Does Export Pricing Explain ‘Fear of Floating’ in Small Open Emerging Market Economies?

Trade data on East Asian EMEs shows the predominant use of Dollar Currency Pricing (DCP). Using a DSGE model with six-stage vertical production chain, staggered prices, and cross-border trade in intermediate inputs, we aim to provide an alternative explanation for ‘fear of floating’ by EMEs. We examine interactions between firms’ pricing rules and the transmission of external shocks under different exchange rate regimes. We find that weak input substitution and DCP of exports eliminate expenditure-switching and the allocative role of exchange rate adjustment, resulting in ‘exchange rate disconnect’, and hence ‘fear of floating’ by EMEs.Vertical production chain; Staggered price contracts; Input Substitution; External Currency Pricing; Monetary Policy

Openness and Growth: The Long Shadow of the Berlin Wall

The question whether international openness causes higher domestic growth has been subject to intense discussions in the empirical growth literature. This paper addresses this issue using the fall of the Berlin wall in 1990 as a natural experiment. We analyze whether the slow-down in convergence in per capita income between East and West Germany since the mid-1990s and the lower international openness of East Germany are linked. We address the endogeneity of openness by adapting the methodology proposed by Frankel and Romer (1999) in a panel framework. We instrument openness with time-invariant exogenous geographic variables and time-varying exogenous policy variables. We also distinguish different channels of integration. Our paper has three main findings. First, geographic variables have a significant impact on regional openness. Second, controlling for geography, East German states are less integrated into international markets along all dimensions of integration considered. Third, the degree of openness for trade has a positive impact on regional income per capita.openness, growth, German re-unification

Charge response function and a novel plasmon mode in graphene

Polarizability of non-interacting 2D Dirac electrons has a 1/\sqrt{qv-\omega} singularity at the boundary of electron-hole excitations. The screening of this singularity by long-range electron-electron interactions is usually treated within the random phase approximation. The latter is exact only in the limit of N -> infinity, where N is the ``color'' degeneracy. We find that the ladder-type vertex corrections become crucial close to the threshold as the ratio of the n-th order ladder term to the same order RPA contribution is (\ln|qv-\omega|)^n/N^n$. We perform analytical summation of the infinite series of ladder diagrams which describe excitonic effect. Beyond the threshold, qv>\omega, the real part of the polarization operator is found to be positive leading to the appearance of a strong and narrow plasmon resonance.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures,typos correcte

Trade's Impact on the Labor Share: Evidence from German and Italian Regions

Has the labor share declined? And what is the impact of international trade? These questions are not only relevant in an international context they also matter for understanding the regional distribution of incomes in a given country. In this paper, we study two regions with trade exposures that differ from the rest of the country, and which display distinct changes in the labor share. East German and Southern Italian regions have a degree of international openness which is below the countries’ averages. At the same time, there has been a more pronounced decline in the labor share in East Germany than in West Germany. In Southern Italy, the labor share has increased in recent years. We show that increased trade openness is not the main culprit behind changing labor shares.labor share, trade, regions

Otoritas Wahyu dan Kreativitas Akal dalam Penetapan Hukum Islam (Tinjauan Epistemologis terhadap Hukum Islam)

Penelitian ini bet'tujuan menelaah adanya kreativitas akal dalam penetapan hukum Islam yang bersumber dati ototitas wahyu Tuhan, baik yang langsung teredaksikan dalam AI-Quran, maupun dalam Hadits Nabi. Penelitian berangkat dari permasalahan bahwa hukum Islam bersumbet· dati wahyu Tuhan yang sifatnya mutlak. Di sisi lain produk hukum tersebut dipemntukkan bagi manusia dengan segenap kemampuan akalnya. Maka, bagaimana keduanya dikompromikan. Hipotesisnya adalah bahwa hukum Islam sebenarnya mempakan sistem ilmu yang bersumber datiototitas wahyu, namun demikian kreativitas akal mengambil peran interpretasi dan rekonstmksi dalam pembakuannya.Penelitian dilakukan dengan cara menempatkan hukum Islam sebagai objek yang ditelaah, dan epistemologi atau filsafat pengetahuan menjadi sudut pandangnya. Dalam proses analisis ini unsur metodis penelitian filsafat seperti diskriptif, analisis, dan sintesis dipergunakan.Istimbath hukum Islam pada hakikatnya adalah proses pemahaman akal terhadap firman Tuhan. Sebagai sebuah ciptaan Tuhan, hukum Islam memuat ptinsipptinsip atura'n yang sifatnya tetap dan abadi, namun pengakuan terhadap eksistensi akal menjamin pelaksanaannya bersifat fleksibel. Pada wilayah inilah fiqh dipahami sebagai wujud upaya ilmiah manusia untuk mengkaji dan menyusun ptinsip-prinsip Tuhan itu ke dalam sistem hukum yang manusiawi. Kreativitas akal (ar-rayu) dipergunakanansebagai sumber pengetahuan hukum Islam ketiga setelah sumber utamasecara hatfiah tidak memuat ketentuan hukum yang diperlukan. Ar-ra'yu dibutuhkan untuk mengetahui hukum yang tersirat di Balik suatu redaksi AI-Quran yang memerlukan pengkajian lebih, mendalam. Latar belakang dari diakuinya peranan akal ini adalah Kenyataan berkembangnya kehidupan masyarakat yang diikuti oleh berbagai permasalahan hidup yang tidak ditemui jawabannya secara halfiah dalam AI-Quran maupun AI-Hadits

Assessment The Agricultural Student's Attitudes Towards Organic Farming (Case of Iran)

A surveying research was conducted to study and recognize the knowledge and attitude of students toward organic farming at three universities of Iran in 2010. Our consumption patterns and environmental behaviors are rooted in long lived practices and habits. Social norms and values are among the factors that determine what we buy or what we think about organic products. As they are largely unconscious it is difficult to change them. Students are the agriculturist of tomorrow; therefore policies aimed at developing organic farming should address the needs of this group. To discover agriculturist's knowledge organic farming, a survey among 100 agricultural students was conducted. Questionnaire was used to examine students’ knowledge regarding organic farming. Finding is shown that agriculturist's awareness towards organic farming are low, especially in Pests management and Organic product standards aspect. The result of factor analysis showed that nine factors named as concepts, Nutrient safety and security, Organic farming economic, Organic farming extension, Social issue, fertility, Pests management, Environment safety, Organic product standard explained 73.71% of total variance that the first factor accounts for 11.98% of the variance, the second 10.954%, the third 9.191%, the fourth 8.505%, the fifth 8.426%, the sixth 7.536%, the seventh 7.015%, the eighth 5.746% and the ninth 4.364%. In conclusion, to enhance student knowledge about organic farming, it is important that curriculum develops for familiar student with organic farming practices and concepts such as: ecological equilibrium, agro ecosystem sustainability, new technology and indigenous knowledge, nutrition value, human safety, favorite yield production, soil structure improvement, erosion reduces and etc

PENINGKATAN NILAI IMMERSIVE PADA PENJUALAN RUMAH BERBASIS VIRTUAL REALITY

Immersive is a term for the boundary between the physical world and the virtual world that allows users to have the same experience in the virtual world as in the real world through the technology that has been provided. In general, the simulation process is divided into three stages, namely Pre-Processing, Processing and Post-Processing. In the implementation of the prototype test, each respondent was given guidance on the use of the Oculus Headset and what tasks they had to do while in the virtual environment. Data collection is obtained from the results of filling out the respondent's questionnaire which is given when the respondent has finished trying the home tour prototype in an interval of 5 - 10 with the task according to the contents of the questionnaire. The results of the immersive level obtained based on tests that have been carried out in VR get a result of 71.67%. Thus the results of the calculation between the brochure and the immersive questionnaire have increased by 1.67% with Good criteria

PERANAN SEKTOR PERTANIAN TERHADAP PEREKONOMIAN INDONESIA BERDASARKAN PADA LUAS PANEN KOMODITAS PADI, PRODUKSI PADI, AREAL PERTANIAN, DAN INVESTASI SEKTOR PERTANIAN

Sektor Pertanian sebagai sektor yang menjadi tumpuan hidup (pekerjaan primer) mayoritas peenduduk Indonesia, sumber pangan publik dan sektor yang berperan penting dalam mempengaruhi stabilitas perekonomian nasional, maka berbagai upaya dilakukan untuk dapat mendorong iklim yang kondusif bagi perkembangan investasi sektor ini. Peningkatan investasi sektor ini tidak memberikan efek negatif ke depan seperti yang potensial dilakukan oleh sektor-sektor lain. Berbagai faktor ekonomi makro diduga mempengaruhi investasi pada sektor industri pertanian. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui pengaruh luas panen komoditas padi, produksi padi, areal pertanian, investasi sektor pertanian terhadap produk domestik bruto pertanian di Indonesia tahun 1980 - 2006. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan model yang digunakan adalah model PAM (Partial Adjustment Model). Hasil estimasi dengan menggunakan program SPSS 16 didapatkan bahwa pada uji t menunjukkan bahwa variabel investasi sektor pertanian dan produk domestik bruto pertanian tahun sebelumnya mempunyai pengaruh signifikan terhadap produk domestik bruto pertanian, sedang variabel luas panen komoditas padi, produksi padi, areal pertanian tidak mempunyai pengaruh signifikan. Dari hasil estimasi R2 diperoleh hasil sebesar 0,995 yang berarti bahwa 99,5% variasi produk domestik bruto pertanian dapat diterangkan oleh variasi dari variabel luas panen komoditas padi, produksi padi, areal pertanian, investasi sektor pertanian. Sementara sisanya sekitar 0,50% dijelaskan oleh variasi variabel lain di luar model. Pada uji F diketahui probabilitas Fhitung = 0,000 0,05. Simpulan Ho ditolak, sehingga model eksis. Dalam uji asumsi klasik, untuk uji multikolinieritas dengan uji Klein tidak ada masalah karena dalam perhitungan didapat nilai dari R2 > Ri2. Untuk uji normalitas nilai Jarque Bera sebesar 4,592 lebih kecil dibandingkan dari χ2 (0,05;2) sebesar 5,991 sehingga disimpulkan distribusi Ut normal. Untuk uji heteroskedastisitas dengan uji Rank Spaerman, hanya variabel areal pertanian yang tidak ada masalah heteroskedastisitasnya. Sedang untuk uji autokorelasi dengan uji Breusch-Godfrey didapatkan nilai χ2 = (n-p)R2 = 10,318 sedang nilai χ2 tabel (0,05;5) = 11,070 hal ini berarti nilai χ2 hitung lebih kecil daripada χ2 tabel maka dapat disimpulkan bahwa model tidak ditemukan masalah autokorelasi