Output Price and Markup Dispersion in Micro Data: The Roles of Producer Heterogeneity and Noise

This paper provides empirical evidence on the extent of producer heterogeneity in the output market by analyzing output price and price-marginal cost markups at the plant level for thirteen homogenous manufactured goods. It relies on micro data from the U.S. Census of Manufactures over the 1963-1987 period. The amount of price heterogeneity varies substantially across products. Over time, plant transition patterns indicate more persistence in the pricing of individual plants than would be generated by purely random movements. High-price and low-price plants remain in the same part of the price distribution with high frequency, suggesting that underlying time-invariant structural factors contribute to the price dispersion. For all but two products, large producers have lower output prices. Marginal cost and the markups are estimated for each plant. The markup remains unchanged or increases with plant size for all but four of the products and declining marginal costs play an important role in generating this pattern. The lower production costs for large producers are, at least partially, passed on to purchasers as lower output prices. Plants with the highest and lowest markups tend to remain so over time, although overall the persistence in markups is less than for output price, suggesting a larger role for idiosyncratic shocks in generating markup variation.

Risk Management for Nonprofits

Our research, based on the first comprehensive financial analysis of New York's nonprofit sector, found that 10% of the city's nonprofits were insolvent and 40% had virtually no cash reserves. Less than 30% were financially strong. If anything, things are getting harder, given market volatility, the move to value-based payments in health care, and increased costs for real estate and labor.Fortunately, we also discovered that nonprofits can take a few concrete steps to reduce their risk of failure and sustain vital programs:Make risk management an explicit responsibility of the audit and/or finance committee.Develop a risk-tolerance statement, indicating the limits for risk-taking and the willingness to trade short-term impact for longer-term sustainability.Keep a running list of major risks and the likelihood and expected loss for each.Put in place plans for how to maintain service in the event of a financial disaster, or even a "living will" that specifies how programs will be transferred to other providers (or wound down in an orderly fashion) in the event that recovery is not possible.Brief trustees regularly about longer-term trends in the operating environment.Periodically explore the potential benefits of various forms of organizational redesign, such as mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships, outsourcing, managed dissolutions, and divestments.Compare financial performance to peers on an annual basis.Develop explicit targets for operating results (margins, months of cash, etc.) and contingency plans if minimum targets are not met.Redouble efforts to build and safeguard a financial cushion or "rainy-day fund," even if doing so forces consideration of difficult programmatic trade-offs.Doing any of these will depend on a functioning partnership between capable management and a critical mass of experienced, educated and engaged board members. Therefore, organizations serious about risk management must work hard to recruit board members with a wide range of experience. They need to ensure ongoing education for both new and existing board members and to empower high-functioning committees. Many organizations, particularly large and complex ones, would also benefit from having an experienced nonprofit executive on their board

Using FTIR-ATR and Chemometric Methods to Detect Sucrose Adulteration in Commercial Honey Samples

Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflectance (FTIR–ATR) was used to analyze pure and adulterated honey samples. The FTIR spectra was analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS) regression analysis to determine if these methods could differentiate between pure, commercial, and sucrose-adulterated honey samples. PCA showed a clear distinction between pure and adulterated honey samples. Commercial honey samples showed clustering around the unadulterated samples. PLS regression analysis correctly identified 81.8% of the standards and samples used in the PCA analysis. The five commercial samples were tested and shown to have a concentration of less than 3% adulterant, which is likely due to differences in sucrose concentration between batches from different locations and bee types. PCA and PLS methods provide a quick and easy analysis of honey samples

The Financial Health of Philadelphia-Area Nonprofits

As nonprofit organizations in the five Pennsylvania counties of Greater Philadelphia (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia) emerge from the financial crisis of the last decade and head into a very different and hard-to-forecast political and economic environment in the future, financial discipline, smart growth and strong governance are more important than ever. Accordingly, many nonprofit executives and governing boards are asking new questions about the organizations they govern. What risks do we face?1 How risky are we in relation to our peers? Are we doing the right things to understand and mitigate our risks? How should we balance financial risk against programmatic reward? What should we do to reduce the potential hardships from financial distress

The Financial Health of the United States Nonprofit Sector: Facts and Observations

The Financial Health of the United States Nonprofit Sector examines the finances of more than 219,000 U.S. nonprofits for FY 2010-2014. The findings are sobering:Around 50 percent have less than one month of cash reservesSome 30 percent have lost money over three yearsSome 7-8 percent are technically insolventIn this report, we provide some context setting with a brief overview of the size and scale of the US nonprofit sector and why its financial health matters. We look at the financial vital signs of the sector, analyzing key financial metrics segmented by size, sub-sector, and geography1. We describe practical steps that trustees and their organizations can take to strengthen their financial position. Finally, we offer some long-term ideas for how funders and the rest of the ecosystem can actively reduce the risks of financial distress in the nonprofit sector. We conclude with an appendix of tables summarizing key financial health indicators for the sector

Green Home Montana: Eco-friendly Housing and Living Practices

While the green building movement is common practice in the commercial realm, it is not yet widely popular with residential buildings. We considered the question “How can residents of western Montana adopt eco-friendly housing practices that are locally appropriate and relevant?” There is an opportunity to increase green living practices among renters and homeowners in western Montana through retrofitting, gardening, composting, and similar behaviors. By considering climatic factors relevant to the region, suggestions for relevant eco-friendly practices can be made available to homeowners and renters alike. We will research green living practices used in other countries with similar climatic factors as western Montana. We will then make a website to help streamline locally relevant information catered to help residents take action towards their sustainability goals. We will survey a sample of residents throughout western Montana to inform the materials provided on the website. For example, these materials may include, but are not limited to, sustainability project demonstration videos, links to local builders, history, blogs, global initiatives, and links to other resources. We expect this website to be relevant and increase accessibility to western Montanan renters and homeowners

Create, Establish, Maintain: Comparing Zones of Peace in the Nordic Area and the Southern Cone

In the wake of the Cold War, regional organizations have proliferated and are now a dominant theme in global politics. This study tests whether explanations for the Nordic peace can help to understand or construct other zones of peace in these increasingly important regional settings. With that in mind, this study compares the Nordic area of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden with the Southern Cone region–here defined as Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay–and both are treated as regional, subsystemic zones of peace. Its significance lies in analysis of two developmentally disparate regions not yet compared in zones of peace literature. Using structured, focused comparison, this study is guided by fundamental questions about each region that assess the relationship between explanations for regional peace and their respective historical records. Understanding the conditions that permit the endurance of peace in today’s global context has far-reaching empirical and theoretical implications

Sacramento River Predator Diet Analysis: A Comparative Study

This study examined diets of two predatory fish species, the native Sacramento Pikeminnow (Ptychocheilus grandis) and the introduced Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis), in the Sacramento River, California, USA. Both species have been implicated in native species declines through predation, eliciting our investigation of their diets in the Sacramento River. Sampling occurred between March and November 2017, and was conducted via hook and line on a 35-km reach near Chico, California. Habitat types sampled include engineered structures (water diversions and beam bridges), rip-rapped channel edges, and natural riverbank. Stomach contents were collected via gastric lavage and later processed using visual, gravimetric, and genetic techniques. Diets of Sacramento Pikeminnow and Striped Bass were highly similar as determined through index of relative importance and PERMANOVA modeling. Water temperature was the only variable that significantly affected diet composition. Results reflect similar dietary niches for both species in the Sacramento River

Implementing Eco-Friendly Housing Techniques in Western Montana: Green Home Montana: Eco-friendly Housing and Living Practices - Final Capstone Portfolio

While the green building movement is common practice in the commercial realm, it is not yet widely popular with residential buildings. We considered the question “How can residents of western Montana adopt eco-friendly housing practices that are locally appropriate and relevant?” There is an opportunity to increase green living practices among renters and homeowners in western Montana through retrofitting, gardening, composting, and similar behaviors. By considering climatic factors relevant to the region, suggestions for relevant eco-friendly practices can be made available to homeowners and renters alike. We will research green living practices used in other countries with similar climatic factors as western Montana. We will then make a website to help streamline locally relevant information catered to help residents take action towards their sustainability goals. We will survey a sample of residents throughout western Montana to inform the materials provided on the website. For example, these materials may include, but are not limited to, sustainability project demonstration videos, links to local builders, history, blogs, global initiatives, and links to other resources. We expect this website to be relevant and increase accessibility to western Montana renters and homeowners

Bordered Floer homology and the spectral sequence of a branched double cover I

Given a link in the three-sphere, Z. Szab\'o and the second author constructed a spectral sequence starting at the Khovanov homology of the link and converging to the Heegaard Floer homology of its branched double-cover. The aim of this paper and its sequel is to explicitly calculate this spectral sequence, using bordered Floer homology. There are two primary ingredients in this computation: an explicit calculation of filtered bimodules associated to Dehn twists and a pairing theorem for polygons. In this paper we give the first ingredient, and so obtain a combinatorial spectral sequence from Khovanov homology to Heegaard Floer homology; in the sequel we show that this spectral sequence agrees with the previously known one.Comment: 45 pages, 16 figures. v2: Published versio