Fixed-B Asymptotics in Single Equation Cointegration Models with Endogenous Regressors

This note uses fixed bandwidth (fixed-b) asymptotic theory to suggest a new approach to testing cointegration parameters in a single-equation cointegration environment. It is shown that the standard tests still have asymptotic distributions that are free of serial correlation nuisance parameters regardless of the bandwidth or kernel used, even if the regressors in the cointegration relationship are endogenous.

Orientations making k-cycles cyclic

We show that the minimum number of orientations of the edges of the n-vertex complete graph having the property that every triangle is made cyclic in at least one of them is $\lceil\log_2(n-1)\rceil$. More generally, we also determine the minimum number of orientations of $K_n$ such that at least one of them orients some specific $k$-cycles cyclically on every $k$-element subset of the vertex set. The questions answered by these results were motivated by an analogous problem of Vera T. S\'os concerning triangles and $3$-edge-colorings. Some variants of the problem are also considered.Comment: 9 page

Collective action in pest management

Since crop and animal pests destroy farmers' production, this brief looks at the ways pests can be controlled either by individual farmers, by public programmes, or by "neighbors working together". This brief examines those cases where technology is not the answer and where farmer collaboration of farmers is the essential element in successful management of pests. The author writes, "Because of the transboundary nature of many pest problems, technical solutions—whether based on the use of pesticides or on biological principles—are rarely sufficient." She concludes that extension programs, like farmer field schools, "should (1) promote an understanding of the spatial dimensions of pest ecology and (2) provide communication techniques that will enable groups of farmers to approach neighboring farmers to invite them to take part in coordinated pest management." from Text.Pests Management ,Collective behavior ,Poverty alleviation ,Property rights ,Collective action ,

Exporting the Nordic children’s ’68: the global publishing scandal of The Little Red Schoolbook

The Little Red Schoolbook (1969) was one of the most well-travelled media products for children from ’68 aimed at children, and it was certainly the most notorious. Over the course of a few years (1970–2) it was translated and published in Belgium, Finland, France, Great Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, it also circulated freely in Austria and Luxembourg, and reached beyond Europe to countries including Australia, Japan and Mexico. It led to an obscenity trial in Great Britain, nearly toppled the Australian government, and caused a global publishing scandal. This essay therefore looks at the Scandinavian children’s ’68 in its international context, via a transnational, comparative analysis of the reception of the LRSB, in order to examine how ‘68 counterculture and ideas of childhood clashed and converged in the West around 1970. It asks: what can the publishing history of the LRSB tell us about the distinctive features of children’s media in Scandinavia at this time

Dynamics of the Planning Solution in the Discrete-Time Textbook Model of Labor Market Search and Matching.

This paper takes a discrete-time adaptation of the continuous−time matching economy described in Pissarides (1990, 2000), and computes the solution to the dynamic planning problem. The solution is shown to be completely characterized by a first−order, non−linear map. We show that the map admits a unique stationary solution which is dynamically unstable. Oscillatory solutions are possible but there is no possibility of periodic solutions. The planner picks the initial condition that places the economy directly on the steady state. Our results are in sharp contrast to received wisdom on out−of−steady−state dynamics in the continuous−time decentralized version of the Pissarides model where adjustment to the steady state is non−instantaneous, and overshooting of vacancies is possible.

Can Racially Unbiased Police Perpetuate Long-Run Discrimination?

We develop a stylized dynamic model of highway policing in which a non-racist police officer exhibits a cognitive bias: relative overconfidence. The officer is given incentives to arrest criminals but faces a per stop cost which increases when the racial mix of her stops differs from that of the population. Every period, she observes the racial composition of jail inmates (generated from arrests made by her peers) and forms estimates about the crime rates of each race. In some settings, her overconfidence leads her to overestimate the crime rate of one race relative to another causing the long-run racial composition of the jail population to deviate from the "fair" one (one where the racial mix in jails is identical to that in the criminal population). We compare this to a situation where officers have detailed stop data on each race, similar to data being currently collected in many US states.

Powerful Trend Function Tests That are Robust to Strong Serial Correlation with an Application to the Prebisch Singer Hypothesis

In this paper we propose tests for hypothesis regarding the parameters of a the deterministic trend function of a univariate time series. The tests do not require knowledge of the form of serial correlation in the data and they are robust to strong serial correlation. The data can contain a unit root and the tests still have the correct size asymptotically. The tests we analyze are standard heteroskedasticity autocorrelation (HAC) robust tests based on nonparametric kernel variance estimators. We analyze these tests using the small-b asymptotic framework recently proposed by Kiefer and Vogelsang (2002). This analysis allows us to analyze the power properties of the tests with regards to bandwidth and kernel choices. Our analysis shows that among popular kernels, there are specific kernel and bandwidth choices that deliver tests with maximal power within a specific class of tests. We apply the recommended tests to the logarithm of a net barter terms of trade series and we find that this series has a statistically significant negative slope. This finding is consistent with the well known Prebisch-Singer hypothesis. Because our tests are robust to strong serial correlation or a unit root in the data, our results in support of the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis are relatively strong.Estimator, Fixed-b Asymptotics, Power Envelope, Unit Root, Nearly Integrated, Partial Sum, Deterministic Trend, Linear Trend.

Dynamics of the planning solution in the discrete-time textbook model of labor market search and matching

This paper takes a discrete-time adaptation of the continuous-time matching economy described in Pissarides (1990, 2000), and computes the solution to the dynamic planning problem. The solution is shown to be completely characterized by a first-order, non-linear map. We show that the map admits a unique stationary solution which is dynamically unstable. Oscillatory solutions are possible but there is no possibility of periodic solutions. The planner picks the initial condition that places the economy directly on the steady state. Our results are in sharp contrast to received wisdom on out-of-steady-state dynamics in the continuous-time decentralized version of the Pissarides model where adjustment to the steady state is non-instantaneous, and overshooting of vacancies is possible.dynamics