Analysis of U.S. Demand for Imported Melons using a Dynamic Almost Ideal Demand System

Melons constitute an important part of the U.S. fruit and vegetable industry even though they are produced only from May through December of each year. Import supplies from Latin American countries are used to make up for the domestic demand shortages. This paper investigates the U.S. demand for imported fresh and frozen melons using quarterly data on import volumes and unit prices. A static and a dynamic linear approximated almost ideal demand systems were estimated using ITSUR. Marshallian and Hicksian elasticities were used to analyze consumers’ responsiveness to price and income change in the short run and the long run.Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, International Relations/Trade,

Hypothyroidism decreases the biogenesis in free mitochondria and neuronal oxygen consumption in the cerebral cortex of developing rats

Thyroid hormone plays a critical role in mitochondrial biogenesis in two areas of the developing brain, the cerebral cortex and the striatum. Here we analyzed, in the cerebral cortex of neonatal rats, the effect of hypothyroidism on the biogenesis in free and synaptosomal mitochondria by analyzing, in isolated mitochondria, the activity of respiratory complex I, oxidative phosphorylation, oxygen consumption, and the expression of mitochondrial genome. In addition, we studied the effect of thyroid hormone in oxygen consumption in vivo by determining metabolic flow through C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Our results clearly show that in vivo, hypothyroidism markedly reduces oxygen consumption in the neural population of the cerebral cortex. This effect correlates with decreased free mitochondria biogenesis. In contrast, no effect was observed in the biogenesis in synaptosomal mitochondria. The parameters analyzed were markedly improved after T-3 administration. These results suggest that a reduced biogenesis and the subsequent reduction of respiratory capacity in free mitochondria could be the underlying cause of decreased oxygen consumption in the neurons of the cerebral cortex of hypothyroid neonates.This work was supported by Ministerio de Educaciín y Ciencia Grants SAF2004-06263-CO2-02 (to A.S.), SAF2004-06263-CO2-01, and SAF2007-62811 and Comunidad de Madrid Grant GR/SAL/0033/2004 (to A.P.-C.). Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red Sobre Enfermedades Neurodegenerativas is funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III. T.B.R. is a recipient of a fellowship from the Fundaçâo para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal (SFRH/BPD/26881/2006).Peer reviewe

House price, stock price and consumption in South Africa : a structural VAR approach

This paper compares the effects of real house price and real stock price shocks on consumption decisions in South Africa over the period 1966 to 2012 using a Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) approach.The sample comprises quarterly, seasonally adjusted South African data on consumption, inflation, real house price, real stock price and the nominal Treasury bill rate. We find that a positive 1 percent shock in stock prices leads to about 0.05 percent increase in consumption, with the effect being short-lived, and declines after 4 quarters to become statistically insignificant. While, a 1 percent shock in house prices increase consumption by about 0.3 percent at around the 4th quarter, but thereafter declines and becomes negative from the 8thquarter. These results show that in South Africa, house prices play economically, but not statistically, a greater role than stock prices with respect to consumption expenditure.http://www.virtusinterpress.org/Corporate-Ownership-and-Control,357.htmlam201