1,771 research outputs found
Multinationals, tax competition and outside options
We analyse tax competition when a multinational firm has invested in two countries but also has an outside option, e.g., towards a third country. An interesting finding is that more attractive outside options for firms may constitute a win-win situation; the firm as well as its present host countries may gain when this occurs. The reason that it benefits the host countries is that an enhanced outside option reduces the inefficiencies of tax competition. An implication of the result is that better outside options for multinational firms may reduce the gains from host countriesâ policy coordination and thus reduce those countriesâincentives to coordinate their policies. Also, with a development where outside options become more accessible, the perceived costs of tax competition, e.g., in terms of underprovision of public goods, may be overestimated. Our findings may also have implications for international negotiations, since it provides an argument for mutual reduction of entry barriers, as this may improve outside options.Tax competition; mobility; common agency; countervailing incentives
Higher order corrections to the Newtonian potential in the Randall-Sundrum model
The general formalism for calculating the Newtonian potential in fine-tuned
or critical Randall-Sundrum braneworlds is outlined. It is based on using the
full tensor structure of the graviton propagator. This approach avoids the
brane-bending effect arising from calculating the potential for a point source.
For a single brane, this gives a clear understanding of the disputed overall
factor 4/3 entering the correction. The result can be written on a compact form
which is evaluated to high accuracy for both short and large distances.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX2e with RevTeX4, 3 postscript figures; Minor
corrections, references update
Automatic generation: A way of ensuring PLC and HMI standards
Preparing an automatic production system takes a lot of time and to be able to decrease this time virtual simulation studies are used more and more frequently. However, even if more work is performed in a virtual environment a problem is still that the same work is done more than one time in different software tools due to the lack of integration between them. The present paper presents a case study that investigates how a newly developed tool called SIMATIC Automation Designer can be used in order to close the gap between the mechanical design and the electrical design. SIMATIC Automation Designer is a Siemens software that can generate PLC code and HMI screens. The result shows that by generating PLC code and HMI screens automatically, it is possible to get the same structure and naming standard in every PLC and HMI project. This will ensure a corporate standard and will be a quality assurance of the PLC code and HMI screens
Nonequilibrium phase transition in the coevolution of networks and opinions
Models of the convergence of opinion in social systems have been the subject
of a considerable amount of recent attention in the physics literature. These
models divide into two classes, those in which individuals form their beliefs
based on the opinions of their neighbors in a social network of personal
acquaintances, and those in which, conversely, network connections form between
individuals of similar beliefs. While both of these processes can give rise to
realistic levels of agreement between acquaintances, practical experience
suggests that opinion formation in the real world is not a result of one
process or the other, but a combination of the two. Here we present a simple
model of this combination, with a single parameter controlling the balance of
the two processes. We find that the model undergoes a continuous phase
transition as this parameter is varied, from a regime in which opinions are
arbitrarily diverse to one in which most individuals hold the same opinion. We
characterize the static and dynamical properties of this transition
Unstructured grids on SIMD torus machines
Unstructured grids lead to unstructured communication on distributed memory parallel computers, a problem that has been considered difficult. Here, we consider adaptive, offline communication routing for a SIMD processor grid. Our approach is empirical. We use large data sets drawn from supercomputing applications instead of an analytic model of communication load. The chief contribution of this paper is an experimental demonstration of the effectiveness of certain routing heuristics. Our routing algorithm is adaptive, nonminimal, and is generally designed to exploit locality. We have a parallel implementation of the router, and we report on its performance
Vertex similarity in networks
We consider methods for quantifying the similarity of vertices in networks.
We propose a measure of similarity based on the concept that two vertices are
similar if their immediate neighbors in the network are themselves similar.
This leads to a self-consistent matrix formulation of similarity that can be
evaluated iteratively using only a knowledge of the adjacency matrix of the
network. We test our similarity measure on computer-generated networks for
which the expected results are known, and on a number of real-world networks
The accuracy of drainage network delineation as a function of environmental factors: A case study in Central and Northern Sweden
Drainage networks delineated from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), are the basis for the modelling of geomorphological and hydrological processes, biogeochemical cycling, and water resources management. Besides providing effective models of water flows, automatically extracted drainage networks based on topography can diverge from reality to varying degrees. The variability of such disagreement within catchments has rarely been examined as a function of the heterogeneity of land cover, soil type, and slope in the catchment of interest. This research gap might not only substantially limit our knowledge of the uncertainty of hydrological prediction, but can also cause problems for users attempting to use the data at a local scale. Using 1:100000 scale land cover maps, Quaternary deposits maps, and 2 m resolution DEMs, it is found that the accuracy of delineated drainage networks tends to be lower in areas with denser vegetation, lower hydraulic conductivity, and higher erodibility. The findings of this study could serve as a guide for the more thoughtful usage of delineated drainage networks in environmental planning, and in the uncertainty analysis of hydrological and biochemical predictions. Therefore, this study makes a first attempt at filling the knowledge gap described above
Multiscaling in the YX model of networks
We investigate a Hamiltonian model of networks. The model is a mirror
formulation of the XY model (hence the name) -- instead letting the XY spins
vary, keeping the coupling topology static, we keep the spins conserved and
sample different underlying networks. Our numerical simulations show complex
scaling behaviors, but no finite-temperature critical behavior. The ground
state and low-order excitations for sparse, finite graphs is a fragmented set
of isolated network clusters. Configurations of higher energy are typically
more connected. The connected networks of lowest energy are stretched out
giving the network large average distances. For the finite sizes we investigate
there are three regions -- a low-energy regime of fragmented networks, and
intermediate regime of stretched-out networks, and a high-energy regime of
compact, disordered topologies. Scaling up the system size, the borders between
these regimes approach zero temperature algebraically, but different network
structural quantities approach their T=0-values with different exponents
On The Origins of Risk-Taking in Financial Markets
Risk-taking in financial markets is highly correlated between parents and their children; however, little is known about the extent to which these relationships are genetic or determined by environmental factors. We use data on stock market participation of Swedish adoptees and relate this to the investment behavior of both their biological and adoptive parents. We find that stock market participation of parents increases that of children by about 34% and that both pre-birth and post-birth factors are important. However, once we condition on having positive financial wealth, we find that nurture has a much stronger influence on risk-taking by children, and the evidence of a relationship between stock-holding of biological parents and their adoptive children becomes weaker. We find similar results when we study the share of financial wealth that is invested in stocks. This suggests that a substantial proportion of the transmission of risk behavior from parents to children is environmentally determined
The global migration network of sex-workers
Differences in the social and economic environment across countries encourage
humans to migrate in search of better living conditions, including job
opportunities, higher salaries, security and welfare. Quantifying global
migration is, however, challenging because of poor recording, privacy issues
and residence status. This is particularly critical for some classes of
migrants involved in stigmatised, unregulated or illegal activities. Escorting
services or high-end prostitution are well-paid activities that attract workers
all around the world. In this paper, we study international migration patterns
of sex-workers by using network methods. Using an extensive international
online advertisement directory of escorting services and information about
individual escorts, we reconstruct a migrant flow network where nodes represent
either origin or destination countries. The links represent the direct routes
between two countries. The migration network of sex-workers shows different
structural patterns than the migration of the general population. The network
contains a strong core where mutual migration is often observed between a group
of high-income European countries, yet Europe is split into different network
communities with specific ties to non-European countries. We find
non-reciprocal relations between countries, with some of them mostly offering
while others attract workers. The GDP per capita is a good indicator of country
attractiveness for incoming workers and service rates but is unrelated to the
probability of emigration. The median financial gain of migrating, in
comparison to working at the home country, is 15.9%. Only sex-workers coming
from 77% of the countries have financial gains with migration and average gains
decrease with the GDPc of the country of origin. Our results shows that
high-end sex-worker migration is regulated by economic, geographic and cultural
aspects.Comment: Comments and feedback welcomed. Two tables and 6 figures including S
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