Exports and Externalities

This thesis, Exports and Externalities consists of three papers. The first chapter, Bridging Trade Barriers: Evaluating Models of Multi-Product Exporters, evaluates empirically the theoretical predictions of several models of multi-product exporters. For identification I use a quasi-natural experiment, the introduction of the Öresund bridge between southern Sweden and Denmark, to analyse the impact on firm behaviour. Using a difference-in-difference methodology, firms in the ’treated’ municipality, Malmö, are compared to firms in more geographically distant Gothenburg and Stockholm (’controls’). I find that the results are in line with the predictions in three of four cases. Notably, the only margin that has an ambiguous theoretical prediction, average trade value per product, accounts for 70-80% of the increase in trade value.In the second chapter, The Superstar and the Followers: Intra-Firm Product Complementarity in International Trade, I investigate if exports of different products by the same firm are systematically interconnected. I find evidence that the exports of low-ranked (non-star) products of a firm complement the exports of a superstar(core) products to each destination. The results show that a 1% increase in the exports of the superstar core increases the exportsof non-star products by 0.376%. Hence, I find that the exports of non-star products complements the superstar while conversely, the same complementarity is not found using low-ranked products as placebo-superstars.The third chapter, Linking Services to Manufacturing Exports, investigates how services are linked to exporters. We create a Localised Export Exposure (LEE) variable that captures the variation in demand for service inputs based on nearby exporters. Since service firms are much less geographically specialised than manufacturing firms, we observe a high variation in their exposure to demand changes. Our results show that a 1% increase in exports increases thevolume of sales of service firms by 0.2% (and employment within the firm by 0.06%). The results show also that the link is highly local and the strongest impact is within 20 km of the shock

Labor Market Effects of Public Policy

In this dissertation, I analyze the effects of five specific labor market public policies in Germany

The impact of socio-economic development and climate change on livestock management in Benin

Livestock management is a rapidly changing sector in developing countries due to increasing demand for animal products and changes in the availability of common resources. Moreover, livestock management is important as it can contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals with regard to poverty alleviation, health improvement, and environmental sustainability. In this thesis, the impact of three major driving forces (population growth, increasing income, and climate change) on livestock husbandry in Benin is analysed. This study aims to contribute to and deepen the general understanding of livestock management in Benin and its possible developments in order to benefit from the potential of the sector. The methodological approach of triangulation is used both for the analysis of the current situation and for the future development. To capture the status quo, two surveys were conducted among livestock keepers and local experts supplemented by secondary data. To identify possible future development paths, agricultural development theories, experiences in other developing countries, and the results of the expert survey concerning future trends have been used. The findings of this analysis enter the quantitative agricultural sector model BenIMPACT which has been further developed and applied to the livestock sector for scenario analysis. The current situation in livestock husbandry is characterised by extensive production methods depending heavily on the common resources of water and pasture. The low productivity is accompanied by a multi-purpose motivation for livestock keeping that is not only income-orientated. The survey reveals that the major production problem is the inadequate and insufficient supply of fodder, and market behaviour of livestock producers differs according to region. The findings of the study concerning future development disclose that population growth has a greater impact on the livestock sector in Benin than increasing income. Shifts in function and species, geographical location, input intensity, and higher market orientation in the course of development are to be expected, as has been seen in other developing countries. The BenIMPACT results confirm the importance and necessity of natural resources and the relevance of increasing land scarcity. Although the latter aspect could be an incentive to establish (semi-)intensive livestock production, the model indicates that unidentified costs currently prohibit semi-intensive production. Furthermore, the agricultural sector model reveals that different conservation measures for forests will impose different regional consequences on livestock distribution and income. Generally, livestock management will be more differentiated in the future according to region and input intensity due to regional comparative advantages.Auswirkungen von sozio-ökonomischen Veränderungen und Klimawandel auf den Tierhaltungssektor in Benin Derzeit unterliegt der Tierhaltungssektor in Entwicklungsländern einem starken Wandel. Ursachen dafür sind die steigende Nachfrage nach tierischen Produkten und die Veränderung in der Verfügbarkeit von allgemein zugänglichen natürlichen Ressourcen. Zum Erreichen der Milleniumsentwicklungsziele kann die Tierhaltung einen wichtigen Beitrag hinsichtlich Armutsbekämpfung, Verbesserung der Gesundheit und der ökologischen Nachhaltigkeit leisten. In dieser Studie werden die Auswirkungen der drei wichtigsten treibenden Kräfte (Bevölkerungswachstum, steigendes Einkommen und Klimawandel) auf den Tierhaltungssektor in Benin untersucht. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es, neue Erkenntnisse über die beninische Tierhaltung zu gewinnen, bestehendes Wissen zu vertiefen und mögliche Entwicklungspfade zu erkennen, um das Potential des Sektors hinsichtlich der Milleniumsentwicklungsziele besser nutzen zu können. Der methodische Ansatz der Triangulation wird sowohl für die Analyse der aktuellen Situation als auch der zukünftigen Entwicklung verwendet. Um den Status quo zu ermitteln wurde sowohl eine Produzentenbefragung als auch eine Expertenbefragung durchgeführt, die zusammen mit Sekundärdaten ausgewertet wurden. Mögliche Entwicklungspfade werden in der Arbeit mit Hilfe von landwirtschaftlichen Entwicklungstheorien, Erfahrungen in anderen Entwicklungsländern und den Ergebnissen der Expertenbefragung, die sich mit zukünftigen Trends beschäftigen, analysiert. Diese Erkenntnisse gehen in das quantitative Agrarsektormodell BenIMPACT ein, welches im Rahmen der Studie weiterentwickelt und auf den Tierhaltungssektor für Szenarioanalysen angewendet wird. Die Tierhaltung ist derzeit gekennzeichnet durch extensive Produktionsmethoden, die auf den allgemein zugänglichen natürlichen Ressourcen Wasser und Weide basieren. Die niedrige Produktivität geht einher mit einer multifunktionalen Tierhaltung, die nicht ausschließlich einkommensorientiert motiviert ist. Die Befragung zeigt, dass das größte Produktionsproblem in der unzureichenden und qualitativ schlechten Futterversorgung liegt, und dass das Marktverhalten der Produzenten regional unterschiedlich ist. Auf die zukünftige Entwicklung der Tierhaltung in Benin wird das Bevölkerungswachstum stärkere Auswirkungen haben als das steigende Einkommen. Zudem sind in den nächsten Jahren Verschiebungen in der Verwendung und Funktion der Nutztiere, der geographischen Verteilung als auch Veränderungen bei den eingesetzten Tierarten und der Faktorintensität zu erwarten. Diese Entwicklungen sind zusammen mit einer stärkeren Marktorientierung auch in anderen Entwicklungsländern zu beobachten. Die Modellergebnisse bestätigen die Bedeutung der natürlichen Ressourcen und der zunehmenden Landknappheit. Obwohl letzteres ein Anreiz sein könnte die Tierhaltung zu intensivieren, verhindern momentan hohe Extrakosten, zusätzlich zu den Produktionskosten, die semi-intensive Tierhaltung im Modell. Außerdem verdeutlicht das Agrarsektormodell, dass verschiedene Waldschutzmaßnahmen unterschiedliche regionale Auswirkungen auf die Verteilung der Tierbestände und das Einkommen haben. Grundsätzlich wird die Tierhaltung aufgrund regionaler komparativer Vorteile in der Zukunft stärker nach Faktorintensität und Region differenziert sein.L'impact du développement socio-économique et du changement climatique sur l'élevage au Bénin L'élevage est un secteur qui change très rapidement dans les pays en développement à cause de l'accroissement de la demande des produits animaux et de la variation de la disponibilité des ressources communes. En outre, l'amélioration de la performance de l'élevage est importante pour accélérer l'atteinte des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement notamment la réduction de la pauvreté, l'amélioration de la santé et la durabilité écologique. Dans cette thèse, on analyse l'impact de trois forces motrices majeures (la croissance démographique, la croissance du revenu et le changement climatique) sur l'élevage au Bénin. Cette recherche a pour objectif de contribuer à une meilleure compréhension de l'élevage au Bénin et des trajectoires possibles de son développement dans le futur, d'approfondir les connaissances sur ce secteur, afin d'utiliser au mieux son potentiel. L'approche méthodologique employée pour analyser le statu quo et les trajectoires de développement dans le futur est la triangulation. Pour apprécier le statu quo, deux enquêtes avec les éleveurs et les experts locaux ont été conduites en complément aux données secondaires. L'identification des trajectoires de développement dans le futur a été effectuée en se basant sur les théories du développement agricole, les expériences déjà vécues dans d'autres pays en développement et les résultats de l'enquête auprès des experts sur les tendances dans le futur. Les résultats de cette analyse ont été intégrés au modèle BenIMPACT, un modèle développé pour l'analyse quantitative du secteur agricole au Bénin ; ceci a permis d'améliorer sensiblement ce modèle et il a été appliqué pour effectuer des analyses de scénarios dans le secteur de l'élevage. La recherche a permis de constater qu'actuellement l'élevage au Bénin est caractérisé par l'utilisation de méthodes de production extensives, qui sont très dépendantes des ressources communes en eau et en zones de pâturage. La productivité est faible et l'activité est pratiquée non seulement pour garantir des revenus monétaires grâce à la vente directe des animaux mais ils lui assignent aussi divers autres objectifs. L'enquête montre que le problème majeur de la production est l'approvisionnement en fourrage aussi bien sur le plan quantitatif que qualitatif ; elle indique aussi que le comportement des éleveurs vis-à-vis du marché diffère selon les régions. Les résultats de la recherche, pour ce qui concerne les trajectoires de développement dans le futur, montrent que la croissance démographique a un impact plus élevé sur le secteur de l'élevage au Bénin que la croissance du revenu. Dans le futur, il faudra probablement s'attendre à des changements dans les itinéraires techniques de production et le choix des espèces, la distribution spatiale de la production, l'intensité d'utilisation des intrants et une ouverture au marché plus élevée chez les éleveurs. Les résultats de BenIMPACT confirment le rôle prépondérant que jouent les ressources naturelles dans le secteur de l'élevage au Bénin, ce qui est en adéquation avec les constats révélés par les données des enquêtes de terrain ; ils soulignent aussi l'importance du problème de la pénurie croissante des terres. Bien que le dernier aspect pourrait constituer un attrait pour établir une production animale semi-intensive, le modèle indique que des coûts inconnus empêchent actuellement la production semi-intensive. De plus, le modèle du secteur agricole révèle que les différentes mesures de protection des forêts auront des conséquences différentes selon les régions aussi bien pour la distribution spatiale de la production animale que le revenu. En général, l'élevage sera plus nuancé à l'avenir concernant la région et l'intensité des intrants, en raison des avantages comparatifs régionaux

Sustainable Freight Transport

This Special Issue of Sustainability reports on recent research aiming to make the freight transport sector more sustainable. The sector faces significant challenges in different domains of sustainability, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the management of health and safety impacts. In particular, the intention to decarbonise the sector’s activities has led to a strong increase in research efforts—this is also the main focus of the Special Issue. Sustainable freight transport operations represent a significant challenge with multiple technical, operational, and political aspects. The design, testing, and implementation of interventions require multi-disciplinary, multi-country research. Promising interventions are not limited to introducing new transport technologies, but also include changes in framework conditions for transport, in terms of production and logistics processes. Due to the uncertainty of impacts, the number of stakeholders, and the difficulty of optimizing across actors, understanding the impacts of these measures is not a trivial problem. Therefore, research is not only needed on the design and evaluation of individual interventions, but also on the approach of their joint deployment through a concerted public/private programme. This Special Issue addresses both dimensions, in two distinct groups of papers—the programming of interventions and the individual sustainability measures themselves

Town of Barrington annual report 2012.

This is an annual report containing vital statistics for a town/city in the state of New Hampshire

Lay sense-making and knowledge of biotechnology : Its functionality and its limitations.

This thesis examines lay sense-making of biotechnological items, its functionality and its limitations, which, it is claimed, may have implications for biotechnological developments and how they are received. The theoretical approach taken to lay sense-making drew on social representations theory as an explanatory framework. This informed the aim to collect data on verbal and visual representation, and categorisation, of biotechnological items. Data was collected in three studies, through multiple sorting tasks and in-depth interviews with lay individuals in the UK, and field observation of mobilisation events and protests in the US. Methods used to analyse the data were multidimensional scalogram analysis, smallest space analysis, content analysis and thematic content analysis with data display. Representation and categorisation captured in the studies points to lay sense-making and knowledge of biotechnological items having a number of functions beyond understanding, and limitations beyond any scientific and technical knowledge-deficits of the kind suggested in ongoing surveys. Findings are supportive of previously reported findings suggesting that lay knowledge is complementary to scientific, regulatory and commercial knowledge sets. It is argued that limitations of and constraints on lay sense-making of biotechnological items are related to its rich functionality and its complementarity. Findings also suggest that lay engagement with and sense-making of biotechnology can be empowering for those involved, allowing lay people to take ownership of a concept and topic such as biotechnology that might very well affect areas of their lives. On the other hand, it is suggested that as lay people become more engaged with biotechnology, their agendas may also become more engaged, suggesting in turn that biotechnology may be progressively less likely to be judged on its own merits, or that developments may be increasingly stalled by negotiation of competing interests

The Shifting Patterns of Agricultural Production and Productivity Worldwide

In this book we assemble a range of evidence from a range of sources with a view to developing an improved understanding of recent trends in agricultural productivity around the world. The fundamental purpose is to better understand the nature of the long-term growth in the supply of food and its principal determinants. We pursue this purpose from two perspectives. One is from a general interest in the world food situation in the long run. The other is from an interest in the implications of U.S. and global productivity patterns for U.S. agriculture.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/card_books/1001/thumbnail.jp

Mediating political dissent: a study of Thai news organisations and southern conflict reporting

The objective of this thesis is to explore the roles of news media in the political conflict in Thailand’s southernmost provinces by analysing two aspects of Thai journalism: news content and news production practices. Four news organisations of different platforms and organisational natures were selected. The content analysis reveals that, despite their different characteristics, the four organisations’ reports similarly highlight the conflict’s violent aspect and the preservation of public order via law enforcement and security, rely heavily on authority sources, and primarily label perpetrators as criminals. Therefore, the news coverage tends to support the state’s legitimacy in solving the conflict and undermine other interpretations and proposed solutions. Interviews with news workers and ethnography of news production show that journalists encounter several difficulties in reporting about the conflict, from physical threats, limited access to information, and organisational constraints to the pressures from market competition and predominant beliefs in Thai society. The journalist-source relationship is also instrumental in shaping the aforementioned portrayal of the conflict. In all, these elements contribute to journalists’ different stances on the conflict and the various roles they perform. Three prominent roles of Thai journalism in the southern conflict are identified: 1) journalism as a presenter of truth, 2) journalism as a forum for every party, and 3) journalism as a supporter in conflict resolution. These disparate roles reflect the dynamic power play, debates about news professionalism, and reflexivity among journalists. They also signal the interplay between journalism and other political and social institutions. The thesis argues that, while the news coverage still largely endorses the authority’s perspectives and legitimacy, the shifts in the discursive contention and political consensus, as well as diversity and complexity in Thai news ecology could provide opportunities for the counterhegemonic accounts to emerge and facilitate healthy democratic debates about the southern conflict

‘Education or training?’: a case study of undergraduate business curriculum in a new university business school

This is a single case study of undergraduate business curriculum design and pedagogic practice in a post-1992 university business school (UBS). The central aim of the research was to investigate the factors that combined to influence the design and enactment of the BA Business Studies and BA Entrepreneurship and Innovation programmes. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews with academics from the department of Systems and Management and a documentary review of programme texts. The data were analysed within an analytical framework which brings together Bhaskar's critical realism, Fairclough's critical discourse analysis and Bernstein's theory of the pedagogic device. This thesis contends that the undergraduate curriculum in UBS has become recontextualised as a business project which frames knowledge as a commodity for the purposes of income generation, pedagogy as a rational, 'quality-assured' system for its 'delivery' and academics as the 'deliverers'. The pedagogic codes which underpin this model legitimise knowledge as narrow projections of business practices and confine didactics to behaviourist, sometimes incoherent, approaches to knowledge generation predicated on 'employability' and 'transferable skills'