Wealth Inequality and Conditionality in Cash Transfers : A Politico-Economic Approach

We present a model that offers an explanation whether a condition is attached to cash transfers affects the elimination of child labor, taking into account wealth heterogeneity (especially land). The cash transfer program designs (conditional vs. unconditional) is determined through a political process. We show that when wealth distribution is left-skewed, median voters support conditional cash transfers, which reduces child labor. Unconditional cash transfers enjoy political support when the wealth distribution is less skewed; however, child labor remains. Our cross-country estimation confirms that countries with a greater wealth inequality are adopted conditional cash transfer in a number of developing and transition economies. The effects of sibling differences on child labor and cash transfer programs are also examined

Strategic government subsidization for higher education in two-sector model

This paper examines strategic games of government and higher education. When we study strategic games of government and higher education, this game is then embedded in a two-stage game. The government chooses a subsidy to maximize social welfare and the two institutions choose the qualities simultaneously. The main results of the paper are to characterize the subgame-perfect equilibria of the government-higher education game, and to show that the governmental intervention may improve the social welfare by reducing the distortions due to externality and imperfect competition

About Unification of a Public Pension

2004年度年金改正では、将来の保険料率の上限を18.3%に固定し、マクロ経済スライドと呼ばれる自動的な給付削減策が盛り込まれることで、近い将来に年金財政が破綻する危機は回避された。だが、世帯類型間の不公平、職種間での不公平などの公的年金制度に関する諸問題に対しては、明確な改善策を示したものとはなっていない。このような残された課題を解決する方策のひとつとして期待されているのが公的年金の一元化である。本稿では、主な公的年金一元化案を紹介したうえで、わが国において公的年金一元化が世帯類型ごとに家計の年金の給付と負担の構造にいかなる影響をおよぼすのかをシミュレーションすることにした。シミュレーションの結果、基礎年金部分をすべての国民について定額の年金として、二階建て部分を民営化するケースが、すべての世帯類型の給付負担比を改善することがわかった

Functional localization and effective connectivity of cortical theta and alpha oscillatory activity during an attention task

Objectives: The aim of this paper is to investigate cortical electric neuronal activity as an indicator of brain function, in a mental arithmetic task that requires sustained attention, as compared to the resting state condition. The two questions of interest are the cortical localization of different oscillatory activities, and the directional effective flow of oscillatory activity between regions of interest, in the task condition compared to resting state. In particular, theta and alpha activity are of interest here, due to their important role in attention processing. Methods: We adapted mental arithmetic as an attention ask in this study. Eyes closed 61-channel EEG was recorded in 14 participants during resting and in a mental arithmetic task (“serial sevens subtraction”). Functional localization and connectivity analyses were based on cortical signals of electric neuronal activity estimated with sLORETA (standardized low resolution electromagnetic tomography). Functional localization was based on the comparison of the cortical distributions of the generators of oscillatory activity between task and resting conditions. Assessment of effective connectivity was based on the iCoh (isolated effective coherence) method, which provides an appropriate frequency decomposition of the directional flow of oscillatory activity between brain regions. Nine regions of interest comprising nodes from the dorsal and ventral attention networks were selected for the connectivity analysis. Results: Cortical spectral density distribution comparing task minus rest showed significant activity increase in medial prefrontal areas and decreased activity in left parietal lobe for the theta band, and decreased activity in parietal-occipital regions for the alpha1 band. At a global level, connections among right hemispheric nodes were predominantly decreased during the task condition, while connections among left hemispheric nodes were predominantly increased. At more detailed level, decreased flow from right inferior frontal gyrus to anterior cingulate cortex for theta, and low and high alpha oscillations, and increased feedback (bidirectional flow) between left superior temporal gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus, were observed during the arithmetic task. Conclusions: Task related medial prefrontal increase in theta oscillations possibly corresponds to frontal midline theta, while parietal decreased alpha1 activity indicates the active role of this region in the numerical task. Task related decrease of intracortical right hemispheric connectivity support the notion that these nodes need to disengage from one another in order to not interfere with the ongoing numerical processing. The bidirectional feedback between left frontal-temporal-parietal regions in the arithmetic task is very likely to be related to attention network working memory function. Significance: The methods of analysis and the results presented here will hopefully contribute to clarify the roles of the different EEG oscillations during sustained attention, both in terms of their functional localization and in terms of how they integrate brain function by supporting information flow between different cortical regions. The methodology presented here might be clinically relevant in evaluating abnormal attention function

Versatile whole-organ/body staining and imaging based on electrolyte-gel properties of biological tissues

Whole-organ/body three-dimensional (3D) staining and imaging have been enduring challenges in histology. By dissecting the complex physicochemical environment of the staining system, we developed a highly optimized 3D staining imaging pipeline based on CUBIC. Based on our precise characterization of biological tissues as an electrolyte gel, we experimentally evaluated broad 3D staining conditions by using an artificial tissue-mimicking material. The combination of optimized conditions allows a bottom-up design of a superior 3D staining protocol that can uniformly label whole adult mouse brains, an adult marmoset brain hemisphere, an ~1 cm3 tissue block of a postmortem adult human cerebellum, and an entire infant marmoset body with dozens of antibodies and cell-impermeant nuclear stains. The whole-organ 3D images collected by light-sheet microscopy are used for computational analyses and whole-organ comparison analysis between species. This pipeline, named CUBIC-HistoVIsion, thus offers advanced opportunities for organ- and organism-scale histological analysis of multicellular systems

Up-Regulation of MicroRNA-21 Correlates with Lower Kidney Cancer Survival

MicroRNA-21 is up-regulated in a variety of cancers like, breast, colorectal, lung, head and neck etc. However, the regulation of miR-21 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has not yet been studied systematically.We measured miR-21 levels in 54 pairs of kidney cancers and their normal matched tissues by real-time PCR. The expression level of miR-21 was correlated with 5 year survival and the pathological stage. Functional studies were done after inhibiting miR-21 in RCC cell lines. We studied in vitro and in vivo effects of the chemo preventive agent genistein on miR-21 expression. In 48 cases (90%), miR-21 was increased. All patients with low miR-21 expression survived 5 years, while with high miR-21 expression, only 50% survived. Higher expression of miR-21 is associated with an increase in the stage of renal cancer. Functional studies after inhibiting miRNA-21 in RCC cell lines show cell cycle arrest, induction of apoptosis and reduced invasive and migratory capabilities. Western blot analysis showed an increase in the expression of p21 and p38 MAP kinase genes and a reduction in cyclin E2. Genistein inhibited the expression of miR-21 in A-498 cells and in the tumors formed after injecting genistein treated A-498 cells in nude mice besides inhibiting tumor formation.The current study shows a clear correlation between miR-21 expression and clinical characteristics of renal cancer. Thus we believe that miR-21 can be used as a tumor marker and its inhibition may prove to be useful in controlling cancers with up-regulated miR-21

Bone morphogenetic protein 7 in dormancy and metastasis of prostate cancer stem-like cells in bone

BMP7 released by bone marrow stromal cells induces reversible senescence of prostate cancer stem-like cells, and BMPR2 expression inversely correlates with bone metastasis and recurrence in prostate cancer patients

Child labor, education aid, and economic growth

This paper studies the effects of education aid fungibility on growth and welfare in developing countries. We consider a three-period-lived overlapping generations economy in which children are potential workers and then individuals face the trade-off between education and child labor. We show that there exists the optimal tax rate when the government gets aid money to be spent on cash transfer and public education in the incidence of child labor. We further demonstrate that there is a case in which an increase in the allocation of public education reduces the tax burden on the economy.Fungibility Child labor Foreign aid Education Cash transfer Growth

School Education, Learning-by-Doing, and Fertility in Economic Development

We examine the policy implications of relaxing constraints on the educational choice of individuals for economic development. Distinguishing human capital accumulation through schooling and through learning-by-doing and knowledge spillovers, we show that in the earlier stages of development, mitigating and eventually eliminating constraints on school education would be necessary for even further economic development. Expanded school education increases the income of individuals and encourages physical capital accumulation, which enlarges productive knowledge through implementation and operations. The increased labor productivity thus boosts economic growth. In the process, the fertility rate will decline because of the increased education cost per child. Copyright (C) 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.