Market Discipline in Conglomerate Banks: Is an Internal Allocation of Cost of Capital Necessary as an Incentive Device?

This paper analyzes the optimal conglomeration of bank activities. We show that incentive problems in banking sometimes dictate integration of activities, but with perfect market discipline always push us away from integration/conglomeration. Ineffective market discipline could make conglomeration optimal, even if conglomeration further undermines market discipline. We also show that an internal allocation of the cost of capital could add effective `internal' discipline and improve on the outcome of conglomeration. The analysis is subsequently applied to the Barings debacle. This paper was presented at the Financial Institutions Center's October 1996 conference on "

Assessing Meat Processing Workers’ Attitudes and Concerns Regarding COVID-19 Vaccination

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted industries across the globe. Specifically, for meat processing (meatpacking) facilities, the pandemic has changed the way facilities operate, how the workers perform tasks, and how workers perceive their health. The development of an FDA approved COVID-19 vaccine brought hope to meat processing employers and workers. However, little research has been conducted to know how meat processing workers feel about vaccines generally and how they perceive the COVID-19 vaccine. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate preventive vaccine determinants and attitudes and concerns specifically regarding the COVID-19 vaccine. Surveys were conducted with 128 meat processing workers in Nebraska from June to December 2021. Significant differences were found in certain determinants of vaccine intention, including collective responsibility and confidence, based on English proficiency levels and nativity. Nearly 90% of workers had been vaccinated for COVID-19. The primary reasons for getting vaccinated included protecting family and friends, themselves, and other coworkers. The main reasons workers provided for not getting vaccinated were lack of trust in the vaccine and potential side effects. The results from this study may help public health and health professionals better understand workers’ attitudes and concerns regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, which may contribute to improved health communication and preparedness for future infectious disease outbreaks

Bimodal behavior of the Kuroshio and the Gulf Stream

For a long time, observations have been pointing out that the Kuroshio in the North Paciffc Ocean displays bimodal meandering behavior of the southern coast of Japan. For the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic Ocean, weakly and strongly deffected paths near the coast of South Carolina have been observed. This suggests that bimodal behavior may occur in the Gulf Stream as well, although less pronounced than in the Kuroshio. Evidence from a high resolution ocean general circulation model (OGCM) and intermediate complexity models is given to support the hypothesis that multiple mean paths of both the Kuroshio and the Gulf Stream are dynamically possible. These paths are found as multiple steady states in an intermediate complexity shallow-water model. In the OGCM, transitions between similar mean paths are found, with the patterns having similarity to the ones in the observations as well. To study whether atmospheric noise can induce transitions between the multiple steady states, a stochastic component is added to the annual mean wind stress forcing in the intermediate complexity model and differences between the transition behavior in the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio are considered

Evaluating Corporate Average Fuel Economy Mandates: An Exploratory Cost-Benefit Analysis

Vehicle fuel economy has become the object of intense government regulation in the last two decades. In 1975, Congress legislated Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for all new cars produced after the 1978 model year. Today, Corporate Average Fuel Economy regulations are being criticized as overly strict in an era of falling gasoline prices. This study provides an assessment of the costs and benefits of the controversial CAFE program and empirically analyzes its effects. The author concludes that the increase in fleet fuel economies, across the line, is approximately what one should have expected given the rise in real gasoline prices since 1968. Moreover, the main determinant of automobile fuel economy is the pump price of gasoline. The author finds that a higher federal gasoline tax would be a much more efficient approach to energy conservation and energy security. Empirical and historical evidence supports the hypotheses

Application of continuation methods in physical oceanography

A specific example will be considered in which continuation methods are used to study fundamental problems in physical oceanography.The separation be- havior of the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic is a long standing problem in dynamical oceanography,with state-of-the-art ocean models still having trouble to simulate to correct mean path.Bifurcation analysis in simplified models,as used here,points to one of difficulties involved:there may be two separation paths at the same forcing conditions.By studying the stability of steady North Atlantic ocean circulation patterns,also transitions to time-dependence are found which are linked to specific low frequency variability in the Gulf Stream region

Competition between deep impurity and dopant behavior of Mg in GaN Schottky diodes

peer reviewedThe effect of the deep acceptor Mg on the electrical characteristics of p-doped GaN Schottky diodes is analyzed. The theoretical study is based on the numerical resolution of the basic semiconductor equations, including the continuity equation for the Mg-related acceptor level. It gives the steady-state and small-signal analysis of p-doped GaN:Mg Schottky diodes, yielding as final result the frequency dependent capacitance and conductance of the structure. It is shown that the low-frequency characteristics are determined by the carrier exchange between the Mg related impurity level and the valence band, whereas above the impurity transition frequency, the hole modulation of the depletion layer edge governs the electrical response. Detailed results are shown on the effect of temperature, applied steady-state voltage and series resistance. The study of two back-to-back connected GaN Schottky diodes reveals the appearance of typical features in the electrical characteristics, depending on the respective Schottky barrier height of the two junctions