Merit Motives and Government Intervention: Public Finance in Reverse

A common view in public finance is that there is an efficiency-redistribution tradeoff in which distortions are tolerated in order to redistribute income. However, the fact that so much public- and private redistributive activity involves in-kind transfers rather than cash may be indicative of merit motives on the part of the payers rather than a preference for the well-being of the recipients. Efficiency-enhancing public policy in a merit good economy has the primary purpose of creating distortions and may only redistribute income from rich to poor in order to create those distortions the reverse of the conventional efficiency-redistribution tradeoff. We discuss why the largest programs on the federal and local level in the US including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and Public Schooling seem consistent with the reverse tradeoff rather than the classic one. Transfers are not lump sum in a merit good economy, and explicitly accounting for this when calculating tax incidence reduces the estimated progressivity of government policy. As one example, we calibrate the conventional life-cycle model to show how the amount of over-saving induced on the poor by Social Security hurts them at least as much as the progressive' benefits help them. When the distortions outweigh fiscal transfers in this manner, the classic efficiency-redistribution tradeoff cannot justify the program and the program is far less progressive than conventional analysis suggests.

Effect of contrast on the perception of direction of a moving pattern

A series of experiments examining the effect of contrast on the perception of moving plaids was performed to test the hypothesis that the human visual system determines the direction of a moving plaid in a two-staged process: decomposition into component motion followed by application of the intersection-of-contraints rule. Although there is recent evidence that the first tenet of the hypothesis is correct, i.e., that plaid motion is initially decomposed into the motion of the individual grating components, the nature of the second-stage combination rule has not yet been established. It was found that when the gratings within the plaid are of different contrast the preceived direction is not predicted by the intersection-of-constraints rule. There is a strong (up to 20 deg) bias in the direction of the higher-constrast grating. A revised model, which incorporates a contrast-dependent weighting of perceived grating speed as observed for one-dimensional patterns, can quantitatively predict most of the results. The results are then discussed in the context of various models of human visual motion processing and of physiological responses of neurons in the primate visual system

On the Cognition of States of Affairs

The theory of speech acts put forward by Adolf Reinach in his "The A Priori Foundations of the Civil Law" of 1913 rests on a systematic account of the ontological structures associated with various different sorts of language use. One of the most original features of Reinach's account lies in hIs demonstration of how the ontological structure of, say, an action of promising or of commanding, may be modified in different ways, yielding different sorts of non-standard instances of the corresponding speech act varieties. The present paper is an attempt to apply this idea of standard and modified instances of ontological structures to the realm of judgement and cognition, and thereby to develop a Reinachian theory of how intentionality is mediated through language in acts of thinking and speaking

Unusual solar energetic proton fluxes at 1 AU within an interplanetary CME

In mid December 2006 several flares on the Sun occurred in rapid succession, spawning several CMEs and bathing the Earth in multiple solar energetic particle (SEP) events. O ne such SEP occurring on December 15th was observed at the Earth just as an interplanetary CME (ICME) from a previous flare on December 13th was transiting the Earth. Although solar wind observations during this time show typical energetic proton fluxes from the prior SEP and IP shock driven ahead of the ICME, as the ICME passes the Earth unusual energetic particle signatures are observed. Measurem ents from ACE, Wind, and STEREO show unusual proton flux variations at energies ranging from ∼3 MeV up to greater than 70 MeV. Within the Earth’s magnetosphere Polar HIST also sees unusual proton flux v ariations at energies greater than 10 MeV while crossing open field lines in the southern polar cap. However, no such variation in the energetic proton flux is observed at the GOES 10 or GOES 11 spacecraft in geosy nchronous orbit. Differential fluxes observed at GOES 12 in the 15-40 MeV energy range show some variation. However, the overall energetic particle signature within the ICME at GEO orbits remains unclear. This event illustrates the need for caution when using GEO data in detailed studies of SEP events and in interplanetary models of energetic particle transport to 1 AU

Multipoint, high time resolution galactic cosmic ray observations associated with two interplanetary coronal mass ejections

[1] Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) play an important role in our understanding of the interplanetary medium (IPM). The causes of their short timescale variations, however, remain largely unexplored. In this paper, we compare high time resolution, multipoint space-based GCR data to explore structures in the IPM that cause these variations. To ensure that features we see in these data actually relate to conditions in the IPM, we look for correlations between the GCR time series from two instruments onboard the Polar and INTEGRAL (International Gamma Ray Astrophysical Laboratory) satellites, respectively inside and outside Earth\u27s magnetosphere. We analyze the period of 18–24 August 2006 during which two interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) passed Earth and produced a Forbush decrease (Fd) in the GCR flux. We find two periods, for a total of 10 h, of clear correlation between small-scale variations in the two GCR time series during these 7 days, thus demonstrating that such variations are observable using space-based instruments. The first period of correlation lasted 6 h and began 2 h before the shock of the first ICME passed the two spacecraft. The second period occurred during the initial decrease of the Fd, an event that did not conform to the typical one- or two-step classification of Fds. We propose that two planar magnetic structures preceding the first ICME played a role in both periods: one structure in driving the first correlation and the other in initiating the Fd

Baseball Card Pricing Model: A Demonstration with Well-known Players

A simple hedonic pricing model is developed for baseball cards, of the type often used successfully to model prices for artworks. The model is estimated for a dataset of twelve well-known players observed at eight points in time over a span of twenty years. Dummy variables are used to capture various relevant characteristics of the player or card. This model was estimated separately for two different approaches or assumptions about rates of return. Estimates perform extremely well, explaining most differences among baseball card prices for the cards in the sample. Among extrinsic variables that represent specific players and card characteristics that differentiate cards issued during the same season, race had a significant positive effect on price for black players. Batting average and number of World Series appearances had significant positive impacts on price, but surprisingly, rookie cards tended to be worth relatively less than non-rookie cards. Similarly unexpected findings with respect to players\u27 death and elevation to the Hall of Fame may result from trying to estimate too many characteristics simultaneously on a limited dataset. Results suggest famous players\u27 cards generally are extremely attractive investment instruments

Li non-stoichiometry and crystal growth of untwinned 1D quantum spin system Lix Cu2 O2

Floating-zone growth of untwinned single crystal of Li_xCu_2O_2 with high Li content of x ~ 0.99 is reported. Li content of Li_xCu_2O_2 has been determined accurately through combined iodometric titration and thermogravimetric methods, which also ruled out the speculation of chemical disorder between Li and Cu ions. The morphology and physical properties of single crystals obtained from slowing-cooling (SL) and floating-zone (FZ) methods are compared. The floating-zone growth under Ar/O_2=7:1 gas mixture at 0.64 MPa produces large area of untwinned crystal with highest Li content, which has the lowest helimagnetic ordering temperature ~19K in the Li_xCu_2O_2 system.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Short-period variability in the galactic cosmic ray intensity: High statistical resolution observations and interpretation around the time of a Forbush decrease in August 2006

On 20 August 2006 a Forbush decrease observed at Polar in the Earth's magnetosphere was also seen at the INTEGRAL spacecraft outside the magnetosphere during a very active time in the solar wind. High-resolution energetic particle data from ACE SIS, the Polar high-sensitivity telescope, and INTEGRAL's Ge detector saturation rate, which measures the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) background with a threshold of similar to 200 MeV, show similar, short-period GCR variations in and around the Forbush decrease. Focusing upon the GCR intensity within a 3-day interval from 19 August 2006 to 21 August 2006 reveals many intensity variations in the GCR on a variety of time scales and amplitudes. These intensity variations are greater than the 3 sigma error in all the data sets used. The fine structures in the GCR intensities along with the Forbush decrease are propagated outward from ACE to the Earth with very little change. The solar wind speed stays relatively constant during these periods, indicating that parcels of solar wind are transporting the GCR population outward in the heliosphere. This solar wind convection of GCR fine structure is observed for both increases and decreases in GCR intensity, and the fine structure increases and decreases are bracketed by solar wind magnetic field discontinuities associated with interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) magnetosheath regions, clearly seen as discontinuous rotations of the field components at ACE and at Wind. Interestingly, the electron heat flux shows different flux tube connectivity also associated with the different regions of the ICME and magnetosheath. Gosling et al. (2004) first discussed the idea that solar energetic particle intensities commonly undergo dispersionless modulation in direct association with discontinuous changes in the solar wind electron strahl. The observations show that the intensity levels in the GCR flux may undergo a similar partitioning, possibly because of the different magnetic field regions having differing magnetic topologies

Considerations for the Use of Remote Gaze Tracking to Assess Behavior in Flight Simulators

Complex user interfaces (such as those found in an aircraft cockpit) may be designed from first principles, but inevitably must be evaluated with real users. User gaze data can provide valuable information that can help to interpret other actions that change the state of the system. However, care must be taken to ensure that any conclusions drawn from gaze data are well supported. Through a combination of empirical and simulated data, we identify several considerations and potential pitfalls when measuring gaze behavior in high-fidelity simulators. We show that physical layout, behavioral differences, and noise levels can all substantially alter the quality of fit for algorithms that segment gaze measurements into individual fixations. We provide guidelines to help investigators ensure that conclusions drawn from gaze tracking data are not artifactual consequences of data quality or analysis techniques