An alternative theory of the plant size distribution with an application to trade

There is wide variation in the sizes of manufacturing plants, even within the most narrowly defined industry classifications used by statistical agencies. Standard theories attribute all such size differences to productivity differences. This paper develops an alternative theory in which industries are made up of large plants producing standardized goods and small plants making custom or specialty goods. It uses confidential Census data to estimate the parameters of the model, including estimates of plant counts in the standardized and specialty segments by industry. The estimated model fits the data relatively well compared with estimates based on standard approaches. In particular, the predictions of the model for the impacts of a surge in imports from China are consistent with what happened to U.S. manufacturing industries that experienced such a surge over the period 1997--2007. Large-scale standardized plants were decimated, while small-scale specialty plants were relatively less impacted.Productivity ; Imports

The home market and the pattern of trade: round three

Does national market size matter for industrial structure? Round One (Krugman) answered in the affirmative: Home market effects matter. Round Two (Davis) refuted this, arguing that an assumption of convenience-transport costs only for the differentiated goods-conveniently obtained the result. In Round Three we relax another persistent assumption of convenience- two industry types differentiated only by the degree of scale economies-and find that market size reemerges as a relevant force in determining industrial structure.International trade ; Econometric models

MARKET INFORMATION SYSTEMS: AN ONLINE AGRICULTURAL MARKET NEWS RETRIEVAL SYSTEM

A minicomputer online information retrieval program is described that is designed to facilitate timely distribution of agricultural market news to state and county research and extension faculty. These faculty have designed programs that extend this information to clientele in their areas. An evaluation indicates that users find great value in this network. Usage has grown rapidly over the period the network has been available. This program is available and can be used by other states and clientele.Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

The national debt: a secular perspective

An examination of the various factors that have determined the level and growth of the federal debt over the past 40 years, with some perspective on future levels of federal debt.Debts, Public ; Budget deficits

Conceptual definition of a high voltage power supply test facility

NASA Lewis Research Center is presently developing a 60 GHz traveling wave tube for satellite cross-link communications. The operating voltage for this new tube is - 20 kV. There is concern about the high voltage insulation system and NASA is planning a space station high voltage experiment that will demonstrate both the 60 GHz communications and high voltage electronics technology. The experiment interfaces, requirements, conceptual design, technology issues and safety issues are determined. A block diagram of the high voltage power supply test facility was generated. It includes the high voltage power supply, the 60 GHz traveling wave tube, the communications package, the antenna package, a high voltage diagnostics package and a command and data processor system. The interfaces with the space station and the attached payload accommodations equipment were determined. A brief description of the different subsystems and a discussion of the technology development needs are presented

A Simulation Study Of Economic Production Quantity Lot Size To Kanban For A Single Line Production System Under Various Setup Times With Average Work In Process (WIP) Inventory Cost As Performance Metric

The Setup time variable was evaluated for the two systems (Kanban and EPQ) against the performance measure of average WIP inventory cost.  EPQ outperforms Kanban on average WIP inventory cost at setup times less than 8 minutes.  The research helped clarify for practitioners whether EPQ might be more suitable than Kanban for their given situations

An Alternative Theory of the Plant Size Distribution with an Application to Trade

There is wide variation in the sizes of manufacturing plants, even within the most narrowly defined industry classifications used by statistical agencies. Standard theories attribute all such size differences to productivity differences. This paper develops an alternative theory in which industries are made up of large plants producing standardized goods and small plants making custom or specialty goods. It uses confidential Census data to estimate the parameters of the model, including estimates of plant counts in the standardized and specialty segments by industry. The estimated model fits the data relatively well compared with estimates based on standard approaches. In particular, the predictions of the model for the impacts of a surge in imports from China are consistent with what happened to U.S. manufacturing industries that experienced such a surge over the period 1997--2007. Large-scale standardized plants were decimated, while small-scale specialty plants were relatively less impacted.

Exports, Borders, Distance, and Plant Size

The fact that large manufacturing plants export relatively more than small plants has been at the foundation of much work in the international trade literature. We examine this fact using Census micro data on plant shipments from the Commodity Flow Survey. We show the fact is not entirely an international trade phenomenon; part of it can be accounted for by the effect of distance, distinct from any border effect. Export destinations tend to be further than domestic destinations, and large plants tend to ship further distances even to domestic locations, as compared with small plants. We develop an extension of the Melitz (2003) model and use it to set up an analysis with model interpretations of ratios between large plant and small plant shipments that can be calculated with the data. We obtain a decomposition of the overall ratio into a term that varies with distance, holding fixed the border, and a term that varies with the border, holding fixed the distance. The distance term accounts for more than half of the overall difference.

Ray-optical negative refraction and pseudoscopic imaging with Dove-prism arrays

A sheet consisting of an array of small, aligned Dove prisms can locally (on the scale of the width of the prisms) invert one component of the ray direction. A sandwich of two such Dove-prism sheets that inverts both transverse components of the ray direction is a ray-optical approximation to the interface between two media with refractive indices +n and –n. We demonstrate the simulated imaging properties of such a Dove-prism-sheet sandwich, including a demonstration of pseudoscopic imaging