The Effect of Fiscal Rules on Public Investment if Budget Deficits Are Politically Motivated

Uncertainty about the future preferences of the government may induce policy makers to run excessive budget deficits. As a solution to this problem, economists have proposed to impose a binding debt rule. In this paper we argue that a binding debt rule does not eliminate the distortions due to strategic behaviour of politicians. Rather, strategic manipulation shifts from public debt to public investment. As an alternative, we examine the effects of a capital borrowing rule which permits the government to run a budget deficit equal to the amount of public investment. We show that this rule effectively eliminates strategic behaviour.fiscal rules and budget deficits and public investment

HEAO 1 measurements of the galactic ridge

The HEAO A2 experiment data was systematically searched for unresolved galactic disc emission. Although there were suggestions of non-uniformities in the emission, the data were consistent with a disc of half-thickness 241 + 22 pc and surface emissivity (2-10 keV) at galactic radius R(kpc) of 2.2 10 to the minus 7th power exp(-R/3.5) erg/sq cm to the (-2)power/s (R 7.8 kpc). giving a luminosity of approximately 4.4 10 to the 37th power erg S to the (-1) power. If the model is extrapolated to radii less than 7.8 kpc, the unresolved disc emission is approximately 1.4 10 to the 38th power erg S to the (-1) power (2-10 keV) i.e., a few percent of the luminosity of the galaxy in resolved sources. the disc emission has a spectrum which is significantly softer than that of the high galactic latitude diffuse X-ray background and it is most probably of discrete source origin

Anchoring In Action: Manual Estimates Of Slant Are Powerfully Biased Toward Initial Hand Orientation And Are Correlated With Verbal Report

People verbally overestimate hill slant by approximately 15 degrees to 25 degrees, whereas manual estimates (e. g., palm board measures) are thought to be more accurate. The relative accuracy of palm boards has contributed to the widely cited theoretical claim that they tap into an accurate, but unconscious, motor representation of locomotor space. In the current work, 4 replications (total N = 204) carried out by 2 different laboratories tested an alternative anchoring hypothesis that manual action measures give low estimates because they are always initiated from horizontal. The results of all 4 replications indicate that the bias from response anchoring can entirely account for the difference between manual and verbal estimates. Moreover, consistent correlations between manual and verbal estimates given by the same observers support the conclusion that both measures are based on the same visual representation. Concepts from the study of judgment under uncertainty apply even to action measures in information rich environments

Discovery of the Orbit of the Transient X ray Pulsar SAX J2103.5+4545

Using X-ray data from the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), we carried out pulse timing analysis of the transient X-ray pulsar SAX J2103.5+4545. An outburst was detected by All Sky Monitor (ASM) October 25 1999 and reached a peak X-ray brightness of 27 mCrab October 28. Between November 19 and December 27, the RXTE/PCA carried out pointed observations which provided us with pulse arrival times. These yield an eccentric orbit (e= 0.4 \pm 0.2) with an orbital period of 12.68 \pm 0.25 days and light travel time across the projected semimajor axis of 72 \pm 6 sec. The pulse period was measured to be 358.62171 \pm 0.00088 s and the spin-up rate (2.50 \pm 0.15) \times 10^{-13} Hz s^{-1}. The ASM data for the February to September 1997 outburst in which BeppoSAX discovered SAX J2103.5+4545 (Hulleman, in't Zand and Heise 1998) are modulated at time scales close to the orbital period. Folded light curves of the 1997 ASM data and the 1999 PCA data are similar and show that the intensity increases at periastron passages.Comment: To appear in The Astrophysical Journal (Letters

Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer Observations of the X-ray Pulsar EXO 1722-363 - a Candidate Eclipsing Supergiant System

Observations made of the X-ray pulsar EXO 1722-363 using the Proportional Counter Array and All Sky Monitor on board the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer reveal the orbital period of this system to be 9.741 +/- 0.004 d from periodic changes in the source flux. The detection of eclipses, together with the values of the pulse and orbital periods, suggest that this source consists of a neutron star accreting from the stellar wind of an early spectral type supergiant companion. Pulse timing measurements were also obtained but do not strongly constrain the system parameters. The X-ray spectra can be well fitted with a model consisting of a power law with a high energy cutoff and, for some spectra, a blackbody component with a temperature of approximately 0.85 keV.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 27 pages including 10 figure

Electrolytic Recovery of Copper and Zinc from Brass

The purpose of this research was to continue the work of Thomas Parker, who worked on the recovery of copper and zinc from brass during the school year l934 - 1935. Since there is such a wide variety of brasses made with usually a third alloying constituent, remelt­ed scrap is suitable only for castings of wide tolerance in specifications

Hysteresis of spectral evolution in the soft state of black-hole binary LMC X-3

We report the discovery of hysteresis between the x-ray spectrum and luminosity of black-hole binary LMC X-3. Our observations, with the Proportional Counter Array on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, took place entirely within the soft spectral state, dominated by a spectral component that was fitted well with a multicolor disk blackbody. A power-law component was seen only during times when the luminosity of the disk blackbody was declining. The x-ray luminosity at these times was comparable to that seen in transient systems (x-ray novae) when they return to the hard state at the end of an outburst. Our observations may represent partial transitions to the hard state; complete transitions have been seen in this system by Wilms et al. (2001). If they are related to the soft-to-hard transition in transients, then they demonstrate that hysteresis effects can appear without a full state transition. We discuss these observations in the context of earlier observations of hysteresis within the hard state of binaries 1E 1740.7-2942 and GRS 1758-258 and in relation to published explanations of hysteresis in transients.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, accepted by The Astrophysical Journa

The Discovery of a Neutron Star with a Spin Frequency of 530 Hz in A1744-361

We report the detection with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) Proportional Counter Array (PCA) of 530 Hz burst oscillations in a thermonuclear (type I) burst from the transient X-ray source A1744-361. This is only the second burst ever observed from this source, and the first to be seen in any detail. Our results confirm that A1744-361 is a low mass X-ray binary (LMXB) system harboring a rapidly rotating neutron star. The oscillations are first detected along the rising edge of the burst, and they show evidence for frequency evolution of a magnitude similar to that seen in other burst sources. The modulation amplitude and its increase with photon energy are also typical of burst oscillations. The lack of any strong indication of photospheric radius expansion during the burst suggests a 9 kpc upper limit of the source distance. We also find energy dependent dips, establishing A1744-361 as a high inclination, dipping LMXB. The timescale between the two episodes of observed dips suggests an orbital period of ~ 97 minutes. We have also detected a 2 - 4 Hz quasi-periodic-oscillation (QPO) for the first time from this source. This QPO appears consistent with ~ 1 Hz QPOs seen from other high-inclination systems. We searched for kilohertz QPOs, and found a suggestive 2.3 sigma feature at 800 Hz in one observation. The frequency, strength, and quality factor are consistent with that of a lower frequency kilohertz QPO, but the relatively low significance argues for caution, so we consider this a tentative detection requiring confirmation.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, published in ApJ Letter