Asset Bubbles without Dividends - An Experiment

Bubbles in asset markets have been documented in numerous experimental studies. However, all experiments in which bubbles occur pay dividends after each trading day. In this paper we study whether bubbles can occur in markets without dividends. We investigate the role of two features that are present in real markets. (1) The mere possibility that some traders may have inside information, and (2) the option to communicate with other traders. We find that bubbles can indeed occur without dividends. Surprisingly, communication turns out to be counterproductive for bubble formation, whereas the possibility of inside information is, as expected, crucial.asset markets, bubbles, experiment, mirages, dividends

Territoriality of Law and the International Trade Game: Towards a New Institutional Economics of International Transactions

The conventional theory of international trade is dominated by a model presupposing a legal order that is perfect in its specifications and controllability, binding for all economic agents, no matter their nationality. World order appears to be cosmopolitan in the sense of Kant. An international private law community such as this, however, does not exist. In fact, there is a multitude of legal orders and a territoriality of law, leading to problems largely neglected in the traditional theory of international trade. They are at the heart of what we would like to call the New Institutional Economics of International Transactions (NIEIT) – a research program which started from a monograph published in 1990 (see Schmidt-Trenz 1990). This paper addresses two questions: Which specific problems emerge in contracts and the contracting process because of factors such as the multitude of legal orders and the territoriality of law? What solutions are there to these problems a) on the level of the law, and b) in the shadow of the law or completely independent of it (?private ordering?)? How do they work from an efficiency point of view? We restrict attention to the international exchange of goods. However, the insights gained can be transferred to other types of transactions, such as international finance transactions, direct investment, and investment agreements. --conflict of law,international private law,transaction costs,enforcement of judgements,private ordering

Does wage rigidity really exist? New evidence from US panel data

Downward nominal wage rigidity (DNWR) could prevent real wage adjustments in times of low inflation rates. Nominal wage rigidity based on annual wages can at least be reduced, if the number of working hours is considered. This leads to a lower degree of DNWR in hourly wage changes. In this paper, we use a histogram-location approach to investigate to what extent annual as well as hourly wages are subject to downward nominal wage rigidity. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) we find that annual wage changes exhibit a substantially higher level of wage rigidity than hourly wage changes which also holds for males compared to females. --Wage Rigidity,Histogram-Location Approach

Procedure to Approximately Estimate the Uncertainty of Material Ratio Parameters due to Inhomogeneity of Surface Roughness

Roughness parameters that characterize contacting surfaces with regard to friction and wear are commonly stated without uncertainties, or with an uncertainty only taking into account a very limited amount of aspects such as repeatability of reproducibility (homogeneity) of the specimen. This makes it difficult to discriminate between different values of single roughness parameters. Therefore uncertainty assessment methods are required that take all relevant aspects into account. In the literature this is scarcely performed and examples specific for parameters used in friction and wear are not yet given. We propose a procedure to derive the uncertainty from a single profile employing a statistical method that is based on the statistical moments of the amplitude distribution and the autocorrelation length of the profile. To show the possibilities and the limitations of this method we compare the uncertainty derived from a single profile with that derived from a high statistics experiment.Comment: submitted to Meas. Sci. Technol., 12 figure

Brother Sun, Sister Moon: The Lunar Cycle, Sunspots and the Frequency of Births

Based on multivariate linear regression models, we analyze the effect of the lunar cycle and the number of sunspots occurring on a particular day on the number of births using social security data and controlling for a number of other potential confounders. The daily number of births between 1920 and 1989 have been calculated from the full sample of individuals who have been registered at least once in the German social security system. While the lunar cycle does not affect the number of births, the number of sunspots has a positive, albeit small eff ect on the number of births which is decreasing over time. The empirical results may be explained by medical technological progress making natural influences on births less important over time. This interpretation is supported by the results on the intertemporal influence of weekends and holidays on the frequency of daily births.Daily frequency of births; lunar cycle; sunspots

Effect of sintering conditions on microstructure and dielectric properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) ceramics

The influence of sintering temperature and dwell time on the microstructure formation and dielectric properties of CaCu_(3)Ti_(4)O_(12) ceramics was investigated. For sintering temperatures of 1050 and 1100 °C significant differences in the CaCu_(3)Ti_(4)O_(12) ceramic microstructure and the segregation of a CuO_(x)-rich phase towards the grain boundary (GB) areas were observed with increasing dwell time. In addition to the formation of a semiconducting bulk and insulating grain boundary phase the segregated CuO_(x) forms an intergranular phase, and the effects of this phase on the dielectric properties are rather intriguing. At sintering temperature below 1050 °C only small amounts of CuO_(x) segregate, whereas sintering above 1050 °C (e.g., 1100 °C) leads to increased evaporation of the CuO_(x). Therefore, the effects of the CuOx-rich intergranular phase upon the dielectric properties are felt strongest in samples sintered at 1050 °C. Such effects are discussed in terms of microstructural variations due to liquid phase sintering behavior facilitated by the TiO_(2)-CuO_(x)-eutectic, which appearsto be melted at high sintering temperature prior to evaporation of CuO_(x) at prolonged dwell times at the highest sintering temperatures(1100 °C)

Asset Bubbles without Dividends - An Experiment

Bubbles in asset markets have been documented in numerous experimental studies. However, all experiments in which bubbles occur pay dividends after each trading day. In this paper we study whether bubbles can occur in markets without dividends. We investigate the role of two features that are present in real markets. (1) The mere possibility that some traders may have inside information, and (2) the option to communicate with other traders. We find that bubbles can indeed occur without dividends. Surprisingly, communication turns out to be counterproductive for bubble formation, whereas the possibility of inside information is, as expected, crucial

The Freshwater Information Platform: a global online network providing data, tools and resources for science and policy support

Freshwaters are among the most complex, dynamic, and diverse ecosystems globally. Despite their small share of the earth’s surface (less than 1%) they are home to over 10% of all known animal species. Biodiversity decrease in general and freshwater biodiversity decline in particular have recently received increasing attention, and various policy instruments are now targeting the conservation, protection and enhancement of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. Surveillance programs as well as a variety of research projects have been producing a tremendous amount of freshwater-related information. Though there have been various attempts to build infrastructures for online collection of such data, tools and reports, they often provide only limited access to resources that can readily be extracted for conducting large scale analyses. Here, we present the Freshwater Information Platform, an open system of relevant freshwater biodiversity-related information. We provide a comprehensive overview of the platform’s core components, highlight their values, present options for their use, and discuss future developments. This is complemented by information on the platform’s current management structure, options for contributing data and research results and an outlook for the future

Dual-FOV Raman and Doppler lidar studies of aerosol-cloud interactions : Simultaneous profiling of aerosols, warm-cloud properties, and vertical wind

Date of Acceptance: 24/04/2014 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are madeFor the first time, colocated dual-field of view (dual-FOV) Raman lidar and Doppler lidar observations (case studies) of aerosol and cloud optical and microphysical properties below and within thin layered liquid water clouds are presented together with an updraft and downdraft characterization at cloud base. The goal of this work is to investigate the relationship between aerosol load close to cloud base and cloud characteristics of warm (purely liquid) clouds and the study of the influence of vertical motions and turbulent mixing on this relationship. We further use this opportunity to illustrate the applicability of the novel dual-FOV Raman lidar in this field of research. The dual-FOV lidar combines the well-established multiwavelength Raman lidar technique for aerosol retrievals and the multiple-scattering Raman lidar technique for profiling of the single-scattering extinction coefficient, effective radius, number concentration of the cloud droplets, and liquid water content. Key findings of our 3 year observations are presented in several case studies of optically thin altocumulus layers occurring in the lower free troposphere between 2.5 and 4 km height over Leipzig, Germany, during clean and polluted situations. For the clouds that we observed, the most direct link between aerosol proxy (particle extinction coefficient) and cloud proxy (cloud droplet number concentration) was found at cloud base during updraft periods. Above cloud base, additional processes resulting from turbulent mixing and entrainment of dry air make it difficult to determine the direct impact of aerosols on cloud processes.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio