Quitting and labor turnover : microeconomic evidence and macroeconomic consequences

Combining microeconomic evidence with macroeconomic theory, the authors present an integrated approach to wage and employment determination in an economy where firms pay above market"efficiency wages"to prevent trained workers from quitting. The model offers predictions about the behavior of formal employment, labor turnover, and segmentation in response to formal sector productivity shocks (including economic growth and tax reductions), changes in the desirability of self-employment (formal sector tax rates), and the cost of training a new worker. They use panel data from Mexican labor surveys to estimate the quit function derived fromthe model and the results support their view that transitions from formal salaried work to informal self-employment are quits rather than fires. (Quitting is positively related to the mean self-employment income and the probability of being rehired and negatively related to the mean formal salaried wage.) They then use the parameters estimated from the quit function to calibrate the model economy and simulate the impacts of economic shocks and policy innovations and find the impact on employment, turnover, and segmentation to be substantial.Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Labor Management and Relations,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Labor Management and Relations

Complex Behavior in Simple Models of Biological Coevolution

We explore the complex dynamical behavior of simple predator-prey models of biological coevolution that account for interspecific and intraspecific competition for resources, as well as adaptive foraging behavior. In long kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of these models we find quite robust 1/f-like noise in species diversity and population sizes, as well as power-law distributions for the lifetimes of individual species and the durations of quiet periods of relative evolutionary stasis. In one model, based on the Holling Type II functional response, adaptive foraging produces a metastable low-diversity phase and a stable high-diversity phase.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

On Matrix Product States for Periodic Boundary Conditions

The possibility of a matrix product representation for eigenstates with energy and momentum zero of a general m-state quantum spin Hamiltonian with nearest neighbour interaction and periodic boundary condition is considered. The quadratic algebra used for this representation is generated by 2m operators which fulfil m^2 quadratic relations and is endowed with a trace. It is shown that {\em not} every eigenstate with energy and momentum zero can be written as matrix product state. An explicit counter-example is given. This is in contrast to the case of open boundary conditions where every zero energy eigenstate can be written as a matrix product state using a Fock-like representation of the same quadratic algebra.Comment: 7 pages, late

Survey, Alignment, and Beam Stability at the Advanced Light Source

This paper describes survey and alignment at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories Advanced Light Source (ALS) accelerators from 1993 to 1997. The ALS is a third generation light source requiring magnet alignment to within 150 microns. To accomplish this, a network of monuments was established and maintained. Monthly elevation surveys show the movement of the floor over time. Inclinometers have recently been employed to give real time information about magnet, vacuum tank and magnet girder motion in the ALS storage ring

Ab initio calculation of the Hoyle state

The Hoyle state plays a crucial role in the hydrogen burning of stars heavier than our sun and in the production of carbon and other elements necessary for life. This excited state of the carbon-12 nucleus was postulated by Hoyle [1] as a necessary ingredient for the fusion of three alpha particles to produce carbon at stellar temperatures. Although the Hoyle state was seen experimentally more than a half century ago [2,3], nuclear theorists have not yet uncovered the nature of this state from first principles. In this letter we report the first ab initio calculation of the low-lying states of carbon-12 using supercomputer lattice simulations and a theoretical framework known as effective field theory. In addition to the ground state and excited spin-2 state, we find a resonance at -85(3) MeV with all of the properties of the Hoyle state and in agreement with the experimentally observed energy. These lattice simulations provide insight into the structure of this unique state and new clues as to the amount of fine-tuning needed in nature for the production of carbon in stars.Comment: 4 pp, 3 eps figs, version accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

CD4 +

Multiple studies have identified CD4+ T cells as central players of glomerulonephritis (GN). Cells of the Th1 and Th17 responses cause renal tissue damage, while Tregs mediate protection. Recently, a high degree of plasticity among these T cell lineages was proposed. During inflammation, Th17 cells were shown to have the potential of transdifferentiation into Th1, Th2, or alternatively anti-inflammatory Tr1 cells. Currently available data from studies in GN, however, do not indicate relevant Th17 to Th1 or Th2 conversion, leaving the Th17 cell fate enigmatic. Tregs, on the other hand, were speculated to transdifferentiate into Th17 cells. Again, data from GN do not support this concept. Rather, it seems that previously unrecognized subspecialized effector Treg lineages exist. These include Th1 specific Treg1 as well as Th17 directed Treg17 cells. Furthermore, a bifunctional Treg subpopulation was recently identified in GN, which secrets IL-17 and coexpresses Foxp3 together with the Th17 characteristic transcription factor RORγt. Similarities between these different and highly specialized effector Treg subpopulations with the corresponding T helper effector cell lineages might have resulted in previous misinterpretation as Treg transdifferentiation. In summary, Th17 cells have a relatively stable phenotype during GN, while, in the case of Tregs, currently available data suggest lineage heterogeneity rather than plasticity

Income Mobility and Welfare

This paper develops a framework for the quantitative analysis of individual income dynamics, mobility and welfare. Individual income is assumed to follow a stochastic process with two (unobserved) components, an i.i.d. component representing measurement error or transitory income shocks and an AR(1) component representing persistent changes in income. We use a tractable consumption-saving model with labor income risk and incomplete markets to relate income dynamics to consumption and welfare, and derive analytical expressions for income mobility and welfare as a function of the various parameters of the underlying income process. The empirical application of our framework using data on individual incomes from Mexico provides striking results. Much of measured income mobility is driven by measurement error or transitory income shocks and therefore (almost) welfare-neutral. A smaller part of measured income mobility is due to either welfare-reducing income risk or welfare-enhancing catching-up of lowincome individuals with high-income individuals, both of which have economically significant effects on social welfare. Decomposing mobility into its fundamental components is thus seen to be crucial from the standpoint of welfare evaluation

Finite-dimensional representation of the quadratic algebra of a generalized coagulation-decoagulation model

The steady-state of a generalized coagulation-decoagulation model on a one-dimensional lattice with reflecting boundaries is studied using a matrix-product approach. It is shown that the quadratic algebra of the model has a four-dimensional representation provided that some constraints on the microscopic reaction rates are fulfilled. The dynamics of a product shock measure with two shock fronts, generated by the Hamiltonian of this model, is also studied. It turns out that the shock fronts move on the lattice as two simple random walkers which repel each other provided that the same constraints on the microscopic reaction rates are satisfied.Comment: Minor revision