The "Unintended Consequences" of Confederate Trade Legislation

The immediate purpose of this paper is to focus on how import and blockade regulations enacted by the Confederacy affected the course of the war in its final days, but the issue of the economic effects of blockades has broader implications. Economic policies have been used as weapons, at least since the times of Pericles' Megaran Decree in 432 B.C., and have probably only grown in importance as economies have grown less autarkic and more interdependent over time. Since 1790, there have been at least four major global wars that have involved prolonged fighting, heavy losses, and severe bouts of inflation: the Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, World War I, and World War II. In all four of these conflicts, embargoes and blockades were an important component of the war planning of the eventual victor.Macroeconomics; Transitional Economies

Railroads, engineers, and the developement of spatial economics in France

This articles traces a little-known French tradition in spatial economics that was advanced by state engineers who were trained at the Ecole des Ponts et Chaussées and worked for the State Corps engineers. Spurred in part by changes in power technology, especially the advent of the railroad, these engineers pioneered the spatial aspects of competition in a macroeconomic framework. The contribution of Jules Dupuit (1804 - 1866) and Emile Cheysson (1836 - 1910) are especially singled out for analysis, and are shown to have anticipated later important developments in spatial economic theory.

The Contribution of Prenatal Environment and Genetic Factors to the Association between Birth Weight and Adult Grip Strength

Low birth weight has been associated with reduced hand grip strength, which is a marker of future physical function and disease risk. The aim of this study was to apply a twin pair approach, using both ‘individual’ data and ‘within-pair’ differences, to investigate the influence of birth weight on hand grip strength and whether this association may be mediated through fat free mass (FFM). Participants from the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey were included if born without congenital abnormalities, birth weight >500 g and ≥22 weeks of gestation. Follow up in adulthood (age: 18–34 year), included anthropometric measures and hand grip (n = 783 individuals, n = 326 same-sex twin pairs). Birth weight was positively associated with hand grip strength (β = 2.60 kg, 95% CI 1.52, 3.67, p<0.001) and FFM (β = 4.2, 95% CI 3.16, 5.24, p<0.001), adjusted for gestational age, sex and adult age. Using ‘within-pair’ analyses, the birth weight hand grip association was significant in DZ men only (β = 5.82, 95% CI 0.67, 10.97, p = 0.028), which was attenuated following adjustment for FFM. Within-pair birth weight FFM associations were most pronounced in DZ men (β = 11.20, 95% CI 7.18, 15.22, p<0.001). Our ‘individual’ analyses show that higher birth weight is associated with greater adult hand grip strength, which is mediated through greater adult FFM. The ‘within-pair’ analyses confirm this observation and furthermore show that, particularly in men, genetic factors may in part explain this association, as birth weight differences in DZ men result in greater differences in adult strength and FFM

ARE ART AUCTION ESTIMATES BIASED?

ABSTRACT This paper considers whether pre-sale auction estimates are unbiased predictors of price when &quot;no-sales&quot; are considered utilizing a newly constructed sample of over 500 works by eight early 20 th century American artists. Unbiased pre-sale auction estimates in predicting price, while expected, are generally not supported in previous work, but these studies (excepting one) do not include no-sales in the calculations. In order to study the question we employ a standard approach that uses an inverse Mills ration arising from a sample selection probit, as suggested by We find that controlling for selection bias, pre-sale auction estimates appear to be biased downward and we offer possible reasons for this result

ARE ART AUCTION ESTIMATES BIASED? (forthcoming Southern Economic Journal: http://journal.southerneconomic.org/doi/abs

ABSTRACT This paper considers whether pre-sale auction estimates are unbiased predictors of price when &quot;no-sales&quot; are considered utilizing a newly constructed sample of over 500 works by eight early 20 th century American artists. Unbiased pre-sale auction estimates in predicting price, while expected, are generally not supported in previous work, but these studies (excepting one) do not include no-sales in the calculations. In order to study the question we employ a standard approach that uses an inverse Mills ration arising from a sample selection probit, as suggested by We find that controlling for selection bias, pre-sale auction estimates appear to be biased downward and we offer possible reasons for this result

Household Production and Consumption of News-Information Services: An Empirical Study

A dramatic decline in newspaper consumption has been observed in recent years. This paper offers a theoretical justification for this phenomenon based on the opportunity cost of household time. A rising labor force participation rate, which proxies the opportunity cost of household production, helps explain the observed decline in newspaper consumption in a simple empirical test.Household Production; Households; News; Newspapers; Service; Services

Severe Streptococcus pyogenes Infections, United Kingdom, 2003–2004

Epidemiology of severe disease caused by this organism has changed, with increased incidence and different risk groups

Physical Activity Attenuates the Genetic Predisposition to Obesity in 20,000 Men and Women from EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Population Study

Shengxu Li and colleagues use data from a large prospective observational cohort to examine the extent to which a genetic predisposition toward obesity may be modified by living a physically active lifestyle