How to write an abstract 1. Introduction What is an abstract? An abstract is a concise summary of a larger document – thesis, essay, book, research report, journal publication, etc. – that highlights major points covered in the work, concisely describes the content and scope of the writing, identifies the methodology used, and identifies the findings, conclusions, or intended results. Why are abstracts so important? The practice of using keywords in an abstract is vital because of today's electronic information retrieval systems. Titles and abstracts are filed electronically, and keywords are put in electronic storage. When people search for information, they enter keywords related to the subject, and the computer prints out the titles of articles, papers, and reports containing those keywords. Thus, an abstract must contain keywords about what is essential in an article, paper, or report so that someone else can retrieve information from it. A well-written abstract helps others, who may not be studying in your discipline, understand the purpose and value of your work; therefore, it should be comprehensible on a basic level to the educated non-expert. Types of abstracts Two types of abstracts are typically used: descriptive abstracts and informative abstracts. Descriptive Abstracts · Tell readers what information the report, article, or paper contains. · Include the purpose, methods, and scope of the report, article, or paper. · Do not provide results, conclusions, or recommendations. · Are always very short, usually under 100 words. · Introduce the subject to readers, who must then read the report, article, or paper to find out the author's results, conclusions, or recommendations. Informative Abstracts · Communicate specific information from the report, article, or paper. · Include the purpose, methods, and scope of the report, article, or paper. · Provide the report, article, or paper's results, conclusions, and recommendations. · Are short -- from a paragraph to a page or two, depending upon the length of the original work being abstracted. Usually informative abstracts are 10% or less of the length of the original piece. · Allow readers to decide whether they want to read the report, article, or paper. The abstract students are required to write for their theses is a type of Informative Abstract. Research abstracts (or working paper abstracts) are usually from 180 to 220 words. Dissertation abstract may be longer, up to 350 words. For your final exam, you are required to write a dissertation abstract of around 250 words. Exercise 1. Look at the abstract samples below and answer the following answers. a. Which one is a descriptive abstract? b. Which one is an informative abstract? c. Which one is a research abstract? d. Which one is a dissertation abstract? Discuss what features differentiate them. 1. Economies with Interacting Agents Alan P. Kirman This paper discusses economic models in which agents interact directly with each other rather than through the price system as in the standard general equilibrium model. It is suggested that the relationship between micro and macro behavior is very different than that in the standard model and that the aggregate phenomena that can arise are rich. The models considered include ones with global interaction in which all agents can interact with each other and ones in which agents can only interact with their immediate neighbors. Both static and dynamic models are considered and the latter includes the class of evolutionary economic models. 2. Economics of Organizing Product Development in the Extended Enterprise Paulo Gomes Firms are increasingly facing the challenge of organizing product development effort in extended settings, i.e., across the boundaries of several firms. This dissertation looks at the implications of this trend to the development cost structure, in particular to the coordination cost. The theoretical framework is based on transaction cost economics, design theory and organizational learning. Building on this literature, the dissertation addresses the following questions: what are the indicators of coordination costs for different types of development tasks? Do these help explain the task sourcing decision? And, do firms learn how to coordinate development tasks? Three empirical models were developed to address these questions. The first model proposes that a set of task attributes derived from transaction cost economics, including a proxy for asset specificity, affect both the task sourcing decision and its coordination cost. Then, I test for differences in the coordination cost of 'generation' and 'test' types of tasks, a classic distinction in design theory. Finally, the dissertation tests a 'learning model' for development task coordination effort. The data was collected from 11 software development projects conducted at a global firm in the medical device industry. The total sample size consists of 71 system development tasks. The main findings were as follows. The proxy for asset specificity, internal problem solving, is a significant predictor of both the likelihood of outsourcing a development task and the associated coordination cost. Moreover, the impact of internal problem solving on the coordination cost is significantly larger for outsourced tasks. The results also reveal asymmetries in the coordination cost for generation and test tasks. Finally, I find evidence that projects were able to reduce coordination effort over time. The findings of the dissertation should be useful in several ways. Recognizing indicators of coordination cost and the asymmetric nature of coordination costs for different types of tasks may provide a more principled approach for organizing extended product development. By systematically exploring the ability to reduce coordination effort through competence development and management of the task dependence structure, we may be able to discover more efficient ways for engaging external partners in development efforts. 3. Hurricane Katrina - Storm Stretches Refiners Past a Perilous Point Jad Mouawad, New York Times, September 11, 2005, Page A27 This article discusses the impact of the storm on the country's oil refining capacity. At one point the article notes that the storm idled 5 percent of the refining capacity in the United States. It then quotes an analyst who comments that this is just 1 percent of world production, and that there is a world market. Actually, for refined products, like gasoline and home heating oil, to a large extent the market is national or even regional. Many states have very specific rules on emissions of various pollutants. Refineries have to be set up to produce fuel that meets these requirements. In many cases, few, if any, foreign refiners will be set up to meet these standards. While they can change over time, at the moment foreign refiners may have little ability to meet U.S. demand for gasoline or other refined products. It is also worth noting that major U.S. oil companies may benefit by deliberately keeping capacity off line. The loss of capacity will push up prices and possibly raise profits. Some initial hints Here are some other points to keep in mind when writing abstracts. Read and discuss them. · If an abstract is read along with the title, do not repeat or rephrase the title. It will likely be read without the rest of the document, however, so make it complete enough to stand on its own. · Your readers expect you to summarize your conclusions as well as your purpose, methods, and main findings. Emphasize the different points in proportion to the emphasis they receive in the body of the document. · Do not refer in the abstract to information that is not in the document. · Choose whether to write in first person style (“I” or “We”) or third person style (“This dissertation shows…”). If you prefer first person style, however, avoid using “we” unless your work has more than one author. Likewise, avoid beginning each sentence with “I”. In other words, third person style is always preferable. · Do not exaggerate with passives. “The study tested” is better than “It was tested by the study”. · If possible avoid trade names, acronyms, abbreviations, or symbols. You would need to explain them, and that takes too much room. · Use keywords from the document. For published work, the abstract is "mined" for the words used to index the material--thus making it more likely someone will cite your article. · Be coherent and cohesive (see Cohesion section below). 2. Structure of research and dissertation abstracts A properly written abstract consists of the Title of the study and the Body of the abstract. Title Make your title concise, but also descriptive. However, if your abstract is the initial summary of your study (e.g., your dissertation), the title is not to be repeated. Body of the abstract The abstract is a very brief overview of your entire study. It tells the reader what you did, why you did it, how you did it, what you found, and what it means. The abstract is the chief way that scientists decide which research reports to read. The following Abstract Worksheet Form is meant to help you prepare the first draft of your abstract. The sequence of sentences in the worksheet is ordered in a logical fashion, beginning with an introduction and proceeding to your methodology, results, discussion, and conclusions. Think of the most important items that crystallize each part of your project. Leave out unimportant details. As a first draft (using the worksheet), write one or two sentences that summarize each section. For your final draft, make sure the abstract “flows” logically (again, see below Cohesion section). Give it to friends to read. Ask them to tell you what they think you actually did and what you found. Revise as necessary. Abstract Worksheet Form Adapted from How to Write an Abstract, online at http://www.okstate.edu/education/jshs/abstract.htm Project/Study Title - Keep it concise, but descriptive. Body 1. Topic sentence - Introduction (optional) Introduces the topic of the study and the reasons for its investigation. 2. Subject/Purpose What is this project about? Why is this project interesting or important? 3. Hypothesis/Prediction What did you think you would find? Why? 4. Approach/Methodology Briefly explain the approach/methodology you followed in order to test your prediction. 5. Findings/Discussion What did you find when you performed your test? And are your results consistent with your initial hypothesis and prediction? Why or why not? 6. Conclusion What do these results mean? Why should anyone become excited or interested in your findings? Exercise 2. (from Writing up Research - The Abstract, online at http://www.languages.ait.ac.th/el21abst.htm) Here is an abstract from a published paper. It is 220 words long. Read it through looking for the main purpose of each sentence (for example, introduction, hypothesis/prediction, methodology, main findings, or conclusion). Helwa, N. H. and Abdel Rehim, Z. S. (1997). Experimental Study of the Performance of Solar Dryers with Pebble Beds. Energy Sources, 19, 579-591. Major problems of the arid region are transportation of agricultural products and losses due to spoilage of the products, especially in summer. This work presents the performance of a solar drying system consisting of an air heater and a dryer chamber connected to a greenhouse. The drying system is designed to dry a variety of agricultural products. The effect of air mass flow rate on the drying process is studied. Composite pebbles, which are constructed from cement and sand, are used to store energy for night operation. The pebbles are placed at the bottom of the drying chamber and are charged during the drying process itself. A separate test is done using a simulator, a packed bed storage unit, to find the thermal characteristics of the pebbles during charging and discharging modes with time. Accordingly, the packed bed is analysed using a heat transfer model with finite difference technique described before and during the charging and discharging processes. Graphs are presented that depict the thermal characteristics and performance of the pebble beds and the drying patterns of different agricultural products. The results show that the amount of energy stored in the pebbles depends on the air mass flow rate, the inlet air temperature, and the properties of the storage materials. The composite pebbles can be used efficiently as storing media. 3. Language Focus A. Topic sentence - Introduction The introductory sentence is optional. It allows the writer to focus the reader’s attention on the topic of the study and the reasons why that subject is worth investigating. Here are some examples: a. According to recent evidence, racial and ethnic discrimination in housing continues to be widespread. [This paper…] b. Central city households who subsidize local public sector goods through local property taxes have an incentive to flee from the city or to change the jurisdiction's boundary. [The authors focus on…] c. There is an active debate in transition economies about the extent to which employee and foreign ownership ought to be encouraged or discouraged in privatization, but empirical evidence is scarce. [This paper …] d. Since 1978, China has experienced four episodes of economic fluctuations, during which the government used macro controls to restore stability. [This paper …] Exercise 3. Read the examples above and discuss the following points. 1. Are introductory statements general or specific? 2. Are they in first person style or third person style? 3. What tenses are used? B. Subject/Purpose § Third person style (see also Appendix 1): The / This paper analyzes, investigates, explores, article examines, re-examines, outlines, thesis describes, shows, introduces, dissertation evaluates, considers … § First person style (see also Appendix 1): In this paper I / we* analyse, investigate, explore, article examine, re-examine, outline, theses describe, show, introduce, dissertation evaluate, consider… Exercise 4. Read the sentences below and fill in the gaps with one of the following verbs: develops - calls - argues - provides - looks - consider 1. This paper _______________ an axiomatic basis for a representation of personal preferences in which the utility of an act can be expressed as an expected value of conditional utilities of the act given any set of mutually exclusive and exhaustive scenarios, under a unique subjective probability. 2. The authors _______________ a broad class of situations where a society must choose from a finite set of alternatives. 3. This paper ______________ that the analysis of these games involves a key technical issue. 4. This paper ____________ at the effectiveness of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in reducing the time that manufacturing plants spend in a state of non-compliance. 5. This study ___________ into question the established view that lack of information on clean-up cost functions represents a serious problem in designing an optimal charge on polluting waste discharged by N point sources. 6. This paper _____________ a model of corporate hierarchy in which workers accumulate heterogeneous human capital suitable for different positions within the hierarchy. C. Hypothesis/Prediction In an abstract, the founding hypothesis and related prediction can be expressed in several ways. They can also be included in the introductory sentence or in the Subject/Purpose statement. Read the following excerpts and notice how each author has expressed them. 1. Henry George (1839-1897) has left an intellectual legacy which is shrouded under a cloak of controversy. Unprofessional economists who focused attention on the single-tax proposal and condemned Henry George's teaching, root and branch, were hardly just to him ..." (Schumpeter 1954). This essay tries to do justice to Henry George from the point of view of economic theory and relevant economic practical questions in 1997. […] 2. […] Based on a brief theoretical outline, this paper deals with those two issues. It will be argued in favor of an anti-inflation policy by the ECB, based on monetary targets with securities repurchase transactions (repos) as the central instrument. Rediscount quotas, which should only be available for a market based interest rate, should play a secondary role. To secure and stabilize the need for base money, interest bearing minimum reserves should be held at the ECB, and the ECB should be able to offer banks with temporary liquidity needs collateralized credits for a penalty rate. […] 3. […] It is argued that updated preferences necessarily have one affine indifference curve but that other indifference curves are unrestricted. […] 4. […] While the model is consistent with some features in the data, we reject the hypothesis that factor markets worked perfectly and find support for the historian's intuition regarding the disproportionate impact of land inequality in the countryside. […] 5. […] The hypothesis examined is that the greater the investor's flexibility, the easier it is for him to change his portfolio depending on his results, the more willing he will be to accept risks. […] In Appendix 3, there are several examples of PhD Dissertation abstracts. Read them through and notice how other students have expressed their hypotheses and predictions. Online exercise. Use the Web and a major search engine to look for what verbs and/or what adjectives collocate with the terms hypothesis, theory, model, principle (and their respective plurals). See also Appendix 1 for frequent patterns in the concordance of model and framework. D. Approach/Methodology Sometimes, the Approch/Methodology sentences are expressed in passive form. Exercise 5. Read the excerpts below and underline all the passive verb forms. 1. The single tax proposal is looked at from the point of view of constitutional economics, and the wider applicability of Henry George's basic notions is emphasized 2. Analysis of data on incorporation and investment decisions, the relative sensitivity of the stock prices of firms with different asset mobility to political events, and the market for office space most strongly support hypotheses about credibility, adaption, and demand augmentation. 3. A model of farm marketing is developed for the period 1913-28 and is embedded in a general equilibrium model for the Soviet economy. 4. We test whether patterns of income inequality were consistent with the predictions of a market-clearing, neoclassical model linking land and labor endowment through factor markets to household income. 5. Building on the work of P. N. Courant (1978), the paper develops a housing search model and measures the cost of discrimination by its impact on the gain a household can achieve through housing search. The cost of discrimination is then calculated for a representative sample of households. 6. A discussion of changes in the organizational structure and legal environment surrounding gold production is followed by a description of state gold purchasing and storage activities. 7. In an application to US GDP, it is found that inferences about the nature of the trend in output are not robust to changes in the specification for short-run fluctuations. Exercise 6. Complete each sentence below with the present tense, passive voice, of the verb in parentheses. 1. The Malmquist productivity index, constructed using nonparametric linear programming methods, _________________ (to employ) for the relevant comparisons. 2. Characteristics of the incidence of employee and foreign ownership and associated firm performance _________________ (to examine). 3. Respondents' stated preferences for attributes related to various electricity-generation scenarios _________________ (to analyse) using a series of pairwise ratings. 4. In the standard case of "adverse-selection," a firm ______________ (to show) to have an unbounded incentive to under-report marginal clean-up costs. 5. First the employment expectations of companies for 1997 and in the medium term __________________ (to describe) for eastern and western Germany. This ________________ (to follow) by analyses of the personnel inflows and outflows in the first half of 1996, in which the evaluation differentiates between enterprises with expanding employment, declining enterprises and stagnating enterprises. Exercise 7. Transform the following sentences from passive into active starting with the phrase given. 1. The notion of civil society is initially considered in the light of intellectual history and differentiated into a number of constitutive concepts such as trust, commercial society, and a civil network of interpersonal relationships. This article ________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ 2. A simple game-theoretic framework is applied to analyse international cooperation by focusing on the prisoner's dilemma on the one hand and bargaining in the Coasian sense on the other. We _______________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________ E. Findings/Discussion Research findings can be communicated in a series of different ways. However, they are often introduced by the terms result/results or findings. See below how they collocate with verbs and adjectives (see also Appendix 1 for further patterns in their collocation). 1. With verbs The results show, state, suggest, uncover, findings indicate, imply, provide… 2. With adjectives striking, contradictory Main / partial / empirical RESULT (are) different, consistent with Examples 1. The main result states that if the payoff functions are semicontinuous and strongly quasi-concave then an Epsilon-Nash equilibrium in pure strategies exists for positive Epsilon. 2. The results obtained through the estimation of a series of structural VAR models are consistent with this view and indicate also that deflation affected output mainly by increasing real wages. 3. The result holds for a large class of consistent and monotone rules, including the Constrained Equal Award, the Propositional Rule, and many other well known rules. Results, however, are often supported by some evidence (in Italian, prova/prove). 1. […] The evidence suggests that five price series exhibit stochastic trends, while the remaining six price series appear to be stationary around a deterministic trend. 2. […] Furthermore, quantitative evidence is presented supporting the view that Federal Reserve monetary policy was constrained by international considerations. 3. […] The authors find, on the contrary, consistent evidence that, first, resources went where the benefits to patients were greatest, and, second, resources were appropriately allocated in terms of their opportunity cost once provision exceeded certain thresholds.[…] 4. We provide new evidence on the effectiveness of disclosure requirements by examining firm behavior in response to disclosures of TRI emissions. Online exercise. Use the Web and a major search engine to find other occurrences of the term evidence and discuss how and in what context it is used. Then check Appendix 1 for further reference. F. Conclusions Read the following excerpts and analyse how conclusions are drawn and discussed. 1. In light of these results, we believe that efforts to eliminate SOES based on volatility considerations are unwarranted. 2. Analysis of the conditions that have to be met, illustrated with examples ff attitudes and preferences within Europe, leads to the conclusion that we are unlikely to see the end of the nation state in the near future either in Europe or anywhere else. 3. The main conclusion of the paper is that the Italian depression, comparable to that of other major industrialized countries, was the combined result of a contraction in world demand and of the restrictive monetary policies imposed by the rules of the Gold Standard. 4. Through his careful discussion of the foreseeable problems, the author reaches the conclusion that Hong Kong is "useful pretty much the way it is" to China and doesn't see China disturbing the balance. 5. These conclusions for nine consultant specialties reinforce similar conclusions for two other services, whose allocations were made by central government (the Scottish Home and Health Department) and general medical practitioners. 4. Cohesion Using Repetition and Reference Words to Emphasize Key Ideas in Your Writing Cohesion is the glue that holds a piece of writing together. In other words, if a paper is cohesive, it sticks together from sentence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph. Cohesive devices certainly include transitional words and phrases (see below Appendix 2), such as therefore, furthermore, or for instance, that clarify for readers the relationships among ideas in a piece of writing. However, transitions aren't enough to make writing cohesive. Repetition of keywords and use of reference words are also needed for cohesion. Repetition of Keywords We can tie sentences or paragraphs together by repeating certain keywords from one sentence to the next or from one paragraph to the next. This repetition of keywords also helps to emphasize the main idea of a piece of writing. For example, in the following paragraph, notice and how many times the words owned and ownership are repeated (underline them): “Nobody owned any part of the land. Sotopo's father owned many cattle, and if the cows continued to produce calves, he might as well become the next chief. Old Grandmother owned the beautifully tanned animal skins she used as coverlets in winter. And Sotopo owned his polished hard-wood assegais. But the land belonged to the spirits who governed life; it existed forever, for everyone, and was apportioned temporarily according to the dictates of the tribal chief and senior headman. Sotopo's father occupied the hillside for the time being, and when he died the older son could inherit the loan -- land, but no person or family every acquired ownership.” From The Covenant by James Michener. By repeating the words owned and ownership throughout the paragraph, the writer has tied each sentence to each other and has clearly indicated what the main idea of the paragraph is. In this case, the main idea is ownership of something. And what exactly is being (or not being) owned? By repeating the word land, the author shows us that the entire main idea is ownership of land. Use of Reference Words Another way of tying sentences and paragraphs together involves using reference words that point back to an idea mentioned previously. Among the many reference words that can be used to tie one sentence to another or one paragraph to another are words like this, these, those, such, and that. These reference words should not be used by themselves but should be combined with the important words and phrases from previous sentences or paragraphs. In the following paragraphs, we can see how reference words are used not only to tie sentences and paragraphs together, but also to emphasize the main idea. Underline all the transitional words and phrases and all the reference words you can find in the following paragraph. Writing a paper is often difficult and many times rewarding. First, I don't always know what to write about, so I often need to research, talk to people, and think about what I know before I come up with a strong topic. In addition, writing a paper takes time and energy. Time is needed to select and narrow a topic, to generate information and structure ideas, to knock out draft after draft, and to edit for my usual typos and mechanical errors. Besides the time involved, energy (and lots of food to produce it) is needed so I can produce my best work. Although writing a paper is sometimes difficult, it can be very rewarding. I enjoy seeing words which say exactly what I want them to. l also feel proud when everything "clicks." Finally, knowing that I've done my best work and earned a good grade too are strong personal rewards. Many words are repeated from one sentence to the next and from one paragraph to the next as well. Can you identify the main ideas of each paragraph based on the words that are often repeated? 5. Some final suggestions * Write the abstract only when the document is finished. Abstracts written before then are just previews. * If you are forced to write an abstract before the document is completed, think about its purpose and write a topic sentence. Keep in mind that you'll need to rewrite the abstract when the document is finished because it will no longer accurately reflect the contents of the document. * Before starting the abstract, list your thoughts on the document. Group related items together. Prioritise the list and put the most important group first. The first few groups form the core of the topic sentence. The rest lead to supporting sentences. * If you can't create a topic sentence (i.e. the introductory statement), write the supporting sentences first. The topic sentence may then become obvious. * Write for an audience not necessarily up to speed in your subject area. This is important because you never know who will read your abstract. * Choose acronyms, abbreviations, and technical terms carefully as they may confuse many readers. * Define the scope of the project in the abstract. * Reread your abstract after several days have passed. Remove all superfluous information. Appendix 1 - Concordances Frequent patterns in the concordance of paper (cf. MB Abstracts) In this paper we provide a ranking of European economics institutions We se a unique enterprise level random survey of 150 firms We study the effect of certain types of public compulsory insurance We present a summary of recent microeconometric results We study renegotiation in procurement auctions We develop a stochastic dynamic general equilibrium model We consider the organisation of international antitrust as an issue The authors examine whether homeowning benefits children The author investigates J.C. Harsanyi’s utilitarianism aggregation The authors show that a non-cooperative game with a finite set of The authors analyse the impact of uncertainty on the level and The author considers the principal multiple agents problem The authors use an implementation approach to see whether The authors test the effectiveness of the arbitrage pricing The authors study a large market in which sellers compete The authors question the validity of using TFP growth rates as a This paper reviews the literature discussing historical patterns in defense This paper reviews estimators for multiple regime selection models, which in This paper reviews and appraises UNCED and outlines some of the developments The paper reviews some recent theoretical contributions on the modelization This paper reviews existing studies of the role of emerging market business The paper reviews the main findings on individual decision making under This paper summarises a few useful methods, and shows how they can be suggests a plausible microstructural connection between This paper reports new estimates of the elasticity of substitution between This paper reports an experiment designed to separate these considerations, This paper reports on an empirical examination of this proposition, by linking This paper reports the first analysis of the structure of Russian cities after 70 This paper reports quarterly ex ante forecasts of macroeconomic activity for This paper reexamines the popular assumption that real estate commissions This paper reexamines the empirical evidence on the degree of spatial spillover This paper revisits the proposal to use options in corporate bankruptcy that This paper reconciles the different results by showing that they depend in large This paper reconciles some conflicting interpretations of recent literature on This paper studies a broad class of infinite-horizon economies that are A large class of bounded-rationality, probabilistic learning The welfare effect of foreign investment into an economy The effects of regional integration on the location of labour The simplest formulation of the general screening model Three price-based policies for solid waste reduction: (1) The impact of profit sharing and bonus payment on The relationship between the degree of regional integration Whether the price charged to a competitor for the use of The provision of environmental quality in The intertemporal allocation of funds through demand The implications of buyer’s liquidity constraints Coverage extension in a simple general equilibrium model the paper shows that integration may turn an honest country into an evading This paper shows how the model can be solved and the optimal escape clause This paper shows generic determinacy of equilibria for sender-receiver cheap- This paper shows that if, the consumption good production function is alpha- this paper shows that it can be characterized in terms of restrictions on play This paper shows that asymmetric information between lenders and borrower This paper shows that additive purchasing power parity (PPP) methods, such This paper starts by discussing the goals that should guide the design of This paper uses a dynamic agency model to offer a resolution of the A precise formalism to state and prove the following result: Census evidence from mid-nineteenth century France to investi- Uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to provide some of A simultaneous model of census tract population and employment Firm level date to examine the effectiveness of agreements This paper provides a motivation for public involvement in internal improvement This paper provides evidence that the common factor restrictions (CFR) play this paper provides an introduction and overview on the economics of international This paper provides a utility-theoretic interpretation of "Don't-Know" (DK) This paper provides an axiomatic basis for a representation of personal prefer The paper provides a theoretical insight into the causes of a recession and a This paper provides a theoretical model of waste management which is dynamic This paper provides a theory of diversification and financial structure of banks This paper provides a simple model to discuss the financing of network The paper proposes a new method for computing these probabilities, and This paper proposes a signaling model that offers a new perspective on why This paper proposes a conceptual framework to investigate the effects of This paper presents an approach to such multilateral bargaining problems. A This paper presents a model of the beef sector of the Greek economy. The paper presents an overview of state trading activities in Russia in light of The paper presents a new social accounting matrix (SAM) for Argentina and This paper presents a data system that gives consistent, complete and detailed This paper presents a general equilibrium model of a multi-city economy where The paper presents a model which allows identification of long-run response This paper presents a simple game-theoretic model in which players decide This paper presents new evidence concerning the importance of poor relief as This paper presents the first attempt to explore recent changes in office-com The following paper presents a simple neoclassical growth model where corruption is This paper presents an amenity-based theory of location by income. This paper presents the results of a political stock market in the Netherlands This paper presents a simple model of the links between education, democracy This paper presents an extension of the Alesina and Drazen (1991. American This paper offers a model of the allocation of funds in Chinese state-owned the paper offers insights into the transition from a socialist economy into a The paper offers a refined version of the procedure, and it also responds to This paper offers a counter-argument to Friedman's (In: Essays in Positive This paper offers a short survey of recent contributions about the information- This paper offers an alternative analysis that relates voting outcomes to the The main conclusion of the paper is that the Italian depression, comparable to that of other The main finding of the paper is that the desirability of an electoral area between two The hypothesis examined in this paper is that the greater the investor's flexibility, the easier it is for The aim of this paper is to evaluate whether structural change is a key element in acco The contribution of this paper is to identify the presence of a profit-sharing system and an infor The purpose of this paper is to consider what determines the differences between the combi The purpose of this paper is to consider the effect of the composition of economic activity o The objective of this paper is threefold. First, to estimate the productivity performances realiz A further distinguishing aspect of the paper is its attempt to incorporate the impact of unobservable The purpose of the paper is to reconcile the willingness to pay technique as a means of coll The novelty of this paper is twofold. First, it defines a range of competition policy implemen The purpose of this paper is to assess the importance of spatial variability in physical param The aim of this paper is to construct theoretical models which help to shed light on the The purpose of this paper is to explain empirical observations concerning the impact of exch The objective of this paper is to use input-output analysis to examine the resource allocation This paper investigates the empirical significance of underwriter reputation ca This paper investigates the knowledge that people have of the spatial distribu The paper investigates one aspect of party governance, namely the allocatio This paper investigates the relationship between agglomeration and specializ This paper investigates the impact on company behaviour of increases in fina The paper investigates the optimal provision of public goods in the presence This paper investigates institutional reasons for the soft-budget constraint pro This paper investigates convergence for a group of seven countries during the The paper investigates the impact of financial integration on asset return, ris This paper explores the possibility of using the classical concept of 'civil soci This paper explores the hypothesis that high tax rates can distort the decisio This paper explores two sets of potential determinants of this decision. One this paper explores the connections between the distribution of land, factor This paper explores some relationships between promotion of competition an The paper explains why bank loans and grants coexist with self-financing, w This paper examines the effect of the MFC rules adopted by Medicaid on bot This paper examines the quantitative effects of the transitional system of value This paper examines the intertemporal optimal consumption and investment This paper examines an evolutionary model in which the primary source of This paper examines the access of small private-sector firms in Hungary to This paper examines the relationship between community-level exposure to a This paper examines issues that senior human resource management execu The paper examines a local public goods economy where individuals' tastes This paper examines the effects of age, occupation, population size of place The paper examines a large population analog of fictitious play in which play This paper examines how profit maximizing fishers respond to different types This paper examines incentive and valuation effects of debt financing on land This paper examines some general notions relating to the comparison of Cou This paper examines how a public wastewater treatment plant balances obje This paper examines the empirical validity of this explanation using data on o this paper examines to what extent licence contracts can internalize the bus This paper examines the impact of the various reform measures on the produ This paper examines the hypothesis of Harold Innis (1894¯1952) that there is this paper examines the roles of transportation policy and demographic chan This paper examines the spatial evolution of computers across 317 metro are This paper examines the implications of tax evasion for fiscal competition an This paper examines the argument that the availability of collateral rules out This paper examines the effects on technology transfer and spillovers derivin This paper examines the consequences of falling transport costs for intermed This paper examines the evolution of the role of income distribution in the pro This paper examines how the presence of a non-negligible fraction of reciproc This paper discusses some analytical and practical questions raised by MCI This paper discusses the structure of the individual AMT and examines the lo This short paper discusses recent insights of multitask agency theory. It considers The paper discusses the history of the plans beginning in the Soviet period, t This paper discusses some problems posed by foreign currency debt for em This paper develops an estimable model of recreation behavior in which the r This paper develops an econometric model that incorporates all three compo the paper develops a housing search model and measures the cost of discri This paper develops a general-equilibrium model of a system of core-peripher This paper develops a positive theory explaining pollution tax policy outcome This paper develops a model of price determination in insurance markets. Ins The paper develops conditions under which clusters of activity emerge. Auth This paper develops an analytical framework to assess these effects. Circum This paper develops a model of regulated open access resource exploitation. This paper develops and discusses a two-sector general equilibrium growth This paper develops a model of corporate hierarchy in which workers accumu This paper develops a model of the choice between bank and market finance This paper develops a dynamically consistent model of search, matching and This paper develops a particular technique for extracting market expectations This paper develops an interpretation of the Asian meltdown focused on mora This paper develops a model of an unregulated banking system based around This paper deals with the problem by specifying an endogenous regime-switch This paper deals with company expectations for l997 with regard to employment this paper deals with those two issues. It will be argued in favour of an anti-inf This paper considers how cooperative solutions to games of sharing fish reso This paper considers the 'weak announcement proofness' criterion of S. A. M the paper considers dynamic allocation in an altruistic overlapping generatio This paper considers model worlds in which there is a continuum of individual this paper considers Australia's post-July 1997 regulatory regime for telecom The paper considers international per capita output and its growth using a pa This paper considers the optimal selling mechanism for complementary item The paper considers economic processes that may lead to the consolidation This paper considers a school choice plan, open enrollment, that allows stud This paper considers interjurisdictional tax competition in a two-period model This paper considers the implications of the decision of the Australian Industr This paper considers a smooth and noisy version of the statistical prediction This paper considers a fixed normal-form game played among populations of This paper considers why firms often ban monetary exchange between their This paper considers bidding behavior in a repeated procurement auction sett The paper concludes by examining welfare issues. This paper examines ho The paper concludes by explaining the relationship between the options appr This paper compares Bertrand and Cournot equilibria in a differentiated duopo This paper compares four equilibrium business cycle models with increasing This paper compares the two societies which have encouraged the study of e This paper combines statistical with economic equilibrium analysis in the co This paper attempts to show how the International Bank for Reconstruction a This paper attempts an analysis of the impact of migration on the scale and The paper attempts to reconcile some views on the Piccione-Rubinstein abs This paper argues that the analysis of these games involves a key technical i This paper argues that successful states in the ancient world depended on th This paper argues that while both technological opportunity and appropriabilit This paper argues that the way fiscal redistribution has managed to countera This paper argues that the sign of external effects of coalition formation provi The paper argues that in centrist parties, the high congruence of interest bet This paper argues that risk is related to long-run volatility of income and there This paper argues that the liberalisation of foreign direct investment (FDI) has This paper argues that unemployment insurance increases labor productivity This paper analyzes competitive allocations of an exhaustible resource in an the paper analyzes the role of crises and foreign assistance in bringing abo The paper analyzes the highlights of the country's economic recovery, explor The paper analyzes the effects of central bank independence on the position The paper analyzes a simple discrete-time noncooperative coalititional barga This paper analyzes the formation of trading groups in a bilateral market wher This paper analyzes repeated games with private monitoring where in each p This paper analyzes the relationship between unemployment duration and th This paper analyzes D. Pearce's (1984) notion of extensive form rationalizabil This paper analyzes the theory that Soviet farm marketing was so price unre The paper analyzes the institutional conditions under which policymakers ca This paper analyzes the effects of information on participation and time-of-us This paper analyzes the deadweight loss of delegated auditing in a three-tier This paper analyzes the deadweight loss of delegated auditing in a three-tier This paper analyzes the optimal interest rate policy in currency crises. Firms The paper analyses the welfare effects of these taxes as well as to what ext This paper analyses the employment effects of revenue-neutral green tax refo . This paper analyses the impact of modifying this assumption by allowing for The paper analyses the switch from pay-as-you-go to funded pensions ¯ pen This paper analyses the decision by firms under Cournot oligopoly as to reco This paper analyses the factors determining the scale and location of Japane this paper addresses the effect of rent control laws on two groups considere In addition, the paper addresses the effects of open enrollment on competition between this paper addresses the formalization and implications of the hypothesis th This paper addresses two general questions. First, what is the effect of mark Purpose The purpose of this paper is to consider what determines the differences between the combinations of financial and labour systems observed in some large market economies. The purpose of this paper is to consider the effect of the composition of economic activity on innovation. The purpose of this article is to explain the major changes made by the Basle Committee to its previous set of proposals (Basle Committee 1995) which were outlined in Hall 1995. The purpose of the paper is to reconcile the willingness to pay technique as a means of collecting information, put forward in earlier studies, with the growth theoretical approach to social ac The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of the public sector with that of the private sector for the various sub-sectors of manufacturing in Turkey. The purpose of this paper is to assess the importance of spatial variability in physical parameters in the design of efficient pollution regulations. The purpose of this paper is to explain empirical observations concerning the impact of exchange rate changes on industrial prices. Framework 1 The optimum currency area analysis is reexamined in a Mundell¯Fleming framework with local-currency pricing. 2 The authors consider Amartya Sen's familiar paradox of the Paretian liberal in a framework where individual rights are represented as a game form. 3 Using a three-period framework, we provide approximate solutions for optimal consumption choices 4 This paper proposes a conceptual framework to investigate the effects of central bank independence, of the degree of centralization of wage bargaining and of the interaction between those institutional variables, on real wages, unemployment and inflation, 5 The present paper extends the standard framework to cover the case of labour-augmenting technological progress. 6 This paper develops an analytical framework to assess these effects. 7 This paper applies this framework to an exchange-rate escape clause but is unable to solve his model given a triangular distribution of the supply shocks. 8 In order to understand how self-fulfillment can be realized in a dynamic framework, the authors investigate the relationship between 9 Using this bargaining framework, the paper analyzes the role of crises and foreign assistance in bringing about a settlement to the distributional conflict. 10 Nonconvexities are not fundamental in this framework. 11 We use a framework that nests an increasing returns model of economic geography featuring home market effects' with that of Heckscher¯Ohlin. 12 We introduce a framework that has known models of oligopolistic competition with differentiated products (the circle, the logit, and the CES) as limit cases. 13 the pros and cons of these different approaches within a coherent conceptual framework that applies contract theory to the regulation of banking. 14 Conversely, it is shown in a general framework that any convex (thus progressive) tax function satisfies the principle of equal sacrifice. 15 o show that the most important predictions of the standard theory hold in the general finite framework studied here. 16 In this framework, prescription drug discounts appear to make some consumers (those in the managed care sector) better off and other consumers (those outside the managed care sector) worse off. 17 This paper analyzes the theory that Soviet farm marketing was so price unresponsive that rapid industrialization within the framework of the NEP would have been choked off by rising farm prices and inadequate sales. 18 We first point out that the current framework of public international law allows for wide discretion in the assertion of jurisdiction. 19 The analysis is carried out in the framework of a general equilibrium model of a mixed economy with production. 20 We find that in this framework, much of the scope for conflict disappears. 21 Although seldom modeled outside the monopolistic competition framework, market incompleteness and imperfect competition are central to the new growth theories. 22 A simple game-theoretic framework is applied to analyse international cooperation by focusing on the prisoner's dilemma on the one hand and bargaining in the Coasian sense on the other. 23 The model provides a simple theoretical framework in which the level of corruption as well as the effects of corruption on income, consumption, and growth are identifiable. 24 This is modeled in the context of a political economy framework in which social cohesion reduces wasteful rent seeking, and thus strengthens incentives for investment in human captial. 25 recently demonstrated a potential conflict between stability and efficiency in this framework. 26 Based on the principal¯agent framework I develop a simple model of policy loans, which are granted by the government on non-market terms, to formalize this important banking phenomenon in both China and other developing countries. 27 The model serves as the framework for an econometric study of participation in the Conservation Reserve Program by Northeastern landowners. 28 In the absence of an institutional framework facilitating more dispersed ownership, 29 Studies of optimal growth in a multisector framework are generally addressed in reduced-form models, defined by an indirect utility function which summarizes the consumer's preferences and the technologies. 30 Instead, an incentive framework and legal environment should be created for the major nongovernment creditors to initiate restructuring. 31 The authors develop this conceptual framework and assess the findings from three studies of major commercial banks undergoing privatisation Result in (Vb) 1 Ruggiero et al- (1997) argue that the 'Pythagorean Theorem' is an inappropriate basis for evaluating baseball managers and has an illogical arithmetic property that can result in a manager's evaluation being dependent upon the strength of his team. 2 Olewiler (1993 and 1995) describe a model in which some competition can result in suboptimal Nash equilibrium. 3 Rather, they may result in the formation of a megalopolis that consists of large core cities that are connected by an industrial belt, i.e., a continuum of cities, where economic activities are dispersed over an interval on the location space. 4 Violation of (ii) may result in cyclical behaviour of actions on each sample path. 5 Violation of (i) may result in an 'anything is possible' result: any stochastic process of actions is consistent with maximizing behaviour and Bayesian updating. 6 and how the soft-budget constraint problem creates conditions which may result in a financial crisis. 7 empirical finding suggests that the missing common factor restrictions may result in a quite different and perhaps misleading inference. 8 In our benchmark, small reductions in working time, starting from the laissez-faire equilibrium solution, always result in a small increase in the equilibrium employment, while larger reductions reduce employment. 9 a one unit increase in (subsidized) free parking will result in more than one additional parker, adding to neighbourhood spillovers. 10 says that the Board believes that this bill would improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the financial services industry and result in better service to consumers 11 programs converge to a fixed point or to a cycle of finite period, and hence result in the conservation of the resource. As a result 1 some of these payments are made purely as a result of asymmetry in bargaining power and have nothing to do with 2 increased parcel sizes would be associated with lower unit prices as a result of the concavity of the land price function. 3 1.8 million defense-related jobs in the private sector would be lost as a result of the actual and proposed cuts in spending 4 yields the corresponding consistent bankruptcy rule as a result of a unique outcome of Nash equilibria. 5 As a result, international bodies such as the EU, ITU, OECD and WTO are 6 As a result, his finding undermines the credibility of the existing conclusion 7 As a result, Geary¯Khamis comparisons tend to underestimate Result (N) 1 The main result states that if the payoff functions are semicontinuous and strong 2 The main result of this study is that a financial constraint may serve as a discipli 3 The main result obtained from the simulation of the theoretical model is that, alt 4 The main result is that regional integration, in the form of a reduction in transport 5 The main result is that if we take a certain order is greater than or equal to 6 The main result is convergence with probability one to a fixed pattern of pure 7 This result is consistent with suggestions that agricultural districts where t 8 This result is obtained by using martingale techniques to reformulate the in 9 This result is applied to game theory to obtain a natural interpretation of co 10 This result is shown to be consistent with available evidence on working 11 This result has implications for empirical work. Moreover, this negative effect 13 However, the fundamental reason for this result has nothing to do with vintages; rather, 14 This result follows the presumption that women are poorly motivated by 15 An example shows that this result does not carry over to stationary stochastic environments. 16 Their result is robust to a variety of specification tests. Using panel data 15 The importance of the result is exemplified by the graduate tax. 16 The result holds for a large class of consistent and monotone rules, including 17 The result does not come from an effect of instability on investment. Evidence 1. New evidence is presented that reaffirms the predominance of local-currency pricing 2. Evidence is found of local spatial externalities between university research and 3. Evidence is presented that it was the Ford Motor Company that first develope 4. Evidence is presented showing that job-finding probabilities of the unemployed 5. First, detailed historical evidence is studied. Second, Innis's ideas are translated into a formal 6. Evidence is lacking on the extent to which groups facilitate rent-seeking or 7. Evidence is then presented showing that inflation is positively correlated with 8. Evidence is also lacking on the extent to which groups hamper the future deve 9. Furthermore, quantitative evidence is presented supporting the view that Federal Reserve 10. Empirical evidence is found in favour of a stable long-run M2 money demand function 11. Evidence from the French experience Thomas Piketty* CEPREMAP, 142 ru 12. It provides evidence from British and German data that is consistent with this view. 13. Evidence from industrial and developing countries: Francesco Giavazzi, 14. This paper uses census evidence from mid-nineteenth century France to investigate how and to 15. Insider power and wage setting in transition: Evidence from a panel of large Polish firms, 16. The effects of wage distortions on the transition: Theory and evidence from China Roger H. 17. Our evidence supports the finding that the social security system has substantially 18. The evidence suggests that migration between industry and agriculture was quite 19. I then argue that the existing evidence suggests that the performance effects of group affiliation 20. The evidence suggests that five price series exhibit stochastic trends, while the 21. Empirical evidence strongly supports this finding for industrialized countries and Europe 22. Evidence shows that firms build their market position by accumulating knowledge 23. However, other evidence shows that general training is financed by firms, especially in 24. The evidence provides considerable support for the diversity thesis but little support 25. The evidence provides ways for the People's Bank of China to improve the effective 26. There exists evidence of a sizable shift of elderly households away from homeownership. 27. The author finds strong evidence of MAR (Marshall-arrow-Romer) (own industry, or localization) 28. The model is consistent with the empirical evidence of SOEs restructuring in transition 29. We find strong evidence of significant dynamic own industry externalities for single plant firm 30. Evidence of superior forecasting skill would imply that U.S. monetary authorities 31. found to provide strong evidence of local spillovers at the state level. At the MSA level, a 32. and little evidence of urbanization-Jacobs-knowledge type externalities. Corporate plant 33. With individual country tests, we find evidence of stationarity in only four of the thirteen countries. 34. there is evidence of diminishing marginal productivity gains for both forms of ownership 35. present empirical evidence of significant spillovers from inward investment on technical progress 36. The economic literature provides empirical evidence of the existence of technological cartels, Collocates of evidence: empirical (***), strong (**), recent, existing, systematic, experimental, direct, substantial, abstract, available, new, quantitative, historical. Given (A + given) 1. We identify conditions such that for a given rationality parameter range the path of choices over 2. If households sort efficiently across locations, then at a given location families receive the same 3. Novel comparative statics show that debt value May increase for a given increase in asset volatility 4. as the probability of entry increases, expected profit for a given firm, conditional on entry, increases over some initial range. 5. to the event that a country joins the European Monetary Union at a given date. 6. signals a higher probability of joining EMU at a given date, or simply reflects improved (given + the/that) 7. At equilibrium, each player uses appropriate choice probabilities, given those used by the others. 8. with private information about their types, choose utility-maximizing signals given these prices. 9. It also shows that, given the observed matrix of subsequent tenure transitions, these impacts o 10. Given the meager amount of informal assistance available to them, most 11. Given the strong theoretical presumption that state enterprises are less efficient 12. The equilibrium is second best, given the imposition of the revenue constraint on the 13. Second, given that essential local inputs are vulnerable to monopolization and 14. Given that the cities within an economy constitute some form of hierarchical Appendix 2 - Transition Cues Adapted from LEO, Literacy Education Online, http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/style/transitioncues.html Transitions help readers connect the ideas in a piece of writing; they're the glue that shows how pieces of your text fit together. Often all you'll need is a word or phrase to lead readers through your text. There are words and phrases which help you… 1. lead readers forward from information they've already read to new information 2. move readers into specific examples 3. lead readers through a sequence a. from one time-frame to another b. draw readers' attention to a particular location or place c. let readers know that a digression is about to begin or end 4. draw readers' attention to cause and effect relationships a. to emphasize a cause or reason b. to clarify the purpose of something 5. make readers stop and compare what they've just read to what they're about to read 6. lead readers into statements that clarify or emphasize a. to clarify a point that readers have just read b. to emphasize a point that readers are about to read 7. lead readers into concessions, reservations, dismissals, or conditions a. to concede a point that readers are likely to think of b. to clarify for readers the writer's reservations c. to dismiss a point that readers are likely to think of d. to establish a condition or conditions affecting the subject 8. lead readers into a summary or conclusion a. To repeat a point you've already made b. To summarize what you've already said c. To introduce readers to a conclusion or conclusions Here are some examples. Old Information Transition New Information ADDITION Actually, Further, Additionally, Furthermore, Again, Incidentally, Also, Indeed, And In fact, Besides Lastly, Equally important, Moreover, Finally, Not only this, but this as well First, Second, Third, etc. What's more, Generalization Transition Examples EXAMPLES As an illustration, Namely, Especially, Notably, For example, Particularly, For instance, Specifically, Including To demonstrate, In particular, To illustrate, One time Transition Another time TIME After a few hours, Immediately following, Afterwards, Initially, At last In the end, At the same time, In the future, Before In the meantime, Before this, In the meanwhile, Currently, Last, Last but not least, Lastly, During Later, Eventually, Meanwhile, Finally, Next, Soon after, First, Second, Third, etc. Previously, First of all, Simultaneously, Formerly Subsequently, Immediately before, Then, One place Transition Another place PLACE Adjacent, In the background, Alongside, In the distance, At the side, In the front, Here/There In the foreground In the back, Nearby, Digression Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ back to Main point Main point Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ begin Digression DIGRESSION/RESUMPTION Anyhow, Incidentally, Anyway, To change the subject, As I was saying, To get back to the point, At any rate, To return to the subject, By the way, To resume, An effect Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ move in to Cause/Reason CAUSE/REASON As Because Because of Due to For For the simple reason that Since Cause/Reason Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ move in to An effect EFFECT/RESULT As a result So Because of this, So that For this reason, Therefore, Consequently, Thus, Something Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ move in to Its purpose PURPOSE For fear that So In the hope that So that In order to With this in mind, Just read Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ equal or not equal About to read COMPARISON/CONTRAST Although/Although this is true Meanwhile, And yet Nevertheless, At the same time, Nonetheless, But Nothwithstanding, Conversely, On the contrary, For all that, On the other hand, In comparison, Similarly, In contrast, Still, In the same manner/way, While this is true However, When in fact Likewise, Whereas Point just read Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ meaning Clarification CLARIFICATION In other words, That is to say In this case, Under certain circumstances I mean Up to a point Put another way Point just read Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ !!!! Emphatic point EMPHASIS As a matter of fact, In fact, In any case, Obviously, In any event, That is Indeed, Undoubtedly, Point just read Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ but maybe Concession CONCLUSION Accordingly, In short, As a result, In summary, Consequently, On the whole, Finally, So Hence, Therefore, In brief, Thus, In conclusion, To conclude, Point just read Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ even so Reservation RESERVATION Admittedly, Indeed, As a matter of fact, Nevertheless, Even so, Notwithstanding, Even though Regardless Despite this Point may be true Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ BUT Dismissal DISMISSAL All the same, In either case, At any rate, In either event, Either way, Whatever happens, In any case/event, Whichever happens, The subject is true Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ IF This condition is met CONDITION Although Although this is true, But Even though, However, In spite of Nevertheless, Since A point Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ = Point stated differently REPETITION As I have noted, In brief, As indicated above/earlier, In short, As I stated, In summary, As mentioned, On the whole, As noted earlier, Points made Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ nutshell Summary SUMMARY All in all, In summary, All together, On the whole, As I mentioned, Overall, As I stated, Since Briefly, So By and large, Summing up, Finally, Then, Given these facts, Therefore, In brief, To conclude, In conclusion, To put it briefly, In short, To summarize, Points made Transition ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ the end is coming Conclusion CONCLUSION Accordingly, In short, As a result, In summary, Consequently, On the whole, Finally, So Hence, Therefore, In brief, Thus, In conclusion, To conclude, Appendix 3. Other sample abstracts Working paper abstracts Complexity and Empirical Economics Steven N. Durlauf This paper explores the state of interplay between recent efforts to introduce complex systems methods into economics and the understanding of empirical phenomena. The empirical side of economic complexity may be divided into three general branches: historical studies, the identification of power and scaling laws, and analyses of social interactions. I argue that, while providing useful “stylized facts,” none of these empirical approaches has produced compelling evidence that economic contexts exhibit the substantive microstructure or properties of complex systems. This failure reflects inadequate attention to identification problems. Identification analysis should, therefore, be at the center of future work on the empirics of complexity. A Theory for Long-Memory in Supply and Demand Fabrizio Lillo, Szabolcs Mike, and J. Doyne Farmer Recent empirical studies have demonstrated long-memory in the signs of orders to buy or sell in financial markets [2, 19]. We show how this can be caused by delays in market clearing. Under the common practice of order splitting, large orders are broken up into pieces and executed incrementally. If the size of such large orders is power law distributed, this gives rise to power law decaying autocorrelations in the signs of executed orders. More specifically, we show that if the cumulative distribution of large orders of volume $v$ is proportional to $v^\alpha$ and the size of executed orders is constant, the autocorrelation of order signs is asymptotically proportional to $\tau^{-(\alpha-1)}$. This is a long-memory process when $\alpha<2$. With a few caveats, this gives a good match to the data. A version of the model also shows long-memory fluctuations in order execution rates, which may be relevant for explaining the long-memory of price diffusion rates. Two-Factor Model of Income Distribution Dynamics Makoto Nirei and Wataru Souma This paper analyzes empirical income distributions and proposes a simple stochastic model to explain the stationary distribution and deviations from it. Using the individual tax returns data in the U.S. and Japan for 40 years, we first summarize the shape of income distribution by an exponential decay up to about the 90th percentile of income and a power decay for the top 1 percent. We then propose a minimal stochastic process of labor and asset income to reproduce the empirical characteristics. In particular, the Pareto exponent is derived analytically and matched with empirical statistics. Tools of the Trade: The Socio-Technology of Arbitrage in a Wall Street Trading Room Daniel Beunza and David Stark Our task in this paper is to analyze the organization of trading in the era of quantitative finance. To do so, we conduct an ethnography of arbitrage, the trading strategy that best exemplifies finance in the wake of the quantitative revolution. In contrast to value and momentum investing, we argue, arbitrage involves an art of association – the construction of equivalence (comparability) of properties across different assets. In place of essential or relational characteristics, the peculiar valuation that takes place in arbitrage is based on an operation that makes something the measure of something else – associating securities to each other. The process of recognizing opportunities and the practices of making novel associations are shaped by the specific socio-spatial and socio-technical configurations of the trading room. Calculation is distributed across persons and instruments as the trading room organizes interaction among diverse principles of valuation. The Network Topology of the Interbank Market Michael Boss, Helmut Elsinger, Martin Summer, and Stefan Thurner We provide an empirical analysis of the network structure of the Austrian interbank market based on a unique data set of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB). We show that the contract size distribution follows a power law over more than 3 decades. By using a novel “dissimilarity” measure we find that the interbank network shows a community structure that exactly mirrors the regional and sectoral organization of the actual Austrian banking system. The degree distribution of the interbank network shows two different power-law exponents that are one-to-one related to two sub-network structures, differing in the degree of hierarchical organization. The banking network moreover shares typical structural features known in numerous complex real world networks: a low clustering coefficient and a relatively short average shortest path length. These empirical findings are in marked contrast to interbank networks that have been analyzed in the theoretical economic and econo-physics literature. Dissertation Abstracts Investigating Credit Card Debt: The Rationality of Consumers and The Effect on Consumption Tufan Ekici My dissertation focuses on two critical issues in the United States’ credit card market: (1) the determinants and the rationality of credit card borrowing and (2) the extent to which household consumption can be accounted for by credit card debt. The first part analyzes the usefulness of price expectations and consumer confidence measures in predicting consumer borrowing on credit cards. It has been argued that there are irrational elements in the credit card market since consumers borrow on cards at very high interest rates. Previous empirical investigations have used the nominal interest rate as a determinant of borrowing. To investigate the issue of rationality, I use a new set of survey data (Ohio Economic Survey) that has information on both price expectations and credit card use. Thus, I can construct an expected real interest rate variable to test for consumer rationality. Censored regression estimation results show that when price expectations are taken into account, consumers adjust their credit card borrowing to the expected real interest rate, which is a rational economic behavior. Credit card borrowing is also found to be significantly related to two key income components of consumer confidence. Thus the behavior of credit card users is shown to be more complex and rational than what has been argued in previous research. The second part of my work investigates the effect of credit card debt on household consumption. The Permanent Income Hypothesis predicts that debt should have no effect on consumption growth. The existing literature offers evidence for the effect of some aggregate debt measures on aggregate consumption growth. I first show that a new index specifically designed to capture credit card indebtedness is able to explain up to 14 percent of aggregate durable consumption growth. The index utilizes data from a monthly household survey (OES) and incorporates some variables which have generally been unavailable to researchers. I then combine two micro data sets, the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CES) and the Ohio Economic Survey (OES), to test for the extent to which individual households’ spending decisions can be accounted for by credit card debt. The results will provide insight about the macroeconomic effects of credit card debt and should be useful for the policy-makers. An Economic and Financial Analysis of the Latin American Model of Pension Intermediaries Rafael Romero-Meza In both developed and developing countries, there is currently a great level of public and political awareness about the topic of mandatory pension systems. In the early 1990s, several Latin American countries, facing problems with their pay-as-you-go pension systems, introduced defined-contribution pension models, where participants have individual accounts managed by private pension intermediaries. This dissertation develops policy recommendations to improve the operation of private pension intermediaries as implemented in several Latin American countries. Governments in these countries offer two types of guarantees, on the minimum pension income, and on the rate of return of the funds managed by pension intermediaries, which can offer only one fund per intermediary. Based on both theoretical and empirical analysis, I conclude that the regulation that guarantees a rate of return on workers' pension funds, as it is applied in these countries, is incompatible with a competitive industry of private pension intermediaries. If a government believes that some guarantee must be provided, I recommend both allowing pension intermediaries to offer more than one fund and providing a guarantee only to the low risk portfolio. Moreover, I propose that workers save in the low risk portfolio a fixed amount of money, which should be enough to fund a lifetime annuity that pays the minimum pension income. Any excess over the required saving (10% of income) could be allocated in a portfolio without any guarantee on the rate of return. In addition I propose to allow private pension intermediaries to offer additional services and products. New products with option like features can be created using the techniques developed by financial engineering. Differential Impact of Information Technology on Cost Driver Relationships in Selected Banking Functions Jamshed Mistry A central question in management accounting is the relationship between overhead costs and cost drivers. Management accounting information systems, such as cost driver models, are essential to provide information necessary to support managerial decision-making and control (Kaplan, 1983, 1984, 1993). This dissertation has two primary objectives. The first objective is to develop and estimate a context-specific model of the effect of three categories of cost drivers (volume, operational, and product-design based) on revenues and costs for commercial banking, which can be used to examine the differential effects of the drivers within and between banking functions. The increasing use of Information Technology (IT) has resulted in the creation of another important cost category (IT investment and operating costs) that contributes to overhead costs. Although increases in IT spending are expected to increase productivity and profitability, research examining these effects has yielded mixed results. A number of researchers have labeled this "the productivity paradox" (Brynjolfsson, 1993). Hence, the second objective of this study is to examine the role of IT in moderating the relationship between costs and cost drivers and revenue and revenue drivers. The cost driver model enables examination of how the moderating effect of IT differs within and between bank functions. Specific hypotheses regarding the moderating effect of IT are developed by drawing on Weill's (1990) framework to disaggregate IT investment info Strategic and Transactional uses of IT. The model and hypotheses are empirically tested on a cross-sectional sample of 59 banks from the Functional Cost and Profit analysis data set collected by the Federal Reserve Banks. While the sample is small, the data set is particularly useful because it provides both financial and operating data, including direct and distributed costs of separate banking functions, and enables the allocation of support costs, including IT, to functions. Multivariate regression analysis with interaction terms is used to estimate the model. Despite the relatively small sample size and collinearity, the results are generally consistent with the predicted hypotheses regarding: a) the moderating role of Transactional IT on the cost driver relationships in the cost functions and the moderating role of IT on the revenue driver relationships in the revenue functions, and b) the differential impact of IT on the cost and revenue driver relationships in the two separate banking functions. Money and Knowledge: Sources of Seed Capital and the Performance of High Technology Start-ups Susanna Khavul As countries compete in the knowledge economy, investment in high technology entrepreneurial startups often becomes a national priority. High technology startups, however, operate in turbulent high-risk environments, which makes raising funds from traditional market sources difficult. As such, equity seed capital for high technology entrepreneurial startups originates from multiple sources, including personal finance, private investors, venture capital, government, and corporations. This study examines how different sources of seed capital and the levels of ownership control impact the performance of knowledge-intensive new ventures in high technology industries. Building on previous research, the study argues that through their ownership positions, sources of financial seed capital may generate a de facto meso-institutional environment around the start-up firm, affecting its resource position and performance. The study compared the differences in the dimensions of the meso-institutional environment, resource positions, speed to product and speed to market of startup firms with either institutional control, non-institutional control, and mixed ownership. The strength of directional hypotheses was tested in the context of Israel's emergent entrepreneurial high technology sector. The first part of the study was grounded in qualitative case interviews of fifty-two founders/CEOs of Israeli high technology new ventures and twenty-nine intermediaries in the startup process, including venture capitalists, placement agents, and administrators in government funding agencies. The second part of the study surveyed a randomly sampled cross-section of founders/CEOs in Israeli high technology startups who have received financing from multiple sources. The main findings were as follows. Firms where institutions had controlling interest in equity reported significantly higher overall resource positions than either firms with non-institutional control or mixed equity. Firms with institutional control perceived their meso-institutional environments as significantly more legitimizing than either firms with non-institutional control or mixed equity. Firms with mixed equity perceived their meso-institutional environments as significantly more munificent than firms with non-institutional controls; however, there were no significant differences between firms with institutional and non-institutional control. There were also no differences between the three groups in the reported concentration of power and authority. Finally, firms with mixed control of equity had significantly faster times to product that either firms with institutional or non-institutional control of equity. Mitigating the Economic Impact of Refugees in Rwanda and Uganda Richard Alec Jones (PhD in Post War Recovery 2004) This study is concerned with advocating a constructive approach for mitigating the economic impact of refugees in Rwanda and Uganda. The research is underpinned by three main parameters: 1) Poverty/economics 2) Socio-historical factors that prove the link between poverty and conflict within Rwanda and 3) Refugee dynamics in the Great Lakes, particularly from the outfall of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. These show that the main problem to be addressed is that disjointed refugee resettlement and repatriation programmes and poverty reduction strategies mean that impoverished refugees are returning to impoverished communities, where poverty further increases leading to tension and eventual renewed displacement. This phenomenon is known as the Refugee Continuum. The aim is to advocate a project process with accompanying recommendations that are specifically relevant to the realities at the micro and macro level within Rwanda, based on the following hypothesis: The integration of poverty reduction strategies with refugee resettlement and repatriation programmes within Rwanda can be undertaken through a process which eases the transition between immediate returning refugee impact in the short term (promoting relief), with the need for the returnees and established locals' longer term coexistence (promoting development). This is achieved through the integration of the primarily macroeconomic driven priorities of the Rwandan Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) with the need to increase the capacity of the communities to absorb returning refugees at the micro level through a Transitory Integrative Project vehicle. Thus linking refugee resettlement and repatriation programmes and poverty reduction strategies. Such an approach minimises the Refugee Continuum and increases prospects for stabilisation and development. The study sets out to understand the nature of poverty, its relationship with conflict and the complexity of poverty reduction in areas of extreme poverty exacerbated by population flows. By linking the theory with practical research in Uganda and Rwanda it attempts to show how people can increase their financial, social, physical, natural and human assets by addressing common livelihood priorities through a specific type of project, set within the ultimate PRSP objective of gradual structural transformation. Exercise Key Exercise 1. a. 1 and 3, b. 2, c. 1, d. 2. Exercise 2. Title (1-2); Topic sentence (3-4 - This sentence gives the general problem the research is attempting to help solve - rather than the specific research problem - in order to provide a rationale for the research); Subject/Purpose (4-6 - up to “The drying system is designed to dry a variety of agricultural products.” included); Expansion on the research problem (“The effect of air mass flow rate on the drying process is studied.” - Here the authors give the parameter they will be focusing on in order to measure the effect of air mass flow rate on the drying process. Their research problem, therefore, is to find out the effect of air mass flow rate on the drying process), Methodology (7-13 - up to “processes”), Results presentation and findings (13-17 - up to “materials”), Main conclusion of the research (17-18). Exercise 3. 1. General, 2. Third person (impersonal) style, 3. In examples a., b., c. present tense. In example d. present perfect and past (discuss why). Exercise 4. 1. provides, 2. consider, 3. argues, 4. looks, 5. calls, 6. develops. Exercise 5. 1. … is looked at… is emphasized, 3. … is developed … is embedded, 5. … is then calculated, 6. … is followed by. Exercise 6. 1. is employed, 2. are examined, 3. are analysed, 4. is shown, 5. are described… is followed. Exercise 7. 1. This article initially considers the notion of civil society in the light of intellectual history and differentiates it into a number of … 2. We apply a simple game-theoretic framework to analyse international cooperation by focusing… References Writing up Research - The Abstract, online at http://www.languages.ait.ac.th/el21abst.htm. How to Write an Abstract, online at http://www.okstate.edu/education/jshs/abstract.htm. LEO - Literary Education Online: Transition Cues, online at http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/style/ transitioncues.html. ________________________________ * Only in case the authors are more than one.