From indirect to direct rule? Transnational policy planning bodies and global governance in the COVID crisis

The origins of contemporary supra-national power go back to the second British Empire, which, unlike the first, faced organized labor as a potential revolutionary force. The formation of the Rhodes–Milner Group was meant to better manage the formation of the public mood, and the Boer War in South Africa demanded close integration of imperial affairs. A central figure in the Rhodes–Milner Group, Lord Esher, was also the architect of the Committee of Imperial Defense, created to take up the latter task. Esher's idea of a secretariat confidentially preparing solutions to issues of the day before they emerged in the public domain was introduced into the structure of international organizations after World War I and the Russian Revolution. Escher also laid the foundations of today's model of transnational politics in which groups such as Bilderberg or the Trilateral Commission and many others, shape certain areas of consensus before the public is allowed to make its voice heard. In this process, the circumvention of democracy has assumed the nature of an outright assault on it. In the process the World Economic Forum, formally joining forces with the United Nations, has become the most visible supranational body applying direct rule.     

Capturing downside risk in financial markets: the case of the Asian Crisis

Using data on Asian equity markets, we observe that during periods of financial turmoil, deviations from the mean-variance framework become more severe, resulting in periods with additional downside risk to investors. Current risk management techniques failing to take this additional downside risk into account will underestimate the true Value-at-Risk with greater severity during periods of financial turnoil. We provide a conditional approach to the Value-at-Risk methodology, known as conditional VaR-x, which to capture the time variation of non-normalities allows for additional tail fatness in the distribution of expected returns. These conditional VaR-x estimates are then compared to those based on the RiskMetrics™ methodology from J.P. Morgan, where we find that the model provides improved forecasts of the Value-at-Risk. We are therefore able to show that our conditional VaR-x estimates are better able to capture the nature of downside risk, particularly crucial in times of financial crises.     

The applicability of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia for patients with sub-acute neck pain: a qualitative study

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively evaluate patients understanding and interpretation of the wording used in test items of the Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK). The TSK was developed to measure fear of movement in patients suffering from low back pain. The TSK is being increasingly used for other pain conditions. Patients with sub-acute neck pain experience problems while completing this questionnaire. The aim of this study was to elicit these problems. The study was conducted within the framework of a randomised controlled trial. The Three-Step Test Interview (TSTI) was used to collect data on the thoughts or considerations of respondents while completing the TSK. In the analysis, each transcribed interview was divided into three segments. The thoughts and considerations were then analysed and categorised per item. During the TSTI two problems were identified. One concerned the meaning of specific words used, like “dangerous” and “injury”. The other problem was that several implicit assumptions within some items make it difficult for respondents to answer these items. It was concluded that in the development and validation of questionnaires like the TSK, not only quantitative psychometric properties are important, but also qualitative research has an important contribution to enhance applicability.     

Edgeworth expansions and normalizing transforms for inequality measures

Finite sample distributions of studentized inequality measures differ substantially from their asymptotic normal distribution in terms of location and skewness. We study these aspects formally by deriving the second-order expansion of the first and third cumulant of the studentized inequality measure. We state distribution-free expressions for the bias and skewness coefficients. In the second part we improve over first-order theory by deriving Edgeworth expansions and normalizing transforms. These normalizing transforms are designed to eliminate the second-order term in the distributional expansion of the studentized transform and converge to the Gaussian limit at rate O(n⁻¹)$O\left(n^{-1}\right)$. This leads to improved confidence intervals and applying a subsequent bootstrap leads to a further improvement to order O(n^−3/2)$O\left(n^{-3/2}\right)$. We illustrate our procedure with an application to regional inequality measurement in Côte d’Ivoire.     

Long-term and short-term analysis of the natural rubber market

Zusammenfassung Lang- und kurzfristige Analyse des Marktes für Naturkautschuk.-Die Autoren benutzen ein Vierteljahresmodell des Marktes für Naturkautschuk sowie langfristige Jahrgangsmodelle des Angebots von Naturkautschuk und der Nachfrage nach Kautschuk insgesamt, um die Zweckm?\igkeit der Bufferstock-Vereinbarung im Rahmen des Internationalen Naturkautschukabkommens zu beurteilen. Die Vereinbarung bewirkte, da\ die Einnahmen der Erzeuger um bis zu 20 vH anstiegen, aber jetzt — nachdem der Bufferstock g?nzlich verkauft worden ist — die Konsumenten den gr?\eren Vorteil haben. Das Abkommen kann die Wirkung der ?nderungen der gesamten Rohstoffpreise nicht auffangen. Verschiedene Szenarien für den Rest des Jahrhunderts deuten auf einen geringfügigen Rückgang der Preise für Naturkautschuk hin.

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Résumé L’analyse à long terme et à court terme pour le marché du caoutchouc naturel. — Un modèle trimestriel pour le marché du caoutchouc naturel et les modèles vintages en longue durée pour l’offre du caoutchouc naturel et la demande pour tout le caoutchouc sont appliqués pour évaluer la viabilité du stock de réserve selon les règles de l’Accord International sur le Caoutchouc Naturel. L’accord a augmenté les revenues des producteurs jusqu’à 20 p.c. pendant quelques trimestres, mais maintenant où tout le stock de réserve est vendu, les consommateurs en ont profité le plus. L’accord ne peut pas compenser l’influence des variations des prix des matières. Plusieurs scenarios pour le reste du siècle indiquent une petite réduction des prix du caoutchouc naturel.

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Resumen Un análisis de corto y largo plazo del mercado de caucho natural. — En este trabajo se utilizan un modelo trimestral y modelos de vendimia de largo plazo, representando la oferta y las distintas clases de demanda de caucho, para analizar la viabilidad de un almacén compensatorio en el marco del Acuerdo Internacional sobre Caucho Natural. Su efecto ha sido el de incrementar el ingreso de los productores en un 20 por ciento en algunos trimestres, pero ahora que las cantidades del almacén compensatorio han sido vendidas, los consumidores se han beneficiado aún más. El Acuerdo no puede responder al impacto de cambios de precios generales. El estudio de varios escenarios para el período hasta el fin del Siglo indica la posibilidad de una reductión marginal del precio del caucho natural que puede ser fácilmente absorbida extendiendo las plantaciones.

     

Who's Getting Caught? An Analysis of the Australian Medicare Safety Net

The Medicare Safety Net (MSN) was introduced in March 2004 to provide financial relief for those who incur high out-of-pocket costs from medical services. The policy has the potential to improve equity. This study examines: (i) how the health and income profiles of small areas influence MSN expenditure; and (ii) the distribution of expenditure by medical service type. The results indicate that MSN expenditure is positively related to income and that patients who use private obstetricians and assisted reproductive services are the greatest beneficiaries. The MSN has possibly created greater inequities in Australia's health-care financing arrangements.