Industrial growth and the quality of institutions : what do (transition) economies have to gain from the Rule of Law?

The authors empirically test the link between industrial growth and indicators of institutional quality. They find significant evidence that institutional quality affects inindustrial growth in 27 Asian and Latin American countries. Their results suggest that the development of the legal and regulatory framework works its way to industrial growth through both investment and total factor productivity. The implications for policymakers in transition economies: Institution building should complement privatization, public and private investment in education, research and development, and measures to promote foreign direct investment. Specifically, policymakers should try to reduce corruption, eliminate bureacratic barriers, and improve the legal environment and contract enforcement. Special attention should also be given to measures to deepen financial intermediation, improve the financial sector infrastructure, and increase the efficiency of financial transactions.Governance Indicators,Environmental Economics&Policies,Achieving Shared Growth,Economic Theory&Research,Trade and Regional Integration

Factors affecting attendance of junior high school and middle school students

The study examines the effect that implementation of California State Law establishing School Attendance Review Boards has had on Junior High and Middle School Students in the Central Valley of California. The legislation deals with students who have problems of truancy and student misconduct. The study focused on the effect that referral to the School Attendance Review Board had on pupil attendance in the counties of San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Fresno, Kings, and Kern in the San Joaquin Vallev of California. A questionnaire was administered to principals of 36 junior high and middle schools in three geographical sections of the San Joaquin Valley. Part I of the questionnaire requested data on general attendance procedures; Part II elicited information on individual pupils referred to the School Attendance Review Board. The test design utilized descriptive and correlational analyses to determine the effectiveness of referral to SARB. Computations were made to note differences in attendance due to sex and ethnicity. Data were further analyzed to determine whether attendance, counseling, class program changes, and alternate class assignments significantly alter the attendance patterns of truants, using an analysis of variance. T-tests determined significant differences in attendance of students before and after referral to the School Attendance Review Board. T-test analyses of the effectiveness of referral to SARB showed that all pupils as a group had significantly improved attendance in each of the regions studied as well as overall. Analyses by sex showed that male subjects as well as female subjects improved attendance significantly. Separate analyses by ethnicity indicated improvement regardless of this variable. Regarding the rate of referral, Whites were referred in lower numbers than general pupil population would warrant, whereas Blacks and Hispanics were referred in larger numbers than their proportion to the general population. Males were referred at higher rates than females to the School Attendance Review Board. Analysis of the data dealing with the question of post-SARB treatment (counseling, class program change, alternative schooling, and no treatment) indicated that there was no significant difference between treatments. There also was no difference between any treatment and no treatment

Report on the Reed, Stimson and Kelley copper and iron banks of Phelps County, Mo.

PRELIMINARY STATEMENT with reference to the formation of limonite and hematite, the principal iron ores of the Ozark District. Iron and copper in solution as sulphides, coming in contact with lime or magnesium carbonates, will be precipitated as pyrite or marcasite and chalcopyrite. Hence the origin of this class or ores. These will in time oxidize to magnetite or hematite, and these in turn will form limonite, and the copper sulphide, or chalcopyrite, is oxidized to the carbonates, malachite and azurite --page 1

The Association Between Rate and Severity of Exacerbations in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An Application of a Joint Frailty-Logistic Model.

Exacerbations are a hallmark of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Evidence suggests the presence of substantial between-individual variability (heterogeneity) in exacerbation rates. The question of whether individuals vary in their tendency towards experiencing severe (versus mild) exacerbations, or whether there is an association between exacerbation rate and severity, has not yet been studied. We used data from the MACRO Study, a 1-year randomized trial of the use of azithromycin for prevention of COPD exacerbations (United States and Canada, 2006-2010; n = 1,107, mean age = 65.2 years, 59.1% male). A parametric frailty model was combined with a logistic regression model, with bivariate random effects capturing heterogeneity in rate and severity. The average rate of exacerbation was 1.53 episodes/year, with 95% of subjects having a model-estimated rate of 0.47-4.22 episodes/year. The overall ratio of severe exacerbations to total exacerbations was 0.22, with 95% of subjects having a model-estimated ratio of 0.04-0.60. We did not confirm an association between exacerbation rate and severity (P = 0.099). A unified model, implemented in standard software, could estimate joint heterogeneity in COPD exacerbation rate and severity and can have applications in similar contexts where inference on event time and intensity is considered. We provide SAS code (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, North Carolina) and a simulated data set to facilitate further uses of this method