Flashlight Europe N°8 – October 2015; Deeper EU integration is in Poland’s interest

The Polish people have voted in favour of the political change: former prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczyński’s party Law and Justice (PiS) with its front-runner Beata Szydlo turned out strongest in the parliamentary elections on Sunday with almost 38 per cent of votes. The liberal Civic Platform (PO), headed by prime minister Ewa Kopacz, gained only 23.4 per cent. Why this shift to the right? And what will be the consequences for Polish politics? We asked Jacek Kucharczyk, President of the executive board of the Warsaw-based Institute of Public Affairs.

Did quantitative easing affect interest rates outside the US? New evidence based on interest rate differentials. CEPS Working Document No. 416/January 2016

This paper explores the effects of non-standard monetary policies on international yield relationships. Based on a descriptive analysis of international long-term yields, we find evidence that long-term rates followed a global downward trend prior to as well as during the financial crisis. Comparing interest rate developments in the US and the eurozone, it is difficult to detect a distinct impact of the first round of the Fed’s quantitative easing programme (QE1) on US interest rates for which the global environment – the global downward trend in interest rates – does not account. Motivated by these findings, we analyse the impact of the Fed’s QE1 programme on the stability of the US-euro long-term interest rate relationship by using a CVAR (cointegrated vector autoregressive) model and, in particular, recursive estimation methods. Using data gathered between 2002 and 2014, we find limited evidence that QE1 caused the break-up or destabilised the transatlantic interest rate relationship. Taking global interest rate developments into account, we thus find no significant evidence that QE had any independent, distinct impact on US interest rates.

European regions in Brussels: towards functional interest representation? Bruges Political Research Papers 53/2016

Opportunities structures for participation in EU policy-making are characterised by the inefficiency of institutional channels of territorial representation and the progressive inclusion of broad civil society in new systems of consultation and cooperation with EU institutions. Recent Multilevel Governance literature has recognised an increasing convergence in strategies of territorial and functional actors to respond to these challenges. Nevertheless, it has neglected the partial shift of European regions from territorial institutional representation to lobbying strategies based on acting as intermediaries for functional interests. Through strong cooperation with the private sector, regions go beyond their purely institutional roles, partly presenting themselves as actors of functional representation and thus playing by the same rules of most lobbying actors in Brussels: providing specialised and genuine information to EU institutions in exchange for inclusion in the policy-making process.

From the initial interest in ‘Why do people often communicate in very "strange" ways on Social Media?’ to a research project on CMC

This presentation is about the inside story of the PhD project El malagueño real, mental y virtual. Configuración de los significados sociales de una variedad urbana in Hispanic Linguistics. That is, the production and perception of the Spanish spoken in the city of Malaga and used on the social network sites Facebook and Tuenti by users from Malaga is analysed. Actually, the southern Spanish variety in question is quite distinct from the national standard in terms of its phonetic features, its prestige, and the attitudes to it. Thus, the project started with the initial interest in «Why do people often communicate in very “strange” ways on social media» which then slightly changed to the final research interest in «What do the different non-standard variants mean in virtual (and real) malagueño?». This long – sometimes hazardous, yet mostly fun – process is exposed in more detail by looking at the research questions, the methods and results. Lastly, the presentation concludes with some lessons learnt and an outlook on possibilities and necessities for further investigation.

U.S. immigration policy and the national interest : the final report and recommendations of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy with supplemental views by commissioners.

"Submitted to the Congress and the President of the United States pursuant to Public Law 95-412."

U.S. immigration policy and the national interest /

Originally published March 1981 as U.S. immigration policy ... final report and recommendations of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy.

Resources in bilingual education : a preliminary guide to government agency programs of interest to minority language groups.

"This publication was issued by the National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education pursuant to a contract awarded to InterAmerica Research Associates by the National Institute of Education in cooperation with the Office of Bilingual Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare."

Transfer of interest on U.S. investment in the Panama Canal (GAO/AFMD-85-63).

Includes letter of April 8, 1985 from William R. Gianelli, Chairman, Board of Directors, Panama Canal Commission, to Frederick D. Wolf, Director, Accounting and Financial Management Division, U.S. General Accounting Office, Washington, D.C. (p. 12-17).

Samuel Fortrey on Englands interest and improvement, 1663.

"The present edition of the tract is a reproduction of the text of 1663. The general appearance of the title-page has been preserved, and the original pagination indicated."--Introd.

Amending the Financial institutions regulatory and interest rate control act : hearing before the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions Supervision, Regulation and Insurance of the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-sixth Congress, first session, on H.R. 1903 ... February 21, 1979.

"Serial 96-27."