The Fair Trade movement:an economic perspective

Fair Trade (FT) products such as coffee and textiles are becoming increasingly popular with altruistic consumers all over the world. This paper seeks to understand the economic effects of this grassroots movement which directly links ethically-minded consumers in industrialised countries with marginalised producers in developing economies. We extend the Ricardian trade model and introduce a FT sector in developing South that offers a fair wage – the FT premium. There are indeed positive welfare effects from FT but those come at the expense of rising inequalities within South which are in turn a rational by-product of FT. The degree of inequalities depends on the specifics of the cooperative structures in the FT sector. Given the rigidities and inequalities FT introduces and rests upon, this form of alternative trade appears to be only sustainable as niche movement.Fair Trade, comparative advantage, wage premium, inequalities, ethical consumerism, cooperative

The largest strongly connected component in Wakeley et al's cyclical pedigree model

We establish a link between Wakeley et al's (2012) cyclical pedigree model from population genetics and a randomized directed configuration model (DCM) considered by Cooper and Frieze (2004). We then exploit this link in combination with asymptotic results for the in-degree distribution of the corresponding DCM to compute the asymptotic size of the largest strongly connected component $S^N$ (where $N$ is the population size) of the DCM resp. the pedigree. The size of the giant component can be characterized explicitly (amounting to approximately $80 \%$ of the total populations size) and thus contributes to a reduced `pedigree effective population size'. In addition, the second largest strongly connected component is only of size $O(\log N)$. Moreover, we describe the size and structure of the `domain of attraction' of $S^N$. In particular, we show that with high probability for any individual the shortest ancestral line reaches $S^N$ after $O(\log \log N)$ generations, while almost all other ancestral lines take at most $O(\log N)$ generations.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figure

Does the euro dominate Central and Eastern European money markets?

The so-called German Dominance Hypothesis (GDH) claimed that Bundesbank policies were transmitted into other European Monetary System (EMS) interest rates during the pre-euro era. We reformulate this hypothesis for the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries that are on the verge of accessing the eurozone. We test this "Euro Dominance Hypothesis (EDH)" in a novel way using a global vector autoregressive (GVAR) approach that combines country-specific error correction models in a global system. We find that euro area monetary policies are transmitted into CEE interest rates, which provides evidence for monetary integration between the eurozone and CEE countries. Our framework also allows for introducing global monetary shocks to provide empirical evidence regarding the effects of the recent financial crisis on monetary integration in Europe.German Dominance Hypothesis, Global VAR, Central and Eastern Europe, monetary integration, European integration.

The biochemistry of cocoa flavor - A holistic analysis of its development along the processing chain

The seeds of the cacao tree Theobroma cacao L. are the key ingredient of chocolate (Codex Alimentarius, 1981). They have a unique and complex flavor profile. Up to 87 descriptors can be distinguished (Januszewska et al., 2018). Beside the typical chocolate aroma, floral, fruity and nutty aroma notes may occur. Regarding taste attributes, typical cocoa bitterness and acidity are of key importance. A pleasant, mouth-filling astringency does complete the typical flavor characteristics. These attributes can be more or less intense, or even absent as in the case of floral, fruity and nutty notes, resulting in a great diversity in the flavor profile between countries, regions and even plantations (sukha et al., 2007). This diversity depends on a network of multiple interacting factors along the processing chain, from the genetic background of the cacao trees, seed physiology and climatic conditions over fermentation, drying and roasting up to chocolate ingredients such as sugar (Andersson et al., 2006; Afoakwa et al., 2008; muñoz et al., 2019). The purpose of this review is to analyze the current knowledge about the impact of these factors and their interaction on the composition of taste- and aroma-active substances as well as respective precursors and how specific flavor profiles can be explained through them. Gaps in research as well as potential applications in cocoa processing and chocolate manufacturing are discussed

Essays in European integration and economic inequalities

The ongoing process of economic integration in Europe and beyond has already led to profound changes that are likely to manifest themselves further. Within Europe, formerly centrally planned economies have joined the European Union (EU) with the intention to ultimately introduce the common currency. On a more global scale, marginalised farmers in developing countries seek to become integrated in the world trading system to lift themselves out of poverty. However, issues surrounding economic inequalities are no longer exclusively confined to emerging economies. Indeed, awareness of income inequalities and their impact on the domestic economy is increasing among industrialised nations. This dissertation seeks to contribute to these topical debates in the form of three self-contained essays. The first essay is concerned with monetary integration in Europe. More specifically, we consider the EU member countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) that seek to adopt the euro in the foreseeable future. Our analysis is based on a global VAR (GVAR) model to investigate to what extent central banks in CEE follow the European Central Bank’s lead. We look in another core chapter at the economic implications of the Fair Trade (FT) movement. This is a fairly novel topic to the economics profession and we thus aim to provide intuitive insights. One of the key elements of our trade model is that FT generates and hinges upon economic inequalities. We combine these two aspects in the third core chapter. In particular, we analyse how monetary policy operates in an environment which is characterised by wage inequalities using a New Keynesian model that features heterogeneous labour. The third essay is motivated by the case of the United States, where, similar to many European countries, there is strong empirical evidence for rising internal economic divergence. Overall, the thesis not only combines and investigates topical issues, it moreover does so employing various techniques with the intention to also make contributions on the methodological level. We conclude the monograph by highlighting policy implications and by providing directions for future research

Analysing the connection between the strength of emotional reaction invoked within a video game player and the presence of virtual reality technology

This thesis examines the potential connection between emotional responses in video games and the presence of virtual reality technology. This connection could establish whether video games can better affect their players’ emotions via the use of the technology. A short video game prototype was designed and developed to invoke feelings of fear and anxiety in players which could be used both with and without virtual reality technology. A trial was then created to measure participants’ emotional responses as they played both prototypes and the results were then compared and contrasted via one-way ANOVA tests. Alongside this, information about the participants’ experience with video games, virtual reality and horror-based content was recorded to establish any potential connection between this experience and their reaction to virtual reality technology. The results of the trials would suggest that virtual reality can cause greater emotional reactions in video games and that certain groups of players are more susceptible to the technology than others, but these reactions are not always consistent and are not always statistically significant

Impingement of Droplets in 60 Deg Elbows with Potential Flow

Trajectories were determined for water droplets or other aerosol particles in air flowing through 600 elbows especially designed for two-dimensional potential motion. The elbows were established by selecting as walls of each elbow two streamlines of a flow field produced by a complex potential function that establishes a two-dimensional flow around. a 600 bend. An unlimited number of elbows with slightly different shapes can be established by selecting different pairs of streamlines as walls. Some of these have a pocket on the outside wall. The elbows produced by the complex potential function are suitable for use in aircraft air-inlet ducts and have the following characteristics: (1) The resultant velocity at any point inside the elbow is always greater than zero but never exceeds the velocity at the entrance. (2) The air flow field at the entrance and exit is almost uniform and rectilinear. (3) The elbows are symmetrical with respect to the bisector of the angle of bend. These elbows should have lower pressure losses than bends of constant cross-sectional area. The droplet impingement data derived from the trajectories are presented along with equations so that collection efficiency, area, rate, and distribution of droplet impingement can be determined for any elbow defined by any pair of streamlines within a portion of the flow field established by the complex potential function. Coordinates for some typical streamlines of the flow field and velocity components for several points along these streamlines are presented in tabular form. A comparison of the 600 elbow with previous calculations for a comparable 90 elbow indicated that the impingement characteristics of the two elbows were very similar

Impingement of Water Droplets on a Sphere

Droplet trajectories about a sphere in ideal fluid flow were calculated. From the calculated droplet trajectories the droplet impingement characteristics of the sphere were determined. Impingement data and equations for determining the collection efficiency, the area, and the distribution of impingement are presented in terms of dimensionless parameters. The range of flight and atmospheric conditions covered in the calculations was extended considerably beyond the range covered by previously reported calculations for the sphere

Global Climate Change and Aspects of Regional Climate Change in the Berlin-Brandenburg Region

To obtain an estimate of the average temperature of the northern hemisphere during the last 1200 years, proxy data have been merged with instrumental recordings. These instrumental measurements are, with a few exceptions, only available for the recent 150 years. In the city of Berlin the temperature has been recorded since as early as 1701. However, during the first 150 years the measurements were problematic as location, measurement procedure and instruments changed frequently and without proper documentation. From 1847 onwards observations became more reliable once the Royal Prussian Meteorological Institute had been established. For the last 100 years temperature and precipitation measurements have been performed in parallel at Berlin-Dahlem and Potsdam. The datasets recorded in the city of Berlin and in Berlin-Dahlem have been merged to obtain a record of more than 300 years. It indicates that the temperature of Berlin has risen by 1.04°C during the last 100 years after correcting for the urbanisation effect. In the same period, the total number of frost days has significantly decreased by almost 17 days, and the number of summer days has significantly increased by about 12 days. Annual mean precipitation has hardly changed (decrease less than 0.2 %) during the last century. However, rainfall has decreased by about 4 % in summer and increased by 3 % in winter. All precipitation changes are below the 95 % significance level. Model projections indicate that warming will continue which means that Berlin-Brandenburg will experience a temperature rise of about 3-3.5°C by the end of this century for the IPCC scenario A1B. For the same scenario precipitation is expected to increase by 10-20 % in winter and to decrease by 10-30 % in summer: The seasonal precipitation changes compensate each other resulting in an almost unchanged annual mean