Socioeconomic status and learning from financial information

The majority of lower socioeconomic status (SES) households in the U.S. and Europe do not have stock investments, which is detrimental to wealth accumulation. Here, we examine one explanation for this puzzling fact, namely, that economic adversity may influence how people learn from financial information. Using experimental and survey data from the U.S. and Romania, we find that lower SES individuals form more pessimistic beliefs about the distribution of stock returns and are less likely to invest in stocks when these investments are likely to have good outcomes. SES-related differences in pessimism may help explain variation in investments across households

A simple assessment of housing retrofit policies for the UK: what should succeed the energy company obligation?

Despite the need for large-scale retrofit of UK housing to meet emissions reduction targets, progress to date has been slow and domestic energy efficiency policies have struggled to accelerate housing retrofit processes. There is a need for housing retrofit policies that overcome key barriers within the retrofit sector while maintaining economic viability for customers, funding organizations, and effectively addressing UK emission reductions and fuel poverty targets. In this study, we use a simple assessment framework to assess three policies (the Variable Council Tax, the Variable Stamp Duty Land Tax, and Green Mortgage) proposed to replace the UK’s current major domestic retrofit programme known as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO). We show that the Variable Council Tax and Green Mortgage proposals have the greatest potential for overcoming the main barriers to retrofit policies while maintaining economic viability and contributing to high-level UK targets. We also show that, while none of the assessed schemes are capable of overcoming all retrofit barriers on their own, a mix of all three policies could address most barriers and provide key benefits such as wide coverage of property markets, operation on existing financial infrastructures, and application of a “carrot-and-stick” approach to incentivize retrofit. Lastly, we indicate that the specific support and protection of fuel-poor households cannot be achieved by a mix of these policies and a complementary scheme focused on fuel-poor households is required

Робоча програма і методичні вказівки до самостійного вивчення дисципліни "Основи теорії транспорту"

Гірничовидобувна промисловість України набуває розвитку на базі без- перервного використання досягнень науково-технічного прогресу, застосування комплексної механізації та автоматизації всіх процесів виробництва, поліпшен- ня якісних показників підприємств, підвищення продуктивності й безпеки пра- ці.Гірничовидобувна промисловість України набуває розвитку на базі без- перервного використання досягнень науково-технічного прогресу, застосування комплексної механізації та автоматизації всіх процесів виробництва, поліпшен- ня якісних показників підприємств, підвищення продуктивності й безпеки пра- ці

Socioeconomic Status and Learning from Financial Information *

Abstract The majority of lower socioeconomic status (SES) households do not have any stock investments, which is detrimental to wealth accumulation. Here, we examine one potential driver of this puzzling fact, namely, that SES may influence the process by which people learn from information in financial markets. We find that low SES individuals, relative to medium or high SES ones, form more pessimistic beliefs about the distribution of stock investment outcomes and are less likely to invest in stocks. The pessimism bias in assessing risky assets induced by low SES is robust to several ways of measuring one's socioeconomic standing. These results, documented in controlled experimental settings in Romania and the U.S., as well as in a large non-laboratory sample of adults across all 50 states in the U.S., suggest that SES shapes in predictable ways people's beliefs about financial assets, which in turn may induce large differences across households in their propensity to participate in financial markets

Vortex Fluctuations in High-Tc Films: Flux Noise Spectrum and Complex Impedance

The flux noise spectrum and complex impedance for a 500 {\AA} thick YBCO film are measured and compared with predictions for two dimensional vortex fluctuations. It is verified that the complex impedance and the flux noise spectra are proportional to each other, that the logarithm of the flux noise spectra for different temperatures has a common tangent with slope $\approx -1$, and that the amplitude of the noise decreases as $d^{-3}$, where $d$ is the height above the film at which the magnetic flux is measured. A crossover from normal to anomalous vortex diffusion is indicated by the measurements and is discussed in terms of a two-dimensional decoupling.Comment: 5 pages including 4 figures in two columns, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Hybrid UCB banks in China – public storage as ethical biocapital

In China, under the heading of “private-for-public” banking, hybrid UCB banking has been politically supported by the government and is based on regulation developed since the 1990s. Although hybrid UCB banking was regarded as an “ethical” alternative to private UCB banking due to its accessibility to “the people”, this study, based on archival research and interviews with bankers, medical professionals, scientists and pregnant women contends that the practice of this ideal needs to be closely scrutinized. Analysing UCB bank networks in China in terms of “public biovalue” and “ethical biocapital”, we illustrate, first, how the synergy of public and private storage of UCB in hybrid models benefit private storage, and how transparency and oversight may increase donation and the uptake of UCB. Second, we describe the problems associated with this hybrid model. Finally, we show how the biovalue of public storage is used as ethical biocapital to buttress UCB networks

Interactions, Distribution of Pinning Energies, and Transport in the Bose Glass Phase of Vortices in Superconductors

We study the ground state and low energy excitations of vortices pinned to columnar defects in superconductors, taking into account the long--range interaction between the fluxons. We consider the ``underfilled'' situation in the Bose glass phase, where each flux line is attached to one of the defects, while some pins remain unoccupied. By exploiting an analogy with disordered semiconductors, we calculate the spatial configurations in the ground state, as well as the distribution of pinning energies, using a zero--temperature Monte Carlo algorithm minimizing the total energy with respect to all possible one--vortex transfers. Intervortex repulsion leads to strong correlations whenever the London penetration depth exceeds the fluxon spacing. A pronounced peak appears in the static structure factor $S(q)$ for low filling fractions $f \leq 0.3$. Interactions lead to a broad Coulomb gap in the distribution of pinning energies $g(\epsilon)$ near the chemical potential $\mu$, separating the occupied and empty pins. The vanishing of $g(\epsilon)$ at $\mu$ leads to a considerable reduction of variable--range hopping vortex transport by correlated flux line pinning.Comment: 16 pages (twocolumn), revtex, 16 figures not appended, please contact [email protected]

Factores cr?ticos de ?xito en los centros comerciales de Lima Metropolitana y el Callao

Durante la segunda mitad de la d?cada de 1990, se presentaron en el Per? condiciones favorables en lo econ?mico, social, pol?tico y tecnol?gico que fueron aprovechadas por inversionistas, principalmente extranjeros, para una paulatina expansi?n de centros comerciales. El a?o 1997 marc? el resurgimiento y expansi?n del sector comercio con la inauguraci?n del Jockey Plaza Shopping Center. Al a?o siguiente, se construy? el centro comercial Larcomar, financiado con similares caracter?sticas al Jockey Plaza. Sin embargo, el ?xito de ambos centros comerciales no fue de inmediato.Aunque contaban con la aceptaci?n del p?blico, debieron esperar algunos a?os para que se posicionaran en el mercado, lograran identificar las necesidades de los consumidores y adecuaran su oferta y su tenant mix a los requerimientos de cada segmento objetivo de consumidores. En la siguiente d?cada, la tendencia continu? con la construcci?n de Megaplaza Norte, Primavera Park & Plaza, Minka y Plaza Lima Sur. En vista de la expansi?n de los centros comerciales en Lima Metropolitana, la presente investigaci?n tiene como prop?sito describir la situaci?n actual de este nuevo sector, as? como analizar e identificar los factores cr?ticos que han determinado su ?xito, desarrollo, expansi?n y las perspectivas de su crecimiento. El estudio se hace a trav?s de un an?lisis comparativo con otros centros comerciales en Am?rica del Sur, as? como por medio de encuestas a retailers y consumidores en los 12 centros comerciales m?s importantes de Lima Metropolitana