Forward Markets and the Behaviour of the Competitive Firm with Production Flexibility

This paper examines the production and hedging decisions of the competitive firm under output price uncertainty when a forward market for its output is available. The firm possesses production flexibility in that it makes its production decision after the resolution of the output price uncertainty, albeit subject to a capacity constraint on production. We show that the firm optimally acquires a higher level of capacity investment than an otherwise identical firm with no production flexibility. We further show that production flexibility allows the firm to implicitly hedge against its output price risk exposure by the ex post production decision. The firm as such under‐hedges its output price risk exposure in the forward market wherein the forward price contains a non‐positive risk premium.     

Estimation of income elasticities from Lorenz concentration curves: application to Canadian micro‐data

This study uses a method of estimating income elasticities of major Canadian expenditure groups. The technique is based on the implicit Engel functions derived from the Lorenz curve of permanent income and concentration curves of group‐specific expenditures. The methodology is applied to The 1996 Canadian Family Expenditure Survey. Results indicate that income elasticities for the majority of the broad expenditure categories considered in the study are inelastic and they increase monotonically with income.     

The bias of least squares polynomial interpolants

The fitting of a straight line — or more generally of a low degree polynomial — to a point cloud in the plane is a commonly performed statistical technique. This paper discusses the bias of such a procedure and in particular generalizes the well-known remainder formula for polynomial interpolation to the regression setting. Designs minimizing the maximum bias are discussed as well.     

Policy Effectiveness and the Slopes of IS and LM Curves: A Graphical Analysis

In contrast to Michael Lovell's argument, this comment argues that the lack of computer-aided instruction (CAI) materials does not result from the public-good nature of educational software but from a lack of demand for CAI materials.     

自行走式掘进机增阻前行后对周围土体影响的现场采样实测

自行走掘进机行走过程中会对周围土体产生挤压与剪切,掘进机通过后土体的物理力学性质会因此而发生变化,论文重点研究掘进机行走后对周围土体物理力学性质的影响关系,为后期自行走式掘进机的工程应用提供参考。     

Migrants’ international transfers and educational expenditure

The primary objective of this article is to cast some light upon the relationship between education expenditure and the volume of remittances sent to Albania from abroad by international migrants. To assess the existence of an education enhancing effect of remittances, an Engel curve framework is used. In addition, quintile regression analysis is employed to investigate whether migrants’ remittances have a differentiated effect on various quantiles of the conditional distribution of education consumption. The two main empirical findings are that household income has a positive and well‐determined impact on education expenditure, whereas international transfers do not influence education spending.     

加大教育投入支持新疆跨越式发展

近年来,新疆教育投入增长迅速,教学条件得到了极大改善;基础教育和素质教育不断深化;高等教育向纵深发展,科研投入不断加大;双语教育得到长足发展。但是,要实现新疆跨越式发展还需进一步加大教育投入。本文在介绍了新疆教育投入及发展概况的基础上,论述了进一步加大国家财政对新疆教育投入的必要性,以不断提高教育质量,使其成为新疆跨越式发展的重要智力支撑。     

Visualizing the gains from trade,mid-1870s to 1962

Abstract

This paper explores the various personal and intellectual links between Edmund Husserl, Rudolf and Walter Eucken. Our interdisciplinary approach gives an insight into Husserl's transcendental phenomenology, Walter Eucken's Ordoliberalism as well as in the interdependency between phenomenology and economics for which Rudolf Eucken's philosophy of intellectual life plays an important role. Particular affiliations between phenomenology and economics can be found in the following topics: epistemology, the idea of man, the comprehension of liberty and the importance of legal or social orders, institutional rules and frameworks of regulations.     

ON FINITE DIMENSIONAL REALIZATIONS OF TWO-COUNTRY INTEREST RATE MODELS

This paper explores how consistent two-dimensional families of forward rate curves can be constructed on an international market. Applying the approach in Björk and Christenssen (1999) and Björk and Svensson (2001) , we study when a system of inherently infinite dimensional domestic and foreign forward rate processes in a two-country economy with spot (forward) exchange rate possesses finite dimensional realizations. In the system with the forward exchange rate, the forward interest rate equations are supplemented by a third infinite dimensional stochastic differential equation representing the forward exchange rate dynamics. We construct and fit consistent families to observed Euro and USD yields as well as the forward (spot) EUR/USD exchange rate.