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In this thesis, we aim to unveil potential relation between gold in the reserves of central banks and the independence of these institutions. As a reaction to several statements of central bank representatives, we assume that gold might be a determinant of central banks' independence. Following these statements, the key contribution of this thesis was defined: to verify these declarations and the general belief of gold's role within central banks' reserves in the relation to their independence, using empirical data. For that purpose, we examine panel data consisting of information from 145 countries between years 1970 and 2012. As for the control variables, economic variables such as GDP per capita, inflation, exchange rate regime, current account to GDP and broad money and political variables from the range of word governance indicators are employed. The regression results of basic model obtained by fixed effects estimation suggest that, indeed, there might be a significant effect of share of gold on the central bank independence index. However, as the results imply negative relation, we cannot confirm if the effect is real due to endogeneity problem. Moreover, the effect of gold reserves on the central bank independence was not confirmed when employing a different estimation technique -...

The subprime mortgage crisis and the resultant inflationary monetary policy in the USA have left the Chinese economy subject to four risks in particular. First, China's exports to the USA might continue to decline. Second, in the medium term, the higher US inflation rate will lead to a weak dollar, which will negatively affect China's exports. Third, in the long term, when the US Federal Reserve decreases money supply to control inflation, the US economy might enter another recession, hurting China's exports further. Fourth, China's foreign exchange reserve assets might suffer heavy losses when the US inflation rate rises. Conventional foreign exchange investment strategies are insufficient for dealing with these four risks. Investment by China in the major US banks is suggested in the present paper. This strategy would mitigate if not eliminate all four risks. China could gain considerable financial returns on investments with only moderate risk.

La presente investigación tiene como objetivo examinar el efecto de las reservas internacionales en el spread soberano del Perú. Como factores adicionales que influyen en nuestra variable dependiente se han estudiado las exportaciones, saldo de cuenta corriente, términos de intercambio, IPC, tipo de cambio real, tipo de cambio nominal y bonos del tesoro de Estados Unidos. Esta investigación se realiza mediante un Modelo Vectorial de Corrección de Errores y el periodo de análisis comprende desde el 2000 al 2019. Los resultados obtenidos indican que las reservas internacionales han sido efectivas para disminuir el spread soberano en el periodo de análisis, es decir que, existe una relación inversa de largo plazo entre ambas variables, lo cual va en línea con la literatura existente. Además, se encuentra que tanto el saldo de cuenta corriente, las exportaciones, los términos de intercambio, el tipo de cambio real y los bonos del Tesoro de Estados Unidos, tienen relación de largo plazo con el spread soberano y tienen un efecto significativo y negativo sobre este. Por otro lado, la inflación tiene una relación positiva de corto y largo plazo con el EMBI. El tipo de cambio nominal no tiene significancia en el modelo. Por otro lado, los Bonos del Tesoro de Estados Unidos tienen una relación de corto plazo debido al efecto sustitución. / The main objective of this investigation is to examine the effect of international reserves on the sovereign spread of Peru. As additional factors influencing in our dependent variable, exports, current account balance, terms of trade, CPI inflation, real exchange rate, nominal exchange rate and United States Treasury bonds have been studied. This research is carried out using a Vectorial Error Correction Model and the analysis period is from 2000 to 2019. The results indicated that international reserves have been effective in reducing sovereign spread in the analysis period, it means, that there is a long-term inverse relationship between both variables, which is in line with the existing literature. Furthermore, it is found that both the current account balance, exports, terms of trade, the real exchange rate and United States Treasury bonds, have a long-term relationship with the sovereign spread and have a significant and negative effect. On the other hand, CPI inflation has a positive short and long-term relationship with EMBI. The nominal exchange rate has no significance in the model. In other hand, the United States Treasury Bonds have a positive short-term relationship with sovereign spread due to the replacement effect. / Trabajo de investigación

The Federal Reserve has proposed a change in its method of administering the discount window. This paper looks at the effects of this proposal on monetary control and on the money markets, assuming that banks base their behavior on profit maximization over the long run. First, the reserve supply process is postulated. The conditions under which borrowing from the Federal Reserve will improve or reduce monetary control are stated. Second, the primary reserve adjustment process is formulated to show how primary reserve adjustment can affect rates in the money market. Finally arguments are set forth to show how borrowed reserves would behave if commercial banks are attempting to maximize long run profits and under the discount window administration proposed by the Federal Reserve Committee. The conclusion is that borrowed reserves will behave to reduce money market instability but at the same time they will behave to reduce the Federal Reserve control over the stock of Reserves available to the banking system. Borrowing from the Federal Reserve Bank can be expected to behave in a way of offset Federal Reserve open market operations.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2015. / Wildlife conservation and management requires an in-depth understanding of the demographics and dynamics of the population concerned to enable sound management decisions. Yet it is often very challenging to obtain reliable information of cryptic and highly migratory species. I used photo identification and capture-recapture methods to study the population of nyala, a highly secretive species, in the Umkhuzi game reserve. The nyala species is individually identifiable by the mark pattern on their body. Photographs used for this project were taken at a waterhole in Umkhuzi game reserve between June 23rd and 01 July 2014, representing nine sampling occasions. Identification of individuals was achieved with a computer-assisted technique using open source pattern identification software called Wild-ID version 1.0.1. A total of 652 photographs were taken at the sampling site and from these pictures wild-ID identified 372 distinct animals. An encounter history for each individual during the nine sampling occasions was also produced using Wild-ID. The encounter histories of all individuals were entered into Program MARK. I used the closed population models in Program MARK to obtain population estimates. Program MARK indicated that Mh was the most appropriate model to fit this data as indicated by the AICc ranking. Mh showed population estimates as follows: adult males: 111.90 ± 16.07, adult females: 298.01 ± 36.66; young adult males: 21.33 ±19.34; juvenile males: 37.15 ±16.84; yearling males: 37.73 ±8.51; yearling females: 96.48 ±22.75 and juvenile unidentified: 69.03. ±28.96 Closure test performed to ascertain demographic and geographic closure during the sampling period showed a χ2= 21.74, p= 0.08, df = 14, for the Stanley & Burnham test and a p and z-values of 0.06 and -1.51 respectively for the Otis et al test. These results shows marginal violation of population closure, nevertheless closed population models were used to estimate population abundance due to the fact the violations are marginal and the sampling period iii was very short, nine days. The study revealed that there is as much as twice the number of females compared to males.

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[pt] A Resolução CNSP no 18 de 25 de agosto de 1998 tornou obrigatória a provisão para sinistros ocorridos e não avisados, IBNR. Por causa disso, a estimativa da reserva de IBNR passou a fazer parte do cotidiano das seguradoras brasileiras. Algumas maneiras, tradicionais ou usuais, de determinar essa quantia serão expostas nesse trabalho. Assim como será apresentada uma nova forma para estimar o IBNR. Os diferentes caminhos para chegar à essa estimativa serão comparados com o objetivo de destacar as vantagens e desvantagens de cada um deles. / [en] The CNSP number 18 bylaw promulgated on August 25, 1998 obliging payment has become mandatory when even not communicated, IBNR. Hence, estimates from IBNR have become routine in all brazilian insurance companies. Some ways to determine these compensations shall be clarified in this report. In addition, I shall try to outline a new formula to estimate the IBNR The different paths to reach the very same estimate can be compared with the purpose of underlying the pro's and the con's of each estimate.

The inclusion of ecotourism into biosphere reserves to enhance sustainable development has increased the importance of tourism stakeholders’ relationships. Therefore, this research aims to explore how the quality of social relationships among tourism stakeholders affects ecotourism cooperation in the Blekinge Archipelago biosphere reserve. This is accomplished by using social capital as a theoretical lens for conceptualizing relationships between ecotourism stakeholders. A qualitative case study of the ARK56 network has been conducted, incorporating 8 in-depth interviews with ecotourism operators in the Blekinge Archipelago biosphere reserve. The results indicated that the regional network ARK56 is essential for tourism operators since it provides a broad network of contacts and encourages cooperation among the members. It is argued that a good working relationship based on trust and reciprocity facilitates efficient cooperation within the ARK56 network and that a balance between bridging and bonding social capital was identified which contributes to successful cooperation.