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I model deflation, at zero nominal interest rate, in a microfounded general equilibrium model. I show that one can analyze deflation as a credibility problem if three conditions are satisfied. First: The government's only policy instrument is increasing the money supply by open market operations in short-term bonds. Second: The economy is subject to large negative demand shocks. Third: The government cannot commit to future policy. I call the credibility problem that arises under these conditions the deflation bias. I propose several policies to solve it. They all involve printing money or issuing nominal debt. In addition they require cutting taxes, buying real assets such as stocks, or purchasing foreign exchange. The government \"credibly commits to being irresponsible\" by pursuing these policies. It commits to higher money supply in the future so that the private sector expects inflation instead of deflation. This is optimal since it curbs deflation and increases output by lowering the real rate of return.

Contrary to some accounts, the Hayek-Robbins (\"Austrian\") theory of the business cycle did not prescribe a monetary policy of \"liquidationism\" in the sense of passive indifference to sharp deflation during the early years of the Great Depression. There is no evidence that Hayek or Robbins influenced any \"liquidationist\" in the Hoover administration or the Federal Reserve System. Federal Reserve policy during the Great Depression was instead influenced by the real bills doctrine, which (despite some apparent similarities) was diametrically opposed in key respects to Hayek's norms for central bank policy.

It is standard to model the output-inflation trade-off as a linear relationship with a time-invariant slope. We assess empirical evidence for two sets of theories that allow for endogenous variation in the slope of the short-run Phillips curve. At an empirical level, we examine why large negative output gaps in Japan in the late 1990s did not lead to accelerating deflation but instead coincided with stable, albeit moderately negative inflation. Our results suggest that this episode is most convincingly interpreted as reflecting a gradual flattening of the Phillips curve. We find that this flattening is best explained by models with endogenous price durations. These models imply that in any economy where trend inflation is substantially lower (or substantially higher) today than in past decades, time variation in the slope of the Phillips curve has become too important to ignore.

Fundamental biological processes are carried out by curved epithelial sheets that enclose a pressurized lumen. How these sheets develop and withstand three-dimensional deformations has remained unclear. Here we combine measurements of epithelial tension and shape with theoretical modelling to show that epithelial sheets are active superelastic materials. We produce arrays of epithelial domes with controlled geometry. Quantification of luminal pressure and epithelial tension reveals a tensional plateau over several-fold areal strains. These extreme strains in the tissue are accommodated by highly heterogeneous strains at a cellular level, in seeming contradiction to the measured tensional uniformity. This phenomenon is reminiscent of superelasticity, a behaviour that is generally attributed to microscopic material instabilities in metal alloys. We show that in epithelial cells this instability is triggered by a stretch-induced dilution of the actin cortex, and is rescued by the intermediate filament network. Our study reveals a type of mechanical behaviour—which we term active superelasticity—that enables epithelial sheets to sustain extreme stretching under constant tension.

We propose formal and quantitative measures of the risk that future inflation will be excessively high or low relative to the range preferred by a private sector agent. Unlike alternative measures of risk, our measures are designed to make explicit the dependence of risk measures on the private sector agent's preferences with respect to inflation. We illustrate our methodology by estimating the risks of deflation for the United States, Germany, and Japan for horizons of up to 2 years. The question of how large these risks are has been subject to considerable public debate. We find that, as of September 2002 when this question first arose, there was no evidence of substantial deflation risks for the United States and for Germany, contrary to some conjectures at the time. In contrast, there was evidence of substantial deflation risks in Japan.

[...]whether or not a given pattern of ventilation injures also depends on lung capacity and innate vulnerability of lung tissues to the applied mechanical stress. [...]a healthy lung can withstand power loads much greater than do the relatively fragile but functional alveoli that make up the “baby lung” of ARDS [5]. [...]neither PEEP, plateau pressure, nor their difference (ΔP) reflect the dynamics and dissipated energy of the tidal cycle. Flow-controlled ventilation attenuates lung injury in a porcine model of acute respiratory distress syndrome: a preclinical randomized controlled study.

This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2020. Other selected articles can be found online at https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/annualupdate2020 . Further information about the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is available from http://www.springer.com/series/8901 .

We study the effects of fiscal policy interventions in a liquidity trap in a model with nominal rigidities and an interest rate rule. In a liquidity trap caused by a self-fulfilling state of low confidence, higher government spending has deflationary effects that reduce the spending multiplier when the zero lower bound is binding. Instead, cuts in marginal labour tax rates are inflationary and become more expansionary when the zero lower bound is binding. These findings contradict a popular view, based on a liquidity trap caused by a fundamental shock such as a taste shock, that higher government spending is inflationary and can therefore be associated with large multipliers at the zero lower bound, while lower marginal tax rates are deflationary and therefore counterproductive.

HighlightsAn overview of the formation mechanisms, fabrication methods, and applications of bioinspired wrinkling patterns on curved substrates is provided.The effect of substrate curvature is described in detail to clarify the difference of wrinkling patterns between planar and curved substrates.Opportunities and challenges of the surface wrinkling in the biofabrication, three-dimensional micro/nano fabrication, and four-dimensional printing are discussed.The surface wrinkling of biological tissues is ubiquitous in nature. Accumulating evidence suggests that the mechanical force plays a significant role in shaping the biological morphologies. Controlled wrinkling has been demonstrated to be able to spontaneously form rich multiscale patterns, on either planar or curved surfaces. The surface wrinkling on planar substrates has been investigated thoroughly during the past decades. However, most wrinkling morphologies in nature are based on the curved biological surfaces and the research of controllable patterning on curved substrates still remains weak. The study of wrinkling on curved substrates is critical for understanding the biological growth, developing three-dimensional (3D) or four-dimensional (4D) fabrication techniques, and creating novel topographic patterns. In this review, fundamental wrinkling mechanics and recent advances in both fabrications and applications of the wrinkling patterns on curved substrates are summarized. The mechanics behind the wrinkles is compared between the planar and the curved cases. Beyond the film thickness, modulus ratio, and mismatch strain, the substrate curvature is one more significant parameter controlling the surface wrinkling. Curved substrates can be both solid and hollow with various 3D geometries across multiple length scales. Up to date, the wrinkling morphologies on solid/hollow core–shell spheres and cylinders have been simulated and selectively produced. Emerging applications of the curved topographic patterns have been found in smart wetting surfaces, cell culture interfaces, healthcare materials, and actuators, which may accelerate the development of artificial organs, stimuli-responsive devices, and micro/nano fabrications with higher dimensions.

We estimate the oil price pass-through into consumer prices both in the U.S. and in the euro area. In particular, we disentangle the specific effect that an oil price change might have on each disaggregate price, from the effect on all prices that an oil price change might have since it affects the whole economy. To do so, we first estimate a Dynamic Factor Model on a panel of disaggregate price indicators, and then we use VAR techniques to estimate the pass-through. Our results show that the oil price passes through core inflation only via its effect on the whole economy. This pass-through is estimated to be small, but statistically different from zero and long lasting.