Barter in Transition Economies: Competing Explanations Confront Ukrainian Data

In this paper we survey the common explanations of barter in transition economies and expose them to detailed survey data on 165 barter deals in Ukraine in 1997. The evidence does not support the notion that soft budget constraints, lack of restructuring, or that the virtual economy are the driving forces behind barter. Further, tax avoidance is only weakly associated with the incidence of barter in Ukraine. We then explore an alternative explanation of barter as a mechanism to address transitional challenges where capital markets and economic institutions are poorly developed. First, barter helps to maintain production by creating a deal-specific collateral which softens the liquidity squeeze in the economy when credit enforcement is prohibitively costly. Second, barter helps to maintain production by preventing firms to be exploited by their input suppliers when suppliers' bargaining position is very strong due to high costs of switching suppliers. Thus, in the absence of trust and functioning capital markets barter is a self-enforcing response to imperfect input and financial markets in the former Soviet Union. The paper concludes by discussing potential long-term costs of barter arrangements, and by suggesting particular pitfalls of expansionary monetary policy in barter economies such as Ukraine and Russia

Barter in Transition Economies: Competing Explanations Confront Ukranian Data

In this paper we survey the common explanations of barter in transition economies and expose them to detailed survey data on 165 barter deals in Ukraine in 1997. The evidence does not support the notion that soft budget constraints, lack of restructuring, or that the virtual economy are the driving forces behind barter. Further, tax avoidance is only weakly associated with the incidence of barter in Ukraine. We then explore an alternative explanation of barter as a mechanism to address transitional challenges where capital markets and economic institutions are poorly developed. First, barter helps to maintain production by creating a deal-specific collateral which softens the liquidity squeeze in the economy when credit enforcement is prohibitively costly. Second, barter helps to maintain production by preventing firms to be exploited by their input suppliers when suppliers' bargaining position is very strong due to high costs of switching suppliers. Thus, in the absence of trust and functioning capital markets barter is a self-enforcing response to imperfect input and financial markets in the former Soviet Union. The paper concludes by discussing potential long-term costs of barter arrangements, and by suggesting particular pitfalls of expansionary monetary policy in barter economies such as Ukraine and Russia.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39671/3/wp287.pd

Barter in Transition Economies: Competing Explanations Confront Ukranian Data

In this paper we survey the common explanations of barter in transition economies and expose them to detailed survey data on 165 barter deals in Ukraine in 1997. The evidence does not support the notion that soft budget constraints, lack of restructuring, or that the virtual economy are the driving forces behind barter. Further, tax avoidance is only weakly associated with the incidence of barter in Ukraine. We then explore an alternative explanation of barter as a mechanism to address transitional challenges where capital markets and economic institutions are poorly developed. First, barter helps to maintain production by creating a deal-specific collateral which softens the liquidity squeeze in the economy when credit enforcement is prohibitively costly. Second, barter helps to maintain production by preventing firms to be exploited by their input suppliers when suppliers' bargaining position is very strong due to high costs of switching suppliers. Thus, in the absence of trust and functioning capital markets barter is a self-enforcing response to imperfect input and financial markets in the former Soviet Union. The paper concludes by discussing potential long-term costs of barter arrangements, and by suggesting particular pitfalls of expansionary monetary policy in barter economies such as Ukraine and Russia.financial crisis, trust, contract enforcement in transition, arrears, the virtual economy, imperfect capital markets

New patterns in steady-state chemical kinetics: intersections, coincidences, map of events (two-step mechanism)

New patterns of steady-state chemical kinetics for continuously stirred-tank reactors (CSTR) have been found, i.e., intersections, maxima and coincidences, for two-step mechanism ABC. There were found elegant analytical relationships for characteristics of these patterns (space times, values of concentrations and rates) allowing kinetic parameters to be easily determined. It was demonstrated that for the pair of species involved into the irreversible reaction (B and C), the space time of their corresponding concentration dependence intersection is invariant and does not depend on the initial conditions of the system. Maps of patterns are presented for visualization of their combinations and ranking in space time, and values of concentration and rates

Kinetic Intersections as a Source of Information on Rate Coefficients

C

The switching point between kinetic and thermodynamic control

In organic chemistry, the switching point between the kinetic and thermodynamic control regimes of two competitive, parallel reactions is widely studied. A new definition for this switching point is proposed: the time at which the rates of formation of the competing products are equal. According to this definition, the kinetic control regime is present from the beginning of the reaction, and is valid as long as the rate of formation of the kinetic product is larger than the rate of formation of the thermodynamic product. On the switching point, both rates of formation are equal, so, from this switching point the thermodynamic product has a larger rate of formation, and the thermodynamic control remains until the end of the reaction. A closed form expression is given for the proposed time of the switching point, as a function of the direct and inverse kinetic constants of both competing reactions, as well as the initial concentrations of the starting reagent and the competing products. The concept of competing control regimes is extended also to the case where the reactions start from two competitive reagents which decompose to produce a single product. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Noise, transient dynamics, and the generation of realistic interspike interval variation in square-wave burster neurons

First return maps of interspike intervals for biological neurons that generate repetitive bursts of impulses can display stereotyped structures (neuronal signatures). Such structures have been linked to the possibility of multicoding and multifunctionality in neural networks that produce and control rhythmical motor patterns. In some cases, isolating the neurons from their synaptic network revealsirregular, complex signatures that have been regarded as evidence of intrinsic, chaotic behavior. We show that incorporation of dynamical noise into minimal neuron models of square-wave bursting (either conductance-based or abstract) produces signatures akin to those observed in biological examples, without the need for fine-tuning of parameters or ad hoc constructions for inducing chaotic activity. The form of the stochastic term is not strongly constrained, and can approximate several possible sources of noise, e.g. random channel gating or synaptic bombardment. The cornerstone of this signature generation mechanism is the rich, transient, but deterministic dynamics inherent in the square-wave (saddle-node/homoclinic) mode of neuronal bursting. We show that noise causes the dynamics to populate a complex transient scaffolding or skeleton in state space, even for models that (without added noise) generate only periodic activity (whether in bursting or tonic spiking mode).Comment: REVTeX4-1, 18 pages, 9 figure

The method of fundamental solutions for nonlinear functionally graded materials

AbstractIn this paper, we investigate the application of the method of fundamental solutions (MFS) to two-dimensional steady-state heat conduction problems for both isotropic and anisotropic, single and composite (bi-materials), nonlinear functionally graded materials (FGMs). In the composite case, the interface continuity conditions are approximated in the same manner as the boundary conditions. The method is tested on several examples and its relative merits and disadvantages are discussed

Modelling the implementation of a Baggage Transport System in Newcastle upon Tyne for passengers using Mixed-Mode Travel

This paper models a proposed system that has the potential to transport baggage. It makes use of a modal choice model to examine how effective the system would be if implemented. The introduction of a baggage collection system would increase the number of passengers using public transport which would be good for the environment. The specific location of the study was Tyne and Wear and a journey from North Shields to Newcastle International Airport was chosen for the analysis. With the introduction of a new utility equation that could analyse mixed-mode travel, a baggage collection hub based in Newcastle upon Tyne city centre offered a significant number of users provided that the cost of the system was either covered in the travel ticket or provided by the airport or airline free of charge. This dedicated baggage collection system would be very expensive to introduce due to the massive amounts of work that would be required to set up the system, however, its ridership would be large therefore it could potentially recoup the development costs