Perturbativity Constraints in BSM Models

Phenomenological studies performed for non-supersymmetric extensions of the Standard Model usually use tree-level parameters as input to define the scalar sector of the model. This implicitly assumes that a full on-shell calculation of the scalar sector is possible - and meaningful. However, this doesn't have to be the case as we show explicitly at the example of the Georgi-Machacek model. This model comes with an appealing custodial symmetry to explain the smallness of the $\rho$ parameter. However, the model cannot be renormalised on-shell without breaking the custodial symmetry. Moreover, we find that it can often happen that the radiative corrections are so large that any consideration based on a perturbative expansion appears to be meaningless: counter-terms to quartic couplings can become much larger than $4\pi$ and/or two-loop mass corrections can become larger than the one-loop ones. Therefore, conditions are necessary to single out parameter regions which cannot be treated perturbatively. We propose and discuss different sets of such perturbativity conditions and show their impact on the parameter space of the Georgi-Machacek model. Moreover, the proposed conditions are general enough that they can be applied to other models as well. We also point out that the vacuum stability constraints in the Georgi-Machacek model, which have so far only been applied at the tree level, receive crucial radiative corrections. We show that large regions of the parameter space which feature a stable electroweak vacuum at the loop level would have been - wrongly - ruled out by the tree-level conditions.Comment: 64 pages, 20 figure

Consistent estimation of zero-inflated count models

Applications of zero-inflated count data models have proliferated in health economics. However, zero-inflated Poisson or zero-inflated negative binomial maximum likelihood estimators are not robust to misspecification. This paper proposes Poisson quasi-likelihood estimators as an alternative. These estimators are consistent in the presence of excess zeros without having to specify the full distribution. The advantages of the Poisson quasi-likelihood approach are illustrated in a series of Monte Carlo simulations and in an application to the demand for health services.Excess zeros, Poisson, logit, unobserved heterogeneity, misspecification

Spontaneous Charge Breaking in the NMSSM - Dangerous or not?

We investigate the impact of charge-breaking minima on the vacuum stability of the NMSSM. We find that, in contrast to Two-Higgs-Doublet Models like the MSSM, at both tree- and loop-level there exists global charge-breaking minima. Consequently, many regions of parameter space are rendered metastable, which otherwise would have been considered stable if these charge-breaking minima were neglected. However, the inclusion of these new scalar field directions has little impact on otherwise metastable vacuum configurations.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

The Ultraviolet Landscape of Two-Higgs Doublet Models

We study the predictions of generic ultraviolet completions of two-Higgs doublet models. We assume that at the matching scale between the two-Higgs doublet model and a ultraviolet complete theory -- which can be anywhere between the TeV and the Planck scale -- arbitrary but perturbative values for the quartic couplings are present. We evaluate the couplings down from the matching scale to the weak scale and study the predictions for the scalar mass spectrum. In particular, we show the importance of radiative corrections which are essential for both an accurate Higgs mass calculation as well as determining the stability of the electroweak vacuum. We study the relation between the mass splitting of the heavy Higgs states and the size of the quartic couplings at the matching scale, finding that only a small class of models exhibit a sizeable mass splitting between the heavy scalars at the weak scale. Moreover, we find a clear correlation between the maximal size of the couplings and the considered matching scale.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

Relative status and satisfaction

This paper investigates the relationship between income satisfaction of adult children and their relative economic status, using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and income rank as an indicator of status. The results show that children appear to compare their actual economic status with that of their parents, deriving large satisfaction gains from an income rank that is higher than that of their parents. The effect is asymmetric with regard to parents, as these seem not to be ifluenced by their children's income rank.happiness, income norm, subjective well-being

A causal interpretation of extensive and intensive margin effects in generalized Tobit models

The usual decomposition of effects in corner solution models into extensive and intensive margins is generally incompatible with a causal interpretation. This paper proposes a decomposition based on the joint distribution of potential outcomes which is meaningful in a causal sense. The difference between decompositions can be substantial and yield diametrically opposed results, as shown in a standard Tobit model example. In a generalized Tobit application exploring the effect of reducing firm entry regulation on bilateral trade flows between countries, estimates suggest that using the usual decomposition would overstate the contribution of the extensive margin by around 15%

Controlling Ourselves: Emotional Intelligence, the Marshmallow Test, and the Inheritance of Race

What does the immensely successful and culturally influential “marshmallow test,” developed by psychologist Walter Mischel to measure a child’s ability to demonstrate self-control and resist immediate temptation, have to do with the history of race in the United States? Already in the 1960s, Mischel’s experiments on the delay of gratification had been cited in the Moynihan Report as well as other public policy pronouncements that sought to analyze why many African Americans remained mired in poverty. Yet the story of race and self-control has a far longer history that dates back at least to the New Deal era when social scientists linked self-denial to middle-class and white neuroses. By the 1950s, however, self-control assumed a prominent (if contradictory) place in criminology and studies in juvenile delinquency. Although this was a legacy Mischel initially critiqued, his gratification delay experiments came by the 1970s and 1980s directly to inform more overtly right-wing (and racialized) social theories that openly linked low delay with low IQ and criminal behavior. By the 1990s, with the rise of positive psychology and a concept of emotional intelligence (EI) that heralded self-control as a “master aptitude,” the ways in which self-control had been inseparable from the histories of race and class were erased almost entirely. Reconstructing this ambiguous history offers insights not only into a forgotten postwar American story, but also what has been at stake in debates over educational reforms in our present