Inconsistent conclusions are obtained from recent active galactic nuclei (AGNs) accretion disk inter-band time-lag measurements. While some works show that the measured time lags significantly larger (by a factor of $\sim 3$) than theoretical predictions Shakura \& Sunyaev (SSD) model, others find measurements consistent with (or only slightly than) SSD model. These conflicting observational re...

We seek to determine the optimal amount of the insurer’s investment in all types of assets for a small and closed economy. The goal is to detect the implications and contributions the risk seeker and risk aversion insurer commonly make and the effectiveness in the investment decision. Also, finding the optimum portfolio for each is the main goal of the present study. To this end, we adopted the...

In the United States, but not in Canada, nominal interest on residential housing mortgages is a deductible expense for the personal income tax. This suggests that changes in nominal interest rates could conceivably have differing impacts on real estate values in the two countries. The inflation component of nominal interest should have a negative impact on Canadian real estate, but its effect s...

A central feature of the monetarist approach to the problem of inflation is a preannounced gradual reduction in monetary growth. This reduction is to be sustained until a monetary growth consistent with a zero, or an acceptably low, target rate of inflation is reached. Thereafter, monetary growth is to be held constant at this new rate. The specifics of this prescription differ by the type of m...

Implementation of the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for hospital payment has produced major changes in the hospital industry and in the way hospital services are used by physicians and their patients. The substantial published literature that examines these changes is reviewed in this article. This literature suggests that most of the intended effects of PPS on costs and intensity o...

First, concentrating on the seasonal (s = 52) lags, the ACF shows a strong peak at h = 1s and lesser, but still statistically significant peaks at h = 3s , 4s, 5s, and 7s. The PACF shows statistically significant peaks at only h = 1s. It appears that: • the ACF is cutting off after lag 1s and the PACF is tailing off in the seasonal lags • the ACF is cutting off after lags 3s, 4s, 5s, or 7s, and...

This paper describes a method for calculating daily realtime estimates of the current state of the U.S. economy. The estimates are computed from data on scheduled U.S. macroeconomic announcements using an econometric model that allows for variable reporting lags, temporal aggregation, and other complications in the data. The model can be applied to find real-time estimates of GDP, inflation, un...

This paper analyzes optimal wage contracting assuming agents are not subjective expected utility maximizers but are, instead, ambiguity (or uncertainty) averse decision makers who maximize Choquet expected utility. We show that such agents will choose not to include any indexation coverage in their wage contracts even when inflation is uncertain, unless the perceived inflation uncertainty is hi...