Elasticity of Substitution and the Persistence of the Deviation of the Real Exchange Rates

Empirical evidence suggests (i) that the real exchange rates of developing economies show less persistence than do those of more advanced economies and (ii) that the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor tends to increase from below unity for less developed economies to above one for more advanced economies. This paper shows how the introduction of sectoral adjustment costs in a two-sector model of a small open economy, together with CES production functions, provides a very natural explanation of this empirical regularity. Other aspects of the relationship between the technologies and the speed of convergence of the real exchange rate are also discussed

The major drawbacks to the use of wireless communication products in education

This paper considers the use of wireless devices as an educational facilitator both in the classroom and in a business environment.  There are many characteristics of such devices which are favourable to their use in such settings.  But there are also problems.  We identify the main problematic areas as being security, low speed and reliability, and the lack of interoperability.  In our opinion, the use of wireless devices for educational purposes will grow quickly, and the problems of reliability, speed and standards will be overcome.  However, the issue of security will remain a major problem into the distant future

Real Exchange Rate Dynamics: The Role of Elastic Labor Supply

Empirical evidence suggests that the flexibility of labor supply is closely related to the dynamic adjustment of the real exchange rate. This paper investigates this relationship in a two-sector dependent economy model. While, the long-run equilibrium real exchange rate is independent of the elasticity of labor supply, our analysis confirms that the nature of the labor supply can be a crucially important determinant of its short-run dynamics. The extent to which this is so depends to some degree on the source of the underlying structural change that is driving the dynamics of the real exchange rate. Numerical simulations confirm that this mechanism may help explain the larger shortrun volatility and more rapid convergence typically associated with developing countries having less flexible labor markets

Migrant Labor and Remittances: Macroeconomic Consequences and Policy Responses

Many developing countries experiencing poor domestic economic performance view migrant labor as an alternative. We employ a macrodynamic model of two small open economies—a host country and a labor-exporting developing country—to address this issue. We analyze how both economies are impacted by alternative tax policies, structural changes occurring in the two economies, and plausible fiscal policy responses. The most important feature of the model is that remittances are endogenized by being linked to the household members’ decisions to migrate. Extensive numerical simulations provide important implications for both fiscal and migration policies and address important questions regarding the current efforts put forward by governments of several developing countries to encourage migrant labor

Endogenous labor migration and remittances: Macroeconomic and welfare consequences

This paper develops a macrodynamic model of two small economies – a host country and a labor-exporting developing country – to address the impact of migrant workers and remittances on the two economies. It endogenizes the migration decision as part of the intertemporal utility maximization of households in the developing economy. This setup captures the dynamic process of migration, in which evolving circumstances may lead to fundamental differences from those based on treating remittances as exogenous. Extensive numerical simulations consider two diverse sources of structural change that impinge directly on the migration-remittance relationship. In both cases the long-run impact on the remittance-GDP ratio differs markedly from the immediate response, primarily as a consequence of the impact on the evolving migration during the transition. The welfare consequences of the different constituents – domestic residents, migrant workers, and host economy native workers – are considered. Alternative tax policies to offset effects, deemed adverse, are also discussed

High-Flow Vascular Malformations in Children.

Children can have a variety of intracranial vascular anomalies ranging from small and incidental with no clinical consequences to complex lesions that can cause substantial neurologic deficits, heart failure, or profoundly affect development. In contrast to high-flow lesions with direct arterial-to-venous shunts, low-flow lesions such as cavernous malformations are associated with a lower likelihood of substantial hemorrhage, and a more benign course. Management of vascular anomalies in children has to incorporate an understanding of how treatment strategies may affect the normal development of the central nervous system. In this review, we discuss the etiologies, epidemiology, natural history, and genetic risk factors of three high-flow vascular malformations seen in children: brain arteriovenous malformations, intracranial dural arteriovenous fistulas, and vein of Galen malformations

Mechanical properties of graphene oxide reinforced aluminium matrix composites

In this paper, the properties of powder metallurgy produced samples of GO reinforced aluminium composites were examined. Discs of 20 mm diameter and 0.5 mm thickness were made from pure Al powder of 35 μm particle size and with GO reinforcement at different GO wt% (0.05, 0.1 and 0.2). The mixture of Al/GO powders prepared through liquid infiltration were cold compacted and then sintered. The GO reinforced Al matrix composites were characterised using the scanning e lectron microscope with energy dispersion spectroscopy (SEM/ EDX ) for investigation of the homogeneous dispersion of GO into the matrix. X - ray diffraction (XRD) analysis for crystallographic phase and micro - Raman spectroscopy w as used to identify the phases inside the composite matrix after the sintering process. Micro hardness and the strength values from the produced Al/GO composites were recorded. It is evident from the results obtained that where uniform mixing is achieved, GO reinforced Al composites ca n be produced with similar hardness values as for those produced from rGO reinforced Al composites

Management of aseptic nonunions and severe bone defects: let us get this thing healed!

Effective nonunion and bone defect management requires consideration of multiple potential contributing factors including biomechanics, biology, metabolic, and patient factors. This article reviews these factors as well as several potential nonunion or bone defect treatments including bone grafts, bone graft substitutes, the induced membrane technique, and distraction osteogenesis. A summary of these concepts and guidelines for an overall approach to management are also provided

Alternative derivation of Mie theory with electromagnetic potentials for diffuse particles

Mie's theory of light scattering on spherical particles is being increasingly used in nanophotonics, and these demanding applications have laid bare some shortcomings of Mie theory in its standard formulation. One problem that deserves special attention is the electron spill-out in small metallic nanoparticles, which invalidates the assumption of an abrupt interface. Here we present an alternative derivation of Mie theory without this assumption. To avoid the usual electromagnetic boundary conditions suitable for a hard-wall interface, we set up equations for the electromagnetic potentials instead of the electric and magnetic field. We show that in the limit of a hard-wall interface, the results of the standard Mie theory are recovered. Additionally, a numerical solution scheme is proposed for the equations for the vector potential and the scalar potential. Analysis of the optical cross sections of soft-interface nanospheres shows that the absorption increases and occurs at lower frequencies as compared to hard-walled nanospheres. This effect is rather dramatic in large spheres with large spill-out, due to the disappearance of high-frequency resonance peaks