Preferences, rent destruction and multilateral liberalisation: The building block effect of CUSFTA

If a free trade agreement (FTA) is characterized by the exchange of market access with a large and competitive trading partner, the agreement can cause a leakage of protectionist benefits to domestic industry from lobbying against external tariff cuts. This rent destruction effect of an FTA can free policy makers to be more aggressive in multi-lateral tariff cuts. We argue that the Canadian-US free trade agreement (CUSFTA) provides an ideal policy experiment to link this mechanism to the data. Exploring the determinants of Canada's tariff cuts at the 8 digit HS product level, we find that CUSFTA acted as an additional driver of Canadian multilateral tariff reductions during the Uruguay Round

Effects of inhaled salmeterol and salbutamol (albuterol) on morning dips compared in intensive care patients recovering from an acute severe asthma attack

Objective: To assess the effect of a long-acting inhaled β 2-agonist, salmeterol (SM), compared to a short-acting inhaled β 2-agonist, salbutamol (or albuterol, SB), on the occurrence of morning dip (MD) in patients recovering from an acute severe asthma attack (ASA). Design: Prospective study Setting: 18-bed, medical intensive care unit (ICU) in a university hospital. Patients: 19 patients suffering from an ASA. Interventions: Serial measurements of the peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), arterial blood gases, vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) were performed from admission. All patients were first treated with i. v. methyl prednisolone and i.v. SB. Once the PEFR was stable and > 35 % of predicted value, i. v. SB was stopped while i. v. steroids were maintained, and patients were randomised to either inhaled SB (9 patients, 400 μg every 4 h) or inhaled SM (10 patients, 100 μg every 12 h). Results: The mean admission PEFR was 26.1 ± 11.7 % of the predicted value and was not different between the two groups. MD was more frequent with SB (6/9 patients) than with SM (4/10). The severity of MD, expressed in 1/min fall in PEFR, was higher in SB than in SM (106 ± 25 vs 55±37;p<0.05). Discussion: MD is frequent in ASA. In ASA, SM appears to reduce the frequency and the severity of MD more than SB. The clinical implications of this observation, particularly a lowering of mortality and a shortening of the ICU stay, remain to be investigate

The impact of trade preferences on multilateral tariff cuts: evidence for Japan

Opposing theoretical predictions about the effects of trade preferences on multilateral tariff cuts point to the need for empirical analysis to determine whether preferential trade agreements promote or hinder multilateral trade liberalization. This paper examines the impact of Japan’s trade preferences on its multi-lateral tariff reductions. Using detailed product level data, we find that Japan’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) acted as a stumbling block for the country’s external tariff liberalization during the Uruguay Round of multi-lateral trade negotiations

Pilot actions in European cities - Stuttgart

The field of urban climatology has a long tradition in Stuttgart. It exists as discipline in Stuttgart since 1938. Stuttgart was the first city to establish its own Department of Climatology to research ways of improving the flow of fresh air into the city and to reduce thermal stress in most populated city districts. The specialist department of Urban Climatology, within the Environmental Protection Office, deals with tasks relating to environmental meteorology within the scope of air pollution control and also relating to urban and global climate protection. So in Stuttgart the urban heat island phenomenon (UHI) is studied for several decades, leading to a high level understanding of the UHI and the problems which it causes. The UHI causes an increase in air temperatures and thermal stress, that are identified as most negative impacts on human health and urban living. In the view of global climate change and the predicted temperature rise for the Stuttgart region of 1.5–2 K in this century, the negative impacts of UHI on human health and urban living will become more problematic in the future. According to the results of climate models the frequency of very hot days is expected to jump by nearly 30 % at the end of the century. The rising temperatures due to the global climate change in combination with the temperature shift as a result of the UHI will intensify the heat stress in urban areas, that leads to a significant increasing risk to human health, in particular to the very young and elderly. Not least due its importance for the human health and the quality of urban life in Stuttgart, the UHI is focussed by urban planners and is noticed by the future development of the city. Within the pilot action study in Stuttgart several measure for reducing the UHI and the impacts on urban living and human health are analysed by the use of micro-scale and macro-scale simulations. With the help of these analysis realisable measure are selected. The most useful measures are implemented into a developmoutline plan for the redevelopment of the city district Stuttgart-West by the municipal urban planners

239 + 240Pu from “contaminant” to soil erosion tracer: Where do we stand?

As soil erosion is the major threat to one of the most essential resources of humankind, methods to quantify soil redistribution are crucial for agro-environmental assessment as well as for optimisation of soil conservation practices. The use of fallout radionuclides (FRN) as soil redistribution tracers is, next to modelling, currently the most promising approach for assessing soil erosion. This review aims to evaluate the suitability of Plutonium (Pu) in general and the 239+240Pu isotopes in particular as soil redistribution tracers. It provides information on its origin, distribution and behaviour in soils and in the environment. Analytical methods, their recent advances as well as limitations, are discussed. To establish the current state of knowledge and to deepen our understanding, particular attention is given to the main existing achievements and findings based on using 239+240Pu as soil erosion tracer in agroecosystems. We further discuss similarities and differences to other more mature FRN techniques such as the 137Cs based approach which has been until now the most widely used method. We conclude that 239+240Pu has the potential to become the next generation of soil redistribution tracer compared to the more mature FRN techniques mostly due to (i) its long half-life guaranteeing its long-term availability in the environment, (ii) its analytical advantage in terms of measurement precision and measurement time and (iii) its greater homogeneity at reference sites due to its main origin from past atmospheric nuclear weapon tests. In identifying some key future research opportunities and needs, we hope to refine the efficiency of this promising agro-environmental tracer for effective soil redistribution studies under future climate and land use change

Preliminary u isotopic data in the Cádiz coastal area (SW Spain) as proxy for coastal groundwater discharge

Peer Reviewe