Optimal overall emissions taxation in durable goods oligopoly

We analyze optimal second-best emission taxes in a durable good industry under imperfect competition. The analysis is performed for three different types of emissions and for situations where the good is rented, sold or simultaneously sold and rented. We show, for durable goods that may cause pollution in a period (or in periods) different from the production period, that the expected overall emission tax and the expected total marginal environmental damage per unit produced in each period are the relevant variables to consider in the analysis of overinternalization and in the comparison of optimal emission taxes for renting, selling and renting-selling firms. Our results allow to extend some previous results in the literature to these durable goods and provide an adequate perspective on some other results (in particular, we point out the limitations of focusing only, for those durable goods, on the level and effects of the optimal emission tax in the production period).

Income Taxation and Growth in an OLG Economy: Does Aggregate Uncertainty Play any Role?

We analyze the effects of capital income taxation on long-run growth in a stochastic, two-period overlapping generations economy. Endogenous growth is driven by a positive externality of physical capital in the production sector that makes firms exhibit an aggregate technology in equilibrium. We distinguish between capital income and labor income, and between attitudes towards risk and intertemporal substitution of consumption. We show necessary and sufficient conditions such that i) increments in the capital income taxation lead to higher equilibrium growth rates, and ii) the effect of changes in the capital income tax rate on the equilibrium growth may be of opposite signs in stochastic and in deterministic economies. Such a sign reversal is shown to be more likely depending on i) how the intertemporal elasticity of substitution compares to one, and ii) the size of second- period labor supply. Numerical simulations show that for reasonable values of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution, a sign reversal shows up only for implausibly high values of the second- period’s labor supply. The conclusion is that deterministic OLG economies are a good approximation of the effect of taxes on the equilibrium growth rate as in Smith (1996).

Optimal Taxation and Indeterminacy in the Uzawa-Lucas Model with Sector-specific Externalities

Documento de trabajo

New methods for generating populations in Markov network based EDAs: Decimation strategies and model-based template recombination

Methods for generating a new population are a fundamental component of estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs). They serve to transfer the information contained in the probabilistic model to the new generated population. In EDAs based on Markov networks, methods for generating new populations usually discard information contained in the model to gain in efficiency. Other methods like Gibbs sampling use information about all interactions in the model but are computationally very costly. In this paper we propose new methods for generating new solutions in EDAs based on Markov networks. We introduce approaches based on inference methods for computing the most probable configurations and model-based template recombination. We show that the application of different variants of inference methods can increase the EDAs’ convergence rate and reduce the number of function evaluations needed to find the optimum of binary and non-binary discrete functions.

Energy and information in Hodgkin-Huxley neurons

[EN]The generation of spikes by neurons is energetically a costly process and the evaluation of the metabolic energy required to maintain the signaling activity of neurons a challenge of practical interest. Neuron models are frequently used to represent the dynamics of real neurons but hardly ever to evaluate the electrochemical energy required to maintain that dynamics. This paper discusses the interpretation of a Hodgkin-Huxley circuit as an energy model for real biological neurons and uses it to evaluate the consumption of metabolic energy in the transmission of information between neurons coupled by electrical synapses, i.e., gap junctions. We show that for a single postsynaptic neuron maximum energy efficiency, measured in bits of mutual information per molecule of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) consumed, requires maximum energy consumption. For groups of parallel postsynaptic neurons we determine values of the synaptic conductance at which the energy efficiency of the transmission presents clear maxima at relatively very low values of metabolic energy consumption. Contrary to what could be expected, the best performance occurs at a low energy cost.

Group size and decision rules in legislative bargaining

We conduct experiments to investigate the effects of different majority requirements on bargaining outcomes in small and large groups. In particular, we use a Baron-Ferejohn protocol and investigate the effects of decision rules on delay (number of bargaining rounds needed to reach agreement) and measures of "fairness" (inclusiveness of coalitions, equality of the distribution within a coalition). We find that larger groups and unanimity rule are associated with significantly larger decision making costs in the sense that first round proposals more often fail, leading to more costly delay. The higher rate of failure under unanimity rule and in large groups is a combination of three facts: (1) in these conditions, a larger number of individuals must agree, (2) an important fraction of individuals reject offers below the equal share, and (3) proposers demand more (relative to the equal share) in large groups.

The Private Provision of International Impure Public Goods: the Case of Climate Policy

33 p.

Environmental Fiscal Reform and Unemployment in Spain

22 p.

Understanding Public Support for Externality-Correcting Taxes and Subsidies: A Lab Experiment

31 p.

Local air pollution and global climate change taxes: a distributional analysis

25 p.

A dynamic CGE modelling approach for analyzing trade-offs in climate change policy options: the case of Green Climate Fund

38 p.

Zoning a cross-border city

This paper investigates zoning in a cross-border linear city that consists of two bordering towns. In each town a local regulator has a say in the location of the local firm. The incentive to gain consumers from the other town, or not to lose local consumers, may push regulators to approve only locations for firms close enough to the frontier. When zoning is costly an asymmetric equilibrium may emerge: only one regulator resorts to zoning. In the case of towns of different sizes the regulator of the larger town is the only one that zones in an asymmetric equilibrium.

Algoritmos multi-objetivos para la optimización de una secuencia de matrices generadoras en computación cuántica topológica

Quantum Computing is a relatively modern field which simulates quantum computation conditions. Moreover, it can be used to estimate which quasiparticles would endure better in a quantum environment. Topological Quantum Computing (TQC) is an approximation for reducing the quantum decoherence problem1, which is responsible for error appearance in the representation of information. This project tackles specific instances of TQC problems using MOEAs (Multi-objective Optimization Evolutionary Algorithms). A MOEA is a type of algorithm which will optimize two or more objectives of a problem simultaneously, using a population based approach. We have implemented MOEAs that use probabilistic procedures found in EDAs (Estimation of Distribution Algorithms), since in general, EDAs have found better solutions than ordinary EAs (Evolutionary Algorithms), even though they are more costly. Both, EDAs and MOEAs are population-based algorithms. The objective of this project was to use a multi-objective approach in order to find good solutions for several instances of a TQC problem. In particular, the objectives considered in the project were the error approximation and the length of a solution. The tool we used to solve the instances of the problem was the multi-objective framework PISA. Because PISA has not too much documentation available, we had to go through a process of reverse-engineering of the framework to understand its modules and the way they communicate with each other. Once its functioning was understood, we began working on a module dedicated to the braid problem. Finally, we submitted this module to an exhaustive experimentation phase and collected results.

A Novel Micro- and Nano-Scale Positioning Sensor Based on Radio Frequency Resonant Cavities

In many micro- and nano-scale technological applications high sensitivity displacement sensors are needed, especially in ultraprecision metrology and manufacturing. In this work a new way of sensing displacement based on radio frequency resonant cavities is presented and experimentally demonstrated using a first laboratory prototype. The principle of operation of the new transducer is summarized and tested. Furthermore, an electronic interface that can be used together with the displacement transducer is designed and proved. It has been experimentally demonstrated that very high and linear sensitivity characteristic curves, in the range of some kHz/nm; are easily obtainable using this kind of transducer when it is combined with a laboratory network analyzer. In order to replace a network analyzer and provide a more affordable, self-contained, compact solution, an electronic interface has been designed, preserving as much as possible the excellent performance of the transducer, and turning it into a true standalone positioning sensor. The results obtained using the transducer together with a first prototype of the electronic interface built with cheap discrete elements show that positioning accuracies in the micrometer range are obtainable using this cost-effective solution. Better accuracies would also be attainable but using more involved and costly electronics interfaces.

Igualdad de sacrificio: una aplicación para el IRPF español

Es bien sabido que el Impuesto sobre la Renta de las Personas Físicas (IRPF) es un impuesto progresivo (aumenta la proporción a pagar cuando aumenta la renta). Aun así es importante saber si el esfuerzo o la pérdida de utilidad que asume cada individuo en el pago del impuesto es el mismo, es decir, si se cumple el principio de igualdad de sacrificio. En este trabajo se plantea si el impuesto sobre la renta en España cumplió este principio en los años 2006 y 2007, y si la reforma fiscal que hubo en estos años nos acercó o alejó de su cumplimiento. La respuesta es que, en líneas generales, sí se cumple, suponiendo esta reforma una mejora relevante para la consecución de este objetivo.