3,981 research outputs found
Ownership Structures
In this paper, we analyse the effects of the massive Russian privatisation programme on the ownership of Russian firms and on the behaviour of formerly state owned enterprises. A large random sample of Russian firms is used to investigate the emerging ownership structures, patterns of control and enterprise behaviour. We find that workers have become the dominant owners in a majority ig Russian private firms; 65% of the total as against 19% being manager owned and 16% of being outsider owned. Higher- ownership appears to confer significantly more influence over decision-making on managers and outsiders, but not on workers. Most importantly however, we find no evidence that privatisation affects any major area of enterprise behaviour or performance.
Effects of home-based play-assisted stimulation on developmental performances of children living in extreme poverty : a randomized single-blind controlled trial
Background: Children living with foster families in a resource-limited setting such as Ethiopia are at risk of developmental problems. It is not yet clear whether intensive home-based developmental stimulation assisted by play can reduce these problems. The main objective of this study was to examine the effects of play-assisted intervention integrated into basic services on the developmental performance of children living with foster families in extreme poverty.
Methods: A randomized single-blind (investigator) controlled trial design was used. The study was conducted in Jimma, South West Ethiopia. Using computer-generated codes, eligible children of 3-59 months in age were randomly allocated to intervention (n = 39) and control (n = 39) groups at a 1:1 ratio. Children in the intervention group received home-based play-assisted stimulation in addition to the basic services provided to children in both groups. The intervention consisted of an hour of play stimulation conducted during a weekly home visit over the course of six months. Personal-social, language, fine and gross motor outcomes were assessed using Denver II-Jimma, and social-emotional outcome was obtained using an adapted Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Social-Emotional (ASQ: SE). Information about sociodemographic characteristics was collected using a structured questionnaire. Anthropometric methods were used to determine nutritional status. The effects of the intervention on the abovementioned outcomes over the study period and group differences in change over time were examined using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE).
Results: Statistically significant intervention effects were found for language (P = 0.0014), personal-social (P = 0.0087) and social-emotional (P < 0.0001) performances. At the midline of the study, language (effect size = 0.34) and social-emotional (effect size = - 0.603) benefits from the play-assisted stimulation had already been observed for the children in the intervention group. For language, the intervention effect depended on the child's sex (P = 0.0100) and for personal-social performance, on family income (P = 0.0300).
Conclusions: Intensive home-based play-assisted stimulation reduced the developmental problems of children in foster families in the context of extreme poverty. Longer follow-up may reveal further improvements in the developmental performance of the children
Intermediate integer programming representations using value disjunctions
We introduce a general technique to create an extended formulation of a
mixed-integer program. We classify the integer variables into blocks, each of
which generates a finite set of vector values. The extended formulation is
constructed by creating a new binary variable for each generated value. Initial
experiments show that the extended formulation can have a more compact complete
description than the original formulation.
We prove that, using this reformulation technique, the facet description
decomposes into one ``linking polyhedron'' per block and the ``aggregated
polyhedron''. Each of these polyhedra can be analyzed separately. For the case
of identical coefficients in a block, we provide a complete description of the
linking polyhedron and a polynomial-time separation algorithm. Applied to the
knapsack with a fixed number of distinct coefficients, this theorem provides a
complete description in an extended space with a polynomial number of
variables.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figure
The Discrete Dantzig Selector: Estimating Sparse Linear Models via Mixed Integer Linear Optimization
We propose a novel high-dimensional linear regression estimator: the Discrete
Dantzig Selector, which minimizes the number of nonzero regression coefficients
subject to a budget on the maximal absolute correlation between the features
and residuals. Motivated by the significant advances in integer optimization
over the past 10-15 years, we present a Mixed Integer Linear Optimization
(MILO) approach to obtain certifiably optimal global solutions to this
nonconvex optimization problem. The current state of algorithmics in integer
optimization makes our proposal substantially more computationally attractive
than the least squares subset selection framework based on integer quadratic
optimization, recently proposed in [8] and the continuous nonconvex quadratic
optimization framework of [33]. We propose new discrete first-order methods,
which when paired with state-of-the-art MILO solvers, lead to good solutions
for the Discrete Dantzig Selector problem for a given computational budget. We
illustrate that our integrated approach provides globally optimal solutions in
significantly shorter computation times, when compared to off-the-shelf MILO
solvers. We demonstrate both theoretically and empirically that in a wide range
of regimes the statistical properties of the Discrete Dantzig Selector are
superior to those of popular -based approaches. We illustrate that
our approach can handle problem instances with p = 10,000 features with
certifiable optimality making it a highly scalable combinatorial variable
selection approach in sparse linear modeling
Macroeconomic adjustment to oil shocks and fiscal reform : simulations for Zimbabwe, 1988-1995
The authors develop and apply a macroeconomic general equilibrium model for Zimbabwe. The model integrates a behavioral estimated model structure, taken from a companion paper, with the relevant budget constraints for a six-sector disaggregation into a comprehensive framework. Starting with 1988 as a base year, the authorssent simulations for a base scenario covering the period 1988-1995. From the different macroeconomic issues and reform requirements identified in the companion paper as relevant for Zimbabwe today, they select two for performing alternative scenario simulations here: a continuation of the current oil shock and strong fiscal stabilization. The oil shock is shown to reduce growth, increase inflation, depreciate the real exchange rate, and reduce private investment in Zimbabwe, a country heavily dependent on imported oil. Fiscal adjustment is a major challenge for stabilization and growth faced by Zimbabwe's policy-makers today. The paper's simulations show that deep fiscal reform will significantly help Zimbabwe achieve a sustainable debt path, a decline in interest rates paid on public debt, and a recovery of private consumption and investment.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Stabilization,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism
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