Executives' Short-Term and Long-Term Incentives - A Distributional Analysis

Executives are often paid for short-term changes in shareholder wealth, but rational shareholders want executives to maximize long-term shareholder wealth. Incentives for short-term and long-term oriented behavior may depend on an executive's level of pay in the distribution, holding other factors constant. This paper tests for distributional heterogeneity of short-term and long-term incentives in a 12 year cross-country panel of executives. I use the band-pass filter to separate short-term and long-term shareholder wealth changes (Christiano and Fitzgerald, 2003), and estimate of the shareholder wealth-pay relation using method of moments-quantile regression, developed by Machado and Santos Silva (2019), which accounts for time-constant unobserved heterogeneity of executive-firm pairs across the distribution. When using yearly total compensation to measure pay, executives in the upper tail of the conditional compensation distribution have longer-term oriented incentives. In contrast, when accumulated executive wealth is used to measure pay, executives in the upper tail of the wealth distribution have shorter-term oriented incentives. Since executive wealth encompasses changes to executive utility after pay is granted through accumulated equity-linked pay, it is the preferred measure for evaluating equity-linked pay. Results thus suggest that equity-linked pay should have a longer vesting period for executives in the upper tail than in the lower tail. I find evidence that executives in the upper-tail are evaluated relatively to the industry's short-run and long-run performance

Cravath by the Sea: Recruitment in the Large Halifax Law Firm, 1900-1955

The traditional view is that regularized, meritocratic hiring in Canadian law firms had to wait until the 1960s, with the rise in importance of Ontario university law schools. There was, however, more regional variation than this view allows. After an overview of the rise of large firms in the U.S. and Canada, and of the modern hiring strategies (the Cravath system ) that developed in New York in the early twentieth century, the author considers whether Halifax firms were employing these strategies between 1900 and 1955. Nepotistic hiring continued unabated; however, the three large firms of the period recruited young students with good academic records with increasing regularity,in the New York manner. The article concludes by proposing that the difference between firms\u27 hiring in Toronto and Halifax might be explained by the enthusiasm with which the bar in each of these cities adopted modern professional views on legal education

Multiplexed Quantum Random Number Generation

Fast secure random number generation is essential for high-speed encrypted communication, and is the backbone of information security. Generation of truly random numbers depends on the intrinsic randomness of the process used and is usually limited by electronic bandwidth and signal processing data rates. Here we use a multiplexing scheme to create a fast quantum random number generator structurally tailored to encryption for distributed computing, and high bit-rate data transfer. We use vacuum fluctuations measured by seven homodyne detectors as quantum randomness sources, multiplexed using a single integrated optical device. We obtain a random number generation rate of 3.08 Gbit/s, from only 27.5 MHz of sampled detector bandwidth. Furthermore, we take advantage of the multiplexed nature of our system to demonstrate an unseeded strong extractor with a generation rate of 26 Mbit/s.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures and 1 tabl

Life-cycle assessment, techno-economic analysis, and statistical modeling of bio-based materials and processes

Mathematical and statistical modeling has been used extensively in fields relating to bio-renewables and biological systems. Modeling of this nature helps predict a variety of effects, such as environmental and economic impacts, that are incurred during the manufacturing of various bio-based products. Typical modeling methodologies include: techno-economic analysis (TEA); life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA); and statistical correlation matrix analysis. The use of these methodologies can potentially be harnessed to assess the environmental, economic, and indirect impacts related to the overall stages of a product\u27s cradle-to-grave life cycle, which includes the extraction of raw materials to pre-processing, fabrication, transportation to consumer, and end-of-life treatment. Therefore, TEAs and LCAs can project the outlook of these impact parameters and highlight which unit operation(s) produce the largest impact throughout the entire life cycle. Using these projections, producers may potentially change their materials, fabrication methods, or any production parameter to round their operation to fit the needs, standards, and constraints of their environment. This thesis is comprised of three separate research endeavors. The first study focused on a TEA of a hypothetical commercial conversion system which converts chicken blood to bio-based flocculant. A TEA was utilized to test the economic viability of commercializing the conversion process which was analytically successful during lab based scale. The study revealed that waste water surcharges, relative to specific pollutant characteristics (BOD, COD, TSS, and NH3) found prevalent in chicken blood, were shown to have an especially high economic impact on the overall process. Additionally, the overall results determined that the hypothesized conversion plant would be highly economic feasible. The second study utilized both TEA and LCA methodology to model the processing and overall cost(s) of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composite production for both in-organic and organic filler material, which was compared over three product part weights and five end of life treatment options. The analysis discovered a high amount of variance in economic and environmental impacts produced, which resulted from the inclusion of organic or inorganic filler, different product part weight, and dissimilar end of life treatment selections. The inclusion of inorganic filler(s) (glass and talc) were shown to produce the largest volume of environmental burden, while organic filler(s) (wood, rice husks, and DDGS) were shown to maintain the least amount of environmental burden and economic impact. Therefore, it was suggested that when paired with PLA composite production organic fillers should be utilized over inorganic substitutes. The third study utilized non-linear growth analysis and a linear correlation coefficient matrix to analyze and compare corn growth effects when three different nitrogen applications (low, medium, and high) and three dissimilar rotation applications (Corn-Corn (C-C), Corn-Soybean (C-S), and Corn-Soybean-Grass-Legume (C-S-G-L)) were applied. This study was focused as a continuation of a previous research endeavor (Riedell, 2011) which analyzed the same data by different methodologies. The non-linear growth modeling was shown to confirm the data suggested in the previous study, which documented significant growth variances due to interactions between rotation treatment and nitrogen application under the C-C and C-S-G-L rotations. It was speculated that the inclusion (or lack of inclusion) of legumes with in rotation treatment played a significant role in how the corn grew the following year. The linear correlation mapping highlighted interesting interactions between soil nutrient elements (NO3 and P) and grain yield and starch content, this was previously un-documented

Fault tolerant drives for safety critical applications

PhD ThesisThe correct operation of adjustable speed drives, which form part of a larger system, is often essential to the operation of the system as a whole. In certain applications the failure of such a drive could result in a threat to human safety and these applications are termed 'safety critical'. The chance of a component failure resulting in non-operation of the drive can be dramatically reduced by adopting a fault tolerant design. A fault tolerant drive must continue to operate throughout the occurrence of any single point failure without undue disturbance to the power output. Thereafter the drive must be capable of producing rated output indefinitely in the presence of the fault. The work presented in this thesis shows that fault tolerance can be achieved without severe penalties in terms of cost or power to mass ratio. The design of a novel permanent magnet drive is presented and a 'proof of concept' demonstrator has been built, based on a 20 kW, 13000 RPM aircraft fuel pump specffication. A novel current controller with near optimal transient performance is developed to enable precise shaping of the phase currents at high shaft speeds. The best operating regime for the machine is investigated to optimise the power to mass ratio of the drive. A list of the most likely electrical faults is considered. Some faults result in large fault currents and require rapid detection to prevent fault propagation. Several novel fault sensors are discussed. Fault detection and identification schemes are developed, including new schemes for rapid detection of turn to turn faults and power device short circuit faults. Post fault control schemes are described which enable the drive to continue to operate indefinitely in the presence of each fault. Finally, results show the initially healthy drive operating up to, through and beyond the introduction of each of the most serious faults.EPSR

Pasture condition and soil desiccation as influences on tunnel-related erosion : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Geography at Massey University

Soil conservation control measures have been developed to ameliorate the effects of tunnel-related erosion on agriculture in areas of New Zealand, usually areas with seasonally dry loessial soils. These control measures have included: mechanical destruction of both tunnels and related gullies, establishment of improved pasture, and maintenance of that pasture by lenient grazing. They were designed with the assumption that tunnels had formed as a result of concentrated water penetration into the subsoil via desiccation-induced shrinkage cracks. Criticism of previous research into the various aspects of tunnel-related erosion was undertaken and enabled the identification of some limitations, contradictions, and wrongly placed emphasis, in the accepted model of tunnel formation in loessial soils in New Zealand. An experiment was designed to measure the effects of grazing intensity upon soil moisture levels. This experiment resulted in the rejection of the accepted mechanism by which leniently grazed pasture was thought to reduce soil drying and subsequent cracking, as soil drying actually increased with longer pasture. It could not be disproved that the supposed effects of lenient grazing were actually duo to the accompanying mechanical treatment or possible climatic changes. However it was shown to be highly likely that the effects of lenient grazing were due to the promotion of the pasture's root growth. Enhanced root growth could restrict both crack development and tunnel initiation, and encourage intact tunnel roof subsidence rather than complete roof destruction - a precursor to gullying. Development of strong root systems is particularly encouraged by lenient grazing in late autumn and early spring. It is recommended that grazing by cattle instead of sheep continue in the areas with seasonally dry loessial soils subject to tunnel-related erosion. Particular care should be taken in late autumn and early spring to ensure that pasture is not overgrazed. This recommendation is qualified by economic considerations which way dictate that cattle grazing is untenable. Further research into the effects of grazing on the development of root systems of pasture species is also recommended. This research would have implications for the control of a number of erosion types throughout New Zealand but has unfortunately been largely ignored in the past

Recruitment Strategies and Match Quality – New Evidence from Representative Linked Employer-Employee Data

In economics, the recruitment process of firms is largely treated as a black box. To shed light on this process, we use new representative linked employer-employee data for German private-sector establishments to explore search, selection and screening activities over the years 2012-2018. We document longitudinal changes in hiring policies and address the heterogeneity across establishments relating to size, ownership, sector, and unobserved heterogeneity. Firms’ recruitment strategies have sizeable effects on the composition of worker productivity, worker-firm match quality, the number of open vacancies, as well as expected staffing problems. Finally, we outline potential mechanisms and research gaps for future work, where there is room for more detailed and causal evidence