CAPITAL SERVICES IN ARGENTINA. METHODOLOGY OF ESTIMATION AND ITS CONTRIBUTION TO THE PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH DURING THE 1990?s. A hedonic valuation approach

This paper proposes to analyze the methodology of estimation of capital services in Argentina and its impact in the performance of the productivity growth during the 1990's. The capital stock is estimated according to the recommendations of the recent economic literature, mainly the OECD Capital Stock Manual; regarding how to use the hedonic valuation method (HV) to test the empirical depreciation of capital goods using a high desegregate data instead of the most known Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM) without empirical support. It is also presented a theoretical analysis about the methodological problems of both methods pointed out by the economic literature: the several assumptions in the PIM and the information problems regarding the use of traded used market prices in the HV case. The level of capital stock estimation is founded macroeconomic consistent with the principal national accounts aggregates. Taking into account the main recommendations of the OECD Productivity Manual and the OECD Capital Stock Manual, the paper reviews the proposals of estimation of capital services: efficiency-age profiles, level of aggregation, index number problem and the user cost approach in the context of their application of empirical estimation in Argentina. Given the relevance and dynamism of capital stock services for growth processes, an accurate measurement of this variable is critical. Thus, heterogeneity acquires more relevance, as well as the type of weights and the index numbers used to estimate its contribution to output. According to these results, evidences may indicate that during the nineties there was no productivity gain in the sense of Solow in Argentina. In any case, it may be inferred that the profile of economic growth was of the extensive type based on the accumulation of capital rather than disembodied technological progress or non-pecuniary spillovers. Este trabajo tiene por objeto presentar la metodología y principales resultados de una estimaciónexhaustiva de los servicios y valor del stock de capital de Argentina que el autor está llevando a cabo enla Dirección Nacional de Cuentas Nacionales de este país así como también se presenta el impacto deestas estimaciones en el análisis del crecimiento de la productividad de la economía argentina durante ladécada de 1990. El stock de capital es estimado de acuerdo a las recomendaciones de la literaturaeconómica reciente, principalmente el reciente Manual de Stock de Capital de la OECD, en el sentido deutilizar el Método de Valuación Hedónica (HV), en lugar de los supuestos que implica el conocidoMétodo de Inventario Permanente (PIM), con el objeto de testear empíricamente la depreciación y la vidaútil media de los activos producidos tomando en cuenta información detallada y exhaustiva de más decien tipologías de bienes de capital. Se analizan los problemas metodológicos de ambos métodosseñalados por la teoría económica: los supuestos en el PIM y los problemas de información que surgen enel HV cuando se utilizan precios de transacción del mercado de bienes durables usados. El nivel del stockde capital estimado para Argentina resulta consistente con los principales agregados macroeconómicos.Con el objeto de estimar la productividad, este paper revisa los principales problemas metodológicos delproceso de estimación de los servicios de capital en el contexto del caso argentino, tomando en cuenta lasprincipales recomendaciones del reciente Manual de Productividad de la OECD en cuanto a: perfilesetarios de eficiencia, nivel de agregación, números índices y costo de uso. Dada la relevancia ydinamismo de los servicios de capital en el contexto de la contabilidad del crecimiento de la economíaargentina, la medición precisa de esta variable constituye un punto crucial. La evidencia empíricaindicaría que para la economía argentina, las ganancias de productividad en el sentido de Solow fueronnulas durante la década de los noventa. Se podría inferir que el crecimiento de la economía argentina fuedel tipo extensivo basado en la acumulación de capital más que en el progreso técnico desincorporado,rendimientos crecientes o externalidades no pecuniarias.stock de capital, precios hedónicos, servicios de capital, productividad capital stock, hedonic prices, capital services, productivity

Poverty Effects from Trade Liberalisation in Argentina

This paper aims at analyzing the linkages between international trade openness and poverty in Argentina. Under a specific-factors setting, a two-step procedure is presented. In the first stage the change in prices of goods and factors in both tradable and non-tradable sectors, after a trade liberalisation episode, is considered. In a second step, these variations are applied to assess the changes in poverty and households’ welfare. A micro-simulation approach, using households’ survey data, is applied in this last stage. The results of the research are important since they provide an assessment of the impact trade policies have on poverty.

Gravitational waves from deflagration bubbles in first-order phase transitions

The walls of bubbles in a first-order phase transition can propagate either as detonations, with a velocity larger than the speed of sound, or deflagrations, which are subsonic. We calculate the gravitational radiation that is produced by turbulence during a phase transition which develops via deflagration bubbles. We take into account the fact that a deflagration wall is preceded by a shock front which distributes the latent heat throughout space and influences other bubbles. We show that turbulence can induce peak values of $\Omega_{GW}$ as high as $\sim 10^{-9}$. We discuss the possibility of detecting at LISA gravitational waves produced in the electroweak phase transition with wall velocities $v_w\lesssim 10^{-1}$, which favor electroweak baryogenesis.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure; calculations of section IV repeated using recent results for the GW spectrum from turbulence, comments added in all sections, references added, conclusions unchange

Normal Numbers and the Borel Hierarchy

We show that the set of absolutely normal numbers is $\mathbf \Pi^0_3$-complete in the Borel hierarchy of subsets of real numbers. Similarly, the set of absolutely normal numbers is $\Pi^0_3$-complete in the effective Borel hierarchy

Casimir piston for massless scalar fields in three dimensions

We study the Casimir piston for massless scalar fields obeying Dirichlet boundary conditions in a three dimensional cavity with sides of arbitrary lengths $a,b$ and $c$ where $a$ is the plate separation. We obtain an exact expression for the Casimir force on the piston valid for any values of the three lengths. As in the electromagnetic case with perfect conductor conditions, we find that the Casimir force is negative (attractive) regardless of the values of $a$, $b$ and $c$. Though cases exist where the interior contributes a positive (repulsive) Casimir force, the total Casimir force on the piston is negative when the exterior contribution is included. We also obtain an alternative expression for the Casimir force that is useful computationally when the plate separation $a$ is large.Comment: 19 pages,3 figures; references updated and typos fixed to match published versio

A computable absolutely normal Liouville number

We give an algorithm that computes an absolutely normal Liouville number.Fil: Becher, Veronica Andrea. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Computación; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Heiber, Pablo Ariel. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Computación; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Slaman, Theodore A.. University of California at Berkeley; Estados Unido