Ricardian equivalence for sub-national states

The authors test Ricardian equivalence within an endogenous growth model for U.S. states, which have high rates of migration relative to most countries. Results are consistent with both Ricardian equivalence and endogenous growth, despite the relative ease of migration. Increases in productive government expenditures increase long-run real growth by the same amount, for example, whether financed by taxes or bonds. State rules limiting the use of bond financing may play a role in supporting Ricardian equivalence. The study provides the first explicit test of Ricardian equivalence for sub-national states in the context of an endogenous growth model.endogenous growth

An Economist’s Guide to Heaven

This paper is the first to offer an economic model of God and humanity as optimizing agents in the context of concrete belief archetypes (religious ‘contracts’) in Judeo-Christian theology. Data support the model’s unique predictions, despite their otherwise counterintuitive, unlikely nature. For example, the model requires that in one belief archetype, ‘good works’ not increase with strength of faith, as one might otherwise expect, and that what appears may be God’s dominant contract precisely balances divine penalties for reneging on promises with incentives to seek divine ‘gifts’—an equivalence supported in the data.economics;religion

The rising share of nonmarital births: A response to Ermisch, Martin, and Wu

We are flattered that our recent paper in Demography, GSS (2006), has attracted such close attention from Ermisch Martin and Wu (EMW). In this response we appreciate the opportunity to expand on several key aspects of our paper, but see no reason to substantially revise any of our major conclusions based on EMW comments. Reading EMW, one might think we had proposed the demographic equivalent of Newton’s second law of thermodynamics – the existence of a universal phenomenon, manifest in identical form in all places, for all groups, during all times periods, regardless of circumstances. It will be helpful, then, to review briefly the central points in GSS before turning to the major EMW comments, along with our responses.fertility, illegitimacy ratio, marriage, nonmarital fertility ratio, nonmarital births

Generating Global Brand Equity through Corporate Social Responsibility to Key Stakeholders

In this paper we argue that socially responsible policies have positive short-term and long-term impact on equity of global brands. We find that corporate social responsibility towards all stakeholders, whether primary (customers, shareholders, employees and suppliers) or secondary (community), have positive effects on brand equity value, where the secondary stakeholders are even more important than primary stakeholders. In addition, policies aimed at satisfying community interests act as a mechanism to reinforce trust that gives further credibility to social responsible polices with other stakeholders. The result is a decrease in conflicts among stakeholders and greater stakeholder willingness to provide intangible resources that enhance brand equity. We provide support of our theoretical contentions using a panel data composed of 57 global brands, originating from 10 countries (USA, Japan, South Korea, France, the UK, Italy, Germany, Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands) for the period 2002 to 2007. We use detailed information on brand equity obtained from Interbrand and on corporate social responsibility provided by the Sustainalytics Global Profile (SGB) database, as compiled by Sustainalytics.

The Regioselective Synthesis of Deuterated 4-Alkyl-y-Lactones: a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Chemistry at Massey University

γ-Lactones are important flavour compounds that occur naturally in foodstuffs such as fruit and dairy products. Their presence, or absence, has a considerable influence on the perceived quality of these products. It is therefore important to be able to accurately measure the concentrations of certain γ-lactones. Deuterium labelled compounds offer the possibility of achieving this through stable isotope dilution assays (SIDA). To achieve maximum sensitivity in SIDA of γ-lactones requires two to four deuterium atoms to be placed regioselectively within the lactone ring, where they are retained in the base peak of the labelled analogue upon electron ionisation mass spectroscopy. To this end. two syntheses of regioselectively deuterium ring labelled γ-lactones have been developed. Initially, three tetradeuterated 2,2,3,3-²H₄-γ-lactones were prepared. The key step in these syntheses involved the reduction of a doubly protected hydroxy acetylenic acid with deuterium gas in the presence of Wilkinson's catalyst. 2,2,3,3-²H₄-γ-Dodecalactone was prepared in 25% overall yield with 95% deuterium incorporation, 2,2,3,3-²H₄-γ-decalactone in 46% yield with 89% deuterium incorporation and 2,2,3,3-²H₄-γ-octalactone in 36% yield with 90% deuterium incorporation. While higher catalyst loadings (10 mol%) resulted in shorter reduction times, a higher degree of deuterium incorporation was achieved at lower catalyst loadings (5 mol%). A second, one-pot radical synthesis of ring-labelled γ-lactones was also developed which involved the addition of a two-carbon acetoxy radical to an appropriate 1,1,2-deuterated 1- alkene. This synthesis produced trideuterated γ-lactones without deuterium in the potentially exchangeable position α to the carbonyl moiety. Extensive GC optimisation for this process was undertaken using unlabelled precursors. A combination of 1-alkene (1.5 mmol). 2-iodoacetamide (0.5 mmol), 1,1'-azo-bis-cyclohexanecarbonitrile (radical initiator) (1.0 mmol) and water (50 mmol) in benzene (10 mL) was found to be optimal. The synthesis of 1,1,2-²H₃-1-decene, 1,1,2-²H₃-1-octene and 1,1,2-²H₃-1-hexene was pursued via the reduction of appropriate 1-²H-1-alkynes with deuterium gas over Lindlar's catalyst. This apparently simple transformation, proved difficult due to the volatility of the target l,l,2-²H₃-1-alkenes. Nonetheless, under the optimised radical conditions. 3,3,4-²H₃-γ-dodecalactone was prepared in a 69% isolated yield from 1,1,2-²H₃-decene with 96% deuterium incorporation. 3,3,4-²H₃-γ-Octalactone was prepared in 17% yield from 1,1,2-²H₃-1-hexene with 92% deuterium incorporation. It is suggested the efficiency of the radical lactonisation process was dependant upon the purity of the 1,1,2-²H₃-1-alkene as under the optimised conditions, unlabelled γ-decalactone and γ-octalactone were prepared in 91% and 94% isolated yields respectively. Application of the radical strategy for the synthesis of 3,3,4-²H₃-(Z)-6-dodecen-γ-lactone was envisaged but the required deuterated precursor was not accessible. The alternative dideuterated 6,7-²H₂-(Z)-6-dodecen-γ-lactone was. however, prepared in 75% yield with 96% deuterium incorporation via the partial reduction of 6-dodecyn-γ-lactone with deuterium gas over Lindlar's catalyst. The deuterated lactones prepared in this thesis have since proved of value as internal standards for SIDA

ACUE Course Has Applications Beyond the Classroom

ACUE’s Course in Effective Teaching Practices takes faculty beyond learning proven practices to impact student learning to implementing them and reflecting on the experience. For faculty taking the course, but not teaching at the time, many of the practices can be implemented in setting besides the classroom such as in department meetings or in staff development trainings. When I took ACUE’s Course in Effective Teaching Practices, I was directing our campus center for teaching and learning and providing professional development for faculty, but not teaching students. Since the Course requires learning about and implementing new practices, I had to get creative. In the process, I discovered that many of the best practices for good teaching are best practices for many contexts in the work world. What follows are some examples of taking practices from the ACUE course beyond the classroom