Current Research: Analysis of Ceramic Vessel Residues from the Washington Square Mound Site (41NA49) for Evidence of Peyote use by the Caddo in the 13th-15th centuries A.D.

In 2012, Perttula requested permission from to the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma\u27s Repatriation Committee to analyze small samples (ca. 1-2 grams of ceramic paste, or sherds ca. 1-2 square centimeters in size) from the paste of five vessels from Features 31 and 95 at the Washington Square Mound site (41NA49) (Perttula et al. 2010) in East Texas to identify residue traces of the Caddo\u27s use of peyote in the 13th-15th centuries A.D. The Caddo Nation of Oklahoma gave their permission to conduct these ceramic vessel residue studies

A Fixed-b Perspective on the Phillips-Perron Unit Root Tests

We extend fixed-b asymptotic theory to the nonparametric Phillips-Perron (PP) unit root tests. We show that the fixed-b limits depend on nuisance parameters in a complicated way. These non-pivotal limits provide an alternative theoretical explanation for the well known finite sample problems of PP tests. We also show that the fixed-b limits depend on whether deterministic trends are removed using one-step or two-step approaches, contrasting the asymptotic equivalence of the one- and two-step approaches under a consistency approximation for the long run variance estimator. Based on these results we introduce modified PP tests that allow for fixed-b inference. The theoretical analysis is cast in the framework of near-integrated processes which allows to study the asymptotic behavior both under the unit root null hypothesis as well as for local alternatives. The performance of the original and modified tests is compared by means of local asymptotic power and a small simulation study.Nonparametric kernel estimator, long run variance, detrending, one-step, two-step

A comparison of the efficiency of producers under collective and individual modes of organisation

This paper compares collective and individuals production systems' technical and allocative efficiency. The producers being studied belong to Honduran agrarian reform cooperatives engaging in colective and/or individual maize production. Debreu-Farrell technical efficiency related to stochastic production is calculated. Allocative efficiency is obtained from an analytically derived cost frontier. Results indicate that collective systems are slightly more efficient than individual production systems. Worker-shirking (one of the most cited theoretical arguments against colective form of enterprise) would seem to have no empirical basis from these results.cooperative

Induced Gravity II: Grand Unification

As an illustration of a renormalizable, asymptotically-free model of induced gravity, we consider an $SO(10)$ gauge theory interacting with a real scalar multiplet in the adjoint representation. We show that dimensional transmutation can occur, spontaneously breaking $SO(10)$ to $SU(5){\otimes}U(1),$ while inducing the Planck mass and a positive cosmological constant, all proportional to the same scale $v$. All mass ratios are functions of the values of coupling constants at that scale. Below this scale (at which the Big Bang may occur), the model takes the usual form of Einstein-Hilbert gravity in de Sitter space plus calculable corrections. We show that there exist regions of parameter space in which the breaking results in a local minimum of the effective action, and a {\bf positive} dilaton $(\hbox{mass})^2$ from two-loop corrections associated with the conformal anomaly. Furthermore, unlike the singlet case we considered previously, some minima lie within the basin of attraction of the ultraviolet fixed point. Moreover, the asymptotic behavior of the coupling constants also lie within the range of convergence of the Euclidean path integral, so there is hope that there will be candidates for sensible vacua. Although open questions remain concerning unitarity of all such renormalizable models of gravity, it is not obvious that, in curved backgrounds such as those considered here, unitarity is violated. In any case, any violation that may remain will be suppressed by inverse powers of the reduced Planck mass.Comment: 44 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. v2 has new discussion concerning stability of SSB plus related appendix. Additional references added. v3 is version to be published; contains minor revision

Integrated Modified OLS Estimation and Fixed-b Inference for Cointegrating Regressions

This paper is concerned with parameter estimation and inference in a cointegrating regression, where as usual endogenous regressors as well as serially correlated errors are considered. We propose a simple, new estimation method based on an augmented partial sum (integration) transformation of the regression model. The new estimator is labeled Integrated Modified Ordinary Least Squares (IM-OLS). IM-OLS is similar in spirit to the fully modified approach of Phillips and Hansen (1990) with the key difference that IM-OLS does not require estimation of long run variance matrices and avoids the need to choose tuning parameters (kernels, bandwidths, lags). Inference does require that a long run variance be scaled out, and we propose traditional and fixed-b methods for obtaining critical values for test statistics. The properties of IM-OLS are analyzed using asymptotic theory and finite sample simulations. IM-OLS performs well relative to other approaches in the literature.Bandwidth, cointegration, fixed-b asymptotics, Fully Modified OLS, IM-OLS, kernel