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The main objective of the thesis is to analyse the suitability of inflation targeting, a monetary policy regime which focuses on the achievement of the price stability, for the emerging market economies. The performance of inflation targeting countries is compared to the performance of non-inflation targeting countries which use other monetary policies such as the monetary aggregate target or exchange rate anchor. Regressions, using the difference-in-differences estimation approach, are run to assess the contribution of the inflation targeting framework to the development of economic variables such as the CPI, GDP, national interest rate etc. Economic outcomes of the financial crisis period (2007- 2010) are crucial part of the thesis. The convenience of the inflation targeting framework for the emerging market economies is derived. This holds also for the severe situations such as the crisis since it lowers the volatility of the main variables of the interest. Keywords: inflation targeting, monetary economics, monetary policy, emerging market economies, difference in differences estimation, financial crisis

The present paper has attempted to provide an empirically argumented basis on the existing conflict about effectiveness of IT regime on lowering inflation and inflation volatility. In the first part we perform panel analysis on a group of 43 emerging and developing economies for a more recent period ranging from 1997 to 2011, distinguishing between normal and crisis times as well as between geographical regions. Differently from common studies we applied dynamic panel model specification that controls for reverse causality of regime adoption. Despite broad arguments addresing IT ineffectiveness, our results support the regime and imply that shifting to IT will lower both inflation and inflation volatility in normal times. Model specification during the external shocks was inconclusive on the selected sample with relatively recent IT history. Regarding the geographical IT performance, we outlined that regime effectiveness was uniform along analyzed regions. In the second part we perform a preliminary analysis of a developing economy IT experience and conclude that, even though there are some problems of technical nature and main policy rate is still a weak instrument of transmission channel, the Republic of Moldova chose right time for regime adoption and has made considerable progress towards the...

Thesis advisor: Matteo Iacoviello / Thesis advisor: Peter Ireland / Thesis advisor: Scott Schuh / These three essays are concerned with macroeconomic and monetary policy issues relating to the housing market and inflation-targeting. The essays can be characterized as applied macroeconomics in nature as they use insights from theory to construct macroeconomic models, which are then taken to the data. The first chapter in this study utilizes microeconomic evidence that nominal loss aversion plays a role in the pricing of housing services and explores the extent to which this phenomenon in the housing sector affects the macroeconomy as a whole. A two sector Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium model of housing and consumption goods with downward nominal price rigidity in the housing sector is constructed to examine how asymmetries in the nominal pricing of housing services affects monetary policy in stabilizing the economy in response to shocks. A calibration exercise is also performed to gain insight to what degree pricing dynamics in the housing sector are driven by the tendency of sellers to be nominally loss averse. The second chapter explores the disparities in the success rate in hitting an explicit inflation target among OECD and Emerging Market inflation targeters. The study proposes a framework to try to circumvent the "good luck"/"good policy" forces as drivers of better inflation-targeting outcomes by estimating a measure of central bank credibility in targeting regimes. Two main findings are that Emerging Market targeting banks are less successful than their OECD counterparts in establishing credibility in targeting inflation and that credible regimes last on the order of five to ten times as long as the relatively short-lived incredible regimes for the two groups of targeting countries. The third chapter, co-authored with Scott Schuh of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, takes a preliminary empirical step to model inflation outcomes for inflation band-targeting countries which allows us to isolate the empirical determinants of inflation escaping from the targeted band. We also use our framework to determine whether US inflation is consistent with inflation under an explicit targeting regime. Our model generates the result that US inflation during the last decade is well predicted by a model of inflation-targeting countries. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics.

Throughout the process industry, the conservation and allocation of mass and energy resources plays a pivotal role in the site wide optimization of a plant. Typically, raw materials are transformed into products, byproducts and wastes through pathways involving heating/cooling, pressure changes, mixing, reactions and separations. These pathways often require the addition or removal of energy from the system. The optimal management of such a system therefore requires conserving resources through the appropriate allocation of materials and energy. In a typical plant, there are both mass and energy objectives that require optimization. This dissertation will focus on optimizing the mass and energy resources present in a utility system. This will entail developing a novel framework of techniques to: target and design steam cogeneration networks while minimizing fuel requirements, identifying and utilizing sources of waste heat and incorporating heat pipes to enhance heat exchange networks. Additionally, a specific case of waste recovery will be examined when properties are the primary concern.

Mitochondria have evolved to play a vital role in both the life and death of a eukaryotic cell, through involvement in numerous cellular functions, such as the proficient production of energy from ATP biosynthesis and the regulation of programmed cell death. As a result, dysfunction in the biochemical processes housed within this organelle is implicated in diverse diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disorders. Advancing mitochondrial medicine by probing the subcellular biochemistry or targeting therapeutics into this organelle has motivated the development of effective mitochondrial delivery vectors. Thus, the rational design of novel mitochondrial-specific molecules, inspired by the success of cell-penetrating peptides, is described, whereby short synthetic peptides that retain the ability to traverse the plasma membrane, yet with mitochondrial-specificity were engineered. By modulating the overall physicochemical properties, through substitutions with both natural and synthetic amino acids, and monitoring the intracellular localization by confocal fluorescence microscopy, the requisite thresholds for achieving mitochondrial accumulation with a cationic peptide were elucidated. These systematic studies led to the development of a novel class of cationic yet lipophilic peptides, referred to as mitochondria-penetrating peptides (MPPs), which are readily cell permeable and preferentially localize into the mitochondria of living mammalian cells. The mechanisms of cellular uptake and mitochondrial matrix accumulation were investigated and the results from these studies suggest that MPPs utilize the negative membrane potential across these biological membranes to drive translocation. In addition, the effects of various chemical perturbations on the cellular and mitochondrial uptake, such as sequence, structure of the cation moiety, and chirality, were examined. The information obtained from these studies provided insight into the important features of these peptides and led to the design of an optimized molecule displaying pyridinium salt side chains. Moreover, MPPs were shown to be effective mitochondrial delivery vectors for diverse and bioactive small molecule cargo. In conclusion, the extensive biological and chemical characterization of MPPs revealed the importance of balancing the opposing characteristics of positive charge and lipophilicity to attain preferential sequestration into mitochondria, as well as provided evidence that these peptides will be suitable as mitochondrial delivery vectors.

Mitochondria have evolved to play a vital role in both the life and death of a eukaryotic cell, through involvement in numerous cellular functions, such as the proficient production of energy from ATP biosynthesis and the regulation of programmed cell death. As a result, dysfunction in the biochemical processes housed within this organelle is implicated in diverse diseases, including cancer, diabetes, and neurodegenerative disorders. Advancing mitochondrial medicine by probing the subcellular biochemistry or targeting therapeutics into this organelle has motivated the development of effective mitochondrial delivery vectors. Thus, the rational design of novel mitochondrial-specific molecules, inspired by the success of cell-penetrating peptides, is described, whereby short synthetic peptides that retain the ability to traverse the plasma membrane, yet with mitochondrial-specificity were engineered. By modulating the overall physicochemical properties, through substitutions with both natural and synthetic amino acids, and monitoring the intracellular localization by confocal fluorescence microscopy, the requisite thresholds for achieving mitochondrial accumulation with a cationic peptide were elucidated. These systematic studies led to the development of a novel class of cationic yet lipophilic peptides, referred to as mitochondria-penetrating peptides (MPPs), which are readily cell permeable and preferentially localize into the mitochondria of living mammalian cells. The mechanisms of cellular uptake and mitochondrial matrix accumulation were investigated and the results from these studies suggest that MPPs utilize the negative membrane potential across these biological membranes to drive translocation. In addition, the effects of various chemical perturbations on the cellular and mitochondrial uptake, such as sequence, structure of the cation moiety, and chirality, were examined. The information obtained from these studies provided insight into the important features of these peptides and led to the design of an optimized molecule displaying pyridinium salt side chains. Moreover, MPPs were shown to be effective mitochondrial delivery vectors for diverse and bioactive small molecule cargo. In conclusion, the extensive biological and chemical characterization of MPPs revealed the importance of balancing the opposing characteristics of positive charge and lipophilicity to attain preferential sequestration into mitochondria, as well as provided evidence that these peptides will be suitable as mitochondrial delivery vectors.

Throughout the process industry, the conservation and allocation of mass and energy resources plays a pivotal role in the site wide optimization of a plant. Typically, raw materials are transformed into products, byproducts and wastes through pathways involving heating/cooling, pressure changes, mixing, reactions and separations. These pathways often require the addition or removal of energy from the system. The optimal management of such a system therefore requires conserving resources through the appropriate allocation of materials and energy. In a typical plant, there are both mass and energy objectives that require optimization. This dissertation will focus on optimizing the mass and energy resources present in a utility system. This will entail developing a novel framework of techniques to: target and design steam cogeneration networks while minimizing fuel requirements, identifying and utilizing sources of waste heat and incorporating heat pipes to enhance heat exchange networks. Additionally, a specific case of waste recovery will be examined when properties are the primary concern.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.