Higher education and the fall and rise of inequality

We investigate the effects of higher education on the evolution of income inequality. In so doing we propose a novel overlapping generations model with three social classes: the rich, the middle class, and the poor. We show that there is an initial phase in which no social class invests in higher education of their children such that income inequality is driven by wealth accumulation and bequests. Once a certain income threshold is surpassed, the rich start to invest in higher education of their children, which partially crowds out bequests and thereby reduces inheritance flows and income inequality in the short run. The better educated children of the rich, however, enjoy higher wage incomes later on in their lives such that income inequality starts to rise again, this time mainly driven by inequality in educational attainment. Over time, the middle class and potentially also the poor start to invest in higher education. As the economy proceeds toward a balanced growth path, educational differences between social groups and, thus, income inequality decline again. We argue that (1) the proposed mechanism provides a candidate explanation for the observed U-shaped evolution of income inequality and inheritance flows, as well as the differential investments in higher education by richer and poorer households, (2) the currently observed increase in income inequality is likely to level off in the future

Higher education and the fall and rise of inequality

We investigate the effects of higher education on the evolution of income inequality. In so doing we propose a novel overlapping generations model with three social classes: the rich, the middle class, and the poor. We show that there is an initial phase in which no social class invests in higher education of their children such that income inequality is driven by wealth accumulation and bequests. Once a certain income threshold is surpassed, the rich start to invest in higher education of their children, which partially crowds out bequests and thereby reduces inheritance flows and income inequality in the short run. The better educated children of the rich, however, enjoy higher wage incomes later on in their lives such that income inequality starts to rise again, this time mainly driven by inequality in educational attainment. Over time, the middle class and potentially also the poor start to invest in higher education. As the economy proceeds toward a balanced growth path, educational differences between social groups and, thus, income inequality decline again. We argue that (1) the proposed mechanism provides a candidate explanation for the observed U-shaped evolution of income inequality and inheritance flows, as well as the differential investments in higher education by richer and poorer households, (2) the currently observed increase in income inequality is likely to level off in the future

Melting and freezing of argon in a granular packing of linear mesopore arrays

Freezing and melting of Ar condensed in a granular packing of template-grown arrays of linear mesopores (SBA-15, mean pore diameter 8 nanometer) has been studied by specific heat measurements C as a function of fractional filling of the pores. While interfacial melting leads to a single melting peak in C, homogeneous and heterogeneous freezing along with a delayering transition for partial fillings of the pores result in a complex freezing mechanism explainable only by a consideration of regular adsorption sites (in the cylindrical mesopores) and irregular adsorption sites (in niches of the rough external surfaces of the grains, and at points of mutual contact of the powder grains). The tensile pressure release upon reaching bulk liquid/vapor coexistence quantitatively accounts for an upward shift of the melting/freeezing temperature observed while overfilling the mesopores.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to appear as a Letter in Physical Review Letter

Bone involvement in patients with lymphoma: the role of FDG-PET/CT

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic impact and clinical significance of FDG-avid bone lesions detected by FDG-PET/CT in patients with lymphoma. Methods: The study population comprised 50 consecutive patients (mean age 41.7±15.5years; 27 female, 23 male; 41 staging, 9 restaging) with Hodgkin's disease (n=22) or aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (n=28) in whom FDG-avid bone lesions were detected by FDG-PET/CT. All patients had either direct biopsy of the FDG-avid bone lesion (n=18), standard bone marrow biopsy at the iliac crest (BMB; n=43) or both procedures (n=11). In 15 patients, additional MRI of the bone lesions was performed. All patients underwent FDG-PET/CT after the end of treatment. All CT images of FDG-PET/CT scans were analysed independently regarding morphological osseous changes and compared with FDG-PET results. Results: In the 50 patients, 193 FDG-avid lesions were found by PET/CT. The mean standardised uptake value was 6.26 (±3.22). All direct bone biopsies (n=18) of the FDG-avid lesions proved the presence of lymphomatous infiltration. BMB (n=43) was positive in 12 patients (27.9%). In CT, 32 of 193 (16.6%) lesions were detected without the PET information. No additional morphological bone infiltration was detected on CT compared with FDG-PET. All morphological bone alterations on CT scans persisted after the end of therapy. Additional PET/CT information regarding uni- or multifocal bone involvement resulted in lymphoma upstaging in 21 (42%) patients compared with the combined information provided by CT and BMB. Conclusion: In patients with FDG-avid bone lesions, FDG-PET is superior to CT alone or in combination with unilateral BMB in detecting bone marrow involvement, leading to upstaging in a relevant proportion of patient

A lattice evaluation of four-quark operators in the nucleon

Nucleon matrix elements of various four-quark operators are evaluated in quenched lattice QCD using Wilson fermions. Some of these operators give rise to twist-four contributions to nucleon structure functions. Furthermore, they bear valuable information about the diquark structure of the nucleon. Mixing with lower-dimensional operators is avoided by considering appropriate representations of the flavour group. We find that for a certain flavour combination of baryon structure functions, twist-four contributions are very small. This suggests that twist-four effects for the nucleon might be much smaller than m_p^2/Q^2.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figure

Applied lattice gauge calculations: diquark content of the nucleon

As an example of an application of lattice QCD we describe a computation of four-quark operators in the nucleon. The results are interpreted in a diquark language.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, Invited talk given by M. G\"ockeler at the European Workshop on the QCD Structure of the Nucleon (QCD - N'02), Ferrara, Italy, 3-6 Apr 200

Bad Bank(s) and Recapitalization of the Banking Sector

With banking sectors worldwide still suffering from the effects of the financial crisis, public discussion of plans to place toxic assets in one or more bad banks has gained steam in recent weeks. The following paper presents a plan how governments can efficiently relieve ailing banks from toxic assets by transferring these assets into a publicly sponsored work-out unit, a so-called bad bank. The key element of the plan is the valuation of troubled assets at their current market value - assets with no market would thus be valued at zero. The current shareholders will cover the losses arising from the depreciation reserve in the amount of the difference of the toxic assets' current book value and their market value. Under the plan, the government would bear responsibility for the management and future resale of toxic assets at its own cost and recapitalize the good bank by taking an equity stake in it. In extreme cases, this would mean a takeover of the bank by the government. The risk to taxpayers from this investment would be acceptable, however, once the banks are freed from toxic assets. A clear emphasis that the government stake is temporary would also be necessary. The government would cover the bad bank's losses, while profits would be distributed to the distressed bank's current shareholders. The plan is viable independent of whether the government decides to have one centralized bad bank or to establish a separate bad bank for each systemically relevant banking institute. Under the terms of the plan, bad banks and nationalization are not alternatives but rather two sides of the same coin. This plan effectively addresses three key challenges. It provides for the transparent removal of toxic assets and gives the banks a fresh start. At the same time, it offers the chance to keep the cost to taxpayers low. In addition, the risk of moral hazard is curtailed. The comparison of the proposed design with the bad bank plan of the German government reveals some shortcomings of the latter plan that may threaten the achievement of these key issues