169 research outputs found
101 Proposals to reform the Stability and Growth Pact. Why so many? A Survey
Get PDFThe failure of key EU Member States to respect the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) a few years after its inception triggered a heated debate on how to reform the framework of fiscal policy coordination in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). This paper systematically analyzes 101 reform proposals presented by professional academic and non-academic economists prior to March 2005, when the Council of the European Union adopted a revised version of the SGP. Each proposal is characterized by a set of variables reflecting features such as the degree of modification of the SGP, the background of its author(s), the main aim attached to fiscal policy coordination in the EMU, the timing of the proposal and the type of proposal made. Using multivariate statistical analysis, roughly four different schools of thought concerning the reform of the SGP are identified. In line with the main findings of the political economy literature, all four schools of thought share the view that in the absence of specific rules fiscal policy would lead to excessive deficits and hence affect the conduct of the common monetary policy. However, beyond this common denominator, there is no consensus on how best to co-ordinate fiscal policy.Several explanations for the multitude of proposals are presented, the most important being the present lack of a consensus in the economics profession concerning the role of fiscal policy.Monetary union, euro, fiscal policy, Stability and Growth Pact, international policy coordination, EMU, European Union, Europe, Fischer, Jonung, Larch
Sucessão geracional planejada (SGP): abordagem qualitativa da SGP em pequenas empresas familiares de serviços automotores em ciudad juárez, Chihuahua , México
Get PDFA planned generational succession (PGS) in small family businesses is a broadly studied issue due to the critical economic and social effects derived from this process, especially in emergent economies such as Mexico, where many enterprises are family-owned. Based on a literature review, and recapping the planned generational succession model —which integrates key features for the continuity of family businesses, i.e., ownership, management, work, culture, and intergenerationality, composed by factors from two dimensions: objective and subjective—, the author developed a qualitative study through 20 in-depth interviews to owners of small family businesses in the automotive service sector in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua (Mexico). Results contrast the model with the evidence obtained from interviewees, concluding that there is an adequate planning framework to successfully conduct generational succession in small family enterprises.La sucesión generacional planificada (sgp) en pequeñas empresas familiares es ya un tema bastamente estudiado debido al proceso crítico de importantes efectos económicos y sociales negativos que representa, especialmente en países de economías emergentes como México, donde un gran porcentaje de las empresas son familiares. A partir de una revisión de la literatura, y retomando el modelo de sucesión generacional planificada —que integra los rasgos determinantes de la continuidad de la empresa familiar: la propiedad, la conducción, el trabajo, la cultura y la intergeneracionalidad, compuestos por factores provenientes de una dimensión objetiva y otra subjetiva—, se condujo una aproximación cualitativa por medio de entrevistas a profundidad a 20 propietarios de pequeñas empresas familiares de servicio automotriz en Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. La investigación contrasta el modelo con las evidencias encontradas en los comentarios vertidos por los entrevistados, concluyendo que se cuenta con un marco para planificar adecuadamente y conducir exitosamente la sucesión generacional en pequeñas empresas familiares.A sucessão geracional planejada (SGP) em pequenas empresas familiares é um tema já muito estudado devido ao processo crítico de importantes efeitos econômicos e sociais negativos que representa, especialmente em países de economias emergentes como México, onde grande parte das empresas são familiares. A partir de uma revisão da literatura e da retomada do modelo de SGP — que integra os traços determinantes da continuidade da empresa familiar (a propriedade, a direção, o trabalho, a cultura e a intergeracionalidade), compostos de fatores provenientes de uma dimensão objetiva e outra subjetiva —, uma abordagem qualitativa foi realizada por meio de entrevistas a profundidade com 20 proprietários de pequenas empresas familiares de serviço automotor em Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México. Na pesquisa, contrasta-se o modelo com as evidências encontradas nos comentários dos entrevistados, concluindo que se conta com um referencial para planejar adequadamente e dirigir com sucesso a sucessão geracional em pequenas empresas familiares
Future Foreign Language Teachers’ Intercultural Competence
Get PDFThere is a lack of research regarding the implications for foreign language study and intercultural competence. Scholars suggest that foreign language proficiency plays a role in cultivating intercultural competence, but agree that there is a lack of empirical evidence supporting this notion. Research also shows that foreign language teachers are ethnocentric. Many educators and foreign language programs use a framework developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language (ACTFL) to promote language learning. This framework also possesses key elements in promoting intercultural competence. This study addressed whether a pre-service, ACTFL-guided teaching component of the curriculum had an influence on the intercultural competence of seven student teachers from a master’s large institution in the Midwestern U.S. The intercultural competence was scored using the Cross Cultural Adaptability Inventory as an assessment tool. The findings revealed no significant differences in their levels, but did find differences in how the correlations within intercultural competence’s different dimensions interconnected. The conclusions indicate connections to student development theory and recommendations for further study
Peer monitoring and its capacity to deal with negative effects of moral hazard: An explorative case study of the Stability Growth Pact
No full textThis report studies whether the peer monitoring arrangement in the Stability Growth Pact (SGP) can decrease negative effects of moral hazard. Theory argues that peer monitoring can reduce moral hazard issues, because peers have the same kind of knowledge and expertise. Peers are therefore less hampered by information asymmetry as apposed to a vertical regulator. Moreover, peers are argued to be willing to regulate one another, as they share risks. However, based on an institutional analysis and a case study, this research project shows that these assumptions are not true for the case of the SGP. Strategic behaviour of peers reduces the willingness and creates information asymmetry. As a result, the peer monitoring arrangement in the SGP has a limited ability to decrease the negative effects of moral hazard. To improve the effectiveness of this peer monitoring arrangement this reports argues to implement more checks and balances so that peers have less opportunity to replace regulatory procedures with political games.System Engineering Policy Analysis and ManagementPolicy, Organisation, Law and GamingTechnology, Policy and Managemen
This is not your mother’s terrorism: social media, online radicalization and the practice of political jamming
No full textIt is commonly recognized that social media presents vast new opportunities for terrorist groups seeking to radicalize audiences. However, few scholars have studied the actual mechanisms by which radicalizing messages are delivered to those audiences. Within this paper, the author explores one key aspect of the phenomenon of ‘jihadi cool’ – that is, the rendering of pro-Islamic terrorism into something hip and trendy among online audiences. Discussed is the use of political jamming: a subversive, satirical activity that draws on humor to reinforce ideological messages. The opportunity for countering these messages through the same technique is also considered.Publisher PD
Temperatures of Desire: 37.6 Degrees Celsius. The Thermometer in Thomas Mann’s Novel “The Magic Mountain”
Get PDFThe Magic Mountain (1924) relates an account of erotic passion. Both Hans Castorp’s emotional state and the object of his desire are characterised in a thermographic manner. The thermometer, which he buys (or, rather, acquires), is at once a Dingsymbol part of the discourse of desire and a real object common in tuberculosis sanatoria prior to the First World War. Castorp’s temperature of 37.6 degrees Celsius objectively quantifies his subjective sensibility. This specific constellation creates ironic dis-tance in the novel’s tale.The Magic Mountain (1924) relates an account of erotic passion. Both Hans Castorp’s emotional state and the object of his desire are characterised in a thermographic manner. The thermometer, which he buys (or, rather, acquires), is at once a Dingsymbol part of the discourse of desire and a real object common in tuberculosis sanatoria prior to the First World War. Castorp’s temperature of 37.6 degrees Celsius objectively quantifies his subjective sensibility. This specific constellation creates ironic dis-tance in the novel’s tale
The strain-generated electrical potential in cartilaginous tissues: a role for piezoelectricity
Get PDF© 2021, The Author(s). The strain-generated potential (SGP) is a well-established mechanism in cartilaginous tissues whereby mechanical forces generate electrical potentials. In articular cartilage (AC) and the intervertebral disc (IVD), studies on the SGP have focused on fluid- and ionic-driven effects, namely Donnan, diffusion and streaming potentials. However, recent evidence has indicated a direct coupling between strain and electrical potential. Piezoelectricity is one such mechanism whereby deformation of most biological structures, like collagen, can directly generate an electrical potential. In this review, the SGP in AC and the IVD will be revisited in light of piezoelectricity and mechanotransduction. While the evidence base for physiologically significant piezoelectric responses in tissue is lacking, difficulties in quantifying the physiological response and imperfect measurement techniques may have underestimated the property. Hindering our understanding of the SGP further, numerical models to-date have negated ferroelectric effects in the SGP and have utilised classic Donnan theory that, as evidence argues, may be oversimplified. Moreover, changes in the SGP with degeneration due to an altered extracellular matrix (ECM) indicate that the significance of ionic-driven mechanisms may diminish relative to the piezoelectric response. The SGP, and these mechanisms behind it, are finally discussed in relation to the cell response
Mickiewicz's words in Słownik gwar polskich by Jan Karłowicz
No full textThe article focuses on the lexical heritage of Adam Mickiewicz in Słownik gwar polskich (SGP) - Vocabulary of
Polish Dialects. The heritage includes the following items: borowik, chołodziec, chrapy, czmychać, grankulka, hlak,
hnilica, huślica, kucja, lisiczki, otawa, ożyna, paciorka, paliwoda, pastka, świerzop and the proper name Dumouriez
’Dymulier’. On the basis of the content analysis of key articles in SGP the author established several reasons for
Karlowicz’s reference to the poet’s literary pieces: 1. To document folk (communal), and even more frequently,
provincial character of a given name, 2. To supplement and specify Mickiewicz’s meanings, or clarify meanings which
are not context-bound in the poet’s works 3. To document words associated with Mickiewicz in the popular perception
and 4. To use the poet’s authority and emphasise his influence on the lexical scope of Polish language. The grounds
for the formulated hypotheses comprise sample documentation, analyses of the methods of using exemplifying material
from Mickiewicz by SGP author and semantic convergence and word meaning differences in the poet’s works and the SGP
material
The Stability and Growth Pact - Not the best but better than nothing. Reviewing the debate on fiscal policy in Europe's Monetary Union
Get PDFThis paper aims to review the economic literature on the Maastricht deficit rule and the Stability and Growth Pact. The author tries to expose the contradictions and inconclusiveness of the debate, highlighting both the criticism and the defense of the fiscal policy regime in EMU. The paper is non-technical and seeks to provide an overview for a readership outside the economics profession. The concluding judgment is that the pact can be criticized on a number of grounds, but that the lack of a politically feasible alternative makes it a second best solution that should not be undermined in the present crisis. -- Dieses Papier ist eine summarische Auswertung der wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fachliteratur zur Defizitregel des Maastrichter Vertrages und dem Europäischen Stabilitäts- und Wachstumspakt. Der Autor versucht, Widersprüche und fehlenden Konsens der Debatte darzustellen, indem die Argumente für und gegen das fiskalpolitische Regime der Währungsunion einander gegenübergestellt werden. Der Aufsatz ist nicht technisch und dient dem Zugang einer an der Materie interessierten, aber wirtschaftstheoretisch nicht vorgebildeten Leserschaft. Das abschließende Urteil sieht den Pakt als in einer Reihe von Punkten kritikwürdiges Provisorium an, das jedoch mangels einer realisierbaren Alternative nicht ausgehebelt werden sollte.
The Sonic Gathering Place Installation, Melbourne: User Experience and Post-Hoc Assessment of Sound Levels
Get PDFThe Sonic Gathering Place (SGP) - designed in a research project by the second author - is an urban furniture installation constructed in an RMIT University courtyard. It consists of a 6.5m diameter annular seating arrangement with planter boxes. Speakers in the SGP reproduce natural sounds recorded in four national parks where the plants are native species. The design of the SGP, the field recordings in the national parks, and the sound reproduction system, are described elsewhere. This paper focuses on two aspects of the SGP, as installed. Firstly, it reports user's enjoyment of the SGP and their opinions regarding the effectiveness of this biophilic sound design in: encouraging them to stop and listen; providing the restorative effects experienced in nature; and by confirming their accord that the sounds, recorded in nature, complemented the plantings. Some methodological triangulation of these results is provided by the length of time users chose to spend at the SGP (median and modal durations of visits were 10 to 15 minutes) and their reports of being engaged, while there, in passive or reflexive pursuits. Secondly, this paper reports the levels of the background sounds at the installation site, and the levels that users would experience at the SGP during playback of the introduced sounds. This was a post-hoc examination of levels, as measurement had no role in the designer's determination of the playback levels of the natural sounds. Playback levels had been set through trial-and-error during SGP installation to achieve the designer's biophilic design intentions. The introduced sound levels proved to be only marginally louder than sound levels that existed before the installation. This information may provide useful guidance for further installations that include sound in their design and aid in the selection of sites where sound designs may prove attractive to users.Full Tex
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