Conflicting claims problem associated with cost sharing of a network

A minimum cost spanning tree (mcst) problem analyzes the way to efficiently connect individuals to a source when they are located at different places. Once the efficient tree is obtained, the question on how allocating the total cost among the involved agents defines, in a natural way, a confliicting claims situation. For instance, we may consider the endowment as the total cost of the network, whereas for each individual her claim is the maximum amount she will be allocated, that is, her connection cost to the source. Obviously, we have a confliicting claims problem, so we can apply claims rules in order to obtain an allocation of the total cost. Nevertheless, the allocation obtained by using claims rules might not satisfy some appealing properties (in particular, it does not belong to the core of the associated cooperative game). We will define other natural claims problems that appear if we analyze the maximum and minimum amount that an individual should pay in order to support the minimum cost tree. Keywords: Minimum cost spanning tree problem, Claims problem, Core JEL classification: C71, D63, D71.

Innovation and horizontal mergers in a vertically related industry

This paper analyzes the effects of horizontal mergers on innovation and consumer welfare in a vertically related industry context, in which downstream firms compete for customers with a differentiated final good and can undertake R&D activities to reduce their unit costs. Upstream and downstream horizontal mergers can take place. The results suggest that competition authorities aiming to promote innovation and consumer welfare should treat upstream and downstream mergers differently, since horizontal mergers between upstream firms are detrimental to innovation and consumer welfare. By contrast, policy makers should evaluate the market characteristics under downstream integration. We show that downstream horizontal mergers can be both innovation and consumer welfare enhancing in the short run, when the markets are sufficiently small. Keywords: Horizontal Mergers. Innovation. Vertical Relations. JEL Classification Numbers: L22, L41, O32

Platform pricing and consumer foresight: The case of airports

Airports have become platforms that derive revenues from both aeronautical and commercial activities. The demand for these services is characterized by a one-way complementarity in that only air travelers can purchase retail goods at the airport terminals. We analyze a model of optimal airport behavior in which this one-way complementarity is subject to consumer foresight, i.e., consumers may not anticipate in full the ex post retail surplus when purchasing a flight ticket. An airport sets landing fees, and, in addition, also chooses the retail market structure by selecting the number of retail concessions to be awarded. We find that, with perfectly myopic consumers, the airport chooses to attract more passengers via low landing fees, and also sets the minimum possible number of retailers in order to increase the concessions’ revenues, from which it obtains the largest share of profits. However, even a very small amount of anticipation of the consumer surplus from retail activities changes significantly the airport’s choices: the optimal airport policy is dependent on the degree of differentiation in the retail market. When consumers instead have perfect foresight, the airport establishes a very competitive retail market, where consumers enjoy a large surplus. This attracts passengers and it is exploited by the airport by charging higher landing fees, which then constitute the largest share of its profits. Overall, the airport’s profits are maximal when consumers have perfect foresight. Keywords: two-sided markets, platform pricing, one-way demand complementarity, consumer foresight. JEL classification: L1, L2, L93.

The Effects of Corruption and Seigniorage on Growth and Inflation

In the last two decades, cases of corruption have been unveiled in different countries, raising public awareness and reinforcing a trend in which society expects more from their leaders. Our objective in this paper is to examine the effects of corruption and seigniorage on inflation and growth rates. The model used in this article is an extension of the model used by Huang and Wei (2006). We find interesting results and one of them is that, under some conditions, corruption has a positive impact on the growth rate. JEL classification : D73, E52, E58, E62. Keywords : Corruption; Fiscal Policy; Growth; Monetary Policy; Seigniorage.

Generalized three-sided assignment markets: consistency and the core

A class of three-sided markets (and games) is considered, where value is generated by pairs or triplets of agents belonging to different sectors, as well as by individuals. For these markets we analyze the situation that arises when some agents leave the market with some payoff To this end, we introduce the derived market (and game) and relate it to the Davis and Maschler (1965) reduced game. Consistency with respect to the derived market, together with singleness best and individual anti-monotonicity axiomatically characterize the core for these generalized three-sided assignment markets. These markets may have an empty core, but we define a balanced subclass, where the worth of each triplet is defined as the addition of the worths of the pairs it contains. Keywords: Multi-sided assignment market, Consistency, Core, Nucleolus. JEL Classification: C71, C78

Is Self-employment a Way to Escape from Skill Mismatches?

During the last two decades, skill mismatches have become one of the most important issues of policy concern in the EU (European Commission, 2008). Hence, the literature has stressed the necessity to reduce skill mismatches. We contribute to this literature by analyzing the impact of the transition from salaried employment to self-employment on self-reported skill mismatches. To do so, we resort to the European Community Household Panel (ECHP) covering the period 1994–2001. Using panel data, we track individuals over time and measure their self-reported skill mismatch before and after the transition. Our empirical findings indicate not only that the average self-employee is less likely to declare being skill-mismatched but also that those individuals who transit from salaried employment to self-employment reduce their probability of skill mismatches after the transition. Keywords: Self-employment, skill mismatches, salaried employment. JEL Classification: L26, J24, B23 __________________________

Banks, Lies and Bricks: The Determinants of Home Value Inflation in Spain during the Housing Boom

During the first decade of this century, Spain experienced the most important economic and housing boom in its recent history. This situation led the lending industry to dramatically expand through the mortgage market. The high competition among lenders caused a dramatic lowering of credit standards. During this period, lenders operating in the Spanish mortgage market artificially inflated appraised home values in order to draw larger mortgages. By doing this, lenders gave financially constrained households access to mortgage credit. In this paper, we analyze this phenomenon for this first time. To do so, we resort to a unique dataset of matched mortgage-dwelling-borrower characteristics covering the period 2004–2010. Our data allow us to construct an unbiased measure of property’s over-appraisal, since transaction prices in our data also includes any potential side payment in the transactions. Our findings indicate that i) in Spain, appraised home values were inflated on average by around 30% with respect to transaction prices; ii) creditconstrained households were more likely to be involved in mortgages with inflated house values; and iii) a regional indicator of competition in the lending market suggests that inflated appraisal values were also more likely to appear in more competitive regional mortgage markets. Keywords: Housing demand, appraisal values, house prices, housing bubble, credit constraints, mortgage market. JEL Classification: R21, R31

Energy efficiency determinants: An empirical analysis of Spanish innovative firms

This paper examines the extent to which innovative Spanish firms pursue improvements in energy efficiency (EE) as an objective of innovation. The increase in energy consumption and its impact on greenhouse gas emissions justifies the greater attention being paid to energy efficiency and especially to industrial EE. The ability of manufacturing companies to innovate and improve their EE has a substantial influence on attaining objectives regarding climate change mitigation. Despite the effort to design more efficient energy policies, the EE determinants in manufacturing firms have been little studied in the empirical literature. From an exhaustive sample of Spanish manufacturing firms and using a logit model, we examine the energy efficiency determinants for those firms that have innovated. To carry out the econometric analysis, we use panel data from the Community Innovation Survey for the period 2008‐2011. Our empirical results underline the role of size among the characteristics of firms that facilitate energy efficiency innovation. Regarding company behaviour, firms that consider the reduction of environmental impacts to be an important objective of innovation and that have introduced organisational innovations are more likely to innovate with the objective of increasing energy efficiency. Keywords: energy efficiency, corporate targets, innovation, Community Innovation Survey. JEL Classification: Q40, Q55, O31

A Characterization of single-peaked preferences

We identify in this paper two conditions that characterize the domain of single-peaked preferences on the line in the following sense: a preference profile satisfies these two properties if and only if there exists a linear order $L$ over the set of alternatives such that these preferences are single-peaked with respect L. The first property states that for any subset of alternatives the set of alternatives considered as the worst by all agents cannot contains more than 2 elements. The second property states that two agents cannot disagree on the relative ranking of two alternatives with respect to a third alternative but agree on the (relative) ranking of a fourth one. Classification-JEL: D71, C78

Labor productivity in Spain: 1977-2002

This study examines the evolution of labor productivity across Spanish regions during the period from 1977 to 2002. By applying the kernel technique, we estimate the effects of the Transition process on labor productivity and its main sources. We find that Spanish regions experienced a major convergence process in labor productivity and in human capital in the 1977-1993 period. We also pinpoint the existence of a transition co-movement between labor productivity and human capital. Conversely, the dynamics of investment in physical capital seem unrelated to the transition dynamics of labor productivity. The lack of co-evolution can be addressed as one of the causes of the current slowdown in productivity. Classification-JEL: J24, N34, N940, O18, O52, R10

Generic object classification for autonomous robots

Un dels principals problemes de la interacció dels robots autònoms és el coneixement de l'escena. El reconeixement és fonamental per a solucionar aquest problema i permetre als robots interactuar en un escenari no controlat. En aquest document presentem una aplicació pràctica de la captura d'objectes, de la normalització i de la classificació de senyals triangulars i circulars. El sistema s'introdueix en el robot Aibo de Sony per a millorar-ne la interacció. La metodologia presentada s'ha comprobat en simulacions i problemes de categorització reals, com ara la classificació de senyals de trànsit, amb resultats molt prometedors.

A classification, up to hyperbolicity, of groups given by 2 generators and one relator of length 8

"Vegeu el resum a l'inici del document del fitxer adjunt."

Combining classification techniques to define topo-climatic landscapes

Landscape classification tackles issues related to the representation and analysis of continuous and variable ecological data. In this study, a methodology is created in order to define topo-climatic landscapes (TCL) in the north-west of Catalonia (north-east of the Iberian Peninsula). TCLs relate the ecological behaviour of a landscape in terms of topography, physiognomy and climate, which compound the main drivers of an ecosystem. Selected variables are derived from different sources such as remote sensing and climatic atlas. The proposed methodology combines unsupervised interative cluster classification with a supervised fuzzy classification. As a result, 28 TCLs have been found for the study area which may be differentiated in terms of vegetation physiognomy and vegetation altitudinal range type. Furthermore a hierarchy among TCLs is set, enabling the merging of clusters and allowing for changes of scale. Through the topo-climatic landscape map, managers may identify patches with similar environmental conditions and asses at the same time the uncertainty involved.

II Workshop on the use of Computed Tomography (CT) in pig carcass classification. Other CT applications: live animals and meat technology, 16-17th April 2009, Monells (Girona), Spain

Es va realitzar el II Workshop en Tomografia Computeritzada (TC) a Monells. El primer dia es va dedicar íntegrament a la utilització del TC en temes de classificació de canals porcines, i el segon dia es va obrir a altres aplicacions del TC, ja sigui en animals vius o en diferents aspectes de qualitat de la carn o els productes carnis. Al workshop hi van assistir 45 persones de 12 països de la UE. The II workshop on the use of Computed Tomography (CT) in pig carcass classification. Other CT applications: live animals and meat technology was held in Monells. The first day it was dedicated to the use of CT in pig carcass classification. The segond day it was open to otehr CT applications, in live animals or in meat and meat products quality. There were 45 assistants of 12 EU countries.