Blockchain in Additive Manufacturing and its Impact on Supply Chains

Additive manufacturing (AM) appears to be a particularly attractive use case for blockchain. This research combines inductive in‐depth interviews with the Delphi method to explore what potentials blockchain technology in AM creates, which adoption barriers firms need to overcome, and how supply chains will be affected by the integration of these two potentially disruptive technologies. The results suggest opportunities that are related to intellectual property (IP) rights management, the monitoring of printed parts throughout their lifecycle, process improvements, and data security. The most important barriers for blockchain adoption in AM are an absence of blockchain‐skilled specialists on the labor market, missing governance mechanisms, and a lack of firm‐internal technical expertise. By addressing important limitations of AM, blockchain is expected to improve the competitiveness of AM in parts’ production, catalyzing the trend toward more decentralized manufacturing resulting in more agile, resilient, and flexible supply chains and reduced logistics costs. Beyond that, blockchain‐based AM platforms are expected to enhance supply chain visibility, drive supply chain digitalization, support supply chain finance, and contribute to the emergence of shared factory systems.     

Effects of scale economies and production seasonality on optimal hub locations: the case of regional fresh produce aggregation

Interest in supporting local and regional food systems is rising and food hubs have attracted considerable attention among Federal, State, and local policymakers. This study explores the problem of endogenous hub location in fresh produce value chains in the Northeastern United States. To overcome limitations in the literature, we incorporate the effects of economies of scale and production seasonality into our models. Three experimental models are designed to examine the effects of alternatively applying yearly, quarterly, and monthly data on model solutions. We explicitly assess how interactions of scale economies and seasonality influence the structure and spatial attributes of an optimal regional produce aggregation hub system. The three models generate marketed different solutions and in many respects they lead to different conclusions about developing local/regional supply chains. The monthly model allows for production seasonality and actual hub operation cycle frequency and thus leads to more efficient hub solution with rich policy implications.     

Debt relief for Eastern Europe — Its costs and the distribution of proceeds: Some preliminary results

Zusammenfassung Schuldenerla? für Osteuropa - Kosten und Verteilung der Ertr?ge. Einige vorl?ufige Ergebnisse. - Zweck dieses Aufsatzes ist es, die Kosten zu sch?tzen, die von einer internationalen Finanzinstitution im Falle eines Schuldenerlasses für Osteuropa getragen werden mü?ten. Da derartigen Kosten, die letzten Endes von den ?ffentlichen Haushalten der Gl?ubigerstaaten zu tragen w?ren, Ertr?ge gegenüberstehen, die mit einem solchen Schuldenerla? verbunden sind, ist es auch m?glich, die Verteilung dieser Ertr?ge unter den Begünstigten zu untersuchen. Zu diesem Zweck entwickelt und diskutiert der Autor ein einfaches Modell eines Schulden-Rückkaufs. Darin werden sowohl die Kosten gesch?tzt, die mit einem solchen Rückkauf zugunsten Osteuropas verbunden sind, als auch die voraussichtliche Verteilung der Ertr?ge.

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Résumé Remise de la dette des pays en Europe de l’Est - Les co?ts et la distribution des bénéfices: Quelques résultats préliminaires. - L’objet de cette étude, c’est l’estimation des co?ts qui devraient être payés par une institution internationale au cas d’une remise de la dette en faveur de l’Europe de l’Est. Comme ces co?ts, qui devraient être payés par les budgets publics des états créanciers en fin de compte, se sont accompagnés par des bénéfices, il est aussi possible d'examiner la distribution de ces bénéfices entre les bénéficiaires. Par conséquence, l’auteur de cette étude développe et discute un modèle simple pour analyser les effets d’un rachat des dettes. Il estime tous les deux facteurs, le montant des co?ts impliqué par un tel rachat des dettes en faveur de l’Europe de l’Est et aussi la distribution probable des bénéfices.

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Resumen La reducción de la deuda externa de Europa Oriental. Sus costos y la distribución de sus beneficios: algunos resultados preliminares. - El objeto de este trabajo es estimar el costo que podría ser asumido por una institucíon internacional en caso de una reducción de la deuda externa de Europa Oriental. Debido a que estos costos, que en última instancia podrian ser asumidos por los presupuestos públicos de los países acreedores, son compensados por los beneficios que la reducción aporta a los participantes, también es posible examinar la distribución de los beneficios. Por ello, el trabajo desarrolla y discute un modelo simple de compra de deuda por parte de los países deudores mismos. Se estiman los costos de una compra de deuda a favor de Europa Oriental y la posible distribución de los beneficios.

     

Growth, Inequality, and Well-Being: Intertemporal and Global Comparisons

We use several well-being measures that combine average incomewith a measure of inequality to undertake intertemporal andglobal comparisons of wellbeing. The conclusions emerging fromthe intertemporal analysis are that the impact of these measureson temporal trends in well-being is relatively small on average,but changing across the decades. In particular, it suggeststhat changes in well-being were understated in the 1960s and1970s and overstated in the 1980s and 1990s. Our global analysiscovering ca. 81 per cent of the world's population demonstratesthat global well-being is at least 50 per cent smaller thanworld per capita income if the unequal income distribution isalso factored in. Conversely, growth in world well-being hasbeen larger than world income growth between 1970–1998.Since the inclusion of inequality has an important impact onwell-being comparisons, it is of great importance to generatemore consistent and intertemporally as well as internationallycomparable data on inequality. (JEL I31, D63)     

Overlapping Generations or Infinitely-Lived Agents: Intergenerational Altruism and the Economics of Global Warming

Do we need an overlapping generations model for the economics of global warming? To answer this question, an infinitely-lived agent (ILA) approach and an overlapping generations (OLG) model are contrasted. ILA and OLG can be viewed as polar representations of intergenerational altruism. With ILA an immortal agent acts through his investment/savings decisions as trustee on the behalf of the future generations. With OLG, agents need not behave altruistic. They simply save during working years and dissave completely during retirement. Nevertheless, ILA and OLG must not differ in their implication for greenhouse policy. Greenhouse gas abatement is a straightforward alternative to physical capital formation and, even without altruism, each age cohort has an incentive to provide current abatement in order to reduce future damages attributable to climate change. Indeed, under reasonable assumptions and parameter values, our simulations reveal such an invariance result. Provided carbon taxes are the only policy tool and tax revenues are recycled through socially mandated rules, projections of economic growth, climate change and energy consumption are only insignificantly affected by the choice of approach.     

DO PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT LAWS REDUCE ADOLESCENT ABORTION RATES?

This study assesses the impact of parental involvement laws on adolescent abortion rates and pregnancy rates. The analysis estimates abortion rate and pregnancy rate models using state-level data pooled over time for adolescents aged 15–17 compared to older teens aged 18–19 and adults aged 20–44. The results indicate that parental involvement laws reduce adolescent abortion rates and may, to a lessor degree, reduce adolescent pregnancy rates. Thus, the findings imply that enforcement of parental involvement laws will increase adolescent fertility rates.