Real Economic Convergence in the EU Accession Countries

The paper aims to assess the real economic convergence among eight CEE countries that accessed the EU, as well as their convergence with the EU. Two aspects of convergence are analysed: (a) income convergence as a tendency to close the income gap; (b) cyclical convergence as a tendency to the conformity of business cycles. Income convergence is analysed in terms of ? and ? coefficients using regression equations between GDP per capita levels and GDP growth rates. Cyclical convergence is analysed using industrial production indexes and industrial confidence indicators. The analysis covers the period 1993-2004. The main findings may be summarised as follows: 1) CEE countries converge between themselves and towards the EU as regards the income level; 2) CEE countries reveal a good cyclical synchronisation with the EU; cyclical conformity within the region is better seen when the group is split into three subgroups: (a) Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia, (b) Hungary and Poland, (c) the Baltic states. Both types of economic convergence are strongly affected by the dependence on the EU markets, including trade and capital flows.Economic Convergence, Economic Growth, Business Cycles, Economic Integration

Correlation energies by the generator coordinate method: computational aspects for quadrupolar deformations

We investigate truncation schemes to reduce the computational cost of calculating correlations by the generator coordinate method based on mean-field wave functions. As our test nuclei, we take examples for which accurate calculations are available. These include a strongly deformed nucleus, 156Sm, a nucleus with strong pairing, 120Sn, the krypton isotope chain which contains examples of soft deformations, and the lead isotope chain which includes the doubly magic 208Pb. We find that the Gaussian overlap approximation for angular momentum projection is effective and reduces the computational cost by an order of magnitude. Cost savings in the deformation degrees of freedom are harder to realize. A straightforward Gaussian overlap approximation can be applied rather reliably to angular-momentum projected states based on configuration sets having the same sign deformation (prolate or oblate), but matrix elements between prolate and oblate deformations must be treated with more care. We propose a two-dimensional GOA using a triangulation procedure to treat the general case with both kinds of deformation. With the computational gains from these approximations, it should be feasible to carry out a systematic calculation of correlation energies for the nuclear mass table.Comment: 11 pages revtex, 9 eps figure

Low-lying quadrupole collective states of the light and medium Xenon isotopes

Collective low lying levels of light and medium Xenon isotopes are deduced from the Generalized Bohr Hamiltonian (GBH). The microscopic seven functions entering into the GBH are built from a deformed mean field of the Woods-Saxon type. Theoretical spectra are found to be close to the ones of the experimental data taking into account that the calculations are completely microscopic, that is to say, without any fitting of parameters.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl

Mobile phones in the diffusion of knowledge and persistence in inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa

The success of inclusive development strategies in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda depends substantially on the adoption of common inclusive development policies among nations. Building on the relevance of a knowledge economy in the post-2015 development agenda, this study models the feasibility of common policies for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). More specifically, we investigate the complementary role of knowledge diffusion in the inclusive benefits of mobile phone penetration in SSA from 2000 to 2012 by employing the Generalised Method of Moments. Knowledge diffusion variables include educational quality, innovation and Internet penetration. The main finding is that inclusive human development is persistently conditional on mobile phones in knowledge diffusion. Moreover, countries with low levels of inclusive human development are catching-up their counterparts with higher development. Policy implications are discussed with particular emphasis on how to leverage common knowledge economy initiatives for inclusive developmen

Systematics of collective correlation energies from self-consistent mean-field calculations

The collective ground-state correlations stemming from low-lying quadrupole excitations are computed microscopically. To that end, the self-consistent mean-field model is employed on the basis of the Skyrme-Hartre-Fock (SHF) functional augmented by BCS pairing. The microscopic-macroscopic mapping is achieved by quadrupole-constrained mean-field calculations which are processed further in the generator-coordinate method (GCM) at the level of the Gaussian overlap approximation (GOA). We study the correlation effects on energy, charge radii, and surface thickness for a great variety of semi-magic nuclei. A key issue is to work out the influence of variations of the SHF functional. We find that collective ground-state correlations (GSC) are robust under change of nuclear bulk properties (e.g., effective mass, symmetry energy) or of spin-orbit coupling. Some dependence on the pairing strength is observed. This, however, does not change the general conclusion that collective GSC obey a general pattern and that their magnitudes are rather independent of the actual SHF parameters.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figure

The nuclear energy density functional formalism

The present document focuses on the theoretical foundations of the nuclear energy density functional (EDF) method. As such, it does not aim at reviewing the status of the field, at covering all possible ramifications of the approach or at presenting recent achievements and applications. The objective is to provide a modern account of the nuclear EDF formalism that is at variance with traditional presentations that rely, at one point or another, on a {\it Hamiltonian-based} picture. The latter is not general enough to encompass what the nuclear EDF method represents as of today. Specifically, the traditional Hamiltonian-based picture does not allow one to grasp the difficulties associated with the fact that currently available parametrizations of the energy kernel $E[g',g]$ at play in the method do not derive from a genuine Hamilton operator, would the latter be effective. The method is formulated from the outset through the most general multi-reference, i.e. beyond mean-field, implementation such that the single-reference, i.e. "mean-field", derives as a particular case. As such, a key point of the presentation provided here is to demonstrate that the multi-reference EDF method can indeed be formulated in a {\it mathematically} meaningful fashion even if $E[g',g]$ does {\it not} derive from a genuine Hamilton operator. In particular, the restoration of symmetries can be entirely formulated without making {\it any} reference to a projected state, i.e. within a genuine EDF framework. However, and as is illustrated in the present document, a mathematically meaningful formulation does not guarantee that the formalism is sound from a {\it physical} standpoint. The price at which the latter can be enforced as well in the future is eventually alluded to.Comment: 64 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Euroschool Lecture Notes in Physics Vol.IV, Christoph Scheidenberger and Marek Pfutzner editor