syntax trees (AST’s) are highly structured representations of source code. In an object-oriented implementation, there would typically be one class per definition, statement, or other language construct. Down at the expression level, there might be classes corresponding to function calls, array accesses, literal references, and so on. Typically with an AST, adding a new syntactic construct requ...

For Iran as an oil exporter country, heavy reliance on the extractive sector for generating fiscal revenues and export earnings translates into increased vulnerabilities to oil price shocks. The structure of the economic policy, and the   banking systems make macroprudential policy a particular relevant tool for Iran. The capital adequacy is a macro prudential instrument used to maintain the st...

Systemic risk is modeled as the endogenously chosen correlation of returns on assets held by banks. The limited liability of banks and the presence of a negative externality of one bank’s failure on the health of other banks give rise to a systemic risk-shifting incentive where all banks undertake correlated investments, thereby increasing economy-wide aggregate risk. Regulatory mechanisms such...

What makes something good for me? Most contemporary philosophers argue that something cannot count as good for me unless I am in some way attracted to it, or take delight in it. However, subjectivist theories of prudential value face difficulties, and there is no consensus about how these difficulties should be resolved. Whether one opts for a hedonist or a desire-satisfaction account of pruden...

If a lifeboat is sinking with several normal human beings and a dog aboard, where it is clear that all will drown unless someone is thrown overboard, nearly everyone agrees that it is morally right to sacrifice the dog. Why? While many reasons are offered, most quickly prove unsatisfactory. I will suggest that the best explanation for this considered judgment, an explanation that appeals to tim...

Social interactions about transgressions provide a context for the development of children's moral aversion to harming others. This study investigated mothers' insistence when communicating the prohibition against harming others to infants in everyday home interactions. Mothers' reactions to infants' use of force against others (moral harm transgressions) were compared to their reactions to tra...

Dualism is one way to put the traditional dualism of practical reason, i.e., that practical reason can never declare that there is greater overall reason to conform to moral, or prudential, requirements in a case of conflict between our own self-interest and our obligations to others.1 In this paper, I distinguish two methods by which one might accept Dualism. First, I discuss a substantive dua...

We consider a moral hazard economy with the potential for collusion between bankers and borrowers to study how incentives for risk taking are affected by the quality of supervision. We show that a low cost of capital or low return on investment may generate excessive risk taking. Because of a pecuniary externality, the market equilibrium is ineffi cient, therefore bank capital ratio should be r...

We study the behavior of credit and output across a financial crisis cycle using information from credit spreads. We show the transition into a crisis occurs with a large increase in credit spreads, indicating that crises involve a dramatic shift in expectations and are a surprise. The severity of the subsequent crisis can be forecast by the size of credit losses (change in spreads) coupled wit...