Do exporters gain from voluntary export restraints?

Most literature suggests that voluntary export restraints (VER) are not very harmful for the exporting country. This paper argues that this view is misconceived. Most work has focused on the welfare loss to the importing country arising from a loss of income transfer combined with a distortionary loss in efficiency. Implicit is the message that the often large rent transfer to the exporting country is likely to compensate for any induced inefficiency losses. This paper studies the effects on distribution and efficiency when VERs force factors out of industries in which they are most productive. It develops a general theoretical model that establishes qualitative conditions under which a VER will result in industry contraction, spillovers of exports to unrestricted markets, and losses in national welfare. It estimates key parameters of supply and demand for leather footwear exports from Taiwan subject to the U.S. Orderly Marketing Agreement, and explores the implications in a calibrated simulation exercise. The results are a strongindictment of VERs. For most plausible parameter values, VERs redirect exports, reduce the size of the industry, and cause overall economic losses, expecially if the affected industry is large.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Markets and Market Access,Access to Markets,Water and Industry

Price and quality effects of VERs - revisited : a case study of Korean footwear exports

The application of index numbers to disaggregated Korean footwear exports during 1974-85 suggests that binding voluntary export restraints (VERs) led to significant price increases but not to the upgrading of quality predicted in earlier theoretical analyses. The results in this paper were derived from exporters rather than importers data. Drawing its comparisons from multilateral indices, the paper finds that the price of Korean footwear exports to the United States rose significantly in the years when the VERs were binding. VERs were associated less with quality upgrading and if anything were possibly associated with quality downgrading. The empirical results confirm that as a result of VER type restrictions on shoes, rents accrue to the exporting country, but shoes do not show the improved quality that automobiles do under similar restrictions.Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access,Economic Theory&Research,Transport and Trade Logistics,Common Carriers Industry

Phosphorus sources residual effects on tifton 85 production and nutritive value cultivated in a tropical weathered soil

Acid reactions and low available phosphorus in tropical soils limit forage yield. The aim was to evaluate soil chemical characteristics pH, P and Mg, forage nutritive values, critical soil and plant P levels and the residual effect of each source. The experiment was in a greenhouse with a Rhodic Haplustox, loam texture. Experimental design was a 5 x 4 factorial with five replicates which phosphate fertilizers were triple superphosphate, reactive rock phosphates Gafsa and Arad, and fused magnesium phosphate powder and coarse, applied at rates of 30, 60, 90 and 120 mg kg-1 P and a control treatment without P. The effectiveness of rock phosphates increased due to their residual effect. The coarse fused magnesium phosphate resulted in the lowest efficiency. The P critical level in soil and plant were 18 mg kg-1 and 2.4 g kg-1, respectively. The increase of phosphorus rates provided an increase in crude protein content

Schistosoma mansoni Tegument Protein Sm29 Is Able to Induce a Th1-Type of Immune Response and Protection against Parasite Infection

Schistosomiasis is the most important human helminth infection in terms of morbidity and mortality. Although the efforts to develop a vaccine against this disease have experienced failures, a new generation of surface antigens revealed by proteomic studies changed this scenario. Our group has characterized the protein Sm29 described previously as one of the most exposed and expressed antigens in the outer tegument of Schistosoma mansoni. Studies in patients living in endemic areas for schistosomiasis revealed high levels of IgG1 and IgG3 anti-Sm29 in resistant individuals. In this study, confocal microscope analysis showed Sm29 present in the surface of lung-stage schistosoluma and adult worms. Recombinant Sm29, when used as vaccine candidate, induced high levels of protection in mice. This protection was associated with a typical Th1 immune response and reduction of worm burden, liver granulomas and in intestinal eggs. Further, microarray analysis of worms recovered from vaccinated mice showed significant down-regulation of several genes encoding previously characterized vaccine candidates and/or molecules exposed on the surface, suggesting an immune evasion strategy of schistosomes under immune attack. These results demonstrated that Sm29 as one of the important antigens with potential to compose a vaccine against schistosomiasis

T-Cell Memory Responses Elicited by Yellow Fever Vaccine are Targeted to Overlapping Epitopes Containing Multiple HLA-I and -II Binding Motifs

The yellow fever vaccines (YF-17D-204 and 17DD) are considered to be among the safest vaccines and the presence of neutralizing antibodies is correlated with protection, although other immune effector mechanisms are known to be involved. T-cell responses are known to play an important role modulating antibody production and the killing of infected cells. However, little is known about the repertoire of T-cell responses elicited by the YF-17DD vaccine in humans. In this report, a library of 653 partially overlapping 15-mer peptides covering the envelope (Env) and nonstructural (NS) proteins 1 to 5 of the vaccine was utilized to perform a comprehensive analysis of the virus-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses. The T-cell responses were screened ex-vivo by IFN-γ ELISPOT assays using blood samples from 220 YF-17DD vaccinees collected two months to four years after immunization. Each peptide was tested in 75 to 208 separate individuals of the cohort. The screening identified sixteen immunodominant antigens that elicited activation of circulating memory T-cells in 10% to 33% of the individuals. Biochemical in-vitro binding assays and immunogenetic and immunogenicity studies indicated that each of the sixteen immunogenic 15-mer peptides contained two or more partially overlapping epitopes that could bind with high affinity to molecules of different HLAs. The prevalence of the immunogenicity of a peptide in the cohort was correlated with the diversity of HLA-II alleles that they could bind. These findings suggest that overlapping of HLA binding motifs within a peptide enhances its T-cell immunogenicity and the prevalence of the response in the population. In summary, the results suggests that in addition to factors of the innate immunity, "promiscuous" T-cell antigens might contribute to the high efficacy of the yellow fever vaccines. © 2013 de Melo et al

Strongyloides venezuelensis: efeito de antimicrobiano e imunossupressor no curso da infecção em camundongos da linhagem AKR/J

Groups of AKR/J strain of mice infected by Strongyloides venezuelensis and treated with Ceftazidima, Dexametasona or with both drugs concomitantly had been killed on 3rd, 7th and 12th day after infection and their lungs and intestines were processed for histological studies. In lungs of all infected groups, it was verified an inflammatory infiltrated (neutrophils and mononuclear cells) in the third day after the infection. In 7th and 12th day after the infection, the inflammatory reaction becomes reduced in control and antimicrobial treated groups, but not in immunosuppressed animals (with or without antimicrobial treatment). Analysis of the duodenal mucosa confirmed the presence of parasites in all groups of animals. On the 7th day after infection it was observed significant alterations in the small intestine of control (infected) and infected and treated with antimicrobial groups with presence of inflammatory foci, constituted by mononuclear and eosinophils in mucosa, associate to a large amount of parasites, mainly in the region of the epithelium and sub epithelium. Two others groups (infected and immunosuppressed mice with or without antimicrobial), did not present inflammatory process. Goblet cells were less evident in mucosa suggesting a reduction in mucous production. In the 12th day of the infection, the treated with antimicrobial and control groups presented a reduced number of parasites and a discrete inflammatory reaction in the small intestine while the immunosuppressed groups showed more parasites in duodenum. The permanence of the infection by S. venezuelensis in immunosuppressed animals was prolonged in relation to other groups, remaining until the 49th day after infection. The results indicate that the interference of treatments in the population of intestinal microbiota favours the parasitism by Strongyloides venezuelensis.Camundongos da linhagem AKR/J infectados pelo Strongyloides venezuelensis e tratados com Ceftazidima, Dexametasona ou com ambas as drogas foram sacrificados no terceiro, sétimo e décimo segundo dia após infecção. Pulmões e intestino delgado foram processados para histologia. Verificaram-se, nos pulmões dos quatro grupos infectados, infiltrados inflamatórios (neutrófilos e mononucleares) no terceiro dia após a infecção. No sétimo e décimo segundo dia após a infecção, o processo inflamatório se torna reduzido nos animais controle e tratados com antimicrobiano, mas não nos animais imunossuprimidos (com ou sem tratamento com antimicrobiano). A análise da mucosa duodenal confirmou a presença de parasitos em todos os grupos de animais. No 7º dia após a infecção, foram observadas alterações significativas no duodeno dos grupos controle (infectados) e dos infectados e tratados com antimicrobiano, com presença de infiltrado inflamatório, constituído de mononucleares e eosinófilos na mucosa, associada a uma maior quantidade de parasitos, principalmente na região do epitélio e sub-epitélio. Os outros dois grupos (camundongos infectados e imunossuprimidos com ou sem antimicrobiano), não apresentaram processo inflamatório. A mucosa apresentou células caliciformes menos evidentes, sugerindo uma redução de produção de muco. No décimo segundo dia da infecção, os grupos não tratados e tratados apenas com antimicrobiano apresentaram um número reduzido de parasitos e um discreto processo inflamatório no duodeno, enquanto os grupos tratados com imunossupressor (com ou sem antimicrobiano) mostraram presença de um maior número do parasito no duodeno. A permanência da infecção do S. venezuelensis foi mais prolongada nos animais imunossuprimidos em relação aos demais grupos, permanecendo até o 490dia após infecção. Os resultados indicam que a interferência dos tratamentos no equilíbrio da microbiota intestinal favoreceu o parasitismo pelo S. venezuelensis