The efficiency of direct payments versus tax reductions under uncertainty

This paper analyzes the optimal behavior of farmers in the presence of direct payments and uncertainty. In an empirical analysis for Switzerland, it confirms previously obtained theoretical results and determines the magnitude of the theoretical predicted effects. The results show that direct payments increase agricultural production between 3.7% to 4.8%. Alternatively to direct payments, the production effect of tax reductions is evaluated in order to determine its magnitude. The empirical analysis corroborates the theoretical results of the literature and demonstrates that tax reductions are also distorting, but to a substantially lesser degree if losses are not offset. However, tax reductions, independently whether losses are offset or not, lead to higher government spending than pure direct payments

The efficiency of antigen recognition by CD8+ CTL clones is determined by the frequency of serial TCR engagement.

Using H-2Kd-restricted CTL clones, which are specific for a photoreactive derivative of the Plasmodium berghei circumsporozoite peptide PbCS(252-260) (SYIPSAEKI) and permit assessment of TCR-ligand interactions by TCR photoaffinity labeling, we have previously identified several peptide derivative variants for which TCR-ligand binding and the efficiency of Ag recognition deviated by fivefold or more. Here we report that the functional CTL response (cytotoxicity and IFN-gamma production) correlated with the rate of TCR-ligand complex dissociation, but not the avidity of TCR-ligand binding. While peptide antagonists exhibited very rapid TCR-ligand complex dissociation, slightly slower dissociation was observed for strong agonists. Conversely and surprisingly, weak agonists typically displayed slower dissociation than the wild-type agonists. Acceleration of TCR-ligand complex dissociation by blocking CD8 participation in TCR-ligand binding increased the efficiency of Ag recognition in cases where dissociation was slow. In addition, permanent TCR engagement by TCR-ligand photocross-linking completely abolished sustained intracellular calcium mobilization, which is required for T cell activation. These results indicate that the functional CTL response depends on the frequency of serial TCR engagement, which, in turn, is determined by the rate of TCR-ligand complex dissociation.

Space for thought: Representation of body boundaries and intellectual efficiency in children

Aim: The psychoanalytic theories of Bion, Anzieu, Berger and Gibello postulate that the development of thinking depends upon the formation of a psychic space. This thinking space has its origin in the body and in our interpersonal relations. This study aims to validate this psychodynamic hypothesis. Method: A group of 8- to 14-year-old children participated in this research. The presence of a thinking space was operationalized by the "barrier" and "penetration" scores on the Rorschach's Fisher and Cleveland scales and intellectual efficiency was measured using a short version of the WISC-IV. Results: Results show that extreme scores on the "barrier" and "penetration" variables predict a lower intellectual level than average scores on the same variables. Conclusion: The development of thinking and personality are undoubtedly linked and the "barrier" and "penetration" variables are useful measures when evaluating the development of a space for thought.

Iowa Certified Nursing Assistant Wage and Benefit Survey, June 2001

Iowa Certified Nursing Assistant Wage and Benefit Survey

Evidence-based Economic Policy - Three Essays in Applied Microeconometrics

Over thirty years ago, Leamer (1983) - among many others - expressed doubts about the quality and usefulness of empirical analyses for the economic profession by stating that "hardly anyone takes data analyses seriously. Or perhaps more accurately, hardly anyone takes anyone else's data analyses seriously" (p.37). Improvements in data quality, more robust estimation methods and the evolution of better research designs seem to make that assertion no longer justifiable (see Angrist and Pischke (2010) for a recent response to Leamer's essay). The economic profes- sion and policy makers alike often rely on empirical evidence as a means to investigate policy relevant questions. The approach of using scientifically rigorous and systematic evidence to identify policies and programs that are capable of improving policy-relevant outcomes is known under the increasingly popular notion of evidence-based policy. Evidence-based economic policy often relies on randomized or quasi-natural experiments in order to identify causal effects of policies. These can require relatively strong assumptions or raise concerns of external validity. In the context of this thesis, potential concerns are for example endogeneity of policy reforms with respect to the business cycle in the first chapter, the trade-off between precision and bias in the regression-discontinuity setting in chapter 2 or non-representativeness of the sample due to self-selection in chapter 3. While the identification strategies are very useful to gain insights into the causal effects of specific policy questions, transforming the evidence into concrete policy conclusions can be challenging. Policy develop- ment should therefore rely on the systematic evidence of a whole body of research on a specific policy question rather than on a single analysis. In this sense, this thesis cannot and should not be viewed as a comprehensive analysis of specific policy issues but rather as a first step towards a better understanding of certain aspects of a policy question. The thesis applies new and innovative identification strategies to policy-relevant and topical questions in the fields of labor economics and behavioral environmental economics. Each chapter relies on a different identification strategy. In the first chapter, we employ a difference- in-differences approach to exploit the quasi-experimental change in the entitlement of the max- imum unemployment benefit duration to identify the medium-run effects of reduced benefit durations on post-unemployment outcomes. Shortening benefit duration carries a double- dividend: It generates fiscal benefits without deteriorating the quality of job-matches. On the contrary, shortened benefit durations improve medium-run earnings and employment possibly through containing the negative effects of skill depreciation or stigmatization. While the first chapter provides only indirect evidence on the underlying behavioral channels, in the second chapter I develop a novel approach that allows to learn about the relative impor- tance of the two key margins of job search - reservation wage choice and search effort. In the framework of a standard non-stationary job search model, I show how the exit rate from un- employment can be decomposed in a way that is informative on reservation wage movements over the unemployment spell. The empirical analysis relies on a sharp discontinuity in unem- ployment benefit entitlement, which can be exploited in a regression-discontinuity approach to identify the effects of extended benefit durations on unemployment and survivor functions. I find evidence that calls for an important role of reservation wage choices for job search be- havior. This can have direct implications for the optimal design of unemployment insurance policies. The third chapter - while thematically detached from the other chapters - addresses one of the major policy challenges of the 21st century: climate change and resource consumption. Many governments have recently put energy efficiency on top of their agendas. While pricing instru- ments aimed at regulating the energy demand have often been found to be short-lived and difficult to enforce politically, the focus of energy conservation programs has shifted towards behavioral approaches - such as provision of information or social norm feedback. The third chapter describes a randomized controlled field experiment in which we discuss the effective- ness of different types of feedback on residential electricity consumption. We find that detailed and real-time feedback caused persistent electricity reductions on the order of 3 to 5 % of daily electricity consumption. Also social norm information can generate substantial electricity sav- ings when designed appropriately. The findings suggest that behavioral approaches constitute effective and relatively cheap way of improving residential energy-efficiency.

Determinants sociodemogràfics, incentius i rendiments econòmics de l'aprenentage de l'idioma Català per part de la població immigrant a Catalunya

En aquest projecte s’han estudiat diferents aspectes relacionats amb l’aprenentatge del català per part de la població immigrant. Aquest es un tema rellevant donat que les habilitats idiomàtiques dels immigrants es una altra forma de capital humà, que no només facilita la seva integració social, sinó que també incrementa les seves oportunitats laborals. En aquest estudi s’ha enfocat l’aprenentatge de l’idioma català per part de la població immigrant com una inversió de la qual es deriven costos i beneficis. Una qüestió rellevant és quins son els incentius que els immigrants que ja parlen el castellà, bé per que és la seva llengua materna o per que l’han après amb posterioritat, tenen per aprendre la llengua catalana. Aquest estudi es encara més interessant si considerem aquells immigrants que no tenen un nivell fluït del castellà, i encara més els que arriben a Catalunya sense conèixer cap de les dues llegües oficials. Aquest estudi es centra en els determinants econòmics i demogràfics del nivell de coneixement del català entre els immigrants a Catalunya. En aquest sentit, és clau determinar el rol que juguen variables com el grau d’exposició, eficiència i els incentius econòmics, com per exemple les conseqüències laborals (salaris i oportunitat de treball). Tanmateix, també es important determinar si viure en entorns on hi ha una gran concentració d’immigrants d’un mateix país exerceix un efecte depressor en l’aprenentatge del català per part dels immigrants. La segona part del projecte ha consistit en estimar un model per contrastar la hipòtesi de si el coneixement del català per part dels immigrants implica un millor salari. Per altra banda, també analitzarem si aquest coneixement del català implícita tenir accés a millors oportunitats de treball. La confirmació d’aquestes hipòtesis implicaria que els immigrants realment tenen un incentiu econòmic per invertir en l’aprenentatge del català.     

Interplay of spectral efficiency, power and doppler spectrum for reference-signal-assisted wireless communication

Expressions relating spectral efficiency, power, and Doppler spectrum, are derived for Rayleigh-faded wireless channels with Gaussian signal transmission. No side information on the state of the channel is assumed at the receiver. Rather, periodic reference signals are postulated in accordance with the functioning of most wireless systems. The analysis relies on a well-established lower bound, generally tight and asymptotically exact at low SNR. In contrast with most previous studies, which relied on block-fading channel models, a continuous-fading model is adopted. This embeds the Doppler spectrum directly in the derived expressions, imbuing them with practical significance. Closed-form relationships are obtained for the popular Clarke-Jakes spectrum and informative expansions, valid for arbitrary spectra, are found for the low- and high-power regimes. While the paper focuses on scalar channels, the extension to multiantenna settings is also discussed.

Spectral efficiency in reference-signal-assisted low-power wireless communication

Expressions relating spectral efficiency, power and Doppler spectrum are derived for low-power Rayleighfaded wireless channels with proper complex signaling. Noside information on the state of the channel is assumed at the receiver. Rather, periodic reference signals are postulated inaccordance with the functioning of most wireless systems. In contrast with most previous studies, which relied on block-fading channel models, a continuous-fading model is adopted. This embeds the Doppler spectrum directly in thederived expressions thereby imbuing them with practical significance.

Efficiency-based evaluation of aligners for industrial applications

This paper presents a novel efficiencybased evaluation of sentence and word aligners. This assessment is critical in order to make a reliable use in industrial scenarios. The evaluation shows that the resourcesrequired by aligners differ rather broadly. Subsequently, we establish limitation mechanisms on a set of aligners deployed as web services. These results, paired with the quality expected from the aligners, allow providers to choose the most appropriate aligner according to the task at hand.

Is there a wage penalty for horizontal and vertical mismatch?

This paper studies how the horizontal and vertical mismatches in the labor market affect wage. We do so by taking into account that by choosing a job, wage and mismatches are simultaneously determined. The Seemingly Unrelated Equations model also allows us to control for any omitted variable that could cause biased estimators. We use REFLEX data for Spain. Results reveal that in most cases being horizontally matched has a wage premium and being over-educated does not affect wage. Results suggest that the modeling strategy successfully accounts for some omitted variable that affects simultaneously the probability of being horizontally matched and the wage. This could explain the existence of a wage penalty for over-educated workers when the omitted variable issue is not dealt with.

Iowa Gender Wage Study, 1999

In 1993, Iowa Workforce Development (then the Department of Employment Services) conducted a survey to determine if there was a gender gap in wages paid. The results of that survey indicated that women were paid 68 cents per dollar paid to males. We felt a need to determine if this relationship of wages paid to each gender has changed since the 1993 study. In 1999, the Commission on the Status of Women requested that Iowa Workforce Development conduct research to update the 1993 information. A survey, cosponsored by the Commission on the Status of Women and Iowa Workforce Development, was conducted in 1999. The results of the survey showed that women earned 73 percent of what men earned when both jobs were considered. (The survey asked respondents to provide information on a primary job and a secondary job.) The ratio for the primary job was 72 percent, while the ratio for the secondary job was 85 percent. Additional survey results detail the types of jobs respondents had, the types of companies for which they worked and the education and experience levels. All of these characteristics can contribute to these ratios. While the large influx of women into the labor force may be over, it is still important to look at such information to determine if future action is needed. We present these results with that goal in mind. We are indebted to those Iowans, female and male, who voluntarily completed the survey. This study was completed under the general direction of Judy Erickson. The report was written by Shazada Khan, Teresa Wageman, Ann Wagner, and Yvonne Younes with administrative and technical assistance from Michael Blank, Margaret Lee and Gary Wilson. The Iowa State University Statistical Lab provided sampling advice, data entry and coding and data analysis.

La immigració i els efectes en el comportament empresarial: una anàlisi a nivell municipal de Catalunya

En aquest context de canvi econòmic i dels ritmes d’arribada dels fluxos migratoris, aquest treball aborda els efectes de la població immigrant sobre les empreses manufactureres localitzades en ciutats catalanes amb més de 1.000 habitants durant el període 2000-2008. El desenvolupament empíric posa especial èmfasi en la localització d’empreses i la població immigrada així com l’impacte que exerceix sobre el comportament de les empreses. Per tal de recollir les dades hem treballat amb tres bases de dades diferents: dades ofertes per Idescat, INE i Sistema de Anàlisis de Balances Ibéricos. En especial aquesta darrera base ha ofert informació a nivell individual de les empreses el qual ha requerit un procés de depuració complex i exhaustiu a través de programació estadística. En la literatura sobre els impactes econòmics dels immigrants predominen els treballs que han abordat un impacte sobre el mercat de treball, posant especial èmfasis en els diferencials salarials i la reducció de la bretxa salarial en funció del temps de residència dels immigrants. En canvi, en poques ocasions s’ha analitzat l’efecte de la immigració sobre el comportament de l’empresa. L’objectiu d’aquest treball és analitzar l’impacte dels entorns amb població immigrant a les ciutats catalanes i de forma més específica amb el creixement de les empreses locals i l’evolució dels seus nivells d’eficiència. Els objectius concrets que volem analitzar són els següents: i) mostrar les principals conclusions de la literatura ii) observar les pautes de localització d’immigrantsiii) mostrar les pautes de localització de les empreses iv) analitzar si les ciutats catalanes amb una major població immigrant presenten un impacte positiu o negatiu sobre el creixement de les empreses locals i l’evolució dels seus nivells d’eficiència a través d’eines economètriques.