Productivity, demand and the home market effect

The causality between international trade and industrialization is still ambiguous. We consider a model of international trade with the Home Market Effect - with differences in income and productivity between sectors and between countries - in order to identify additional channels for determining the effects of international trade on industrialization. Introducing non-homothetic preferences and differences in productivity aids in the interpretation of any apparent paradoxes within international trade, such as the commercial relations between more populated countries like China and India and large economies such as the U.S. Population size, demand composition and productivity levels constitute the three main channels for determining the effects of international trade. Interactions among these channels define the results obtained in terms of industrialization, while welfare levels are always higher in relation to autarky.

Pre-pubertal measurements of the somatotrophic axis as predictors of milk production in Holstein-Friesian dairy cows

This study investigated possible relationships between measurements of the somatotrophic axis in pre-pubertal dairy calves and subsequent milk yields. Endogenous growth hormone (GH) release was measured through a fed and fasted period in fifty 6-month-old Holstein-Friesian heifers and they were then challenged with growth hormone-releasing factor (GRF) to assess their GH release pattern. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), insulin and glucose concentrations were measured in relation to time of feeding. Cows were subsequently monitored through their first three lactations to record peak and 305-day milk yields. In the first lactation, milk energy output for the first 120 days of lactation was also calculated. The mean 305-day milk yield increased from 7417 +/- 191 kg in the first lactation (n = 37) to 8749 +/- 252 kg in the third (n = 25). There were no significant relationships between any measures of GH secretion and peak or 305-day yield in any lactation. A highly significant positive relationship was established between the GH peak measured 10 min post-GRF challenge and 120-day milk energy values in the first lactation. This relationship was, however, only present in the subpopulation of 12 cows culled after one or two lactations and was absent in the 25 animals remaining for the third lactation. There were no significant relationships between pre-pubertal IGF-I and fed or fasted insulin or glucose concentrations and any subsequent measurement of yield. The usefulness of GH secretagogue challenges in calves as a predictive test for future milk production is thus limited but may have some bearing on nutrient partitioning and longevity. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Technical change and factor shares

The implications of technical change that directly alters factor shares are examined. Such change can lower the income of some factors of production even when it raises total output, thus offering a possible explanation for episodes of social conflict such as the Luddite uprisings in 19th century England and the recent divergence in the U. S. between wages for skilled and unskilled labor. An explanation also why underdeveloped countries do not adopt the latest technology but continue to use outmoded production methods. Total factor productivity is shown to be a misleading measure of technical progress. Share-altering technical change brings into question the plausibility of a wide class of endogenous growth models.

The marginal cost of funds from public sector borrowing

An expression for the welfare cost of a marginal increase in the public debt is derived using a simple AK endogenous growth model. This measure of the marginal cost of public funds (MCF) can be interpreted as the marginal benefit-cost ratio that a debtfinanced public project needs in order to generate a net social gain. The model predicts an increase in the public debt ratio will have little effect on the optimal public expenditure ratio and that most of the adjustment will occur on the tax side of the budget.

Impactos da política fiscal e tributária no crescimento econômico

Utilizando uma adaptação do modelo de Telles e Mussolini (2014), o presente trabalho busca discutir as caracterizações da matriz tributária, discutindo como as variações na matriz tributária podem impactar na política fiscal. Discute-se com base na diferenciação dos impostos em cinco grupos, a saber: impostos sobre salários, impostos sobre investimentos, impostos sobre consumo, impostos sobre renda e riqueza, e impostos sobre comércio internacional, a partir dos quais argumenta-se quais seus impactos para a política fiscal, para a interação das variáveis econômicas e a evolução destas variáveis, assim como a relação entre a preferência por uma determinada estrutura tributária e o endividamento de um país. Após a discussão teórica, faz-se uma análise descritiva da evolução destas variáveis tributárias para cada categoria de tributo, relacionando a sua evolução no tempo para um grupo de 64 países, tomados a partir do trabalho de Telles e Mussolini (2014), assim como relacionando a sua evolução intertemporal. Por fim, faz-se uma análise da estrutura tributária destes países, discutindo, na análise dos dados em painel, os resultados para as estimativas em modelos de efeitos fixos e efeitos aleatórios, os resultados da estimação pelo modelo Arellano-Bond, e utilizando-se a abordagem instrumental pelo Método Generalizado dos Momentos, onde se conclui que a taxação sobre a riqueza e a taxação sobre o comércio internacional com fins de financiar o excesso de gastos do governo impacta de forma negativa na trajetória de crescimento, entre outros resultados.

The small economies of Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

ESSAYS ON INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT SPILLOVERS

The dissertation consists of three essays on international research and development spillovers. In the first essay, I investigate the degree to which differences in institutional arrangements among Sub-Saharan African countries determine the extent of benefits they derive from foreign research and development spillovers. In particular, I compare the international research and development spillovers for English common law and French civil law Sub-Saharan African countries. I show that differences in the legal origin of the company law or commercial codes in these countries may reflect the extent of barriers they place in the paths of firms that engage in the investment process. To tests this hypothesis, I constructed foreign R&D spillovers variable using imports as weights and employed the endogenous growth framework to estimate elasticities of productivity with respect to foreign R&D spillovers for a sample of 17 English common law and French Civil law Sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1980-2004. My results find support for the hypothesis. In particular, foreign R&D spillovers were higher in the English common law countries than in the French civil law countries. In the second essay, I examine the question of whether technical cooperation grants and overseas development assistance grants induce R&D knowledge spillovers in Sub-Saharan African countries. I test this hypothesis using data for 11 Sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1980-2004. I constructed foreign R&D spillovers using the technical cooperation grants and overseas development assistance grants as weights and employed the endogenous growth framework to provide quantitative estimates of foreign R&D spillover effects in 11 Sub-Saharan African countries. I find that technical cooperation grants and overseas development assistance grants are major mechanisms through which returns to R&D investments in G7 countries flows to Sub-Saharan African countries. However, their influence has declined over the years. Finally, the third essay tests the hypothesis that the relationship between a country's exporters and their foreign purchasing agents may lead to the exchange of ideas and thereby improve the manufacturing process and productivity in the exporting country. I test this hypothesis using disaggregated export data from OECD countries. The foreign R&D capital stock in this essay was constructed as exports weighted average of domestic R&D capital stock. I find empirical support for the hypothesis. In particular, capital goods exports generate more learning effects and therefore best explain productivity in OECD countries than non-capital goods exports.

Economic development capitalizing on brand agriculture : turning development strategy on its head

This paper explores the possibilities of two unique Japanese concepts - the One Village One Product Movement (OVOP) and Michino Eki (or Roadside Stations) - as potential tools for bridging the gap between cities and rural areas through community-driven development. From the viewpoint of spatial economics and endogenous growth theory, this paper considers both OVOP and Michino Eki as rural development strategies of a broader nature based on "brand agriculture." Here, brand agriculture represents a general strategy for community-based rural development that identifies, cultivates and fully utilizes local resources for the development of products or services unique to a certain "village." Selected examples of OVOP and Michino Eki from Japan and developing countries are introduced.

The rise and fall in the price of food, fuel and manufactured goods : interdependency between prices and technology determining comparative advantages and development paths

Green innovation, which enables us to extract energy from food crops, caused a food shortage in 2008. Countries suffering severe damage started to reconsider their agricultural policy with the aim of becoming more autonomous. The food price hike of the time looks like a reversal of the celebrated Singer-Prebisch thesis proposed in the 1950s. This paper examines the consequences of this trend on the comparative advantages and development strategies of developing countries. For that purpose, first, trends and short-run fluctuations in the prices of fuel and bio-energy crops are investigated. It is shown that the price series of fuels and the crops are synchronized only after the fuel extracting technology came into effect. Second, the reversal of the Singer-Prebisch thesis is underpinned by the generic form of an endogenous growth model developed by Rebelo (1991). It is shown that as an economy grows, appreciation of the non-reproducible, such as mineral resources and raw labor, over the reproducible, such as capital goods, is the norm rather than an anomaly. Third, the consequences of the food price hike and underlying capital accumulation on the development strategies of labor-abundant and low-income countries are explored. It is concluded that the impact of the food price hikes on the alteration of a development strategy is only incremental, without reinforcement from raw-labor-saving innovation. A case study of inventions by JUKI Corporation, a world-leader in the sewing machine market exemplifies the fact that, of all the major inventions the company have made, raw-labor-saving inventions have not dominated, although JUKI's machines are sold to one of the most raw-labor-intensive industries.

Ethanolamine modulates the rate of rat hepatocyte proliferation in vitro and in vivo

A low molecular weight, heat-resistant hepatotrophic factor in an extract from the bovine intestinal mucosa was purified and identified as ethanolamine by structural analyses. The mode of action of ethanolamine in vitro and in vivo coincided with that of the crude extract of the tissue, indicating that ethanolamine is the active component. Ethanolamine synergistically elevated the stimulation of DNA synthesis in hepatocytes in primary culture when added together with a growth factor, such as epidermal growth factor, with the ED50 being 20 μM, although it showed little stimulatory effect by itself. Contrary to these in vitro results, the intraperitoneal administration of ethanolamine hydrochloride (24 mg of ethanolamine per kg of body weight) enhanced hepatocyte proliferation in regenerating rat livers after two-thirds hepatectomy without the administration of any growth factors. In the regenerating liver, hepatocyte proliferation may be initiated by an endogenous growth factor, but the supply of ethanolamine in circulation may not be sufficient for optimal hepatocyte proliferation; thus, the exogenous administration of ethanolamine may further enhance hepatocyte proliferation. Ethanolamine in circulation may be a humoral hepatotrophic factor.

Long-run effects of unfunded social security with earnings-dependent benefits

This paper examines the effects of unfunded social security with bequests, fertility and human capital by considering a mix of earnings-dependent and universal social security benefits. We show that social security is more likely to promote growth by reducing fertility and increasing human capital investment if its benefits are more dependent on individuals' own earnings. Through simulations, we find that the differences in the effects of social security resulting from variations in the benefit formula can be too substantial to be ignored. We also investigate the welfare effect in calibrated economies. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Income Ranking and convergence with physical and human capital and income equality

This paper presents an overlapping generations model with physical and human capital and income inequality. It shows that inequality impedes output growth by directly harming capital accumulation and indirectly raising the ratio of physical to human capital. The convergence speed of output growth equals the lower of the convergence speeds of the relative capital ratio and inequality, and varies with initial states. Among economies with the same balanced growth rate but different initial income levels, the ranking of income can switch in favor of those starting from low inequality and a low ratio of physical to human capital, particularly if the growth rate converges slowly. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Health investment, saving, and public policy

This paper develops an overlapping-generations model in which agents invest in health to prolong life in both working and retirement periods. It explores how unfunded social security with or without health subsidies affects life expectancy, economic growth, and welfare. In particular, by extending life at a possible cost of capital accumulation, health subsidies and a pay-as-you-go pension can improve welfare, especially in the short run.

The use of heparan sulfate to augment fracture repair in a rat fracture model

Fracture healing is a complex process regulated by numerous growth and adhesive factors expressed at specific stages during healing. The naturally occurring, cell surface-expressed sugar, heparan sulfate (HS), is known to bind to and potentiate the effects of many classes of growth factors, and as such, may be a potential candidate therapy for enhancing bone repair. This study investigated the local application of bone-derived HS in the repair of rat femoral fractures. After 2 weeks, there was a significant increase in the callus size of rats administered with 5 mu g HS compared to the control and 50 mu g HS groups, presumably due to increased trabecular bone volume rather than increased cartilage production. In addition, 5 mu g HS increased the expression of ALP, Runx2, FGF-1, IGF-II, TGF-beta 1, and VEGF. It is hypothesized that these increases resulted from changes in HS-mediated receptor/ligand interactions that increase local growth factor production to augment bone formation. The findings of this study demonstrate the anabolic potential of HS in bone repair by recruiting and enhancing the production of endogenous growth factors at the site of injury. (c) 2006 Orthopaedic Research Society.

Total factor productivity and the spillover hypothesis: some new evidence

In this paper I test the spillover hypothesis of the endogenous growth literature on a sample of manufacturing firms in Italy, 1989–1994, using a new approach based on the Malmquist index. First, I measure the productivity growth registered by the high- and non-high-tech firms computing the Malmquist index with DEA. I decompose it into technical change and technical efficiency change. Then I test whether the technical change registered by high-tech firms affects productivity growth of non-high-tech firms, after controlling for factors which can potentially affect productivity growth.