Finance and inequality : theory and evidence

This paper critically reviews the literature on finance and inequality, highlighting substantive gaps in the literature. Finance plays a crucial role in most theories of persistent inequality. Unsurprisingly, therefore, economic theory provides a rich set of predictions concerning both the impact of finance on inequality and about the relevant mechanisms. Although subject to ample qualifications, the bulk of empirical research suggests that improvements in financial contracts, markets, and intermediaries expand economic opportunities and reduce inequality. Yet, there is a shortage of theoretical and empirical research on the potentially enormous impact of formal financial sector policies, such as bank regulations and securities law, on persistent inequality. Furthermore, there is no conceptual framework for considering the joint and endogenous evolution of finance, inequality, and economic growth.Access to Finance,Economic Theory&Research,,Debt Markets,Inequality

Towards an aspect weaving BPEL engine

This position paper proposes the use of dynamic aspects and the visitor design pattern to obtain a highly configurable and extensible BPEL engine. Using these two techniques, the core of this infrastructural software can be customised to meet new requirements and add features such as debugging, execution monitoring, or changing to another Web Service selection policy. Additionally, it can easily be extended to cope with customer-specific BPEL extensions. We propose the use of dynamic aspects not only on the engine itself but also on the workflow in order to tackle the problems of Web Service hot deployment and hot fixes to long running processes. In this way, composing aWeb Service "on-the-fly" means weaving its choreography interface into the workflow

The Political Economy of Corruption & the Role of Financial Institutions

In many developing and transition countries, we observe rather high levels of corruption. This is surprising from a political economy perspective, as the majority of people in a corrupt country suffer from high corruption levels. Our model is based on the fact that corrupt offcials have to pay entry fees to get lucrative positions. In a probabilistic voting model, we show that a lack of financial institutions can lead to more corruption as more voters are part of the corrupt system and, more importantly, as the rents from corruption are distributed differently. Thus, the economic system has an effect on political outcomes. Well-functioning financial institutions, in turn, increase the political support for anti-corruption measures.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/64363/1/wp892.pd

Characterizing the Shape of Activation Space in Deep Neural Networks

The representations learned by deep neural networks are difficult to interpret in part due to their large parameter space and the complexities introduced by their multi-layer structure. We introduce a method for computing persistent homology over the graphical activation structure of neural networks, which provides access to the task-relevant substructures activated throughout the network for a given input. This topological perspective provides unique insights into the distributed representations encoded by neural networks in terms of the shape of their activation structures. We demonstrate the value of this approach by showing an alternative explanation for the existence of adversarial examples. By studying the topology of network activations across multiple architectures and datasets, we find that adversarial perturbations do not add activations that target the semantic structure of the adversarial class as previously hypothesized. Rather, adversarial examples are explainable as alterations to the dominant activation structures induced by the original image, suggesting the class representations learned by deep networks are problematically sparse on the input space

Income support systems for the unemployed : issues and options

The report reviews the performance of various income support systems for the unemployed, and provides guidelines for developing and transition economies. It finds that: a) Unemployment insurance enables a high degree of consumption smoothing, performs well under various types of shocks, and acts as an automatic stabilizer. But it also creates reemployment disincentives, and wage pressure which increase the equilibrium unemployment rate, contributing to persistent unemployment. b) Unemployment assistance, while enabling more effective targeting, may not bring savings in comparison to unemployment insurance, and may well prove fiscally unsustainable. c) Unemployment insurance savings accounts, internalize the costs of unemployment benefits, and thus avoid the moral hazard inherent in traditional unemployment insurance, given the weak monitoring capacity of developing countries, an important advantage. d) Public works program is effective in reaching the poor, can attract informal sector workers, and provides flexible, fast responses to shocks. Despite its high non-wage costs, and possible stigmatization of participants, it is found suitable for developing countries, particularly as a complementary program. e) Severance pay offers few advantages - it adversely affects efficiency, produces high litigation costs, and offers limited risk-pooling.Environmental Economics&Policies,Rural Poverty Reduction,Safety Nets and Transfers,Services&Transfers to Poor,Health Economics&Finance

Broadening the Benefits of Dual Enrollment: Reaching Underachieving and Underrepresented Students with Career-Focused Programs

A three-year study tracking outcomes for thousands of students across California shows that careerfocused dual enrollment programs can provide important benefits for those who are underachieving and underrepresented in higher education. Programs of this type, which allow high school students to take college courses and earn college credit, were once offered almost exclusively to high-achieving students seeking greater academic challenge