Additional symmetries and solutions of the dispersionless KP hierarchy

The dispersionless KP hierarchy is considered from the point of view of the twistor formalism. A set of explicit additional symmetries is characterized and its action on the solutions of the twistor equations is studied. A method for dealing with the twistor equations by taking advantage of hodograph type equations is proposed. This method is applied for determining the orbits of solutions satisfying reduction constraints of Gelfand--Dikii type under the action of additional symmetries.Comment: 21 page

Fossile Energiepolitik jenseits von Kyoto

In the wake of the USA's refusal to ratify the Kyoto agreement on curbing greenhouse gas emissions, this article pledges for a national energy policy beyond Kyoto, based on local external effects stemming from the combustion of fossil fuels. Due to varying external effects a national policy will differentiate energy taxes between fuels. Using Swiss estimates of external effects, it is shown that a national policy would fulfil the Kyoto goal as a secondary benefit. Moreover, a nationally based fossil fuel policy would affect the scope for an international trade of CO_2 emission rights, as a net-buyer of emission rights will lose from participating in such a trade. Copyright Verein für Socialpolitik und Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2003

Money Illusion and the Double Dividend in the Short Run

In their seminal paper, Bovenberg and De Mooij (1994) elucidate why an ecological tax reform will not yield a double dividend, i.e. fails to increase the efficiency of the tax system. The present paper slightly modifies the Bovenberg and De Mooij model by introducing money illusion. With this modification, an environmental tax reform that raises the price level may generate a double dividend, since the additional tax on the dirty good does not reduce labor supply. A prerequisite for the double dividend to occur is a sufficiently small elasticity of substitution between clean and dirty consumption. Moreover, accounting for money illusion always reduces the intertemporal gross cost of the tax reform

Resuscitating the Cobweb Cycle

"This note shows that permanent fluctuations in the Cobweb model — though inconsistent with a rational expectations equilibrium — can be justified as being rational when reinterpreting the model in the theory of rational beliefs.

Do High Stakes and Competition Undermine Fairness? Evidence from Russia

This paper reports the results of a series of competitive labour market experiments in which subjects have the possibility to reciprocate favours. In the high stake condition subjects earned between two and three times their monthly income during the experiment. In the normal stake condition the stake level was reduced by a factor of ten. We observe that both in the high and the normal stake condition fairness concerns are strong enough to outweigh competitive forces and give rise to non-competitive wages. There is also no evidence that effort behaviour becomes generally more selfish at higher stake levels. Therefore, our results suggest that, contrary to common beliefs, fairness concerns may play an important role even at relatively high stake levels

Product-Market Competition in the Water Industry: Voluntarily Nondiscriminatory Pricing

This paper presents an attempt to create competition in the water market by means of direct competition. We argue that the usual liberalisation device, competition for the market by franchise bidding, is problematic due to particular features in the water industry. Our approach proposes the implementation of product market competition, i.e. competition in the market. In such a situation several water utilities using a single set of pipes compete for customers in the same area. nUsing a two way access model with vertically integrated water suppliers, we show that: (i) Even without any regulation, an inefficient incumbent will give up its monopoly position and lower the access price far enough so that the low-cost competitor can enter his home market. (ii) Efficiency of production will rise due to liberalization. (iii) In contrary to prejudicial claims, investment incentives are not destroyed by the introduction of competition. Investments of low-cost firms may even increase

Do Workers Enjoy Procedural Utility?

People are likely to obtain utility not only from actual outcomes, but also from the conditions which lead to these outcomes. This paper empirically tests the notion of procedural utility for the context of work relationships. Using a large survey among British workers, we find substantial procedural effects on the utility workers derive from their pay. Utility from pay is not only strongly influenced by economic outcomes (the pay levels workers get for given inputs), but also by the way pay is determined. The findings are robust to a series of alternative explanations

Fairness in the Labour Market - A Survey of Experimental Results

In this chapter we provide a selective survey of experiments to investigate the potential of social motivations in explaining labour market phenomena. We argue that laboratory experiments are a useful instrument to explore issues in labour market theory and personnel economics. Our starting point is the observation that employment relations are frequently governed by incomplete contracts. We show that the norm of reciprocity that leads to gift exchanges is an effective contract enforcement device under conditions of contractual incompleteness. We then present evidence that gift exchange can explain various labour market phenomena that are puzzles from the viewpoint of standard economic theory. Further issues in the related field of personnel economics that have by now been subjected to an experimental scrutiny concern characteristics of the employment relation and the issues of motivation and incentives systems