Comment on “The economic consequences of Empires (1492-1989)”

Editada en la Fundación Empresa PúblicaPublicad

Behavioral Economics and Political Economy

The past and future impact of behavioral economics in the field of political economy is assessed. It is argued that politician leaders operate in an intensely competition environment where the framework of rational choice is compelling. In contrast, rational choice is less compelling when studying the behavior of voters in mass elections where the consequences of each individual’s choices are negligible. A discussion of the literature on why voters bother to vote and on the choices voters make when casting their ballots illustrates the limits of explanations based on rational decision-makers and the potential contribution of behavioral research to the study of political economy.

A catalogue of Paschen-line profiles in standard stars

We have assembled an atlas of line profiles of the Paschen Delta line at 10,049 angstroms for the use of stellar modelling. For a few stars we have substituted the Paschen Gamma line at 10,938 angstroms because the Paschen Delta line blends with other features. Most of the targets are standard stars of spectral types from B to M. A few metal-poor stars have been included. For many of the stars we have also observed the Hydrogen Alpha line so as to compare the profiles of lines originating from the meta-stable n=2 level with lines originating from the n=3 level. The greatest difference in line profile is found for high luminosity and cool stars where the departures from LTE in the population of the n=2 level is expected to be the greatest. For a few stars, sample line profiles have been calculated in the LTE approximation to demonstrate the usefulness of the tabulated and displayed catalogue

Automated fully-stressed design with NASTRAN

An automated strength sizing capability is described. The technique determines the distribution of material among the elements of a structural model. The sizing is based on either a fully stressed design or a scaled feasible fully stressed design. Results obtained from the application of the strength sizing to the structural sizing of a composite material wing box using material strength allowables are presented. These results demonstrate the rapid convergence of the structural sizes to a usable design