Automation, Growth, and Factor Shares in the Era of Population Aging

E-print/Working paper (2020)

How does population aging affect economic growth and factor shares in times of increasingly automatable production processes? The present paper addresses this question in a new macroeconomic model of ... [more ▼]

How does population aging affect economic growth and factor shares in times of increasingly automatable production processes? The present paper addresses this question in a new macroeconomic model of automation where competitive firms perform tasks to produce output. Tasks require labor and machines as inputs. New machines embody superior technological knowledge and substitute for labor in the performance of tasks. The incentive to automate is stronger if wages are higher. Automation is shown to boost the aggregate demand for labor if and only if the incentives to automate are strong enough and to reduce the labor share. These predictions obtain even though automation is labor-augmenting in the reduced-form production function. Population aging due to a higher longevity or a decline in fertility may strengthen or weaken the incentives to automate. Irrespective of its source, population aging is predicted to increase the growth rate of per-capita GDP in the short and in the long run. The short-run effect of higher longevity on the labor share is positive whereas the effect of a declining fertility is negative. In the long run, population aging reduces the labor share. [less ▲]

Geographien der Grenzen. Räume – Ordnungen – Verflechtungen

Book published by VS Verlag (2020)

Border research has undergone profound changes in the last few decades, which has changed the study of national borders as unchallenged phenomena. This reorientation is based on constructivist approaches ... [more ▼]

Border research has undergone profound changes in the last few decades, which has changed the study of national borders as unchallenged phenomena. This reorientation is based on constructivist approaches and queries the processes of establishing, relativising, shifting or overcoming borders. It was based on this conception of borders as social constructions that in 2019 Florian Weber (Saarland University), Christian Wille (University of Luxembourg), Beate Caesar (TU Kaiserslautern) and Julian Hollstegge (University of Bayreuth) launched their book project "Geographien der Grenzen" (Geographies of Borders). The anthology, which was published in 2020 discusses the connection between spaces, orders and interdependencies. The authors from the spatial, social sciences and cultural studies choose different approaches to borders and analyze their (re)production processes as “geographies of borders”. By doing so, they also focus on borders other than nation-state borders, such as city-country hybrid differentiations. The volume therefore examines from various theoretical and thematic perspectives the question of how and which “geographies of border” can be (re)constructed in the interplay of various destabilizations and (re)stabilizations of borders. Contents • Entwicklungslinien der Border Studies und Zugänge zu Geographien der Grenzen (Weber, Florian / Wille, Christian / Caesar, Beate / Hollstegge, Julian) • Räumliche Identifikationen und Identifizierungen in Grenzregionen. Das Beispiel der Großregion SaarLorLux (Wille, Christian) • Zur Rolle von Strukturen und Kontingenz – das Beispiel des grenzüberschreitenden Pendelns im Alpenraum (Heugel, Anna / Chilla, Tobias) • Energy Borderlands – eine Analyse medialer Aushandlungsprozesse um das Kernkraftwerk Cattenom in der Großregion SaarLorLux (Biemann, Juli / Weber, Florian) • Planungskulturelle Vielfalt in Grenzräumen – Theoretische und methodische Ansätze zur grenzüberschreitenden Raumplanung (Caesar, Beate / Evrard, Estelle) • Die Entwicklung grenzüberschreitender Berufsausbildung im Spannungsfeld unterschiedlicher Dimensionen von Distanz – das Beispiel der Großregion (Dörrenbächer, H. Peter) • Zur Konstitution multipler Borderlands im Zuge der Frankreichstrategie des Saarlandes (Crossey, Nora / Weber, Florian) • Re-Figuration von Grenzen und Ordnungen im sozialen Raum. Konzeptualisierung eines Analysemodells partizipativer Governance in EU-Grenzregionen (Ulrich, Peter) • Grenzgeographien der COVID-19-Pandemie (Weber, Florian / Wille, Christian) • (Un-)Ordnungen der Kontrolle. Politische Auseinandersetzungen um das Asylsystem der Europäischen Union nach der Krise des Grenzregimes 2015 (Niebauer, David) • Mehr-als-menschliche Grenzen: Die Neuverhandlung des europäischen Grenzregimes im Kontext der Afrikanischen Schweinepest (Fleischmann, Larissa) • In Beton gegossene Grenzen: Wie Mauern als Instrumente der Macht die Realität des Raums verändern (Engelhardt, Marc) • Counter-Mapping Corporeal Borderlands: Border Imaginaries in the Americas (Fellner, Astrid M.) • Sehnsuchtsräume und Beheimatungsstrategien jamaikanischer Frauen in Montreal (Johnson, Lisa Katharina) • Migration and Urbanity in Rural Areas. Developments in the German-Luxembourg Border Region (Boesen, Elisabeth / Schnuer, Gregor / Wille, Christian) • The city’s internal boundaries in the light of socio-territorial realities (Stébé, Jean-Marc / Marchal, Hervé) • Hybrid Urban Borderlands (Roßmeier, Albert) • Postmoderne Siedlungsentwicklungen in Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Stadtlandhybridität und Raumpastiches zwischen Begrenzungen und Entgrenzungen (Kühne, Olaf / Jenal, Corrina / Koegst, Lara) [less ▲]

Intention as commitment toward time

in Artificial Intelligence and Law (2020), 283

In this paper we address the interplay among intention, time, and belief in dynamic environments. The first contribution is a logic for reasoning about intention, time and belief, in which assumptions of ... [more ▼]

In this paper we address the interplay among intention, time, and belief in dynamic environments. The first contribution is a logic for reasoning about intention, time and belief, in which assumptions of intentions are represented by preconditions of intended actions. Intentions and beliefs are coherent as long as these assumptions are not violated, i.e. as long as intended actions can be performed such that their preconditions hold as well. The second contribution is the formalization of what-if scenarios: what happens with intentions and beliefs if a new (possibly conflicting) intention is adopted, or a new fact is learned? An agent is committed to its intended actions as long as its belief-intention database is coherent. We conceptualize intention as commitment toward time and we develop AGM-based postulates for the iterated revision of belief-intention databases, and we prove a Katsuno-Mendelzon-style representation theorem. [less ▲]

Transcranial electric stimulation optimizes the balance of visual attention across space.

in Clinical Neurophysiology (2020), 131(4), 912-920

OBJECTIVE: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) provides a way to modulate spatial attention by enhancing the ratio of neural activity between the left and right hemispheres, with a potential ... [more ▼]

OBJECTIVE: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) provides a way to modulate spatial attention by enhancing the ratio of neural activity between the left and right hemispheres, with a potential benefit for the rehabilitation of visual neglect. METHODS: We tested the effect of bilateral tDCS in healthy individuals performing a visual detection task. This protocol consists in the positioning of the anode and cathode on mirror positions over the left and right parietal areas. The stimulation was repeated over three days to maximize the chance to observe a bias to the hemispace controlateral to the anode. RESULTS: Compared to a sham treatment, left anodal - right cathodal stimulation enhanced attention across the full range of space, since the first day with no build-up effect on the next days, and modified the balance of left-right omissions when stimuli appeared at the same time. CONCLUSION: Bilateral tDCS improved detection in both visual fields, with no privileged processing of one side, except when concurrent stimuli were presented. The results provide partial support to the hemispheric rivalry hypothesis. SIGNIFICANCE: The technique has the potential to boost attention in neglect patients but should be used as an adjuvant rather than as an alternative to functional rehabilitation. [less ▲]

Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy of Bright and Dark Modes in Hyperbolic Metamaterial Nanostructures

in Advanced Optical Materials (2020), 8(13), 2000277

Layered metal/dielectric hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) support a wide landscape of plasmon polariton excitations. In addition to surface plasmon polaritons, coupled Bloch-like gap-plasmon polaritons ... [more ▼]

Layered metal/dielectric hyperbolic metamaterials (HMMs) support a wide landscape of plasmon polariton excitations. In addition to surface plasmon polaritons, coupled Bloch-like gap-plasmon polaritons with high modal confinement inside the multilayer are supported. Photons can excite only a subset of these polaritonic modes, typically with a limited energy and momentum range in respect to the wide set of high-K modes supported by hyperbolic dispersion media, and coupling with gratings or local excitation is necessary. Strikingly, electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) in a scanning transmission electron microscope allows nm-scale local excitation and mapping of the spatial field distribution of all the modes supported by a photonic or plasmonic structure, both bright and dark, and also all other inelastic interactions of the beam, including phonons and interband transitions. Herein, experimental evidence of the spatial distribution of plasmon polaritons in multilayered type II HMM nanostructures is acquired with an aloof electron beam adjacent to structures of current interest. HMM pillars are useful for their separation and adjustability of optical scattering and absorption, while HMM slot cavities can be used as waveguides with high field confinement. The nature of the modes is confirmed with corresponding simulations of EEL and optical spectra and near-field intensities. [less ▲]

Optimizing the Performance of an Unpredictable UAV Swarm for Intruder Detection

in Optimization and Learning - Third International Conference, OLA 2020, Cádiz, Spain, February 17-19, 2020, Proceedings (2020)

Endogenous Task-Based Technical Change - Factor Scarcity and Factor Prices -

E-print/Working paper (2020)

This paper develops a static model of endogenous task-based technical progress to study how factor scarcity induces technological progress and changes in factor prices. The equilibrium technology is multi ... [more ▼]

This paper develops a static model of endogenous task-based technical progress to study how factor scarcity induces technological progress and changes in factor prices. The equilibrium technology is multi-dimensional and not strongly factor-saving in the sense of Acemoglu (2010). Nevertheless, labor scarcity induces labor productivity growth. There is a weak but no strong absolute equilibrium bias. This model provides a plausible interpretation of the famous contention of Hicks (1932) about the role of factor prices and factor endowments for induced innovations. It may serve as a micro-foundation for canonical macro-economic models. Moreover, it accommodates features like endogenous factor supplies and a binding minimum wage. [less ▲]

Geographical Stratification of Green Urban Areas

E-print/Working paper (2020)

This paper studies the provision of urban green areas in cities when residents havepreferences for the size of and access to those areas. At the optimum, the number ofurban green spaces is a non-monotone ... [more ▼]

This paper studies the provision of urban green areas in cities when residents havepreferences for the size of and access to those areas. At the optimum, the number ofurban green spaces is a non-monotone function of distance to the city centre, whilethe sizes and distances to other urban green areas increase as one moves to the urbanfringe. This paper empirically investigates those properties for the 300 largest Europeancities by using the GMES Urban Atlas database (European Environmental Agency).The empirical analysis confirms the non-monotone relationship between the numberof urban green spaces and the distance to the city centre. The distance between twoparks also increases as one moves toward the urban fringe. Finally, richer cities areassociated with a denser network of urban green areas. [less ▲]

Communications Concerning Execution: European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)

in Max Planck Encyclopedia of International Procedural Law [MPEiPro] (2020)

Current directions in views on aging. Editorial for the Special Section.

in European Journal of Ageing (2020), 17