna avdiometrija je danes eden od osnovnih in nujno potrebnih diagnostičnih pripomočkov pri ugotavljanju različnih ravni slušnega primanjkljaja. Z govorno avdiometrijo ugotavljamo kognitivne komponente (zaznavanje, prepoznavanje, razumevanje) govornih dražljajev, specifičnih za posamezne jezikovne skupine uporabnikov avdiometričnih storitev. V Sloveniji na otorinolaringoloških klinikah uporabljajo različico Freiburškega enozložnega govornega preizkusa, ki je z diagnostično metodološkega vidika nepopolna. Kvaliteta govornega materiala ni optimalna, fonetična struktura govornih dražljajev ni v celoti uravnotežena, posamezni dražljaji med seboj niso primerljivi po razumljivosti in razločnosti ter pogostosti uporabe v pogovornem jeziku, bistvena slabost preizkusa pa je, da zahteva veliko časa, zaradi česar je v diagnostične namene manj uporaben, saj prihaja pri udeležencih do utrujenosti, izmerjeni prag prepoznavanja govornih dražljajev pa v času ni najbolj stabilen. Namen raziskovalnega projekta je bil razviti (izpopolniti) govorno avdiometrični preizkus, ki bo časovno učinkovitejši in bo imel ustrezne merske lastnosti. Pri tem smo uporabili sodobno psihofizikalno metodologijo. Preverili smo ustreznost treh adaptivnih metod in semantične ter fonetične vidike uporabljenega govornega materiala. Za najustreznejši postopek za merjenje govornega razumevanja se je izkazala metoda stopnic. Rezultati projekta v prvi vrsti omogočajo izboljšanje natančnosti klinične diagnostike slušnih okvar. S tem so koristni za paciente, proizvajalce slušnih aparatov, zavode za zdravstveno varstvo in različne klinike, ki izvajajo govorno avdiometrijo, saj je zaradi boljše časovne ekonomičnosti možno preglede še učinkoviteje organizirati. Rezultati omogočajo natančno ter učinkovitejše načrtovanje in spremljanje rehabilitacije diagnosticiranih slušnih motenj.Speech audiometry is one of the basic and indispensable diagnostic instruments for assessing levels of hearing impairments. Speech audiometry is used to examine cognitive components (detection, recognition and comprehension) of speech material, specific to the language group of the patient. In Slovenia, the otorhinolaryngological clinics use a version of the Freiburg monosyllabic speech recognition test. This version has certain weaknesses from diagnostic and methodological point of view. The quality of adapted speech material is far from optimal, the phonetic structure of speech material is not perfectly balanced, and the used monosyllabic words are not comparable in comprehensiveness, discriminability, and the frequency of use in everyday language. The basic drawback of the test is that it is time consuming, which results in fatigue and large variation of the measured speech recognition thresholds within and across the measurement sessions. The purpose of the research project was to develop (improve) speech audiometry tests in order to provide faster and more efficient testing. Test development was based on contemporary psychophysical methodology. Three adaptive methods were examined, and semantic and phonetic aspects of speech material were improved. The staircase method proved to be the most appropriate alternative to the Freiburg test. The results of the project enable clinical diagnostics of speech impairments to be more accurate, which has positive consequences for patients, producers of digital hearing aids, public health institutions, and clinics where speech audiometry services are offered. With the new procedure patient examinations can be less time consuming and more efficiently organised, and the rehabilitation of hearing impairments can be more effectively planned and monitored

Additional file 1 of Emergency physician personnel crisis: a survey on attitudes of new generations in Slovenia

Supplementary Material