Gender, Networks and Mexico-U.S. Migration

In this paper, we examine whether the causes and patterns of Mexican rural female migration differ significantly from rural male migration. A number of hypotheses are discussed to explain why female migration may differ from male migration, with a particular emphasis on the role of migrant networks. Using data from a national survey of rural Mexican households in the ejido sector, significant differences between the determinants of male and female migration are found. While evidence suggests that networks play an important role in female migration, we find that, contrary to case study evidence, female networks are not more influential than male networks in female migration. In fact, female and male networks are found to be substitutes, suggesting they serve similar functions in female migration. Although female migrant networks do not play a special role in the female migration decision, the destination of female migrants is strongly influenced by the location of female network migrants.migration, networks, gender, Mexico, Labor and Human Capital,

Assets, Activities and Income Generation in Rural Mexico: Factoring in Social and Public Capital

In recent years, there has been increasing emphasis in the rural development literature on the multiple income-generating activities undertaken by rural households and the importance of assets in determining the capacity to undertake these activities. Controlling for endogeneity choice and applying Lee's generalization of Amemiya's two-step estimator to a simultaneous equation model, household returns to assets from multiple activities are explored for the Mexico ejido sector. To incorporate the multiple variables representing social and public capital into the analysis, factor analysis is used. The results indicate that the asset position of the household has a significant effect on household participation in income generating activities and returns to those activities. Furthermore, the inclusion of measures of social and public capital into the analysis show that these assets play an important role in income-generating activities and that the influence is dependent on the type of social and public capital as well as the particular activity.livelihoods, Mexico, social capital, public capital, agricultural households, censored regression, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Labor and Human Capital,

Presupposition Resolution With Discourse Information Structures

An approach to resolving a number of presuppositional phenomena, including definite descriptions and pronominal anaphora, is described within the larger context of an architecture for query-based, task-oriented human/computer dialogue. The model of discourse context employed assumes that discourse structure is organized around a stack of questions under discussion, which plays an important role in narrowing the search space for referents and other presupposed information. The algorithms of individual presuppositional operators for maintaining discourse structures are presented and illustrated in several example dialogues in which human users interact with an agent in order to make hotel reservations. The overall architecture is compared to SDRT (Segmented Discourse Representation Theory), in terms of efficiency and ease of implementation

SWEET PERSUASION: SOFT DRINKS, SCHOOL FUNDING, AND CHILDREN'S HEALTH

"Pouring rights" contracts between soft drink companies and schools have created substantial controversy. Treating the issue as externality problem, we analyze the Pigouvian tax solution and propose a contract between the government and schools to provide an incentive compatible method for government to utilize the tax revenue.Public Economics,

Social work and health

Social work is a profession that is increasingly involved with issues which have a global dimension. This Handbook tackles the global/local aspect of social work in its various forms and interrogates the key concerns that societies are facing through an international lens. The contributors show that, with an appreciation of commonalities and differences, local practices and appropriate forms of international activity can be better developed

Solar System Constraints on Gauss-Bonnet Dark Energy

Quadratic curvature Gauss-Bonnet gravity may be the solution to the dark energy problem, but a large coupling strength is required. This can lead to conflict with laboratory and planetary tests of Newton's law, as well as light bending. The corresponding constraints are derived. If applied directly to cosmological scales, the resulting bound on the density fraction is |Omega_GB| < 3.6 x 10^-32.Comment: 4 pages, PASCOS-07 conference proceeding

The Lure of Tequila and the Bestowing of Motherly Love: Does it Matter Whether Public Cash Transfers are Given to Women or Men? Evidence from the PROGRESA and PROCAMPO Programs in Rural Mexico

This paper aims at evaluating the impact of two different cash transfer programs in rural Mexico - Procampo and Progresa - on total consumption, food consumption and other outcomes like investment, schooling and health care. Progresa is targeted to women, while Procampo goes to farmers, mostly men and many of which are poor. We show that both programs boost consumption. However, they obtain this effect through different channels. Progresa is destined to consumption expenditure directly, while Procampo, which is paid to landholders, boosts investments and needs time to produce its benefits. Furthermore, we separate program from gender effects and show that cash transfer programs targeted to men are beneficial only when the recipients own means of production. This suggest that policy makers should take into account the relationship between gender and ownership of assets when designing poverty reduction programs.gender effect, program effect, rural poverty, Labor and Human Capital,

REVENUE IMPACTS OF MPP BRANDED FUNDS: A FIRM LEVEL ANALYSIS

The USDA recently redirected the Market Access Program (MAP) to allocate all branded products export promotion funds to small firms and cooperatives. The redirection was, in part, a response to reports by the General Accounting Office that were critical of past allocations of export promotion funds to large, experienced exporters. This study uses a firm level analysis to examine firms' effectiveness in using Market Promotion Program (MPP, which is now the MAP) funds to increase revenues. Whereas point estimates suggested that smaller firms were more effective in translating MPP funds into increased revenue than larger firms, these point estimates for small firms were statistically indistinguishable from zero. In contrast, large firms showed an increase in revenue of greater than one dollar for every dollar of MPP funds. Further, the revenue increase was statistically significant. Thus, the firm level analysis supports neither the GAO hypotheses nor the recent program changes.export promotion programs, export sales, export revenues, Market Promotion Program, firm-level analysis, joint estimation, Financial Economics,