6,847 research outputs found
Household Relational Contracts for Marriage, Fertility and Divorce
This paper applies the theory of relational contracts to a model in which a couple decides whether to marry or cohabit, how many children to have and subsequently whether to stay together or separate. We make precise the idea that cooperation in a household can be supported by self interest. Since the costs of raising children are unequally distributed among partners, there is a potential conflict between individually optimal and efficient, i.e. surplus maximizing, decisions. Side-payments are used to support cooperation but are not legally enforceable and thus have to be part of an equilibrium. This requires a stable relationship and credible punishment threats. Within this relational contracts framework, we analyze the effects of policy variables such as rights of access to children post-separation and wealth division/alimony rules, as well as the legal costs of divorce, on the interrelationships among the decisions on marriage, fertility and divorce.
Dynamical Properties of the Mukhanov-Sasaki Hamiltonian in the context of adiabatic vacua and the Lewis-Riesenfeld invariant
We use the method of the Lewis-Riesenfeld invariant to analyze the dynamical
properties of the Mukhanov-Sasaki Hamiltonian and, following this approach,
investigate whether we can obtain possible candidates for initial states in the
context of inflation considering a quasi-de Sitter spacetime. Our main interest
lies in the question to which extent these already well-established methods at
the classical and quantum level for finitely many degrees of freedom can be
generalized to field theory. As our results show, a straightforward
generalization does in general not lead to a unitary operator on Fock space
that implements the corresponding time-dependent canonical transformation
associated with the Lewis-Riesenfeld invariant. The action of this operator can
be rewritten as a time-dependent Bogoliubov transformation and we show that its
generalization to Fock space has to be chosen appropriately in order that the
Shale-Stinespring condition is not violated, where we also compare our results
to already existing ones in the literature. Furthermore, our analysis relates
the Ermakov differential equation that plays the role of an auxiliary equation,
whose solution is necessary to construct the Lewis-Riesenfeld invariant, as
well as the corresponding time-dependent canonical transformation to the
defining differential equation for adiabatic vacua. Therefore, a given solution
of the Ermakov equation directly yields a full solution to the differential
equation for adiabatic vacua involving no truncation at some adiabatic order.
As a consequence, we can interpret our result obtained here as a kind of
non-squeezed Bunch-Davies mode, where the term non-squeezed refers to a
possible residual squeezing that can be involved in the unitary operator for
certain choices of the Bogoliubov map.Comment: 40 pages, 5 figures, minor changes: slightly rewrote the
introduction, extended the discussion on the infrared modes, corrected typos
and added reference
Minimum Wages and Relational Contracts
The need to give incentives is usually absent in the literature on minimum wages. However, especially in the service sector it is important how well a job is done, and employees must be incentivized to perform accordingly. Furthermore, many aspects regarding service quality cannot be verified, which implies that relational contracts have to be used to provide incentives. The present article shows that in this case, a minimum wage increases implemented effort, i.e., realized service quality, as well as the efficiency of an employment relationship. Hence, this paper can explain why productivity and service quality went up after the introduction of the British National Minimum Wage, and that this might actually have caused a more efficient labor market. Furthermore, several empirically observed implications of a (higher) minimum wage can be explained. It might reduce turnover of employees, have spillover effects on higher wages, and reduce wage dispersion
Development of a Fingertip Glove Equipped with Magnetic Tracking Sensors
In this paper, we present the development of a data glove system based on fingertip tracking techniques. To track the fingertip position and orientation, a sensor module and two generator coils are attached on the fingertip and metacarpal of the corresponding finger. By tracking the fingertip, object manipulation tasks in a virtual environment or teleoperation system can be carried out more precisely, because fingertips are the foremost areas that reach the surface of an object in most of grasping processes. To calculate the bending angles of a finger, we also propose a method of constructing the shape of the finger. Since the coils are installed on the fingertips and metacarpals, there is no contact point between the sensors and finger joints. Hence, the shape of the sensors does not change as the fingers are bending, and both the quality of measurement and the lifetime of the sensors will not decrease in time. For the convenience of using this glove, a simple and efficient calibration process consisting of only one calibration gesture is also provided, so that all required parameters can be determined automatically. So far, the experimental results of the sensors performing linear movement and bending angle measurements are very satisfactory. It reveals that our data glove is available for a man-machine interface
Household Relational Contracts for Marriage, Fertility and Divorce
This paper applies the theory of relational contracts to a model in which a couple decides whether to marry or cohabit, how many children to have and subsequently whether to stay together or separate. We make precise the idea that cooperation in a household can be supported by self interest. Since the costs of raising children are unequally distributed between partners and children are a household public good, there is a conflict between individually optimal and efficient, i.e. surplus maximising, decisions. Side-payments are used to support cooperation but are not legally enforceable and thus have to be part of an equilibrium. This requires a stable relationship and credible punishment threats. Within this framework, we analyze the effects of policy variables such as the costs of divorce and post-divorce income payments on the interrelationships among the decisions on marriage, fertility and divorce
Teamwork as a Self-Disciplining Device
We show that team formation can serve as an implicit commitment device to overcome problems of self-control. If individuals have present-biased preferences, effort that is costly today but rewarded at some later point in time is too low from the perspective of an individual's long-run self. If agents interact repeatedly and can monitor each other, a relational contract involving teamwork can help to improve performance. The mutual promise to work harder is credible because the team breaks up after an agent has not kept this promise - which leads to individual underproduction in the future and hence a reduction of future utility
Early Globus Pallidus Internus Stimulation in Pediatric Patients With Generalized Primary Dystonia: Long-Term Efficacy and Safety
Primary generalized dystonia presents mainly at a young age and commonly is severely disabling. The authors report the long-term follow-up (mean, 73 months; range, 50-101 months) of 5 pediatric patients (mean age at surgery 13 years; range, 8-16 years) undergoing globus pallidus internus deep brain stimulation. Mean improvement in the Burke-Fahn-Marsden movement score was 67.4% (range, 47.0%-87.5%), 75.4% (range, 61.5%-91.7%), and 83.5% (range, 72.0%-93.3%) at 3 months, 12 months, and long-term follow-up (>36 months), respectively. Hardware problems (electrode dislocation/breakage of extension cable, and imminent perforation of extension cable) were observed in 2 patients (operative revision without sequelae). Except for mild dysarthria in 2 patients, no other therapy-related morbidity was observed. The authors found globus pallidus internus stimulation to offer a very effective and safe therapy in pediatric patients with primary dystonia. Early neurosurgical intervention seems to be crucial to prevent irreversible impairment of motor function
Size Matters - 'Over'investments in a Relational Contracting Setting
The corporate finance literature documents that managers tend to over-invest in their companies. A number of theoretical contributions have aimed at explaining this stylized fact, most of them focusing on a fundamental agency problem between shareholders and managers. The present paper shows that over-investments are not necessarily the (negative) consequence of agency problems between shareholders and managers, but instead might be a second-best optimal response to address problems of limited commitment and limited liquidity. If a firm has to rely on relational contracts to motivate its workforce, and if it faces a volatile environment, investments into general, non-relationship-specific, capital can increase the efficiency of a firm's labor relations
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