Optimal Ownership Structures in the Presence of Investment Signals

The property-rights approach to the theory of the firm is extended by introducing distorted signals of the parties.investments. Investment incentives are then given in two ways, by allocating ownership rights and by tying pay to the signal realization. Optimal incentive strength, that is, the weight that a signal is optimally given in a wage contract, depends on two distortions, namely the distortion of the signal from the realized and from the disagreement benefit. Under the optimal ownership structure, the deviations of both investments from their first-best levels are relatively small implying that the relative importance of investment matters. Further, it is shown that most of the Grossman-Hart-Moore results are not robust to an introduction of investment signals

Optimal Ownership Structures in the Presence of Investment Signals

The property-rights approach to the theory of the firm is extended by introducing distorted signals of the parties.investments. Investment incentives are then given in two ways, by allocating ownership rights and by tying pay to the signal realization. Optimal incentive strength, that is, the weight that a signal is optimally given in a wage contract, depends on two distortions, namely the distortion of the signal from the realized and from the disagreement benefit. Under the optimal ownership structure, the deviations of both investments from their first-best levels are relatively small implying that the relative importance of investment matters. Further, it is shown that most of the Grossman-Hart-Moore results are not robust to an introduction of investment signals.Signal; Property rights; Integration; Distortion

Consumption insurance and vulnerability to poverty

This paper synthesizes the results of five studies using household panel data from Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Mali, Mexico and Russia, which examine the extent to which households are able through formal and/or informal arrangements to insure their consumption from specific economic shocks and fluctuations in their real income. Building on the recent literature of consumption smoothing and risk sharing, the degree of consumption insurance is defined by the degree to which the growth rate of household consumption covaries with the growth rate of household income. All the case studies show that food consumption is better insured than nonfood consumption from idiosyncratic shocks. Adjustments in nonfood consumption appear to act as a mechanism for partially insuring ex-post the consumption of food from the effects of income changes. Food consumption is also more likely to be covered by informal insurance arrangements at the community level than nonfood consumption. Linkages among consumption variability, the level of household consumption, the incidence of poverty, and the probability of being ever poor and the proportion of time spent in poverty are also explored for Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Russia. All the case studies also show that households use a portfolio of risk-coping strategies, but that different types of households may have differential ability to use these strategies. In particular, poorer households may be less able to use mechanisms that rely to initial wealth as collateral. In this regard, public transfer programs may have a more redistributive effect.

Stokes phenomenon and matched asymptotic expansions

This paper describes the use of matched asymptotic expansions to illuminate the description of functions exhibiting Stokes phenomenon. In particular the approach highlights the way in which the local structure and the possibility of finding Stokes multipliers explicitly depend on the behaviour of the coefficients of the relevant asymptotic expansions

A linearly controlled direct-current power source for high-current inductive loads in a magnetic suspension wind tunnel

The NASA Langley 6 inch magnetic suspension and balance system (MSBS) requires an independently controlled bidirectional DC power source for each of six positioning electromagnets. These electromagnets provide five-degree-of-freedom control over a suspended aerodynamic test model. Existing power equipment, which employs resistance coupled thyratron controlled rectifiers as well as AC to DC motor generator converters, is obsolete, inefficient, and unreliable. A replacement six phase bidirectional controlled bridge rectifier is proposed, which employs power MOSFET switches sequenced by hybrid analog/digital circuits. Full load efficiency is 80 percent compared to 25 percent for the resistance coupled thyratron system. Current feedback provides high control linearity, adjustable current limiting, and current overload protection. A quenching circuit suppresses inductive voltage impulses. It is shown that 20 kHz interference from positioning magnet power into MSBS electromagnetic model position sensors results predominantly from capacitively coupled electric fields. Hence, proper shielding and grounding techniques are necessary. Inductively coupled magnetic interference is negligible

Synchronous Intersection Management to reduce Time Loss

Conventional intersection management that allows multiple vehicles from one road at a time, e.g., Round-Robin (RR), may constitute bottlenecks in urban traffic management. Consequently, new intelligent intersection management (IIM) approaches were proposed to reduce time loss, fuel wastage, and ecological damage. IIM is also suited to take advantage of the new communication capabilities of autonomous vehicles that are gaining relevance, though still co-existing with human-driven vehicles. This paper extends the analysis of a recently proposed synchronous IIM system, the Synchronous Intersection Management Protocol (SIMP), that is compared with the RR scheme in a four-way single-lane intersection as those found in urban residential areas, under maximum vehicle speeds of 30Km/h and 50Km/h and various traffic arrival rates. We characterize performance by measuring time loss, i.e., the additional trip delay due to forced slowdown, and fuel consumption using a model for standard vehicles with internal combustion engines. The experimental results obtained with the SUMO simulation framework indicate an advantage for SIMP in both metrics, approximately halving the values achieved with the best RR approaches and with high traffic rates.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio