Whatever happened to competition in space agency procurement? The case of NASA

Using the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a case study, this paper examines how conflicting objectives in procurement policies by public space agencies result in anti-competitive procurement. Globally, public sectors have actively encouraged mergers and acquisitions of major contractors at the national level, since the end of the “Cold War”, following largely from the perceived benefits of economies of size. The paper examines the impact the resulting industrial concentration has on the ability of space agencies to follow a pro-competitive procurement policy. Using time series econometric analysis, the paper shows that NASA’s pro-competitive policy is unsuccessful due to a shift, since the mid-1990s, in the share of appropriations in favour of its top contractors.procurement, space industry, space agencies, NASA

The transactions costs of primary market issuance : the case of Brazil, Chile, and Mexico

The author documents the precise costs of debt and equity issuance, both domestically and internationally, for firms in Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Costs include investment banking and legal fees, regulatory and exchange listing costs, rating agency fees, and expenditures for marketing and publishing. Her findings suggest that Brazilian firms face similar costs in issuing debt locally or abroad, whereas domestic equity issuance is nearly twice as expensive as debt. While the Chilean domestic corporate debt market is well developed by emerging market standards (size of the market and maturity of issues), Chilean firms can issue debt more cheaply internationally than at home. In addition, while equity financing is cheaper in Chile from a transaction cost perspective, over the past decade most firms have used bonds rather than shares to raise capital. This financing trend is true in all three countries. Finally, Mexican firms can issue debt at the lowest costs of the three, but face the highest equity issuing costs. In addition to documenting these features, the author sheds light on how the investor base in these countries plays a strong role in influencing the ability of firms to access domestic capital markets.Financial Intermediation,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Housing Finance

Valuation of Employee Stock Options (ESOs) by means of Mean-Variance Hedging

We consider the problem of ESO valuation in continuous time. In particular, we consider models that assume that an appropriate random time serves as a proxy for anything that causes the ESO's holder to exercise the option early, namely, reflects the ESO holder's job termination risk as well as early exercise behaviour. In this context, we study the problem of ESO valuation by means of mean-variance hedging. Our analysis is based on dynamic programming and uses PDE techniques. We also express the ESO's value that we derive as the expected discounted payoff that the ESO yields with respect to an equivalent martingale measure, which does not coincide with the minimal martingale measure or the variance-optimal measure. Furthermore, we present a numerical study that illustrates aspects or our theoretical results

Stock market development and long-run growth

The authors empirically evaluate the relationship between stock market development and long-term growth. The data suggest that stock market development is positively associated with economic growth. Moreover, instrumental variables procedures indicate a strong connection between the predetermined component in the long run. While cross-country regressions imply a strong link between stock market development and economic growth, the results should be viewed as suggestive partial correlations that stimulate additional research rather than as conclusive findings. Careful case studies might help identify causal relationships and further research could bedone on the time-series property of such relationships.Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Health Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,Achieving Shared Growth,Governance Indicators,Health Economics&Finance

Capital control liberalization and stock market development

The authors address two questions: What happens to stock market size, liquidity, volatility, and integration with world capital markets after capital controls are liberalized? And what is the relationship between those indicators of stock market development and regulations about information disclosure, accounting standards, and investor protection? An analysis of data on stock markets in 16 developing countries suggests the following: a) stock markets become larger, more liquid, more integrated internationally, and more volatile after controls on capital and dividend flows are liberalized; b) easy access to information about firms is positively associated with the size and liquidity of stock markets; and c) countries that officially establishinternationally accepted accounting standards and laws to protect investors do not have substantially better- functioning stock markets than countries that do not adopt those official standards.International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Markets and Market Access,Health Economics&Finance,Health Economics&Finance,Economic Theory&Research,Markets and Market Access,Access to Markets,Banks&Banking Reform

Looking at the facts : what we know about policy and growth from cross-country analysis

What has the profession learned from cross-country regressions about the links between long-run growth and indicators of fiscal, monetary, trade, financial, and exchange-rate policies? The authors find that: indicators of financial development are strongly associated with long-run growth; other individual policy indicators are only weakly linked to growth; and it is particularly difficult to find a consistent relationship between inflation and long-run growth. For example, the inclusion or exclusion of one or two countries (Nicaragua and Uganda) out of more than 100 countries in the sample can lead to reaching three quite different conclusions: (1) that only very high inflation is bad for growth; (2) that very high inflation in itself is not bad for growth, but small increases in inflation in moderate-inflation countries slow growth; or (3) that inflation is unrelated to growth. The connections between policy indicators and growth are quite sensitive to slight alterations in the right-hand-side variables and to small changes in the sample of countries. And the daunting array of methodological problems limiting the ability to interpret cross-country regressions implies that, at best, they suggest interesting empirical regularities. Cross-country regressions should not be used to predict by how much long-run growth will change when policies change. But beliefs about policy and growth that are not supported by cross-country evidence will tend to be viewed skeptically. So, future work on the policy-growth nexus should integrate broad cross-country analyses with country case studies and investigations of specific firms.Governance Indicators,Economic Theory&Research,Economic Conditions and Volatility,Environmental Economics&Policies,Achieving Shared Growth

The Importance of Co-ordination in National Technology Policy: Evidence From the Galileo Public Private Partnership.

Policy makers seek to identify an institutional framework that facilitates the commercialization of publicly funded R&D. In the space industry, the formation of such a framework is complicated by certain non-economic factors, such as national security considerations and the fact that numerous sovereign nations are often included in the commercialization process. In this paper, a model is outlined, that incorporates both economic and non-economic factors. The paper then demonstrates the importance of co-ordination in national technology policy to achieve an optimal result. The benefits of co-ordination are illustrated through a case study of the design of a major European public-private partnership (PPP) in the space industry, referred to as Galileo.

Jóvenes arquitectos. A próposito de su exposición en la Galería de Cahiers d'Art

Peer Reviewe

Method and compound for inhibition of cell death

This invention relates to a chemical compound that inhibits the apoptotic activity of the protease Omi/HtrA2 and homologous proteins. This protease Omi/HtrA2 is present in all mammalian cells so that inhibition of apoptosis in this fashion results enhanced cellular health and therapeutic effects

European Policies and the Space Industry Value Chain (Note 1)

The economics of contracting have received rather limited attention insofar as the implications for efficiency from the selection of types of contracts employed in the aerospace and defence sector are involved. The paper analyzes the challenges confronting the cost-plus/cost-reimbursement type of contracts of European Commission and intergovernmental organizations like the European Space Agency (ESA), who are involved in security and defence projects with significant multiplier effects within defence and security networks. The analysis indicates how institutional limitations result in contractual choice inefficiencies and anti-competitive practices that may affect the whole of the aerospace industrial base, including subcontractors. The paper concludes with policy implications and further research recommendation