Do Public Banks have a Competitive Advantage?

Private banks often blame state guarantees to distort competition by giv- ing public banks the advantage of lower funding costs. In this paper I show that if borrowers perceive the public bank as supporting economic develop- ment, private banks may be able to separate firms by self selection, enter the market, and obtain profits in equilibrium despite their cost disadvantage. The public bank's competitive advantage may be offset, independently of what its true objective function is. Even perfect competition between private banks does not lead to zero profits.public banks, state guarantee, self-selection

Homological realization of prescribed abelian groups via KK-theory

Using algebraic and topological K-theory together with complex C^*-algebras, we prove that every abelian group may be realized as the centre of a strongly torsion generated group whose integral homology is zero in dimension one and isomorphic to two arbitrarily prescribed abelian groups in dimensions two and three.Comment: 10 page

Don’t aim too high: the potential costs of high aspirations

The higher our aspirations, the higher the probability that we have to adjust them downwards when forming more realistic expectations later on. This paper shows that the costs induced by high aspirations are not trivial. We first develop a theoretical framework to identify the factors that determine the effect of aspirations on expected utility. Then we present evidence from a lab experiment on the factor found to be crucial: the adjustment of reference states to changes in expectations. The results suggest that the costs of high aspirations can be significant, since reference states do not adjust quickly. We use a novel, indirect approach that allows us to infer the determinants of the reference state from observed behavior, rather than to rely on cheap talk.aspirations, reference state, expectations, individual utility, experiments

Thermal Optimization of Injection Molds Produced by Layered Manufacturing Techniques

Producing injection tooling with cooling channels of almost any form seems to be one of the most promising advantages of Layered Manufacturing Techniques (like Selective Laser Sintering). It could be efficiently exploited to achieve higher productivity or better quality parts in injection molding. Unfortunately, at the present time, the lack of data-processing tools to design optimal cooling systems still prevents us from fully benefiting from this new potential. The first objective of this paper is to present a methodology for the optimal design of cooling systems in three-dimensional injection molds. Our optimization process is based on a finite element model of the mold and on the standard gradient method. In the second part of this paper, we compare a conventional mold and a mold equipped with a cooling system optimized by means of the proposed methodology. The comparison is carried out thanks to an appropriate protocol. The conclusion is that the optimization of the cooling system doubled the productivity of the mold.Mechanical Engineerin

Generalized orientations and the Bloch invariant

Abstract. For compact hyperbolic 3-manifolds we lift the Bloch invariant defined by Neumann and Yang to an integral class in K3(C). Applying the Borel and the Bloch regulators, one gets back the volume and the Chern-Simons invariant of the manifold. We also discuss the non-compact case, in which there appears a Z/2-ambiguity

Temperature dependent metallic conductance above the mobility edge of a silicon inversion layer

The temperature dependence of the conductance of an n-type inversion layer on a (100) silicon surface has been examined between 1.4K and 4.2K at electron densities at which the Fermi level is close above the mobility edge of the lowest sub-band. It can be explained by assuming a separate band of localised bound states from which electrons are thermally excited into the extended states of the sub-band. The absence of any noticeable change in the conductivity mobility demonstrates that the nature of the electron transport is preserved when the conductivity is lowered from 8*10-5mho to 2*10-5mho

Imitation with Intention and Memory: an Experiment

Three results emerge from a simple experiment on imitation. First, I find behavior which strongly suggests an intention to imitate. Second, players im- itate successful other players rather than repeating successful actions. Third, to find imitation examples, players use several periods of memory. This lends support to learning models with a non-trivial role of memory. The experiment analyzes imitation in an individual learning context. It sup- plements the results obtained for imitation in evolutionary processes.Imitation, Learning, Memory, Experiments