34,611 research outputs found
Review of "Imagined Masculinities: male identity and culture in the modern Middle East" edited by M. Ghoussoub and E, Sinclair-Webb
Conditioning diffusions with respect to partial observations
In this paper, we prove a result of equivalence in law between a diffusion
conditioned with respect to partial observations and an auxiliary process. By
partial observations we mean coordinates (or linear transformation) of the
process at a finite collection of deterministic times. Apart from the
theoritical interest, this result allows to simulate the conditioned diffusion
through Monte Carlo's method, using the fact that the auxiliary process is easy
to simulate
Technical Efficiency, Farm Size and Tropical Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazonian Forest
This paper analyses the impact of farm productivity as well as farm size on deforestation in Brazil. A two step econometric approach is adopted. A bootstrapped translog stochastic frontier that is a posteriori checked for functional consistency is used in order to estimate technical efficiency of which estimates are introduced in a land use model to assess the impact of productivity and farm size on deforestation. Analysis of agricultural census tract data suggests that technical efficiency has a nonlinear (convex) effect: less and more efficient farms use more land for agricultural activities and so they have a positive effect on deforestation. However, the majority of farms are on the ascendant slope so that efficiency implies more deforestation in Brazilian Legal Amazon. Moreover, farm size has a robust negative effect on deforestation. Contrary to many studies, this result suggests that small farms convert more natural (forested) land into agricultural land than large ones.Farm size;Stochastic frontier model;Brazil.;Land use model
Legal origin, colonial origin and deforestation
This paper investigates whether inherited legacies such as legal origin allow of explaining deforestation in 110 developed and developing countries. The hypothesis is that differences in deforestation between countries can be attributed to their legal systems. Also, since nearly all common law countries are former English colonies, and nearly all civil law countries were colonized by France, Spain or Portugal, legal origin and colonial history are strongly correlated, so that one can not attribute all the variance to the effect of the legal system. What is found overall is that (i) French civil law countries deforest less than English common law ones within the total sample, within the sample of colonized countries, and within the sample of tropical developing countries; (ii) Former French colonies deforest less than former English colonies. These results hold when geography features are controlled for since the process of colonization was not random and depended on initial geographic and climatic conditions.Deforestation; Colonial legacies; Legal origin
Moderate deviations for the chemical distance in Bernoulli percolation
In this paper, we establish moderate deviations for the chemical distance in
Bernoulli percolation. The chemical distance between two points is the length
of the shortest open path between these two points. Thus, we study the size of
random fluctuations around the mean value, and also the asymptotic behavior of
this mean value. The estimates we obtain improve our knowledge of the
convergence to the asymptotic shape. Our proofs rely on concentration
inequalities proved by Boucheron, Lugosi and Massart, and also on the
approximation theory of subadditive functions initiated by Alexander.Comment: 19 pages, in english. A french version, entitled "D\'eviations
mod\'er\'ees de la distance chimique" is also availabl
Historical and Comparative Institutional Analysis: Evidences from Deforestation
This paper investigates if past institutional, economic, political, social, and cultural features (i.e legal origins on law and regulations and colonial legacies) interact in shaping the current institutional performances on deforestation in 116 developed and developing countries. A two step approach is implemented. First, we investigate relations between colonial legacies-legal origins and current institutional performances. We find that common law countries and previous British colonies have better institutions that French civil law and other past colonized countries. Second, we provide two econometrics procedures to capture some institutional persistences on deforestation which allow to estimate current institutional effects on deforestation conditioned to historical variables. In a first time, we run our deforestation model on different samples (under historical variables) and in a second time, interactive variables are introduced. We find that (i) French civil law countries deforest less than common law ones; (ii) less corruption and more secured property rights decrease deforestation in common law countries; (iii) better rules of law reduce deforestation but this feature is more likely in previous British colonies or non colonized countries. Finally, this paper shows that current institutional performances are important factors in the process of deforestation and that these factors are conditioned to past influences.Deforestation; Institutional persistences; Colonial legacies; Legal Origins; Corruption; Property Ri
Technical Efficiency, Farm Size and Tropical Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazonian Forest
This paper analyses the impact of farm productivity as well as farm size on deforestation in Brazil. A two step econometric approach is adopted. A bootstrapped translog stochastic frontier that is a posteriori checked for functional consistency is used in order to estimate technical efficiency of which estimates are introduced in a land use model to assess the impact of productivity and farm size on deforestation. Analysis of agricultural census tract data suggests that technical efficiency has a nonlinear (convex) effect: less and more efficient farms use more land for agricultural activities and so they have a positive effect on deforestation. However, the majority of farms are on the ascendant slope so that efficiency implies more deforestation in Brazilian Legal Amazon. Moreover, farm size has a robust negative effect on deforestation. Contrary to many studies, this result suggests that small farms convert more natural (forested) land into agricultural land than large ones.Farm size, Stochastic frontier model, Brazil., Land use model
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