Calibration of CES functions for real-world multisectoral modeling

We show how to calibrate CES production and utility functions when indirect taxation affecting inputs and consumption is present. These calibrated functions can then be used in computable general equilibrium models. Taxation modifies the standard calibration procedures since any taxed good has two associated prices and a choice of reference value units has to be made. We also provide an example of computer code to solve the calibration of CES utilities under two alternate normalizations. To our knowledge, this paper fills a methodological gap in the CGE literature.

Foundations for contest success functions

In the literature the outcome of contests is either interpreted as win probabilities or as shares of the prize. With this in mind, we examine two approaches to contest success functions. In the first we analyze the implications of contestants' incomplete information concerning the "type" of the contest administrator. While in the case of two contestants this approach can rationalize prominent contest success functions, we show that it runs into difficulties when there are more agents. Our second approach interprets contest success functions as sharing rules and establishes a connection to bargaining and claims problems which is independent of the number of contestants. Both approaches provide foundations for popular contest success functions and guidelines for the definition of new ones. Keywords: Endogenous Contests, Contest Success Function. JEL Classification: C72 (Noncooperative Games), D72 (Economic Models of Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Elections), D74 (Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances).

Generalized multiresolution analyses with given multiplicity functions

Generalized multiresolution analyses are increasing sequences of subspaces of a Hilbert space H that fail to be multiresolution analyses in the sense of wavelet theory because the core subspace does not have an orthonormal basis generated by a fixed scaling function. Previous authors have studied a multiplicity function m which, loosely speaking, measures the failure of the GMRA to be an MRA. When the Hilbert space H is L2(Rn), the possible multiplicity functions have been characterized by Baggett and Merrill. Here we start with a function m satisfying a consistency condition which is known to be necessary, and build a GMRA in an abstract Hilbert space with multiplicity function m.

The Timing of labor demand

We examine the timing of firms' operations in a formal model of labor demand. Merging a variety of data sets from Portugal from 1995-2004, we describe temporal patterns of firms' demand for labor and estimate production-functions and relative labor-demand equations. The results demonstrate the existence of substitution of employment across times of the day/week and show that legislated penalties for work at irregular hours induce firms to alter their operating schedules. The results suggest a role for such penalties in an unregulated labor market, such as the United States, in which unusually large fractions of work are performed at night and on weekends.

Assessing the assignation of public subsidies: Do the experts choose the most efficient R&D projects?

The implementation of public programs to support business R&D projects requires the establishment of a selection process. This selection process faces various difficulties, which include the measurement of the impact of the R&D projects as well as selection process optimization among projects with multiple, and sometimes incomparable, performance indicators. To this end, public agencies generally use the peer review method, which, while presenting some advantages, also demonstrates significant drawbacks. Private firms, on the other hand, tend toward more quantitative methods, such as Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), in their pursuit of R&D investment optimization. In this paper, the performance of a public agency peer review method of project selection is compared with an alternative DEA method.

Innovation, R&D spillovers and productivity: the role of knowledge-intensive services

This paper analyses the performance of companies’ R&D and innovation and the effects of intra- and inter-industry R&D spillover on firms’ productivity in Catalonia. The paper deals simultaneously with the performance of manufacturing and service firms, with the aim of highlighting the growing role of knowledge-intensive services in promoting innovation and productivity gains. We find that intra-industry R&D spillovers have an important effect on the productivity level of manufacturing firms, and the inter-industrial R&D spillovers related to computer and software services also play an important role, especially in high-tech manufacturing industries. The main conclusion is that the traditional classification of manufactured goods and services no longer makes sense in the ‘knowledge economy’ and in Catalonia the regional policy makers will have to design policies that favour inter-industrial R&D flows, especially from high-tech services.

Analytic approximation of matrix functions in Lp

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Differentiability of functions of contractions

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The simultaneous conjugacy problem in groups of piecewise linear functions

Guba and Sapir asked, in their joint paper [8], if the simultaneous conjugacy problem was solvable in Diagram Groups or, at least, for Thompson's group F. We give an elementary proof for the solution of the latter question. This relies purely on the description of F as the group of piecewise linear orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of the unit. The techniques we develop allow us also to solve the ordinary conjugacy problem as well, and we can compute roots and centralizers. Moreover, these techniques can be generalized to solve the same questions in larger groups of piecewise-linear homeomorphisms.

Does Internationalization Alter the R&D-Productivity Relationship?

R&D investment is an important driver of productivity gains. However, firms differ in their ability to appropiate the returns to their R&D efforts. This paper analyses to what extent firm's internationalization influences the endogenous relation between R&D and productivity. In particular, we assess the contribution of R&D to productivity for a panel of UK firms that differ in their degree of internationalization. We find that, on average, multinationals obtain higher gains from their investment in R&D. However, the influence of internationalization on the contribution of R&D to productivity varies along the distribution of the returns to R&D. Keywords: R&D, Multinationals, Productivity. JEL Codes: C14, D24, F23.

A doubling measure on R(d) can charge a rectifiable curve

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Locally univalent functions, VMOA, and the Dirichlet space

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Determinación cualitativa de los componentes del cemento portland CEM I 52,5-R endurecido

Se pretende contribuir al esclarecimiento de la causa o causas de la importante disminución de la resistencia de las pastas de cemento portland sometidas a altas temperaturas. Para ello el primer paso y el que desarrolla este trabajo final de carrera es la determinación de los diferentes componentes de las pastas de cemento portland y más concretamente las fases en las que se encuentran los C-S-H a diferentes edades ya que son los responsables de las principales resistencias mecánicas de los materiales realizados con cemento portland, como los morteros y los hormigones.

Inversion of analytic characteristic functions and infinite convolutions of exponential and Laplace densities

This paper shows that certain quotients of entire functions are characteristic functions. Under some conditions, we provide expressions for the densities of such characteristic functions which turn out to be generalized Dirichlet series which in turn can be expressed as an infinite linear combination of exponential or Laplace densities. We apply these results to several examples.