Motivated by two important problems, the least median of squares (LMS) regression and value-at-risk (VaR) optimization, this paper considers the problem of minimizing the k-th maximum for linear functions. For this study, a sufficient and necessary condition of local optimality is given. From...

Transportation research has usually seen road networks as inert systems to be navigated and eventually filled up by traffic. A new type of 'configurational' road network modelling, coupled to detailed studies of vehicular and pedestrian flows, has shown that road networks have a much more...

Existing theories relating patterns of pedestrian and vehicular movement to urban form characterise the problem in terms of flows to and from 'attractor' land uses. This paper contains evidence in support of a new 'configurational' paradigm in which a primary property of the form of the urban...

This paper introduces a dynamic general equilibrium tax model of the Canadian economy. The model incorporates each of the major taxes in Canada and features adjustment dynamics, intertemporal optimization, imperfect substitution between domestic and foreign goods and assets, and industry...

Aiyagari and McGrattan (1998) developed a model in which optimal net government debt in the steady state is positive. This result arises from a particular form of financial market incompleteness: that households cannot buy insurance against prolonged spells of low income. In this paper we extend...

In recent years, neural networks have received an increasing amount of attention among macroeconomic forecasters because of their potential to detect and reproduce linear and nonlinear relationships among a set of variables. This paper provides a highly accessible introduction to neural networks...

When economic data released in late 2001 suggested an economic slowdown, two questions immediately arose: what impact will the slowdown in the economy have on the budgetary balance and to what extent can fiscal policy mitigate this slowdown. The former is concerned with the budgetary position...

It is well known that over the next several decades, there will be significant changes in the age structure of OECD populations. According to recent demographic projections by the United Nations, the share of the old-aged population is expected to double, on average, over the next 50 years in...