Secondary upwelling instabilities developed in high Rayleigh number convection: Possible applications to hot spots

We have conducted numerical experiments for mantle convection in an axisymmetrical spherical-shell geometry from Rayleigh numbers ranging from three million to 10 billion for a purely basal heating configuration. We focus on the development of secondary instabilities developed from plumes and compare them with laboratory experiments by Skilbeck and Whitehead (1978) and Whitehead, (1982). For Rayleigh numbers between around thirty million to one billion, a string of these secondary instabilities can develop from a single plume. Analysis of the spectrum of wavelength associated with the fold instabilities shows that there is a window in the Rayleigh number between around ten million and one bilion where these secondary folding instabilities would develop. These results, when applied to the upper mantle, may explain the formation of hot-spots in a turbulently convecting upper-mantle with a Rayleigh number greater than ten million.     

The Labour Input Response to Permanent Changes in Output: An Errors-in-Variables Analysis Based on Panel Data

Using panel data for Norwegian manufacturing, we revisit 'the increasing returns to scale puzzle' for labour inputs. We consider the response of the input of white-collar workers, blue-collar workers, and blue-collar worker hours to permanent changes in output. Permanent and temporary changes in output are treated as latent variables. We compare OLS, IV, and GMM estimates of the response elasticities and conclude that the distinction between permanent and temporary changes is essential. Our GMM estimates suggest that the 'increasing returns to scale puzzle' remains for all measures of the labour input also when we consider their response to permanent changes in output. For materials, the output response indicates approximately constant returns to scale. This suggests non-homotheticity of the production technology.
JEL classification : C 23; J 23     

Tax reform,capital allocation and welfare gains in Norway

Summary This paper analyzes the potential welfare gains to the Norwegian economy of implementing a tax reform that broadens the tax base and lowers tax rates on capital income. For this purpose a dynamic general equilibrium model where agents have perfect foresight is developed. The model is highly aggregate, with only one production sector and one household sector, but it incorporates a very detailed treatment of the taxation of capital income. This includes a two-way classification of capital assets into three ownership classes: corporate, non-corporate and household, and across two types of assets: long-lived and short-lived. This suffices to capture those elements of the Norwegian tax code that give rise to the most important distortions, both intratemporally and intertemporally.I have benefited greatly from detailed comments from Don Fullerton, A. Lans Bovenberg and an anonymous referee. Please direct all correspondence to the author to: Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund, 700 19th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20431.     

Reducing the Number of Pesticide- Related Illnesses: The Impact on Household Incomes in Indonesia

The increasing number of human health problems caused by the use of pesticides serves as a warning to countries to develop preventive programs Developing countries, however, are concerned about the effect of such programs on household incomes. With Indonesia as a case study, this paper presents a procedure to broaden a Social Accounting Matrix to include the impact of agricultural pesticide use on human health This approach utilises the Constrained Fixed Price Multiplier method to analyse the effect, on the household incomes of different socio-economic classes, of government programs that are designed to reduce human pesticide-related illnesses The results show that reducing such illnesses through the Safe Use of Pesticides program or the Integrated Pest Management program induces a more equal income distribution.     

Eine Bibliographie der allgemeinen Lehrgeschichten der Nationalökonomie: 1933–1958

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The iLUC dilemma: How to deal with indirect land use changes when governing energy crops?

Due to land use effects, bioenergy use may cause adverse effects on biodiversity, soil and water and may even fail to guarantee a GHG emissions reduction compared to fossil fuel use. Accounting methodologies and policy instruments were elaborated to prevent these effects, but there is still no sound and consensual methodology to take into account indirect land use change that substantially contributes to GHG emissions as well as a loss of biodiversity. While the iLUC hypothesis, that is the potentiality of adverse effects arising from indirect land use change related to biomass cultivation, is hardly subject to dispute, the quantification of these effects and especially their policy implications are however contentious. Hence, bioenergy policies worldwide face a dilemma: Neglecting iLUC effects that do in fact exist or taking them into account although no sound methodology is available? The article covers the current state of the discussion and also analyses the approaches developed for taking indirect land use change into account. Assessment criteria for coping with the iLUC dilemma are developed and policy recommendations are derived from that.     

Market Response to Investor Sentiment

This paper reconsiders the effect of investor sentiment on stock prices. Our main contribution is that, in addition to the intermediate term return predictability, we also analyze the immediate price reaction to the publication of survey‐based investor sentiment indicators. We find that the sign of the immediate market response is the same as that of the predictability at intermediate time horizons. This is consistent with underreaction to cash flow news or with investor sentiment being related to mispricing. It is inconsistent with the alternative explanations of a rational response to cash flow news or sentiment indicators providing information about future expected returns.     

Do firms lease to hedge? CEO risk-taking and operating lease intensity

Operating leases are used extensively for financing, but their ability to separate ownership and use also creates hedging opportunities. We investigate whether firms recognize such opportunities by examining the relation between chief executive officer (CEO) risk-taking incentives and the use of operating leases. Consistent with firms using operating leases to hedge, we find higher CEO risk-taking incentives lower operating lease intensity. To address endogeneity, we use the adoption of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 123R as an exogenous shock to option compensation, dynamic panel generalized method of moments, simultaneous equations, and change regressions. Our results are robust to placebo and alternative tests.     

Labor unemployment risk and firm risk

This paper examines the effect of labor unemployment risk on firm risk. Using unemployment insurance benefits as a proxy for unemployment risk, we find an economically significant positive relation between unemployment risk and firm risk. This positive relation is more pronounced for firms that are more labor-intensive, have a higher layoff propensity and are more financially constrained. While existing literature that employs corporate policy measures such as debt and cash holdings suggests an opposite relationship, our paper presents evidence that the effects stemming from earnings management, earnings quality and reporting quality appear to dominate.