Screening and advising by a venture capitalist with a time constraint

This paper proposes an intertemporal model of venture capital investment with screening and advising where the venture capitalist´s time endowment is the scarce input factor. Screening improves the selection of firms receiving finance, advising allows firms to develop a marketable product, both have a variable intensity. In our setup, optimal linear contracts solves the moral hazard problem. Screening however asks for an entrepreneur wage and does not allow for upfront payments which would cause severe adverse selection. Project characteristics have implications for screening and advising intensity and the distribution of profits. Finally, we develop a formal version of the "venture capital cycle" by extending the basic setup to a simple model of venture capital supply and demand

Tight Closure of Finite Length Modules in Graded Rings

We look at how the equivalence of tight closure and plus closure (or Frobenius closure) in the homogeneous m-coprimary case implies the same closure equivalence in the non-homogeneous m-coprimary case in standard graded rings. Although our result does not depend upon dimension, the primary application is based on results known in dimension 2 due to the recent results of H. Brenner. We also show that unlike the Noetherian case, the injective hull of the residue field over $R^+$ or $R^\infty$ contains elements that are not killed by any power of the maximal ideal of R.Comment: 14 pages, minor revisions mad

Dividend and Capital Gains Taxation in a Cross-Section of Firms

I reconsider the effect of capital income taxation on firm size and firm growth by embedding the nucleus theory of firm development of Sinn (1991) into a framework of monopolistic competition with new firm creation. In a turnover of firms, firm destruction is counterbalanced by a permanent creation of new firms. Young firms are set up using an initial capital infusion of new equity and undergo an intermediate stage of internal growth until they finally reach a steady payout stage. The cross-section then contains firms of all ages and development stages. Dividend and capital gains tax have important effects on initial firm size and growth but also on the creation of new firms and thus on diversity in the economy. First, a differential treatment of dividends and capital gains introduces a distortion in the allocation of capital across firms. Second, dividend as well as capital gains tax are anticipated at the start-up stage of firms. While leaving the firm specific capital stock unaffected, the capitalisation is shown to depress firm creation and aggregate capital accumulation.capital income taxation, investment, firm creation, aggregate production.

A Growth Oriented Dual Income Tax

This paper proposes a growth-oriented dual-income tax by combining an allowance for corporate equity with a broadly defined flat tax on personal capital income. Revenue losses are compensated by an increase in the value added tax. The paper demonstrates the neutrality properties of the reform with respect to investment, firm financial decisions and organizational choice. Tax rates are chosen to prevent income shifting from labor to capital income. The reform decisively strengthens investment of domestically owned firms as well as home and foreign based multinationals and boosts savings. Simulations with a calibrated growth model for Switzerland indicate that the reform could add between 2 to 3 percent of GDP in the long run, depending on the specific scenario. Given the slow nature of capital accumulation, it also imposes considerable costs in the short run. We also consider a tax smoothing scenario to offset the intergenerationally redistributive effects.tax reform, investment, financial structure, growth

Worksite schools: A study of cooperation between public education and private business

The development of business/educational partnerships in the United States has accelerated in the last few years, fueled in large part by industry concerns over a projected scarcity of future workers who are effectively equipped for the demands of a workforce in an evolving technological environment. This has been accompanied by rising concern over parental choice in the matter of what schools their children will attend; Lankard (1995) has opined that in the new economy where school and work are intertwined, it is increasingly apparent that a dual approach to public school reform has appeal, and such partnerships will continue to be indicative of the nation\u27s attempts to improve the quality of education provided to its citizens. One such illustrative example is the worksite school. In 1987 the American Banker\u27s Group in Dade County, Florida created the nation\u27s first worksite school, defined as public schools located on the private property of its host corporation (Beales, 1990); This study utilized quantitative research methodology incorporating a descriptive research design (Gall, 1996 et. al., Gay, 1996, McMillan and Schumacher, 1997) to examine policies and practices of worksite schools in the United States and to identify resources, practices, and incentives that are considered to be necessary elements of a successful operation. Site based management theory was utilized as the focus of the conceptual framework, as it is the essential tool of reform and restructuring which helped form the basis for worksite schools (Caldwell, 1990; Caldwell and Spinks, 1988; David, 1989; Dimmick, 1993; Mohrman and Wohlstetter, 1994); The important interpersonal skills found necessary to successfully operate a worksite school included teamwork, with consistent communication and curriculum planning between the host corporation and school. Over 75 percent of those surveyed also agreed that the corporation should provide the initial landscaping and building, as well as on-going technology and training assistance. Zoned as other public schools in the school district involved, consensus was also that children living in the area should be allowed to attend the worksite school, with first priority given to employees of the host corporation

Unified theory of bound and scattering molecular Rydberg states as quantum maps

Using a representation of multichannel quantum defect theory in terms of a quantum Poincar\'e map for bound Rydberg molecules, we apply Jung's scattering map to derive a generalized quantum map, that includes the continuum. We show, that this representation not only simplifies the understanding of the method, but moreover produces considerable numerical advantages. Finally we show under what circumstances the usual semi-classical approximations yield satisfactory results. In particular we see that singularities that cause problems in semi-classics are irrelevant to the quantum map