Computer program for interplanetary conic patching

Computer program enables study of one-way transfers, single and double planet flybys, single and double planet stopovers, or mixed flyby and stopover trajectories. In each operation it first computes the heliocentric conic which connects the centers of the launch and target planets and requires a given trip time

Veterans’ Benefits: Pension Benefit Programs

[Excerpt] The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) administers pension programs for certain low-income veterans and their surviving spouses and dependent children. This report discusses the Improved Disability Pension, which makes payments to certain low-income veterans, and the Improved Death Pension, which makes payments to certain low-income surviving spouses and dependent children of deceased veterans. To qualify for either program, individuals must have become eligible for payments on or after January 1, 1979. Both pension programs were created by P.L. 95-588, the Veterans and Survivors Pension Improvement Act of 1978. In addition, this report discusses a special pension program for Medal of Honor recipients. This report does not discuss several other pension programs that are administered by the VA, such as the Old Law Disability Pension and the Section 306 Disability Pension, which make payments to low-income veterans, and the Old Law Death Pension and the Section 306 Death Pension, which make payments to low-income surviving spouses and dependent children of veterans; these programs apply only to veterans and their survivors who became entitled to such benefits before 1979. This report also does not discuss pension programs for veterans of specific periods of war before World War I, such as the Civil War, the Indian Wars, and the Spanish-American War. Finally, this report does not address the military retirement system. For information on that system, see CRS Report RL34751, Military Retirement: Background and Recent Developments, by Kristy N. Kamarck

Could early warning systems have helped to predict the sub prime crisis?

One of the features of the sub-prime crisis, that began in August 2007, was its unexpected nature. It came as a surprise not only to most financial market participants but also in some degree to the policy community. In this context, we seek to assess whether early warning systems based on the logit and binomial tree approaches on the UK and US economies could have helped to warn about the crisis. We also consider a “check list approach” of indicators based on history. Although not all of the complementary approaches are successful, we contend that our work suggests that a broadening of approaches of macroprudential analysis is appropriate

Pure Numbers Effects, Market Power, and Tacit Collusion in Posted Offer Markets

This paper studies the effects of seller concentration and static market power on tacit collusion in extensively repeated laboratory posted-offer markets. Contrary to the implications of some earlier research, we find that tacit collusion does not become pervasive with extensive repetition. In a ‘strong no power’ design persistently competitive outcomes are observed in markets with three or four sellers. Even duopolies are frequently competitive in this design. Unilateral market power raises prices, as predicted. However, static Nash predictions fail to organize outcomes across power treatments, because tacit collusion moves inversely with concentration. Excess capacity appears to explain observed tacit collusion levels.experiments, market concentration, market power

AN EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE CASH, SHARE, AND FLEXIBLE LEASING ARRANGEMENTS FOR SOUTH CAROLINA GRAIN FARMS

A simulation model incorporating stochastic yields, prices, and government payments generates returns for landowners and tenants under cash, share, and flexible leases. Corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, peanuts, and wheat-double crop soybeans crop enterprises are studied. Alternatives are evaluated by mean returns, coefficient of variation, and certainty equivalent analysis.Land Economics/Use,

EXPLORING THE SHORT- AND LONG-RUN LINKS FROM BANK COMPETITION TO RISK – RECONCILING CONFLICTING HYPOTHESES?

Using a dataset for the EU-27 covering 1998-2012, this is one of the first studies of banking competition and risk to look at the dynamics of the relation between these variables, to take account of a full 6 year period since the onset of the crisis in 2007, as well as a comparable period before it; and to compare and contrast results using two competition indicators, the H statistic and the Lerner index. Using the H statistics, we find that in the crucial pre crisis period, the change in competition has a positive effect on risk (measured by the Z Score), while there is a overall negative effect of the level of competition on risk. The Lerner index provides results supportive of the hypothesis that there are dynamic relations between competition and risk, in that the change in the Lerner index again correlates positively with risk (i.e. narrower margins when competition increases make banks weaker) while the long run effect of heightened competition is also to increase risk. Testing for the reason for differences in long run effects we find that the H and Lerner differ in their impact on the volatility of profits, a key input to the Z Score risk indicator. There are important implications for the interpretation of results in the literature based on these different indicators