Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms: Economic, Program, and Policy Issues

[Excerpt] Trade liberalization can enhance the economic welfare of all trade partners, but in adjusting to greater competition, many import-competing firms and workers face difficult problems. Since 1962, Congress has responded to these adjustment costs by authorizing trade adjustment assistance (TAA) programs for workers, firms, and farmers, and continues to monitor their performance and amend the governing legislation. This report discusses the Trade Adjustment Assistance for Firms (TAAF) program, which provides technical assistance to trade-affected firms to help them develop strategies to remain competitive in a dynamic international economy. The 113th Congress may consider reauthorizing legislation for all TAA programs given they are set to expire on December 31, 2013

How large is the housing wealth effect? : a new approach

This paper presents a simple new method for estimating the size of ‘wealth effects’ on aggregate consumption. The method exploits the well-documented sluggishness of consumption growth (often interpreted as ‘habits’ in the asset pricing literature) to distinguish between short-run and long-run wealth effects. In U.S. data, we estimate that the immediate (next-quarter) marginal propensity to consume from a $1 change in housing wealth is about 2 cents, with a final long-run effect around 9 cents. Consistent with several recent studies, we find a housing wealth effect that is substantially larger than the stock wealth effect. We believe that our approach is preferable to the currently popular cointegrationbased estimation methods, because neither theory nor evidence justifies faith in the existence of a stable cointegrating vector. JEL Classification: E21, E32, C2

Bovine respiratory syncytial virus seroprevalence and risk factors in feedlot cattle from Córdoba and Santa Fe, Argentina

El virus respiratorio sincicial bovino (BRSV) es uno de los agentes causantes de enfermedad respiratoria bovina a nivel mundial, conduciendo a importantes pérdidas económicas. El objetivo de este trabajo fue determinar la seroprevalencia del BRSV en bovinos de engorde a corral de Argentina y estudiar los factores de riesgo asociados. Los resultados mostraron una elevada seroprevalencia individual del 78,64% (IC = 66,55-90,75%) contra el virus. Se encontró una asociación positiva entre la presencia de altos títulos de anticuerpos neutralizantes contra BRSV y los factores de riesgo: edad del ganado, origen de los animales, presencia de signos clínicos respiratorios y el tamaño del rebaño. Este trabajo contribuye en gran medida a la comprensión de la epidemiología en los establecimientos de engorde a corral de Argentina y plantea la necesidad de revaluar las estrategias de vacunación contra este virus con el fin de controlar la infección y su impacto en la producción.Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) is one of the causative agents of respiratory disease in cattle all over the world, leading to important economic losses. The aim of this work was to determine the seroprevalence of BRSV in feedlot cattle of Argentina and the risk factors associated with the disease. Results showed a high individual seroprevalence of 78.64% (95% confidence interval adjusted [CI] = 66.55–90.75%) against the virus. Positive association was found between the presence of high BRSV neutralizing antibody titers, and the following risk factors: cattle age, source of animals, presence of clinical respiratory signs and herd size. This work contributes to updating the understanding of its epidemiology in Argentinean feedlots and poses the need for reevaluating vaccination strategies against this virus in order to control infection and its impact on productivity.Fil: Ferella, Alejandra. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Pérez Aguirreburualde, María Sol. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Margineda, Carlos. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Córdoba. Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Marcos Juarez; ArgentinaFil: Aznar, Natalia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Patobiología; ArgentinaFil: Sammarruco, Ayelen. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; ArgentinaFil: Dus Santos, María José. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Mozgovoj, Marina Valeria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Virología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Financial strategies for a small company in Latin America to face a pandemic: a SME case in Peru

In this document is carried out at first, a literature investigation about the economic impact produced by a pandemic and the financial strategies recommended by numerous authors in order to summarize the main economic consequences of a pandemic and the principal financial strategies to face them. Subsequently, using methodological tools, such as questionnaires and direct observation, are tested the efficiency of this financial strategies in a small and medium enterprise (SME) in Peru, to then expand the results by applying the tool in a reduced version to other SMEs in different sectors in Latin America. Although the study showed interesting results for these particular cases, these are insufficient to provide a general rule for a large number of companies; however it offers a useful tool for finance managing in SME and could be used as a astarting point for future research related to this topic

Discounting Nordhaus

This paper evaluates Nordhaus’s neoclassical complaints about the Stern Review from the vantage point of classical growth theory. Nordhaus argues that the Stern Review exaggerates the effects of global warming because it uses a discount rate that is well below the market rate of return on capital. From the perspective of classical growth theory, Nordhaus’s belief in choosing preference parameters for the social planner based on observed market rates of return filtered through the Ramsey equation is equivalent to assigning the preferences of the capitalist agents to the social planner. This equivalence is an implication of the Cambridge Theorem, which interprets the Ramsey equation as the saving function of the capitalist agents. The classical theory of growth interprets the market return to capital as a reflection of the property relations of capitalist society that does not offer the social planner any information that would be useful in resolving the problem of global warming. Contrary to the viewpoint of neoclassical economic theory, the market return to capital offers no information about preferences for the social welfare function or about the putative “marginal product” of conventional capital.Global warming, Stern Review, Discounting, Ramsey equation, Cambridge equation, Cambridge Theorem

Measuring business cycles by saving for a rainy day

We propose a simple saving-based measure of the cyclical component in GDP. The measure is motivated by the prediction that the representative consumer changes savings in response to temporary deviations of income from its stochastic trend, while satisfying a present-value budget constraint. To evaluate our procedure, we employ the bivariate error correction model of Cochrane (1994) to the member countries of the G-7 and Australia. Our estimates reveal, that to a close approximation, the stochastic trend component of GDP is consumption and the transitory component is the error correction term, which justifies the use of our saving-based measure.Business cycles ; Saving and investment ; Gross domestic product ; Consumer behavior

Postwar period changes in employment volatility: new evidence from state/industry panel data

Many recent studies have identified a decline in the volatility of U.S. real output over the last half century. This study examines a less discussed and analyzed trend, but one as significant as the drop in output volatility, namely a substantial decline in employment volatility during the postwar period. Using a new panel data set covering industry employment by state since 1952, the authors find that a large decline in employment growth volatility began in the early 1950s and largely ended by the mid- to late 1960s. This study also illuminates the geographical dimension of the declines, an aspect that has heretofore been unexamined. The data indicate that all states have shared in the volatility decline, although the magnitudes have differed. ; A pooled cross-section/time-series model indicates that fluctuations in tate specific (state level differences in demographic and industrial composition) and macro variables (e.g., changes in monetary policy regimes) have each played a potentially substantial role in explaining volatility trends. The authors find that state-specific forces account for between 1 percent and 24 percent of the variations in employment volatility across time and space. Macro variables account for between 30 percent and 76 percent of the movements in employment volatility, a range broadly consistent with the findings of Stock and Watson (2002). An important finding of this study is that "unknown forms of good luck," in the form of smaller shocks to employment, account for between 1 percent and 10 percent of the observed fluctuations. This latter finding suggests a reduced role for unknown forms of good luck in describing the postwar decline in volatility compared to the findings in Stock and Watson's (2002) analysis of the variance of real output growth.Employment (Economic theory)

On the stability of employment growth: a postwar view from the U.S. states.

In 1952, the average quarterly volatility of U.S. state employment growth stood at 1.5 percent. By 1995, employment growth volatility came in at just under 0.5 percent. While all states shared in the decline, some states declined much more dramatically than others. We analyze aspects of this decline using new data covering industry employment by state during the postwar period. Estimates from a pooled cross-section/time-series model corrected for spatial dependence indicate that fluctuations in state-specific and aggregate variables have both played an important role in explaining volatility trends. However, state-level differences in responses to aggregate shocks account for less of the postwar fluctuations in employment growth volatility than do state-specific forces.Employment (Economic theory)