HEDONIC PRICE ESTIMATION FOR KANSAS WHEAT CHARACTERISTICS

A hedonic price model is applied to a cross-sectional time-series data set of Kansas wheat characteristics. Results indicate that prices received by wheat producers reflect the presence of conventional quality characteristics of wheat and also milling and dough characteristics. Furthermore, the results indicate that the alternative sets of characteristics exhibit quality information that is, to some degree, independent of one another. Important conclusions regarding the efficiency of current grading and pricing practices for wheat are drawn from this analysis.Crop Production/Industries,

Government financing in an endogenous growth model with financial market restrictions

In this paper we develop an endogenous growth model with market regulations on explicitly modeled financial intermediaries to examine the effects of alternative government financing schemes on growth, inflation, and welfare. ; We find that in the presence of binding legal reserve requirements, a marginal increase in government spending need not result in a reduction in the rate of economic growth if it is financed with an increase in the seigniorage tax rate. Raising the seigniorage tax base by means of an increase in the reserve requirement retards growth and has an ambiguous effect on inflation. An increase in income tax—financed government spending also suppresses growth and raises inflation although not to the extent that the required seigniorage tax rate alternative would. Switching from seigniorage to income taxation as a source of government finance is growth-reducing but deflationary. From a welfare perspective, the least distortionary way of financing an increase in the government spending requirements is by means of a marginal increase in the seigniorage tax rate. Finally, under the specification of logarithmic preferences, the optimal tax structure is indeterminate.Finance, Public ; Fiscal policy ; Financial markets

Comment on “Effects of focused ion beam milling on the nanomechanical behavior of a molybdenum-alloy single crystal” Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 111915 (2007)

While this article provides insight into differences in mechanics between Ga+-irradiated and “pure” surfaces of molybdenum, there are several statements that are either inaccurate or poorly stated. It is clear that when a surface is directly irradiated by orthogonal ion beam (0.07–0.21 mW), a focused ion beam (FIB) damage layer will likely form and affect the strength. However, this finding does not provide adequate foundation for raising the question of FIB-induced hardening in nanopillars, given the vast differences between these experiments and procedure used in pillar fabrication. These issues would cause considerable confusion and result in disservice to mechanical testing community if not clarified

Black holes and Higgs stability

We study the effect of primordial black holes on the classical rate of nucleation of AdS regions within the standard electroweak vacuum. We find that the energy barrier for transitions to the new vacuum, which characterizes the exponential suppression of the nucleation rate, can be reduced significantly in the black-hole background. A precise analysis is required in order to determine whether the the existence of primordial black holes is compatible with the form of the Higgs potential at high temperature or density in the Standard Model or its extensions.Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures, conclusions expanded, to appear in JCA

On government credit programs

Credit rationing is a common feature of most developing economies. In response to it, the governments of these countries often operate extensive credit programs and lend, either directly or indirectly, to the private sector. We analyze the macroeconomic consequences of a typical government credit program in a small open economy. We show that such programs increase long-run production if the economy is in a development trap and that such programs often lead to endogenously arising aggregate volatility. On the other hand, they may eliminate certain indeterminacies created by endogenous credit market frictions.Banks and banking, Central ; Credit ; Productivity

Environmental Regulation of Russia\u27s Offshsore Oil & Gas Industry and Its Implications for the International Petroleum Market

Due to Northeast Asia\u27s increasing energy demand, the Russian Far East\u27s immense oil and gas reserves, and the close physical proximity between the two regions, international petroleum companies are exploring Russia\u27s offshore petroleum reserves in the Far East. The Russian offshore industry, however, presents foreign investors with many legal uncertainties including exposure to environmental liabilities. This Comment suggests that Russia\u27s environmental regulatory system, which includes a constitutional right to a healthy environment, presents international petroleum companies with a new set of circumstances to which they must adapt if Russian reserves are to satisfy Northeast Asia\u27s rising energy needs. To do otherwise would be to expose themselves to greater liability in an already risky investment climate

Self collimation of ultrasound in a 3D sonic crystal

We present the experimental demonstration of self-collimation (subdiffractive propagation) of an ultrasonic beam inside a three-dimensional sonic crystal. The crystal is formed by two crossed steel cylinders structures in a woodpile-like geometry disposed in water. Measurements of the 3D field distribution show that a narrow beam which diffractively spreads in the absence of the sonic crystal is strongly collimated in propagation inside the crystal, demonstrating the 3D self-collimation effect.Comment: 3 figures, submitted to Applied Physics Letter

Barriers to international capital flows: when, why, how big, and for whom?

Until recently, the trend in world capital markets has been toward increasing “globalization.” Recent events in Latin America and Asia have forced a rethinking of the desirability of unrestricted world capital flows. In this paper we ask whether simple restrictions on capital mobility can succeed in reducing the volatility of funds flows, whether such restrictions are consistent with the long-term development of the countries that might impose them, whether such restrictions are beneficial for poorer countries while harming wealthier countries, and whether barriers to capital movements should be reduced in magnitude as the development process proceeds. ; We find first that appropriately selected barriers to capital movements can be used by a poorer country to eliminate the short-term volatility of capital flows and other economic volatility as well. Second, we find that these barriers are consistent with increased rather than reduced levels of economic development in both the short and long run. Third, we show that it is empirically plausible that such barriers will be reduced over time as economies develop. Fourth, we show that, in the long run, all countries can benefit from the presence of barriers to capital mobility. And, fifth, we show that barriers to capital mobility can increase the magnitude of net capital flows in a steady state.International economic relations ; International finance ; Capital movements ; Monetary policy

PHOEBE 2.0 – Where no model has gone before

phoebe 2.0 is an open source framework bridging the gap between stellar observations and models. It allows to create and fit models simultaneously and consistently to a wide range of observational data such as photometry, spectroscopy, spectrapolarimetry, interferometry and astrometry. To reach the level of precision required by the newest generation of instruments such as Kepler, GAIA and the arrays of large telescopes, the code is set up to handle a wide range of phenomena such as multiplicity, rotation, pulsations and magnetic fields, and to model the involved physics to a new level

Optical nonlinearities and thermal lens effect of a-Si:H films investigated by Z-scan technique

AbstractNonlinear optical effects have been studied in hydrogenated amorphous silicon films through the single beam Z-scan technique using a modulated CW laser in the millisecond time-scale regime. In these experiments, the samples were moved through the focal region of a focused gaussian laser beam (λ = 532nm) while the light transmittance in the far field was measured. The thermal lens effect was observed in the transmittance signal and the time-resolved Z-scan mode could therefore be used to achieve the samples thermal diffusivity (D ∼ 3 x 10-3cm2/s) and thermal conductivity (K ∼ 5 x 10-3W/Kcm). The Thermal Lens Model was used to determine the samples temperature coefficient of the optical path length change (ds/dT), and the effective thermal nonlinear refractive index (n2) was estimated by the on-axis non-linear phase shift at focus measurements