Econometric Analysis of Costing System Components in Rail Rate Regulation

In response to Congressional directive, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) has created a railroad costing system that includes as key components ratios designed to estimate variable costs associated with freight transportation. The estimated variability ratios are used to determine freight surcharges, jurisdictional threshold rates, and basic rail rates in administrative law and federal court proceedings. In this article we assess the quality and reliability of the estimated variability ratios and their components against standards from economic theory and statistical theory and practice. Our work includes reproduction of the naive ICC regressions, updated naive regressions for the latest data set, estimation based on more secure econometric foundations, and sensitivity analyses comparing alternative estimation procedures. Fundamental questions arise concerning the scientific and evidentiary standards that are required for econometric methodology in policy making and regulatory activities.     

Introduccion

Resumen

El miedo, como una de las consecuencias de la situación sociopolítica de Argentina en los últimos años, ha afectado, y sigue afectando, a la mayor parte de los miembros de esa sociedad, presentando características diferentes según el periodo considerado, es decir, dictadura, transición a la democracia o gobierno democrático concreto. Se discuten sus implicaciones para la sociedad y se sugieren algunas formas de afrontarlo.     

Conflictos matrimoniales y problemas en los hijos

Resumen

La investigación que presentamos estudia la validez ecológica de la educación familiar. Con este propósito se examina el efecto de los conflictos matrimoniales en el desarrollo de los hijos. El estudio se realiza con una muestra de 200 sujetos con un amplio rango de edad. Los resultados obtenidos corroboran estudios previos (Cumming, 1994; Cumming y Davies, 1994; Neighbors, Forenhand y Bau, 1997) y muestran la relación entre conflictos matrimoniales y problemas de conducta en los hijos. Concretamente se confirma que los hijos que presencian conflictos matrimoniales continuados tienen gran probabilidad de presentar problemas sobre todo de externalización. Además, se demuestra el papel modulador del género y de la edad.     

Social Psychology and the Sociology of Knowledge

Resumen

Se parte de la revisión de los tres modelos que se han formulado desde las ciencias sociales para intentar explicar la difusión de la infección de la infección por el VIH: el modelo epidemiológico-conductal, el modelo antropológico-cultural y el modelo político-económico. Se sintetizan los resultados obtenidos en tres estudios realizados en la Argentina en relación con el tema: los códigos actuales en la sexualidad de los jóvenes, el SIDA en los medios y las organizaciones no gubernamentales que actúan en el campo del SIDA. La revisión de los resultados muestra que en la Argentina, a pesar de que algunos grupos han captado la necesidad de la incorporación del modelo político-social en el trabajo preventivo en relación con el SIDA, existen grupos que persisten en el modelo epidemiológico-conductal, que no favorece la reflexión crítica sobre el sistema social, por lo que no se da pie a acciones transformadoras que permitan el “empoderamiento” de los sectores más afectados por la epidemia.     

Deviation of order p for estimators of the variance in first-order stochastic differential equation (SDE)

In this work, we consider a non-parametric estimator of the variance in one-dimensional diffusion models or, more generally, in Itô processes with a deterministic diffusion term and a general non-anticipative drift. The estimation is based on the quadratic variation of discrete time observations over a finite interval. In particular, a central limit theorem (CLT) is proved for the deviation in L ^p norm (p≥; 1) between the variance and this estimator. The method of the proof consists in writing the L ^p norm of the deviation, when the drift term is equal to zero, as a sum of 4-dependent random variables. The moments are then computed by means of a Gaussian approximation and a CLT for m-dependent random variables is applied. The convergence is stable in law, this allows the result for processes with general drifts to be obtained, by using Girsanov's formula.     

When an Event Makes a Difference

For (S, Σ) a measurable space, let and be convex, weak^* closed sets of probability measures on Σ. We show that if ∪ satisfies the Lyapunov property , then there exists a set A ∈ Σ such that min_μ1∈ μ₁(A) > max_μ2 ∈ (A). We give applications to Maxmin Expected Utility (MEU) and to the core of a lower probability.     

《饥饿间奏曲》的成长主题研究

勒克莱奇奥的《饥饿间奏曲》以主人公艾黛儿·布伦成长的故事为线索,讲述了一个饱受磨难的少女,最终成长为坚强独立的女性的历程。笔者从成长的苦难、成长的引路人以及成长的顿悟三个方面分析了该小说的成长主题,同时揭示了成长主题的社会与文化的原型价值。     

Scoring of web pages and tournaments—axiomatizations

Consider a set of elements which we want to rate using information about their bilateral relationships. For instance sports teams and the outcomes of their games, journals and their mutual citations, web sites and their link structure, or social alternatives and the tournament derived from the voters' preferences. A wide variety of scoring methods have been proposed to deal with this problem. In this paper we axiomatically characterize two of these scoring methods, variants of which are used to rank web pages by their relevance to a query, and academic journals according to their impact. These methods are based on the Perron–Frobenius theorem for non-negative matrices.

Contenir le marché : la transition de la criée à la cotation électronique à la Bourse de Paris

Open outcry was fully replaced at the Paris Bourse by an automated trade execution system (CAC) in the late 1980s. In this article, we focus on the circumstances that made this transition possible. We analyze the diverse compromises (both social and technical) that the officials and engineers in charge of the innovation process constructed in order to stabilize the new market device. They had to carefully inscribe into the new system the interests of the actors at stake: bankers and stockbrokers. This case study contributes to economic sociology by drawing a relation between a technical device and the interests set around the “modernization” of a market.