Spatial majority voting equilibria and the provision of public goods

This paper develops general equilibrium conditions for urban areas where a pure public good is provided at a level decided upon by majority voting. Models with a property tax and a head tax and external land ownership are analyzed, and equilibrium solutions are compared using a specific form for the utility function. Optimal cities are characterized and compared to those emerging from the majority voting equilibria. Models where aggregate land rent is divided equally among the urban residents are also developed.     

“Meandering” Effects on the Diffusion of Continuous Dye Plumes in Coastal Currents

Experimental data on the diffusion of fluorescent dye plumes were obtained in the nearshore zone of the Great Lakes. The transport and diffusion of continuous dye plumes may be studied either in a frame of reference moving with the centre of gravity of the plume or in a frame of reference fixed to the stationary source. Conventionally, the former is referred to as “relative” diffusion and the latter as “absolute” diffisuion. The inter-link between the two concepts is explained by the random movements of the centre of gravity of the diffusing dye plume usually referred to as the “meandering”.In the past, experimental data from continuous dye plumes in coastal currents have been used to study “relative” diffusion, neglecting the random movements of the centre of gravity. In reality, however, “meandering” appears to be a more efficient agency than “relative” diffusion from the practical point of view of dispersing effluents over larger volume of the water body.In the present analysis, particular attention is given to delineate the two component physical processes of “relative” diffusion and “meandering” diffusion, by extended sampling of the dye plume to cover time scales of both the processes. Calculated horizontal eddy diffusivity K_y in “absolute” diffusion is greater by a factor of 2 as compared to “relative” diffusion. Very high peak/mean concentration ratios observed as the centre of the plume are a direct result of “meandering” due to large scale turbulent eddies.     

Adaptive expectations,rational expectations,and money demand in hyperinflation Germany

In the recent literature Sargent and Wallace (IER, June, 1973) have estimated the demand equation for money in hyperinflation under the restriction that the adaptive formula of Phillip Cagan yields rational inflation expectations in the sense of John Muth. The present paper finds evidence to reject for the Germany case the proposition that adaptive expectations are rational. The procedure employed is basically to overfit the stochastic representation for the inflation rate implied by the ‘adaptive-is-rational’ hypothesis. The paper also puts forward and applies a two-step procedure to estimate the important money demand elasticity in hyperinflation. The procedure returns reasonable results with large estimated standard errors.     

Errata

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Errata

     

Demand and supply functions for money in Canada: Some further evidence

The demand and supply functions for money in Canada are estimated in a simultaneous-equation model format in which the supply of money is considered endogenous. The results indicate that the important determinants of the demand for money are income, short-term interest rate and lagged real cash balance variables. Wealth is an unimportant explanatory variable in money demand thus rejecting the hypothesis that an increase in outside wealth increases the demand for money. The monetary base and cash reserve ratio are important explanatory variables in the money supply function and play a direct role in monetary control.