Essays on Firm Heterogeneity with Empirical Applications in Economic History and Agricultural Economics

This thesis uses models of firm-heterogeneity to complete empirical analyses in economic history and agricultural economics. In Chapter 2, a theoretical model of firm heterogeneity is used to derive a statistic that summarizes the welfare gains from the introduction of a new technology. The empirical application considers the use of mechanical steam power in the Canadian manufacturing sector during the late nineteenth century. I exploit exogenous variation in geography to estimate several parameters of the model. My results indicate that the use of steam power resulted in a 15.1 percent increase in firm-level productivity and a 3.0-5.2 percent increase in aggregate welfare. Chapter 3 considers various policy alternatives to price ceiling legislation in the market for production quotas in the dairy farming sector in Quebec. I develop a dynamic model of the demand for quotas with farmers that are heterogeneous in their marginal cost of milk production. The econometric analysis uses farm-level data and estimates a parameter of the theoretical model that is required for the counterfactual experiments. The results indicate that the price of quotas could be reduced to the ceiling price through a 4.16 percent expansion of the aggregate supply of quotas, or through moderate trade liberalization of Canadian dairy products. In Chapter 4, I study the relationship between farm-level productivity and participation in the Commercial Export Milk (CEM) program. I use a difference-in-difference research design with inverse propensity weights to test for causality between participation in the CEM program and total factor productivity (TFP). I find a positive correlation between participation in the CEM program and TFP, however I find no statistically significant evidence that the CEM program affected TFP.

#DressCodePM & Re-Framing The Niqab: News Sources, Hashtag Activism, and Media Representation

This thesis originates from my interest in exploring how minorities are using social media to talk back to mainstream media. This study examines whether hashtags that trend on Twitter may impact how news stories related to minorities are covered in Canadian media. The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated the niqab was “rooted in a culture that is anti-women” on 10 March 2015. The next day #DressCodePM trended in response to the PM’s niqab remarks. Using network gatekeeping theory, this study examines the types of sources quoted in the media stories published on 10 and 11 March 2015. The study’s goal is to explore whether using tweet quotes leads to the representation of a more diverse range of news sources. The study compares the types of sources quoted in stories that covered Harper’s comments without mentioning #DressCodePM versus stories that mention #DressCodePM. This study also uses Tuen A. van Dijk’s methodology of asking “who is speaking, how often and how prominently?” in order to examine whose voices have been privileged and whose voices have been marginalized in covering the niqab in Canadian media from the 1970s and until the days following the PM’s remarks. Network gatekeeping theory is applied in this study to assess whether the gated gained more power after #DressCodePM trended. The case study’s findings indicates that Caucasian male politicians were predominantly used as news sources in covering stories related to the niqab for the past 38 years in the Globe and Mail. The sourcing pattern of favouring politicians continued in Canadian print and online media on 10 March 2015 following Harper’s niqab comments. However, ordinary Canadian women, including Muslim women, were used more often than politicians as news sources in the stories about #DressCodePM that were published on 11 March 2015. The gated media users were able to gain power and attract Canadian Media’s attention by widely spreading #DressCodePM. This study draws attention to the lack of diversity of sources used in Canadian political news stories, yet this study also shows it is possible for the gated media users to amplify their voices through hashtag activism.

Drift distances, times and primary grain sources of the Arctic Ocean, Exp302 (ACEX)

Knowledge of the long-term history of the perennial ice is an important issue that has eluded study because the Cenozoic core material needed has been unavailable until the recent Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX). Detrital Fe oxide mineral grains analyzed by microprobe from the last 14 Ma (164 m) of the ACEX composite core on the Lomonosov Ridge were matched to circum-Arctic sources with the same mineral and 12-element composition. These precise source determinations and estimates of drift rates were used to determine that these sand grains could not be rafted to the ACEX core site in less than a year. Thus the perennial ice cover has existed since 14 Ma except for the unlikely rapid return to seasonal ice between the average sampling interval of about 0.17 Ma. Both North America and Russia contributed significant Fe grains to the ACEX core during the last 14 Ma.

Greek writers of Roman history : some reflections upon the authorities used by Plutarch and Appianus /

The fons primarius of Plutarch's life of Fabius Maximus. -- The common Greek sources of Plutarch and Appianus for Roman history. -- King Juba's Historia romana.

Past environment from historical sources /

"PB-231 711."

The history of Canada : from its first discovery to the present time.

Mode of access: Internet.

The history of Virginia's navy of the revolution,

"Roster of the Virginia navy of the revolution": p. [137]-271.

West Virginia Jewry: origins and history, 1850-1958.

"Sources for the history of West Virginia Jewry, literary and personal": p. lxiv-lxxix.

Earthquake history of the United States ...

This publication replaces Special publication 149, Earthquake history of the United States exclusive of the Pacific region, 1928, and Special publication 191, Destructive and near-destructive earthquakes in California and western Nevada, 1934. cf. pt. II, p. 1.

Manuel du citoyen français : recueil des constitutions qui ont régi la France depuis 1791 jusqu'à ce jour ; contenant la corrélation de tous les articles entre eux et suivi d'une table méthodique des matières.

Mode of access: Internet.

History of the Roman people,

To the original work, which ends with Theodosius I, the period from that time to the time of Charlemagne has been added by the editor (p. 421-486) cf. Pref.

Annals of an era; Percy MacKaye and the MacKaye family, 1826-1932; a record of biography and history, in commentaries and bibliography.

"The MacKaye collection, a supplemental bibliography, 1761-1931, of material preserved at the Dartmouth College Library ... compiled chiefly from original sources in the archives of Steele MacKaye and Percy MacKaye, by Marion Morse MacKaye": p. [299]-534.

The early history of land-holding among the Germans.

Sources of information: p. [111]-122; Literature of subject: p. 252-264.

Le spectacle de la nature : ou, Entretiens sur les particularités de l'histoire naturelle, qui ont paru les plus propres à rendre les jeunes-gens curieux, & à leur former l'esprit ...

First published 1732-1735.

Sources of weapon systems innovation in the Department of Defense : the role of in-house research and development, 1945-2000 /

Shipping list no.: 2009-0104-P.