Moving Beyond Income: Neighborhood Structure, Household Behavior, and Children's Health in the United States

Using insights from economics, pediatrics, psychology, and sociology, this paper examines the effects of income, income inequality, participation in religious services, maternal health, breastfeeding, household smoking, neighborhood characteristics, and racial/ethnic composition of population on child health. Using aggregate data on children's health and well-being for 50 U.S. states derived from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH, 2005), we document the following results: (1) neighborhood characteristics are a more powerful predictor of children's health than income; (2) there is a large effect of mother's health on children's health; (3) the independent effect of income inequality on children's health vary across domains of child health outcomes, as some aspects of child health (mental health) are more responsive to the immediate environment of family and neighborhood than others; (4) breastfeeding has beneficial effect on children's health, while household smoking has negative effect on children's health and well-being; and (5) childrens who participate in religious services at least once a week have less socio-emotional difficulties compared to children who do not.children's health, neighborhood characteristics, socioeconomic status, Health Economics and Policy, I1,

Socioeconomic Status, Neighborhood, Household Behavior, and Children's Health in the United States: Evidence from Children's Health Survey Data

Using insights from economics, pediatrics, psychology, and sociology, this paper examines the effects of income, income inequality, neighborhood characteristics, maternal health, the participation in religious services, breastfeeding, household smoking, and racial/ethnic composition of population on child health. Using aggregate data on children's health and well-being for 50 U.S. states derived from the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH, 2005), we document the following results: (1) the independent effects of income inequality on children's health vary across domains of child health outcomes, as some aspects of child health (mental health) are more responsive to the immediate environment of family and neighborhood than others; (2) neighborhood characteristics are powerful predictors of children's health; (3) there is a large effect of maternal health on children's health; (4) children who participate in religious services at least once a week have less socio-emotional difficulties compared to children who do not, and (5) breastfeeding has beneficial effect on children's health, while household smoking has negative effect on children's health and well-being.Consumer/Household Economics, Health Economics and Policy,

TRADING COLLAR, INTRADAY, PERIODICITY, AND STOCK MARKET VOLATILITY

Using 5 minute data, we examine market volatility in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the presence of trading collars. We use a polynomial specification for capturing intraday seasonality. Results indicate that market volatility is 3.4 percent higher in declining markets when trading collars are in effect. Results also support a U-shaped intraday periodicity in volatility.Marketing,

Modeling Florida Fresh Tomato Supply Response: Composite Switching Regressions with Variable Weather-Determined Lags

A supply-response model for Florida fresh tomatoes is specified to analyze the impacts of the U.S. Department of Commerce's suspension agreement which governs imports of fresh tomatoes from Mexico. The particular focus is on the impact of the "reference" price which causes Mexican imports in a given week to cease if import prices in the prior week fall to the reference price. Using weekly weather data, a growing degree day (GDD) variable is constructed which predicts week of first harvest and duration of harvest. The GDD variable is used to construct the appropriate, variable lag length for weekly acres planted in four Florida production regions. A composite switching-regime model is estimated in which the regime prior to the suspension agreement occurs at a known time. The other two regimes occur when Nogales f.o.b. price are "near" or not near the reference price. Preliminary results suggest weekly Florida shipments of fresh tomatoes are more own-price elastic when Nogales f.o.b. prices near the reference price.International Relations/Trade,

Livelihood Shocks and Coping Strategies: An Empirical Study of Bangladesh Households

Households plan strategically for facing risks associated with livelihood security. Choosing a particular set of coping strategies depends on a number of factors including the types of crisis households face and options available. Often, poor households risk future income generating capacity for maintaining current food consumption. This paper examines strategies used by rural households for coping with the shocks and investigates whether there is any distinctive pattern in adopting these strategies. Using a cross section data set covering 1600 households from the northwestern Bangladesh, we estimate a trivariate probit model for explaining the adoption of coping strategies. Results indicate that choice of coping strategies depend on diversity and stability of household income sources. Households with higher education have greater access to stable incomes sources and have more income sources, and so are less likely to adopt ex-post coping strategies. Households with more assets are more likely to divest assets or obtain secured loans rather than rely on unsecured loans. Wealthier households are not less likely to adopt current adjustment strategies, suggesting that there is a general sequence of coping strategies that all households follow, irrespective of the assets they own.Consumer/Household Economics,

GARCH TIME-SERIES MODELS: AN APPLICATION TO RETAIL LIVESTOCK PRICES

This article applies recent developments in time-series modeling to analyze the retail prices of beef, pork, and chicken. Specifically, generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) models were fitted to these data to determine if, unlike more traditional time-series models, the conditional variances of the underlying stochastic processes are nonconstant. The estimation results indicate that the constant conditional variances assumption can be rejected. Furthermore, ex post forecast intervals generated from the GARCH processes indicate that the forecasting accuracy of the estimated models has varied widely over time with substantial volatility occurring during the 1970s and early 1980s.Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Policy structure, output supply and input demand for US crops

In this study a crop sector model for the United States was constructed. A theoretical framework incorporating agricultural producers decisions on whether to comply with the volunteer commodity programs was developed. Unlike previous studies, policy variables are directly incorporated in a structural framework. A multioutput-multiinput technology in a dual framework was used for the present study. Crop supply and input demand equations were derived from a normalized quadratic profit function. The crop sector module consisted of thirteen crops (wheat, rice, corn, other coarse grains, soybeans, hay, cotton, peanuts, flaxseed and sunflower, sugarcane and sugarbeet, tobacco, vegetables, and fruits and nuts), four variable inputs (land, fertilizer, operating capital, and labor) and one fixed input (durable farm machinery);Thirteen product supply and four variable input demand equations were estimated simultaneously using full information maximum likelihood methods maintaining all the theoretical restrictions. Additionally, commodity program participation rates equations, as implied by the theoretical model, were econometrically estimated. This combination of microeconomic theory and structural policy implementation represent a contribution to the areas of applied production analysis and quantitative policy analysis. Empirical results are very encouraging and consistent with the theoretical model. The elasticity estimates are within a reasonable range. Results further indicated that microeconomic theory can be fruitfully combined with structural policy representations to yield a crop sector module that can be used for policy evaluation in a general equilibrium analysis

Classification of basal cell carcinoma using telangiectatic vessels and machine learning

“Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is one of the most common types of skin cancer in the United States. Early detection of BCC by noninvasive techniques can decrease delay in treatment and save cost. A recent study estimated that 5.4 million cases of non-melanocytic skin cancer (NMSC) occur each year in the US. BCC accounts for 50% of NMSC cases. Telangiectasia, which appears in most BCCs is an important feature for identification of BCC for an automatic diagnostic system. In this thesis, three methods for detection of telangiectasia present in dermoscopy lesion image (DI) were proposed. Detected telangiectasia in DI was used to predict BCC. Using stepwise logistic regression, a model was created for which the area under a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 88.9% was achieved for detection of BCC”--Abstract, page iii

DYNAMICS AND PRICE VOLATILITY IN FARM-RETAIL LIVESTOCK PRICE RELATIONSHIPS

This study uses an error correction model (ECM) to investigate dynamics in farm-retail price relationships. The ECM is a more general method of incorporating dynamics and the long-run, steady-state relationships between farm and retail prices than has been used to data. Monthly data for beef and pork are used to test the time-series properties for the ECM specification. The model is extended to study price volatility through the generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) process. Accommodation of the GARCH process provides a useful way of analyzing both mean and variance effects of policy or market structure changes.Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

Risk Behavior and Rational Expectations in the U.S. Broiler Market

This study examines the empirical implications of extending the rational expectations hypothesis (REH) to include price uncertainty. Unlike previous studies, a general estimation framework that incorporates both the restrictions on structural parameters and the variance-covariance terms is developed. A new time series approach known as GARCH processes is also used to generate time-varying expectations of both the means and the variances of exogenous variables in the REH model with risk. The empirical application is with a quarterly model of the U.S. broiler industry; the results indicate that the rational expectation of price variance is an important determinant of broiler supply. Additionally, a formal test indicates that the restrictions implied by the REH cannot be rejected. The restricted model also compares favorably with an unrestricted version that uses instruments for the mean and the variance of expected prices