Why Aren’t People Leaving Janesville? Industry Persistence, Trade Shocks, and Mobility

Particular industries have dominated many locations in the United States for more than a century. We show that individuals residing in such locations were systematically less likely to move away from there during the past few decades. By identifying locations with sizable employment shares in the same manufacturing industries in 1870 and 1980, we documented less out-migration in the decades following 1980 than earlier. In response to the largest shock affecting manufacturing employment since then, these locations adjusted differently: the “China shock” led to higher unemployment in their communities, but fewer people moved away. Drawing on rich data of social links across counties and surveys of individuals residing there, we document that these individuals have stronger local friendship networks than residents of more thriving communities and exhibit systematic differences in their job-market search behavior. We hypothesize that when local opportunities narrow, residents of these locations both lack information about job opportunities elsewhere and benefit from the amenity value of extended social networks in their location of origin. Instrumental variable results based on a historical shock to local industries’ chances of survival suggest that the effect of dominant manufacturing industries on migration is causal. Mediation analysis reveals that the emergence of strong local ties primarily drives such migration

Optimized high gradient magnetic separation for isolation of Plasmodium-infected red blood cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Highly purified infected red blood cells (irbc), or highly synchronized parasite cultures, are regularly required in malaria research. Conventional isolation and synchronization rely on density and osmotic fragility of irbc, respectively. High gradient magnetic separation (HGMS) offers an alternative based on intrinsic magnetic properties of irbc, avoiding exposure to chemicals and osmotic stress. Successful HGMS concentration in malaria research was previously reported using polymer coated columns, while HGMS depletion has not been described yet. This study presents a new approach to both HGMS concentration and depletion in malaria research, rendering polymer coating unnecessary.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A dipole magnet generating a strong homogenous field was custom assembled. Polypropylene syringes were fitted with one-way stopcocks and filled with stainless steel wool. Rbc from <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>cultures were resuspended in density and viscosity optimized HGMS buffers and HGMS processed. Purification and depletion results were analysed by flow cytometer and light microscopy. Viability was evaluated by calculating the infection rate after re-culturing of isolates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In HGMS concentration, purity of irbc isolates from asynchronous cultures consistently ranged from 94.8% to 98.4% (mean 95.7%). With further optimization, over 90% of isolated irbc contained segmented schizonts. Processing time was less than 45 min. Reinfection rates ranged from 21.0% to 56.4%. In HGMS depletion, results were comparable to treatment with sorbitol, as demonstrated by essentially identical development of cultures.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The novel HGMS concentration procedure achieves high purities of segmented stage irbc from standard asynchronous cultures, and is the first HGMS depletion alternative to sorbitol lysis. It represents a simple and highly efficient alternative to conventional irbc concentration and synchronization methods.</p

The Swiss Approach - feasibility of a national low-dose CT lung cancer screening program

BACKGROUND Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Switzerland. Despite this, there is no lung cancer screening program in the country. In the United States, low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) lung cancer screening is partially established and endorsed by guidelines. Moreover, evidence is growing that screening reduces lung cancer-related mortality and this was recently shown in a large European randomized controlled trial. Implementation of a lung cancer screening program, however, is challenging and depends on many country-specific factors. The goal of this article is to outline a potential Swiss lung cancer screening program. FRAMEWORK An exhaustive literature review on international screening models as well as interviews and site visits with international experts were initiated. Furthermore, workshops and interviews with national experts and stakeholders were conducted to share experiences and to establish the basis for a national Swiss lung cancer screening program. SCREENING APPROACH General practitioners, pulmonologists and the media should be part of the recruitment process. Decentralisation of the screening might lead to a higher adherence rate. To reduce stigmatisation, the screening should be integrated in a "lung health check". Standardisation and a common quality level are mandatory. The PLCOm2012 risk calculation model with a threshold of 1.5% risk for developing cancer in the next six years should be used in addition to established inclusion criteria. Biennial screening is preferred. LUNG RADS and NELSON+ are applied as classification models for lung nodules. CONCLUSION Based on data from recent studies, literature research, a health technology assessment, the information gained from this project and a pilot study the Swiss Interest Group for lung cancer screening (CH-LSIG) recommends the timely introduction of a systematic lung cancer screening program in Switzerland. The final decision is for the Swiss Cancer Screening Committee to make

Essays on Political Economy and Economic Geography

My dissertation consists of three essays. In the first, I systematically document the importance of chance to a fundamental question of economic geography: How did locations develop their specializations in specific manufacturing industries? I show that European immigration to the United States affected the initial location of industries in the late nineteenth century, creating a spatial pattern that remained relatively stable. Immigrants' exposure to specialized manufacturing knowledge and skills depends on their origin. The comparative advantage that came to U.S. counties ``embodied'' in immigrants predicts employment in disaggregated manufacturing industries in subsequent decades. The early establishment of firms in novel industries gave locations first-mover advantage and shaped local manufacturing specialization. Agglomeration forces locked in industries until the present. I address endogeneity issues by exploiting arguably random variation in early immigration enclaves due to the interaction of the aggregate arrivals from European countries, and the movement of the frontier of settlement across U.S. counties.The remaining two chapters consider the importance of individual actors in the realm of politics. My second chapter, co-authored with Max Winkler, studies the incentives for local political leaders when facing an unforeseen threat to their incumbency. The chapter examines the case of the unexpected and short-lived electoral success of the pro-redistribution Populist Party in the 1892 presidential elections. The Populists sought support among poor farmers, regardless of race. This biracial alliance threatened the Democratic establishment in the South, providing it with an incentive to fan racial fears to split the newly formed coalition. Newspapers affiliated with the Democrats spread propaganda of attacks by Blacks on the White community, often involving allegations of sexual assault. Using novel newspaper data, we identify these hate stories and show that they become more prevalent in the years following the 1892 presidential election in counties where the Populists were active. The effect is large and found in newspapers affiliated with the Democrats only. The evidence suggests that the propaganda ``worked'': where newspapers spread more propaganda, the Democrats see more substantial gains in presidential elections in the following decades, long after the Populists left the political arena.The third and last chapter, co-authored with Nico Voigtl�nder, considers the importance of national political leaders for the performance of the states they govern. We create a novel reign-level dataset for European monarchs, covering all major European states from the 10th century until World War I. We first document a strong positive relationship between rulers' intellectual ability and state-level outcomes. To address endogeneity issues, we exploit the facts that i) rulers were appointed according to primogeniture, independent of their ability, and ii) the widespread inbreeding among the ruling dynasties of Europe led to quasi-random variation in ruler ability. We code the degree of blood relationship between the parents of rulers. The `coefficient of inbreeding' is a strong predictor of ruler ability, and the corresponding instrumental variable results imply that ruler ability had a sizeable effect on the performance of states and their borders. This supports the view that `leaders made history,' shaping the European map until its consolidation into nation-states. We also show that rulers mattered only where their power was largely unconstrained. In reigns where parliaments checked the power of monarchs, ruler ability no longer affected their state's performance. Thus, the strengthening of parliaments in Northern European states (where kin marriage of dynasties was particularly widespread) may have shielded them from the detrimental effects of inbreeding

The impact of humorous advertising on brand awareness and product recollection

The globalization of today’s advertising- and trade channels has unlocked the possibilities to create brand awareness significantly. The immense exposure of ads allows marketers to reach millions of consumers through various media – brands stand and fall with their marketing. Therefore, we thought that it would be interesting to study the impact of the humorous appeals in advertising as it is the most commonly used trait in televised commercials today. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to get a better understanding of humorous appeal impact on brand awareness and product recollection. The study has a qualitative approach and we gathered data from interviews that were analyzed from a within-case perspective. The study has shown that the humorous appeal on advertising disrupts the promotion of products in commercials. Although, the empirical results indicate that some product recollection remains. Moreover, it also indicated that the humorous characteristics added to the shown commercial had little or no impact on the information processing. Finally the humorous media will have to be consistent to minimize the information processing interference.Validerat; 20150627 (global_studentproject_submitter