A study of the probability of depositing viable organisms on Mars during the Mariner 1964 mission

Probability of depositing viable organisms on Mars during 1964 Mariner missio

Taxation of Asset Income in the Presence of a World Securites Market

This paper shows, using a standard CAPM model of security prices in a world market, that even small countries can affect the price of domestically issued risky securities, while large countries can affect the prices of all securities. As a result, countries have the incentive to set tax rates such that in equilibrium investors specialize in domestic securities, and net capital flows between countries are restricted. Each country does this to increase the utility of domestic residents, taking as given the tax policies of other governments, but the net outcome is a reduction in world efficiency and likely a reduction in the utility of all individuals.

International Taxation

The integration of world capital markets carries important implications for the design and impact of tax policies. This paper evaluates research findings on international taxation, drawing attention to connections and inconsistencies between theoretical and empirical observations. Diamond and Mirrlees (1971) note that small open economies incur very high costs in attempting to tax the returns to local capital investment, since local factors bear the burden of such taxes in the form of productive inefficiencies. Richman (1963) argues that countries may simultaneously want to tax the worldwide capital income of domestic residents, implying that any taxes paid to foreign governments should be merely deductible from domestic taxable income. Governments do not adopt policies that are consistent with these forecasts. Corporate income is taxed at high rates by wealthy countries, and most countries either exempt foreign-source income of domestic multinationals from tax provide credits rather than deductions for taxes paid abroad. Furthermore, individual investors can use various methods to avoid domestic taxes on their foreign-source incomes, in the process also avoiding taxes on their domestic-source incomes. Individual and firm behavior also differs from that forecast by simple theories. Observed portfolios are not fully diversified worldwide. Foreign direct investment is common even when it faces tax penalties relative to other investment in host countries. While economic activity, and tax avoidance activity, is highly responsive to tax rates and tax structure, there are many aspects of tax-motivated behavior that are difficult to reconcile with simple microeconomic incentives. There are promising recent efforts to reconcile observations with theory. To the extent that multinational firms possess intangible capital on which they earn returns with foreign direct investment, even small countries may have a degree of market power, leading to fiscal externalities. Tax avoidance is pervasive, generating further fiscal externalities. These concepts are useful in explaining behavior, and observed tax policies, and they also suggest that international agreements have the potential to improve the efficiency of tax systems worldwide.

Midcourse maneuver operations program

Midcourse Maneuver Operations Program /MMOP/ computes the required velocity change to correct a spacecraft trajectory. The program establishes the existence of maneuvers which satisfy spacecraft constraints, explores alternate trajectories in the event that some out-of-tolerance condition forces a change in plans, and codes the maneuvers into commands

Notes on the Tax Treatment of Structures

More than three quarters of the United States tangible capital stock represents structures. Tax policies potentially have a major impact on both the level and composition of investment in structures and equipment. This point is explicitly recognized in most discussions of the effects of capital income taxation. Two aspects of the taxation of structures --the relative burden placed on structures as opposed to equipment investment and the non-taxation of owner occupied housing under the income tax -- have attracted substantial attention in recent years. This paper explores these two aspects of the taxation of structures investments. While the tax system may well have a potent impact on the level and composition of structures investment, this paper argues that conventional analyses of these effects are very misleading. We reach two main conclusions. First,under current tax law, certain types of structures investment are very highly tax favored. Structures can be transferred and therefore depreciated more than once, and structures may be readily financed with tax-favored debt. Overall, itis unlikely that a significant bias towards equipment and against structures exists under current law. Second, the conventional view that the tax system is biased in favor of homeownership is wrong. Because of the possibility of "tax arbitrage" between high bracket landlords and low bracket tenants, the tax system has long favored rental over ownership for most households. The 1981 reforms by reducing the top marginal tax rate reduced this bias somewhat.

Liquid-hydrogen rocket engine development at Aerojet, 1944 - 1950

This program demonstrated the feasibility of virtually all the components in present-day, high-energy, liquid-rocket engines. Transpiration and film-cooled thrust chambers were successfully operated. The first liquid-hydrogen tests of the coaxial injector was conducted and the first pump to successfully produce high pressures in pumping liquid hydrogen was tested. A 1,000-lb-thrust gaseous propellant and a 3,000-lb-thrust liquid-propellant thrust chamber were operated satisfactorily. Also, the first tests were conducted to evaluate the effects of jet overexpansion and separation on performance of rocket thrust chambers with hydrogen-oxygen propellants

Orbital transfer vehicle concept definition and system analysis study, 1985. Volume 3: System and program trades

The key system and program trade studies performed to arrive at a preferred Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) system concept and evolutionary approach to the acquisition of the requisite capabilites is documented. These efforts were expanded to encompass a Space Transportation Architecture Study (STAS) mission model and recommended unmanned cargo vehicle. The most important factors affecting the results presented are the mission model requirements and selection criteria. The reason for conducting the OTV concept definition and system analyses study is to select a concept and acquisition approach that meets a delivery requirement reflected by the mission model

On Steering Swarms

The main contribution of this paper is a novel method allowing an external observer/controller to steer and guide swarms of identical and indistinguishable agents, in spite of the agents' lack of information on absolute location and orientation. Importantly, this is done via simple global broadcast signals, based on the observed average swarm location, with no need to send control signals to any specific agent in the swarm

Outsourcing and Volatility

While outsourcing of production from the U.S. to Mexico has been hailed in Mexico as a valuable engine of growth, recently there have been misgivings regarding its fickleness and volatility. This paper is among the first in the trade literature to study the second moment properties of outsourcing. We begin by documenting a new stylized fact: the maquiladora outsourcing industries in Mexico experience fluctuations in value added that are roughly twice as volatile as the corresponding industries in the U.S. A difference-in-difference method is extended to second moments to verify the statistical significance of this finding. We then develop a stochastic model of outsourcing with heterogeneous firms that can explain this volatility. The model employs two novel mechanisms: an extensive margin in outsourcing which responds endogenously to transmit shocks internationally, and translog preferences which modulate firm entry.

An Experiment to Evaluate Skylab Earth Resources Sensors for Detection of the Gulf Stream

The author has identified the following significant results. An experiment to evaluate the Skylab earth resources package for observing ocean currents was performed in the Straits of Florida in January 1974. Data from the S190 photographic facility, S191 spectroradiometer and S192 multispectral scanner, were compared with surface observations. The anticyclonic edge of the Gulf Stream could be identified in the Skylab S190A and B photographs, but the cyclonic edge was obscured by clouds. The aircraft photographs were judged not useful for spectral analysis because vignetting caused the blue/green ratios to be dependent on the position in the photograph. The spectral measurement technique could not identify the anticyclonic front, but mass of Florida Bay water which was in the process of flowing into the Straits could be identified and classified. Monte Carlo simulations of the visible spectrum showed that the aerosol concentration could be estimated and a correction technique was devised