Priorities and Sequencing in Privatization: Theory and Evidence from the Czech Republic

While privatization of state-owned enterprises has been one of the most important aspects of economic transition from a centrally planned to a market system, no transition economy has privatized all its firms simultaneously. This raises the issue of whether governments strategically privatize firms. In this paper we examine theoretically and empirically the determinants of the sequencing of privatization. First, we develop new and adapt existing theoretical models in order to obtain testable predictions about factors that may affect the sequencing of privatization. In doing so, we characterize potentially competing government objectives as (i) maximizing sales revenue from privatization or public goodwill from transferring shares of firms to voters, (ii) increasing economic efficiency, and (iii) reducing political costs due to layoffs. Next, we use an enterprise-level data set from the Czech Republic to test the competing theoretical predictions about which firm characteristics affect the sequencing of privatization. We find strong evidence that more profitable firms were sold first. This suggests that the government sequenced the sale of firms in a way that is consistent with our theories of sale revenue maximization and/or maximizing public goodwill from subsidized share transfers to citizens. Our results are also consistent with Shleifer and Vishny's (1994) prescription for increasing efficiency when there are political costs to employment losses caused by privatization. We also find that the Glaeser-Scheinkman (1996) recommendations for increasing efficiency by privatizing first firms subject to large informational shocks are consistent with our results. Finally, our findings are inconsistent with the government pursuing a static Pareto efficiency objective. In addition to enhancing the general understanding of privatization, our evidence suggests that many empirical studies of the effects of privatization on firm performance may suffer from selection bias since privatized firms are likely to have observable and unobservable characteristics that make them more profitable than firms that remain under state ownership.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39707/3/wp323.pd

Priorities and Sequencing in Privatization: Theory and Evidence from the Czech Republic

While privatization of state-owned enterprises has been one of the most important aspects of economic transition from a centrally planned to a market system, no transition economy has privatized all its firms simultaneously. This raises the issue of whether governments strategically privatize firms. In this paper we examine theoretically and empirically the determinants of the sequencing of privatization. First, we develop new and adapt existing theoretical models in order to obtain testable predictions about factors that may affect the sequencing of privatization. In doing so, we characterize potentially competing government objectives as (i) maximizing sales revenue from privatization or public goodwill from transferring shares of firms to voters, (ii) increasing economic efficiency, and (iii) reducing political costs due to layoffs. Next, we use an enterprise-level data set from the Czech Republic to test the competing theoretical predictions about which firm characteristics affect the sequencing of privatization. We find strong evidence that more profitable firms were sold first. This suggests that the government sequenced the sale of firms in a way that is consistent with our theories of sale revenue maximization and/or maximizing public goodwill from subsidized share transfers to citizens. Our results are also consistent with Shleifer and Vishny's (1994) prescription for increasing efficiency when there are political costs to employment losses caused by privatization. We also find that the Glaeser-Scheinkman (1996) recommendations for increasing efficiency by privatizing first firms subject to large informational shocks are consistent with our results. Finally, our findings are inconsistent with the government pursuing a static Pareto efficiency objective. In addition to enhancing the general understanding of privatization, our evidence suggests that many empirical studies of the effects of privatization on firm performance may suffer from selection bias since privatized firms are likely to have observable and unobservable characteristics that make them more profitable than firms that remain under state ownership.

Competition between antiferromagnetism and superconductivity, electron-hole doping asymmetry and "Fermi Surface" topology in cuprates

We investigate the asymmetry between electron and hole doping in a 2D Mott insulator, and the resulting competition between antiferromagnetism (AF) and d-wave superconductivity (SC), using variational Monte Carlo for projected wave functions. We find that key features of the T = 0 phase diagram, such as critical doping for SC-AF coexistence and the maximum value of the SC order parameter, are determined by a single parameter which characterises the topology of the "Fermi surface" at half filling defined by the bare tight-binding parameters. Our results give insight into why AF wins for electron doping, while SC is dominant on the hole doped side. We also suggest using band structure engineering to control the parameter for enhancing SC.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Maternal and fetal outcome in abruptio placentae at a tertiary care centre: a retrospective analysis

Background: Placental abruption is a major obstetric complication leading to increased risk of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality globally. Placental abruption is traditionally defined as premature separation of a normally implanted placenta after 20 weeks of gestation and before delivery of the fetus. Early recognition of the risk factors, timely diagnosis and early intervention can significantly reduce maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. This study was aimed to identify the associated risk factors with abruptio placenta and to analyse the maternal and perinatal outcome in abruptio placenta.Methods: This was a retrospective observational study, from Jan 2016 to Dec 2019 at M.S. Ramaiah medical college and hospitals, Bangalore.Results: In our study, the incidence of abruptio placenta was 0.95%. Majority of our patients were between 20-24 years (41.5%). Primigravidae accounted for 46.15% of the cases. The unbooked cases were 92%. The commonest risk factor was hypertension complicating pregnancy which accounted for 26% .The live births were 64%. Postpartum haemorrhage was one of the major complications in our study. There was no maternal mortality, probably due to early intervention and availability of blood and blood products.Conclusions: Timely diagnosis and appropriate intervention preferably in tertiary care centre will significantly reduce mortality and morbidity in both mother and fetus.

Precedence-type Test based on Progressively Censored Samples

In this paper, we introduce precedence-type tests for testing the hypothesis that two distribution functions are equal, which is an extension of the precedence life-test rst proposed by Nelson (1963), when the two samples are progressively Type-II censored. The null distributions of the test statistics are derived. Critical values for some combination of sample sizes and censoring schemes for the proposed tests are presented. Then, we present the exact power functions under the Lehmann alternative, and compare the exact power as well as simulated power (under location-shift) of the proposed precedence test based on nonparametric estimates of CDF with other precedence-type tests. We then examine the power properties of the proposed test procedures through Monte Carlo simulations. Two examples are presented to illustrate all the test procedures discussed here. Finally, we make some concluding remarks.Precedence test; Product-limit estimator; Type-II progressive censoring; Life-testing; level of significance; power; Lehmann alternative; Monte Carlo simulations

Pairing and superconductivity driven by strong quasiparticle renormalization in two-dimensional organic charge transfer salts

We introduce and analyze a variational wave function for quasi two-dimensional kappa-ET organic salts containing strong local and nonlocal correlation effects. We find an unconventional superconducting ground state for intermediate charge carrier interaction, sandwiched between a conventional metal at weak coupling and a spin liquid at larger coupling. Most remarkably, the excitation spectrum is dramatically renormalized and is found to be the driving force for the formation of the unusual superconducting state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Particle-Hole Asymmetry in Doped Mott Insulators: Implications for Tunneling and Photoemission Spectroscopies

In a system with strong local repulsive interactions it should be more difficult to add an electron than to extract one. We make this idea precise by deriving various exact sum rules for the one-particle spectral function independent of the details of the Hamiltonian describing the system and of the nature of the ground state. We extend these results using a variational ansatz for the superconducting ground state and low lying excitations. Our results shed light on the striking asymmetry in the tunneling spectra of high Tc superconductors and should also be useful in estimating the local doping variations in inhomogeneous materials.Comment: 4 pages, no figure

Priorities and sequencing in privatization: Evidence from Czech firm panel data

While privatization of state-owned enterprises has been one of the most important aspects of the economic transition from a centrally planned to a market system, no transition economy has privatized all its firms simultaneously. This raises the question of whether governments privatize firms strategically. In this paper we examine the determinants of the sequencing of privatization. To obtain testable predictions about the factors that may affect sequencing, we investigate the following competing government objectives: (i) Maximizing efficiency through resource allocation; (ii) maximizing public goodwill from the free transfers of shares to the public; (iii) minimizing political costs; (iv) maximizing efficiency through information gains; and (v) maximizing privatization revenues. Next, we use firm-level data from the Czech Republic to test the competing predictions about the sequencing of privatization. Consistent with the hypotheses of a government priority on revenues and public goodwill, we find strong evidence that more profitable firms were privatized first. The sequencing of privatization is also consistent with maximizing efficiency through information gains. Our results indicate that many empirical studies of the effects of privatization on firm performance suffer from a selection bias

A Survey on the application of Data Science And Analytics in the field of Organised Sports

The application of Data Science and Analytics to optimize or predict outcomes is Ubiquitous in the Modern World. Data Science and Analytics have optimized almost every domain that exists in the market. In our survey, we focus on how the field of Analytics has been adopted in the field of sports, and how it has contributed to the transformation of the game right from the assessment of on-field players and their selection to the prediction of winning team and to the marketing of tickets and business aspects of big sports tournaments. We will present the analytical tools, algorithms, and methodologies adopted in the field of Sports Analytics for different sports and also present our views on the same and we will also compare and contrast these existing approaches. By doing so, we will also present the best tools, algorithms, and analytical methodologies to be considered by anyone who is looking to experiment with sports data and analyze various aspects of the game.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2209.0699