A note on poverty, inequality and growth

How inequality is generated and how it reproduces over time? This has been a major concern of social scientists for more than a century. The changes in aggregate or average income is a good measure for economic growth but is far from being the only one. There is an increasing “inequality” throughout the world. Over the period 1960-2000, the richest 5 % of the world’s nations averaged a per-capita income that was about twenty-nine times the corresponding figure for the poorest 5 %. Poverty also affects other forms of economic and social functioning. The measurement of poverty is based on the notion of poverty line, which is constructed from monetary estimates of minimum needs. Poverty is highly correlated with the lack of education, and there is an intimate connection between nutrition and poverty. The measurement of inequality is a highly controversial one. It is a field in which there are large differences in social judgments, which translate themselves into differences in social judgments, such as the measure of inequality or the choice of equivalence scale. Social and Economic indicators demonstrate the data for the population based measures on economic, social and health outcomes and answer the question about inequality and well being. This article attempts to examine the relationship between inequality and the process of socio-economic development and also to overview the theories of income inequality and to measure the income distribution and moreover to investigate the role and the effects on socio-economic growth. Keywords: Income distribution, inequality, poverty, convergence, growth.

Enterpreneurship and innovation activites in the schumpeterian lines

The importance of diffusion of technology for economic growth has been emphasised by economic literature. Much of the recent work on economic growth can be viewed as refining the basic economic insights of classical economists. The recent debate on the determinants of output growth has concentrated mainly on the role of knowledge, typically produced by a specific sector of the economy, and furthermore in the role of entrepreneurship and the implications on economic growth. This paper attempts to examine the role of entrepreneurship, and those of innovation activities (technical change, research and development and diffusion of technology) and the effects of output growth, according to the Schumpeterian lines. Following on the Schumpeterian tradition, this paper starts from the recognition that there are two main patterns of innovations: the first one is the creative destruction pattern and the second one is a creative accumulation pattern. Also, it emphasizes the role of entrepreneurship and the impact of the diffusion of technology in the inter-country and international economic contexts using some of the empirical implementation of epidemic, probit analysis and moreover from technological substitution models. Key Words: Entrepreneurship, Innovation Activities, Diffusion, Modernization, Competitiveness, Schumperer.

On the Octonionic Self Duality equations of 3-brane Instantons

We study the octonionic selfduality equations for $p=3$-branes in the light cone gauge and we construct explicitly, instanton solutions for spherical and toroidal topologies in various flat spacetime dimensions $(D=5+1,7+1,8+1,9+1)$, extending previous results for $p=2$ membranes. Assuming factorization of time we reduce the self-duality equations to integrable systems and we determine explicitly periodic, in Euclidean time, solutions in terms of the elliptic functions. These solutions describe 4d associative and non-associative calibrations in $D=7,8$ dimensions. It turns out that for spherical topology the calibration is non compact while for the toroidal topology is compact. We discuss possible applications of our results to the problem of 3-brane topology change and its implications for a non-perturbative definition of the 3-brane interactions.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Large-Spin Expansions of GKP Strings

We demonstrate that the large-spin expansion of the energy of Gubser-Klebanov-Polyakov (GKP) strings that rotate in RxS2 and AdS3 can be expressed in terms of Lambert's W-function. We compute the leading, subleading and next-to-subleading series of exponential corrections to the infinite-volume dispersion relation of GKP strings that rotate in RxS2. These strings are dual to certain long operators of N=4 SYM theory and provide their scaling dimensions at strong coupling. We also show that the strings obey a short-long (strings) duality. For the folded GKP strings that spin inside AdS3 and are dual to twist-2 operators, we confirm the known formulas for the leading and next-to-leading coefficients of their anomalous dimensions and derive the corresponding expressions for the next-to-next-to-leading coefficients.Comment: 46 pages, 8 figures; Matches published version; Contains equation (7.3) that gives the finite-size corrections to the dispersion relation of giant magnons at strong couplin

Economic Geography and Regional Growth: An Empirical Evidence From Greece

There is a huge literature regarding the main determinants and sources of economic growth. Most of the recent work emphasizes on the role of knowledge, and innovation activities typically produced by a specific sector of the economy, and furthermore in the role of entrepreneurship and analysing the implications and the importance for economic growth. Moreover, the socio-economic and public policies aimi to distinguish the determining factors of growth, in order to enhance the regional cohesion and the convergence process. Much of the recent work on regional growth can be viewed as refining the basic economic insights of economic geography. There are two principal theories of why growth rates are differ, the first is the theory of comparative advantage and the second is the theory of increasing returns to scale. This paper attempts to examine the main sources of regional growth through an inter-and intra sectoral analysis. In particular, the paper attempts to investigate through an empirical inter-comparison study using statistical-data from several Greek regions, the determinant sectoral factors and the implications to growth process. We also employ the empirical non-parametric analysis. We find support for the existence of economic geography effects in several manufacturing sectors and moreover we find that these effects are economically very significant.

Middleware-based Database Replication: The Gaps between Theory and Practice

The need for high availability and performance in data management systems has been fueling a long running interest in database replication from both academia and industry. However, academic groups often attack replication problems in isolation, overlooking the need for completeness in their solutions, while commercial teams take a holistic approach that often misses opportunities for fundamental innovation. This has created over time a gap between academic research and industrial practice. This paper aims to characterize the gap along three axes: performance, availability, and administration. We build on our own experience developing and deploying replication systems in commercial and academic settings, as well as on a large body of prior related work. We sift through representative examples from the last decade of open-source, academic, and commercial database replication systems and combine this material with case studies from real systems deployed at Fortune 500 customers. We propose two agendas, one for academic research and one for industrial R&D, which we believe can bridge the gap within 5-10 years. This way, we hope to both motivate and help researchers in making the theory and practice of middleware-based database replication more relevant to each other.Comment: 14 pages. Appears in Proc. ACM SIGMOD International Conference on Management of Data, Vancouver, Canada, June 200

Peripheral Regions in Duress: Counter-Social Capital Impediments of Local Development in Rural Greek Areas

Unlike most enthusiastic narratives of various success stories in recent North European regional economic development led by innovation, localized learning, social capital and institutional embeddedness, this paper deals with a set of major stresses and problems of local economic development in peripheral, less favoured, regions. By drawing upon concrete research experience of regional development projects we try to shed light upon the processes of spatio-economic change and the management of local production in connection with prevailing cultural attitudes/values in less developed Greek rural areas. attidudes/values constituting a kind of localized “counter-social capital†deposit that impedes any likely innovative local development initiatives. The paper argues that the major problems facing these areas are not only or solely associated with the effects of market economy restructuring and the operation of macroeconomic and macropolitical forces at the regional and local level, but, also with inadequate management of human skills, lack of productive mentality and negative cultural values and attitudes. The policy relevance of our analysis calls for the elaboration of alternative development strategies aimed rather at enchancing local social capital potentialities than at improving hard infrastructures and providing financial incentives to local firms.

Ripple formation on Nickel irradiated with radially polarized femtosecond beams

We report on the morphological effects induced by the inhomogeneous absorption of radially polarized femtosecond laser irradiation of nickel (Ni) in sub-ablation conditions. A theoretical prediction of the morphology profile is performed and the role of surface plasmon excitation in the production of self-formed periodic ripples structures is evaluated. Results indicate a smaller periodicity of the ripples profile compared to that attained under linearly polarized irradiation conditions. A combined hydrodynamical and thermoelastic model is presented in laser beam conditions that lead to material melting. The simulation results are presented to be in good agreement with the experimental findings. The ability to control the size of the morphological changes via modulating the beam polarization may provide an additional route for controlling and optimizing the outcome of laser micro-processingComment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 4 appendix page