Is Beer Healthier than Booze? How the Change in Consumption Shares of Alcoholic Beverage Types Affects Mortality in Young People

This paper uses cross-state and cross-regional variation in both levels and growth rates of the shares of alcohol beverage types to ascertain the effect, if any of this variation on health outcomes related to excessive alcohol consumption, with particular focus on beer versus spirits (“hard liquor”). Some evidence is found that beer drinking is more negative for traffic fatalities and suicides for ages 15-19, but results are not conclusive. Income is a strong predictor of lower mortality.

Drunk Driving Legislation and Traffic Fatalities: What Works and What Doesn’t?

This paper re-examines the effectiveness of Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) and Administrative License Revocation (ALR) laws in reducing traffic fatalities. Using difference-in-differences estimators of U.S. state-level data with standard errors corrected for autocorrelation, we find no evidence that lowering BAC limits to 0.08 grams/decaliter has reduced fatality rates, either in total or in alcohol-related crashes. On the other hand, ALR is found to be an effective in reducing fatalities in all specifications. Endogeneity tests using event analyses indicate temporal causality of ALR laws.

Poverty in Metropolitan Areas of the U.S.: Causes and Consequences

This paper re-examines the determinants of poverty using a pooled data set of 331 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) measured over four decennial censuses from 1970 to 2000. Our principal conclusions are that the determinants of poverty that we have identified are relatively stable predictors of poverty levels, but that results for first differences are sensitive to the time period of estimation. We also examine whether poverty as an initial condition has an effect on future growth in incomes and/or employment, and our tentative conclusion is that a higher level of existing poverty is indeed a detriment to future growth.

Inequality and Economic Growth Over the Business Cycle: Evidence From U.S. State-Level Data

The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the empirical relationship between income inequality and economic growth using U.S. State-level data during the post-war period. The use of state-level data provides a sample that is relatively homogeneous in many non-economic characteristics, unlike the international data used in most previous work. Building upon prior research, this study addresses the issues of potential non-linearities in the relationship between inequality and growth, the influence of the cyclical condition during the year sampled, and possible bias in the measurement of economic growth. We find, using GMM estimators, that inequality is harmful to growth, and that the deleterious effects of inequality are greater for lower income states.

John of Ruysbroeck: his mysticism and influence upon Gerhardt Groote and John Tauler

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityThe life and writings of the Blessed John of Ruysbroeck lie at the heart of the Golden Age of Mysticism. The purpose of this study has been to present his life and an interpretation of his writings in the form of a narrative poem, thouroughly documented according to accepted dissertation practice, and to show that his life and writings exerted influence upon Gerhardt Groote and John Tauler. The result of the study indicates that Ruysbroeck had a clear conception and structure for his mystical thought presenting a doctrine of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a doctrine of man, and a conception of the Church, which, while illuminated in many instances with mystic insight, are still conformale to the spirit and intellect of the fourteenth century. [TRUNCATED

Effect of particle size and particle size distribution on the burning rate of barium chromate-boron pyrotechnic delay compositions

The burning rate of barium chromate-boron delay compositions is shown to be related to the 10 percent particle size point on the particle size distribution curve (particle size vs. percent greater than size) for either of the components. The burning rate is also shown to be inversely proportional to the 10 percent point of the barium chromate; and to follow a hyperbolic type relationship with the 10 percent of the boron, decreasing asymptotically as the 10 percent point increases. No correlations were found between the burning rate of the compositions and the average particle diameter, the mean particle diameter, or the 50 percent point for either component. The average particle diameter (APD) as determined with the Fisher Sub-Sieve Sizer, is presently specified as the measure of the particle size of the components of barium chromate-boron delay compositions. As the validity of the APD is subject to question, other methods of particle size analysis were considered. The Mine Safety Appliances (MSA) Particle Size Analyzer was thus selected for the determination of the particle size distribution of barium chromate and boron. The APD was found to be closely related to the product of the uniformity index of the sample and either the NSA 50 percent point of the ESA dm (mean particle diameter.) For barium chromate the APD\u27s were approximately equal to the modified ESA values. A low degree of inequality between the NSA and APD values existed for the boron samples

The “Resource Curse” and Regional U.S. Development

The “Resource Curse” is a stylized fact that has been observed consistently in a number of development studies: countries that are relatively well-endowed with natural resources tend to grow more slowly than resource-poor economies. This paper documents evidence that the Resource Curse extends to the individual states of the U.S. Using a variety of specifications, regression of state GSP growth on resource abundance consistently shows a negative and significant relationship. There is strong evidence that resource-based economies are more volatile economies, and volatile economies may be less desirable to investors.