A Simple Approximation of Productivity Scores of Fuzzy Production Plans

This paper suggests a simple approximation procedure for the assessment of productivity scores with respect to fuzzy production plans. The procedure has a clear economic interpretation and all the necessary calculations can be performed in a spreadsheet making it highly operational.rationing; inequality preservation; taxation; manipulation; proportional method

Tax Incentives and Household Portfolios: A Panel Data Analysis

This paper investigates the responsiveness of household portfolios to tax incentives by exploiting a substantial tax reform that altered after-tax returns and cost of debt for a large number of households. An extraordinary panel data set that covers two years before and after the reform is used for the analysis. Our empirical findings suggest that households reshuffle their balance sheets in the case of a partial deductibility phase-out. In particular, heavily taxed,interest-bearing assets are used to pay off mortgage debt. Furthermore, we find that taxes have a significant impact on the structure of household portfolios even after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity.household portfolios; taxation; panel data; natural experiment

Rational Inefficiencies

In this paper, we suggest that inefficiency may be an indirect, on-the-job compensation to agents in an organization. We show how to use actual production data to reveal the trade-offs between different inefficiencies (slacks). Moreover, we discuss how to use this to improve productivity analysis as well as decision making and incentive provisions in organizations.efficiency, preferences, incentives, bargaining, planning, Productivity Analysis,

The Hitchin-Witten Connection and Complex Quantum Chern-Simons Theory

We give a direct calculation of the curvature of the Hitchin connection, in geometric quantization on a symplectic manifold, using only differential geometric techniques. In particular, we establish that the curvature acts as a first-order operator on the quantum spaces. Projective flatness follows if the K\"ahler structures do not admit holomorphic vector fields. Following Witten, we define a complex variant of the Hitchin connection on the bundle of prequantum spaces. The curvature is essentially unchanged, so projective flatness holds in the same cases. Finally, the results are applied to quantum Chern-Simons theory, both for compact and complex gauge groups

Cost Allocation and Convex Data Envelopment

This paper considers allocation rules. First, we demonstrate that costs allocated by the Aumann-Shapley and the Friedman-Moulin cost allocation rules are easy to determine in practice using convex envelopment of registered cost data and parametric programming. Second, from the linear programming problems involved it becomes clear that the allocation rules, technically speaking, allocate the non-zero value of the dual variable for a convexity constraint on to the output vector. Hence, the allocation rules can also be used to allocate inefficiencies in non-parametric efficiency measurement models such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The convexity constraint of the BCC model introduces a non-zero slack in the objective function of the multiplier problem and we show that the cost allocation rules discussed in this paper can be used as candidates to allocate this slack value on to the input (or output) variables and hence enable a full allocation of the inefficiency on to the input (or output) variables as in the CCR model.cost allocation; convex envelopment; data envelopment analysis; slack allocation

Super Efficiency Evaluations Based on Potential Slack

Super efficiency evaluations are introduced along the lines of the potential improvements approach in Bogetoft and Hougaard (1999). Both a reference selection and a related super efficiency index is defined. The new (potential slack) super efficiency index is compared to a Farrell-based super efficiency index (as in Andersen and Petersen 1993) with respect to convex envelopment technologies.super efficiency, potential slack, reference selection, efficiency index, DEA, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Tax Incentives and Household Portfolios: A Panel Data Analysis

This paper investigates the responsiveness of household portfolios to tax incentives by exploiting a substantial tax reform that altered after-tax returns and cost of debt for a large number of households. An extraordinary panel data set that covers two years before and after the reform is used for the analysis. Our empirical findings suggest that households reshuffle their balance sheets in the case of a partial deductibility phase-out. In particular, heavily taxed, interest-bearing assets are used to pay off mortgage debt. Furthermore, we find that taxes have a significant impact on the structure of household portfolios even after controlling for unobserved heterogeneity.Household portfolios, taxation, panel data, natural experiment

Stochastic Analysis of Synchronization in a Supermarket Refrigeration System

Display cases in supermarket systems often exhibit synchronization, in which the expansion valves in the display cases turn on and off at exactly the same time. The study of the influence of switching noise on synchronization in supermarket refrigeration systems is the subject matter of this work. For this purpose, we model it as a hybrid system, for which synchronization corresponds to a periodic trajectory. Subsequently, we investigate the influence of switching noise. We develop a statistical method for computing an intensity function, which measures how often the refrigeration system stays synchronized. By analyzing the intensity, we conclude that the increase in measurement uncertainty yields the decrease at the prevalence of synchronization.Comment: In Proceedings HAS 2014, arXiv:1501.0540