Industry diversity, competition and firm relatedness: The impact on employment before and after the 2008 global financial crisis

Industry diversity, competition and firm relatedness: the impact on employment before and after the 2008 global financial crisis. Regional Studies. This study investigates the extent to which indicators of external-scale economies impacted employment growth in Canada over the period 2004–11. It focuses on knowledge spillovers between firms while accounting for Marshallian specialization, Jacobs’ diversity and competition by industry, as well as related and unrelated firm varieties in terms of employment and sales. It is found that the employment growth effects of local competition and diversity are positive, while the effect of Marshallian specialization is negative. Diversification is found to be particularly important for employment growth during the global financial crisis and immediately thereafter

Regulations, risk, and rent seeking behaviour

This paper seeks to address how political risk influences behaviour, in particular rent seeking behaviour. Such risk is important in many industries, which posts challenges both for policy makers and economic agents. This paper studies how political uncertainty affects rent seeking, and what level of political uncertainty is “optimal” for society. We find that under some conditions, a higher level of political uncertainty might be beneficial to discourage rent seeking. On the other hand, high risk aversion among the agents decreases the optimal level of uncertainty, as risk averse agents suffer a higher loss in utility from a high uncertainty. It is possible to find several areas where this analysis is relevant. For instance, in fisheries, increasing uncertainty about whether or not to implement (or extend) a pay-back scheme will reduce the incentives for the fishermen to overinvest in vessels

Regulations, risk, and rent seeking behaviour

This paper seeks to address how political risk influences behaviour, in particular rent seeking behaviour. Such risk is important in many industries, which posts challenges both for policy makers and economic agents. This paper studies how political uncertainty affects rent seeking, and what level of political uncertainty is “optimal” for society. We find that under some conditions, a higher level of political uncertainty might be beneficial to discourage rent seeking. On the other hand, high risk aversion among the agents decreases the optimal level of uncertainty, as risk averse agents suffer a higher loss in utility from a high uncertainty. It is possible to find several areas where this analysis is relevant. For instance, in fisheries, increasing uncertainty about whether or not to implement (or extend) a pay-back scheme will reduce the incentives for the fishermen to overinvest in vessels

Regulations, risk, and rent seeking behaviour

This paper seeks to address how political risk influences behaviour, in particular rent seeking behaviour. Such risk is important in many industries, which posts challenges both for policy makers and economic agents. This paper studies how political uncertainty affects rent seeking, and what level of political uncertainty is “optimal” for society. We find that under some conditions, a higher level of political uncertainty might be beneficial to discourage rent seeking. On the other hand, high risk aversion among the agents decreases the optimal level of uncertainty, as risk averse agents suffer a higher loss in utility from a high uncertainty. It is possible to find several areas where this analysis is relevant. For instance, in fisheries, increasing uncertainty about whether or not to implement (or extend) a pay-back scheme will reduce the incentives for the fishermen to overinvest in vessels

Regulations, risk, and rent seeking behaviour

This paper seeks to address how political risk influences behaviour, in particular rent seeking behaviour. Such risk is important in many industries, which posts challenges both for policy makers and economic agents. This paper studies how political uncertainty affects rent seeking, and what level of political uncertainty is “optimal” for society. We find that under some conditions, a higher level of political uncertainty might be beneficial to discourage rent seeking. On the other hand, high risk aversion among the agents decreases the optimal level of uncertainty, as risk averse agents suffer a higher loss in utility from a high uncertainty. It is possible to find several areas where this analysis is relevant. For instance, in fisheries, increasing uncertainty about whether or not to implement (or extend) a pay-back scheme will reduce the incentives for the fishermen to overinvest in vessels

External control strategies for self-propelled particles: optimizing navigational efficiency in the presence of limited resources

We experimentally and numerically study the dependence of different navigation strategies regarding the effectivity of an active particle to reach a predefined target area. As the only control parameter, we vary the particle's propulsion velocity depending on its position and orientation relative to the target site. By introducing different figures of merit, e.g. the time to target or the total consumed propulsion energy, we are able to quantify and compare the efficiency of different strategies. Our results suggest, that each strategy to navigate towards a target, has its strengths and weaknesses and none of them outperforms the other in all regards. Accordingly, the choice of an ideal navigation strategy will strongly depend on the specific conditions and the figure of merit which should be optimized

Thermodynamic investigations of the ternary Al-Ge-Zn system

Die vorliegende Arbeit gibt einen Überblick über den derzeit bestehenden Bedarf für neue bleifreie Lotmaterialien und einige, für diesen Zweck bereits entwickelte intermetallische Systeme. Des weiteren wird eine Einführung in die EMK-Messungen (Messungen der elektromotorischen Kraft) gegeben. Zusätzlich werden praktische Aspekte der EMK-Technik mit flüssigen und festen Elektrolyten erörtert. In der Arbeit werden die Voraussetzungen für derartige Messungen beschrieben und auch Vor- und Nachteile der einzelnen Methoden ausgeführt. Bezüglich des ternären Al-Ge-Zn Systems behandelt diese Arbeit folgende Aspekte: Im Hinblick auf den möglichen Einsatz von Al-Ge-Zn Legierungen als bleifreie Lotmaterialien wurden deren thermodynamische Eigenschaften mit Hilfe von EMK-Messungen mit flüssigen Elektrolyten untersucht. Die Arbeit beschreibt den Aufbau der galvanischen Zelle und die Durchführung der entsprechenden Messungen. Weiters wird die Herstellung des verwendeten Elektrolyten erklärt. In diesem Zusammenhang konnte in einer eutektischen Mischung welche aus KCl, LiCl und KAlCl4 besteht, ein geeigneter Elektrolyt gefunden werden. Zusätzlich wird die Herstellung der untersuchten Legierungen beschrieben. Die experimentellen Werte wurden mathematisch ausgewertet um Informationen über die thermodynamischen Eigenschaften des Systems zu erhalten. Mit Hilfe der Messwerte konnten die Aktivität von Aluminium und die Änderung der Gibbsschen freien Enthalpie berechnet werden. Außerdem war es möglich die partielle molare Enthalpie (∆H_Al ) ̅ und die partielle molare Entropie (∆S_Al ) ̅ zu ermitteln. Da Teile der vorliegenden Arbeit während eines Erasmus Auslandssemesters am RIM-Lab (Reactivity of Inorganic Materials Laboratory) der Fakultät für Chemie an der Universität La Sapienza in Rom entstanden sind, sind zusätzlich Beschreibungen von Messungen mit festen Elektrolyten welche während dieser Zeit in Italien durchgeführt wurden, enthalten. Der Fokus dieses Teiles der Arbeit war auf die Untersuchung von Legierungen bestehend aus Seltenerdelementen und Cobalt gerichtet. Eine geeignete EMK-Zelle für Messungen mit festem CaF2 als Elektrolyt wurde hierfür aufgebaut. In diesem Fall wurden die entsprechenden Legierungen unter Zuhilfenahme einer modifizierten Elektronenkanone hergestellt. Es war möglich die thermodynamischen Eigenschaften einer Legierung mit der Zusammensetzung Pr2Co17 zu untersuchen.The present thesis gives a review about the current need of new lead free solder alloys. A short introduction into the EMF (electromotive force) technique is also given. The practical aspects of EMF measurements with liquid and solid electrolytes are described. Requirements as well as advantages and disadvantages of the different methods are explained. Concerning the ternary Al-Ge-Zn system the current work deals with the following aspects: In terms of the possible use of Al-Ge-Zn alloys as lead free solders, the thermodynamic properties of this intermetallic system were investigated by using the EMF method with liquid electrolytes. This work describes the setup of the galvanic cell and the execution of the measurements. Also the preparation of the electrolyte for the galvanic cell is described. A suitable salt for the investigation of the particular Al-Ge-Zn system was found in the form of an eutectic mixture of KCl, LiCl and KAlCl4. The preparation of the investigated alloys is also described. The experimental data were mathematically evaluated to obtain information regarding the thermodynamic properties of this particular system. By using the measured EMF values, the activity of aluminum and the change of the Gibbs free energy were calculated. It was also possible to determine the partial molar enthalpy (∆H_Al ) ̅ and the partial molar entropy (∆S_Al ) ̅. Since parts of this work were carried out during an Erasmus semester abroad at the RIM-Lab (Reactivity of Inorganic Materials Laboratory) of the Facolta di Chimica at the Universita La Sapienza di Roma, measurements with solid electrolytes which I performed during my stay in Italy are also described. The focus of this part of the work was set on the investigation of alloys consisting of rare-earth elements and cobalt. A suitable EMF cell for measurements with a solid CaF2 electrolyte was set up. In this case, the preparation of the investigated intermetallics was achieved by a modified electron-gun. It was possible to investigate the thermodynamic properties of the Pr2Co17 alloy

Does Economic Policy Uncertainty Encourage Gambling? Evidence from the Chinese Welfare Lottery Market

This paper investigates the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on gambling activity in China. Based on a theoretical model, we hypothesize that EPU increases the demand for hope which raises the willingness to pay for lottery tickets, resulting in higher lottery sales. We estimate a Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag model with an Error-Correction form using data on lottery sales in Chinese provinces to estimate the short- and long-run effect of EPU on gambling. Our results suggest that EPU has a significant positive effect on gambling in the short run. In addition, we find that this positive effect is less persistent if the EPU proxy is based on economic policy reports in national newspapers than when the EPU measure is derived from local newspaper reports. This may be explained by the different thematic focus and the different degrees of media censorship of national and local newspapers

Does Economic Policy Uncertainty Encourage Gambling? Evidence from the Chinese Welfare Lottery Market

This paper investigates the effect of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on gambling activity in China. Based on a theoretical model, we hypothesize that EPU increases the demand for hope which raises the willingness to pay for lottery tickets, resulting in higher lottery sales. We estimate a Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag model with an Error-Correction form using data on lottery sales in Chinese provinces to estimate the short- and long-run effect of EPU on gambling. Our results suggest that EPU has a significant positive effect on gambling in the short run. In addition, we find that this positive effect is less persistent if the EPU proxy is based on economic policy reports in national newspapers than when the EPU measure is derived from local newspaper reports. This may be explained by the different thematic focus and the different degrees of media censorship of national and local newspapers