Our small empirical stock-flow model for the Dutch economy, which endogenizes the adjustment dynamics to (un)employment search equilibria, identifies two mechanisms that caused persistence in labor market adjustments: (i) job competition from non-participants, and (ii) asymmetric adjustments to cyclical shocks. At the core of the model is an estimated matching function. Using Dutch flow data fo...

In this paper, we evaluate the performance of a number of forecasting models of U.S. business fixed investment spending growth over the recent 1995:1-2004:2 out-of-sample period at multiple forecast horizons. The forecasting models are based on the conventional Accelerator, Neoclassical, Average Q, and Cash-Flow models of investment spending, as well as empirical models developed more recently ...

Cell lineage analysis in rodents has shown that the cerebral cortex is formed from both widespread and large radial clustered clones representing partly distinct lineages and producing differing cell types. Since previous cell lineage analysis of the ferret cortex using retroviral libraries showed that most neurons labeled at E33-E35 formed widespread clones, we determined whether clones labele...

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. In oil-dependent countries, a major issue is how to stabilize...

How did Europe overtake China? We construct a simple Malthusian model with two sectors and use it to explain why European per capita incomes and urbanization rates surged ahead of Chinese ones. Productivity growth can only explain a small fraction of the rise in living standards. Population dynamics – changes of the birth and death schedules – were far more important drivers of the long-run Mal...

Applied research on the association between parent and child lifetime income is relying on income data that covers only part of the life cycle which may lead to misleading estimates of the intergenerational elasticity (IGE). In this paper I study the bias of IGE estimates for different missing-data scenarios based on simulated income processes. Using an income process from the income dynamics a...

We estimate values-at-risk (VaR) in the accumulation phase of defined-contribution pension plans. We examine a range of asset-return models (including stationary moments, regime-switching and fundamentals models) and a range of asset-allocation strategies (both static and with simple dynamic forms, such as lifestyle, threshold and constant proportion portfolio insurance). We draw four conclusio...

CD229 is a member of the CD150 family of the Ig superfamily expressed on T and B cells. Receptors of this family regulate cytokine production and cytotoxicity of lymphocytes and NK cells. The cytoplasmic tail of CD229 binds to SAP, a protein that is defective in X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome. To identify the CD229 ligand, we generated a soluble Ig fusion protein containing the two N-ter...

The aim of this work was to investigate developmental changes in cell proliferation and apoptosis in normal duck bursa of Fabricius using flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. Studies were carried out on Tianfu ducks on days 24 and 27 of embryogenesis (E24 and E27) along with days 20, 70, and 200 of postnatal development (P20, P70, and P200). Results showed that the percentage of G0/G1 bursa...

The main findings from our studies on the emergence and maturation of neurotransmitter systems in the rabbit retina are that, during normal development: (1) the commitments for certain neurons to become GABAergic, glycinergic, or dopaminergic are made prenatally; the maturation of these neurons, however, occurs postnatally; (2) specific accumulations of exogenously supplied transmitters by pres...