Dynamic update is a mechanism that allows software updates and patches to be applied without loss of service or down-time. Dynamic update of an operating system enables administrators to defer rebooting or restarting services and the resultant disruption, without trading off the ability to apply important security fixes or improve functionality and performance through software updates. We have ...

This study examines the financing choices of firms operating in a weak institutional environment. We argue that in relationship-based systems, global financing and strong political connections are alternative means to create firm value. Well-connected firms might be less inclined to access global capital markets because (state-owned) domestic banks provide capital at low cost. Moreover, the exp...

In a market where firms with different characteristics decide upon both the level of emissions and their reports, we study the optimal audit policy for an enforcement agency whose objective is to minimize the level of emissions. We show that it is optimal to devote the resources primarily to the easiest-to-monitor firms and to those firms that value pollution the less. Moreover, unless the budg...

Stricter laws require more incisive and costlier enforcement. Because enforcement activity depends both on available tax revenue and the honesty of officials, the optimal legal standard of a benevolent government is increasing in per capita income and decreasing in officials’ corruption. In contrast to the “tollbooth view” of regulation, the standard chosen by a self-interested government is a ...

In this paper I show that corruption can attenuate the adverse effects of customs-related red tape on firm exports. I first develop a model where exporters use bribes to encourage customs officials to process their documents in an expedited manner. This lowers the delay that they face at customs. The model shows that if the value of the reduced delays is greater than the bribe payment itself, t...

There is a heated debate on the merits of legalizing certain illegal, harmful and corrupting activities (such as trade in illicit drugs), but little theoretical insights on the consequences for optimal enforcement policies and corruption. We propose a model where the government hires law enforcers to report those who engage in a harmful activity. Offenders are allowed to respond by offering bri...

The Deterrent Effects of Prison: Evidence from a Natural Experiment* In this paper we test for the theory of deterrence. We exploit the natural experiment provided by the Collective Clemency Bill passed by the Italian Parliament in July 2006. As a consequence of the provisions of the bill, expected punishment to former inmates recommitting a crime can be considered as good as randomly assigned....

This paper studies the effects of adding criminal offenders to a DNA database. Using large expansion Denmark’s database, we find that registration reduces recidivism within following year by up 42 percent. It also increases probability are identified if they recidivate, which use estimate elasticity crime with respect detection and 1 percent higher more than 2 We likelihood employment, enroll i...

We estimate the effect on recidivism of replacing time served in a common closed-cell prison with an open-cell one. deal endogenous assignment inmates to different regimes using variation that is driven by nearby prisons’ overcrowding. Switching for year reduces around 6 percentage points. The effects are largest low levels education and weak violent hardened criminals. (JEL K14, K42)

Online reconfiguration provides a way to extend and replace active operating system components. This provides administrators, developers, applications, and the system itself with a way to update code, adapt to changing workloads, pinpoint performance problems, and perform a variety of other tasks while the system is running. With generic support for interposition and hot-swapping, a system allo...