Добірка наукової літератури з теми "Congresses, Internat., 1901"

The article is devoted to the development and correction of the village reform project, one of the least studied reforms of Pyotr A. Stolypin. Based on the documents of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Duma of the Russian Empire, the author reconstructs the process of creating a draft law of the village reform and making amendments to it during 1905–08. It is shown that this bill was part of the complex Stolypin reforms of local self-government and was developed in compliance with the legislative acts of the tsarist government of 1903 and 1904, taking into account the views of the local committees of the Special Meeting on the Needs of the Agricultural Industry. There are several versions of the draft law: the initial one, which was discussed at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Council of Ministers in 1905–06; the draft law for submission to the Second State Duma in 1907; the draft law revised in the Council for Local Economy Affairs which was submitted to the Third State Duma in 1908. The article considers the discussions in the executive bodies and at the congress of the United Nobility regarding the most important articles of the draft law on property qualification, women’s suffrage, and inclusion in the village regulatory body without elections.

The paper discusses the fundamental ideas of political Zionism. Many of them were presented in the pamphlet “The Jewish State” (1896) and in a fictionalized form in the utopian novel “The Old New Land” (1902). Their author is the Austrian journalist and writer Theodor Herzl (1860–1904). Some facts and events that influenced the formation of Herzl's views are also named; a number of decisions of the first Zionist congresses are analyzed; the role of Russian Zionists in advancing the movement; the attitude of the government and society in Russia and other countries to Zionism; the perception of Zionism in the ruling and intellectual circles of Israel in our time; the correlation of the ideas of political Zionism with modern internal and external foreign policy and realities of the State of Israel. The article attempts to answer the question: to what extent modern Israel meets the ideals of classical Zionism, to what extent its main provisions were implemented in it.

The paper presents the history of Russian internal Medicine Society and its lsl Congress called in 1909 year and concerns main reports dealing with diagnosis and pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, in brief the lectures on diagnosis, pathogenesis and treatment of gastrointestinal and infectious diseases, including tuberculosis.

Aim. To study the influence of the Indian policy of Viceroy Curzon on the development of the Indian National Congress and the national movement in British India in the late 19th – early 20th centuries.Methodology. Based on the annual reports on the sessions of the Indian National Congress, the works of the Congress leaders (A. O. Hume, G. K. Gokhale) and Curzon, the author considers the problem of the relationship between the INC and the government, Curzon’s views on India’s place in the British Empire, the influence of the Viceroy’s administrative decisions on the processes of internal development of the Congress and the national movement.Results. It is concluded that the repressive measures of Curzon contributed to the intensification of contradictions within the Congress, which led to a revision of the organizational structure and tactics of the Congress. These included the adoption of the constitution of the Congress and its subsequent modification, strengthening of the democratic wing in the Congress, which advocated the use of more active methods of struggle for fulfillment of Congress’ demands.Research implications. The theoretical justification of the crisis of the Indian national movement at the beginning of the 20th century, which contributed to the gradual transition of the movement into a phase of active struggle against the British colonialists, is presented. The peculiarities of liberal and conservative political thought of Great Britain in relation to the question of the colonies place in the empire and the ways of their development are shown.

[Cardinal Martini, archbishop emeritus of Milan, and currently scholar in residence in Jerusalem, delivered this inaugural address on November 17, 2004, during a three-day international congress held at the Gregorian University on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Canadian Jesuit Bernard J. F. Lonergan (1904–1984). The congress explored the contribution of Lonergan to Christian theology and, in particular, his proposal for a new methodology capable of assuring the internal unity of theology as well as fostering its many integrations with the natural and human sciences, historical research, philosophical reflection, and other types of knowing. Cardinal Martini in his lecture brought out the person of Lonergan as well as his ecclesial and cultural significance.]

The American Red Cross is an independent, voluntary body dedicated to performing the relief obligations entrusted to it by the Congress of the United States. The American Red Cross is required by congressional charter (Act of Congress of January 5, 1905, as amended, 36 U.S. Code 3, Fifth) to undertake relief activities for the purpose of mitigating the suffering caused by disasters. A disaster is an occurrence such as a hurricane, tornado, storm, flood, highwater, wind-driven water, tidal wave, earthquake, drought, blizzard, pestilence, famine, fire, explosion, building collapse, transportation wreck, or other situation that causes human suffering or creates human needs that victims cannot alleviate without assistance.Through internal planning, policy setting, and implementation, and cooperation with private and governmental bodies, the American Red Cross at all levels gives priority to preparing for and providing assistance in disasters of any size.

Čenču Jezups or Dzērkste (real name Jezups Kindzuļs, 1888–1941?) was a Latgalian public figure, agronomist, publicist and writer. Date of his death is unknown – he was arrested in February 1941 by NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs), but after that there is no information about his further life. He participated in the Latgalian Awakening movement at the beginning of 20th century. Later J. Kindzuļs was one of the organizers of the Latgalian congress (1917) in Rēzekne and a member of Constitutional Assembly of Latvia (1920–1922). He was an editor of such periodicals as “Latgalīts” (1921), “Latgolas Zemkūpis” (1924–1935), “Latgolas lauksaimnīks” (calendar, 1924–1935). He wrote his novel “Pīters Vylāns” between 1935 and 1941. It was first published in Daugavpils in 1943 by writer and publisher Vladislavs Luocis. Later it was published again in Germany in 1967.Čenču Jezups’ novel “Pīters Vylāns” was analysed by Miķelis Bukšs, Ilona Salceviča, Oskars Seiksts. The mentioned papers reveal the meaning of Latgalian self-confidence, which is disclosed in “Pīters Vylāns”, but unfortunately the author of this novel seems to be forgotten. Therefore the aim of this research is to “decode” factors of inspiration in Čenču Jezups’ novel “Pīters Vylāns” to gain more information about author’s life and his value system.Inspiration is always connected with writer’s life experience. Furthermore, the writer creates his own world. Vladislavs Luocis wrote that J. Kindzuļs planned to write a trilogy (Lōcis 1965: 26), but because of Latvia’s occupation by the Soviet Union this intention was not fulfilled. Factors of inspiration are divided into two groups: literary and non-literary (Lukaševičs 2007: 5). Non-literary factors of inspiration are those connected with J. Kindzuļs’ life (social and political events, education and public activities, private life). Literary and cultural factors of inspiration refer to his interests and Latgalian self-identification.Novel “Pīters Vylāns” was written during the authoritarian regime of Kārlis Ulmanis (1934–1940) and deals with peasants’ life during the Russian Revolution of 1905 (1905–1907) in Latgale. The problems of Latgalian identity (to be russified or polonized, quest for identity as a possibility) are dealt with by means of such characters as Vera Semjonova, Stefa, Meikuls Stumbris and Buks. It may be that the characters Pīters Vylāns and Ontons Sleižs are the two sides of J. Kindzuļs’ alter ego. His life experience until World War I is revealed in Pīters Vylāns, but after 1920 – in Ontons Sleižs. J. Kindzuļs may have studied either agronomy or law in Petersburg (after 1907). He took part in Latgalian Musical society and later he worked in the editorial office of newspaper “Drywa” (1908–1912). J. Kindzuļs was involved in the First World War and after that he worked in Rēzekne Commerce School (1919). After 1922 he started farming in his household “Pelēķi” in Laucesa rural municipality and was busy with issues of agronomy in Latgale.J. Kindzuļs’ private life is revealed in two women characters: Elvira and Stefa. Kindzuļs himself had three wives: unknown (married before 1919), Hortenzija Kindzule (Dardedze, married about 1921), Jadviga Kindzule (Kondrāte, married before 1933). J. Kindzuļs became a widower twice. He had two sons: Česlavs (from his first marriage) and Andrivs Jēkabs (from the second marriage). The third child was a daughter, but he and his wife Jadviga lost her because she died of an illness when she was 3.Because of lack of information about J. Kindzuļs, there is no possibility to find out his interests. The only way to get more information about J. Kindzuļs is to research his novel “Pīters Vylāns”. From the novel we know that for J. Kindzuļs there are three groups of literary and cultural factors of inspiration. Firstly, it is Latgalian self-confidence, which appears in the use of Roman Catholic elements such as rites, prayers and honour songs for God. Secondly, it is syncretism of Christian faith and paganism, which is presented as rewriting of folksongs by hand and “vakariešona” or evening gathering. Thirdly, it is European culture, because it is clear that J. Kindzuļs knew, for example, such writers as Goethe, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, classical music (F. F. Chopin) and architecture. The amount of information about J. Kindzuļs must be enriched and research must be continued. Novel “Pīters Vylāns” was written after 1935 and it is autobiographical. Such characters as Pīters Vylāns and Ontons Sleižs reflect the personality of J. Kindzuļs, but Elvira and Stefa reveal some traits of his wives Hortenzija and Jadviga. J. Kindzuļs glorifies values which became significant after 1934: land and farming, peasants and unity. He describes the Latvians of Latgale during the Russian Revolution of 1905 (1905–1907), but at the same time he criticizes the tendency to be latvianized. The same attitude he has to russification. He accepts the ideological course of Kārlis Ulmanis policy and this ideological position of J. Kindzuļs is manifested as a form of rebellion.

The organization of the National Science Foundation in 1950 gave it a late start on supporting American science. It survived as a poorly funded sister to the Office of Naval Research until the late 1950s, when Sputnik opened up the federal coffers for science support and education. This was particularly true in the ocean sciences, where NSF financial commitment to research support remained extremely limited, until the lobbying of the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on Oceanography, combined with the results of Sputnik, led to a dramatic new commitment of resources. One of the earliest major recipients of NSF resources in oceanography and the earth sciences was Project Mohole. Mohole gave the Foundation the opportunity to take a leadership role in oceanography and the earth sciences, although internal squabbles among supporters, along with projected cost over-runs, eventually led to a funding cut-off by Congress in 1966. However, the NSF's leadership role in the ocean sciences was by then well established.

Quackery in medicine is as old as medicine. In times of crisis, desperate patients believe in extraordinary claims. In the annals of pain killer quack medicine, elixirs, nostrums and liniments hold a preeminent position. The College of Dentistry at NYU received a collection of 234 bottles of nostrums and liniments dating from approximately 1840 through 1940. This article highlights three sets of painkillers that contained morphine, opium or were considered being “electric or magnetic”. The exaggerated nature of the curative claims, the dangerous and addictive content of the drugs led the US Congress in 1906 to ban many of such substances and introduce The Pure Food and Drug Act. In spite of such measures, 100+ years later quack medicine is alive and well thanks to the internet and social media.

The modern classification of mathematical subjects occurred within the larger framework of library classification, a project receiving sustained attention in the period from 1870 to the present. The early work of the library cataloguers was carried out against the background of a broad nineteenth-century interest in the classification of knowledge. We explore different views during this period concerning the position of mathematics in the overall scheme of knowledge, the scope of mathematics and the internal organization of the different parts of mathematics. We examine how mathematical books were classified, from the most general level down to the level of particular subject areas in analysis. The focus is on the Library of Congress Classification in its various iterations from 1905 to the present. The article ends with an examination of the Mathematics Subject Classification Scheme employed today by reviewing services Mathematical Reviews in the United States and Zentralblatt in Germany.

Abstract Scholars of the U.S. Congress over the past two decades are virtually unanimous in their agreement that there has been a transformation in the internal power structure of both the House and Senate. One aspect of this transformation has been a reduction in the influence of the southern Democrats. Under the congressional power structure that prevailed from 1910 to 1970, southern Democratic members exercised a dominant influence on the behavior and policy output of the Congress. Over the past two decades, however, this influence has clearly eroded. This chapter deals with the situation of southern Democrats in the present-day Congress and is based largely on a series of interviews conducted during the summer of 1990 with thirty southern Democratic congressmen, three senators, two former senators, and five senior Senate staffers. The first section deals with the House and the second with the Senate.

Abstract Following the CPU’s merger with the Ottoman Freedom Society,1 the new CPU and the two other main opposition organizations, namely Sabahaddin Bey’s League of Private Initiative and Decentralization and the Dashnaktsutiun Committee, organized a second congress of “Ottoman opposition parties” in order to unite all of these organizations in a program of revolutionary action. Although this meeting, which the organizers labeled a “congress,” took place after the merger, the CPU central committee in Paris, now renamed the CPU External Headquarters, had in fact taken the first initiatives and had worked toward a congress on its own during the early negotiations. It was only during the final preparations for the gathering that the CPU External Headquarters received feedback from the CPU Internal Headquarters in the form of an approval of its action.

This chapter shows how various forms and practices of modernist syncretism — the idea of East–West unity through cultural exchange and the melding of traditions — influenced Indian journals such as East and West, a modernist periodical published in Bombay, as well as famous British writers such as E. M. Forster and Rudyard Kipling. Syncretic works shared an interest in the redemptive potential of affection between colonizer and colonized and represented his idea via the romance of intercultural union: the ambivalence built into articulations of this romance, however, illuminates the dialectical tension between affection and disaffection that underwrote cultural exchange under imperialism. The chapter demonstrates how this tension took literary form and how it influenced new anticolonial formations, such as those that took shape in London at the Universal Races Congress of 1911. Ultimately, the chapter examines the tactic of syncretism and ends with a reading of the modernist journal East and West, which ceased publication in 1921.

This chapter explores why Nixon initially chose to save Johnson’s War on Poverty and also why he tried to launch his own bold antipoverty gambit, in the form of the Family Assistance Plan (FAP). In doing so, the chapter charts the disagreements in the Nixon White House, particularly those between aides Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Arthur Burns. Overall, in failing to pass FAP, the chapter argues that Nixon misread his own party, which had no interest in such a grand anti-poverty initiative. Moreover, his own poor party leadership was also to blame for FAP failing in Congress.

Abstract Sustained scholarly comparative law activities coincided with the establishment of scientific research at leading American law schools. Chapter 6 reviews the new field of comparative juristic inquiry that emerged from both idealistic and practical concerns. Jurists drew from history, social science, and traditional legal sources to provide new perspectives. Woodrow Wilson was a prominent legal comparatist. Following the 1898 Spanish-American War, the peace treaty ceded sovereignty over the Philippines to the United States, which took a course of indirect and consensual engagement. A few jurists knowledgeable in the civil law worked with American institutions and government to support foreign legal reform, including in China after it became a republic in 1912. Organized American comparative law began in earnest with the 1904 St. Louis Universal Congress of Lawyers and Jurists. The American Bar Association created the Comparative Law Bureau in 1907, with annual meetings and a Bulletin. Comparatists developed teaching materials, set up graduate programs, and supported expanded comparative law libraries. In 1925, bureau members established the American Foreign Law Association. They also took a leading role in forming the International Academy of Comparative Law, with Roscoe Pound and John Wigmore as active members. German-American juristic relations in the 1930s were complicated with the rise of Nazis in Germany and anti-Semitism in American universities. However, several U.S. law schools accepted émigré legal scholars much to their mutual benefit, while a few Catholic-affiliated university law schools and philosophy and government departments took in those who revived an interest in natural law jurisprudence.

Leonard Bernstein’s first Japan tour with the New York Philharmonic in 1961 was shaped by the politics of the Cold War. The US government’s interest was manifested in the sponsorship of the tour by the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF), while Japan eagerly hosted the tour as part of the commemoration of the five hundredth anniversary of the city of Tokyo. The participation of emerging star Seiji Ozawa as Bernstein’s assistant conductor added special meaning for the Japanese audience. The tour was the much awaited occasion for Kazuko Amano to meet Bernstein in person for the first time.

Robert Andrew Glendinning Carson (1918–2006), a Fellow of the British Academy, spent his career at the British Museum, where he rose to be Keeper of the Department of Coins & Medals. He was the leading British expert in Roman numismatics of his generation. Carson was a prolific scholar and his bibliography runs to more than 350 items. He had been set high standards by his mentor, Harold Mattingly, who served as Curator of Roman coins at the British Museum from 1910 to 1947. But perhaps Carson's most influential contribution to the study of Roman coins lay in the work he carried out in collaboration with John Kent. As Curator of Roman coins at the British Museum, it was perhaps inevitable that Carson should take an interest in the coins of the British usurpers Carausius and Allectus, and he published a series of papers on their coinages. Carson had an international reputation: he was actively involved in the organisation of international numismatic congresses from the 1950s.

This chapter examines early attempts to overturn the 1902 official bilingual law. The PIP passionately favored such a move, but with few legislative seats any change in language policy would be up to the two larger parties. Concerned that Congress might disapprove of a statehood applicant jettisoning English as an official language, the pro-statehood PNP had no interest in changing this law. That left the matter completely up to the PPD. During the 1970s and 1980s a few PPD lawmakers proposed bills, but in keeping with a classic Downsian vote-maximizing strategy the party’s leadership consistently rejected the idea. With an eye on the next election, the PPD’s behavior was consistent with standard models of rational political behavior.

This study is conducted to analyze the energy use by cooling pump in internal combustion engine (ICE). The main focus of the experiment is to analyze the radiator heat transfer and the cooling pump power. The heat transfer rate of radiator is determined by conducting an experiment on an ICE. Thermocouples and an anemometer are used for temperature and air velocity measurement respectively. The cooling pump power is determined through dynamometer test. These experiments are conducted only for engine speed range of 1000rpm to 1500rpm to avoid overheating when belt is dismantled. The engine running at 1000rpm to 1500rpm produces about 1.2kW to 2.5kW power and rejects heat at rate of 0.20kW to 0.3kW, representing 13.0% to 19.1% of the total energy lost. The cooling pump power is approximately 0.13–0.19kW which is approximately 7.6% of the engine power output.

The flow of cooling air within the internal passages of gas turbines is controlled and metered using orifices formed of holes in discs and casings. The effects of inlet radiusing and chamfering of these holes on the discharge coefficient forms the subject of this paper. Experimental results for a range of radiusing and chamfering ratios for holes of different length to diameter ratios are presented covering the range of pressure ratios of practical interest. The results indicate that radiusing and chamfering are both beneficial in increasing the discharge coefficient. Increases of 10–30% are possible. Chamfered holes give the more desirable performance characteristics in addition to being easier to produce than radiused holes.

Multiphase flows are encountered in many engineering problems. Particularly in the oil and gas industry, many applications involve the transportation of a mixture of oil and natural gas in long pipelines from offshore platforms to the continent. Numerical simulations of steady and unsteady flows in pipelines are usually based on one-dimensional models, such as the two-fluid model, the drift-flux model and the homogeneous equilibrium model. The 1991’s version of the well-known and widely-used commercial software OLGA describes a system of non-linear equations of the two-fluid-model type, with an extra equation for the presence of liquid droplets. It is well known that one-dimensional formulations may be physically inconsistent due to the loss of hyperbolicity. In these cases, the associated eigenvalues become complex numbers and the model loses physical meaning locally. This paper presents a numerical study of the 1991’s version of the software OLGA, for an isothermal flow of stratified pattern, in a horizontal pipeline. For each point of interest in the stratified-pattern flow map, the eigenvalues are numerically calculated in order to verify if the eigenvalues are real and also to assess their signs. The results indicate that the model is conditionally hyperbolic and loses hyperbolicity in a vast area of the stratified region under certain flow conditions. Even though the model is not unconditionally hyperbolic, some simulations here performed for typical offshore pipeline flows are shown to be in the hyperbolic region.

Aeroelastic interaction in turbomachinery is of prime interest to operators, designers and aeroelasticians. Operation at off-design conditions may promote blade stall; eventually the stall pattern will propagate around the blade annulus. The unsteady periodic nature of propagating stall will force blade vibration and blade flutter may occur if the stall propagation frequency is entrained by the blade natural frequency. In this work a computational scheme based on the vortex method is used to simulate the flow over a linear cascade of airfoils. The viscous effect is confined to a thin layer which determines the separation points on the airfoil surfaces. The preliminary structural model is a two-dimensional characteristic section with a single degree of freedom in either bending or torsion. A study of the relationship between the stall propagation frequency and the blade natural frequency has been conducted. The study shows that entrainment, or frequency synchronization, occurs resulting in pure torsional flutter over a certain interval of reduced frequency. A severe blade torsional amplitude (of order 20°) has been computed in the entrainment region reaching its largest value in the center of the interval. However, in practice, compressor blades will not sustain this vibration and blade failure may occur before reaching such a large amplitude. Outside the entrainment interval the stall propagation is shown to be independent of the blade natural frequency. In addition, computational results show that there is no entrainment in the pure bending mode. Rather “de-entrainment” occurs with similar flow conditions and similar stall frequencies, resulting in blade buffeting in pure bending.

A CFD analysis of the cooling flow through a gas turbine engine low pressure turbine shaft is presented. Three cases are considered in which throughflow and rotation rate are varied. The primary objective of the analysis was to derive improved heat transfer coefficient information, over those obtainable via semi-empirical means. The coefficients so obtained were then used in a one-dimensional, time-dependent analysis for use in predicting shaft wall temperature throughout a snap acceleration phase of the engine. A second objective was to obtain insight into the flow structure within the shaft with a view to possible design input in future engine programs. Results presented include detailed velocity vector plots at select locations, heat transfer coefficient distributions for each case and finally, for Case 2 predicted wall temperature vs. time is shown in conjunction with engine test data.

This paper presents an implicit finite difference algorithm which solves the unsteady Euler equations in two-dimensional ducts. The unsteady nature of the flow is due to the time dependent inflow and outflow boundary conditions, while the geometry does not change in time. The present work is based on the Helmholtz decomposition of the unsteady velocity field into a potential and a rotational part. Vorticity is introduced at the inlet by means of velocity, total enthalpy or even entropy slope. The presented results cover a wide range of reduced frequencies in the subsonic regime.

Abstract Although there has been an increasing interest in experimental research investigating time-dependent fluid phenomena, accepted methods for assessing and reporting measurement uncertainty, i.e., those contained in ANSI/ASME PTC 19.1 (1985), are restricted to time-independent measured variables. Complementing the work of Maciejewski (1996), which presents a method for assessing the random component of uncertainty in transient measurements, this paper presents a method for assessing the systematic component of uncertainty in transient measurements.

A fast calculation method, able to predict three, dimensional axisymmetric viscous internal flows on rotating and stationary surfaces in turbomachinery components has been developed. Modern high bypass turbine engines are characterized by axisymmetric parts such as inlets, nacelles, the prediffuser whose primary function is the efficient transfer of flow from one component to another. The flow field in such ducts are characterized by streamline curvature and divergence resulting from sharp contour and rapid area rotations, with the appearance of high peripheral velocity components. The detailed calculation of the flow field through the axisymmetric parts requires a solution of the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equations. However, conventional design systems simplify the flow pattern to a two dimensional one. The proposed method is based on the two-zone model and uses the notions of the integral formulation for the meridional direction. The meridional vorticity transport differential formulation, in a modified form is used for the peripheral direction to include the dynamics of passing from stationary to rotating parts and vice-versa. The resulting algorithms are sufficiently versatile and reliable to be used as a part of a design system for industrial applications. A series of test cases demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method to practical problems having moderate skew, sudden application of a transverse motion and moderate cross-sectional area variations with stationary or rotating boundaries.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3