Scale and the origins of structural change

Structural change involves a broad set of trends: (i) sectoral reallocations, (ii) rich movements of productive activities between home and market, and (iii) an increase in the scale of productive units. After extending these facts, we develop a model to explain them within a unified framework. The crucial distinction between manufacturing, services, and home production is the scale of the productive unit. Scale technologies give rise to industrialization and the marketization of previously home produced activities. The rise of mass consumption leads to an expansion of manufacturing, but a reversal of the marketization process for service industries. Finally, the later growth in the scale of services leads to a decline in industry and a rise in services.Service industries

Aggregate Implications of a Credit Crunch

We take an off-the-shelf model with financial frictions and heterogeneity, and study the mapping from a credit crunch, modeled as a shock to collateral constraints, to simple aggregate wedges. We study three variants of this model that only differ in the form of underlying heterogeneity. We find that in all three model variants a credit crunch shows up as a different wedge: efficiency, investment, and labor wedges. Furthermore, all three model variants have an undistorted Euler equation for the aggregate of firm owners. These results highlight the limitations of using representative agent models to identify sources of business cycle fluctuations.

Optimal Maturity of Government Debt with Incomplete Markets

In this paper we show how risk free bonds of different maturities can be used to replace state contingent debt in a general equilibrium dynamic optimal taxation problem. In particular, we show that if the state of the economy can only take a finite number N of values each period, then the government can support the complete markets Ramsey allocation issuing bonds of J> N different maturities. We also show that the optimal maturity structure does depend on teh relationship between the term strucutre of interest rates and goverenment expenditures. In the case that intreset rates are positively correlated with government expenditures in the Ramsey solution, then the government must hold short run assets and long term liabilites.

The Rise of the Service Economy

This paper analyzes the role of specialized high-skilled labor in the growth of the service sector as a share of the total economy. Empirically, we emphasize that the growth has been driven by the consumption of services. Rather than being driven by low-skill jobs, the importance of skill-intensive services has risen, and this has coincided with a period of rising relative wages and quantities of high-skilled labor. We develop a theory where demand shifts toward ever more skill-intensive output as income rises, and because skills are highly specialized this lowers the importance of home production relative to market services. The theory is also consistent with a rising level of skill and skill premium, a rising relative price of services that is linked to this skill premium, and rich product cycles between home and market, all of which are observed in the data.

Root starches enriched with proteins and phenolics from Pachyrhizus ahipa roots as gluten‐free ingredients for baked goods

Ahipa is a gluten-free starchy root, bearing phenolics and a protein content of ~9% db. Ahipa proteins are hydrosoluble, thus they are lost during starch extraction. The aim of this work was to recover ahipa proteins by isoelectric point (pI) precipitation to enrich ahipa and cassava starches. Both enriched starches had protein contents of ~2%, and their ATR-FTIR spectra revealed bands characteristic of ahipa proteins. Enriched starches also contained phenolics in concentrations of 18-20 μg GAE/g. Enrichment lowered the whiteness index, but it remained higher than 90. Protein-enrichment did not modify gelatinization onset and peak temperatures but reduced the gelatinization enthalpy of ahipa starch. Enriched starches produced less-rigid buns than the native ones, with smaller and more homogeneously distributed alveoli in the crumb which resulted darker than the crust. Starch slurries acidified to the pI of ahipa proteins led to novel gluten-free ingredients by an easy, low cost processFil: Malgor, Martina. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Viña, Sonia Zulma. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; ArgentinaFil: Dini, Cecilia. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Investigación y Desarrollo en Criotecnología de Alimentos; Argentin

Real effects of financial distress : the role of heterogeneity

What are the heterogeneous e_ects of _nancial shocks on _rms' behavior? This paper evaluates and answers this question from both an empirical and a theoretical perspective. Using micro data from Portugal during the sovereign debt crisis, starting in 2010, we document that highly leveraged _rms and _rms that had a larger share of short-term debt on their balance sheets contracted more in the aftermath of a _nancial shock. We use a standard model to analyze the conditions under which leverage and debt maturity determine the sensitivity of _rms' investment decisions to _nancial shocks. We show that the presence of long-term investment projects and frictions to the issuance of long-term debt are needed for the model to rationalize the empirical _ndings. We conclude that the di_erential responses of _rms to a _nancial shock do not provide unambiguous information to identify these shocks. Rather, we argue that this information should be use to test for the relevance of important model assumptions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The relationship between antibrowning, anti-radical and reducing capacity of Brassica and Allium extracts

Aqueous vegetable extracts from Allium and Brassica families were assayed for antibrowning capacity and related to their anti-radical and reducing power activities. The treatment of mushrooms and avocado slices, with white cabbage, cauliflower, garlic and scallion extracts, reduced color changes during storage at 4 °C and -18 °C. Storage temperature and the type of extract employed influenced change of color variables. The contribution of polyphenols on measured antioxidant activity of extracts was also discussed. Allium antibrowning properties were closely related to antioxidant capacity, while the Brassica extracts were less effective. Treatment with Allium extracts extended the storage time of frozen and refrigerated mushrooms and avocado slices, in comparison with untreated samples.Fil: Bustos Shmidt, Mariela Cecilia. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Agudelo Laverde, Lina Marcela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Mazzobre, Maria Florencia. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Buera, Maria del Pilar. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Optimization of β-cyclodextrin-based extraction of antioxidant and anti-browning activities from thyme leaves by response surface methodology

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) has been demonstrated to extend the shelf-life of food products, being also a potential source of bioactive compounds. The aim of this research was to optimize the ultrasound assisted extraction employing β-cyclodextrin aqueous solutions as no-contaminant technology and Response Surface Methodology to obtain thyme extracts with the maximum antioxidant capacity. The optimal extraction conditions were: a solution of β-ciclodextrin 15 mM, an ultrasonic treatment time of 5.9 min at a temperature of 36.6 °C. They resulted in an extract with a polyphenolic content of 189.3 mg GAE/mL, an antioxidant activity (DPPH[rad]) of 14.8 mg GAE/mL, and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) of 3.3 mg GAE/mL. Interestingly, the extract demonstrated to inhibit the production of Maillard browning products and can be considered a potential antiglycant agent. The obtained data is important for developing eco-friendly technologies in order to obtain natural antioxidant extracts with a potential inhibitory capacity of Maillard glycation reaction.Fil: Favre, Leonardo Cristian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; ArgentinaFil: dos Santos, Cristina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Orgánica; ArgentinaFil: Lopez Fernandez, Maria Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Mazzobre, Maria Florencia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; ArgentinaFil: Buera, Maria del Pilar. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Departamento de Química Orgánica; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Industrias; Argentin

Productivity Growth and Capital Flows: The Dynamics of Reforms

Why doesn’t capital flow into fast-growing countries? In this paper, we provide a quantitative framework incorporating heterogeneous producers and underdeveloped domestic financial markets to study the joint dynamics of total factor productivity (TFP) and capital flows. When an unexpected once-and-for-all reform eliminates non-financial distortions and liberalizes capital flows, the TFP of our model economy rises gradually and capital flows out of it. The rise in TFP reflects efficient reallocation of capital and talent, a process drawn out by frictions in domestic financial markets. The concurrent capital outflows are driven by the positive response of domestic saving to higher returns, and by the sluggish response of domestic investment to the higher TFP—the latter being another ramification of domestic financial frictions. We use our model to analyze the welfare consequences of opening up capital accounts. We find that the marginal welfare effect of capital account liberalization is negative for workers and positive for entrepreneurs and wealthy individuals.