Essays in International Trade and Spatial Economics

The first chapter of this dissertation studies the relationship between credit constraints, exporting, and misallocation. When financial markets are imperfect, credit constraints hinder firm growth, distort the allocation of inputs, and lower aggregate productivity. Such constraints are particularly costly when they bind for the most productive firms. I focus on exporters, a group of firms that the international trade literature has identified as uniquely productive. Are exporters credit constrained? Do policies that target exporters — which are ubiquitous, particularly in developing countries — mitigate or worsen misallocation? I answer these questions by combining a natural experiment in India with a quantitative model. I exploit a directed credit policy in India as a source of exogenous variation in credit supply. Eligibility was determined by a cutoff in physical capital, allowing me to estimate its effects with a regression discontinuity design. Exporters responded strongly to the relaxation of credit constraints caused by the policy: they borrowed more, hired more workers, and sold more output. By contrast, I find no effect on non-exporters. I conclude that credit constraints must be relatively more important for exporting firms. Motivated by this finding, I build a model of heterogeneous entrepreneurs that links credit constraints and the decision to export. Two forces shape exporting: productivity and access to credit. Which of these dominates determines the relative importance of credit constraints across exporting and non-exporting firms. I estimate the model using the natural experiment, and find that the decision to export is strongly driven by productivity. The result is that credit constraints bind for many exporters; in the model, 37% of exporters and 8% of non-exporters are constrained. Inputs are misallocated and exporters are inefficiently small. In counterfactual experiments, I find that directly relaxing the credit constraint of exporters raises aggregate productivity by 3.33%. However, I also show that subsidizing exporter employment worsens misallocation, because relatively unproductive, unconstrained exporters are the primary beneficiaries. The second chapter considers quite a different topic: the relationship between income inequality and spatial sorting. Housing expenditure shares decline with income. A household’s skill level determines its income, and therefore its housing expenditure share, its sensitivity to housing costs and its preferences over different locations. The result is spatial sorting driven by differences in cost-of-living between skill groups. Increases in the aggregate skill premium amplify these differences and intensify sorting. To quantify this mechanism, I augment a standard quantitative spatial model with flexible nonhomothetic preferences, disciplining the strength of the housing demand channel using consumption microdata. I find that the rising skill premium caused 23% of the increase in spatial sorting by skill since 1980

Letter from Robert C. Finlay to Mrs. Hering. 15 May 1952

Regarding thesis on General Featherston.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ciwar_corresp/1303/thumbnail.jp

Primary producer perspectives on rural land management in central and western NSW

In light of the on-going environmental challenges being faced by managers of Australia’s rural and remote landscapes it has become apparent that change will occur only when policy makers have a better understanding of farmer attitudes towards land management. As a means of understanding land managers’ knowledge of, and attitudes toward, a range of issues facing primary production, 327 land managers from Central Western New South Wales responded to two surveys which contained questions regarding problems and impediments on the land, external and environmental influences, sustainability and responsibility, the challenges facing primary production, the personality dispositions of producers and how such dispositions influence attitudes towards land management issues. Survey responses reveal a strong commitment on the part of primary producers to sustainable management and acknowledge a duty of care and responsibility towards the land they manage in order to benefit future generations, while displaying a dislike at the ‘outside invention’ of others into their farm management decisions and practices. Respondents strongly support restoration of degraded landscapes, but there is an equally strong belief that they should not be solely responsible for funding what is essentially a public benefit. Seminal personality factors which define respondents’ characters both personally and at work were also identified, with agreeableness and openness being the most frequent

High-MgO lavas associated to CFB as indicators of plume-related thermochemical effects: the case of ultra-titaniferous picrite-basalt from the Northern Ethiopian-Yemeni plateau

A comprehensive petrological and geochemical dataset is reported in order to define the thermo-compositional characteristics of Ti (Fe)-enriched picrite-basalt lavas (HT2, TiO2 3-7 wt%), erupted close to the axial zone of the inferred Afar mantle plume, at the centre of the originally continuous Ethiopian-Yemeni CFB plateau (ca. 30Ma) which is zonally arranged with progressively lower Ti basalts (HT1, TiO2 2-4 wt%; LT, TiO2 1-3 wt%) toward the periphery. Integrated petrogenetic modelling based on major and trace element analyses of bulk rocks, minerals and melt inclusions in olivines, as well as Sr-Nd-Pb-He-O isotope compositional variations enables us to make several conclusions. 1) The phase equilibria constraints indicate that HT2 primary picrites were generated at ca. 1570°C mantle potential temperatures (Tp) in the pressure range 4-5 GPa whereas the HT1 and LT primary melts formed at shallower level (< 2 to 3 GPa, Tp 1530 °C for HT1 and 1430°C for LT). Thus the Afar plume head was a thermally and compositionally zoned melting region with maximum excess temperatures of 300-350°C with respect to the ambient mantle. 2) The HT2 primary melts upwelled nearly adiabatically to the base of the continental crust (ca. 1 GPa) where fractionation of olivine, followed by clinopyroxene, led to variably differentiated picritic and basaltic magmas. 3) Trace element modelling requires that the primary HT2 melts were generated - either by fractional or batch melting (F 9-10%) - from a mixed garnet peridotite source (85%) with 15% eclogite (derived from transitional MORB protoliths included in Panafrican terranes) that has to be considered a specific Ti-Fe and incompatible element enriched component entrained by the Afar plume. 4) The LT, HT1 and HT2 lavas have 143Nd/144Nd = 0.5131-0.5128, whereas Sr-Pb isotopes are positively correlated with TiO2, varying from 87 Sr/86Sr 0.7032 and 206Pb/204Pb 18.2 in LT basalts to 87Sr/86Sr 0.7044 and 206Pb/204Pb 19.4 in HT2 picrite-basalts. High 3He/4He (15-20 RA) ratios are exclusively observed in HT2 lavas, confirming earlier evidence that these magmas require a component of deep mantle in addition to eclogite, while the LT basalts may more effectively reflect the signature of the pre-existing mantle domains. The comparison between high-MgO (13-22%) lavas from several Phanerozoic CFB provinces (Karoo, Paranà-Etendeka, Emeishan, Siberia, Deccan, North Atlantic Province) shows that they share extremely high mantle potential temperatures (Tp 1550-1700°C) supporting the view that hot mantle plumes are favoured candidates for triggering many LIPs. However, the high incompatible element and isotopic variability of these high-MgO lavas (and associated CFB) suggest that plume thermal anomalies are not necessarily accompanied by significant and specific chemical effects, which depend on the nature of mantle materials recycled during the plume rise, as well as by the extent of related mantle enrichments (if any) on the pre-existing lithospheric section

An Empirical Analysis of the Liquidity, Solvency and Financial Health of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Kisii Municipality, Kenya

Research findings have shown that the liquidity, profitability and solvency position of most Small and Medium Eenterprises (SMEs) are in average position with the causal factors behind this position being unsound financial management, inadequate working capital, slow conversion of receivables and inventory into cash, lower position of sales and higher amount of debt. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to carry out a Financial diagnosis of the SMEs financial performance by focusing on their  liquidity, solvency and profitability positions using ratio analysis. Data for the study covered the period 2009-2011 and was obtained from the financial statements of three SMEs which were purposively sampled from the SMEs operating in Kisii Municipality. The sampled SMEs were those which had financial statements for the years under consideration. Data collected through the analysis of key ratios were analyzed using the mean, standard deviation, coeffifient of variation, Student-t test and through the use of the Altman’s Z-score model. The findings of the study showed that the liquidity position of the SMEs was on average low; their solvency was low and their financial Health was on average not good.  Further,the results show that there is a significant impact of current ratio, quick ratio and Debt to Total Assets ratio on Return on Assets (ROA). The results of the study demonstrate that the liquidity position of the SMEs was  well below the acceptable global norm of 2 for current ratio and 1 for quick ratio. Further, the results indicated that the financial health of the SMEs needed to be improved hence the recommendation that SMEs make liquidity, solvency management and financial stability an integral driver of their policy frameworks. Key words: Liquidity, Solvency and Financial Healt

Mindfulness- Based Functional Therapy: a preliminary open trial of an integrated model of care for people with persistent low back pain

Objectives: This pilot study investigated the feasibility and clinical utility of implementing a novel, evidence-informed, interdisciplinary group intervention—Mindfulness Based Functional Therapy (MBFT)—for the management of persistent low back pain (LBP) in primary care. MBFT aimed to improve physical and psychological functioning in patients with persistent LBP. Design: A single-group repeated measures design was utilized to gather data about feasibility, effect sizes, clinically significant changes and patient satisfaction. Setting: A community sample of 16 adults (75% female), mean (SD) age 47.00 (9.12) years (range 26–65 years), with mean (SD) LBP duration of 8.00 (9.00) years participated, using a simulated primary care setting at Curtin University in Australia. Intervention: MBFT is an 8-week group intervention co-facilitated by psychology and physiotherapy disciplines. Content includes: mindfulness meditation training, cognitive-functional physiotherapeutic movement retraining, pain education, and group support.Main outcome measures: Several validated self-report measures were used to assess functional disability, emotional functioning, mindfulness, pain catastrophizing, health-related quality of life at baseline, post-intervention, and 6 months follow-up. Results: Adherence and satisfaction was high, with 85% of participants highly satisfied with MBFT. Clinical significance analysis and effect size estimates showed improvements in a number of variables, including pain catastrophizing, physical functioning, role limitations due to physical condition, and depression, although these may have occurred due to non-intervention effects. Conclusions: MBFT is feasible to implement in primary care. Preliminary findings suggest that a randomized controlled trial is warranted to investigate its efficacy in improving physical and emotional functioning in people with disabling persistent LBP

Childhood adversity, allostatic load, and adult mental health: Study protocol using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children birth cohort

Introduction: The cumulative burden of chronic stress and life events has been termed allostatic load. Elevated allostatic load indices are associated with different mental health conditions in adulthood. To date, however, the association between elevated allostatic load in childhood and later development of mental health conditions has not been investigated. Methods: Using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we will calculate allostatic load indices using biomarkers representing the cardiovascular, metabolic, immune, and neuroendocrine systems, at the ages of 9 and 17 years. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression models will be used to investigate the association between allostatic load and psychiatric disorders in adulthood. Furthermore, the role of adverse childhood experiences as a modifier will be investigated. Discussion: This protocol describes a strategy for investigating the association between elevated allostatic load indices in childhood at the age of 9 years old and psychiatric disorders in adulthood at 24 years old

Improving adherence to colorectal cancer surveillance guidelines: results of a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) survivors are at increased risk of developing the disease again. Surveillance guidelines are aimed at maximising the early detection of recurring or new cancers and pre-cancerous polyps. The frequency and type of surveillance recommended depends on the type of treatment for the initial CRC, the extent of colonoscopic investigation prior to treatment and the results of previous surveillance tests. This paper aimed to test the effect of a paper–based educational intervention to improve adherence to colonoscopy following treatment for colorectal cancer. METHODS: People with a diagnosis of colorectal cancer within the last 10 months, aged ≥18 and English speaking were recruited through a population-based cancer registry in Australia. Participants were randomly allocated to either the intervention or control. Participants completed an interview at baseline. Self-reported participation in colonoscopy was obtained at 12 month followup by survey. Those allocated to the control received a generic pamphlet on colorectal cancer treatment; while intervention participants received a letter which provided specific information about guideline recommendations for surveillance colonoscopy. Rates of guideline adherence were compared between groups. The guideline recommendations for the timing of surveillance colonoscopy changed part way through the study. This change occurred after all intervention materials had been sent, but prior to all participants completing the 12 month follow up. Post hoc analyses were conducted to assess adherence to the new guidelines. RESULTS: Of the 767 participants, 604 (79%) had had surgery, had stage I – III disease and completed the baseline interview within 12 months of diagnosis (intervention = 305; control = 299). There was no significant difference between those adherent to surveillance colonoscopy guidelines, in the control (67, 27%) and intervention groups (80, 31%) at followup (difference = 4.3% (95%CI:-3.7%, 12%), χ2(1df) = 1.09, P = 0.296). Overall, 246 (49%) participants were adherent to the new guidelines, compared to 147 (29%) adherent to the old guidelines. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate the paper-based educational intervention is not effective in improving adherence to colorectal cancer surveillance guidelines for colonoscopy.This research was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council grant (Grant ID 510776), a Strategic Research Partnership Grant from Cancer Council NSW to the Newcastle Cancer Control Collaborative (New- 3C), and infrastructure funding from the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Dr. Mariko Carey is supported by a NHMRC TRIP Fellowshi