The Effect of Education on the Timing of Marriage and First Conception in Pakistan.

It is often argued that a rapid rise in educational attainment of women, an increase in the age at marriage and an increase in the age at first birth are key features of demographic transition in any country. Education is the prime catalyst in this process because increases in educational attainment are likely to significantly affect both age at marriage and the duration to first conception-in particular increasing both the age at marriage and the time to first child. This paper uses individual level unit record data from Pakistan to examine the effect of education on the age at marriage and on the duration between marriage and first conception. We estimate a structural model, which accounts for the interaction between the three main variables of interest. Our estimation results show that women who have more education delay marriage but increased educational attainment does not have a significant effect on the duration to first conception. Women who marry late have a child faster. Education of the husband significantly affects the time to conception.EDUCATION ; MARRIAGE ; FERTILITY

Comparing Travel Cost Models and the Precision of their Consumer Surplus Estimates: Albert Park and Maroondah Reservoir.

This study examines different types of Travel Cost Models to estimate and compare the recreational values of two parks in Victoria, Australia: Maroondah Reservoir and Albert Park. Zonal Travel Cost models and a number of different functional forms are used in this study. Standard errors are used to estimate upper and lower bounds for the recreational value estimates, enabling comparison between the precision of the different types of Travel Cost Models and functional forms estimated. The double log functional form city zone Travel Cost Model provides the most precise estimate for Albert Park's recreational value at $19.2 million per year. Maroondah Reservoir's most precise estimate is provided by the double log functional form regional zone Trave Cost Model at a value of$2.2 million per year, considerably less than that of Albert Park. Albert Park is found to have a comparatively larger 'proximity power' (attracting many more visitors) while Maroondah Reservoir exhibited a larger degree of 'pulling power' (a higher proportion of its visitors travel further distances).COSTS ; CONSUMERS ; TRAVEL

Salinity in Water Markets : An ExperimentalInvestigation of the Sunraysia Salinity Levy, Victoria

Irrigation can have a significant negative impact on the environment. Irrigation impacts contribute a significant portion to the estimated forty six million dollar cost per annum of salinity in the Murray River, Australia. Policies available to regulators include externality taxes and levies. In 2002 the Victorian Government introduced a system of salinity levies in the irrigation regions of Sunraysia, northern Victoria. These levies differ from typical taxes because they also introduce trade barriers between certain locations. These trade barriers may increase the cost of reducing salinity. We use experiments to compare the salinity levy with trade barriers to an alternative salinity tax which removes the trade barriers and replaces them with a ‘large’ tax relative to other geographic zones. Our results show that the salinity tax reduces the cost of salinity interception by the government by twenty five percent as compared to the salinity levy. We observe water prices do not increase when regulation is introduced, this may be because the introduction of taxes and levies encourages buyers to act more aggressively preventing sellers from extracting surplus on trades. Further, the introduction of regulation does not increase variability in average outcomes for these markets.Externality Taxes, Experiments, Double Auction, Environmental Policy, Salinity.

An Experimental Analysis ofGroup Size and Risk Sharing

We study the relationship between group size and the extent of risk sharing in an insurance game played over a number of periods with random idiosyncratic and aggregate shocks to income in each period. Risk sharing is attained via agents that receive a high endowment in one period making unilateral transfers to agents that receive a low endowment in that period. The complete risk sharing allocation is for all agents to place their endowments in a common pool, which is then shared equally among members of the group in every period. Theoretically, the larger the group size, the smaller the per capita dispersion in consumption and greater is the potential value of insurance. Field evidence however suggests that smaller groups do better than larger groups as far as risk sharing is concerned. Results from our experiments show that the extent of mutual insurance is significantly higher in smaller groups, though contributions to the pool are never close to what complete risk sharing requires.Reciprocity, Risk Sharing, Group Size, Experiments

Investment Decisions and Emissions Reductions : Results from Experiments in Emissions Trading

Emissions trading is an important regulatory tool in environmental policy making. Unfortunately the effectiveness of these regulations is difficult to measure in the field due to the unavailability of appropriate data. In contrast, experiments in the laboratory can provide guidance to regulators and legislatures about the performance of different market features in emission trading programs. This paper reports on the implementation of three different institutional designs, and presents experimental results investigating important features of emissions trading regimes: the ability to make investments in emissions abatement, ability to bank allowances and a declining emissions cap, both with and without uncertainty. These features are observed in virtually all existing air pollution emissions trading programs currently in place and will almost certainly be part of future applications. Like previous experimental studies of emissions trading, this paper shows that the efficiency gains expected from economic theory emerge observationally. We also show reduced efficiency when permits are bankable due to over-banking and when investments in emissions abatement are possible due to overinvesting. These tendencies do not worsen, however, when emissions caps decline.Emissions Trading, Investment in Abatement, Banking, Laboratory Experiments

Do Attitudes Towards Corruption Differ Across Cultures? Experimental Evidence from Australia, India, Indonesia andSingapore

This paper examines cultural differences in attitudes towards corruption by analysing individual-decision making in a corrupt experimental environment. Attitudes towards corruption play a critical role in the persistence of corruption. Our experiments differentiate between the incentives to engage in corrupt behaviour and the incentives to punish corrupt behaviour and allow us to explore whether, in environments characterized by lower levels of corruption, there is both a lower propensity to engage in corrupt behaviour and a higher propensity to punish corrupt behaviour. Based on experiments run in Australia (Melbourne), India (Delhi), Indonesia (Jakarta) and Singapore, we find that there is more variation in the propensities to punish corrupt behaviour than in the propensities to engage in corrupt behaviour across cultures. The results reveal that the subjects in India exhibit a higher tolerance towards corruption than the subjects in Australia while the subjects in Indonesia behave similarly to those in Australia. The subjects in Singapore have a higher propensity to engage in corruption than the subjects in Australia. We also vary our experimental design to examine the impact of a more effective punishment system and the effect of the perceived cost of bribery.Corruption, Experiments, Punishment, Cultural Analysis

Effects of Employee Personality on the Relationships between Experienced Incivility, Emotional Exhaustion, and Perpetrated Incivility

Workplace incivility refers to low-intensity negative behaviors that violate workplace norms of respect. Incivility is known to be a type of stressor in the workplace, with recent research drawing attention to how it may differentially affect employees with varying personality traits. Drawing from a stressor–strain theoretical framework, we examined the moderating effects of four of the Big Five personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion) on the relationship between individuals’ experienced incivility and their subsequent emotional exhaustion and perpetrated incivility toward others in the organization. Results from a 2-wave survey of 252 working adults indicate that personality traits moderated the relationship between the stressor of experienced incivility and the examined strains. Agreeableness strengthened the relationship between experienced incivility and the strains examined here. On the other hand, highly conscientious employees were less likely (than employees scoring low on this trait) to perpetrate incivility toward others or become emotionally exhausted in response to experiencing incivility. No moderating effects were found for the personality traits of neuroticism and extraversion. Implications for research and practice are discussed

Polycystic ovarian syndrome and insulin resistance: a South Indian study

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder in women of reproductive age. Some studies have characterized different aspects of women presenting with PCOS. In this study we characterise the association of insulin resistance (IR) in patients with PCOS in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.Methods: A total of 50 women diagnosed to have PCOS according to Rotterdam criteria were studied. IR was estimated using Homeostatic model assessment - insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) and clinical characteristics were recorded.Results: The prevalence of IR among the study population was 36%. All PCOS patients with IR were overweight or obese, and had impaired glycaemic status, 75% of PCOS patients with IR also had features of hirsutism.Conclusions: Considering the prevalence of IR, obesity and impaired fasting glucose in women with PCOS, early institution of treatment by lifestyle changes or medication would lead to improvement in reproductive and metabolic abnormalities

Floating Active Baffles, System and Method of Slosh Damping Comprising the Same

This disclosure provides a system for damping slosh of a liquid within a tank, a baffle for use in the system, and a method of damping slosh using the system. The system includes a plurality of baffles. Each baffle has a body configured to substantially float upon the liquid. Each baffle also has an activation material received along at least a portion of the body. The activation material is magnetically reactive provided in a quantity sufficient to enable the body to be manipulated in the presence of a magnetic field (M). The system further includes an actuator configured to pro­vide the magnetic field (M)

Demyelination of subcortical nuclei in multiple sclerosis

Myelin containing in basal ganglia in multiple sclerosis patients was evaluated using new noninvasive quantitative MRI method fast whole brain macromolecular proton fraction mapping. Myelin level in globus pallidus and putamen significantly decreased in multiple sclerosis patients as compared with healthy control subjects but not in substantia nigra and caudate nucleus