Dallas Fed report on Globalization.  Several decades of increasing global economic integration – or globalization – have left their mark. Whether this structural shift has altered the conduct of monetary policy or its ability to promote economic stability over the business cycle has long been debated.1 Woodford (2010), among others, convincingly argued on theoretical grounds that globalization does not necessarily imply a weakening of the ability of national central banks to influence domestic output and inflation. However, the question of monetary policy effectiveness is only part of the story.

Bernanke said in 2007 that our current understanding is geared toward the view that globalization influences the conduct of monetary policy through its powerful effects on the economic and financial environment in which monetary policy must operate.  Much of the literature has in fact focused on how globalization may have changed the economic environment and, thus, altered the trade-off between output and inflation volatility for monetary policy. It is known that the business-cycle volatility of the largest economies, including the U.S., has shifted significantly during the post-World War II period. The question, then, is to what extent those changes reflect globalization?  Globalization and Monetary Policy

Helene Fouquet writes about another lady in Minsk.  Just two women were at the table as the cease-fire between Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine and the government in Kiev was hammered out. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was one. The other was Heidi Tagliavini.
The discreet, 65-year-old Swiss diplomat worked alongside Merkel, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, France’s Francois Hollande and Ukraine’s Petro Poroshenko on the deal to stem the conflict that has devastated eastern Ukraine.

In the “Green Room” of the vast marble-and-glass Independence Palace in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, Tagliavini helped stave off a collapse late in the talks, according to officials who were there. As someone Putin has long felt he could trust, diplomats say, she was able to silence a contingent of separatists who wanted to see the whole deal reworked.

A special envoy for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Tagliavini is known among other diplomats as “the facilitator.” She is the only woman in the six-member Trilateral Contact Group that has brought together the Ukrainians, Russians and separatists.

Tagliavini has spent much of the past three decades in postings across eastern Europe brokering peace and monitoring wars and elections for the OSCE, the European Union, and the United Nations. She has served at the Swiss embassy in Moscow and on missions in Chechnya, Ukraine and Georgia, always employing a quiet style and Helvetic neutrality that has helped her win the confidence of leaders from all sides

As the group reached possible common ground on each issue, the points of agreement were sent to leaders’ entourages gathering about three miles away in the Independence Palace. By Thursday morning, they had a structure for the cease-fire and rushed to the Palace to present it to the leaders. When the rebels balked at the last minute, Tagliavini shuttled between the various groups to prevent the talks from collapsing. At noon, Putin emerged from the conference room and confirmed the cease-fire to reporters.

Switzerland in January handed over the rotating presidency of the OSCE to Serbia, but Tagliavini kept her role at the head of the Contact Group — a sign of the confidence members of the group have in her, according to a senior European diplomat.

With close-cropped blond hair, rimless glasses, and always wearing a brightly-colored scarf around her neck, Tagliavini is known by politicians across eastern Europe as “the link,” for her ability to keep parties in talks when tensions start to rise, a Swiss diplomat said.

Taliavini has a PhD in philology, the study of language from historical sources. It’s her ability to understand languages and the cultural background of people in the region that has helped her navigate the tricky world of east European politics, a French diplomat said.
In a rare interview, with the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, Tagliavini described her work as “offering warring parties a space to discuss a possible peace agreement, seeing to it that they talk to each other, trying to re-establish an element of trust, making proposals, monitoring human rights and rights of refuges and the state of law.”

Leonid Bershidsky writes: Ukraine now has a four-year bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund. It’s still too early to celebrate. Like the cease-fire, the aid package isn’t very generous to Ukraine. But if it helps convince Kiev it needs economic reforms, that won’t be a bad thing.

Marvel Comics has a new group of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes taking over an all-new era with Marvel Comics’ A-FORCE co-written by G. Willow Wilson and Marguerite K. Bennett with artwork by Jorge Molina .

In hte Warzones of Secret Wars, a brand new team will lead the way. A-Force Assemble! Marvel Comics reimagines the Marvel Universe in one of the largest shake-ups to the Avengers mythos.

So who are the Marvel powerhouses taking center stage?

“She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minoru and other fan favorites, will take charge,” says series co-writer G. Willow Wilson. “We’ve purposefully assembled a team composed of different characters from disparate parts of the Marvel U, with very different power sets, identities and ideologies.”

And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, A-Force was born—to fight the foes no single Super Hero could withstand!/  Their glory will never been denied!.  Heed the call, A-Force Assemble!.