Village economies and the structure of extended family networks

This paper documents how the structure of extended family networks in rural Mexico relates to the poverty and inequality of the village of residence. Using the Hispanic naming convention, we construct within-village extended family networks in 504 poor rural villages. Family networks are larger (both in the number of members and as a share of the village population) and out-migration is lower the poorer and the less unequal the village of residence. Our results are consistent with the extended family being a source of informal insurance to its members

Family networks and school enrolment: evidence from a randomized social experiment

We present evidence on whether and how a household’s behavior is influenced by the presence and characteristics of its extended family. Using data from the PROGRESA program in Mexico, we exploit information on the paternal and maternal surnames of heads and spouses in conjunction with the Spanish naming convention to identify the inter and intra generational family links of each household to others in the same village. We then exploit the randomized research design of the PROGRESA evaluation data to identify whether the treatment effects of PROGRESA transfers on secondary school enrolment vary according to the characteristics of extended family. We find PROGRESA only raises secondary enrolment among households that are embedded in a family network. Eligible but isolated households do not respond. The mechanism through which the extended family influences household schooling choices is the redistribution of resources within the family network from eligibles that receive de facto unconditional cash transfers from PROGRESA, towards eligibles on the margin of enrolling children into secondary school

New Techniques of Weighted Sum Method for Solving Multi-Objective Geometric Programming Problems

تعد مشكلة البرمجة الهندسية متعددة الأهداف نوعًا من مشاكل التحسين التي تستخدم بشكل كبير في المشاكل الهندسية. حتى الآن لا يوجد الكثير من تقنيات التحسين التي يمكنها حساب هذا النوع من مشاكل التحسين بسهولة. في هذا البحث ، تم تقديم تقنيتين جديدتين مع خوارزميتين لتحسين مشاكل البرمجة الهندسية متعددة الأهداف. التقنية الاولى تم أنشاءها باستخدام طريقة المجموع الموزون والوسط الحسابي والتقنية الثانية باستخدام طريقة المجموع الموزون والمتوسط ​​الهندسي. تم استخدام هاتين الطريقتين لتحويل مشكلة التحسين الهندسي متعدد الأهداف إلى مشكلة التحسين الهندسي ذات الهدف الواحد. تم اخذ بعض الامثلة بالاعتبار لتوضيح النتائج. كذلك تمت مقارنة هذه النتائج مع التقنيات الشائعة الأخرى المستخدمة في حل مشاكل التحسين الهندسي متعدد الأهداف.Multi-objective geometric programming problem is a type of optimization problem that wildly used in engineering problems. Until now there are not many optimization techniques that can easily compute this type of optimization problem. In this paper, we proposed two new techniques with algorithms to optimize multi-objective geometric programming problems. We created the first technique by using the weighted sum method and Arithmetic mean, and by using the weighted sum method and geometric mean we produced the second technique. These two methods are used to convert multi-objective geometric optimization problems to single-objective geometric optimization problems Some examples are considered to illustrate the results. The results were compared with other common techniques used in solving multi-objective engineering optimization problems

Feasibility Study of a Bi-directional Centrifugal Pump for DBT class 45 CST Gearbox Used in Underground Coal mining Operation

This paper presents a feasibility study of using a bi-directional centrifugal pump into DBT’s Series 45 CST gearbox. The suitability of other pumps for cooling and the design of a new symmetrical centrifugal pump that would be suited to the series 45 CST gearbox have been reviewed with financial versus functionality and usability. The analysis and results of this study indicate that by introducing the newly designed bi-directional pump, DBT may save over $370k in production costs over 10 years. This equates to a savings of$1850 per gearbox which is about a 26% saving on the current set-up, and thus bi-directional pump is reasonably feasible

Consumption and Investment in Resource Pooling Family Networks

This paper examines a novel motive for resource pooling in family networks in rural economies: to relax credit constraints and facilitate investment in non-collateralizeable assets for which credit market imperfections are most binding. We thus complement established literatures examining risk-sharing motives for resource transfers within family networks, as well as motives based on kinship tax obligations. We do so exploiting the Progresa program data, in which family networks can be identified, households are subject to large exogenous resource inflows, and detailed responses on consumption and an array of investments can be tracked in a household panel over five years. We find that for every dollar that accrues to the family network through Progresa transfers, food consumption expenditures increase by around 65c/ for both households eligible for Progresa and ineligible members of the same family network. Hence the marginal propensity of families to invest/save out of every dollar is around .35, and we document how this is channelled towards easing credit constraints poorer network members face in financing non-collateralizable investments into their children's human capital. We show these consumption and investment benefits of being embedded within a family network are sustained five years after households first experience resource transfers from Progresa. Hence the interplay between resource inflows and resource pooling by family networks can place network members on sustained paths out of poverty