Suchergebnisse

"We investigate the properties of Johansen's (1988, 1991) maximum eigenvalue and trace tests for cointegration under the empirically relevant situation of near-integrated variables. Using Monte Carlo techniques, we show that in a system with near-integrated variables, the probability of reaching an erroneous conclusion regarding the cointegrating rank of the system is generally substantially higher than the nominal size. The risk of concluding that completely unrelated series are cointegrated is therefore non-negligible. The spurious rejection rate can be reduced by performing additional tests of restrictions on the cointegrating vector(s), although it is still substantially larger than the nominal size"--Federal Reserve Board web site

This dissertation is about how democracies can respond to economic crises. At its centre is the dilemma that political elites, and societies as a whole, face after such an event –whether to focus exclusively on forward-looking policies that secure a recovery or whether to also address the underlying causes of the crisis, learning the lessons of the past but also weathering the divisiveness and recrimination this exercise is likely to elicit. To engage with this dilemma, this research takes inspiration from the field of transitional justice on how societies can deal with the past, and learn from it. Of special interest are the mechanisms of transitional justice. Truth commissions most prominently, but also prosecutions, reparations, and constitutional reforms. The analysis moves from a cross-country comparison of truth commissions deployed in Iceland, Ireland, and Greece after the Great Recession, to a case study of a comprehensive range of mechanisms deployed in Iceland, to an impact assessment of the most effective of the three truth commission. I will argue that the transitional justice framework brings helpful and practical insights when applied to the study of economic crises in established democracies. It challenges the conventional wisdom that 'business as usual' will prevail after an economic crisis; it also yields principles for designing mechanisms that promote learning from the past and building-in better practices in the future.

Abstract
This article reviews the history of plum cultivation and cultivars in Sweden with the aim to describe important heirloom cultivars and to explain how they are conserved in the Swedish National Gene Bank. Commercial plum production in Sweden started around 1890 and was initially in part based on small-fruited local cultivars grown on their own roots. Along with the development of a modern Swedish nursery industry and experimental research the use of grafted trees grew in importance. In the mid-1950s, the yearly plum production in Sweden was estimated to be approximately 2000 tonnes. Since the mid-1980s, production has declined and it is now only about 250 tonnes per year. The work to safeguard heirloom cultivars began with a national inventory in 2005 and since 2012, so-called mandate cultivars have been planted in the Swedish National Gene Bank at Alnarp. Today 45 plum cultivars are preserved with two trees in the gene bank at Alnarp and two trees in local clonal archives.