Corrections to Laser Electron Thomson Scattering

We discuss classical and quantum corrections to Thomson scattering between an electron and a laser. For radiation reaction, nonlinear, and quantum effects we identify characteristic dimensionless parameters in terms of which we determine the leading order correction terms.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; updated version of contribution to 2012 Annual Report, Central Laser Facility (CLF), Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory, U

Optimal monetary policy with state-dependent pricing

We study optimal monetary policy in a flexible state-dependent pricing framework, in which monopolistic competition and stochastic menu costs are the only distortions. We show analytically that it is optimal to commit to zero inflation in the long run. Moreover, our numerical simulations indicate that the optimal stabilization policy is "price stability". These findings represent a generalization to a state-dependent framework of the same results found for the simple Calvo model with exogenous timing of price adjustment. JEL Classification: E31optimal monetary policy, price stability, state-dependent pricing, stochastic menu costs

An economic integration zone for the East African Community : exploiting regional potential and addressing commitment challenges

Integration in the East African Community offers significant opportunities not only to expand trade among member states, but more importantly to scale up regional production to take advantage of much larger global market opportunities. Special economic zones are a potentially valuable instrument to facilitate the integration of regional value chains in support of this scaling up. They also have the potential to deliver powerful demonstration effects on the benefits of integration and to help entrench the integration process. This paper discusses the proposal for developing an"economic integration zone"in the East African Community. The benefits of such a zone could be substantial, as would be the practical challenges to implementation -- in particular the political economy challenges. However, a number of institutional and commercial solutions exist to address these challenges.Debt Markets,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Public Sector Economics

Differentials on graph complexes II - hairy graphs

We study the cohomology of the hairy graph complexes which compute the rational homotopy of embedding spaces, generalizing the Vassiliev invariants of knot theory. We provide spectral sequences converging to zero whose first pages contain the hairy graph cohomology. Our results yield a way to construct many hairy graph cohomology classes out of non-hairy classes by a mechanism which we call the waterfall mechanism. By this mechanism we can construct many previously unknown classes and provide a first glimpse at the tentative global structure of the hairy graph cohomology

Cost Pass Through in a Competitive Model of Pricing-to-Market

This paper builds up an extension to the Mussa and Rosen (1978) model of quality pricing under perfect competition. Our model incorporates decreasing returns to scale. First, we predict that exchange rate shocks are imperfectly passed through into prices. Second, prices of low quality goods are more sensitive to exchange rate shocks than prices of high quality goods. Third, in response to an exchange rate appreciation, the composition of exports shifts towards higher quality and more expensive goods. We test those predictions using highly disaggregated price and quantity US import data. We find that the prices of high quality goods, proxied as high unit price goods, are more sensitive to exchange rate movements. Moreover, we find evidence that in response to an exchange rate appreciation, the composition of exports shifts towards high unit price goods.Pricing-to-Market, Exchange Rate Pass Through, Local Distribution