Shamba Shape Up series one development benefit and systemic impact

Series One of SSU was broadcast on Citizen Television between March and June 2012. It is estimated that the series attracted an audience of around 3 million television viewers, based on the Kenya Advertising Research Foundation (KARF) industry recognized data for measuring the size and profile of television audiences. The Series One pre and post broadcast research among small holder farmers with access to television, produced evidence that the series had a positive direct impact on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of the small holder farmers who viewed at least some of the programmes. There was no indication of the value of this impact. In order to answer some of these questions a further research study was commissioned by the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) in June 2013. This report is largely based on the findings from that study

Hirarchical Growth: Basic and Applied Research

We develop a model that incorporates salient features of growth in modern economies. We combine the expanding-variety growth model through horizontal innovations with a hierarchy of basic and applied research. The former extends the knowledge base, while the latter commercializes it. Two-way spillovers reinforce the productivity of research in each sector. We establish the existence of balanced growth paths. Along such paths the stock of ideas and the stock of commercialized blueprints for intermediate goods grow with the same rate. Basic research is a necessary and sufficient condition for economic growth. We show that there can be two different facets of growth in the economy. First, growth may be entirely shaped by investments in basic research if applied research operates at the knowledge frontier. Second, long-run growth may be shaped by both basic and applied research and growth can be further stimulated by research subsidies. We illustrate different types of growth processes by examples and polar cases when only upward or downward spillovers between basic and applied research are present.

Search theory and applied economic research

In the summer of 2002, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) hosted the “SNB-Fed Cleveland Workshop on Monetary Economics”. Recent years have seen the development of the search-theoretic approach to monetary theory. It has established itself as an important strand of monetary theory in a very short space of time, although it has yet to exert a significant influence on the empirical models that are typically used for monetary policy analysis. This is why the conference organisers, David Altig (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland), Aleksander Berentsen (University of Basel) and Thomas Jordan (SNB) decided that the event should focus on linking search theory with applied economic research. This summary article first briefly examines the objectives and challenges of search theory before discussing briefly the conference papers.Search Theory; Monetary Policy; Applied Economic Research

2013 Annual Report

https://nsuworks.nova.edu/arsh_annualreport/1002/thumbnail.jp

Political Data for Applied Political Economy Research

The availability of appropriate empirical measures to represent political and institutional factors is a crucial issue in the applied political economy research. This paper is intended as a contribution to the collection and circulation of political data. Having been involved for quite a considerable time in projects on the empirical analysis of political economy models, I have in the end assembled a data-set for the group of western European countries that includes a variety (about 40) of indicators. Some of these indicators have been previously used in the literature, but others are innovative. The categories of variables in the data set are presented and two econometric applications discussed. The first application is an analysis of the determinants of government duration. Differently from most of the literature in this area, the specification of the statistical model is theory-based and not driven by an inductive approach. The second application is an analysis of the determinants of government spending decisions. Again, specific theoretical predictions are tested. The focus is on the role of the ideological (and numerical) fragmentation of the government. The data-set will be soon made available on the WWW and, for the time being, is available from the author upon request.political economy, data collection, government duration, government expenditure

Applied analytical combustion/emissions research at the NASA Lewis Research Center

Emissions of pollutants from future commercial transports are a significant concern. As a result, the Lewis Research Center (LeRC) is investigating various low emission combustor technologies. As part of this effort, a combustor analysis code development program was pursued to guide the combustor design process, to identify concepts having the greatest promise, and to optimize them at the lowest cost in the minimum time