Industrial production and capacity utilization: 1998 annual revision

In late 1998, the Federal Reserve published the results of an annual revision of its measures of industrial production, capacity, and capacity utilization, which cover the nation's manufacturing, mining, and electric and gas utilities industries. The revision involved both the incorporation of newly available and more comprehensive source data and, for some series, the introduction of modified methods for compiling the series. The revised figures show stronger growth of both production and capacity since 1996; however, the overall capacity utilization rate was little changed from the previous data.Industrial production index ; Industrial capacity

Validation of Serious Games Attributes Using the Technology Acceptance Model

The paper introduces a conceptual model for the design of serious games and uses the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for its validation. A specially developed game introduced international students to public transport in Southampton. After completing the game, participants completed a short questionnaire and the data was analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results identified the attributes and combinations of attributes that led the learner to accept and to use the serious game for learning. These findings are relevant in helping game designers and educational practitioners design serious games for effective learning

Allocating Transmission to Mitigate Market Power in Electricity Networks

Allocating Transmission to Mitigate Market Power in Electricity Network

Dispersal of Calluna vulgaris(L.) Hull. seeds on a severly burnt upland moorland

From natural and manipulated experiments at 460 m a.s.l., traps were used to record the dispersal range of Calluna vulgaris seeds on an unvegetated post-wildfire site. Seeds were trapped to 50 m from source, although most (73%) were deposited within one metre of the parent plant. C. vulgaris seeds were not dispersed as far in these experiments as recorded in previous workers’ experiments on lowland grassland

Allocating Transmission to Mitigate Market Power in Electricity Networks

We ask what conditions transmission contracts increase or mitigate market power. We show that the allocation process of transmission rights is crucial. In an efficient arbitraged uniform price auction, generators will only obtain contracts that mitigate their market power. However, if generators inherit transmission contracts or buy them in a ‘pay-as-bid’ auction, then these contracts can enhance market power. In the two-node network case, banning generators from holding transmission contracts that do not correspond to delivery of their own energy mitigates market power. Meshed networks differ in important ways as constrained links no longer isolate prices in competitive markets from market manipulation. The paper suggests ways of minimising market power considerations when designing transmission contracts.electricity, contracts, auction, network, transmission

Is Innovation King at the Antitrust Agencies? The Intellectual Property Guidelines Five Years Later

The Microsoft antitrust case focused public attention on the role of antitrust enforcement in preserving the forces of innovation in high-technology markets. Traditionally, regulators focused on whether companies artificially hiked prices or reduced output. Now, they're increasingly likely to look first at whether corporate behavior aids or impedes innovation. In this paper, we examine whether innovation has displaced short-term price effects as the focus of antitrust enforcement by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission and, to the extent that it has, whether enforcement actions are any different as a result. We also ask whether enforcement actions in the area of intellectual property and innovation have been consistent with the 1995 DOJ/FTC Antitrust Guidelines for the Licensing of Intellectual Property [IP Guidelines]. Finally, we consider whether recent enforcement actions identify key areas in which additional guidance from the Agencies would be desirable. We address these questions first in merger cases and then in non-merger cases.

Industrial production and capacity utilization: recent developments and the 1999 annual revision

In late 1999, the Federal Reserve published revised measures of industrial production, capacity, and capacity utilization for the period January 1992 through October 1999. The updated measures reflect both the incorporation of newly available, more comprehensive source data typical of annual revisions and the introduction of improved methods for compiling a few series, including computer and office equipment and motor vehicles. The new source data are for recent years, primarily from 1997 on, and the modified methods affect data beginning in 1992. ; The production index for the third quarter of 1999 is at 137.7 percent of output in 1992, compared with 135.2 percent reported before the annual revision, and the capacity index is 170.7 percent of output in 1992, compared with 167.9 percent reported previously. As a result, the rate of industrial capacity utilization was revised up 0.1 percentage point, to 80.7 percent for the third quarter of 1999.Industrial production index ; Industrial capacity

Industrial production and capacity utilization: historical revision and recent developments

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System has completed a revision of its measures of output, capacity, and capacity utilization for the industrial sector. The primary feature of the revision is a new formulation for aggregating the indexes and utilization rates based on weights that are updated annually rather than every five years. The new formulation has been used to revise the output, capacity, and utilization rates back to 1977. It provides more accurate current estimates of developments in industrial production and capacity utilization and eliminates an earlier, small overstatement of the growth trends of production and capacity. ; The revised indexes of industrial production and capacity show slower growth, on average, than the earlier estimates while the cyclical patterns of the revised measures are practically the same as before. Both from 1977 to 1987 and from 1987 to 1996, total industrial output grew at an average pace of about 2.3 percent a year--about 1/4 percentage point less than previously estimated. The growth of industrial capacity was revised down nearly as much; consequently, the rate of total industrial capacity utilization was revised down only a fraction of a percentage point at the end of 1996. (Statistical Release G.17, "Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization.")Industrial capacity ; Industrial productivity