Migration, trade, and foreign investment in Mexico

Part of the rationale for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was that it would increase trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, creating jobs and reducing migration to the United States. Since poor data on illegal flows to the United States make direct measurement difficult, Aroca and Maloney instead evaluate the mechanism behind these predictions using data on migration within Mexico where the census data permit careful analysis. They offer the first specifications for migration within Mexico, incorporating measures of cost of living, amenities, and networks. Contrary to much of the literature, labor market variables enter very significantly and as predicted once the authors control for possible credit constraint effects. Greater exposure to FDI and trade deters out-migration with the effects working partly through the labor market. Finally, the authors generate some tentative inferences about the impact on increased FDI on Mexico-U.S. migration. On average, a doubling of FDI inflows leads to a 1.5-2 percent fall in migration.Economic Theory&Research,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management

Logit analysis in a rotating panel context and an application to self-employment decisions

The authors derive a methodology for analyzing logit models in a rotating panel context. They then apply the technique to test two theories of why and when salaried workers enter the informal self-employed sector. In the traditional view, workers fired from formal jobs queue in the informal sector to reenter the formal sector. The authors argue that for many, self-employment is a desirable goal, but that credit constraints often dictate that they work in the formal sector until enough start-up capital is accumulated. They model the decision to move as a stopped Markov process in which, in each period, the worker compare accumulated savings with the target level for switching sector dictated by the forecasted stream of discounted utility arising from employment labor and capital in each sector. They test and find support for the model using the new logit methodology and rotating panel data from Mexico.Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Public Health Promotion,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Economic Theory&Research,Work&Working Conditions

Spatial dimensions of trade liberalization and economic convergence : Mexico 1985-2002

This paper studies the spatial dimension of growth in Mexico over the past three decades. The literature on regional economic growth shows a decrease in regional dispersion from 1970 to 1985, and a sharp increase afterward coinciding with the trade liberalization of the Mexican economy. Using spatial econometric, tools the authors analyze how the process of convergence/divergence has mapped spatially and whether it makes sense to talk about spatial regions in Mexico. Although the rich North-poor South dichotomy has dominated this phenomenon, interesting patterns emerge. Namely the distribution of growth after Mexico's post-liberalization seems to be much less associated with distance to the United States than the authors had initially expected.Economic Theory&Research,Urban Governance and Management,Regional Governance,Inequality,Economic Conditions and Volatility

A family of algebraically closed fields containing the polynomials in several variables

We introduce a family of fields of series with support in strongly convex rational cones. All these fields contain the polynomials in several variables. We prove that they are algebraically closed with a construction that is analogous to the Newton polygon for algebraic curves. As a corollary we show the existence of fractional power solutions with support in cones for systems of equation

Interregional migration efficiency in adjusting regional labour markets in Chile

The objective of the article is to re-review the interregional migration process in Chile according to Aroca & Hewings (2002), using up-dated data of 1992 and 2002 from CENSO of population and housing in a probability model probit. Additionally, analyse the efficiency of the interregional migration process in terms of equalising regional salaries and unemployment rates. The results show that signal labour markets are less important for explaining the probability to migrate related to others regional characteristics and the migration process is inefficient to adjust regional markets. The results are consistent with previous findings.Migración Intrarregional; Empleo; Desempleo; Salarios; Utilidad

Puiseux power series solutions for systems of equations

We give an algorithm to compute term-by-term multivariate Puiseux series exapansions of series arising as local parametrizations of zeroes of systems of algebraic equations at singular points. The algorithm is an extension of Newton polygon to the tropical variety of the ideal generated by the system

Continuum spin foam model for 3d gravity

An example illustrating a continuum spin foam framework is presented. This covariant framework induces the kinematics of canonical loop quantization, and its dynamics is generated by a {\em renormalized} sum over colored polyhedra. Physically the example corresponds to 3d gravity with cosmological constant. Starting from a kinematical structure that accommodates local degrees of freedom and does not involve the choice of any background structure (e. g. triangulation), the dynamics reduces the field theory to have only global degrees of freedom. The result is {\em projectively} equivalent to the Turaev-Viro model.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Adaptation of a flocculent Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain to lignocellulosic inhibitors by cell recycle batch fermentation

The ethanol production from lignocellulosic feedstocks is considered a promising strategy to increase global production of biofuels without impacting food supplies. However, some compounds released during the hydrolysis of lignocellulosic materials are toxic for the microbial metabolism, causing low ethanol yield and productivity during the fermentation. As an attempt to overcome this problem, the present study evaluated the adaptation of a flocculent strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (NRRL Y-265) to several inhibitory compounds usually found in lignocellulosic hydrolysates (acetic acid, furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural, vanillin, syringaldehyde, and hydroxybenzoic acid), aiming to minimize their negative effects on yeast metabolism, maximizing the ethanol production as a consequence. Cell recycle batch fermentation (CRBF) was performed during 39 consecutive days, using five different fermentation media with sequential increase in the concentration of inhibitory compounds, simulating the composition of lignocellulosic hydrolysates. This strategy allowed obtaining a yeast strain with increased ethanol volumetric productivity and growth rate (10% and 70% respectively, over parent strain) able to produce ethanol with better results when cultivated in glucose-supplemented steam-exploded eucalyptus hydrolysate.This work was funded by CONICYT-MINERGIA, Chile (Programa Pasantias en Extranjero, Convocatoria 2010) and by Innova Chile Project 208-7320 Technological Consortium Bioenercel S.A

Biological treatment of contaminated air with toluene in an airlift reactor

In this work the variation in the toluene elimination capacity of an airlift bioreactor as a function of the toluene inlet load, using compost as the support material for the microorganisms was studied. In order to evaluate the flexibility of the reactor under changing toluene load, the toluene biodegradation was measured for flows from 2.4 x 10-2 to 0.132 m3 h-1, and a concentration range from 1.4 to 0.8 g m-3. Results show a 100% removal efficiency (RE) for minor flows, however, for a flow increase of 450% the RE decreased 40%, reflecting the equipments weak flexibility in varying flows. Meanwhile the maximum elimination capacity obtained was 230 g m-3 h-1, for toluene loads of 550 g m-3 h-1, corresponding to a flow of 0.132 m3 h-1. It was found that a average biomass concentration in suspension of 3700 g m-3, reflected EC's of 203 g m-3 h-1

Techno-economic and life-cycle assessments of small-scale biorefineries for isobutene and xylo-oligosaccharides production: a comparative study in Portugal and Chile

ABSTRACT: This work presents a comparative simulation study involving the techno-economic and environmental assessment of lignocellulosic-based small-scale biorefineries, integrated with a piggery waste-based anaerobic digestion platform (ADB), located in Portugal and Chile. Two main products are obtained: isobutene and xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS). The bioproduction of isobutene using a genetically engineered organism (Escherichia coli), coupled with the removal and purification of high added-value XOS, obtained after a feedstock hydrothermal pre-treatment, was evaluated. Two lignocellulosic agricultural wastes were used: corn stover in the Portuguese case study and wheat straw in Chilean case study. Both processes were simulated using the Aspen Plus modeling software tool, while the Aspen Process Economic Analyzer was used to carry out the economic evaluation. The simulation results were validated with experimental data from the laboratory and the literature. An economic assessment was performed considering the different locations of both biorefineries. A life-cycle analysis (LCA) was also applied to evaluate the differences in environmental impacts on both locations. The results showed that the isobutene / XOS biorefinery concept was economically viable in both Portugal and Chile, mainly due to the high market value of XOS. The biorefinery has lower production costs for isobutene and XOS (1 US$/kg of isobutene and 1.18 US$/kg of XOS) when located in Portugal, as compared with Chile (1.14 US$/kg of isobutene and 1.56 US$/kg of XOS). Conversely, it leads to less environmental impact when located in Chile: 48.8 kg(CO2eq.)/GJ(isobutene), in comparison to 60.7 kg(CO2eq.)/GJ(isobutene) in Portugal.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio