The Single Resolution Mechanism of the European Banking Union: its structure and functioning
The recent financial crisis showed that the institutions of the European Union (EU) and its member states are poorly prepared for solving current problems of banks, which are experiencing financial difficulties in European markets. In order to be able to further provide services for citizens and companies, member states’ governments had to support banks with public finances and provide guarantees on an unprecedented scale. It did help to avoid a collapse of banks and a disturbance of the economy, but only by putting the burden on taxpayers and thereby causing deterioration in public finances. An agreement about the right course of action in the face of these difficulties experienced by cross-national banks has not been reached either. The major situation changer should be the European Banking Union (EBU), also called the Integrated Financial System, which is in the process of being created. The foundations for it have been laid during Lithuanian presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of 2013. For Lithuania and all other EU member states, joining the banking union will mean handing over important national state powers to the European Union institutions.
(When) should a non-euro country join the banking union?
We analyze the benefits and costs of a non-euro country opting-in to the banking union. The decision to opt-in depends on the comparison between the assessment of the banking union attractiveness and the robustness of a national safety net. The benefits of opting-in are still only potential and uncertain, while costs are more tangible. Due to treaty constraints, non-euro countries participating in the banking union will not be on equal footing with euro area members. Analysis presented in the paper points out that reducing the weaknesses of the banking union and thus providing incentives for opting-in is not probable in the short term, mainly due to political constraints. Until a fully-fledged banking union with well-capitalized backstops is established it may be optimal for a non-euro country to join the banking union upon the euro adoption. Assessing first experiences with the functioning of the banking union and opt-in countries will be crucial for non-euro countries when deciding whether to opt-in.
Training and maintaining the performance of dogs (Canis familiaris) on an increasing number of odor discriminations in a controlled setting
Abstract The number of substances detector dogs are trained to detect varies depending on the mission of the agency they serve. No studies have been conducted concerning how training multiple odor discriminations affects detection performance and refresher training requirements. This study used a controlled field setting to examine the effects of training dogs to detect multiple substances on their subsequent detection performance and refresher training requirements. Dogs were first trained to detect a single odor. Their detection performance was tested 10 days later and refresher training was then given to bring their performance back up to a predetermined standard. Following refresher training, detection of a new substance was trained, and approximately 10 days later the detection of both trained substances was tested. This sequence of testing, refresher training, and new odor training continued every 10 days until the dogs had been trained and tested on 10 odors. The detection of previously learned odors did not decrease as the number of substances trained increased. In fact, the amount of training required to refresh detection performance and to train new odor discriminations tended to decrease as more odor discriminations were trained.