Warfare, Fiscal Capacity, and Performance

We exploit differences in casualties sustained in pre-modern wars to estimate the impact of fiscal capacity on economic performance. In the past, states fought different amounts of external conflicts, of various lengths and magnitudes. To raise the revenues to wage wars, states made fiscal innovations, which persisted and helped to shape current fiscal institutions. Economic historians claim that greater fiscal capacity was the key long-run institutional change brought about by historical conflicts. Using casualties sustained in pre-modern wars to instrument for current fiscal institutions, we estimate substantial impacts of fiscal capacity on GDP per worker. The results are robust to a broad range of specifications, controls, and sub-samples

Does the Supreme Court Follow the Economic Returns? A Response to A Macrotheory of the Court

Today, there is a widespread idea that parents need to learn how to carry out their roles as parents. Practices of parental learning operate throughout society. This article deals with one particular practice of parental learning, namely nanny TV, and the way in which ideal parents are constructed through such programmes. The point of departure is SOS family, a series broadcast on Swedish television in 2008. Proceeding from the theorising of governmentality developed in the wake of the work of Michel Foucault, we analyse the parental ideals conveyed in the series, as an example of the way parents are constituted as subjects in the ‘advanced liberal society’ of today. The ideal parent is a subject who, guided by the coach, is constantly endeavouring to achieve a makeover. The objective of this endeavour, however, is self-control, whereby the parents will in the end become their own coaches.

Testing for spatial autocorrelation: the regressors that make the power disappear

We show that for any sample size, any size of the test, and any weights matrix outside a small class of exceptions, there exists a positive measure set of regression spaces such that the power of the Cli-Ord test vanishes as the autocorrelation increases in a spatial error model. This result extends to the tests that dene the Gaussian power envelope of all invariant tests for residual spatial autocorrelation. In most cases, the regression spaces such that the problem occurs depend on the size of the test, but there also exist regression spaces such that the power vanishes regardless of the size. A characterization of such particularly hostile regression spaces is provided

FBG-based optical interface to support a multisector antenna in a spectrally efficient fiber radio system

We propose and demonstrate a fiber Bragg grating (FBG)-based optical interface for use in a spectrally efficient fiber-radio network with multisector antennas. The system has the novel feature of being specifically developed for use in existing wavelength-division-multiplexed network infrastructures. The proposed scheme supports transport of a remote local oscillator (LO) and three subcarrier multiplexed data channels, destined for different antenna sectors, using a single wavelength. The composite signal was contained within a 25-GHz band, selected via a 25-GHz dispersion-flattened FBG. Recovery of the LO and data channels is performed via optical filtering, using either a novel single grating incorporating multiple phase shifts or multiple narrow bandwidth gratings. Our measurements show that all channels within the 25-GHz band are successfully recovered with less than 2-dB optical power penalty between channels. The use of the 25-GHz grating exhibits an improvement in sensitivity of 3 dB for all data channels

Hard X-ray grazing incidence ptychography: Large field-of-view nanostructure imaging with ultra-high surface sensitivity

We demonstrate a technique that allows highly surface sensitive imaging of nanostructures on planar surfaces over large areas, providing a new avenue for research in materials science, especially for \textit{in situ} applications. The capabilities of hard X-ray grazing incidence ptychography combine aspects from imaging, reflectometry and grazing incidence small angle scattering in providing large field-of-view images with high resolution transverse to the beam, horizontally and along the surface normal. Thus, it yields data with resolutions approaching electron microscopy, in two dimensions, but over much larger areas and with a poorer resolution in the third spatial dimension, along the beam propagation direction. Similar to grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering, this technique facilitates the characterization of nanostructures across statistically significant surface areas or volumes within potentially feasible time frames for \textit{in situ} experiments, while also providing spatial information.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Quantum chemical calculations of X-ray emission spectroscopy

The calculation of X-ray emission spectroscopy with equation of motion coupled cluster theory (EOM-CCSD), time dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) and resolution of the identity single excitation configuration interaction with second order perturbation theory (RI-CIS(D)) is studied. These methods can be applied to calculate X-ray emission transitions by using a reference determinant with a core-hole, and they provide a convenient approach to compute the X-ray emission spectroscopy of large systems since all of the required states can be obtained within a single calculation removing the need to perform a separate calculation for each state. For all of the methods, basis sets with the inclusion of additional basis functions to describe core orbitals are necessary, particularly when studying transitions involving the 1s or- bitals of heavier nuclei. EOM-CCSD predicts accurate transition energies when compared with experiment, however, its application to larger systems is restricted by its computational cost and difficulty in converging the CCSD equations for a core-hole reference determinant, which become increasing problematic as the size of the system studied increases. While RI-CIS(D) gives accurate transition energies for small molecules containing first row nuclei, its application to larger systems is limited by the CIS states providing a poor zeroth order reference for perturbation theory which leads to very large errors in the computed transition energies for some states. TDDFT with standard exchange-correlation functionals predicts transition energies that are much larger than experiment. Optimization of a hybrid and short-range cor- rected functional to predict the X-ray emission transitions results in much closer agreement with EOM-CCSD. The most accurate exchange-correlation functional identified is a modified B3LYP hybrid functional with 66% Hartree-Fock exchange, denoted B66LYP, which predicts X-ray emission spectra for a range of molecules including fluorobenzene, nitrobenzene, ace- tone, dimethyl sulfoxide and CF3Cl in good agreement with experiment

The determinants of election to the United Nations Security Council

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11127-013-0096-4.The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the foremost international body responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. Members vote on issues of global importance and consequently receive perks—election to the UNSC predicts, for instance, World Bank and IMF loans. But who gets elected to the UNSC? Addressing this question empirically is not straightforward as it requires a model that allows for discrete choices at the regional and international levels; the former nominates candidates while the latter ratifies them. Using an original multiple discrete choice model to analyze a dataset of 180 elections from 1970 to 2005, we find that UNSC election appears to derive from a compromise between the demands of populous countries to win election more frequently and a norm of giving each country its turn. We also find evidence that richer countries from the developing world win election more often, while involvement in warfare lowers election probability. By contrast, development aid does not predict election

Bailouts in a common market: a strategic approach

Governments in the EU grant Rescue and Restructure Subsidies to bail out ailing firms. In an international asymmetric Cournot duopoly we study effects of such subsidies on market structure and welfare. We adopt a common market setting, where consumers from the two countries form one market. We show that the subsidy is positive also when it fails to prevent the exit. The reason is a strategic effect, which forces the more efficient firm to make additional cost-reducing effort. When the exit is prevented, allocative and productive efficiencies are lower and the only gaining player is the rescued firm

Soliton Interactions in Perturbed Nonlinear Schroedinger Equations

We use multiscale perturbation theory in conjunction with the inverse scattering transform to study the interaction of a number of solitons of the cubic nonlinear Schroedinger equation under the influence of a small correction to the nonlinear potential. We assume that the solitons are all moving with the same velocity at the initial instant; this maximizes the effect each soliton has on the others as a consequence of the perturbation. Over the long time scales that we consider, the amplitudes of the solitons remain fixed, while their center of mass coordinates obey Newton's equations with a force law for which we present an integral formula. For the interaction of two solitons with a quintic perturbation term we present more details since symmetries -- one related to the form of the perturbation and one related to the small number of particles involved -- allow the problem to be reduced to a one-dimensional one with a single parameter, an effective mass. The main results include calculations of the binding energy and oscillation frequency of nearby solitons in the stable case when the perturbation is an attractive correction to the potential and of the asymptotic "ejection" velocity in the unstable case. Numerical experiments illustrate the accuracy of the perturbative calculations and indicate their range of validity.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to Phys Rev E Revised: 21 pages, 6 figures, To appear in Phys Rev E (many displayed equations moved inline to shorten manuscript