Apollo lunar surface experiments package. Apollo 14 Laser ranging Retro-Reflector experiment /LRRR/ Final report

Design, development, fabrication, and test of laser ranging retroreflector experiment equipment for Apollo 14 fligh

An Automated Approach Towards Sparse Single-Equation Cointegration Modelling

In this paper we propose the Single-equation Penalized Error Correction Selector (SPECS) as an automated estimation procedure for dynamic single-equation models with a large number of potentially (co)integrated variables. By extending the classical single-equation error correction model, SPECS enables the researcher to model large cointegrated datasets without necessitating any form of pre-testing for the order of integration or cointegrating rank. Under an asymptotic regime in which both the number of parameters and time series observations jointly diverge to infinity, we show that SPECS is able to consistently estimate an appropriate linear combination of the cointegrating vectors that may occur in the underlying DGP. In addition, SPECS is shown to enable the correct recovery of sparsity patterns in the parameter space and to posses the same limiting distribution as the OLS oracle procedure. A simulation study shows strong selective capabilities, as well as superior predictive performance in the context of nowcasting compared to high-dimensional models that ignore cointegration. An empirical application to nowcasting Dutch unemployment rates using Google Trends confirms the strong practical performance of our procedure

Monetary transmission in Germany: new perspectives on financial constraints and investment spending

In order to obtain a better understanding of the transmission channels for monetary policy, this paper assesses the importance of the interest rate and credit channels on business fixed investment in Germany. Our unbalanced panel of financial statements contains 44,345 firm/year observations for 6,408 firms. We uncover a rather solid interest channel. A transitory increase in nominal interest rates by 100 basis points would depress investment demand by almost 4% within the first year. Using our direct measure of creditworthiness, we can also document a balance-sheet channel. Relative to unconstrained firms, financially constrained firms exhibit increased sensitivity to internal funds, and decreased sensitivity to the user cost as well as to market demand. Furthermore, changes in the rating of firms seem to affect investment demand in a way that is consistent with the presence of a balance-sheet channel. This balance-sheet channel, however, seems to be of secondary importance JEL Classification: E5, E2finance, firm investment, monetary transmission, user cost

On the German Monetary Transmission Mechanism: Interest Rate and Credit Channels for Investment Spending

The transmission channels through which monetary policy affects business investment remain opaque. This paper examines the importance of the interest rate and credit channels on business fixed investment in Germany. We have at our disposal three uniquely rich datasets -- a panel of financial statement data for 6,408 firms (44,345 datapoints) supplemented with user costs of capital and confidential measures of creditworthiness. We uncover a statistically significant interest rate channel. Its economic significance can be sizeable, but depends on auxiliary assumptions. Sorting firms with our direct measure of creditworthiness, we find that credit constraints are important for a subset of firms. Sortings by firm size or dividend payout ratios shed some light on continuing debates in the literature.

Functional income distribution and aggregate demand in the Euro-area

An increase in the wage share has contradictory effects on the subaggregates of aggregate demand. Private consumption expenditures ought to increase because wage incomes typically are associated with higher consumption propensities than capital incomes. Investment expenditures ought to be negatively affected because investment will positively depend on profits. Net exports will be negatively affected because an increase in the wage share corresponds to an increase in unit labor costs and thus a loss in competitiveness. Theoretically aggregate demand can therefore be either wage led or profit led depending on how these effects add up. The results will crucially depend on how open the economy is internationally. The paper estimates a Post-Kaleckian macro model incorporating these effects for the Euro area and finds that the Euro area is presently in a wage-led demand regime. Implications for wage policies are discussed. (author's abstract)Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Serie

Further Evidence On The Relationship Between Firm Investment And Financial Status

The interpretation of the significant relation between business investment spending and cash flow has been controversial. A large body of research has found that investment/cash flow sensitivities are higher for financially constrained firms. This fundamental result underlying the finance constraints hypothesis has been challenged recently by Kaplan, Zingales, and Cleary. The latter author introduces an important new element to this debate by using discriminant analysis, which allows creditworthy firms to be identified using an objective ex-ante criterion based on dividend payouts. Consistent with the Kaplan and Zingales critique, investment/cash flow sensitivities are lower for financially constrained firms. This short paper documents that the use of discriminant analysis does not necessarily lead to lower sensitivities. Our contrasting results are traceable to the use of the firm's creditworthiness as the discriminating variable and appropriate adjustments for endogenous regressors and serially correlated residuals. We document that the investment/cash flow sensitivity is higher for financially constrained firms. -- Die Interpretation der signifikanten Beziehung zwischen unternehmerischen Investitionsausgaben und dem Cash-Flow ist umstritten. Eine größere Anzahl von Forschungsarbeiten kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Sensitivität der Investitionen bezüglich des Cash-Flow bei finanziell beschränkten Unternehmen höher liegt. Dieses für die Theorie finanzieller Beschränkungen grundlegende Resultat wurde in jüngerer Zeit von Kaplan, Zingales und Cleary in Zweifel gezogen. Der letztgenannte Autor führte ein wichtiges neues Element in die Debatte ein: Finanziell beschränkte Unternehmen werden von ihm mit Hilfe eines diskriminanzanalytischen Verfahrens identifiziert, also eines objektiven ex-ante Kriteriums. Im Einklang mit der Kritik von Kaplan und Zingales findet er bei finanziell beschränkten Unternehmen eine geringere Cash-Flow-Sensitivität. Dieses kurze Papier dokumentiert, dass eine diskriminanzanalytische Vorgehensweise nicht notwendigerweise zu einem derartigen Resultat führt. Unsere abweichenden Ergebnisse basieren einerseits auf der Identifikation finanziell beschränkter Unternehmen auf der Basis ihrer Kreditwürdigkeit, andererseits aber auf der Berücksichtigung endogener Regressoren und seriell korrelierter Residuen bei der Schätzung. Wir zeigen auf, dass die Cash-Flow-Sensitivität der Investitionsausgaben bei finanziell beschränkten Unternehmen höher ist.

ON IMPROVING ECONOMETRIC ANALYSES OF GENERIC ADVERTISING IMPACTS

It is possible to obtain robust estimates of structural parameters using observational data, but it is difficult to do so. Necessary, but not sufficient, conditions are to adopt a modeling philosophy and to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the results. Using a general-to-specific modeling philosophy, we obtained stable estimates of the long-run advertising elasticity for fluid milk. This result contrasts with an earlier, published model which did not provide stable estimates as new data points became available. It is difficult, however, to apply the general-to-specific modeling approach because it requires the researcher to specify an initial general model. But analysts are unlikely to agree on this initial model, and if this is true, then the "generality" of the model is in question. Moreover, it is a fact that the quality of the available data is sometimes insufficient to obtain the desired stable estimates.Marketing,

Automatic Test Generation for Space

The European Space Agency (ESA) uses an engine to perform tests in the Ground Segment infrastructure, specially the Operational Simulator. This engine uses many different tools to ensure the development of regression testing infrastructure and these tests perform black-box testing to the C++ simulator implementation. VST (VisionSpace Technologies) is one of the companies that provides these services to ESA and they need a tool to infer automatically tests from the existing C++ code, instead of writing manually scripts to perform tests. With this motivation in mind, this paper explores automatic testing approaches and tools in order to propose a system that satisfies VST needs

Investment, the cost of capital, and monetary policy in the nineties in France: a panel data investigation

Using a large panel of 6,946 French manufacturing firms, this paper investigates the effect of monetary policy on investment from 1990 to 1999 through the cost-of-capital and the cash-flow channels. We compare several specifications of neo-classical demand for capital, taking into account transitory dynamics. The user cost of capital has a significant negative elasticity with respect to capital using traditional Within estimates, or as long as cash-flow is not added to the regression when using Generalised Method of Moments estimates. Asymmetries of effect of monetary policy are evaluated for different groups of firms which differ in terms of informational asymmetries. When dummy variables related to firms which are more sensitive to cash-flow are added in the model, the user cost elasticity is significant again JEL Classification: C23, D21, D92cost of capital, generalised method of moments, Investment, monetary policy