602 research outputs found
Oil price instability, hedging, and an oil stabilization fund : the case of Venezuela
No full textThe Venezuelan government and PDVSA (Venezuela's state oil companies) are both exposed to oil price instability. Given the existing tax structure, PDVSA has a higher exposure than the government, especially when prices drop below $18-20 a barrel. The authors show that the volatility of prices for crude oil is higher (but not significant) than the volatility of prices for refined oil products. And both prices are highly correlated. So, there is not much strength to the argument that Venezuela, being now mainly an exporter of refined products, faces less volatility than when it was exporting mainly crude oil. The basis risk for hedging Venezuelan crude oil was founded to be higher than for other crudes of comparable quality in the region. One explanation could be the pricing policies Venezuela follows, which leads Venezuelan crude oil prices to deviate for long periods from international prices. The basis risk in Venezuelan refined products is much lower and at acceptable levels for risk management. The issue of liquidity is concentrated in contracts for periods of less than a year. For products, the liquidity is concentrated in the nearest 4-5 months. So, for short-term hedges (6-9 months ahead), there is sufficient liquidity for Venezuela to hedge a substantial part of its exports. For longer-term hedges, the over-the-counter market is the more appropriate vehicle. In either case, it will not usually be the case that all production or exports should be hedged. The authors also examined the issue of an oil stabilization fund. For an oil stabilization fund to be effective several preconditions must be met. Most notably: oil prices should not follow a random walk; financial markets are incomplete; and there are large adjustment costs. These conditions do likely apply in Venezuela. Venezuela's best strategy would be to remove as much short-term oil price risk as possible by using short-dated hedging instruments (such as futures, options, or short-dated swaps) and to also do some longer term hedging (using mainly over-the-counter options and long-dated swaps). They also find that an oil stabilization fund should be complemented by using market-based risk management tools. The oil stabilization fund could then be used to manage any remaining interperiod oil price risk to the extent considered necessary.Markets and Market Access,Environmental Economics&Policies,Oil Refining&Gas Industry,Energy and Environment,Energy Demand
Corrigendum: CT Angiography or Cardiac MRI for Detection of Coronary Artery Aneurysms in Kawasaki Disease (Frontiers in Pediatrics, (2021), 9, (630462), 10.3389/fped.2021.630462)
No full textAn author name was incorrectly spelled as Diana van Stijn-Bringas Dimitriades. The correct spelling is Diana van Stijn. The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated
Correction to: Coronary artery assessment in Kawasaki disease with dual-source CT angiography to uncover vascular pathology (European Radiology, (2020), 30, 1, (432-441), 10.1007/s00330-019-06367-6)
No full textThe original version of this article, published on 19 August 2019, unfortunately contained a mistake. The following correction has therefore been made in the original: The author name D. van Stijn–Bringas Dimitriades was changed to D. van Stijn. The corrected author list is given above. The original article has been corrected
Banking reform in transition countries
No full textIn reforming the financial sector in transition economies, one important debate is whether governments should try to reform existing state-owned banks (the rehabilitation approach) or whether a new private banking system should be allowed to emerge (a new entry approach). Or should there be a mix of the two approaches, in which the state bank activities are restricted while a parallel private banking system develops? The authors'cross-country comparison of banks'institutional development in 25 transitional economies suggests that progress can be faster under the new entry approach, especiallyrelative to initial conditions. Progress under the rehabilitation approach appears to be inhibited by poor incentives. In most countries, even those with a good banking infrastructure and a large segment of good banks, a two track process has evolved, with differences between weak and strong banks. Weak banks have moved little beyond central planning. Regression estimates suggest that slow progress of weak banks is associated with: cover concentration, government preferential treatment, and limited new banks entry. The causality direction is often unclear. Policies and structural conditions can affect bank quality. The role of banks will remain limited in many transition economies due to weak legal infrastructures, much uncertainty and inside information, and problems associated with highly leveraged financial intermediaries - including fraud, political interference, and implicit guarantees. In the short run, self-finance and intermediation among enterprises and through nonbank financial institutions may prevail.Financial Intermediation,Banks&Banking Reform,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Municipal Financial Management,Banks&Banking Reform,Financial Intermediation,Financial Crisis Management&Restructuring,Municipal Financial Management,Settlement of Investment Disputes
Revenue-productive income tax structures and tax reforms in emerging market economies - evidence from Bulgaria
No full textUsing a household budget survey for 1992, The author shows the poor revenue performance and distributional impact of Bulgaria's personal income tax system. He explores the implications for revenue and income distribution of two alternative tax systems - a flat tax and a progressive but simpler three-brackets tax system. He demonstrates that simpler tax structures with lower tax rates could achieve at least equal revenue and distributional objectives and are superior in terms of efficiency and equity. (The findings are robust when Bulgaria's significant tax evasion is included). But tax changes since 1992 have, if anything, moved Bulgaria even further from a simple income tax system: the number of rates and brackets increased from 7 to 10, and the levels of exemption remain unchanged. (Complex, higher rates complicate administration and enforcement and provide incentives for tax evasions. And in the alternative systems the author explores, the poor are protected with higher exemptions.) Fortunately, the country's personal income tax structure began to move toward less nominal progressivity after Bulgaria's 1997 tax reform program. The tax rate in thetop income bracket was reduced from 52 percent to 40 percent, the number of tax brackets was halved, and the exemption level was increased 20 percent (reducing tax burdens on the poor).Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Regional Governance,Tax Policy and Administration,Economic Theory&Research,Governance Indicators,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Tax Policy and Administration
IR Reflectography and Active Thermography on Artworks: The Added Value of the 1.5–3 µm Band
No full textInfrared Radiation (IR) artwork inspection is typically performed through active thermography and reflectography with different setups and cameras. While Infrared Radiation Reflectography (IRR) is an established technique in the museum field, exploiting mainly the IR-A (0.7–1.4 µm) band to probe for hidden layers and modifications within the paint stratigraphy system, active thermography operating in the IR-C range (3–5
μ
m) is less frequently employed with the aim to visualize structural defects and features deeper inside the build-up. In this work, we assess to which extent the less investigated IR-B band (1.5–3
μ
m) can combine the information obtained from both setups. The application of IR-B systems is relatively rare as there are only a limited amount of commercial systems available due to the technical complexity of the lens coating. This is mainly added as a so-called broadband option on regular Mid-wave infrared radiation (MWIR) (IR-C’/3–5
μ
m) cameras to increase sensitivity for high temperature applications in industry. In particular, four objects were studied in both reflectographic and thermographic mode in the IR-B spectral range and their results benchmarked with IR-A and IR-C images. For multispectral application, a single benchmark is made with macroscopic reflection mode Fourier transform infrared (MA-rFTIR) results. IR-B proved valuable for visualisation of underdrawings, pencil marks, canvas fibres and wooden grain structures and potential pathways for additional applications such as pigment identification in multispectral mode or characterization of the support (panels, canvas) are indicated
On the Religious Sources of Autonomy and Self-Expression: Charles Taylor and Marcel Gauchet
No full textSelf-expression is often called upon as a fundamental individual or collective right. In this article, the author explores the anthropological and historical conditions that constitute self-expression. For that purpose, he looks at two contemporary thinkers, Charles Taylor and Marcel Gauchet. The first part reflects their anthropological presuppositions. The second part focuses on the historical implementation of these presuppositions in both thinkers, thereby paying special attention to the way religion is involved in shaping the phenomenon of self-expression. It will turn out that self-expression and its underlying notion of autonomy are not won against forms of religious paternalism, but are rather the result of transformations established by (Christian) religion itself. As to the contemporary role of self-expression, Stijn Latré concludes by pointing out the fundamental divergence between Taylor and Gauchet
Competitive implications of cross-border banking
No full textThis paper reviews the recent literature on cross-border banking, with a focus on policy implications. Cross-border banking has increased sharply in recent decades, particularly in the form of entry, and has affected the development of financial systems, access to financial services, and stability. Reviewing the empirical literature, the author finds much, although not uniform, evidence that cross-border banking supports the development of an efficient and stable financial system that offers a wide access to quality financial services at low cost. But as better financial systems have more cross-border banking, the relationship between cross-border banking and competitiveness has to be carefully judged. While developing countries have some special conditions, provided a minimum degree of oversight is in place, they experience effects similar to industrial countries. There are some questions, though, on the effects of cross-border banking on lending based on softer information and on stability. Relevant experiences from capital markets show that the degree of cross-border financial activities can affect local market sustainability and there can be path dependency when opening up to cross-border competition. Reviewing the fast changing landscape of financial services provision, the author argues that cross-border banking highlights the increased importance of competition policy in financial services provision. This competition policy cannot be traditional, institutional based, but will need to resemble that used in other network industries. Furthermore, with globalization accelerating, competition policy will need to be global, supported by greater cross-border institutional collaboration and using the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) process and the disciplines of the World Trade Organization. GATS can be of special value to developing countries as it provides a binding, pro-competition framework that has proven more difficult to establish otherwise.Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Knowledge Economy,Education for the Knowledge Economy
The Iron Age iron slags of Maastricht – Randwyck: processing or production?
No full textThe increasingly abundant presence of iron artefacts in Early Iron Age urnfield contexts, is not matched by a similarly exhaustive dataset on (local) iron production. Rather, I have argued elsewhere (Arnoldussen & Brusgaard 2015, 117), that evidence for Iron Age primary iron production (i.e. smelting) in the Netherlands is as yet absent (cf. Brusgaard et al. 2015, 359). Smithing, in contrast, appears to be well documented from the Middle Iron Age (c. 600-250 cal. BC) onwards: particularly associated finds of tuyere or crucible fragments with slag fragments hint at local ironworking (e.g. at Velsen-Santpoort, Oss-Ussen and Oss- Schalkskamp; Van Heeringen 1992, 73(157); 75 (159); Schinkel 1998, 91-93; fig. 126; Brusgaard et al. 2015, 357). Most of the local ironworking evidence, however, seems to pertain to the Middle and Late Iron Age periods (Arnoldussen & Brusgaard 2015, 117 table. 1, cf. Joosten 2004, 22-25) and it is generally assumed that prior to the Roman Period, no local smelting occurred (e.g. De Rijk 2003, 88; Joosten 2004, 30; Van den Broeke 2005, 688; Brusgaard et al. 2015, 359). If one wants to investigate the transition in ironworking technologies from (A) reworking imported iron billets or bars (e.g. Verhart 2006, 103, Van As 2013, 26, cf. De Rijk 2003; 82-83; 2007, 164, cf. Brusgaard et al. 2015, 359) to (B) local iron production (smelting), the ironworking evidence for the Early Iron Age (c. 800-600 cal BC) becomes of particular significance. For Oss-Ussen, six pits dated to the Early Iron Age have yielded slag fragments (Schinkel 1998, 55-56), that are unfortunately not yet studied in detail. For Maastricht – Randwijck, Dijkman (1989, 38) identified a series of slag fragments from an Early to Middle Iron Age ‘horseshoe-shaped feature’ as smelting debris. If this is correct, it would represent one of the earliest indications of local iron production (Brusgaard et al. 2015, 359, cf. Van den Broeke 1980, 108; 2012, 287). To investigate this claim, a set of slag fragments from the Maastricht – Randwijck feature has been restudied by the author in 2016
The Iron Age iron slags of Maastricht – Randwyck: processing or production?
No full textThe increasingly abundant presence of iron artefacts in Early Iron Age urnfield contexts, is not matched by a similarly exhaustive dataset on (local) iron production. Rather, I have argued elsewhere (Arnoldussen & Brusgaard 2015, 117), that evidence for Iron Age primary iron production (i.e. smelting) in the Netherlands is as yet absent (cf. Brusgaard et al. 2015, 359). Smithing, in contrast, appears to be well documented from the Middle Iron Age (c. 600-250 cal. BC) onwards: particularly associated finds of tuyere or crucible fragments with slag fragments hint at local ironworking (e.g. at Velsen-Santpoort, Oss-Ussen and Oss- Schalkskamp; Van Heeringen 1992, 73(157); 75 (159); Schinkel 1998, 91-93; fig. 126; Brusgaard et al. 2015, 357). Most of the local ironworking evidence, however, seems to pertain to the Middle and Late Iron Age periods (Arnoldussen & Brusgaard 2015, 117 table. 1, cf. Joosten 2004, 22-25) and it is generally assumed that prior to the Roman Period, no local smelting occurred (e.g. De Rijk 2003, 88; Joosten 2004, 30; Van den Broeke 2005, 688; Brusgaard et al. 2015, 359). If one wants to investigate the transition in ironworking technologies from (A) reworking imported iron billets or bars (e.g. Verhart 2006, 103, Van As 2013, 26, cf. De Rijk 2003; 82-83; 2007, 164, cf. Brusgaard et al. 2015, 359) to (B) local iron production (smelting), the ironworking evidence for the Early Iron Age (c. 800-600 cal BC) becomes of particular significance. For Oss-Ussen, six pits dated to the Early Iron Age have yielded slag fragments (Schinkel 1998, 55-56), that are unfortunately not yet studied in detail. For Maastricht – Randwijck, Dijkman (1989, 38) identified a series of slag fragments from an Early to Middle Iron Age ‘horseshoe-shaped feature’ as smelting debris. If this is correct, it would represent one of the earliest indications of local iron production (Brusgaard et al. 2015, 359, cf. Van den Broeke 1980, 108; 2012, 287). To investigate this claim, a set of slag fragments from the Maastricht – Randwijck feature has been restudied by the author in 2016
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