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We use an excludable instrument to test the effect of bilateral foreign aid on economic growth in a sample of 96 recipient countries over the 1974-2009 period. We interact donor government fractionalization with a recipient country’s probability of receiving aid. The results show that fractionalization increases donors’ aid budgets, representing the over-time variation of our instrument, while the probability of receiving aid introduces variation across recipient countries. Controlling for country- and period-specific effects that capture the levels of the interacted variables, the interaction provides a powerful and excludable instru-ment. Making use of the instrument, our results show no significant effect of aid on growth in the overall sample. We also investigate the effect of aid on consumption, savings, and investments, and split the sample according to the quality of economic policy, democracy, and the Cold War period. With the excep-tion of the post-Cold War period (where abundant aid reduces growth), we find no significant effect of aid on growth in any of these sub-samples. None of the other outcomes are affected by aid.

We show that the efficient allocation of production capacity can turn a competitive industry and downstream market into an imperfectly competitive one. Even though downstream firms have symmetric production technologies, the downstream industry structure will be symmmetric only if capacity is sufficiently scarce. Otherwise it will be asymmetric, with one large fat capacity-hoarding firm and a fringe of smaller lean and fit firms, so that Tobin`s Q varies inversely with firm size. This is so even if the number of firms is infinitely large. As demand or input quantity varies, the industry may switch between symmetric and asymmetric phases, generating predictions for firm size and costs across the business cycle. Surprisingly, an increase in available capacity resulting in such a switch can cause a reduction in total output and consumer surplus.

The Central Andes (~21°S) is a subduction-type orogeny formed in the last ~50 Ma from the subduction of the Nazca oceanic plate beneath the South American continental plate. However, the most important phases of deformation occur in the last 20 Ma. Pulses of shortening have led to the sudden growth of the by the Altiplano-Puna plateau. Previous studies have provided insights on the importance of various mechanisms on the overall shortening such as the weakening of the overriding plate from crustal eclogitization and delamination, or the importance of a relatively high friction at the subduction interface, and weak sediments in foreland. However none of them has addressed the mechanism behind these shortening pulses yet. Therefore, we built a series of high resolution 2D visco-plastic subduction models using the ASPECT geodynamic code, in which the oceanic plate is buoyancy-driven and the velocity of the continent is prescribed. We have also implemented a realistic geometry for the south American plate at ~30 Ma. We propose a new plausible mechanism (buckling and steepening of the slab) as the cause of these pulses. The buckling leads to the blockage of the trench. Consequently, the difference of velocity between the South American plate and the trench is accommodated by shortening. The data presented here includes the parameters files, for the reference model (S1) and the following alternative simulations: models with variation of the friction at the subduction interface (S2a-c), a model without eclogitization of the lower crust (S3) and a model with higher thermal conductivity of the upper crust (S4). Additionally, this publication includes the initial composition and thermal state of the lithosphere used for the models and a Readme file that gives all the instructions to run them.

This comparative research project looks at the co-operation between state and social organizations (SOs) in China and Germany. It focusses on social service delivery in the area of integration of migrating populations with special attention to the fields of education, employment, vulnerable groups and social assistance (incl. legal aid) as a crosscutting issue to all of the fields. Within this subject area, the project wants to identify different models of state-SO co-operation and analyze which models are successful and why and where this co-operation is problematic. It aims to capture the different models of co-operation in Germany and China, to analyze and compare the underlying structures and to show potentialities for development.

The Tangerine project aims to develop new state-of-the-art high-precision silicon detectors. Part of the project has the goal of developing a monolithic active pixel sensor using a novel 65 nm CMOS imaging process, with a small collection electrode. This is the first application of this process in particle physics, and it is of great interest as it allows for an increased logic density and reduced power consumption and material budget compared to other processes. The process is envisioned to be used in for example the next ALICE inner tracker upgrade, and in experiments at the electron-ion collider. The initial goal of the three-year Tangerine project is to develop and test a sensor in a 65 nm CMOS imaging process that can be used in test beam telescopes at DESY, providing excellent spatial resolution and high time resolution, and thus demonstrating the capabilities of the process. The project covers all aspects of sensor R&D, from electronics and sensor design using simulations, to prototype test chip characterisation in labs and at test beams. The sensor design simulations are performed by using a powerful combination of detailed electric field simulations using technology computer-aided design and high-statistics Monte Carlo simulations using the Allpix Squared framework. A first prototype test chip in the process has been designed and produced, and successfully operated and tested both in labs and at test beams. The 16th Vienna Conference on Instrumentation, VCI2022, Vienna, Austria, 21 Feb 2022 - 25 Feb 2022; Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research / A 1039, 167025 (2022). doi:10.1016/j.nima.2022.167025 Published by North-Holland Publ. Co., Amsterdam

This paper explores multistage incomplete information games with common ambiguous information about states or types and ambiguity averse players. We characterize a belief formation process that allows players to take their knowledge about the structure of the game into account. This process leads to subjective rectangular ex-ante belief sets for all players. We show that given these sets of beliefs, players behave dynamically consistent. Therefore, using our belief formation process, we can generalize the concept of Sequential Equilibria to multistage ambiguous incomplete information games and show existence. Furthermore, we show that ambiguity can introduce Sequential Equilibria that do not exist without ambiguity.

Physical review letters : PRL 128(14), 142004 (2022). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.142004 Published by APS, College Park, Md.