Effects of Agricultural Mechanization on Farm Income Patterns

This article is part of the seminar-workshop on the “Consequences of Small Farm Mechanization on Production, Employment and Incomes in the Philippines” sponsored jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies and the International Rice Research Institute held on December 1-2, 1983 at Tagaytay City. Utilizing cross-section results from a survey conducted, this article measures the importance of mechanization as a source of income variation. Analysis supports the fact that mechanization has effects on income changes. However, this article encourages the use of multivariate analysis for a better assessment of its impact and the inclusion of factor share analysis to account for the distribution of ownership.income changes, agriculture sector, impact analysis, mechanization

The 1979 Diary Family Income and Expenditure Survey: Experience and Preliminary Results

This paper is presented at the Third National Convention on Statistics on December 13-14, 1982. The 1979 Diary Family income and Expenditure Survey (DFIES) has utilized the diary method of data collection to minimize, if not eliminate, errors and biases arising from the traditional recall-record method of soliciting information. Jointly conducted by the National Tax Research Center and National Census and Statistics Office, DFIES aims to provide reliable quantitative information regarding personal/additional exemptions and household income/expenditure patterns. This article argues for the utilization of DFIES in the Philippines. Areas for improvement of the system are also cited.income, data and statistics, survey method, data collection

Target Zones in History and Theory: Lessons from an Austro-Hungarian Experiment (1896-1914)

The first known experiment with an exchange rate band took place in Austria- Hungary between 1896 and 1914. The rationale for introducing this policy rested on precisely those intuitions that the modern literature has emphasized: the band was designed to secure both exchange rate stability and monetary policy autonomy. However, unlike more recent experiences, such as the ERM, this policy was not undermined by credibility problems. The episode provides an ideal testing ground for some important ideas in modern macroeconomics: specifically, can formal rules, when faithfully adhered to, provide policy makers with some advantages such as short term autonomy? First, we find that a credible band has a "microeconomic" influence on exchange rate stability. By reducing uncertainty, a credible fluctuation band improves the quality of expectations, a channel that has been neglected in the modern literature. Second, we show that the standard test of the basic target zone model is flawed and develop an alternative methodology. We believe that these findings shed a new light on the economics of exchange rate bands

The gamma-ray burst monitor for Lobster-ISS

Lobster-ISS is an X-ray all-sky monitor experiment selected by ESA two years ago for a Phase A study (now almost completed) for a future flight (2009) aboard the Columbus Exposed Payload Facility of the International Space Station. The main instrument, based on MCP optics with Lobster-eye geometry, has an energy passband from 0.1 to 3.5 keV, an unprecedented daily sensitivity of 2x10^{-12} erg cm^{-2}s$^{-1}, and it is capable to scan, during each orbit, the entire sky with an angular resolution of 4--6 arcmin. This X-ray telescope is flanked by a Gamma Ray Burst Monitor, with the minimum requirement of recognizing true GRBs from other transient events. In this paper we describe the GRBM. In addition to the minimum requirement, the instrument proposed is capable to roughly localize GRBs which occur in the Lobster FOV (162x22.5 degrees) and to significantly extend the scientific capabilities of the main instrument for the study of GRBs and X-ray transients. The combination of the two instruments will allow an unprecedented spectral coverage (from 0.1 up to 300/700 keV) for a sensitive study of the GRB prompt emission in the passband where GRBs and X-Ray Flashes emit most of their energy. The low-energy spectral band (0.1-10 keV) is of key importance for the study of the GRB environment and the search of transient absorption and emission features from GRBs, both goals being crucial for unveiling the GRB phenomenon. The entire energy band of Lobster-ISS is not covered by either the Swift satellite or other GRB missions foreseen in the next decade.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Paper presented at the COSPAR 2004 General Assembly (Paris), accepted for publication in Advances in Space Research in June 2005 and available on-line at the Journal site (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02731177), section "Articles in press

Effects of Agricultural Mechanization on Farm Income Patterns

This article is part of the seminar-workshop on the “Consequences of Small Farm Mechanization on Production, Employment and Incomes in the Philippines” sponsored jointly by the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies and the International Rice Research Institute held on December 1-2, 1983 at Tagaytay City. Utilizing cross-section results from a survey conducted, this article measures the importance of mechanization as a source of income variation. Analysis supports the fact that mechanization has effects on income changes. However, this article encourages the use of multivariate analysis for a better assessment of its impact and the inclusion of factor share analysis to account for the distribution of ownership.income changes, agriculture sector, impact analysis, mechanization

Macroscopic Quantum Tunneling and the "cosmic" Josephson effect

We discuss the possible influence of a cosmic magnetic field on the macroscopic quantum tunneling process associated, in a cosmological context, to the decay of the "false vacuum." We find a close analogy with the effects of an external magnetic field applied to a Josephson junction in the context of low-temperature/high-temperature superconducting devices.Comment: 4 pages, 1 pdf figure. Added references and an inset in Fig. 1, results unchanged. To appear in Phys. Rev. D (Brief Report

Some Issues in the Economics of Tertiary Education

The failure of the tertiary education to respond to the manpower needs of a technologically changing environment has been the concern of most social scientists. The inabilities to deliver higher education to a wider base and the deterioration of academic standards have been plaguing the education sector. This article attempts to present some of the issues related to the government’s role in higher education, rates of return from human capital investments, loan markets for tertiary education, tuition fees and labor market policies.rate of return, education, human capital

Some Issues in the Economics of Tertiary Education

The failure of the tertiary education to respond to the manpower needs of a technologically changing environment has been the concern of most social scientists. The inabilities to deliver higher education to a wider base and the deterioration of academic standards have been plaguing the education sector. This article attempts to present some of the issues related to the government’s role in higher education, rates of return from human capital investments, loan markets for tertiary education, tuition fees and labor market policies.rate of return, education, human capital

Electrification and Regional Economic Development in the Philippines

This article empirically tests for the positive effects of household electrification on the Philippine provincial income levels. Results indicate that the economic overhead capital type of investment in intermediate regions and social overhead capital type of investments in lagging regions can spearhead decisionmakers in allocating scarce resources.electricity and power