In Pursuit of the Least Luminous Galaxies

The dwarf galaxy companions to the Milky Way are unique cosmological laboratories. With luminosities as low as 10^-7 L_MW, they inhabit the lowest mass dark matter halos known to host stars and are presently the most direct tracers of the distribution, mass spectrum, and clustering scale of dark matter. Their resolved stellar populations also facilitate detailed studies of their history and mass content. To fully exploit this potential requires a well-defined census of virtually invisible galaxies to the faintest possible limits and to the largest possible distances. I review the past and present impacts of survey astronomy on the census of Milky Way dwarf galaxy companions, and discuss the future of finding ultra-faint dwarf galaxies around the Milky Way and beyond in wide-field survey data.Comment: Review article, 20 pages. Accepted to Advances in Astronomy, Dwarf Galaxy Cosmology issu

LOGICAL ANALYSIS AND LATER MOHIST LOGIC: SOME COMPARATIVE REFLECTIONS [abstract]

Any philosophical method that treats the analysis of the meaning of a sentence or expression in terms of a decomposition into a set of conceptually basic constituent parts must do some theoretical work to explain the puzzles of intensionality. This is because intensional phenomena appear to violate the principle of compositionality, and the assumption of compositionality is the principal justification for thinking that an analysis will reveal the real semantical import of a sentence or expression through a method of decomposition. Accordingly, a natural strategy for dealing with intensionality is to argue that it is really just an isolable, aberrant class of linguistic phenomena that poses no general threat to the thesis that meaning is basically compositional. On the other hand, the later Mohists give us good reason to reject this view. What we learn from them is that there may be basic limitations in any analytical technique that presupposes that meaning is perspicuously represented only when it has been fully decomposed into its constituent parts. The purpose of this paper is to (a) explain why the Mohists found the issue of intensionality to be so important in their investigations of language, and (b) defend the view that Mohist insights reveal basic limitations in any technique of analysis that is uncritically applied with a decompositional approach in mind, as are those that are often pursued in the West in the context of more general epistemological and metaphysical programs

The Viability of Trade Union Organisation: A Bargaining Unit Analysis

The paper develops a model of trade union behaviour based on the concept of the viable bargaining unit. Bargaining unit viability rests on five conditions; membership level, service level, membership participation, employer recognition and facilities. Viability is achieved by mobilisation of both members and employers. Trade unions may be seen as portfolios of viable and inviable bargaining units. From this, six propositions about trade union structure and behaviour are derived, concerning scale, growth, the impact of statutory recognition provisions, the emergence of conglomerate unions, governance structures and relations with employers. Employer dependence is a crucial element in the model and a simple game theoretic approach is used to discuss employer co-operation. A key conclusion is that viability at the union level is achieved by diversifying portfolios of bargaining units and securing co-operative relations with employers.Unions, structure, strategy

Euro area production function and potential output: a supply side system approach

In this paper, we present a three equation supply-side model based on aggregation across sectors with sector specific mark-ups and the technology parameters of the production function. The model has been applied to euro area data from the 1970s assuming that the underlying production function is either CES or Cobb-Douglas. Estimation results support the Cobb-Douglas case and the estimated supply-side model accounts satisfactorily for the stylised features of the data, i.e. the hump shape in the labour income share coupled with the relatively stable capital-to-labour income ratio and a noticeable change in profit margins and sectoral production shares. We also produce estimates of potential output and the output gap conditional on estimated production functions and examine the sensitivity of output gap estimates with respect to the alternative parameterisation of the production function. JEL Classification: E23, E25

Consumption, habit persistence, imperfect information and the lifetime budget constraint

Based on the households' utility maximisation, a closed form approximation of the consumption function is derived and the deep parameters of the consumption function are estimated using aggregate euro area data. The novel element in our approach is the parameterisation of the information content regarding future income changes. In addition to the information regarding time series properties of the historical development of labour income, consumers have also period-specific information on future income realisations. Estimation results support the hypothesis that, although front-loaded, consumers have a lot of information on future income changes, but that also lagged consumption, through habit formation, plays an important role. JEL Classification: D12, E21Consumption, life-cycle hypothesis, wealth

Technology, utilization and inflation: what drives the New Keynesian Phillips Curve?

We argue that the New-Keynesian Phillips Curve literature has failed to deliver a convincing measure of “fundamental inflation”. We start from a careful modeling of optimal price setting allowing for non-unitary factor substitution, non-neutral technical change and timevarying factor utilization rates. This ensures the resulting real marginal cost measures match volatility reductions and level changes witnessed in many US time series. The cost measure comprises conventional counter-cyclical cost elements plus pro-cyclical (and co-varying) utilization rates. Although pro-cyclical elements dominate, real marginal costs are becoming less cyclical over time. Incorporating this richer driving variable produces more plausible price-stickiness estimates than otherwise and suggests a more balanced weight of backward and forward-looking inflation expectations than commonly found. Our results challenge existing views of inflation determinants and have important implications for modeling inflation in New-Keynesian models. JEL Classification: E20, E30cyclicality, inflation, intensive labor, Labor Share, overtime premia, production function, real marginal costs, utilization

High Performance Workplaces: the Role of Employee Involvement in a Modern Economy Evidence on the EU Directive Establishing a General Framework for Informing and Consulting Employees

This paper contains evidence submitted on the DTI green paper 'High Performance Workplaces: The Role of Employee Involvement in a Modern Economy: A Discussion Paper'. This follows on the EU Directive establishing a General Framework for Informing and Consulting Employees. The comments proceed as follows. The first section places the development of representative systems in Britain in a broad historical perspective, arguing that there have been a number of missed opportunities in the past in this area. The second section then maps the current situation - it deals with what British workers obtain by way of representation in general and information and consultation in particular. This is compared broadly in the third section with arrangements in three other major countries, the US, Germany, and France, where we suggest there are important lessons to be learnt. The fourth then deals with what British workers say they want. In the fifth section, we speculate about various scenarios and likely future developments. In the final section, answers are provided to some of the specific questions posed in the consultative document.

New Keynesian Phillips Curves: a reassessment using euro-area data

Using euro-area data, we re-examine the empirical success of New Keynesian Phillips Curves (NKPCs). The nature of our re-evaluation relies on the actual empirical underpinnings of such estimates: we find existing estimates un-robust and – given that key parameters are generally calibrated rather than estimated – potentially at odds with the data. We re-estimate with a wellspecified optimizing supply-side (which attempts to treat non-stationarity in factor income shares and mark-ups) and this allows us to derive estimates of technology parameters and marginal costs. Our resulting estimates of the euro-area NKPCs are robust, provide reasonable estimates for fixed-price durations and discount rates and embody plausible dynamic properties. Our method for identifying and estimating New Keynesian Phillips curves has general applicability to a wide set of countries and might also be used in identifying sectoral NKPCs. JEL Classification: E31Euro-Area, Inflation Dynamics, Phillips Curves, Supply-Side

Union Organization in Great Britain

Union membership and density in Britain has experienced substantial decline since 1979. The fall in private sector membership and density has been much greater than in the public sector. The size of the union sector, measured by employer recognition, has shrunk. Membership decline has been accompanied by financial decline. Much of the decline occurred before 1997, under Conservative governments. Since 1997 and the return of a Labour government, the position has in some respects stabilized. Currently, unions have a substantially reduced economic impact, but a continued, if limited, role in workplace communication and grievance handling, often as part of a voice regime including non union elements.British trade unions, union structure, union membership