Modeling extremal dependence in multivariate and spatial problems: a practical perspective

From environmental sciences to finance, there is a growing demand for methods that can assess the risks of extreme events beyond those observed in available data. Extrapolating extreme events beyond the range of the data is not obvious. Risk assessments are often further complicated by the need to account for multiple variables simultaneously. Extreme value theory provides important tools for the analysis of multivariate or spatial extreme events, but these are not easily accessible to profes...

Properties of B2B invoice graphs and detection of structures

Ipsius consumptio sive distractio: Money, Interest, and Capital in Thomas Aquinas

The long theological and juridical tradition of monetary theory in the Latin West culminates in Thomas’ interpretation. Moving from Aristotle, Thomas elaborates on the idea of money as an institution, identifying its defining trait as being a measure for the exchange and not the object of the exchange. It is by defining money as something inherently non-appropriable that Thomas derives the condemnation of usury. Usury is no mere sin but a perversion that plagues the social body, favoring unpr...

Regional clearing systems: From the European Payments Union to current initiatives confronting dollar dominance

The International Clearing Union proposed by Keynes at Bretton Woods was designed not only to avoid using a national currency as an international means of payment and reserve asset, but also to provide a source of funding for temporary balance of trade disequilibria. Moreover, the proposal for collective commodity management would have provided liquidity to the international currency, by ensuring its convertibility in a basket of foodstuffs and raw materials. The ICU proposal was unsuccessful...