Transitional Dynamics Towards Sustainability: Reconsidering the EKC Hypothesis

Reconsidering the two-second decay hypothesis in verbal working memory

A common belief in the study of short-term memory is that the verbal trace decays around two seconds after it is encoded. This belief is typically assumed to follow from the finding that in immediate serial recall, the time required to rapidly articulate a span-length list is around two seconds. Empirically, this belief is in opposition to a broad set of findings across a number of domains that...

Reconsidering the Natural Rate Hypothesis in a New Keynesian Framework

This paper formulates a stylized New Keynesian model in which each individual firm can select the frequency of its price adjustments, and we demonstrate that the endogeneity of the contract structure has a dramatic impact on the magnitude of the aggregate effects of steady-state inflation. We start by analyzing the exact nonlinear properties of a benchmark economy with exogenous contract durati...

What is protective space? : reconsidering niches in transitions to sustainability

The transitions literature emphasises the role of niches, defined as a protective space for pathbreaking innovations. Surprisingly, the concept of protection has not been systematically interrogated. Our analysis identifies protection as having three functions in wider transition processes: shielding, nurturing and empowerment. Empowerment, understood as processes and mechanisms that contribute...

The Drosophila EKC/KEOPS complex

The TOR signaling pathway is crucial in the translation of nutritional inputs into the protein synthesis machinery regulation, allowing animal growth. We recently identified the Bud32 (yeast)/PRPK (human) ortholog in Drosophila, Prpk (p53-related protein kinase), and found that it is required for TOR kinase activity. Bud32/PRPK is an ancient and atypical kinase conserved in evolution from Arche...

Migrating Towards Sustainability