Large deviations for Markov jump processes with uniformly diminishing rates

We prove a large-deviation principle (LDP) for the sample paths of jump Markov processes in the small noise limit when, possibly, all the jump rates vanish uniformly, but slowly enough, in a region of the state space. We further show that our assumptions on the decay of the jump rates are optimal. As a direct application of this work we relax the assumptions needed for the application of LDPs to, e.g., Chemical Reaction Network dynamics, where vanishing reaction rates arise naturally particularly the context of Mass action kinetics

Employment Expectations and Gross Flows by Type of Work Contract

There is growing interest in understanding firms’ temporary and permanent employment practices and how institutional changes shape them. Using data on Spanish establishments, we examine: (a) how employers adjust temporary and permanent job and worker flows to prior employment expectations, and (b) how the 1994 and 1997 labour reforms promoting permanent employment affected establishments’ employment practices. Generally, establishments’ prior employment expectations are realized through changes in all job and worker flows. However, establishments uniquely rely on temporary hires as a buffer to confront diminishing long-run employment expectations. None of the reforms significantly affected establishments’ net temporary or permanent employment flows.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/40032/3/wp646.pd

China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan: A Quantitative Assessment of Real and Financial Integration

The status of real and financial integration of China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan is investigated using monthly data on one-month interbank rates, exchange rates, and prices. Specifically, the degree of integration is assessed based on the empirical validity of real interest parity, uncovered interest parity, and relative purchasing power parity. There is evidence these parity conditions tend to hold over longer periods, although they do not hold instantaneously. Overall, the magnitude of deviations from the parity conditions is shrinking over time. In particular, China and Hong Kong appear to have experienced significant increases in integration during the sample period. It is also found that exchange rate variability plays a major role in determining the variability of deviations from these parity conditions.uncovered interest parity, real interest parity, purchasing power parity, exchange rates, capital mobility, market integration

Robustness and epistasis in mutation-selection models

We investigate the fitness advantage associated with the robustness of a phenotype against deleterious mutations using deterministic mutation-selection models of quasispecies type equipped with a mesa shaped fitness landscape. We obtain analytic results for the robustness effect which become exact in the limit of infinite sequence length. Thereby, we are able to clarify a seeming contradiction between recent rigorous work and an earlier heuristic treatment based on a mapping to a Schr\"odinger equation. We exploit the quantum mechanical analogy to calculate a correction term for finite sequence lengths and verify our analytic results by numerical studies. In addition, we investigate the occurrence of an error threshold for a general class of epistatic landscape and show that diminishing epistasis is a necessary but not sufficient condition for error threshold behavior.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figure

Is An Oversupply of College Graduates Coming?

[Excerpt] Demand for college graduates workers was strong during the 1980s (Blackburn, Bloom and Freeman 1989; Katz and Murphy 1990; Kosters 1989; Freeman 1991). The relative wage of college graduate workers rose and college attendance rose in response. Have the demand and technology shocks that produced this result run their course? Is the supply response large enough to stop and/or reverse the 1980s escalation of the relative wages of college graduates? Read superficially, Bureau of Labor Statistics projections appear to suggest that the answers to these questions are YES. In the latest BLS report, the growing supply of college graduates was projected to outstrip growth of demand by 300,000 annually (Shelley 1996). Even larger gaps between supply and demand were projected in 1992 and 1994 (Shelley 1992, 1994). Looking at these projections, some in the press have reported that the college graduate labor market is about to go bust. New York Times reporter, Louis Uchitelle, for example, led off an article titled Surplus of College Graduates Dims Job Outlook for Others with the following

Analyzing loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity in a freight transport stated choice experiment

Choice behaviour might be determined by asymmetric preferences whether the consumers are faced with gains or losses. This paper investigates loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity, and analyzes their implications on willingness to pay and willingness to accept measures in a reference pivoted choice experiment in a freight transport framework. The results suggest a significant model fit improvement when preferences are treated as asymmetric, proving both loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity. The implications on willingness to pay and willingness to accept indicators are particular relevant showing a remarkable difference between symmetric and asymmetric model specifications. Not accounting for loss aversion and diminishing sensitivity, when present, produces misleading results and might affect significantly the policy decisions.freight transport, choice experiments, willingness to pay, preference asymmetry