A proper understanding of the electrical and mechanical behavior of the system and its components is essential for the successful operation of a wind-electric pumping system. In the present article we present a formal theory of such a system, developing a framework for the determination of the...

This paper compiles and compares recent and past measures introduced to contain the public wage bill in a number of emerging and advanced economies to assess their effectiveness in bringing down expenditure in a sustained way. In the aftermath of the Great Recession a number of countries have...

Using a unique data set on students from the first regional schools in colonial Benin, we investigate the effect of education on living standards, occupation, and political participation. Since both school locations and student cohorts were selected with very little information, treatment and...

The purpose of this paper is to explore and evaluate smooth approximation methods for value functions. These approximation methods are increasingly important in numerical dynamic programming since they allow researchers to solve models with a multitude of continuous state variables. In this...

Computing accurate estimates of total factor productivity (TFP) is important for testing economic theories as well as for designing efficient and effective economic policies. In this study we measure the dynamics of TFP in Slovenia by assuming a Cobb-Douglas production function and using the...

The monetary transmission mechanism in the euro area has been adversely affected by the recent crises. Using survey data on thousands of euro area firms, we study factors that affect the access to finance of SMEs. We find that changes in bank funding costs and borrower leverage matter for...

The multipliers of taxes, and government consumption and investment expenditure for the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) are estimated using vector autoregression models with panel data. The impact and long-run multipliers are below unity, suggesting that a great extent of the intended...

This article reviews Scilab, a free MATLAB-like programming system. Scilab can be used for data analysis and applied numerical work in both research and teaching. Scilab is an interesting alternative to some commercial programming environments. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a population based stochastic optimization technique. PSO is similar to optimization with Genetic Algorithms (GA). In PSO, the potential solutions (particles) move through the problem space by following the current optimum particles. Experience shows that PSO...