An Overview of Mexico’s Citrus Industry

This report looks at Mexico’s citrus industry and its relationship to the United States. Information on Mexico’s citrus production, utilization and trade are discussed.Mexico, citrus industry, International Relations/Trade,

Financial Dollarization and the Size of the Fear

Based on the significance of a Minimum Variance Portfolio (MVP) for the understanding of dollarization equilibria, a significant strand of the debate concerned with the driving forces behind this phenomenon has focused on analyzing the determinants of the relative volatility of inflation vis-à-vis real depreciation. This analysis contributes in the identification of those factors by extending the basic CAPM formulation via the introduction of credit risk that is directly linked to the shock that determines real returns for dollar denominated assets: unanticipated shifts in the real exchange rate. We show this ingredient can end up altering the perceived relative volatility of peso and dollar assets in a way that fuels financial dollarization (by increasing the relative hedging opportunities offered by the latter). We calibrate our model using Peruvian data for the period 1998-2004, and its predictions show a better fit with observed financial dollarization ratios than those of the basic CAPM model.Financial dollarization, Minimum Variance Portfolio, Peru

(Re)Counting the poor in Peru: a multidimensional approach

After an impressive 12 point reduction in Peruvian monetary poverty, questions have been raised about the extent in which these figures mask deprivation in several other aspects critical for human development. We propose using the Alkire-Foster multidimensional headcount to address this issue, and devise a simple comparison framework to measure the tension between the incidence of monetary poverty and the overall level of deprivation based on the multidimensional measure. We select six dimensions and their respective indicators for the Peruvian case, and apply this framework using data for 2004 and 2008. Results indicate that we now face a larger risk of classifying as non-poor individuals who still endure significant deprivation if we rely on the conventional monetary dimension. In addition, inter and intraregional comparisons show that deprivations endured by the multidimensional poor are similar across regions and concentrated on the health and dwelling conditions dimensions, in particular, on the lack of adequate water and sanitation services. This last result reveals an opportunity to focalize public investment efforts.Multidimensional poverty; monetary poverty; Peru.

Influence of Si and Ge Microalloying Additions and Plastic Deformation on Precipitation Processes in Al-Cu Based Alloys

The combined effect of micro-alloying with Si and Ge and/or plastic deformationprior to ageing at 160˚C on age hardening has been studied in an Al-2 at%Cu alloy. The results obtained indicate that the hardness response is faster and the peak hardness is higher when plastic deformation and micro-alloying are applied together than performing each procedure individually. Different amounts of deformation, ranging from 0% to 30% have been utilized. An optimum deformation degree for the hardening response has been established around 8%for the Al-Cu-Si-Ge alloy. Characterization by transmission electron microscopy(TEM) shows that the peak hardness is due to a complex microstructurethat contained θ ′′ disc shaped precipitates, rod-shaped Si-Ge precipitatesand θ ′ plates that were heterogeneously nucleated on the Si-Ge particles.Pre-deformation has been found to stimulate the growth of the θ ′ platesdue to enhanced diffusion along dislocation cores. Increasing deformationreduces the influence of the Si-Ge precipitates on heterogeneous nucleation, leading to reduced peak hardness and faster over-ageing.Fil: Castro Riglos, Maria Victoria. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Física de Metales; ArgentinaFil: Tolley, Alfredo Juan. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia de Área Investigaciones y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia de Física (Centro Atómico Bariloche). División Física de Metales; Argentin

Higher Education Decisions in Peru: On the Role of Financial Constraints, Skills, and Family Background

"This paper analyzes the relative importance of short term financial constraints vis a vis skills and other background factors affecting schooling decisions when explaining access to higher education in Peru. We focus on college access disparities between rich and poor households. We use a novel household survey that includes special tests to measure cognitive and non-cognitive skills of the urban population age 14-50. These are complemented with retrospective data on basic education and family socioeconomic conditions in a multinomial model. We find that strong correlation between college enrollment and family income in urban Peru is not only driven by credit constraints, but also by poor college readiness in terms of cognitive skills and by poor family and educational backgrounds affecting preferences for schooling. Family income explains, at most, half of the college access gap between poor and non-poor households. The other half is related to differences in parental education, educational background and cognitive skills. Our results indicate that credit and/or scholarship schemes alone will not suffice to change the regressive nature of higher education enrollment in Peru, and that such programs will face strong equity-efficiency trade-offs."Higher education, Cognitive skills, Non-cognitive skills, Credit constraints, Peru