The Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of the Budget Cost of the Czech Supporting and Guarantee Agricultural and Forestry Fund

The paper analyzes the government budget cost of credit guarantees and subsidies. The analysis is done both in a general qualitative manner and quantitatively for the case of Czech Supporting and Guarantee Agricultural and Forestry Fund (SGAFF). In the quantitative part of the paper we show that the portfolio of the SGAFF has a sufficient value to cover expected costs of credit guarantees and subsidies provided by the SGAFF. The qualitative theoretical model is dealing with government interventions designed to decrease the credit rationing of good farmers. The theoretical model shows that with uniform non-targeted supports the budget cost minimizing government unambiguously prefers lump-sum guarantees to interest rate subsidies. With supports targeted fully to disadvantaged farmers the government is indifferent between lump-sum guarantees, proportional guarantees and interest rates subsidies as far as the government budget costs are concerned.Transition; Credit; Subsidies; Guarantees

Socle pairings on tautological rings

We study some aspects of the $\lambda_g$ pairing on the tautological ring of $M_g^c$, the moduli space of genus $g$ stable curves of compact type. We consider pairing kappa classes with pure boundary strata, all tautological classes supported on the boundary, or the full tautological ring. We prove that the rank of this restricted pairing is equal in the first two cases and has an explicit formula in terms of partitions, while in the last case the rank increases by precisely the rank of the $\lambda_g\lambda_{g - 1}$ pairing on the tautological ring of $M_g$.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure; v3: journal version; v2: minor revisions to sections 1.1 and 4.1, results unchange

The Comparative Statics of the Effects of Credit Guarantees and Subsidies in the Competitive Lending Market

We compare the effects of government credit subsidies and guarantees on decreasing inefficiencies caused by principal-agent problems in the credit market in transition and posttransition economies. We show that the guarantees and subsidies targeted to low risk borrowers decrease efficiency while those targeted to high risk borrowers increase efficiency both in transition and post-transition economies. The uniform non-targeted guarantees decrease the credit rationing or dead-weight loss caused by the collateral transfer. The uniform subsidies may be used to improve welfare in the economy subjected to credit rationing, but they do not have any effect on the size of collateral required in post-transition economy.Transition, Credit; Subsidies; Guarantees

Gaussian rational points on a singular cubic surface

Manin's conjecture predicts the asymptotic behavior of the number of rational points of bounded height on algebraic varieties. For toric varieties, it was proved by Batyrev and Tschinkel via height zeta functions and an application of the Poisson formula. An alternative approach to Manin's conjecture via universal torsors was used so far mainly over the field Q of rational numbers. In this note, we give a proof of Manin's conjecture over the Gaussian rational numbers Q(i) and over other imaginary quadratic number fields with class number 1 for the singular toric cubic surface defined by t^3=xyz.Comment: 16 page

Automation of the Continuous Integration (CI) - Continuous Delivery/Deployment (CD) Software Development

Continuous Integration (CI) is a practice in software development where developers periodically merge code changes in a central shared repository, after which automatic versions and tests are executed. CI entails an automation component (the target of this project) and a cultural one, as developers have to learn to integrate code periodically. The main goal of CI is to reduce the time to feedback over the software integration process, allowing to locate and fix bugs more easily and quickly, thus enhancing it quality while reducing the time to validate and publish new soIn traditional software development, where teams of developers worked on the same project in isolation, often led to problems integrating the resulting code. Due to this isolation, the project was not deliverable until the integration of all its parts, which was tedious and generated errors. The Continuous Integration (CI ) emerged as a practice to solve the problems of traditional methodology, with the aim of improving the quality of the code. This thesis sets out what is it and how Continuous Integration is achieved, the principles that makes it as effective as possible and the processes that follow as a consequence, to thus introduce the context of its objective: the creation of a system that automates the start-up and set-up of an environment to be able to apply the methodology of continuous integration

American and European Regulation of Over-the-Counter Derivative Securities

This paper describes the major issues in the clearing of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives and the current regulative initiatives aimed at removing the market opaqueness. The core of the paper is the comparison of the US Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). The similarities and the major differences of these two regulative approaches are emphasized. The major similarities between EMIR and the Dodd-Frank Act relate to the mandatory clearing for standardized contracts, the scope of the derivatives covered, the exemptions from clearing for end-users and the reporting of cleared and uncleared derivative transactions by nearly all financial counterparties. The major differences arise with the restrictions on bank proprietary trading, with separation of derivative trading activities from commercial banking activities, with central counterparties (CCP) ownership rules and with the establishment of mandatory exchange trading requirement.OTC Derivatives; Centralized Clearing; Regulation; EMIR; Dodd-Frank

The Problems of Correlation in the Financial Risk Management – the Contribution of Microfinance

In this paper we first introduce microfinance institutions as an alternative investment instrument. We argue that beside socially responsible features of microfinance, there exists also significant portfolio enhancement opportunity in microfinance investments. Then we provide an overview of possible ways how to evaluate the correlation between microfinance related financial instruments and conventional financial market measures of risk and return.Microfinance; Investment; Funds