On the labor share the long-run equilibrium and its adjustment process

This research computes an Equilibrium Labor Share using a VECM for a panel of 19 countries, analyzes what determines the speed at which the labor share adjusts towards that equilibrium and decomposes this adjustment in terms of real wages and employment. Results suggest that the speed at which a country adjusts decreases with employment protection legislation and labor taxes. Most countries’ labor shares adjustment is made through real wages changes instead of changing employment, suggesting that wage moderation policies may play an important role on the adjustment process without harming employment. Keywords: Equilibrium

On the labor share the long-run equilibrium and its adjustment process

This research computes an Equilibrium Labor Share using a VECM for a panel of 19 countries, analyzes what determines the speed at which the labor share adjusts towards that equilibrium and decomposes this adjustment in terms of real wages and employment. Results suggest that the speed at which a country adjusts decreases with employment protection legislation and labor taxes. Most countries’ labor shares adjustment is made through real wages changes instead of changing employment, suggesting that wage moderation policies may play an important role on the adjustment process without harming employment.

Entre o fazer e o dever

A compreensão da ocorrência das doenças em termos de risco e o estabelecimento de relações com os chamados estilos de vida, colocam na experiência de doença um acréscimo de conotações morais, um dever de autodisciplina e responsabilidade. Estes princípios têm sido inúmeras vezes sublinhados nos discursos e políticas da Saúde Pública, nomeadamente no que concerne às doenças cardiovasculares pela importância epidemiológica, económica e social de que se revestem e consequente necessidade de redução da sua grande incidência na população, como é o caso de Portugal. A hipertensão, como doença crónica e fator de risco cardiovascular sujeita os doentes a controlo médico periódico, terapêutica farmacológica e impele a um comprometimento com comportamentos alimentares e exercício físico adequado. Através das entrevistas realizadas a doentes hipertensos utentes da consulta específica em Cuidados de Saúde Primários, verifica-se a presença de modos diversos de agir perante a circunstância de se ter hipertensão arterial, mostrando a presença de várias racionalidades, apreciações e valorações práticas dos comportamentos de saúde e doença e do próprio corpo. Para os doentes hipertensos entrevistados, a hipertensão arterial não é encarada como uma “verdadeira doença”, sendo vista sobretudo como resultado do envelhecimento e dos excessos que se acumularam no corpo, consequentes da própria vida. Nas narrativas de experiência de doença, os conceitos de moderação e equilíbrio, “ter cuidado”, parecem servir de mecanismo de operacionalização entre aquilo que são as recomendações médicas e as práticas individuais. Constatam-se as capacidades dos doentes hipertensos construírem para si formas de gestão da doença e do medo, sendo que os seus comportamentos podem passar por assumir o controlo dos fatores de risco ou ignorá-los. Em qualquer dos casos, as representações e ações relativas à hipertensão e às recomendações médicas a ela associadas integram-se nas práticas quotidianas dos doentes, ajustando-se a hábitos e representações instaladas, constituindo-se em modos distintos de agir dos doentes hipertensos.

Influence of employee volunteering on brand commitment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of corporate volunteering on employee bonding and to understand the barriers and motivation to participation in these events. In contrast to other studies the participants volunteer in their spare time without expecting any financial reward. Design/methodology/approach – Employees (n 3951) of a logistic company participated in the study based on an online questionnaire with 6 items and open questions. The employee sample was divided into 3 groups depending on the frequency of participation in volunteering events. Findings – Significant differences were found on bonding between the three groups. In addition, the relevance of control variables like gender, age and job level were obtained. Furthermore a moderation effect of motivation was found. The results were interpreted within the broader context that ties motivation theory, organizational identification and social exchange theory.

Finding the hidden influencers

This thesis is a first step in the search for the characteristics of funders, and the underlying motivation that drives them to participate in crowdfunding. The purpose of the study is to identify demographics and psychographics that influence a funder’s willingness to financially support a crowdfunding project (WFS). Crowdfunding, crowdsourcing and donation literature are combined to create a conceptual model in which age, gender, altruism and income, together with several control variables, are expected to have an influence on a funder’s WFS. Primary data collection was conducted using a survey, and a dataset of 175 potential crowdfunders was created. The data is analysed using a multiple regression and provided several interesting results. First of all, age and gender have a significant effect on WFS, males and young adults until the age of 30 have a higher intention to give money to crowdfunding projects. Second, altruism is significantly positively related to WFS, meaning that the funders do not just care about the potential rewards they could receive, but also about the benefits that they create for the entrepreneur and the people affected by the crowdfunding project. Third, the moderation effect of income was found to be insignificant in this model. It shows that income does not affect the strength of the relationship between the age, gender and altruism, and WFS. This study provides important theoretical contributions by, to the best of my knowledge, being the first study to quantitatively investigate the characteristics of funders and using the funder as the unit of analysis. Moreover, the study provides important insights for entrepreneurs who wish to target the crowd better in order to attract and retain more funders, thereby increasing the chance of success of their project.

A peaceful pyramid? Hierarchy and anonymity in newspaper comment sections

Several studies have linked deindividuation to an increase in aggression and incivility. This paper seeks to ascertain the influence of anonymity and hierarchy in online aggression by comparing two different newspaper comment sections: one with a hierarchical system and the other with an equalitarian setting. This study distinguishes itself form previous works by analyzing systems where identification is optional and where identified and anonymous users coexist. The hierarchical solution might be relevant to dissuade aggression when optional identifiability is seen as an essential asset. Results show that a hierarchical system provides some improvements in terms of civility and comment moderation, but that poor implementation of the hierarchy causes perversions in the system and affects its effectiveness.

Singularities of the dynamical structure factors of the spin-1/2 XXX chain at finite magnetic field

We study the longitudinal and transverse spin dynamical structure factors of the spin-1/2 XXX chain at finite magnetic field h, focusing in particular on the singularities at excitation energies in the vicinity of the lower thresholds. While the static properties of the model can be studied within a Fermi-liquid like description in terms of pseudoparticles, our derivation of the dynamical properties relies on the introduction of a form of the ‘pseudofermion dynamical theory’ (PDT) of the 1D Hubbard model suitably modified for the spin-only XXX chain and other models with two pseudoparticle Fermi points. Specifically, we derive the exact momentum and spin-density dependences of the exponents ζτ(k) controlling the singularities for both the longitudinal  and transverse (τ = t) dynamical structure factors for the whole momentum range  , in the thermodynamic limit. This requires the numerical solution of the integral equations that define the phase shifts in these exponents expressions. We discuss the relation to neutron scattering and suggest new experiments on spin-chain compounds using a carefully oriented crystal to test our predictions.

A systematic study of the structural and magnetic properties of Mn-, Co-, and Ni-Doped Colloidal Fe3O4 nanoparticles

A series of colloidal MxFe3-xO4 (M = Mn, Co, Ni; x = 0–1) nanoparticles with diameters ranging from 6.8 to 11.6 nm was synthesized by hydrothermal reaction in aqueous medium at low temperature (200 °C). Energy-dispersive X-ray microa-nalysis and inductively coupled plasma spectrometry confirms that the actual elemental compositions agree well with the nominal ones. The structural properties of obtained nanoparticles were investigated by using powder X-ray diffraction, Raman scattering, Mössbauer spectroscopy, and electron microscopy. The results demonstrate that our synthesis technique leads to the formation of chemically uniform single-phase solid solution nanoparticles with cubic spinel structure, confirming the intrinsic doping. Magnetic studies showed that, in comparison to Fe3O4, the saturation magnetization of MxFe3-xO4 (M = Mn, Ni) decreases with increasing dopant concentration, while Co-doped samples showed similar saturation magnetizations. On other hand, whereas Mn- and Ni-doped nanoparticles exhibits superparamagnetic behavior at room temperature, ferromagnetism emerges for CoxFe3-xO4 nanoparticles, which can be tuned by the level of Co doping.

Nonlinear behavior of gelatin networks reveals a hierarchical structure

We investigate the strain hardening behavior of various gelatin networks-namely physical gelatin gel, chemically cross-linked gelatin gel, and a hybrid gel made of a combination of the former two-under large shear deformations using the pre-stress, strain ramp, and large amplitude oscillations shear protocols. Further, the internal structures of physical gelatin gels and chemically cross-linked gelatin gels were characterized by small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to enable their internal structures to be correlated with their nonlinear rheology. The Kratky plots of SANS data demonstrate the presence of small cross-linked aggregates within the chemically cross-linked network whereas, in the physical gelatin gels, a relatively homogeneous structure is observed. Through model fitting to the scattering data, we were able to obtain structural parameters, such as the correlation length (ξ), the cross-sectional polymer chain radius (Rc) and the fractal dimension (df) of the gel networks. The fractal dimension df obtained from the SANS data of the physical and chemically cross-linked gels is 1.31 and 1.53, respectively. These values are in excellent agreement with the ones obtained from a generalized nonlinear elastic theory that has been used to fit the stress-strain curves. The chemical cross-linking that generates coils and aggregates hinders the free stretching of the triple helix bundles in the physical gels.

О возможности изучения солнечно -суточной вариаций с помощью нейтронного супермонитора космофизических обсерватории им. В. Койава

ვ. ქოიავას სახელობის კოსმოფიზიკური და ქ. დუშეთის მაგნიტური ობსერვატორიების გაერთიანებული ერთობლივი სინქრონული მუშაობის შედეგად განხილულია მზე-დღეღამური ვარიაციების ზუსტი გაზომვების ჩატარება ორიგინალური მეთოდის გამოყენებით.

Determinació de la ubicació estructural dels ions Yb3+ i Nb3+ en Yb:RTP, Nb:RTP i (Nb,Yb):RTP

Estudi elaborat a partir d’una estada al Stony Brook University al juliol del 2006. El RbTiOPO4 (RTP) monocristal•lí és un material d' òptica no lineal molt rellevant i utilitzat en la tecnologia làser actual, químicament molt estable i amb unes propietats físiques molt destacades, entre elles destaquen els alts coeficients electro-òptics i l'alt llindar de dany òptic que presenta. En els últims anys s’està utilitzant tecnològicament en aplicacions d'òptica no lineal en general i electro-òptiques en particular. En alguns casos ja ha substituït, millorant prestacions, a materials tals com el KTP o el LNB(1). Dopant RTP amb ions lantànids (Ln3+) (2-4), el material es converteix en un material làser auto-doblador de freqüència, combinant les seves propietats no lineals amb les de matriu làser. El RTP genera radiació de segon harmònic (SHG) a partir d’un feix fonamental amb longituds d’ona inferiors a 990 nm, que és el límit que presenta el KTP.La determinació de la ubicació estructural i l’estudi de l'entorn local del ions actius làser és de fonamental importància per a la correcta interpretació de les propietats espectroscòpiques d’aquest material. Mesures de difracció de neutrons sobre mostra de pols cristal•lí mostren que els ions Nb5+ i Ln3+ només substitueixin posicions de Ti4+ (8-9). Estudis molt recents d'EPR (electron paramagnetic resonance) semblen indicar que quan la concentració d'ió Ln3+ es baixa, aquest ió presenta la tendència a substituir l'ió alcalí present a l'estructura (10).Després dels resultats obtinguts en el present treball a partir de la tècnica EXAFS a la instal•lació sincrotò del Brookhaven National Laboratory/State University of New York (Stony Brook) es pot concloure definitivament que els ions Nb s’ubiquen en la posició Ti (1) i que els ions Yb3+ es distribueixen paritariament en les dues posicions del Ti (1 i 2). Aquests resultats aporten una valuosa informació per a la correcta interpretació dels espectres, tant d’absorció com d’emissió, del material i per la avaluació dels paràmetres del seu comportament durant l'acció làser.

Understanding sources of the change in international business cycles

Macroeconomic activity has become less volatile over the past three decades in most G7 economies. Current literature focuses on the characterization of the volatility reduction and explanations for this so called "moderation" in each G7 economy separately. In opposed to individual country analysis and individual variable analysis, this paper focuses on common characteristics of the reduction and common explanations for the moderation in G7 countries. In particular, we study three explanations: structural changes in the economy, changes in common international shocks and changes in domestic shocks. We study these explanations in a unified model structure. To this end, we propose a Bayesian factor structural vector autoregressive model. Using the proposed model, we investigate whether we can find common explanations for all G7 economies when information is pooled from multiple domestic and international sources. Our empirical analysis suggests that volatility reductions can largely be attributed to the decline in the magnitudes of the shocks in most G7 countries while only for the U.K., the U.S. and Italy they can partially be attributed to structural changes in the economy. Analyzing the components of the volatility, we also find that domestic shocks rather than common international shocks can account for a large part of the volatility reduction in most of the G7 countries. Finally, we find that after mid-1980s the structure of the economy changes substantially in five of the G7 countries: Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S..

The past, present and future of central banking

The financial crisis, on the one hand, and the recourse to ‘unconventional’ monetary policy, on the other, have given a sharp jolt to perceptions of the role and status of central banks. In this paper we start with a brief ‘contrarian’ history of central banks since the second world war, which presents the Great Moderation and the restricted focus on inflation targeting as a temporary aberration from the norm. We then discuss how recent developments in fiscal and monetary policy have affected the role and status of central banks, notably their relationships with governments, before considering the environment central banks will face in the near and middle future and how they will have to change to address it.

Financial crisis and quantitative easing: can broad money tell us anything?

When Bank of England (and the Federal Reserve Board) introduced their quantitative easing (QE) operations they emphasised the effects on money and credit, but much of their empirical research on the effects of QE focuses on long-term interest rates. We use a flow of funds matrix with an independent central bank to show the implications of QE and other monetary developments, and argue that the financial crisis, the fiscal expansion and QE are likely to have constituted major exogenous shocks to money and credit in the UK which could not be digested immediately by the usual adjustment mechanisms. We present regressions of a reduced form model which considers the growth of nominal spending as determined by the growth of nominal money and other variables. These results suggest that money was not important during the Great Moderation but has had a much larger role in the period of the crisis and QE. We then use these estimates to illustrate the effects of the financial crisis and QE. We conclude that it would be useful to incorporate money and/or credit in wider macroeconometric models of the UK economy.

How Optimal is US Monetary Policy?

Most of the literature estimating DSGE models for monetary policy analysis assume that policy follows a simple rule. In this paper we allow policy to be described by various forms of optimal policy - commitment, discretion and quasi-commitment. We find that, even after allowing for Markov switching in shock variances, the inflation target and/or rule parameters, the data preferred description of policy is that the US Fed operates under discretion with a marked increase in conservatism after the 1970s. Parameter estimates are similar to those obtained under simple rules, except that the degree of habits is significantly lower and the prevalence of cost-push shocks greater. Moreover, we find that the greatest welfare gains from the ‘Great Moderation’ arose from the reduction in the variances in shocks hitting the economy, rather than increased inflation aversion. However, much of the high inflation of the 1970s could have been avoided had policy makers been able to commit, even without adopting stronger anti-inflation objectives. More recently the Fed appears to have temporarily relaxed policy following the 1987 stock market crash, and has lost, without regaining, its post-Volcker conservatism following the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2000.