Heterogeneous Productivity Response to Tariff Reduction: Evidence from Brazilian Manufacturing Firms

This paper studies the effects of trade liberalization on the evolution of firm productivity. The productivity of each firm was estimated using an unbalanced panel data of 4,484 Brazilian manufacturing firms from 1986 to 1998, following the procedure first proposed by Olley and Pakes (1996) and further developed by Levinsohn and Petrin (2003). First, the effect of nominal tariffs on firms' productivity levels is identified. After controlling for the endogeneity of nominal tariffs, the estimated coefficient for tariffs in the productivity equation turns out to be negative. Second, a measure of tariffs on inputs is added in the productivity equation. The coefficient associated with tariffs on inputs is also negative, and the inclusion of this new variable reduces the size of the estimated coefficient of nominal tariffs. Thus, it seems that, along with the increased competition, the new access to inputs that embody better foreign technology also contributes to productivity gains after trade liberalization. Third, it is shown that there is a huge degree of heterogeneity of responses to trade liberalization. The effect of the tariff reductions depends heavily on observed and unobserved characteristics of the firm.

Spatial constraints of stereopsis in video displays

Recent development in video technology, such as the liquid crystal displays and shutters, have made it feasible to incorporate stereoscopic depth into the 3-D representations on 2-D displays. However, depth has already been vividly portrayed in video displays without stereopsis using the classical artists' depth cues described by Helmholtz (1866) and the dynamic depth cues described in detail by Ittleson (1952). Successful static depth cues include overlap, size, linear perspective, texture gradients, and shading. Effective dynamic cues include looming (Regan and Beverly, 1979) and motion parallax (Rogers and Graham, 1982). Stereoscopic depth is superior to the monocular distance cues under certain circumstances. It is most useful at portraying depth intervals as small as 5 to 10 arc secs. For this reason it is extremely useful in user-video interactions such as telepresence. Objects can be manipulated in 3-D space, for example, while a person who controls the operations views a virtual image of the manipulated object on a remote 2-D video display. Stereopsis also provides structure and form information in camouflaged surfaces such as tree foliage. Motion parallax also reveals form; however, without other monocular cues such as overlap, motion parallax can yield an ambiguous perception. For example, a turning sphere, portrayed as solid by parallax can appear to rotate either leftward or rightward. However, only one direction of rotation is perceived when stereo-depth is included. If the scene is static, then stereopsis is the principal cue for revealing the camouflaged surface structure. Finally, dynamic stereopsis provides information about the direction of motion in depth (Regan and Beverly, 1979). Clearly there are many spatial constraints, including spatial frequency content, retinal eccentricity, exposure duration, target spacing, and disparity gradient, which - when properly adjusted - can greatly enhance stereodepth in video displays

Sustainable Consumption and Worktime Reduction

Formal and informal labour markets; shadow economy; labour market policy; unemployment; employment; wage compensation; labour market regulation

Neural processing of gravity information

The goal of this project was to use the linear acceleration capabilities of the NASA Vestibular Research Facility (VRF) at Ames Research Center to directly examine encoding of linear accelerations in the vestibular system of the cat. Most previous studies, including my own, have utilized tilt stimuli, which at very low frequencies (e.g., 'static tilt') can be considered a reasonably pure linear acceleration (e.g., 'down'); however, higher frequencies of tilt, necessary for understanding the dynamic processing of linear acceleration information, necessarily involves rotations which can stimulate the semicircular canals. The VRF, particularly the Long Linear Sled, has promise to provide controlled pure linear accelerations at a variety of stimulus frequencies, with no confounding angular motion

New Opportunities for Integrating and Improving Health Care for Women, Children, and Their Families

Outlines provisions in the Affordable Care Act for integrating healthcare services for low-income women and children to improve outcomes and cut costs. Examines public-private partnerships and other efforts in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, and Vermont

Empirical tests of status consumption : evidence from women's cosmetics

Nearly all applied work in consumer demand assumes the absence of status consumption. The validity of this assumption has not been supported through empirical inquiry which confirms the unimportance of status motivations in consumer behavior. However, it is feasible to conduct tests which differentiate between status-motivated behavior and consumer purchasing in which no status motivations are present. This paper provides such a test, which is based on the fact that social visibility is ordinarily necessary for a good to serve as a status symbol. We investigate brand buying among four cosmetics products, and find, as hypothesized, that more "status" is purchased with the more socially visible products. Specifically, we find that visible goods have a lower price-quality correlation and a pattern of brand buying favoring higher-priced brands. We also investigate differing degrees of status-consumption by income, education, race, and urban/suburban dwelling. Our results provide strong support for the existence of status-consumption and are not consistent with theories in which no status-consumption is occurring.gender differences;status;consumption

U.S. Variations in Child Health System Performance: A State Scorecard

Ranks state child health systems on thirteen measurements of five dimensions: access, quality, costs, equity, and potential to lead healthy lives. Highlights variations, regional patterns, and correlations between indicators and with demographic factors

Quantifying interactions between accommodation and vergence in a binocularly normal population

AbstractStimulation of the accommodation system results in a response in the vergence system via accommodative vergence cross-link interactions, and stimulation of the vergence system results in an accommodation response via vergence accommodation cross-link interactions. Cross-link interactions are necessary in order to ensure simultaneous responses in the accommodation and vergence systems. The crosslink interactions are represented most comprehensively by the response AC/A (accommodative vergence) and CA/C (vergence accommodation) ratios, although the stimulus AC/A ratio is measured clinically, and the stimulus CA/C ratio is seldom measured in clinical practice. The present study aims to quantify both stimulus and response AC/A and CA/C ratios in a binocularly normal population, and determine the relationship between them. 25 Subjects (mean±SD age 21.0±1.9years) were recruited from the university population. A significant linear relationship was found between the stimulus and response ratios, for both AC/A (r2=0.96, p<0.001) and CA/C ratios (r2=0.40, p<0.05). Good agreement was found between the stimulus and response AC/A ratios (95% CI −0.06 to 0.24MA/D). Stimulus and response CA/C ratios are linearly related. Stimulus CA/C ratios were higher than response ratios at low values, and lower than response ratios at high values (95% CI −0.46 to 0.42D/MA). Agreement between stimulus and response CA/C ratios is poorer than that found for AC/A ratios due to increased variability in vergence responses when viewing the Gaussian blurred target. This study has shown that more work is needed to refine the methodology of CA/C ratio measurement

Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Health Reform and the Role of States

Presents findings of a survey of experts about the relative authority of states and the federal government over the individual mandate, health insurance exchanges, provider payment methods, and other reform provisions and barriers to implementation

Saccadic latency in amblyopia.

We measured saccadic latencies in a large sample (total n = 459) of individuals with amblyopia or risk factors for amblyopia, e.g., strabismus or anisometropia, and normal control subjects. We presented an easily visible target randomly to the left or right, 3.5° from fixation. The interocular difference in saccadic latency is highly correlated with the interocular difference in LogMAR (Snellen) acuity-as the acuity difference increases, so does the latency difference. Strabismic and strabismic-anisometropic amblyopes have, on average, a larger difference between their eyes in LogMAR acuity than anisometropic amblyopes and thus their interocular latency difference is, on average, significantly larger than anisometropic amblyopes. Despite its relation to LogMAR acuity, the longer latency in strabismic amblyopes cannot be attributed either to poor resolution or to reduced contrast sensitivity, because their interocular differences in grating acuity and in contrast sensitivity are roughly the same as for anisometropic amblyopes. The correlation between LogMAR acuity and saccadic latency arises because of the confluence of two separable effects in the strabismic amblyopic eye-poor letter recognition impairs LogMAR acuity while an intrinsic sluggishness delays reaction time. We speculate that the frequent microsaccades and the accompanying attentional shifts, made while strabismic amblyopes struggle to maintain fixation with their amblyopic eyes, result in all types of reactions being irreducibly delayed