Discounting financial literacy: time preferences and participation in financial education programs

Many policy makers and economists argue that financial literacy is key to financial well-being. But why do many individuals remain financially illiterate despite the apparent importance of being financially informed? This paper presents results of a field study linking individual decisions to acquire personal financial information to a critical, and normally unobservable, characteristic: time preferences. We offered a short, free credit counseling and information program to more than 870 individuals. About 55 percent chose to participate. Independently, we elicited time preferences using incentivized choice experiments both for individuals who selected into the program and those who did not. Our results show that the two groups differ sharply in their measured discount factors. Individuals who choose to acquire personal financial information through the credit counseling program discount the future less than individuals who choose not to participate. Our results suggest that individual time preference may explain who will and who will not choose to become financially literate. This has implications for the validity of studies evaluating voluntary financial education programs and policy efforts focused on expanding financial education

Validation of Kalman Filter alignment algorithm with cosmic-ray data using a CMS silicon strip tracker endcap

A Kalman Filter alignment algorithm has been applied to cosmic-ray data. We discuss the alignment algorithm and an experiment-independent implementation including outlier rejection and treatment of weakly determined parameters. Using this implementation, the algorithm has been applied to data recorded with one CMS silicon tracker endcap. Results are compared to both photogrammetry measurements and data obtained from a dedicated hardware alignment system, and good agreement is observed.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. CMS NOTE-2010/00

Stability of time preferences

Individuals frequently face intertemporal decisions. For the purposes of economic analysis, the preference parameters assumed to govern these decisions are generally considered to be stable economic primitives. However, evidence on the stability of time preferences is notably lacking. In a large field study conducted over two years with about 1,400 individuals, time preferences are elicited using incentivized choice experiments. The aggregate distributions of discount factors and the proportion of present-biased individuals are found to be unchanged over the two years. At the individual level, the one year correlations in measured time preference parameters are found to be high by existing standards, though some individuals change their intertemporal choices potentially indicating unstable preferences. By linking time preference measures to tax return data, we show that identified instability is uncorrelated with socio-demographics and changes to income, future liquidity, employment and family composition

Whispering gallery mode resonator based ultra-narrow linewidth external cavity semiconductor laser

We demonstrate a miniature self-injection locked DFB laser using resonant optical feedback from a high-Q crystalline whispering gallery mode resonator. The linewidth reduction factor is greater than 10,000, with resultant instantaneous linewidth less than 200 Hz. The minimal value of the Allan deviation for the laser frequency stability is 3x10^(-12) at the integration time of 20 us. The laser possesses excellent spectral purity and good long term stability.Comment: To be published in Optics Letter

A comparative investigation of the efficacy of CO2 and high power diode lasers for the forming of EN3 mild steel sheets

A comparative investigation of the effectiveness of a high power diode laser (HPDL) and a CO2 laser for the forming of thin section EN3 mild steel sheet has been conducted. The buckling mechanism was identified as the laser forming mechanism responsible for the induced bending. For both lasers it was found that the induced bending angles increased with an increasing number of irradiations and high laser powers, whilst decreasing as the traverse speed was increased. Also, it was apparent from the experimental results that the laser bending angle was only linearly proportional to the number of irradiations when the latter was small due to local material thickening along the bend edge with a high number of irradiations. Owing to the mild steel’s greater beam absorption at the HPDL wavelength, larger bending angles were induced when using the HPDL. However, under certain conditions the performance of the CO2 laser in terms of induced bending angle was seen to approach that of the HPDL. Nevertheless, similar results between the two lasers were only achieved with increasing irradiations, thus it was concluded that the efficacy of the HPDL was higher than that of the CO2 laser insofar as it was more efficient. From graphical results and the employment of an analytical procedure, the laser line energy range in which accurate control of the HPDL bending of the mild steel sheets could be exercised efficiently was found to be 53 J mm-1 < P/v < 78 J mm-1, whilst for the CO2 laser the range was 61 J mm-1 < P/v < 85 J mm-1

Dielectronic Recombination of Fe XV forming Fe XIV: Laboratory Measurements and Theoretical Calculations

We have measured resonance strengths and energies for dielectronic recombination (DR) of Mg-like Fe XV forming Al-like Fe XIV via N=3 -> N' = 3 core excitations in the electron-ion collision energy range 0-45 eV. All measurements were carried out using the heavy-ion Test Storage Ring at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. We have also carried out new multiconfiguration Breit-Pauli (MCBP) calculations using the AUTOSTRUCTURE code. For electron-ion collision energies < 25 eV we find poor agreement between our experimental and theoretical resonance energies and strengths. From 25 to 42 eV we find good agreement between the two for resonance energies. But in this energy range the theoretical resonance strengths are ~ 31% larger than the experimental results. This is larger than our estimated total experimental uncertainty in this energy range of +/- 26% (at a 90% confidence level). Above 42 eV the difference in the shape between the calculated and measured 3s3p(^1P_1)nl DR series limit we attribute partly to the nl dependence of the detection probabilities of high Rydberg states in the experiment. We have used our measurements, supplemented by our AUTOSTRUCTURE calculations, to produce a Maxwellian-averaged 3 -> 3 DR rate coefficient for Fe XV forming Fe XIV. The resulting rate coefficient is estimated to be accurate to better than +/- 29% (at a 90% confidence level) for k_BT_e > 1 eV. At temperatures of k_BT_e ~ 2.5-15 eV, where Fe XV is predicted to form in photoionized plasmas, significant discrepancies are found between our experimentally-derived rate coefficient and previously published theoretical results. Our new MCBP plasma rate coefficient is 19-28% smaller than our experimental results over this temperature range

Toughening mechanisms in novel nano-silica epoxy polymers

A crosslinked epoxy polymer has been modified by the addition of nano-silica particles. The particles were introduced via a sol-gel technique which gave a very well dispersed phase of nanosilica particles which were about 20 nm in diameter. The glass transition temperature was unchanged by the addition of the nano-particles, but both the modulus and toughness were increased. The fracture energy increased from 100 J/m2 for the unmodified epoxy to 460 J/m2 for the epoxy with 13 vol% of nano-silica. The microscopy studies showed evidence of debonding of the nano-particles and subsequent plastic void growth of the epoxy polymer. A theoretical model of plastic void growth was used to confirm this mechanism

Parton distributions in the chiral quark model: a continuum computation

We compute the parton distributions for the chiral quark model. We present a new technique for performing such computations based on Green functions. This approach avoids a discretization of the spectrum. It therefore does not need any smoothing procedures. The results are similar to those of other groups, however the distributions peak at smaller $x$.Comment: 19 pages, 8 Figures, LaTeX, some typos corrected, some additional comments in the conclusion