Global poverty & global politics

In recent years, many policymakers and scholars supportive of globalization – but opposed to many things done in the name of globalization – have begun to draw lessons from policymaking, statistical analysis and the lives of everyday citizens about what can be done to meet the challenge of global poverty. This proposed discovery dialogue essay will attempt to outline some of their conclusions, and explain how they arrived at these lessons

Our energy (in) security

Energy issues have long been at the heart of human security concerns. At one level, we humans have always needed food energy and heat energy to survive and thrive. Yet, with the industrial revolution and our discoveries of the tremendous utility of fossils fuels like coal and oil, the security concerns related to human energy demands have expanded dramatically as our demand for energy accelerated rapidly. My proposed Discovery Dialogue essay begins by noting the eternal human need for energy supplies of various kinds. It then focuses attention on the contemporary links between energy and security at three levels of political scale: global, national and local

Effects of Clean Water Act Regulations on Firm-Level Decisions in Agriculture

U.S. environmental regulations often vary by the size of the operation, with larger operations facing more regulatory stringency. When the size distribution of firms is heavily skewed, regulation size thresholds can reduce transaction costs for regulatory agencies while bringing most production within a regulatory framework. However, size-based regulation may have unintended consequences if operations downsize, slow their growth, or enter at a smaller size in order to avoid regulation. These unintended consequences from regulation may include less pollution abatement and diminished economic efficiency. In this study we examine recently revised Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations targeting large-scale livestock operations to identify and quantify farm responses to this regulation. We find statistical evidence that farms adjust size in order to avoid regulation. Additionally farms in states with relatively higher costs of regulatory compliance experience on average 23% less growth than comparable farms in other states, net of prior state-level trends in growth. In these states, regulated farms also experience a 5.8% greater chance of exit.livestock, Clean Water Act, growth, regulation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Q5,

The Potential Effects of Climate Change on the Productivity, Costs, and Returns of U.S. Dairy Production

Climate change could affect the costs and returns of livestock production by altering the thermal environment of animals thereby affecting animal health, reproduction, and the efficiency by which livestock convert feed into retained products (especially meat and milk). In the United States, concentrated livestock operations are located in a variety of climatic regions, suggesting that the industry could adapt to future changes in temperature and weather patterns resulting from global warming. However, this adaption could be costly. We use nationally representative data on dairy producers coupled with finely-scaled climate data to empirically examine how producers’ costs, returns, and production systems vary across U.S. regions as a function of the local climate.climate change, dairy, temperature humidity index, economics, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Q5,

Climate Change Policy and the Adoption of Methane Digesters on Livestock Operations

Methane digesters—biogas recovery systems that use methane from manure to generate electricity—have not been widely adopted in the United States because costs have exceeded benefits to operators. Burning methane in a digester reduces greenhouse gas emissions from manure management. A policy or program that pays producers for these emission reductions—through a carbon offset market or directly with payments—could increase the number of livestock producers who would profit from adopting a methane digester. We developed an economic model that illustrates how dairy and hog operation size, location, and manure management methods, along with electricity and carbon prices, could influence methane digester profits. The model shows that a relatively moderate increase in the price of carbon could induce significantly more dairy and hog operations, particularly large ones, to adopt a methane digester, thereby substantially lowering emissions of greenhouse gases.methane, methane digesters, manure, livestock, climate change, greenhouse gases, carbon offset, Environmental Economics and Policy, Financial Economics, Livestock Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Carbon Markets and Methane Digesters: Potential Implications for the Dairy Sector

Anaerobic digesters that capture and burn manure methane can provide a renewable source of energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Paying producers for these emission reductions—either directly or through a carbon offset market—could substantially increase digester adoption. However, there is likely to be wide variation in the scale, location, and characteristics of adopters, so these policies could have long run structural implications for the livestock sector. Using a model of digester profits and data from a nationally-representative survey of dairy operations we estimate the likely distribution of digester adoption and profits under different carbon price scenarios.anaerobic digester, carbon offsets, climate change, distribution, livestock, methane, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q12, Q16, Q42, Q54, Q58,

Mass Transportation, Apartment Rent and Property Values

Rent plays a vital role in property valuation because any positive or negative influence on rent will in turn affect a property's value. This paper examines the effect of mass transportation on apartment rent. Specifically, this study investigates the impact on rent and value for residential income properties located in close proximity to Washington, D.C. Metrorail stations. After reviewing the empirical research which has focused on the effect of mass transportation availability on property values, this paper examines the benefits on apartment rent of Washington, D.C. apartment buildings from location near Metrorail stations. Our empirical results show that distance from a metro station has an adverse impact on apartment rent, i.e., each one-tenth mile increase in distance from the station results in a decrease in rent per apartment unit of about 2.50%. This analysis should be of interest to a host of domestic and international market participants including academics who study real estate markets, tax assessors who determine market value, appraisers who make market-derived rent adjustments, and property managers who set apartment rents.

High-resolution Earth-based lunar radar studies: Applications to lunar resource assessment

The lunar regolith will most likely be a primary raw material for lunar base construction and resource extraction. High-resolution radar observations of the Moon provide maps of radar backscatter that have intensity variations generally controlled by the local slope, material, and structural properties of the regolith. The properties that can be measured by the radar system include the dielectric constant, density, loss tangent, and wavelength scale roughness. The radar systems currently in operation at several astronomical observatories provide the ability to image the lunar surface at spatial resolutions approaching 30 m at 3.8 cm and 12.6 cm wavelengths and approximately 500 m at 70 cm wavelength. The radar signal penetrates the lunar regolith to a depth of 10-20 wavelengths so the measured backscatter contains contributions from the vacuum-regolith interface and from wavelength-scale heterogeneities in the electrical properties of the subsurface material. The three wavelengths, which are sensitive to different scale structures and scattering volumes, provide complementary information on the regolith properties. Aims of the previous and future observations include (1) analysis of the scattering properties associated with fresh impact craters, impact crater rays, and mantled deposits; (2) analysis of high-incidence-angle observations of the lunar mare to investigate measurement of the regolith dielectric constant and hence porosity; (3) investigation of interferometric techniques using two time-delayed observations of the same site, observations that require a difference in viewing geometry less than 0.05 deg and, hence, fortuitous alignment of the Earth-Moon system when visible from Arecibo Observatory

Using Professionally Trained Interpreters to Increase Patient/Provider Satisfaction: Does It Work?

Examines the need for trained medical interpreters by comparing the satisfaction of emergency room patients, doctors, and triage and discharge nurses when provided with interpreters and when provided only with telephone language lines or ad hoc services