Agricultural Labor Markets and Immigration

Labor and Human Capital, J43, J61, J68,

The canonical 8-form on manifolds with holonomy group Spin(9)

An explicit expression of the canonical 8-form on a Riemannian manifold with a Spin(9)-structure, in terms of the nine local symmetric involutions involved, is given. The list of explicit expressions of all the canonical forms related to Berger's list of holonomy groups is thus completed. Moreover, some results on Spin(9)-structures as G-structures defined by a tensor and on the curvature tensor of the Cayley planes, are obtained

Discovery exhibition: using spatial treemaps in local authority decision making and reporting

At Leicestershire County Council we are using spatial treemaps to analyse labour markets and commuting behaviour. This novel visualization technique, presented at InfoVis 2008, has resulted in a number of insights and discoveries. Transport planners in our organization indicate that the graphics are effective and have advantages over alternatives. As researchers in the local authority we report upon using these graphics to inform decision makers and residents in the county’s evidence base for sustainable transport planning

Identifying effect heterogeneity to improve the effiency of job creation schemes in Germany?

Previous empirical studies of job creation schemes in Germany have shown that the average effects for the participating individuals are negative. However, we find that this is not true for all strata of the population. Identifying individual characteristics that are responsible for the effect heterogeneity and using this information for a better allocation of individuals therefore bears some scope for improving programme efficiency. We present several stratification strategies and discuss the occurring effect heterogeneity. Our findings show that job creation schemes do neither harm nor improve the labour market chances for most of the groups. Exceptions are long-term unemployed men in West and long-term unemployed women in East and West Germany who benefit from participation in terms of higher employment rates. JEL: C13 , J68 , H4

Scaling analysis of a model Hamiltonian for Ce3+^{3+} impurity in a cubic metal

We introduce various exchange interactions in a model Hamiltonian for Ce$^{3+}$ ions in cubic symmetry with three configurations ($f^0$,$f^1$,$f^2$). With the impurity pseudo spin $S_I=1/2$, our Hamiltonian includes: (i) One-channel $S_c=1/2$ Anderson model; (ii) Two-channel $S_c=1/2$ Anderson model; (iii) An unforseen one-channel $S_c=3/2$ Anderson model with a non-trivial fixed point; (iv) Mixing exchange interaction between the $\Gamma_{6,7}$ and the $\Gamma_8$ conduction electron partial wave states; (v) Multiple conduction electron partial wave states. Using the third-order scaling (perturbative renormalization group) analysis, we study stability of various fixed points relevant to various exchange interactions for Ce$^{3+}$ ions in cubic symmetry.Comment: 68 pages. 4 figures are available upon request from [email protected] (revised

Do China and Hong Kong constitute an optimum currency area?

After the political unification of Hong Kong with China, Hong Kong is supposed to function as a separate economic entity under the framework of one country, two systems . However, the increasingly close ties between the two economices have raised the possibility of full economic integration, and even of monetary union as the Chinese currency progresses towards full convertibility. This paper employs the theory of optimum currency area (OCA) and adopts recently developed techniques to test whether China and Hong Kong constitute an OCA. The empirical findings based on disaggregated historical data are overwhelmingly negative. Other considerations also point to a sceptical answer even for the post-1997 era