Inequality and Growth Revisited

In recent years, a vast literature on the links between inequality and growth has flourished. The emerging consensus is that equality enhances growth, but disagreement exists on the underlying mechanisms. In this paper, we aim to provide the reader with new empirical evidence from a cross sectional analysis of countries. First, we try to improve upon the accuracy of previous empirical models by using new data on inequality extracted from Deininger and Squire (1996). Second, we test alternative specifications of the relationship between growth, redistribution and inequality. Third, we test the relevance of the theoretical models proposed in the literature to explain the inequality-growth relationship. Results suggest that first, the link between inequality and growth is robust to measurement errors in inequality. Second, the fertility-education issue is the main explanatory factor of the link. Third, we find a non-linear relationship between inequality, redistribution and growth, which tends to confirm Bénabou's model (1996). However, there is also evidence to support an alternative explanation, in which there is reverse causality between redistribution and inequality: accordingly, countries would be considered unequal because of their weak redistributive policies.

Modelling international monthly tourism demand at the micro destination level with climate indicators and web-traffic data

We investigate if and how climate indicators and web-traffic data may improve the estimates of demand functions\u2019 parameters, considering specific origins and destinations. Overall, augmented demand functions show better fit and more reliable price and income elasticities whether the demand is measured with arrivals or with overnights. However, heterogeneity stemming from the main type of tourism (business vs. cultural vs. sea and sun) affects both the web-based and the climate indicators better describing tourists demand as well as their optimal lags. Our findings highlight the utility of such prompt and territorial detailed information for local policymakers, showing, however, how sensitive different demand segments are to policy intervention

High tide, low price? Flooding alerts and hotel prices in Venice

This research explores the effects of High Tide alerts on hotel prices in Venice, a city that is vulnerable to the impacts of extreme climate events due to its fragile ecosystem and a long history of floods in the city center. By analyzing and combining price data from Booking.com with publicly available information on tides and weather, this study uses regression discontinuity design to test for changes in hotel prices when tide levels reach a critical threshold. The results offer insights into the sensitivity of hotel prices to weather alerts and provide valuable information on the potential impact of climate change on Venice’s tourism-driven economy, with implications for the cost–benefit analysis of activating protective barriers for lagoon protection

Booking in the Rain. Testing the Impact of Public Information on Prices

Weather forecasts are a rare example of public information which is, at the same time, relevant for agents' decisions and entirely exogenous for both sides of the (tourism) market. We develop a model where signals of good weather have a positive impact on accommodation prices, the effect being stronger the higher the accuracy of the forecast and the ex-ante uncertainty in weather conditions. Using data from a sea and sun destination, we estimate an augmented hedonic price model and find that results robustly support the theory. We also find that the response of prices to weather forecasts is larger for upper-scale hotels than for low-and mid-scale hotels, a result we link to the superior pricing capability of the former

Carrier Transport in Magnesium Diboride: Role of Nano-inclusions

Anisotropic-gap and two-band effects smear out the superconducting transition (Tc) in literature reported thermal conductivity of MgB2, where large electronic contributions also suppress anomaly-manifestation in their negligible phononic-parts. Present thermal transport results on scarcely explored specimens featuring nano-inclusions exhibit a small but clear Tc-signature, traced to relatively appreciable phononic conduction, and its dominant electronic-scattering. The self-formed MgO as extended defects strongly scatter the charge carriers and minutely the phonons with their longer-mean-free-path near Tc. Conversely, near room temperature, the shorter-dominant-wavelength phonon's transport is hugely affected by these nanoparticles, undergoing ballistic to diffusive crossover and eventually entering the Ioffe-Regel mobility threshold regime.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, 28 reference

Frequency dependence of the microwave surface resistance of MgB2 by coaxial cavity resonator

We report on the microwave (mw) properties of a cylindrical MgB2 rod prepared by the reactive liquid Mg infiltration technology. The MgB2 rod, 94.3 mm long, is used as inner conductor of a coaxial cavity having a Cu tube as external conductor. By analyzing the resonance curves of the cavity in the different resonant modes and at different temperatures, we have determined the temperature dependence of the mw surface resistance, Rs, of the MgB2 material, at fixed frequencies, and the frequency dependence of Rs, at fixed temperatures. Our results show that the Rs(f) curves follow a f^n law, where n decreases on increasing the temperature, starting from n=2, at T=4.2 K, down to n=0.7 at T>Tc. The double gap nature of MgB2 manifests itself in the presence of a wide low-T tail in the R(T) curves, which can be ascribed to the quasiparticles thermally excited through the pi gap even at relatively low temperatures

Microwave Response of Coaxial Cavities Made of Bulk Magnesium Diboride

We report on the microwave properties of coaxial cavities built by using bulk MgB2 superconductor prepared by reactive liquid Mg infiltration technology. We have assembled a homogeneous cavity by using an outer MgB2 cylinder and an inner MgB2 rod and a hybrid cavity by using an outer copper cylinder and the same MgB2 rod as inner conductor. By the analysis of the resonance curves, in the different resonant modes, we have determined the microwave surface resistance Rs of the MgB2 materials as a function of the temperature and the frequency, in the absence of dc magnetic fields. At T=4.2 K and f ≈ 2.5 GHz, by an mw pulsed technique, we have determined the quality factor of the homogeneous cavity as a function of the input power up to a maximum level of about 40 dBm (corresponding to a maximum peak magnetic field of about 100 Oe). Contrary to what occurs in many films, Rs of the MgB2 material used does not exhibit visible variations up to an input power level of about 10 dBm and varies less than a factor of 2 on further increasing the input power of 30 dB

Planck LFI flight model feed horns

this paper is part of the Prelaunch status LFI papers published on JINST: http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/-page=extra.proc5/jinst The Low Frequency Instrument is optically interfaced with the ESA Planck telescope through 11 corrugated feed horns each connected to the Radiometer Chain Assembly (RCA). This paper describes the design, the manufacturing and the testing of the flight model feed horns. They have been designed to optimize the LFI optical interfaces taking into account the tight mechanical requirements imposed by the Planck focal plane layout. All the eleven units have been successfully tested and integrated with the Ortho Mode transducers.Comment: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article accepted for publication in JINST. IOP Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it. The definitive publisher authenticated version is available online at 10.1088/1748-0221/4/12/T1200