International Human Capital Formation, Brain Drain and Brain Gain: A conceptual Framework

A two-country, two-period model of international migration highlights microeconomic foundations for examining the interrelation between brain drain, brain gain and the location of human capital formation, at home or abroad. Ex ante choices regarding where to study depend on relative qualities of university systems, individuals' abilities, sunk educational investment costs, government grants, and expected employment prospects in both countries. The analysis underscores an inherently widerange of conceivable positive or negative effects on domestic net welfare. These changes depend critically on the foregoing factors, as well as the optimal design of educational grant schemes, given eventual informational imperfections regarding individuals' capabilities.

Role of orientation reference selection in motion sickness

Previous experiments with moving platform posturography have shown that different people have varying abilities to resolve conflicts among vestibular, visual, and proprioceptive sensory signals used to control upright posture. In particular, there is one class of subjects with a vestibular disorder known as benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) who often are particularly sensitive to inaccurate visual information. That is, they will use visual sensory information for the control of their posture even when that visual information is inaccurate and is in conflict with accurate proprioceptive and vestibular sensory signals. BPPV has been associated with disorders of both posterior semicircular canal function and possibly otolith function. The present proposal hopes to take advantage of the similarities between the space motion sickness problem and the sensory orientation reference selection problems associated with the BPPV syndrome. These similarities include both etiology related to abnormal vertical canal-otolith function, and motion sickness initiating events provoked by pitch and roll head movements. The objectives of this proposal are to explore and quantify the orientation reference selection abilities of subjects and the relation of this selection to motion sickness in humans

Human Capital and Economic Growth : Dynamic Implications of Insider-outsider Problem for Macroeconomics

This paper considers a dynamic model with human capital accumulation, for which both firm-specific skills and general skills are sources of growth. We analyze how the existence of firm-specific skills changes the effects of productivity shocks on economic growth. It is well known that the insider-outsider problem can cause employment inertia in the macro economy because workers with firm-specific skills (insiders) face the hold up problem. However, most previous studies have been static in nature, so that they have paid little attention to dynamic interactions between firm-specific skills and general skills during the adjustment to the new steady state. This paper considers dynamic models that involve creation of human capital from both firm-specific skills and general skills. We show that the insider-outsider problem that is generated through the creation of firm-specific skills can cause a dramatic decline in the youth labor force during a transition path to the steady state. We also show that the problem may result in a temporary economic downturn even if the shock is positive. In Japan, since the mid-1990s, there has been a dramatic increase in the unemployment rate and a substantial decrease in the working population ratio together with increased irregular employment among young people. By analyzing firm-specific human capital as an engine of economic growth, this paper shows that these trends are consistent with our dynamic model. It also demonstrates that the productivity shocks might explain recent dramatic declines in youth employment and temporary declines in growth rates.firm-specific human capital, labor markets, insider-outsider problem

Role of orientation reference selection in motion sickness

The overall objective of this proposal is to understand the relationship between human orientation control and motion sickness susceptibility. Three areas related to orientation control will be investigated. These three areas are (1) reflexes associated with the control of eye movements and posture, (2) the perception of body rotation and position with respect to gravity, and (3) the strategies used to resolve sensory conflict situations which arise when different sensory systems provide orientation cues which are not consistent with one another or with previous experience. Of particular interest is the possibility that a subject may be able to ignore an inaccurate sensory modality in favor of one or more other sensory modalities which do provide accurate orientation reference information. We refer to this process as sensory selection. This proposal will attempt to quantify subjects' sensory selection abilities and determine if this ability confers some immunity to the development of motion sickness symptoms. Measurements of reflexes, motion perception, sensory selection abilities, and motion sickness susceptibility will concentrate on pitch and roll motions since these seem most relevant to the space motion sickness problem. Vestibulo-ocular (VOR) and oculomotor reflexes will be measured using a unique two-axis rotation device developed in our laboratory over the last seven years. Posture control reflexes will be measured using a movable posture platform capable of independently altering proprioceptive and visual orientation cues. Motion perception will be quantified using closed loop feedback technique developed by Zacharias and Young (Exp Brain Res, 1981). This technique requires a subject to null out motions induced by the experimenter while being exposed to various confounding sensory orientation cues. A subject's sensory selection abilities will be measured by the magnitude and timing of his reactions to changes in sensory environments. Motion sickness susceptibility will be measured by the time required to induce characteristic changes in the pattern of electrogastrogram recordings while exposed to various sensory environments during posture and motion perception tests. The results of this work are relevant to NASA's interest in understanding the etiology of space motion sickness. If any of the reflex, perceptual, or sensory selection abilities of subjects are found to correlate with motion sickness susceptibility, this work may be an important step in suggesting a method of predicting motion sickness susceptibility. If sensory selection can provide a means to avoid sensory conflict, then further work may lead to training programs which could enhance a subject's sensory selection ability and therefore minimize motion sickness susceptibility

Governance and economic integration: Stakes for Asia

This paper assesses the nexus between changes in governance structures - at national and cooperative international levels - and evolutionary processes of economic integration in light of regional policy targets in Asia. The analysis highlights the importance of improved governance as an essential condition for effectively attaining an "Asian Economic Community" while arguing that the experience of the European Union (EU) offers valuable insights regarding the process of integration

Regional Integration in Asia and Its Effects on the EU and North America

Consequences of free trade agreements (FTAs) among the ASEAN+3 countries and ASEAN+6 countries are explored using a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. Quantitative assessments of intra and extra-regional effects on welfare, trade and output are offered. When both trade facilitation and endogenously determined productivity are included in the FTA scenarios, Singapore, other ASEAN countries and China would be able to realize relatively large welfare gains, while the welfare effects on the EU and North America are negligible. The trade and output effects on the latter two regions are also relatively small, with the notable exception of crops, other than rice, in North America.Regional integration, FTA, East Asia, welfare effects, CGE model

International Human Capital Formation, Brain Drain and Brain Gain: A conceptual Framework

A two-country, two-period model of international migration highlights microeconomic foundations for examining the interrelation between brain drain, brain gain and the location of human capital formation, at home or abroad. Ex ante choices regarding where to study depend on relative qualities of university systems, individuals' abilities, sunk educational investment costs, government grants, and expected employment prospects in both countries. The analysis underscores an inherently widerange of conceivable positive or negative effects on domestic net welfare. These changes depend critically on the foregoing factors, as well as the optimal design of educational grant schemes, given eventual informational imperfections regarding individuals' capabilities

Formation à l'étranger, fuite des cerveaux et bien-être national : Enjeux et paradoxes dans une perspective microéconomique

Pour étudier les migrations internationales de travailleurs qualifiés, nous construisons un modèle à deux pays : pays d'origine et pays d'accueil. Un étudiant du pays d'origine peut soit entreprendre des études locales, soit aller étudier à l'étranger où il a par la suite une certaine probabilité de trouver un travail qualifié. Son choix dépendra de ses capacités, de la qualité des systèmes éducatifs, du coût relatif des études et des conditions de fonctionnement du marché du travail dans les deux pays. La possibilité de migrer entraîne des changements dans le bien-être du pays d'origine que nous cherchons à évaluer. Nous envisageons également la possibilité que les autorités favorisent les études à l'étranger grâce à un système de bourses qui vont potentiellement accroître ou diminuer le bien-être national.

Role of orientation reference selection in motion sickness

Three areas related to human orientation control are investigated: (1) reflexes associated with the control of eye movements and posture; (2) the perception of body rotation and position with respect to gravity; and (3) the strategies used to resolve sensory conflict situations which arise when different sensory systems provide orientation cues which are not consistent with one another or with previous experience. Of particular interest is the possibility that a subject may be able to ignore an inaccurate sensory modality in favor of one or more other sensory modalities which do provide accurate orientation reference information. This process is referred as sensory selection. This proposal will attempt to quantify subject's sensory selection abilities and determine if this ability confers some immunity to the development of motion sickness symptoms