ON THE REGULATION OF EXCITATORY SYNAPSES AND FEEDING BEHAVIOR BY O-GLCNAC TRANSFERASE

Thought is believed to be created by communication between neurons. Neurons communicate over cell-cell junctions called synapses. The number and function of neuronal synapses are not fixed but can be altered by a number of different mechanisms, so-called synaptic plasticity. For example, experience of the outer world can strengthen or weaken particular sets of synapses, thereby changing how the brain processes information and directs behavior. The work for this dissertation focused on the protein O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT). The activity of OGT is controlled by the metabolic status of the cell and the body. It was known that OGT is expressed in neurons. We hypothesized that if OGT would regulate synaptic plasticity, then investigations into the function of OGT may offer an opportunity to better understand how stimuli from the surrounding environment may influence thinking. Combining biological chemistry and animal behavior, we discovered that OGT maintains normal body weight in αCaMKII neurons of the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus. It turns out that these neurons participate in a negative feedback loop that becomes activated upon food intake to turn off further intake. By sensing the caloric content of what is being ingested, OGT sets the threshold of this loop by mediating how many excitatory synapses αCaMKII PVN neurons express. Further studies showed that OGT is enriched in the postsynaptic density of excitatory synapses and regulates their maturity in a range of different types of neurons. The argument of this dissertation holds that nutrient-dependent regulation of synaptic plasticity by OGT is an attractive target for future inquiry of the connection between the outer world and the mind

2008 Lawrence R. Klein Lecture - Comparative Economic Development: Insights from Unified Growth Theory

This paper explores the implications of Unified Growth Theory for the origins of existing differences in income per capita across countries. The theory sheds light on three fundamental layers of comparative development. It identifies the factors that have governed the pace of the transition from stagnation to growth and have thus contributed to contemporary variation in economic development. It uncovers the forces that have sparked the emergence of multiple growth regimes and convergence clubs, and it underlines the persistent effects that variations in pre-historical biogeographical conditions have generated on the composition of human capital and economic development across the globe

Economic-demographic interactions in long-run growth

Cliometrics confirms that Malthus’ model of the pre-industrial economy, in which increases in productivity raise population but higher population drives down wages, is a good description for much of demographic/economic history. A contributor to the Malthusian equilibrium was the Western European Marriage Pattern, the late age of female first marriage, which promised to retard the fall of living standards by restricting fertility. The demographic transition and the transition from Malthusian economies to modern economic growth attracted many Cliometric models surveyed here. A popular model component is that lower levels of mortality over many centuries increased the returns to, or preference for, human capital investment so that technical progress eventually accelerated. This initially boosted birth rates and population growth accelerated. Fertility decline was earliest and most striking in late eighteenth century France. By the 1830s the fall in French marital fertility is consistent with a response to the rising opportunity cost of children. The rest of Europe did not begin to follow until end of the nineteenth century. Interactions between the economy and migration have been modelled with Cliometric structures closely related to those of natural increase and the economy. Wages were driven up by emigration from Europe and reduced in the economies receiving immigrants

Gender gaps in education

This chapter reviews the growing body of research in economics which concentrates on the education gender gap and its evolution, over time and across countries. The survey first focuses on gender differentials in the historical period that roughly goes from 1850 to the 1940s and documents the deep determinants of the early phase of female education expansion, including preindustrial conditions, religion, and family and kinship patterns. Next, the survey describes the stylized facts of contemporaneous gender gaps in education, from the 1950s to the present day, accounting for several alternative measures of attainment and achievement and for geographic and temporal differentiations. The determinants of the gaps are then summarized, while keeping a strong emphasis on an historical perspective and disentangling factors related to the labor market, family formation, psychological elements, and societal cultural norms. A discussion follows of the implications of the education gender gap for multiple realms, from economic growth to family life, taking into account the potential for reverse causation. Special attention is devoted to the persistency of gender gaps in the STEM and economics fields

Gender Gaps in Education

This chapter reviews the growing body of research in economics which concentrates on the education gender gap and its evolution, over time and across countries. The survey first focuses on gender differentials in the historical period that roughly goes from 1850 to the 1940s and documents the deep determinants of the early phase of female education expansion, including preindustrial conditions, religion, and family and kinship patterns. Next, the survey describes the stylized facts of contemporaneous gender gaps in education, from the 1950s to the present day, accounting for several alternative measures of attainment and achievement and for geographic and temporal differentiations. The determinants of the gaps are then summarized, while keeping a strong emphasis on an historical perspective and disentangling factors related to the labor market, family formation, psychological elements, and societal cultural norms. A discussion follows of the implications of the education gender gap for multiple realms, from economic growth to family life, taking into account the potential for reverse causation. Special attention is devoted to the persistency of gender gaps in the STEM and economics fields