Technological Transfers, Limited Commitment and Growth

This paper examines the effect on economic growth and welfare of the access to external financing which results in technological transfers to a developing country from the rest of the world. We consider a two-sector stochastic growth model and compute optimal accumulation mechanisms in the environments which differ in the extent to which the borrowing contracts are enforced. Furthermore, we examine different assumptions concerning the default punishment and their implications for growth, welfare and borrowing patterns. We show that under limited commitment lack of technological transfers may result in scarce capital flows to developing countries and substantially reduce their growth opportunities. Presence of technological transfers in this environment induces a developing country to use foreign capital to both smooth consumption and invest more heavily in all the sectors of the economy including those unaffected by the productivity benefits. Our findings suggest that technological transfers may play a role of an important enforcement mechanism. In addition, our model can account for the rich structure of observed capital flows to low- and middle income countriesIncentive compatibility, technological diffusion, international capital flows, default risk, numerical algorithm.

Nanoplasmon-enabled macroscopic thermal management

In numerous applications of energy harvesting via transformation of light into heat the focus recently shifted towards highly absorptive materials featuring nanoplasmons. It is currently established that noble metals-based absorptive plasmonic platforms deliver significant light-capturing capability and can be viewed as super-absorbers of optical radiation. However, direct experimental evidence of plasmon-enabled macroscopic temperature increase that would result from these efficient absorptive properties is scarce. Here we derive a general quantitative method of characterizing light-capturing properties of a given heat-generating absorptive layer by macroscopic thermal imaging. We further monitor macroscopic areas that are homogeneously heated by several degrees with plasmon nanostructures that occupy a mere 8% of the surface, leaving it essentially transparent and evidencing significant heat generation capability of nanoplasmon-enabled light capture. This has a direct bearing to thermophotovoltaics and other applications where thermal management is crucial

Variable Capacity Utilization, Ambient Temperature Shocks and Generation Asset Valuation

This paper discusses generation asset valuation in a framework where capital utilization decisions are endogenous. We use real options approach for valuation of natural gas fuelled turbines. Capital utilization choices that we explore include turning on/off the unit, operating the unit at increased firing temperatures (overfiring), and conducting preventive maintenance. Overfiring provides capacity enhancement which comes at the expense of reduced maintenance interval and increased costs of part replacement. We consider the costs and benefits of overfiring in attempt to maximize the asset value by optimally exercising the overfire option. In addition to stochastic processes governing prices, we incorporate an exogenous productivity shock: ambient temperature. We consider how variation in ambient temperature affects the asset value through its effect on gas turbine’s productivity.Electricity generation asset valuation; overfire option; price uncertainty

Technological Transfers, Limited Commitment and Growth

Evidence shows that there are substantial rich-to-poor international capital flows although not as abundant as differences in rates of return would suggest. These flows are procylcical: abundant in good times and scarce in bad times. Conventional growth models face certain difficulties in accounting for this pattern. In this paper, we propose a dynamic model of capital flows to developing countries which is qualitatively consistent with these empirical regularities. The model is based on three main premises: i) international lending contracts are imperfectly enforceable; ii) access to the international financial markets results in technological transfers to a developing country from the rest of the world; iii) some of the productivity gains associated with the access to external financing are perishable. We solve for transitional dynamics of the model economy with endogenously incomplete markets and compare the results with the solutions obtained from the perfect risk-sharing and autarkic environments. Our findings suggest that technological transfers may play a role of an important enforcement mechanism. In our framework, existence of substantial rich-to-poor capital flows is not inconsistent with the presence of default risk.Incentive compatibility; technological diffusion; international capital flows; default risk

Focus on magnetoplasmonics

In this 'focus on' collection, a snapshot of the new, fast emerging field of magnetoplasmonics is presented. The research in the field deals with the combination of plasmonics and magnetism to elucidate the fundamentals of spinplasmon interactions and reach new functionalities such as the enhancement of magneto-optical activity in various materials, active control of plasmons with weak magnetic fields, magnetoplasmonics-based bio- and chemical sensing, magnetophotonic and magnetoplasmonic crystals as modulators of light transmission and reflection, and many others

Nanoscale magnetophotonics

This Perspective surveys the state-of-the-art and future prospects of science and technology employing the nanoconfined light (nanophotonics and nanoplasmonics) in combination with magnetism. We denote this field broadly as nanoscale magnetophotonics. We include a general introduction to the field and describe the emerging magneto-optical effects in magnetoplasmonic and magnetophotonic nanostructures supporting localized and propagating plasmons. Special attention is given to magnetoplasmonic crystals with transverse magnetization and the associated nanophotonic non-reciprocal effects, and to magneto-optical effects in periodic arrays of nanostructures. We give also an overview of the applications of these systems in biological and chemical sensing, as well as in light polarization and phase control. We further review the area of nonlinear magnetophotonics, the semiconductor spin-plasmonics, and the general principles and applications of opto-magnetism and nano-optical ultrafast control of magnetism and spintronics

Printed in the United States of America

Theoretically, two-country real business cycle models with time-separable preferences and complete markets predict that cross-country investment correlations will be negative. The opposite is true in the data. This phenomenon has been described by Backus et al. [in Cooley (ed.), Frontiers of Business Cycle Research, pp. 331-356 (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995)] as a quantity anomaly. This paper proposes to address this discrepancy by allowing the nonseparability of preferences over time. Here, we incorporate internal habit formation into consumption. Our model predicts the empirically plausible value of cross-country investment correlation without sacrificing other business cycle statistics. The results are robust to the degree of spillovers and persistence in the specification of the productivity shocks

Plasmon-Interband Coupling in Nickel Nanoantennas

Plasmonic excitations are usually attributed to the free electron response at visible frequencies in the classic plasmonic metals Au and Ag. However, the vast majority of metals exhibit spectrally localized interband transitions or broad interband transition backgrounds in the energy range of interest for nanoplasmonics. Nevertheless, the interaction of interband transitions with localized plasmons in optical nanoantennas has hitherto received relatively little attention, probably because interband transitions are regarded as highly unwanted due to their strong damping effect on the localized plasmons. However, with an increasing number of metals (beyond Au and Ag) being considered for nanoplasmonic applications such as hydrogen sensing (Pd), UV-SERS (Al), or magnetoplasmonics (Ni, Fe, Co), a deeper conceptual understanding of the interactions between a localized plasmon mode and an interband transition is very important. Here, as a generic example, we examine the interaction of a localized (in energy space) interband transition with spectrally tunable localized plasmonic excitations and unearth the underlying physics in a phenomenological approach for the case of Ni disk nanoantennas. We find that plasmon interband interactions can be understood in the classical picture of two coupled harmonic oscillators, exhibiting the typical energy anticrossing fingerprint of a coupled system approaching the strong-coupling regime