India Giving: Insights into the Nature of Giving Across India

Giving in India is as ancient as the country itself. The instinct to give is part of the ebb and flow of our daily lives, permeating our religions, our culture and our history. Looking to the future, my firm belief is that philanthropy in India is destined to soar over the next decade. I believe this for two key reasons. The first is the sheer depth of social need in India. While the future promises much, the reality today remains that tens of millions across India need food, shelter and medicine on a daily basis. We know from India's 2011 census that by the time children being born today are teenagers, India will likely be the most populous nation in the world. For this growth to be sustainable, the change that philanthropy can bring will be vital. The second reason is the groundswell of evidence. A belief that philanthropy is on the rise in India is widely held, yet in truth, not enough is known about the size, scope, and impact of our generosity. Though there have been a few attempts to research and quantify individual giving, most of these studies have focussed on 'High Net Worth Individuals', rather than the general public. In order to nurture and expand charitable giving effectively, we must work with evidence that describes the broad context, such as the burgeoning middle class. With a reliable view of the dynamics of individual giving across the different socio-economic settings, we will be able to unlock knowledge that will encourage those who can afford to give, to give as much as they can

Alternative Approaches to Cost Containment in a Cap-and-Trade System

We compare several emissions reduction instruments, including quantity policies with banking and borrowing, price policies, and hybrid policies (safety valve and price collar), using a dynamic model with stochastic baseline emissions. The instruments are compared under the design goal of obtaining the same expected cumulative emissions across all options. Based on simulation analysis with the model parameterized to values relevant to proposed U.S. climate mitigation policies, we find that restrictions on banking and borrowing, including the provision of interest rates on the borrowings, can severely limit the value of the policy, depending on the regulator-chosen allowance issuance path. Although emissions taxes generally provide the lowest expected abatement costs, a cap-and-trade system combined with either a safety valve or a price collar can be designed to provide expected abatement costs near those of a tax, but with lower emissions variance than a tax. Consistently, a price collar is more cost-effective than a safety valve for a given expected cumulative emissions outcome because it encourages inexpensive abatement when abatement costs decline.cost containment, safety valve, price collar, climate change

Backing the horse or the jockey? Due diligence, agency costs, information and the evaluation of risk by business angel investors

This paper explores the argument that business angel investors are more concerned with managing and minimising agency risk than market risk. Based on data on the due diligence process from a survey of business angels in the UK, the paper concludes that business angels do view entrepreneur characteristics and experience as having the greatest impact on the perceived riskiness of an investment opportunity. Further, they emphasise personal and informal over formal sources of information in the due diligence process, and seek information on both the entrepreneur and the venture in determining valuation. Indeed, the reliance of business angels on short-term and subjective information to value investment opportunities leads to the conclusion that their approach to valuation is not a function of the conventional protocols of financial analysis, but of personal relations and assessment

Solar modulation in surface atmospheric electricity

The solar wind modulates the flux of galactic cosmic rays impinging on Earth inversely with solar activity. Cosmic ray ionisation is the major source of air’s electrical conductivity over the oceans and well above the continents. Differential solar modulation of the cosmic ray energy spectrum modifies the cosmic ray ionisation at different latitudes,varying the total atmospheric columnar conductance. This redistributes current flow in the global atmospheric electrical circuit, including the local vertical current density and the related surface potential gradient. Surface vertical current density and potential gradient measurements made independently at Lerwick Observatory,Shetland,from 1978 to 1985 are compared with modelled changes in cosmic ray ionisation arising from solar activity changes. Both the lower troposphere atmospheric electricity quantities are significantly increased at cosmic ray maximum(solar minimum),with a proportional change greater than that of the cosmic ray change

A program to compute three-dimensional subsonic unsteady aerodynamic characteristics using the doublet lattic method, L216 (DUBFLX). Volume 1: Engineering and usage

The program input presented consists of configuration geometry, aerodynamic parameters, and modal data; output includes element geometry, pressure difference distributions, integrated aerodynamic coefficients, stability derivatives, generalized aerodynamic forces, and aerodynamic influence coefficient matrices. Optionally, modal data may be input on magnetic file (tape or disk), and certain geometric and aerodynamic output may be saved for subsequent use