U.S. Law of the Sea Cruise to Map the Southern Flank of the Kingman Reef-Palmyra Atoll section of the Line Islands, Equatorial Pacific Ocean

U.S. Law of the Sea Cruise to Map the Southern Flank of the Kingman Reef-Palmyra Atoll section of the Line Islands, Equatorial Pacific Ocean CRUISE KM1009 May 17, to June 16, 2010 Pago Pago, American Samoa to Honolulu, H

U.S. Law of the Sea Cruise to Complete the Mapping of Necker Ridge, Central Pacific Ocean

U.S. Law of the Sea Cruise to Complete the Mapping of Necker Ridge, Central Pacific Ocean CRUISE KM1121 July 31, to August 10, 2011 Honolulu, HI to Honolulu, H

U.S. Law of the Sea Cruise to Map the Foot of the Slope of the Northeast U.S. Atlantic Continental Margin: Leg 6

U.S. Law of the Sea Cruise to Map the Foot of the Slope of the Northeast U.S. Atlantic Continental Margin: Leg 6 Cruise KNOX17RR May 1 – 31, 2008 Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Woods Hole, M

Property and Casualty Solvency Funds as a Tax and Social Insurance System

When a Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance company becomes insolvent, solvent insurance companies are forced to pay assessments (a form of taxation) to state guarantee funds ('solvency funds') in order to protect the policyholders of the failed companies. We produce estimates of the costs to the guarantee funds of resolving P&C insurance company insolvencies. We find that the total net costs (payments by the fund less recoveries by the fund) of resolving insolvencies are remarkably high. We estimate that the mean ratio of net costs to assets is approximately one, implying that insolvent companies have liabilities that are roughly twice as large as assets when they fail. Our cost estimate for resolving insurance company insolvencies is roughly three times higher than similar estimates for banks. We also find that the ratio of net costs to assets tends to be higher for small firms, poorly capitalized firms, firms writing significant premiums in long tail lines, and firms that fail because of disasters. Our findings also indicate that the resolution of insolvencies is typically quick. More than 60 percent of all costs to the fund for a given insolvency occur within two years, and more than three-quarters of total costs occur within three years. However, we find that firms with a high proportion of premiums in long tail lines take much longer to resolve.

An Analysis of the Interest Elasticity of Financial Asset Holdings by Income

A Keynesian money demand model is used to examine the interest elasticity of financial asset holdings by income level. In this model, once an individual receives income, they first make transactions, and any leftover income goes for speculative purposes. Since only speculative balances are assumed to change with interest rates, individuals with income used mainly for transactions purposes are theorized to have asset holdings that are unresponsive to interest rates, while higher income individuals with speculative balances are expected to be more responsive to interest rates. The results support the Keynesian model, as lower income households are found to have the smallest interest elasticity, and the estimated elasticity rises with income

A study of the hydrological and sedimentological characteristics of two catchments of contrasting land use : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Agricultural Science in Soil Science at Massey University

The hydrological and sedimentological characteristics of two catchments of contrasting land use were studied for a period of one year. Both catchments were situated in the Northern Tararua Ranges, near the Manawatu Gorge, some 27 km from Palmerston North, New Zealand. The 10 ha Ballance Catchment has native forest vegetation, whereas the 180 ha Tuapaka Catchment is part of a mixed sheep and cattle farm. The water balance estimated for the catchments indicated that a small amount of deep percolation occurred in both. Streamflow and rainfall were recorded at both catchments. During the study year approximately 26% and 14% of total rainfall was discharged as streamflow from the Tuapaka and Ballance Catchments, respectively. Throughfall and stemflow were also recorded at Ballance. The average monthly throughfall was 54% of total rainfall; the equivalent stemflow, was 16% of total rainfall. An attempt was made to identify and quantify the inputs of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) forms to the two catchments. Phosphate fertilizer application, N - fixation by clovers, and rainfall, were considered as the inputs of P and N forms in the Tuapaka Catchment. In the Ballance Catchment, rainfall was assumed to be the only input of P and N forms. The output of suspended sediment, dissolved material, and P and N forms, was measured during the study year. The output of sediment was 1.4 x 10³kg/ha and 1.6 x 10² kg/ha from the Tuapaka and Ballance Catchments, respectively. The output of dissolved material from the Tuapaka Catchment was only 13% of the sediment output. Significant quantities of P and N output were associated with suspended sediment. Of the annual loss of total P (1.6 kg/ha) from the Tuapaka Catchment, 76% was in the particulate form. At Ballance, 52% of the annual loss of total P (0.2 kg/ha) was in particulate form. Within the bounds of error, the Ballance Catchment appeared to be slightly conservative of P and strongly conservative of N. At the Tuapuka Catchment, however, inputs of P and N balanced outputs, within the bounds of error. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine whether a particular catchment is conservative for P and N unless adequate attention is paid to the errors involved. The differences obtained for the output of sediment and P and N forms, from the two catchments, are interpreted in terms of the effects of agricultural activities, particularly vegetation differences, on the inputs of particulate and dissolved phases to the streams