An Intertemporal Comparison of Income and Welfare for Two Mexican Regions

This paper compares the evolution of income (GDP per capita) with utility derived welfare indices for two Mexican regions from 1992-2000. A methodology is proposed based on implicit true standard of living indices. Results show that welfare dynamics differed between regions and varied considerably compared to GDP per capita measures for the same period, thereby posing three questions: how well aggregate income measures reflect welfare, the role of CPI as a cost of living index, and the existence of different thresholds for wealth and welfare conditioned on development levels. This research reaffirms the importance of household preferences in evaluating welfare.Mexico, welfare, intertemporal comparison, income, CPI

Returns to Schooling, Institutions and Heterogeneous Diploma Effects: An Expanded Mincerian Framework applied to Mexico

We hypothesize two sources for sheepskin effects--signaling, and diplomas tied to jobs with downwards rigid wages. These theories have implications for diploma effects not only in the first, but also the second moments of the Mincerian earnings distribution that we are able to identify using a flexible econometric specification. Idiosyncrasies in Mexican labor market and educational institutions offer a natural experiment on which to train this methodology and test these theories. Correcting for heterogeneity in diplomas, we find no evidence of sheepskin effects, except on graduation from primary school. We find compelling evidence that returns to education (in both moments) are linked with labor market institutions and job-specific diplomas in the manner we hypothesize. Our econometric structure corrects for sample selectivity due to unemployment and allows us to observe behavior on the quantity axis of a labor market segmented by sheepskin effects. We also analyze the covariates of hours worked which helps to explain observed patterns in hourly earnings.

Inequality and Heterogeneous Returns to Education in Mexico (1992-2002)

Within the attempts to understand Mexican economic inequality, returns to education have received a great deal of attention. The driving question has been: why are Mexican wages so unequal? This paper argues that not only the distribution of human capital matters, but also sociodemographic variables, which have their own dynamics and complex interactions with the former. A three-equation maximum likelihood specification in which employment, hours worked and log-wages, as well as their joint variance matrix is proposed, generalizing the Mincerian specification. The resulting is a complex story, where income profiles depend upon particular characteristics.

Inequality and Heterogeneous Returns to Education in Mexico (1992-2002)

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An assessment of advanced displays and controls technology applicable to future space transportation systems

The topic of advanced display and control technology is addressed along with the major objectives of this technology, the current state of the art, major accomplishments, research programs and facilities, future trends, technology issues, space transportation systems applications and projected technology readiness for those applications. The holes that may exist between the technology needs of the transportation systems versus the research that is currently under way are addressed, and cultural changes that might facilitate the incorporation of these advanced technologies into future space transportation systems are recommended. Some of the objectives are to reduce life cycle costs, improve reliability and fault tolerance, use of standards for the incorporation of advancing technology, and reduction of weight, volume and power. Pilot workload can be reduced and the pilot's situational awareness can be improved, which would result in improved flight safety and operating efficiency. This could be accomplished through the use of integrated, electronic pictorial displays, consolidated controls, artificial intelligence, and human centered automation tools. The Orbiter Glass Cockpit Display is an example examined

More Pushed than Pulled: Self-employment in rural Mexico ten years after NAFTA

Who are the self-employed in rural Mexico? This paper tries to answer that question with special emphasis on the role of human capital in self-employment decisions. The model presented suggests that the need for leisure/flexibility may have a driving effect once the household framework is considered. Imperfect markets may hinder possible gains of self-employment with particular groups being more vulnerable (e.g. women). Some estimated parameters in this study for propensities to become self-employed and returns to education vary between 1994 and 2004, the first decade of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Pull and push factors emerge in the decision to enter into self-employment in rural area. Being self-employed still may be the best or sole option for a considerable percentage of the population. The alter may suggest that if self-employment in the rural sector is posed as a development strategy, this should come with adequate policy supports.Mexico, rural, NAFTA, self-employment, leisure, flexibility

The Microeconomics of Poverty Traps in Mexico

Macroeconomists, development scholars, and policy makers have long recognized the importance of poverty traps as a mayor cause of persistent inequality and a serious limitation to growth. A poverty trap may be defined as a threshold level below which individuals or households will not increase their well-being despite the conditions of the economy. While the importance of poverty traps is widely accepted, their microfoundations (the rationality) behind them are not very well understood. Under the Mexican setting, this paper contributes in two ways. First, we assume that income depends on the capital (both physical and human) that a household posses. Hence, if a household is poor and it is not able to accumulate capital it will remain poor (unless there is a sudden increase to the returns of its existing capital). Thus a poverty trap will be generated. Following Chavas (2004, 2005) we explicitly model the preferences, consumption, and the physical and human capital accumulation of Mexican households. We argue that the typical dynamic model with additive utilities and constant discount rates will not be able to capture poverty traps. The reason is that survival motives are involved (endogenous discounting is needed). Second, employing the same model, we test the impact of the Mexican government most important social policy program (Progresa-Oportunidades), in alleviating poverty traps. In the case of households with youngsters, this program can provide funds conditioned on kids attending school. This will somehow, force the participants to increase their human capital. A comparison between households in the programs versus non participants should shed some light in the effectiveness of the program and the sensitivity of persistent poverty to cash transfers.

Method and apparatus for receiving and tracking phase modulated signals

An apparatus and technique are described for receiving and tracking analog or digital phase modulated signals from 0 deg to 360 deg phase shift. In order to track a signal with many phases, a detector discerns the phase modulation of the incoming signal and a phase shifter generates a negative phase shift opposite in angle to the detected phase angle. This produces a converted series sideband component barrier signal. The residual carrier signal and the converted series sideband component carrier are added together to produce a tracking carrier signal. The tracking carrier signal is multiplied with the output from a voltage controlled oscillator in the tracking loop to obtain an error signal which drives the voltage controlled oscillator and tracks the incoming signal frequency. The technique is less susceptible to carrier interference which may degrade tracking and tracking may be performed at lower signal to noise ratios and for lower input signal power levels