Fueling sustainable development: The energy productivity solution

The booklet describes the mounting policy and business concerns surrounding the supply of energy and argues that the most cost-effective way to address these concerns is through improving energy productivity and adopting existing energy-efficient technologies that pay for themselves in future energy savings. The document supports the role of public policy in encouraging consumers and businesses to capture the benefits of higher energy productivity

c-Abl and Src-family kinases cross-talk in regulation of myeloid cell migration

AbstractCytoskeleton dynamics are regulated by Src-family tyrosine kinases (SFKs) and c-Abl. We found that the SFK members Hck and c-Fgr regulate tyrosine phosphorylation of c-Abl and c-Abl associates with β1 integrin-bound Hck or c-Fgr in murine macrophages. Studies with selective inhibitors and cells from SFK-deficient mice showed that c-Abl and SFK regulate migration and activation of the small GTPases Cdc42 and Rac in macrophages. Additionally, human neutrophil chemotactic activity was reduced by c-Abl inhibitors, and neutrophils from chronic myeloid leukaemia patients displayed an increased chemotactic ability. Hence, Src-family kinase and c-Abl cross-talk in the regulation of myeloid cell migration.Structured summaryMINT-7296608: Integrin beta-1 (uniprotkb:P09055) physically interacts (MI:0914) with Hck (uniprotkb:P08103), Abl (uniprotkb:P00520) and Fgr (uniprotkb:P14234) by anti bait coimmunoprecipitation (MI:0006) MINT-7296596: Integrin beta-1 (uniprotkb:P09055) physically interacts (MI:0914) with Fgr (uniprotkb:P14234) and Abl (uniprotkb:P00520) by anti bait coimmunoprecipitation (MI:0006

Briefing: Infrastructure business models, valuation and innovation for local delivery

The UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council have launched a £3·5 million, 4-year research programme to develop innovative business models for delivering infrastructure. Richard Dawson, Claire Walsh, Phil Purnell and Chris Rogers introduce infrastructure business models, valuation and innovation for local delivery (iBUILD). A growing population, extreme weather, decarbonisation, a proliferation of new technologies and their integration with ageing, existing systems are just some of the pressures on modern infrastructure. Unfortunately, the rate of investment in infrastructure has not kept up with the pace of change, and this is further complicated by fragmented, often reactive, regulation and governance arrangements. The UK Treasury Select Committee noted that existing infrastructure business models provide poor value (HM Treasury, 2011), but few alternatives are available; a point picked up by Infrastructure UK (Infrastructure UK, 2011) who called for research centres to be founded to address this. The iBUILD Centre will address this through development of a suite of alternative infrastructure business models, ranging from reforms to existing approaches to radical new models, each enabling more effective delivery of local infrastructures

Boom, slump, sudden stops, recovery, and policy options. Portugal and the Euro

Over the past 20 years, Portugal has gone through a boom, a slump, a sud- den stop, and now a recovery. Unemployment has decreased, but remains high, and output is still far below potential. Competitiveness has improved, but more is needed to keep the current account in check as the economy recovers. Private and public debt are high, both legacies of the boom, the slump and the sudden stop. Productiv- ity growth remains low. Because of high debt and low growth, the recovery remains fragile. We review the history and the main mechanisms at work. We then review a number of policy options, from fiscal consolidation to fiscal expansion, cleaning up of non-performing loans, labor market reforms, product market reforms, and euro exit. We argue that at this point, the main focus of macroeconomic policy should be twofold. The first is the treatment of non-performing loans, the second is product market reforms and reforms aimed at increasing micro-flexibility in the labor market. Symmetrically, we also argue that at this point, some policies would be undesirable, among them faster fiscal consolidation, measures aimed at decreasing nominal wages and prices, and euro exit.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

African Dreams: Locating Urban Infrastructure in the 2030 Sustainable Developmental Agenda

This paper examines African urban infrastructure and service delivery as an entry point for connecting African aspirations with the harsh developmental imperatives of urban management, creating a dialogue between scholarly knowledge and sustainable development policy aspirations. We note a shift to multi-nodal urban governance and highlight the significance of the synthesis of social, economic and ecological values in a normative vision of what an African metropolis might aspire to by 2030. The sustainable development vision provides a useful stimulus for Africa’s urban poly-crisis, demanding fresh interdisciplinary and normatively explicit thinking, grounded in a practical and realistic understanding of Africa’s infrastructure and governance challenges

How different are the wage curves for formal and informal workers? Evidence from Turkey

This paper estimates wage curves for formal and informal workers using a rich individual level data for Turkey over the period 2005–2009. The wage curve is an empirical regularity describing a negative relationship between regional unemployment rates and individuals' real wages. While this relationship has been well documented for a number of countries including Turkey, less attention has focused on how this relationship differs for informal versus formal employment. This is of utmost importance for less developed countries where informal employment plays a significant role in the economy. Using the Turkish Household Labour Force Survey observed over 26 NUTS 2 regions, we find that real hourly wages of informal workers in Turkey are more sensitive to variations in regional unemployment rates than wages of formal workers. This is true for all workers as well as for different gender and age groups

Geographic Concentration in Indian Manufacturing and Service Industries: Evidence from 1998 – 2013

This paper uses a comprehensive new data source to document basic facts about geographicconcentration among industries in India from 1998 to 2013. Unlike previous studies, our dataallow us to accurately measure industrial concentration at the district level and covermanufacturing and services, as well as the formal and informal sectors. Our most strikingfinding is that average levels of industrial concentration fell dramatically between 1998 and2013, driven by steep reductions in capital-intensive manufacturing industries. We providesuggestive evidence that this increasing dispersion may be due to improvements ininterregional transportation coupled with inefficient land management policies and limitedlabor mobility