New 2--critical sets in the abelian 2--group

In this paper we determine a class of critical sets in the abelian {2--group} that may be obtained from a greedy algorithm. These new critical sets are all 2--critical (each entry intersects an intercalate, a trade of size 4) and completes in a top down manner.Comment: 25 page

Review of literature on the productivity of public capital

This paper summarizes previous results on the productivity of public capital. In recent literature, Aschauer's (1989) estimate for the productivity of public capital is often considered too high and the size of the effect is still open to debate. However, the positive effect of public capital on the productivity of the private sector is quite widely accepted.Public capital, public investments, productivity

The Evaluation of the Finnish Self Government Experiment

This paper evaluates the cost effects of a regional self government experiment. The experiment introduced a new intermediate tier of local administration that was given the responsibility to organize 60 per cent of public services. These services include e.g. basic health care, majority of social services and secondary education that are typically produced by municipalities in Finland. Follow-up reports suggest that the experiment has resulted in massive cost saving, especially in the social and health sectors. This paper puts previous findings under scrutiny by utilizing latest econometric evaluation methods developed for comparative case studies. Our findings cast serious doubts on the magnitude of cost savings.

An enumeration of equilateral triangle dissections

We enumerate all dissections of an equilateral triangle into smaller equilateral triangles up to size 20, where each triangle has integer side lengths. A perfect dissection has no two triangles of the same side, counting up- and down-oriented triangles as different. We computationally prove W. T. Tutte's conjecture that the smallest perfect dissection has size 15 and we find all perfect dissections up to size 20.Comment: Final version sent to journal

Assimilating Immigrants: The Impact of an Integration Program

Immigration policy design is an important and controversial topic in most developed countries. We inform this debate by evaluating the effects of an integration program for immigrants to Finland. The program consists of an individualized sequence of training and subsidized employment. Non-compliance is sanctioned by reductions in welfare benefits. Our empirical strategy exploits a discontinuity that made participation obligatory in May 1999 only for those who had entered the population register after May 1997. The results suggest that the program strongly increased the employment and earnings of immigrants and reduced their dependency on social benefits.Immigrants, assimilation, integration programs, regression-discontinuity