3,523 research outputs found
Maintaining (locus of) control? Assessing the impact of locus of control on education decisions and wages
This paper establishes that individuals with an internal locus of control, i.e., who believe that reinforcement in life comes from their own actions instead of being determined by luck or destiny, earn higher wages. However, this positive effect only translates into labor income via the channel of education. Factor structure models are implemented on an augmented data set coming from two different samples. By so doing, we are able to correct for potential biases that arise due to reverse causality and spurious correlation, and to investigate the impact of premarket locus of control on later outcomes. --locus of control,wages,latent factor model,data set combination
On what scale should inflationary observables be constrained?
We examine the choice of scale at which constraints on inflationary
observables are presented. We describe an implementation of the hierarchy of
inflationary consistency equations which ensures that they remain enforced on
different scales, and then seek to optimize the scale for presentation of
constraints on marginalized inflationary parameters from WMAP3 data. For models
with spectral index running, we find a strong variation of the constraints
through the range of observational scales available, and optimize by finding
the scale which decorrelates constraints on the spectral index n_S and the
running. This scale is k=0.017 Mpc^{-1}, and gives a reduction by a factor of
more than four in the allowed parameter area in the n_S-r plane (r being the
tensor-to-scalar ratio) relative to k=0.002 Mpc^{-1}. These optimized
constraints are similar to those obtained in the no-running case. We also
extend the analysis to a larger compilation of data, finding essentially the
same conclusions.Comment: 7 pages RevTeX4 with 9 figures included. v2: References added, new
section added analyzing additional datasets alongside WMAP3. v3: Minor
corrections to match version accepted by PR
How labor market policies shape immigrants’ opportunities
When it comes to unemployment and labor force participation rates, immigrants do better in the United States than in most other countries. In 2005, for example, the foreign-born had average unemployment of 4.6 percent in the U.S., well below native-born workers’ 5.2 percent. U.S. immigrants also had higher participation rates. The American experience stands in stark contrast to many other developed nations’. In France and Germany, for example, the foreign-born typically have jobless rates twice as high as native-born workers and lower participation rates. ; What accounts for these differences? Most studies attribute poor labor market outcomes to the immigrants themselves—their education levels, language skills, inexperience, family composition and reasons for migrating. Immigrant characteristics surely matter, but so do the host country’s labor market institutions and policies.Immigrants ; Labor policy ; Employment
The WMAP normalization of inflationary cosmologies
We use the three-year WMAP observations to determine the normalization of the
matter power spectrum in inflationary cosmologies. In this context, the
quantity of interest is not the normalization marginalized over all parameters,
but rather the normalization as a function of the inflationary parameters n and
r with marginalization over the remaining cosmological parameters. We compute
this normalization and provide an accurate fitting function. The statistical
uncertainty in the normalization is 3 percent, roughly half that achieved by
COBE. We use the k-l relation for the standard cosmological model to identify
the pivot scale for the WMAP normalization. We also quote the inflationary
energy scale corresponding to the WMAP normalization.Comment: 4 pages RevTex4 with two figure
Come back or stay? - Spend here or there?: Temporary versus permanent migration and remittance patterns in the Republic of Moldova
This paper examines the determinants of temporary and permanent migration and the impact of the return decision on remittances patterns. Using a new detailed household dataset on migration in the Republic of Moldova, it is shown that return is determined by the economic conditions at home and abroad as well as by the legal status in the host country. Especially economic frustration turns out to be an important push factor for permanent migration. Besides, family ties play an important role, as do respective migrant networks. Concerning remittances, the results indicate that temporary migrants remit around 30% more than their permanent counterparts even though they often reside in lower wage countries. Overall, the findings indicate that temporary migration is relatively more favorable for developing countries as it fosters higher remittances, repatriation of skills and home savings
Model-Independent Constraints on Dark Energy Density from Flux-averaging Analysis of Type Ia Supernova Data
We reconstruct the dark energy density as a free function from
current type Ia supernova (SN Ia) data (Tonry et al. 2003; Barris et al. 2003;
Knop et al. 2003), together with the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) shift
parameter from CMB data (WMAP, CBI, and ACBAR), and the large scale structure
(LSS) growth factor from 2dF galaxy survey data. We parametrize as
a continuous function, given by interpolating its amplitudes at equally spaced
values in the redshift range covered by SN Ia data, and a constant at
larger (where is only weakly constrained by CMB data). We
assume a flat universe, and use the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique
in our analysis. We find that the dark energy density is constant
for 0 \la z \la 0.5 and increases with redshift for 0.5 \la z \la 1 at
68.3% confidence level, but is consistent with a constant at 95% confidence
level. For comparison, we also give constraints on a constant equation of state
for the dark energy.
Flux-averaging of SN Ia data is required to yield cosmological parameter
constraints that are free of the bias induced by weak gravitational lensing
\citep{Wang00b}. We set up a consistent framework for flux-averaging analysis
of SN Ia data, based on \cite{Wang00b}. We find that flux-averaging of SN Ia
data leads to slightly lower and smaller time-variation in
. This suggests that a significant increase in the number of SNe Ia
from deep SN surveys on a dedicated telescope \citep{Wang00a} is needed to
place a robust constraint on the time-dependence of the dark energy density.Comment: Slightly revised in presentation, ApJ accepted. One color figure
shows rho_X(z) reconstructed from dat
Detecting and distinguishing topological defects in future data from the CMBPol satellite
The proposed CMBPol mission will be able to detect the imprint of topological defects on the CMB provided the contribution is sufficiently strong. We quantify the detection threshold for cosmic strings and for textures, and analyze the satellite's ability to distinguish between these different types of defects. We also assess the level of danger of misidentification of a defect signature as from the wrong defect type or as an effect of primordial gravitational waves. A 0.002 fractional contribution of cosmic strings to the CMB temperature spectrum at multipole ten, and similarly a 0.001 fractional contribution of textures, can be detected and correctly identified at the 3 level. We also confirm that a tensor contribution of r=0.0018 can be detected at over 3, in agreement with the CMBPol mission concept study. These results are supported by a model selection analysis
Comment on `Tainted evidence: cosmological model selection versus fitting', by Eric V. Linder and Ramon Miquel (astro-ph/0702542v2)
In astro-ph/0702542v2, Linder and Miquel seek to criticize the use of
Bayesian model selection for data analysis and for survey forecasting and
design. Their discussion is based on three serious misunderstandings of the
conceptual underpinnings and application of model-level Bayesian inference,
which invalidate all their main conclusions. Their paper includes numerous
further inaccuracies, including an erroneous calculation of the Bayesian
Information Criterion. Here we seek to set the record straight.Comment: 6 pages RevTeX
Do Not Take Peace for Granted: Adam Smith\u27s Warning on the Relation Between Commerce and War
Is trade a promoter of peace? Adam Smith, one of the earliest defenders of trade, worries that commerce may instigate some perverse incentives, encouraging wars. The wealth that commerce generates decreases the relative cost of wars, increases the ability to finance wars through debts, which decreases their perceived cost, and increases the willingness of commercial interests to use wars to extend their markets, increasing the number and prolonging the length of wars. Smith, therefore, cannot assume that trade would yield a peaceful world. While defending and promoting trade, Smith warns us not to take peace for granted
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