Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002

Daily Archives: February 9, 2014

Financial Networks as Directed Cyclic Graphs

Alexander Denev – Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). Financial Networks as Directed Cyclic Graphs (February 8, 2014). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2392756

“Financial networks’ study and understanding has become extremely important since the global financial meltdown in 2007 – 2009 when the inter-connectedness of institutions has surfaced as one of the major culprits for the magnitude of the distress. This paper aims at providing a new approach, based on a concept already in use in other domains such as physics and computer science, to describe and better understand the networks of institutions and their global properties. We draw some parallels and contrasts with other approaches to this field.”

A parsimonious approach to incorporating economic information in measures of potential output

“A popular strategy for estimating output gaps is to anchor them to structural economic relationships. The resulting output gaps, however, are often highly sensitive to numerous auxiliary assumptions inherent in the approach. This complicates their use in policymaking. We illustrate the point using the Phillips curve, arguably the most popular structural relationship in this context.… Continue Reading

The role of central banks in macroeconomic and financial stability

“Central banks in Africa are changing as the continent becomes increasingly integrated with the global financial system. In this context, governors from major central banks met in Basel on 11-12 May 2013 to compare notes on their experiences in dealing with the challenges of increased financial integration. Four important challenges were analysed at this meeting. First,… Continue Reading

The global long-term interest rate, financial risks and policy choices in EMEs

“The global long-term interest rate now matters much more for the monetary policy choices facing emerging market economies than a decade ago. The low or negative term premium in the yield curve in the advanced economies from mid-2010 has pushed international investors into EM local bond markets: by lowering local long rates, this has considerably… Continue Reading

College Educational Quality research study results from two selective research institutions

“In Spring 2013 we completed our first pilot study of two selective research institutions (one private, one public).  The reports are now available detailing the initial findings of the first pilot.  The results are in two formats: 1) A Technical Report that includes the details of our methodology, findings, and descriptive statistics; 2) A  Snapshot… Continue Reading

Leaked Documents Reveal Government Cyber Attacks on Hactivists

NBC News – MARK SCHONE, RICHARD ESPOSITO, MATTHEW COLE AND GLENN GREENWALD: “Secret British spy unit created to mount cyber attacks on Britain’s enemies has waged war on the hacktivists of Anonymous and LulzSec, according to documents taken from the National Security Agency by Edward Snowden and obtained by NBC News. The blunt instrument the spy unit… Continue Reading

Working Conditions Laws 2012

International Labour Organization (ILO): “This report provides an international comparative legal information on national working conditions legislation and highlights global and regional trends in over 150 countries. The report covers national legislation in three fundamental working conditions: working hours, minimum wages, and maternity protection. The report aims to provide ILO constituents, policymakers, and researchers with comparative… Continue Reading

Agency Information Quality Guidelines

“Section 515 of Public Law 106-554, known as the Information Quality Act, required the Office of Management and Budget to promulgate guidance to agencies ensuring the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of information (including statistical information) disseminated by Federal agencies. OMB’s government-wide guidelines, published as interim final on September 28, 2001 (66 F.R. 49718) and… Continue Reading

FISC Approves Government’s Request to Modify Telephony Metadata Program

“During his speech on Jan. 17, 2014, President Obama ordered a transition that will end the Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program as it currently exists, and establish a mechanism that preserves the capabilities we need without the government holding this bulk data. As a first step in that transition, the President directed the Attorney… Continue Reading