Search results for " Convergence"
showing 10 items of 260 documents
Fiscal Convergence, Business Cycle Volatility and Growth
2009
This paper analyzes the effects of fiscal convergence on business cycle volatility and growth. Using a panel 21 OECD countries (including 11 EMU countries) and 40 years of data, we find that countries with similar government budget positions tend to have smoother business cycles. That is, fiscal convergence (in the form of persistently similar ratios of government surplus/deficit to GDP) is systematically associated with smoother business cycles. We also find evidence that reduced business cycle volatility through higher fiscal convergence stimulates growth. Our empirical results are economically and statistically significant and robust.
Public capital and productive efficiency in the Spanish regions (1964–89)
1995
The article analyses the evolution of the differences in economic conditions among Spanish regions from the perspective provided by the recent advances made in economic growth empirics. Although convergence is usually established in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) per capita, in the case of Spain it is of special interest to break it down into three separate elements: activity rate, employment rate, and productivity of labour. Regional differences in unemployment rates, which persist for long periods of time, are identified as a force against convergence. After describing the distinction between conditional and non conditional convergence, the paper considers the role played by the product…
Accelerated Proximal Gradient Descent in Metric Learning for Kernel Regression
2018
The purpose of this paper is to learn a specific distance function for the Nadayara Watson estimator to be applied as a non-linear classifier. The idea of transforming the predictor variables and learning a kernel function based on Mahalanobis pseudo distance througth an low rank structure in the distance function will help us to lead the development of this problem. In context of metric learning for kernel regression, we introduce an Accelerated Proximal Gradient to solve the non-convex optimization problem with better convergence rate than gradient descent. An extensive experiment and the corresponding discussion tries to show that our strategie its a competitive solution in relation to p…
Gender differences and gender convergence in alcohol use over the past three decades (1984–2008), The HUNT Study, Norway
2016
Background: To examine changes in men‘s and women’s drinking in Norway over a 20-year period, in order to learn whether such changes have led to gender convergence in alcohol drinking. Methods: Repeated cross-sectional studies (in 1984–86, 1995–97, and 2006–08) of a large general population living in a geographically defined area (county) in Norway. Information about alcohol drinking is based on self-report questionnaires. Not all measures were assessed in all three surveys. Results: Adult alcohol drinking patterns have changed markedly over a 20-year period. Abstaining has become rarer while consumption and rates of recent drinking and problematic drinking have increased. Most changes were…
Convergence Properties of Genuine Bernstein–Durrmeyer Operators
2018
The genuine Bernstein–Durrmeyer operators have notable approximation properties, and many papers have been written on them. In this paper, we introduce a modified genuine Bernstein–Durrmeyer operators. Some approximation results, which include local approximation, error estimation in terms of the modulus of continuity and weighted approximation is obtained. Also, a quantitative Voronovskaya-type approximation will be studied. The convergence of these operators to certain functions is shown by illustrative graphics using MAPLE algorithms.
Last Interglacial Hydroclimate Seasonality Reconstructed From Tropical Atlantic Corals
2018
The seasonality of hydroclimate during past periods of warmer than modern global temperatures is a critical component for understanding future climate change scenarios. Although only partially analogous to these scenarios, the last interglacial (LIG, Marine Isotope Stage 5e, ~127–117 ka) is a popular test bed. We present coral δ18O monthly resolved records from multiple Bonaire (southern Caribbean) fossil corals (Diploria strigosa) that date to between 130 and 118 ka. These records represent up to 37 years and cover a total of 105 years, offering insights into the seasonality and characteristics of LIG tropical Atlantic hydroclimate. Our coral δ18O records and available coral Sr/Ca-sea surf…
Palaeoenvironmental changes in the arid and subarid belt (Sahara-Sahel-Arabian peninsula) from 150 kyr to present
2004
The PEP III Arid to Subarid Belt includes the largest hot desert in the world, the Sahara- Arabian desert and the Sahel zone. The region of interest extends south of the Atlas Mountains and south and east of the Mediterranean Sea to approximately 10 °N and shows a broadly zonal pattern with a varying seasonal distribution of precipitation. In the north (ca. 20–23 °N), rainfall results from the southward displacement of the midlatitude westerlies during winter whereas the south is governed by seasonal northward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). Contraction and expansion phases of these presently semi-arid to hyper-arid desert areas result from significant changes in loc…
VERTICAL MOTION CHANGES RELATED TO NORTH-EAST BRAZIL RAINFALL VARIABILITY: A GCM SIMULATION
1996
The atmospheric structure over north-east Brazil during anomalous rainfall years is studied in the 11 levels of the outputs of the Laboratoire de Meteorologie Dynamique atmospheric general circulation model (LMD AGCM). Seven 19-year simulations were performed using observed sea-surface temperature (SST) corresponding to the period 1970– 1988. The ensemble mean is calculated for each month of the period, leading to an ensemble-averaged simulation. The simulated March-April rainfall is in good agreement with observations. Correlations of simulated rainfall and three SST indices relative to the equatorial Pacific and northern and southern parts of the Atlantic Ocean exhibit stronger relationsh…
The convergence of the perturbed Newton method and its application for ill-conditioned problems
2011
Abstract Iterative methods, such as Newton’s, behave poorly when solving ill-conditioned problems: they become slow (first order), and decrease their accuracy. In this paper we analyze deeply and widely the convergence of a modified Newton method, which we call perturbed Newton, in order to overcome the usual disadvantages Newton’s one presents. The basic point of this method is the dependence of a parameter affording a degree of freedom that introduces regularization. Choices for that parameter are proposed. The theoretical analysis will be illustrated through examples.
On properties of the iterative maximum likelihood reconstruction method
1989
In this paper, we continue our investigations6 on the iterative maximum likelihood reconstruction method applied to a special class of integral equations of the first kind, where one of the essential assumptions is the positivity of the kernel and the given right-hand side. Equations of this type often occur in connection with the determination of density functions from measured data. There are certain relations between the directed Kullback–Leibler divergence and the iterative maximum likelihood reconstruction method some of which were already observed by other authors. Using these relations, further properties of the iterative scheme are shown and, in particular, a new short and elementar…