Congestion pricing,transit subsidies and dedicated bus lanes: Efficient and practical solutions to congestion

We analyze urban congestion management policies through numerical analysis of a simple model that: allows users to choose between car, bus or an outside option (biking); consider congestion interactions between cars and buses; and allow for optimization of frequency, vehicle size, spacing between stops and percentage of capacity to be dedicated to bus lanes. We compare resulting service levels, social welfare and consumer surplus for a number of different policies and find that: (i) dedicated bus lanes is a better stand-alone policy than transit subsidization or congestion pricing. The latter is marginally better than subsidization but has a negative impact in consumer surplus. (ii) Efficient transit subsidies are quite large since in many cases first-best transit price is negative; establishing dedicated bus lanes or implementing congestion pricing render subsidies unnecessary for high demand levels. (iii) Both subsidization and dedicated bus lanes would count with public support while congestion pricing would probably encounter opposition. (iv) Transit subsidies and/or congestion pricing do not induce large changes on optimal bus size, frequency, circulation speeds and spacing between stops in mixed-traffic conditions: dedicated bus lanes do. (v) In all cases analyzed, revenues from congestion pricing are enough to cover transit subsidies; the optimal percentage of capacity that should be devoted for bus traffic is around one third.     

LEVERAGED BUYBACKS OF SOVEREIGN DEBT: A MODEL AND AN APPLICATION TO GREECE

The model presented in this article shows that the outcome of a leveraged buyback of sovereign debt depends on the priority structure of the deal. If the institution lending the funds needed for the buyback is senior, the debtor country benefits from the deal: the government debt is reduced, implying a lower probability of default; at the same time, the deal makes the price of outstanding bonds go down, since their recovery rate declines. The opposite holds if the lending institution is junior. If the loan is underpriced, the implied subsidy is shared between the borrowing country and its bondholders, who can benefit from a price increase of their bonds. This is actually what happened with the buyback of Greek sovereign bonds in 2012, as it is shown in the empirical section. Those results do not depend on the share of country's endowment devoted to debt repayment, which instead plays a crucial role in shaping the outcome of unlevered buybacks. (JEL F34, H63)     

Multiple classification analysis in trip production models

We analyse various Multiple Classification Analysis (MCA) methods to model trip production (generation). We first show that the MCA version most widely used in transport engineering implies a rarely feasible assumption, the transgression of which may drive a significant overestimation of the future number of trips and a systematic bias in its socio-economic composition. To illustrate this effect, we use Monte Carlo simulation and real data from Santiago, Chile to compare the various MCA approaches, concluding that the aforementioned form should be discarded. Our analysis also shows that the MCA method which is more robust to the structure of the underlying model, is the simple calculation of trip rates as averages for each category. Finally, we hint at the need to use more sophisticated formulations than MCA to model trip production.     

A model of historical development and future trends of Italian cuisine in America

This study investigated both the historical development and future trends of restaurant cuisine in America. Italian cuisine is used as the basis of a prediction model. The study identifies the historical factors in menu trends in Italian–American cuisine; the factors that will influence culinary trends in the future, and whether the results can be applied to the development of a prediction model that will predict how restaurant cuisine in America may develop. This study used both qualitative (focus groups) and quantitative (online survey) methods. The growing popularity of Italian cuisine in the United States will continue to shape the evolution of America's restaurant cuisine.     

Bowling alone but tweeting together: the evolution of human interaction in the social networking era

The objective of this paper is to theoretically analyze how human interaction may evolve in a world characterized by the explosion of online networking and other Web-mediated ways of building and nurturing relationships. The analysis shows that online networking yields a storage mechanism through which any individual contribution—e.g. a blog post, a comment, or a photo—is stored within a particular network and ready for virtual access by each member who connects to the network. When someone provides feedback, for example by commenting on a note, or by replying to a message, the interaction is finalized. These interactions are asynchronous, i.e. they allow individuals to relate in different moments, whenever they have time to. When the social environment is poor of participation opportunities and/or the pressure on time increases (for example due to the need to increase the working time), the stock of information and ties stored in the Internet can help individuals to defend their sociability.     

Confronto fra eventi condizionati di probabilità nulla nell'inferenza statistica Bayesiana

Dopo aver introdotto delle operazioni logiche fra eventicondizionati (che estendono opportunamente quelle usuali fra eventi), si definisce il concetto di iperprobabilità condizionata Si può così dare una interpretazione significativa della pseudodensità condizionata, introdotta da R. Scozzafava nell'inferenza statistica bayesiana.

---

By a suitable extension of the usual algebra of events, logical operations forconditional events are introduced. This leads to a definition of conditional iperprobability, which is the natural tool for a sensible interpretation of the concept of conditional pseudodensity, introduced by R. Scozzafava in Bayesian statistical inference.

     

Value and exploitation: a comment

Abstract

This paper comments on a recent paper by Ernesto Screpanti (2003) Screpanti, E. 2003. Value and exploitation: a counterfactual approach. Review of Political Economy, 15: 155–171. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], in this journal, on Marxian theories of value and exploitation. The paper argues, in opposition to Screpanti, that the labour theory of value is the most suitable foundation for a realistic and historically determined vision of society; that labour values provide a unique coherent conceptual framework for understanding the nature of profit; that the inconsistency of labour values is only apparent, as it disappears with a judicious choice of numéraire; and that prices of production explain much less than labour values and are therefore an inadequate substitute for the latter.     

Initial Impressions Determine Behaviours: Morality Predicts the Willingness to Help Newcomers

Prior research has demonstrated the impact of morality (vs. competence) information for impression formation. This study examines behavioral implications of people’s initial impressions based on information about their morality vs. competence in a workplace. School teachers and employees (N = 79) were asked to form an impression of a new school manager (i.e. a prospective boss), who was presented as High vs. Low in Morality and High vs. Low in Competence. Results showed that morality information rather than competence information determined initial emotional responses to the new manager, which mediated willingness to help the newcomer adjust in task and social contexts. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications and future research directions are outlined.