A note on cash-in-advance constraints in continuous time

This paper demonstrates a robust proof of the continuous-time transformations of Stockman's cash-in-advance constraints. When the constraint applies to consumption and capital purchases, monetary growth lowers steady state consumption and capital. When the constraint applies only to consumption purchases, monetary growth is superneutral.Cash-in-Advance Constraints

Monetary Non-Superneutrality and Endogenous Time Preference in an Infinitely Lived, Representative Agent Model

This model demonstrates a restatement of the Mundell-Tobin effect and monetary non-superneutrality using an infinitely lived, representative agent model. The rate of time preference is assumed to be an increasing function of the total value of current financial wealth. An increase in the monetary growth rate reduces the value of real assets and the rate of time preference, which raises savings, consumption and the capital stock. This model offers an optimizing equivalent to descriptive models that assume savings are a decreasing function of wealth. This confirms Epstein and Hynes' intuition without being prone to the counterintuitive assumptions of Uzawa.Monetary Non-Superneutrality, Time Preference, Financial Assets

A note on cash−in−advance constraints in continuous time

This paper demonstrates a robust proof of the continuous−time transformations of Stockmanâs cash−in−advance constraints. When the constraint applies to consumption and capital purchases, monetary growth lowers steady state consumption and capital. When the constraint applies only to consumption purchases, monetary growth is superneutral.Cash-in-advance constraints, monetary growth, superneutrality, Tobin Effect

Wealth effects in a cash-in-advance economy

This paper examines the monetary growth implications of combining Stockman's cash-in-advance constraint on consumption and capital goods and an endogenous rate of time preference that is an increasing function of real wealth. The cash-in-advance constraint imposes an investment tax that reduces steady state consumption and capital. However, endogenous time preference wealth effects link the real and monetary sectors to yield a Mundell-Tobin effect. Cash-in-advance constraint effects dominate endogenous time preference wealth effects so that monetary growth reduces steady state capital and consumption.cash-in-advance constraints

A Note on Endogenous Time Preference and Monetary Non-Superneutrality

We suggest a simple variant of Uzawa preferences which has the same predictions as his formulation, but is less prone to criticism. We assume that the rate of time preference is an increasing function of the total value of current financial assets. It is shown that an increase in the rate of money growth will initially reduce the real value of financial assets, reducing the rate of time preference, increasing savings and the steady state capital stock. This provides a restatement of the Mundell-Tobin effect in an optimizing framework.Monetary Non-Superneutrality, Time Preference, Financial Assets

Promotion of STEM education in Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET)

Vocational and Professional Education and Training (VPET) enhances learners to acquire professional knowledge, apply practical skills and develop positive workplace attitudes to support the long-term development of a country or a city. Established in 1982, the Vocational Training Council (VTC) is the largest vocational and professional education and training provider (VTC 2016) in Hong Kong. Through a wide range of pre-employment and in-service programmes, it establishes valuable credentials for approximately 250,000 students each year with internationally recognised qualifications. As a member institution of VTC, the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) offers fulltime and part-time programmes - covering an array of disciplines and at levels ranging from higher diploma to certificate - nurturing talents valued by industries. STEM (Wikipedia 2016), an acronym that refers to the academic disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. STEM (Education Bureau, Hong Kong 2015) plays a pivotal role in educating students to meet the rapid changes and continuous challenges in our society and all over the world due to swift economic, scientific and technological developments. In alignment with this worldwide trend in education, the promotion of STEM in VPET, especially in the Applied Science (AS), Engineering (ENG) and Information Technology (IT) Disciplines, has been the major focus of development in VTC for years. In this paper, various STEM education strategies under VTC will be addressed. One important milestone is the setup of STEM Education Centre to serve as a platform for cross-disciplinary projects for STEM students and to promote STEM education to the public and primary/secondary school students through seminars, workshops and international events. Pertaining to the internationalisation of vocational and professional education, the implementation of exchange programmes in STEM study with overseas countries, local students and their counterparts is another strategic development of VTC. It broadens students’ horizon and generates their inspirations in team work and collaboration projects. The Engineering Discipline in IVE has completed a number of successful workshops with MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) students, in which IVE students were inspired to explore their learning, employing different learning methods and have gained insights into the development of STEM industries, as well as interests in STEM subjects. In June 2016, as another important event to internationalise VPET, VTC organised an international STEM Students Forum in the WorldDidac Asia in Hong Kong. This provided a golden opportunity for the local and overseas students from Australia, UK and Singapore to exchange a wealth of information from different perspectives in STEM education. A similar international STEM forum is underway for 2017 covering sessions with outstanding STEM projects from academic institutions, to study STEM teaching and learning pedagogy, and to look into the STEM project development with VTC students. Other strategies such as Science and Mathematics Help Desk, Technology Enhanced Learning and Teacher Support will also be discussed in the paper

Industrialized building systems: Strategic outlook for manufactured construction in Malaysia

The Malaysian construction industry (CI) orchestrates an essential role in generating wealth for the nation and facilitates the development of the social and economic well-being of the country. A myriad of definitions and classifications, such as off-site construction (OSC), modern method of construction (MMC), offsite manufacturing (OSM), off-site production (OSP), preassembly, and prefabrication, are worth examination. The term and classification were often misinterpreted as a system limited only for construction of buildings. In response to the CIMP, championed by CIDB, the industry has been urged to use innovative construction techniques, methods, and technologies to shift from traditional practices to IBS construction. The contractors often moan about the lack of incentives in implementing IBS for the short and long term; private organizations will require quick wins to convince top management and operational staff and to incorporate an organizational IBS strategy in the long term

Determination of an indicator for the devaluation of houses caused by earthquakes in Groningen:A secondary analysis of the relationship between physical indicators and reported damage, and a pragmatic method for estimating the devaluation calculating for calculation of

The paper discusses the choice of an appropriate dependent variable in hedonic price models estimating the effect of induced earthquakes in Groningen. Ideally, a latent variable would be preferred. As a substitute, an indicator is selected from a range of physical variables, determined by calculated peak ground velocities with specific thresholds. It is argued that the selection of the most appropriate threshold value should not be based on technical considerations, but on its correlation with the level of reported damages. That is because prior research indicated that damage is the most important factor for prospective buyers considering the acquisition of a house in the area at risk