Digging into the infrastructure debate

Infrastructure (Economics)

A Nonperturbative, Schwinger-Dyson-Equation Analysis of Quark Masses and Mixings in a Model with QCD and Higgs Interactions

The Landau gauge Schwinger-Dyson Equation for the quark self-energy is solved in the quenched ladder approximation for several cases of one- and two-quark-generations. The exchanges of Standard Model gluons and Higgs bosons are taken into account. It is found that Higgs boson exchange dominates the quark self-energy for sufficiently large input quark masses (>75 GeV), causing the running quark propagator mass to increase with energy-scale. The running of the quark mixing angles is also considered. No running of the quark mixing angles is found, to one part in a billion, for input quark masses up to and including 500 GeV.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX twice, 4 figures available upon reques

The Sweet Smell of Subsidies Revisited

Agricultural and Food Policy,

An Investment Analysis Approach to Examining Bio-Control of Invasive Weeds

Invasive weeds are a large problem on large tracts of rangeland in North America. Biological methods of control have been instituted, but many information gaps remain. An investment model approach is used to demonstrate some of the potentially key pieces of biological data that are required for an analysis. This model is applied to the control of leafy spurge on rangeland. The results of control are very dependent on the rate of spread and control by the biological control agent, the initial density of the weed, and the recovery of the forage (grass) after the weed has been controlled. Benefits of control are relatively low, as is the cost of the biological control practice. It takes several years before net benefits of the control practice are positive.Land Economics/Use,

Did Dividends Increase Immediately After the 2003 Reduction in Tax Rates?

The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 reduces the maximum statutory personal tax rate on dividends from 38.1 percent to 15 percent. This study analyzes dividend declarations in the quarter following passage. Aggregate dividends rose by 9 percent when boards of directors first met following enactment. Consistent with the dividend changes being tax-motivated, they are increasing in the percentage of the firm held by individuals. Dividend changes also increased with insider ownership, consistent with managers acting in their own interests. However, these results are limited primarily to firms that made large, special dividends. We find little evidence of an increase in regular, quarterly dividend payments.

Capital Gains Taxes and Stock Reactions to Quarterly Earnings Announcements

This paper examines the impact of capital gains taxes on equity pricing. Examining three-day cumulative abnormal returns for quarterly earning announcements from 1983-1997, we present evidence consistent with shareholders' capital gains taxes affecting stock price responses. To our knowledge, this is the first study to link shareholder taxes and share price responses to earnings releases. The results imply that shares trade at higher (lower) prices when individual investors face incremental taxes (tax savings) created by selling appreciated (depreciated) shares before they qualify for long-term treatment. Unlike prior studies that have focused on price reactions in settings where shareholder taxes are unusually salient (e.g., tax law changes, turn-of-the-year trading, or tax-sensitive transactions), this study finds the imprint of capital gains taxes in a more general setting.

Put Some Sunlight in Your Tank

Green plants make fuel from sunlight and carbon dioxide-can we make gasoline the same way

David Baltimore: A Short Portrait of a Long Career

Caltech's incoming president won the Nobel Prize back in 1975, and he hasn't exactly rested on his laurels since then

Solar Fuel I: Rods and Stones

The future of solar-power technology may lie within nanorods of silicon