Does Quality Time Produce Quality Children? Evidence on the Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital Using Parental Deaths

This paper uses variation created by parental deaths in the amount of time children spend with each parent to examine whether the parent-child correlation in schooling outcomes stems from a causal relationship. Using a large sample of Israeli children who lost one parent during childhood, we find a series of striking patterns which show that the relationship is largely causal. Relative to children who did not lose a parent, the education of the deceased parent is less important in determining child outcomes, while the education of the surviving parent becomes a stronger factor. Moreover, within the group of families that lost a parent, this pattern intensifies when a child loses a parent earlier in life – the education of the deceased parent becomes even less important, while the effect of the surviving parent's schooling intensifies. These results provide strong evidence that there is a causal connection between parent and child schooling, which is dependent on the child's interaction time with each parent. These findings help us understand why educated parents typically spend more time with their children – they are more effective in producing human capital in their children.intergenerational mobility, education

THE MYSTERY OF MONOGAMY

This paper examines why developed countries are monogamous while rich men throughout history have tended to practice polygyny (multiple wives). Wealth inequality naturally produces multiple wives for rich men in a standard model of the marriage market. This paper argues that the sources of inequality, not just the level of inequality, determine the equilibrium degree of monogamy or polygamy. In particular, when inequality is determined more by disparities in human capital versus non-labor income (such as land, capital, corruption), the outcome is more monogamous. This explains why developed countries, where human capital is the main source of income and inequality, are monogamous while less-developed economies tend to be polygynous. The results are driven by the larger inequality in the value of women in the marriage market in modern economies. When the value of human capital increases, rich men increasingly value quality women who can help them raise quality children more efficiently. As a result, high quality women are valued much more than low quality women, which makes polygyny less affordable for rich men. In this manner, we show that male inequality generates polygyny, but female inequality reduces it. Using data from Cote d'Ivoire, we provide evidence for all the main implications of the model. In particular, we control for a man's total income and show that polygyny increases with non-labor income but decreases with labor income and education. These patterns are strong even within social groups where norms regarding polygyny are likely to be constant.Marriage, Monogamy, Polygyny, Human Capital, Inequality, J12, J24, O10, O40, Labor and Human Capital,

Does quality time produce quality children? Evidence on the intergenerational transmission of human capital using parental deaths

This paper uses variation created by parental deaths in the amount of time children spend with each parent to examine whether the parent-child correlation in schooling outcomes stems from a causal relationship. Using a large sample of Israeli children who lost one parent during childhood, we find a series of striking patterns which show that the relationship is largely causal. Relative to children who did not lose a parent, the education of the deceased parent is less important in determining child outcomes, while the education of the surviving parent becomes a stronger factor. Moreover, within the group of families that lost a parent, this pattern intensifies when a child loses a parent earlier in life - the education of the deceased parent becomes even less important, while the effect of the surviving parent's schooling intensifies. These results provide strong evidence that there is a causal connection between parent and child schooling, which is dependent on the child's interaction time with each parent. These findings help us understand why educated parents typically spend more time with their children - they are more effective in producing human capital in their children

Workload characterization of the shared/buy-in computing cluster at Boston University

Computing clusters provide a complete environment for computational research, including bio-informatics, machine learning, and image processing. The Shared Computing Cluster (SCC) at Boston University is based on a shared/buy-in architecture that combines shared computers, which are free to be used by all users, and buy-in computers, which are computers purchased by users for semi-exclusive use. Although there exists significant work on characterizing the performance of computing clusters, little is known about shared/buy-in architectures. Using data traces, we statistically analyze the performance of the SCC. Our results show that the average waiting time of a buy-in job is 16.1% shorter than that of a shared job. Furthermore, we identify parameters that have a major impact on the performance experienced by shared and buy-in jobs. These parameters include the type of parallel environment and the run time limit (i.e., the maximum time during which a job can use a resource). Finally, we show that the semi-exclusive paradigm, which allows any SCC user to use idle buy-in resources for a limited time, increases the utilization of buy-in resources by 17.4%, thus significantly improving the performance of the system as a whole.http://people.bu.edu/staro/MIT_Conference_Yoni.pdfAccepted manuscrip

Collagen-Binding Peptidoglycans Inhibit MMP Mediated Collagen Degradation and Reduce Dermal Scarring

Scarring of the skin is a large unmet clinical problem that is of high patient concern and impact. Wound healing is complex and involves numerous pathways that are highly orchestrated, leaving the skin sealed, but with abnormal organization and composition of tissue components, namely collagen and proteoglycans, that are then remodeled over time. To improve healing and reduce or eliminate scarring, more rapid restoration of healthy tissue composition and organization offers a unique approach for development of new therapeutics. A synthetic collagen-binding peptidoglycan has been developed that inhibits matrix metalloproteinase-1 and 13 (MMP-1 and MMP-13) mediated collagen degradation. We investigated the synthetic peptidoglycan in a rat incisional model in which a single dose was delivered in a hyaluronic acid (HA) vehicle at the time of surgery prior to wound closure. The peptidoglycan treatment resulted in a significant reduction in scar tissue at 21 days as measured by histology and visual analysis. Improved collagen architecture of the treated wounds was demonstrated by increased tensile strength and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of collagen fibril diameters compared to untreated and HA controls. The peptidoglycan's mechanism of action includes masking existing collagen and inhibiting MMP-mediated collagen degradation while modulating collagen organization. The peptidoglycan can be synthesized at low cost with unique design control, and together with demonstrated preclinical efficacy in reducing scarring, warrants further investigation for dermal wound healing

The Economics of Collective Brands

We consider the consequences of a shared brand name such as geographical names used to identify high quality products, for the incentives of otherwise autonomous firms to invest in quality. We contend that such collective brand labels improve communication between sellers and consumers, when the scale of production is too small for individual firms to establish reputations on a stand alone basis. This has two opposing effects on member firms' incentives to invest in quality. On the one hand, it increases investment incentives by increasing the visibility and transparency of individual member firms, which increases the return from investment in quality. On the other hand, it creates an incentive to free ride on the group's reputation, which can lead to less investment in quality. We identify parmater values under which collective branding delivers higher quality than is achievable by stand alone firms