2,975 research outputs found
The moral layer of contemporary economics: A virtue-ethics perspective
No full textThis paper questions whether the contemporary science of economics and its recommendations are built on sound moral foundations as assessed from a virtue-based definition of ethical behaviour. We argue that the model of man underlying economic analyses can correspond to the model of a virtuous person, and that economics, by advocating reasoned choice and careful resource utilization, makes a positive contribution to the moral development of individuals.Economics; Efficiency; Rationality; Tastes; Virtue Ethics
Financial Instability under Floating Exchange Rates
No full textAt the end of the nineties, many developing countries featured an open capital market and relied heavily on dollar-debt financing of their economy. This paper analyses whether, in this context, clean floating can be a sustainable policy choice. The model is cast as a game between successive generations of investors who decide whether they buy or not the debt of a representative firm. The exchange rate is subject to random shocks, which makes uncertain the private sector’s solvency. We show that a small risk of insolvency would bring about a much larger risk of illiquidity. A rational expectation equilibrium without default can be put forward only in the highly improbable case when the currency is extremely overvalued. The case against flexible exchange rates may be stronger than usually thought.Floating; Rational Expectations; Financial Crises; Developing Countries
Money in the Inflation Equation: the Euro Area Evidence
No full textThe ECB is the only major central bank that still emphasizes the role of money in monetary policy management. In this paper, we bring some support to this approach. Taking into account Euro area data from the period between 1999 and 2007, we demonstrate that a steady 10 per cent increase in M3 may result in an inflation rate of approximately 2½ percentage points. A negative output gap would have a short term offsetting effect, and vice versa.ECB; Inflation; Monetary Policy; Money
The Ethical Dimension of Economic Choices
No full textIn general, capitalist countries display sustained growth, dynamism and innovation, and a high adaptability in response to external shocks. Yet in the last twenty years discontent over the notorious drawbacks of capitalism – corporate frauds, corruption, abuses of market power – has grown continually. In this paper, we argue that no remedy to these difficulties can be found if ethical dilemmas are not anticipated and addressed at the individual, firm and economy-wide level. While pro-ethical changes in business regulation would help, government action alone may not be effective enough. Given that the social sciences provide the general framework of reference for human action, better integration of the ethical dimension by these disciplines would bring about additional benefits. In particular, economic theory would gain from developing more in-depth reflection on human end-goals and values.Calculativeness; Capitalism; Corporate social responsibility; Economics; Virtue Ethics
Asset Prices and Assymetries in the Fed's Interest Rate Rule : a Financial Approach
No full textFinancial Newspapers have for long suggested that the Fed tends to provide additional Liquidity when the Stock Market thumbs. We provide a theoretical Explanation for this Behaviour that builds on the Methodology developed by Romaniuk (2008) for a central Banker with two main Goals, Output and Price stability. In this Paper, the Policymaker behaves as a Portfolio Manager who aims at stabilizing Output, Goods Prices, as well as Asset Prices. An optimal, Time-varying Interest Rate Rule is obtained as the Merton's (1971) continuous Time Solution to the Portfolio Manager's Problem. In a second Step, we infer the optimal Interest Rate Rule of a central Bank that can react differently to positive and negative Variations in the Stock Market.Optimal Interest Rate Rule; Portfolio Choice; Fed; Asset Prices; Options Theory
Mechanisms of ceftazidime and ciprofloxacin transport through porins in multidrug-resistance developed by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase E.coli strains.
No full textResistance towards antibiotics stands out today as a major issue in the clinical act of treatment of bacterial-generated infections. This process was characterized in proteoliposomes reconstituted from an E.coli strain isolated from invasive infections (blood culture) occurred in patients with a cardio-vascular device admitted for surgery. Fluorescence spectroscopy and patch-clamp technique have been used. Two types of antibiotics have been targeted: ceftazidime and ciprofloxacin. Antibiotics addition in proteoliposomes suspension undergoes a quenching in tryptophan residues from outer membrane porins structure, probably due to the formation of a transient non-fluorescent porin-antibiotic complex. Patch-clamp recordings revealed strong ion current blockages for both antibiotics, reflecting antibiotic-channel interactions but with varying strength of interaction. The present study puts forward the mechanism of multidrug-resistance in extended-spectrum beta-lactamase E.coli strains, as being caused by alterations of the antibiotics transport across the porins of the outer bacterial membrane
Manager Unethical Behavior During The New Economy Bubble
No full textThis paper investigates factors that brought about the surge in manager unethical behavior within the US economy. Key structural causes are the weak internal control, perverse incentives related to managers’ compensation, conflicts of interest in the banking and auditing sectors. Unethical behavior was further enhanced by the large economic noise specific to the IT bubble, which emerged in the late nineties against the background of increased deregulation in the goods and financial markets. The US administration opposed to the proliferation of CEO unethical behavior the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002; we argue why some of its provisions might be taken one step furtherUnethical behavior; CEOs; Financial deregulation; Activism; Sarbanes-Oxely Act
Different measurements for thermal comfort evaluation of fabrics with anti-allergic properties
No full textGroupe III/c : Rapports des commissaires sur le mémoire de M. Bernard Tilquin
No full textVan Meerssche Maurice, Bruylants Albert, Balescu Radu. Groupe III/c : Rapports des commissaires sur le mémoire de M. Bernard Tilquin. In: Bulletin de la Classe des sciences, tome 75, 1989. pp. 350-351
Parity Separation: A Scientifically Proven Method for Permanent Weight Loss
No full textGiven an edge-weighted graph G, let PerfMatch(G) denote the weighted sum over all perfect matchings M in G, weighting each matching M by the product of weights of edges in M. If G is unweighted, this plainly counts the perfect matchings of G.
In this paper, we introduce parity separation, a new method for reducing PerfMatch to unweighted instances: For graphs G with edge-weights 1 and -1, we construct two unweighted graphs G1 and G2 such that PerfMatch(G) = PerfMatch(G1) - PerfMatch(G2). This yields a novel weight removal technique for counting perfect matchings, in addition to those known from classical #P-hardness proofs. Our technique is based upon the Holant framework and matchgates. We derive the following applications:
Firstly, an alternative #P-completeness proof for counting unweighted perfect matchings.
Secondly, C=P-completeness for deciding whether two given unweighted graphs have the same number of perfect matchings. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first C=P-completeness result for the “equality-testing version” of any natural counting problem that is not already #P-hard under parsimonious reductions.
Thirdly, an alternative tight lower bound for counting unweighted perfect matchings under the counting exponential-time hypothesis #ETH
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