Annuity Market Imperfection, Retirement and Economic Growth

We study the effects of an annuity market imperfection on individual agents’ labour supply and retirement decisions and on the macroeconomic growth rate in an overlapping generations model with endogenous growth. We model imperfect annuities by introducing a load factor on the interest rate faced by finitely-lived agents. Our core model features age-independent wages and a constant mortality rate. In the first extension we study the implications for microeconomic decisions and macroeconomic outcomes of a hump-shaped life-cycle profile in labour productivity, whilst in the second extension we postulate a realistic mortality process. Our main findings are that the limited availability of annuities induces agents to retire early in the first two models, but later in the model with age-dependent mortality. In all cases, the general equilibrium repercussion is that economic growth is lower under imperfect annuities than with perfect annuities.annuity markets, retirement, endogenous growth, overlapping generations, demography

Cell motility: a viscous fingering analysis of active gels

The symmetry breaking of the actin network from radial to longitudinal symmetry has been identified as the major mechanism for keratocytes (fish cells) motility on solid substrate. For strong friction coefficient, the two dimensional actin flow which includes the polymerisation at the edge and depolymerisation in the bulk can be modelled as a Darcy flow, the cell shape and dynamics being then modelled by standard complex analysis methods. We use the theory of active gels to describe the orientational order of the filaments which varies from the border to the bulk. We show analytically that the reorganisation of the cortex is enough to explain the motility of the cell and find the velocity as a function of the orientation order parameter in the bulk.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in EPJ - Plu

Magnetic field of superconductive in-vacuo undulators in comparison with permanent magnet undulators

During the last few years superconductive undulators with a period length of 3.8 mm and 14 mm have been built. In this paper scaling laws for these novel insertion devices are presented: a simple analytic formula is derived which describes the achievable magnetic field of a superconcuctive undulator as a function of gap-width and period length.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section

Economic Recession and the Way-Out: Nigeria as Case Study

Nigeria the hub of West Africa s economy has remained stagnant following the declaration of global economic and financial crisis which became major concerns for political leaders economists and managers of financial institutions across the globe It was later confirmed by the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele and the Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun that Nigeria s economy was officially declared to be in a technical recession based on the new trend figures released This study aimed at suggesting various measures for Nigeria s economic recovery Way-out of economic recession can be through the additive reforms of the following economic policies transport infrastructural development economic diversification with more emphasis on addressing the issue of local contents education research and innovation filtering externalities culture SMEs domestic products sound policy and anticorruption approaches lessons were drawn from Japan economic policies with emphasis on monetary and other policies Finally various recommendations were suggested for policy action

A Hedonic Analysis of Cattle Prices in the Central Corridor of West Africa: Implications for Production and Marketing Decisions

Detailed weekly sales transactions data for the period January 2000-June 2001 from three frontier markets in the central corridor of West Africa were analyzed to identify the factors influencing short-run, intra-year cattle prices. The empirical results indicate that in addition to market location and seasonality of supply and sales, market participants show systemic preferences for specific cattle attributes (sex, weight, condition and finish) and are willing to pay premium prices consistent with their preferences. Communicating this information to producers can assist them to tailor their production and marketing decisions to meet market expectations and thereby improve their competitiveness, profitability and intra-regional livestock trade. Innovative policy and institutional approaches to improve market information dissemination and ease other constraints that tend to dampen supply response, even in the face of favorable prices, are discussed in the paper.livestock markets, hedonic price model, market information, West Africa, Livestock Production/Industries, C21, D4, Q13, Q17,

Redesigning the Schedule Time Slots for Qatar University to Cope with Local Specificities

This study is concerned with the redesign of the class meeting pattern at Qatar University. It examines the existing meeting pattern based on its operational efficiency, its alignment with the strategic plan of the University, and its perception by the students and the faculty members. The analysis reveals serious limitations and shows the need for a new pattern with a full non-teaching day and no one-hour lectures. A capacity analysis proves the feasibility of such a pattern. Taking into consideration the specifications of the Qatari society, it was judged that the non-teaching day be split in two-half days. The present research recognizes the distinction between scheduling and class meeting patterns and aims to address the under-researched theme of having the meeting pattern as a variable rather than just an input to scheduling