An approach to the economic analysis of water supply projects

Development economists are increasingly concerned about the correct approach to economic analysis of projects. By looking for a compromise between theory (which identifies ideals) and practice (which deals within the bounds of time and resource constraints), Lovei focuses on potential guidelines for economic appraisals of water supply projects. He summarizes theory and the current World Bank guidelines on the economic analysis of water supply projects; reviews the method of economic analysis applied in 21 recently approved Bank projects; and describes a simplified method that was tested in practice and found to improve substantially the quality of economic analysis in the sector. This new method relies on standardized and rigorous use of information that is routinely available during the preparation of water supply projects.Water and Industry,Water Conservation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions

Redundancy Pay and Collective Dismissals

Redundancy payments for collective dismissals are incorporated into a Shapiro-Stiglitz model of efficiency wages. It is shown that a fixed payment will lower wages, leave employment and welfare unaffected if there are no wage-dependent taxes, no additional firing costs and if unemployment benefits are not altered by redundancy payments. If payroll taxes exceed firing costs and unemployment benefits are independent of redundancy pay, employment and welfare will rise with redundancy payments. If these payments are also a function of previous wages, positive employment effects will be mitigated. A substitution of wage-dependent for lump-sum redundancy payments can lower employment, allowing for a continuous variation of effort.collective dismissal, efficiency wages, employment, redundancy pay, welfare

"Gravitational mass" of information?

We hypothesize possible new types of forces that would be the result of new types of interactions, static and a slow transient, between objects with related information contents (pattern). Such mechanism could make material composition dependence claimed by Fishbach, et al in Eotvos type experiments plausible. We carried out experiments by using a high-resolution scale with the following memories: USB-2 flash drives (1-16GB), DVD and CD disks to determine if such an interaction exist/detectable with a scale resolution of 10 microgram with these test objects. We applied zero information, white noise and 1/f noise type data. Writing or deleting the information in any of these devices causes peculiar negative weight transients, up to milligrams (mass fraction around 10^-5), which is followed by various types of relaxation processes. These relaxations have significantly different dynamics compared to transients observed during cooling after stationary external heating. Interestingly, a USB-1 MP3 player has also developed comparable transient mass loss during playing music. A classical interpretation of the negative weight transients could be absorbed water in hygroscopic components however comparison of relaxation time constants with air humidity data does not support an obvious explanation. Another classical interpretation with certain contribution is the lifting Bernoulli force caused by the circulation due to convection of the warm air. However, in this case all observed time constants with a device should have been the same unless some hidden parameter causes the observed variations. Further studies are warranted to clarify if there is indeed a new force, which is showing up as negative mass at weight measurement when high-density structural information is changed or read out (measured).Comment: Final language corrections based on the galley proof of the published pape

Trade union membership and work councils in West Germany

The fraction of works councillors belonging to a trade union in Germany is much higher than union density among employees. If works councils represent the face of unions, union membership of employees should be related positively to the existence of works councils and their proximity to unions. Using data from the German Socio-Economic-Panel SOEP we find that (a) works councillors exhibit a higher probability of being a union member, (b) the mere existence of a works council within an establishment has no impact on union membership and (c) a 10 % decrease in the average share of unionised works councillors coincides with a 10 % fall in the probability of being a union member. Hence, the decline in the unionisation of works councillors and the fall in union density in West Germany are closely linked. --panel data,trade union membership,works council

The estimation of three-dimensional fixed effects panel data models

The paper introduces for the most frequently used three-dimensional fixed effects panel data models the appropriate Within estimators. It analyzes the behaviour of these estimators in the case of no-self-flow data, unbalanced data and dynamic autoregressive models.panel data, unbalanced panel, dynamic panel data model, multidimensional panel data, fixed effects, trade models, gravity models, FDI