Moral hazard in marriage: the use of domestic labor as an incentive device

This paper argues that some women in developing countries use domestic labor as a tool to incentivize husbands. A theoretical model is derived based on the traditions of rural Malawi, where men often supplement farm income with wage labor. As wage labor is not observed by the wife, this creates moral hazard: husbands may not make enough effort to bring home wages. The model predicts that women overcome this by using domestic labor as an incentive device: they increase their domestic labor and reduce their leisure in response to good consumption outcomes, but only if they cannot rely on divorce threat as an alternative source of incentives. This prediction is confirmed using survey data from Malawi. Identification is based on the fact that Malawi's kinship traditions exogenously determine women's accessibility to divorce. Where divorce is not an option, women make inefficient labor choices in order to provide incentives

Repeated administration of the GABAB receptor positive modulator BHF177 decreased nicotine self-administration, and acute administration decreased cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine seeking in rats

Abstract: Rationale $\gamma$-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain and is implicated in the modulation of central reward processes. Acute or chronic administration of GABA$_B$ receptor agonists or positive modulators decreased self-administration of various drugs of abuse. Furthermore, GABA$_B$ receptor agonists inhibited cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine- and cocaine-seeking behavior. Because of their fewer adverse side effects compared with GABA$_B$ receptor agonists, GABA$_B$ receptor positive modulators are potentially improved therapeutic compounds for the treatment of drug dependence compared with agonists. Objectives and methods: We examined whether the acute effects of the GABA$_B$ receptor positive modulator N-[(1R,2R,4S)-bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-yl]-2-methyl-5-[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-4-pyrimidinamine (BHF177) on nicotine self- administration and food-maintained responding under a fixed-ratio 5 schedule of reinforcement were maintained after repeated administration. The effects of acute BHF177 administration on cue-induced nicotine- and food-seeking behavior, a putative animal model of relapse, were also examined. Results: Repeated administration of BHF177 for 14 days decreased nicotine self-administration, with small tolerance observed during the last 7 days of treatment, whereas BHF177 minimally affected food-maintained responding. Acute BHF177 administration dose-dependently blocked cue-induced reinstatement of nicotine-, but not food-, seeking behavior after a 10-day extinction period. Conclusions: These results showed that BHF177 selectively blocked nicotine self-administration and prevented cueinduced reinstatement of nicotine seeking, with minimal effects on responding for food and no effect on cue-induced reinstatement of food seeking. Thus, GABA$_B$ receptor positive modulators could be useful therapeutics for the treatment of different aspects of nicotine dependence by facilitating smoking cessation by decreasing nicotine intake and preventing relapse to smoking in humans

Similarities and differences in the historical records of lava dome-building volcanoes: implications for understanding magmatic processes and eruption forecasting

A key question for volcanic hazard assessment is the extent to which information can be exchanged between volcanoes. This question is particularly pertinent to hazard forecasting for dome-building volcanoes, where effusive activity may persist for years to decades, and may be punctuated by periods of repose, and sudden explosive activity. Here we review historical eruptive activity of fifteen lava dome-building volcanoes over the past two centuries, with the goal of creating a hierarchy of exchangeable (i.e., similar) behaviours. Eruptive behaviour is classified using empirical observations that include patterns of SO2 flux, eruption style, and magma composition. We identify two eruptive regimes: (i) an episodic regime where eruptions are much shorter than intervening periods of repose, and degassing is temporally correlated with lava effusion; and (ii) a persistent regime where eruptions are comparable in length to periods of repose and gas emissions do not correlate with eruption rates. A corollary to these two eruptive regimes is that there are also two different types of repose: (i) inter-eruptive repose separates episodic eruptions, and is characterised by negligible gas emissions and (ii) intra-eruptive repose is observed in persistently active volcanoes, and is characterised by continuous gas emissions. We suggest that these different patterns of can be used to infer vertical connectivity within mush-dominated magmatic systems. We also note that our recognition of two different types of repose raises questions about traditional definitions of historical volcanism as a point process. This is important, because the ontology of eruptive activity (that is, the definition of volcanic activity in time) influences both analysis of volcanic data and, by extension, interpretations of magmatic processes. Our analysis suggests that one identifying exchangeable traits or behaviours provides a starting point for developing robust ontologies of volcanic activity. Moreover, by linking eruptive regimes to conceptual models of magmatic processes, we illustrate a path towards developing a conceptual framework not only for comparing data between different volcanoes but also for improving forecasts of eruptive activity

Differential effects of a distant noxious stimulus on hindlimb nociceptive withdrawal reflexes in the rat.

Recent studies indicate that the nociceptive withdrawal reflexes to individual muscles are evoked by separate reflex pathways. The present study examines whether nociceptive withdrawal reflexes to different muscles are subject to differential supraspinal control in rats. A distant noxious stimulus was used to activate a bulbospinal system which selectively inhibits ‘multireceptive’ neurons (i.e. neurons receiving excitatory tactile and nociceptive inputs) in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Withdrawal reflexes, recorded with electromyographic techniques in single hindlimb muscles, were evoked by standardized noxious pinch. Thirty‐seven rats, anaesthetized with halothane and nitrous oxide, were used. Whereas withdrawal reflexes to the extensor digitorum longus and brevis, tibialis anterior and biceps posterior muscles were strongly inhibited, reflexes to interossei muscles were potentiated during noxious pinch of the nose. Reflexes to peronei muscles were not significantly changed. The effects on the reflexes usually had an onset latency of <0.5 s and outlasted the conditioning stimulation by up to 2 s. The monosynaptic la reflex to the deep peroneal nerve, innervating dorsiflexors of the digits and ankle, was not significantly changed during noxious pinch of the nose. Hence, the inhibitory effects on the hindlimb withdrawal reflexes induced by the conditioning stimulation were presumably exerted on reflex interneurons. It is concluded that nociceptive withdrawal reflexes to different hindlimb muscles are differentially controlled by descending pathways activated by a distant noxious stimulus. The results support our previous conclusion that there are separate nociceptive withdrawal reflex pathways to different hindlimb muscles