The Caloric Costs of Culture: Evidence from Indian Migrants

Anthropologists have documented substantial and persistent differences in food preferences across social groups. My paper asks whether such food cultures can constrain caloric intake? I first document that interstate migrants within India consume fewer calories per rupee of food expenditure compared to their neighbors. Second, I show that migrants bring their origin-state food preferences with them. Third, I link these findings by showing that the gap in caloric intake between locals and migrants depends on the suitability and intensity of the migrants' origin-state preferences. The most affected migrants would consume seven percent more calories if they possessed their neighbors' preferences

Telecommunications Research Article Productivity in the U.S.: 1985-1993

This article discusses the telecommunications research article productivity in the U.S. from 1985 to 1993. Scholars have intensified their focus on research productivity as an evaluative measure of communication programs in the country. Such information seems especially important in an era of fiscal austerity measures dating to the late 1980, which has seen enrollments in mass communication decline. Although scholarly productivity may not be a remedy for troubled programs, past work confirms a link between productivity and program size which acts as a hedge against downsizing

The Influence of Gender and Area of Specialty on Salary for Telecommunication Graduates

This article examines the influence of gender and area of specialty on salary for telecommunication graduates in the U.S. Gender is linked with a key earnings attribute--nature of work experience. The positive influence of work experience is not surprising, confirming the expectation that those with more experience are likely to earn more money. While much of this influence may be a function of seniority, it seems likely also that lower-paid or less skilled employees would shake-out of their media position relatively sooner. Those remaining in the field would logically advance as their skills dictate, developing closer ties with client accounts, contacts with other companies and other benefits associated with rank. Thus, despite low entry-level salaries, the earnings potential of the respondents increases rather handsomely over time

Newspaper Readership Among College Students in the Information Age: The Influence of Telecommunication Technology

This article focuses on the influence of telecommunication technology on newspaper readership among college students in the U.S. during the 1990s. The findings presented suggest an explanatory role for such factors as age in readership. Income and marital status are also important correlates of readership, perhaps because they gauge one\u27s stake or integration in the local community. The resulting loss of afternoon leisure was a leading cause in the decline of afternoon papers, which have been substituted with nightly TV news reporting. Given the role that demographic and media use variables play in newspaper readership, it will be important to consider the influence of other lifestyle characteristics

Increased expression of circulating miRNA-93 in women with polycystic ovary syndrome may represent a novel, non-invasive biomarker for diagnosis

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are a novel class of small noncoding single-stranded RNA molecules that regulate gene expression. There is increasing evidence of their importance in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). The objective was to determine if miRNA-93 and miRNA-223 are differentially expressed in the circulation of women with PCOS compared to age matched women. A case–control study comparing women with PCOS (n = 25) to age and weight matched controls (n = 24) without PCOS was performed. MiRNA-93 and miRNA-223 were determined by total RNA reverse transcription. Both miRNA-93 and miRNA-223 were significantly increased relative to the control group (p < 0.01, p = 0.029 respectively). In both groups there was no correlation of either miRNA-93 or miRNA-223 with insulin, HOMA-IR, HOMA-β or testosterone levels. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve for miR-223 and miR-93 was 0.66 and 0.72 respectively, suggesting miR-93 is a more efficient biomarker than miR-223 for diagnosis of PCOS. The combination of the two miRNAs together, tested using multiple logistic regression analysis, did not improve the diagnostic potential. In conclusion, circulating miRNA-93 and miRNA-223 were higher in women with PCOS compared to age and weight matched controls independent of insulin resistance and testosterone levels, and miR-93 may represent a novel diagnostic biomarker for PCOS

Trade, tastes and Nutrition in India

This paper introduces habit formation into an otherwise standard model of international trade. Household tastes evolve over time to favor foods consumed as a child. The opening of trade causes preferred goods to rise in price, as these were relatively inexpensive in autarky. Neglecting the correlation between tastes and agro-climatic endowments overstates the short-run nutritional gains from agricultural trade liberalization and masks potential caloric losses for laborers. I examine the predictions of this model of trade with habit formation using household survey data from India, both by looking across Indian regions and by examining the consumption patterns of inter-state migrants.international trade, habit formation, India, Tastes, nutrition

An Analysis of Research Article Productivity by Telecommunication Scholars Over the Past Decade

The article presents a study which assesses scholarly productivity in telecommunication-oriented journals from 1985-1995. Telecommunication can be defined as mediated communication across a distance. Sixteen journals were selected for this analysis. Most were listed among publications with the highest number of telecommunication authorship credits, according to Vincent\u27s study. Some of the differences in journal contributions may be a function of publication frequency and size. For instance, Journal of Media Economics (3.6 percent of articles) offered two issues/year through 1990 before expanding to four issues in 1993. Journalism Quarterly publishes more articles per issue than any of the other criterion journals. This study set out to establish a yardstick for telecommunication productivity in peer-reviewed communication journals

Retail globalization and household welfare:evidence from Mexico

The arrival of global retail chains in developing countries is causing a radical transformation in the way that households source their consumption. This paper draws on a new collection of Mexican microdata to estimate the effect of foreign supermarket entry on household welfare. The richness of the microdata allows us to estimate a general expression for the gains from retail FDI, and to decompose these gains into several distinct channels. We find that foreign retail entry causes large and significant welfare gains for the average household that are mainly driven by a reduction in the cost of living. About one quarter of this price index effect is due to pro-competitive effects on the prices charged by domestic stores, with the remaining three quarters due to the direct consumer gains from shopping at the new foreign stores. We find little evidence of significant changes in average municipality-level incomes or employment. We do, however, find evidence of store exit, adverse effects on domestic store profits and reductions in the incomes of traditional retail sector workers. Finally, we show that the gains from retail FDI are on average positive for all income groups but regressive, and quantify the opposing forces that underlie this finding