CAP subsidies and the productivity of EU farms

This paper investigates the impact of subsidies from the common agricultural policy on the total factor productivity of farms in the EU. We employ a structural, semi-parametric estimation algorithm, directly incorporating the effect of subsidies into a model of unobserved productivity. We empirically study the effects using samples from the Farm Accountancy Data Network for EU-15 countries. Our main findings are clear: subsidies had a negative impact on farm productivity in the period before the decoupling reform was implemented; after decoupling the effect of subsidies on productivity was more nuanced, as in several countries it turned positive

CAP subsidies and productivity of the EU farms

The paper investigates the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidies on farm total factor productivity (TFP) in the European Union (EU). We employ a structural semi-parametric estimation algorithm directly incorporating the effect of subsidies into a model of unobserved productivity. We empirically study the effects using the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) samples for the EU-15 countries. Our main findings are clear: subsidies impact negatively on farm productivity in the period before the decoupling reform was implemented; after decoupling the effect of subsidies on productivity is more nuanced and in several countries it turned positive

Changes in Food, Alcohol and Cigarettes Consumption during Transition: Evidence from Russia

This paper examines the changes in nutritional behavior of Russian adults over the ten-year transition period, between 1994 and 2004. We present evidence on the impact of individual as well as regional characteristics on changes in fat, protein, alcohol and cigarette consumption, and on diversity of diet. The results from a dynamic empirical model suggest that among microeconomic determinants, initial levels of consumption, gender, holding a university degree, and having access to a garden plot have a significant impact on the changes in consumption behavior in Russia. Regarding the macroeconomic variables, economic growth has a significant impact on changes in fat and protein consumption and on alcohol use, while unemployment changes significantly impact protein intake, alcohol consumption and the diversity of diet.consumption, smoking, alcohol, economic transition, Russia, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The Tate conjecture for K3 surfaces over finite fields

Artin's conjecture states that supersingular K3 surfaces over finite fields have Picard number 22. In this paper, we prove Artin's conjecture over fields of characteristic p>3. This implies Tate's conjecture for K3 surfaces over finite fields of characteristic p>3. Our results also yield the Tate conjecture for divisors on certain holomorphic symplectic varieties over finite fields, with some restrictions on the characteristic. As a consequence, we prove the Tate conjecture for cycles of codimension 2 on cubic fourfolds over finite fields of characteristic p>3.Comment: 20 pages, minor changes. Theorem 4 is stated in greater generality, but proofs don't change. Comments still welcom

Applications of Two-Body Dirac Equations to the Meson Spectrum with Three versus Two Covariant Interactions, SU(3) Mixing, and Comparison to a Quasipotential Approach

In a previous paper Crater and Van Alstine applied the Two Body Dirac equations of constraint dynamics to the meson quark-antiquark bound states using a relativistic extention of the Adler-Piran potential and compared their spectral results to those from other approaches, ones which also considered meson spectroscopy as a whole and not in parts. In this paper we explore in more detail the differences and similarities in an important subset of those approaches, the quasipotential approach. In the earlier paper, the transformation properties of the quark-antiquark potentials were limited to a scalar and an electromagnetic-like four vector, with the former accounting for the confining aspects of the overall potential, and the latter the short range portion. A part of that work consisted of developing a way in which the static Adler-Piran potential was apportioned between those two different types of potentials in addition to covariantization. Here we make a change in this apportionment that leads to a substantial improvement in the resultant spectroscopy by including a time-like confining vector potential over and above the scalar confining one and the electromagnetic-like vector potential. Our fit includes 19 more mesons than the earlier results and we modify the scalar portion of the potential in such a way that allows this formalism to account for the isoscalar mesons {\eta} and {\eta}' not included in the previous work. Continuing the comparisons made in the previous paper with other approaches to meson spectroscopy we examine in this paper the quasipotential approach of Ebert, Faustov, and Galkin for a comparison with our formalism and spectral results.Comment: Revisions of earlier versio

MNEs and flexible working practices in Mauritius

We compare how far companies based in Africa, India and the 'global North' operating in Mauritius adopt high-trust flexible working practices, and how these are linked to different clusters of wider labour management practice. Using comprehensive firm-level data collected in late 2011, we find that African/Indian company practices are closer to those of indigenous firms than to those of Northern companies. The different company groups operate in quite different ways but regional MNEs operate in a similar way to indigenous companies. We therefore conclude that Rugman and Verbeke’s ‘regionalization’ theory also applies to the HR field. We further find that both a relatively strategic approach to HRM and measures to develop employer-employee interdependence are, respectively, linked directly and indirectly to flexible working incidence

Complete intersections: Moduli, Torelli, and good reduction

We study the arithmetic of complete intersections in projective space over number fields. Our main results include arithmetic Torelli theorems and versions of the Shafarevich conjecture, as proved for curves and abelian varieties by Faltings. For example, we prove an analogue of the Shafarevich conjecture for cubic and quartic threefolds and intersections of two quadrics.Comment: 37 pages. Typo's fixed. Expanded Section 2.

Effective one-body approach to the relativistic two-body problem

The relativistic 2-body problem, much like the non-relativistic one, is reduced to describing the motion of an effective particle in an external field. The concept of a relativistic reduced mass and effective particle energy introduced some 30 years ago to compute relativistic corrections to the Balmer formula in quantum electrodynamics, is shown to work equally well for classical electromagnetic and gravitational interaction. The results for the gravitational 2-body problem have more than academic interest since they apply to the study of binary pulsars that provide precision tests for general relativity. They are compared with recent results derived by other methods.Comment: 9 pages, latex, no figures. Minor amendments, comments, new references and acknowledgments adde

In-medium Yang-Mills equations: a derivation and canonical quantization

The equations for Yang-Mills field in a medium are derived in a linear approximation with respect to the gauge coupling parameter and the external field. The obtained equations closely resemble the macroscopic Maxwell equations. A canonical quantization is performed for a family of Fermi-like gauges in the case of constant and diagonal (in the group indices) tensors of electric permittivity and magnetic permeability. The physical subspace is defined and the gauge field propagator is evaluated for a particular choice of the gauge. The propagator is applied for evaluation of the cross-section of ellastic quark scattering in the Born approximation. Possible applications to Cherenkov-type gluon radiation are commented briefly.Comment: 27 pages, references added, version extended with emphasis on non-Abelian gauge group impact on medium characteristics. To appear in J. Phys.