283 research outputs found
Essays in Macroeconomics and Public Finance.
This dissertation contains three chapters at the intersection of macroeconomics and public finance.
The first chapter demonstrates that deep recessions can stimulate investment in state fiscal capacity. Large negative income shocks endanger the revenue-raising capability of existing narrow tax bases, particularly when the ability to borrow is limited, making an increase in fiscal capacity desirable relative to its implementation cost. An increase in fiscal capacity enables a given amount of revenue to be raised by taxing a wider range of economic activity at lower tax rates, which reduces the efficiency cost of taxation. Evidence from U.S. state governments during the Great Depression supports the model's predictions: governments in states experiencing larger than average negative income shocks were significantly more likely to adopt a retail sales tax (and income taxes) than were governments in states experiencing smaller than average income shocks, and state governments entering the Great Depression with a high level of debt were more likely to adopt new tax bases than those with low levels of debt.
The second chapter proposes a model of consumption commitments - costly adjustment of spending for some goods - that can be easily incorporated into an otherwise standard representative agent DSGE model. The model explains several features of aggregate consumption data: (i) excess smoothness and excess sensitivity; (ii) hump-shaped dynamics; (iii) attenuated response to transitory real interest rate changes; and (iv) some aspects of the equity-premium puzzle. The model provides a microfoundation for reference dependent consumption.
The third chapter, co-authored with Peer Skov, uses a reform in Denmark affecting reporting of charitable tax deductions to shed light on taxpayer behavior. We find that the introduction of information reporting and pre-population of charitable tax deductions in 2008 coincided with a doubling in the number of deductions claimed, and attribute this change to incomplete claiming of eligible deductions under the prior self-reporting regime. We estimate the per-year average amount of forgone tax benefits to be small, but find that many taxpayers repeatedly failed to claim eligible charitable tax deductions under the self-reporting regime.PhDEconomicsUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/102360/1/cgillitz_1.pd
Extracting the depolarization coefficient D_NN from data measured with a full acceptance detector
The spin transfer from vertically polarized beam protons to Lambda or Sigma
hyperons of the associated strangeness production pp -> pK Lambda (Sigma) is
described with the depolarization coefficient D_NN. As the polarization of the
hyperons is determined by their weak decays, detectors, which have a large
acceptance for the decay particles, are needed. In this paper a formula is
derived, which describes the depolarization coefficient D_NN by count rates of
a 4 pi detector. It is shown, that formulas, which are given in publications
for detectors with restricted acceptance, are specific cases of this formula
for a 4 pi detector.Comment: Accepted for publication by Nuclear Instruments and Methods in
Physics Research Section
A recoil detector for the measurement of antiproton-proton elastic scattering at angles close to 90
The design and construction of a recoil detector for the measurement of
recoil protons of antiproton-proton elastic scattering at scattering angles
close to 90 are described. The performance of the recoil detector has
been tested in the laboratory with radioactive sources and at COSY with proton
beams by measuring proton-proton elastic scattering. The results of laboratory
tests and commissioning with beam are presented. Excellent energy resolution
and proper working performance of the recoil detector validate the conceptual
design of the KOALA experiment at HESR to provide the cross section data needed
to achieve a precise luminosity determination at the PANDA experiment.Comment: 10 pages, 15 figure
Search for He-eta bound states with the WASA-at-COSY facility
The existence of eta-mesic nuclei in which the eta meson is bound in a
nucleus by means of the strong interaction was postulated already in 1986,
albeit not yet confirmed it by experiment. The discovery of this new kind of an
exotic nuclear matter would be very important as it might allow for a better
understanding of the eta meson structure and its interaction with nucleons. The
search for eta-mesic helium 4He-eta is carried out with high statistics and
high acceptance with the WASA detector, installed at the cooler synchrotron
COSY of the Research Center Juelich. The search is conducted via the
measurement of the excitation function for selected decay channels of the
4He-eta system. In the experiment, performed in November 2010, two reactions
dd->(4He-eta)bs ->3He p pi- and dd->(4He-eta)bs ->3He p pi0 were measured with
a beam momentum ramped from 2.127GeV/c to 2.422GeV/c. The report includes the
description of the experimental method and status of the measurement.Comment: Presented at the Erice School on Nuclear Physics 2011. 5 pages, 3
figure
High precision measurement of the associated strangeness production in proton proton interactions
A new high precision measurement of the reaction pp -> pK+Lambda at a beam
momentum of 2.95 GeV/c with more than 200,000 analyzed events allows a detailed
analysis of differential observables and their inter-dependencies. Correlations
of the angular distributions with momenta are examined. The invariant mass
distributions are compared for different regions in the Dalitz plots. The cusp
structure at the N Sigma threshold is described with the Flatt\'e formalism and
its variation in the Dalitz plot is analyzed.Comment: accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.
First Model-Independent Measurement of the Spin Triplet Scattering Length from Final State Interaction in the Reaction
The reaction has been measured with the
COSY-TOF detector at a beam momentum of . The polarized
proton beam enables the measurement of the beam analyzing power by the
asymmetry of the produced kaon (). This observable allows the
spin triplet scattering length to be extracted for the first time
model independently from the final-state interaction in the reaction. The
obtained value is . This value is
compatible with theoretical predictions and results from model-dependent
analyses.Comment: Revised version as accepted for publication in PR
Precision spectroscopy of pionic 1s states of Sn nuclei and evidence for partial restoration of chiral symmetry in the nuclear medium
Deeply bound 1s states of in Sn were preferentially
observed using the Sn(,He) pion-transfer reaction under the recoil-free
condition. The 1s binding energies and widths were precisely determined, and
were used to deduce the isovector parameter of the s-wave pion-nucleus
potential to be . The observed enhancement
of over the free value ()
indicates a reduction of the chiral order parameter, , at the normal nuclear density, .Comment: 4 pages including 3 postscript figures, RevTeX 4 with multirow.sty,
submitted to Physical Review Letter
Single \pi^- production in np collisions for excess energies up to 90 MeV
The quasifree reaction np\to pp\pim was studied in a kinematically complete
experiment by bombarding a liquid hydrogen target with a deuteron beam of
momentum 1.85 GeV/c and analyzing the data along the lines of the spectator
model. In addition to the three charged ejectiles the spectator proton was also
detected in the large-acceptance time-of-flight spectrometer COSY-TOF. It was
identified by its momentum and flight direction thus yielding access to the
Fermi motion of the bound neutron and to the effective neutron 4-momentum
vector which differed from event to event. A range of almost 90
MeV excess energy above threshold was covered. Energy dependent angular
distributions, invariant mass spectra as well as fully covered Dalitz plots
were deduced. Sizeable FSI effects were found as were contributions of
and partial waves. The behavior of the elementary cross section
close to threshold is discussed in view of new cross section
data. In comparison with existing literature data the results provide a
sensitive test of the spectator model.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJ
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