KLT-type relations for QCD and bicolor amplitudes from color-factor symmetry

Color-factor symmetry is used to derive a KLT-type relation for tree-level QCD amplitudes containing gluons and an arbitrary number of massive or massless quark-antiquark pairs, generalizing the expression for Yang-Mills amplitudes originally postulated by Bern, De Freitas, and Wong. An explicit expression is given for all amplitudes with two or fewer quark-antiquark pairs in terms of the (modified) momentum kernel. We also introduce the bicolor scalar theory, the "zeroth copy" of QCD, containing massless biadjoint scalars and massive bifundamental scalars, generalizing the biadjoint scalar theory of Cachazo, He, and Yuan. We derive KLT-type relations for tree-level amplitudes of biadjoint and bicolor theories using the color-factor symmetry possessed by these theories.Comment: 24 pages, 2 figures; v2: added referenc

Global Market Integration and National Sovereignty

In this paper, we first trace the evolution of the global trading system from the 19th century to the present-day GATT/WTO arrangements, calling attention to the key roles of reciprocity and nondiscrimination, and we note how the system is now challenged by the new paradigm of global market integration. We then consider the recent plethora of free trade agreements (FTAs), including those between industrial and developing countries, and their uneasy relationship with a multilateral system based on non-discrimination.. Thereafter, we seek to identify the boundaries of the WTO and examine how the potential expansion of these boundaries extension and weakening of the effectiveness and influence of the WTO.Reciprocity, Non-Discrimination; Boundaries of WTO Regime

Income Inequality over the Later-Life Course: A Comparative Analysis of Seven OECD Countries

This paper examines income inequality over stages of the later-life course (age 45 and older) and systems that can be used to mitigate this inequality. Two hypotheses are tested: (i) Levels of income inequality decline during old age because public benefits are more equally distributed than work income; (ii) Because of the progressive nature of government benefits, countries with stronger public income security programs are better able to reduce income inequalities during old age. The analysis is performed by comparing age groups within seven OECD countries (Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States) using Luxembourg Income Study data. Both hypotheses are supported. Several conclusions are drawn from the findings.retirement, income dynamics, comparative analysis, public pensions

Age-specific Income Inequality and Life Expectancy: New Evidence

Objectives -- The study has two primary goals. First, to test the hypothesis that higher levels of income inequality are related to lower levels of population health with updated data from around year 2000. Second, to examine the inequality-health relationship across the life course with particular focus on old age when income distributions often shift dramatically. Design -- Correlation techniques were used to assess the relationship between income inequality (Gini ratio) at ages 0+, 25+, 65+, 75+, and 85+ and life expectancy at corresponding ages (0, 25, 65, 75, 85) by sex, before and after adjusting for average population income. Analyses were conducted on two sets of data: 18 wealthy countries and 28 wealthy and non-wealthy countries. Data sources -- International cross-sectional data on income and life expectancy from about year 2000 were derived from the Luxembourg Income Study and the United Nations Demographic Yearbook respectively. Results -- Among wealthy countries the negative effect of income inequality on life expectancy at birth becomes insignificant after controlling for average absolute income: the correlation coefficient changes from -0.603 to -0.207 for men and -0.605 to 0.024 for women. A similar pattern is observed at age 25. By contrast, the effect becomes increasingly positive and significant across old age, notably for males, regardless of adjustments for average population income or countries of observation. Conclusions -- These updated results do not support the inequality-health hypothesis. The relationship between income inequality and life expectancy at earlier ages in wealthy countries can be explained by the confounding effect of average absolute income. In old age the data are entirely contrary to the hypothesis. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms that facilitate the increasing positive effect of income inequality on life expectancy in late life.Cross-national; Income Inequality; Population Health; Life Expectancy; Age

Fairness in the WTO Trading System

We first provide a brief critique of the utilitarian principle as a guide to fairness in the world trading system. We then turn to the alternative conception of fairness in terms of economic equity, exploring the meaning of its two components: equality of opportunity and distributive justice. We thereafter proceed to discuss the conditions of autonomy and reciprocity that have to be met in order to realize greater fairness in multilateral trade negotiations. Next, we comment on aspects of procedural justice that are necessary for the functioning of a fair trading system. Finally, we conclude with an overall assessment of the considerations of the fairness achieved in the Uruguay Round multilateral negotiations.Fairness, Equality of Opportunity, Distributive Justice, Global Trading System

What Are the Issues in Using Trade Agreements for Improving International Labor Standards?

This paper addresses the issues of whether the linking of core labor standards with multilateral or bilateral trade agreements is an effective way of promoting the improvement of labor standards. We review the determinants of core labor standards over time and conclude that efforts to improve these standards have to be tailored to the economic and social circumstances prevailing in a country at a specific time. Legalistic means to prod governments into revising their domestic laws or enforcing them will therefore be unsuccessful unless economic incentives can be changed to erode prevailing social norms and ease the way for the acceptance of new norms that will meet with public approval and be consonant with the distribution of political power. Moral suasion from both domestic and external sources may work more slowly than more legalistic means but is preferred because it contributes to altering the social norms that underlie and will reinforce the acceptance and effectiveness of labor standards.International labor standards, social norms, trade agreements

Social Transfers and Income Inequality in Old-age: A Multi-national Perspective

This paper examines variation in old-age income inequality between industrialized nations with modern welfare systems. The analysis of income inequality across countries with different retirement income systems provides a perspective on public pension policy choices and designs and their distributional implications. Because of the progressive nature of public pension programs, we hypothesize that there is an inverse relationship between the quality of public pension benefits and old-age income inequality -- that is, countries with comprehensive, universal, and generous public pension systems will exhibit more equal distributions of income in old age. Luxembourg Income Study data indeed show that cross-national variation in old-age income inequality is partly explained by differences in the percentage of seniors' total income derived from public pension transfers. Sweden, for example, has the highest level of government transfers and the lowest level of old-age income inequality, while Israel and the U.S. have the lowest levels of dependency on government transfers and the highest levels of income inequality. A notable exception is Canada where public transfers represent only a moderate portion of elderly income, yet old-age income inequality is relatively low. This suggests that other factors besides quality of public pension benefits play a role in differences in old-age income inequality across countries.old-age; income inequality; public pension policy; government transfers

Notes on the Grasses of Southeastern Iowa

In 1933, Cratty (6) listed the grasses of Iowa, represented by specimens in the Iowa State College herbarium, in his paper THE IOWA FLORA. Twenty-eight years earlier, Pammell, Ball and Lamson-Scribner (23) published \u27\u27THE GRASSES OF IOWA, PART II,\u27 the only more or less complete treatment of Iowa grasses. Additional specimens of grasses have been collected in numerous localities since the appearance of these two papers; changes in the Rules of Botanical Nomenclature, together with detailed studies of certain genera, have made necessary some changes in the scientific names of Iowa grasses. For these two reasons, a recapitulation of present knowledge about Iowa grasses has seemed desirable