Essays in Applied Microeconomics and Development

In my thesis I address questions in applied microeconomics within two topic areas: the first is the effect of news media on perceptions and political outcomes; the second is labour allocation and internal migration decision making in developing country settings. In the second chapter I exploit a unique natural experiment occurred in the Italian television market - the staggered timing of the digital TV signal introduction - to study the influence of information provided by partisan news media on the perceptions individuals hold, focusing on perceptions about crime. Combining unique data on each channel’s crime news coverage and prime-time viewing shares, I find that reduced exposure to crime-related news decreased concerns about crime and did so mainly for older individuals who, on average, watch more television and use alternative sources of information less frequently. I also provide evidence of potential effects on voting. In the third chapter I study the relation between household migration decisions and the distribution of risk attitudes within a household in a rural-developing country setting. I do so by developing and testing - with data from internal migrants and their family members left behind in rural China - a household model of migration decision with heterogeneous risk preferences. Findings suggest that risk attitudes of household members other than the migrant affect not only individual migrations but also whether a household sends a migrant at all. In the fourth chapter I analyse if and in what measure individuals and households in rural China reallocate labour across sectors in response to agricultural productivity shocks. I match panel data of individual and household labour supply histories with detailed weather information, which I use to proxy agricultural productivity. Results suggest that farming is reduced and urban sector employment increased in response to negative rainfall shocks, both along the intensive and the participation margin; that responses are heterogeneous across age; and that land tenure insecurity might partially prevent households from freely reallocating labour away from farming

Superstolide A : a potent cytotoxic macrolide of a new type from the New Caledonian deep water marine sponge Neosiphonia superstes

A highly cytotoxic macrolide, superstolide A (1), has been isolated from the deep water marine sponge Neosiphonia superstes, collected off New Caledonia. The gross structure was determined by extensive 2D NMR experiments on the lactone 1 and on its opened-ring-derived methyl esters 2 and 3. The relative stereochemistries of the decaline moiety and of the C22-C26 fragment were determined by a combination of NMR data and acetonide analysis on 2. Absolute stereostructure of the decaline portion of 1 has been determined on the basis of GLC-modified Horeau's methodology applied to 4, whereas the results of the application of the modified Mosher's method to 1 and 3 allowed us to propose for the C22-C26 fragment the 22R, 23R, 24R, 25S, 26R configuration. We also propose the solution conformations of superstolide A (1) based on molecular dynamics and mechanics calculations using NMR-derived constraints

Metabolites of the new Caledonian sponge Cladocroce incurvata

The deep-water New Caledonian sponge #Cladocroce incurvata$ contains two "polyketide" metabolites. Cladocrocin A (1) appears to be derived from fatty acid with ethyl side chains, thus incorporating butyrate units. Cladocroic acid (2) is a straight chain fatty acid which incorporates a terminal enyne functionality and a cycloproprane ring directly attached to the carboxylic acid function. The structures were elucidated by interpretation of spectral data, and the cis stereochemistry of the cyclopropane ring in cladocroic acid (2) was derived after the synthesis of cis - and trans - 2, 3 - methanohexanoic acid models and nmr spectral comparisons. (Résumé d'auteur

(+/-)-Gelliusines A and B, two diastereomeric brominated tris-indole alkaloids from a deep water New Caledonian marine sponge (Gellius or Orina sp.)

Two new diastereomeric brominated tris-indole alkaloids occurring as enantiomeric pairs, (±)-gelliusine A (I) and its isomer (±)-gelliusine B, have been isolated from a deep water New Caledonian sponge (Gellius or Orina sp.), whose crude ext. exhibited cytotoxicity against KB cells. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods including one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy. The major compd., I, which showed very weak cytotoxicity, proved to be active at the serotonin receptor