Christoph Siemroth | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Are There Manufacturer Differences in Hard-Drive Reliability?

Based on the Backblaze hard disk drive (HDD) dataset, we analyze whether the four major HDD manufacturers represented in the dataset -- HGST, Seagate, Toshiba, Western Digital (WD) -- show differences in short- to medium-term HDD failure rates. Using two different duration regression models, we find -- holding constant drive age, capacity, form-factor, and drive temperature -- that Toshiba's failure rate is slightly above Seagate's. HGST HDD failure rates are the lowest, about 41% of Seagate's. WD HDD failure rates are significantly above HGST's, but still only about 52% of Seagate's. We also document the effects of age, capacity, temperature and drive location on failure rates.

cs.DC↗

arXiv2026

The Optimal Reset-Hour of a Once-Daily Petrol Price Increase Limit

A German ministry recently proposed a limit of at most one price increase per day for petrol stations. At what time should the price reset be allowed in order to lower price levels the most throughout the day? To answer this question, I infer the share of price-sensitive consumers for every hour of the day from German petrol station price data, based on a simple spatial-competition model. I focus on weekdays, which are the relevant target because commuter demand is less flexible than weekend demand. Hourly petrol station prices peak at 07:00 and bottom out at 19:00. Given the inferred composition of price-sensitivity throughout the day and hourly passenger-car traffic frequencies as a proxy for quantity, I evaluate every possible reset-hour of the new policy. The lowest traffic-weighted average price is achieved by an 11:00 reset. With this reset-hour, the resulting equilibrium price throughout the day is constant. This would lead to lower prices in the morning but higher prices in the evening, harming price-sensitive consumers but benefiting morning commuters and firms.

econ.GN↗