R&D expenditure in G7 countries and implications for endogenous fluctuations and growth

The literature on endogenous growth cycles predicts countercyclical R&D expenditure. Aggregate R&D expenditure in G7 countries from 1973 to 1997 seems to be procyclical. Implications for future theoretical research are discussed. --Cyclical Properties of R&D Expenditure,Growth Cycles

The Impact of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme on Competitiveness in Europe

This literature review analyses the impacts of the EU ETS on competitiveness focussing on existing simulation studies. We have identified the choice of the reference scenario as the most critical issue for an appropriate analysis of the relevant literature. We find, however, that effects of the scheme on competitiveness are modest, even given the business as usual case that does not take the legally binding framework of the Kyoto Protocol into account. Furthermore, the impacts of the EU ETS are smaller than the impacts of alternative Kyoto-based regulation scenarios. Compared to these other regulation methods ETSs can have positive competitiveness effects. However, the EU ETS is not designed to boost Europe?s economy. Its prime purpose and justification is to ensure that Europe?s CO2 emissions are brought down and Kyoto targets are reached at minimal costs. To our opinion, it is therefore important that the system as well as modifications to it do not undermine the environmental goals associated with this policy instrument. --emissions trading,competitiveness,environmental regulation

Employment creation in less developed countries: A cross section analysis

Research in the field of economic development and respective discussions in the political sphere are presently focussing on two major issues: the social inequality within the third world and the continuously widening, economic gap between developing (LDCs) and developed (DCs) nations. The remedy for both problems suggested by UNIDO, the UN General Assembly and various other institutions is a new international economic order''. One aspect of this new order is the claim for a 20 per cent share of LDCs in total manufacturing production of the world by the year 2000. Given a 6.8 per cent share of LDCs manufacturing output at present (in 1973) a tremendous structural change will have to take place in third world economies and in the international division of labour in order to achieve the 20 per cent target. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the past structural change in LDCs and to outline some of the implications of the intended increase of their share in world industry. In particular, the paper seeks tentative answers to such questions as - whether the necessary structural change is feasable and under which conditions it is likely to occur; - what the prospective employment effects of such a strategy would be and - whether alternative strategies might offer better chances in reducing unemployment and poverty within the third world. To fulfill this task in the first part of the paper, a cross section analysis is applied to a sample of LDCs and DCs respectively. The focus is to identify major determinants of sectoral patterns of production, employment and productivity in both country groups and to find out whether there are differences among the various patterns or among country groups. Based on these estimates some projections of production and employment patterns are made in the final section of the paper and some consideration is given to the potential contribution to employment creation in various economic activities.

Epistemological Perspectives on Simulation

This special section includes papers originally presented at a workshop on \'Epistemological Perspectives on Simulation\' in July 2004 at the University of Koblenz, in which some thirty colleagues participated. It had been our impression that there was (and still is) a small, but growing number of researchers who are interested in investigating the preconditions of successfully deploying simulation as a research tool. We were convinced that discussing the epistemological status of simulation in a cross-disciplinary setting could contribute to a deeper understanding of relevant issues and so it proved.Simulation, Epistemology, Methodology

Expression Templates Revisited: A Performance Analysis of the Current ET Methodology

In the last decade, Expression Templates (ET) have gained a reputation as an efficient performance optimization tool for C++ codes. This reputation builds on several ET-based linear algebra frameworks focused on combining both elegant and high-performance C++ code. However, on closer examination the assumption that ETs are a performance optimization technique cannot be maintained. In this paper we demonstrate and explain the inability of current ET-based frameworks to deliver high performance for dense and sparse linear algebra operations, and introduce a new "smart" ET implementation that truly allows the combination of high performance code with the elegance and maintainability of a domain-specific language.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Nova-induced mass transfer variations

We investigate variations of the mass transfer rate in cataclysmic variables (CVs) that are induced by nova outbursts. The ejection of nova shells leads to a spread of transfer rates in systems with similar orbital period. The effect is maximal if the specific angular momentum in the shell is the same as the specific orbital angular momentum of the white dwarf. We show analytically that in this case the nova-induced widening of the mass transfer rate distribution can be significant if the system, in the absence of nova outbursts, is close to mass transfer instability (i.e., within a factor of ~1.5 of the critical mass ratio). Hence the effect is negligible below the period gap and for systems with high-mass white dwarfs. At orbital periods between about 3 and 6 hrs the width of the mass transfer rate distribution exceeds an order of magnitude if the mass accreted on the white dwarf prior to the runaway is larger than a few 10^{-4} M_sun. At a given orbital period in this range, systems with the highest transfer rate should on average have the largest ratio of donor to white dwarf mass. We show results of population synthesis models which confirm and augment the analytic results.Comment: ApJ, in press; 14 pages (incl. 7 figures), emulateapj styl