Hunger Incidence in the Philippines: Facts, Determinants and Challenges

The high level of hunger incidence in the country is perhaps one of the most pressing issues that need to be addressed by our policy makers. Official government statistics and data from self-rated hunger surveys show an increasing trend in hunger incidence among Filipino households. Data from National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) show that the percentage of subsistence poor in the country increased to 14.6 percent in 2006 from 13.5 percent in 2003. The Social Weather Stations (SWS) quarterly surveys on hunger incidence also show an increasing trend in the percentage of families that experienced hunger, reaching an alarming level of 24 percent in December 2009, representing about 4.4 million households. One probable cause of the increasing trend in hunger is the rising food prices akin to what the country experienced in 2008. This paper aims to determine the impact of food inflation and underemployment on hunger incidence in the Philippines, using the hunger incidence data from the SWS quarterly surveys on hunger. A vector autoregressive (VAR) model is used to determine the effect of a shock or increase to food inflation and underemployment on total involuntary hunger. Results from the model show that an increase in food prices at the current quarter will increase hunger incidence for a period of five quarters, starting with immediate quarter after the shock occurred. Shocks to underemployment will also increase hunger incidence but the effects last for only two quarters, also starting with immediate quarter after the shock. The results of this study provide relevant information that will be useful in crafting policies related to the Hunger Mitigation Program of the government.hunger; food inflation; underemployment; vector autoregressive models

Hunger Incidence in the Philippines: Facts, Determinants and Challenges

The high level of hunger incidence in the country is perhaps one of the most pressing issues that need to be addressed by our policy makers. Official government statistics and data from self-rated hunger surveys show an increasing trend in hunger incidence among Filipino households. Data from National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) show that the percentage of subsistence poor in the country increased to 14.6 percent in 2006 from 13.5 percent in 2003. The Social Weather Stations (SWS) quarterly surveys on hunger incidence also show an increasing trend in the percentage of families that experienced hunger, reaching an alarming level of 24 percent in December 2009, representing about 4.4 million households. One probable cause of the increasing trend in hunger is the rising food prices akin to what the country experienced in 2008. This paper aims to determine the impact of food inflation and underemployment on hunger incidence in the Philippines, using the hunger incidence data from the SWS quarterly surveys on hunger. A vector autoregressive (VAR) model is used to determine the effect of a shock or increase to food inflation and underemployment on total involuntary hunger. Results from the model show that an increase in food prices at the current quarter will increase hunger incidence for a period of five quarters, starting with immediate quarter after the shock occurred. Shocks to underemployment will also increase hunger incidence but the effects last for only two quarters, also starting with immediate quarter after the shock. The results of this study provide relevant information that will be useful in crafting policies related to the Hunger Mitigation Program of the government.Hunger, food inflation, underemployment, vector autoregressive models.

Asymptotic distribution theory for break point estimators in models estimated via 2SLS

In this paper, we present a limiting distribution theory for the break point estimator in a linear regression model with multiple structural breaks obtained by minimizing a Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS) objective function. Our analysis covers both the case in which the reduced form for the endogenous regressors is stable and the case in which it is unstable with multiple structural breaks. For stable reduced forms, we present a limiting distribution theory under two different scenarios: in the case where the parameter change is of fixed magnitude, it is shown that the resulting distribution depends on the distribution of the data and is not of much practical use for inference; in the case where the magnitude of the parameter change shrinks with the sample size, it is shown that the resulting distribution can be used to construct approximate large sample confidence intervals for the break points. For unstable reduced forms, we consider the case where the magnitudes of the parameter changes in both the equation of interest and the reduced forms shrink with the sample size at potentially different rates and not necessarily the same locations in the sample. The resulting limiting distribution theory can be used to construct approximate large sample confidence intervals for the break points. The finite sample performance of these intervals are analyzed in a small simulation study and the intervals are illustrated via an application to the New Keynesian Phillips curve

Stability and correlations in dilute two-dimensional boson systems

The hyperspherical adiabatic expansion method is used to describe correlations in a symmetric boson system rigorously confined to two spatial dimensions. The hyperangular eigenvalue equation turns out to be almost independent of the hyperradius, whereas the solutions are strongly varying with the strength of the attractive two-body potentials. Instability is encountered in hyperangular, hyperradial, and mean-field equations for almost identical strengths inversely proportional to the particle number. The derived conditions for stability are similar to mean-field conditions and closely related to the possible occurrence of the Thomas and Efimov effects. Renormalization in mean-field calculations for two spatial dimensions is probably not needed.Comment: 5 pages, two figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. A, second version contains added discussion, especially of renormalizatio

Signatures of Strong Correlations in One-Dimensional Ultra-Cold Atomic Fermi Gases

Recent success in manipulating ultra-cold atomic systems allows to probe different strongly correlated regimes in one-dimension. Regimes such as the (spin-coherent) Luttinger liquid and the spin-incoherent Luttinger liquid can be realized by tuning the inter-atomic interaction strength and trap parameters. We identify the noise correlations of density fluctuations as a robust observable (uniquely suitable in the context of trapped atomic gases) to discriminate between these two regimes. Finally, we address the prospects to realize and probe these phenomena experimentally using optical lattices.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-Bohm experiment with relativistic massive particles

The EPRB experiment with massive partcles can be formulated if one defines spin in a relativistic way. Two versions are discussed: The one using the spin operator defined via the relativistic center-of-mass operator, and the one using the Pauli-Lubanski vector. Both are shown to lead to the SAME prediction for the EPRB experiment: The degree of violation of the Bell inequality DECREASES with growing velocity of the EPR pair of spin-1/2 particles. The phenomenon can be physically understood as a combined effect of the Lorentz contraction and the Moller shift of the relativistic center of mass. The effect is therefore stronger than standard relativistic phenomena such as the Lorentz contraction or time dilatation. The fact that the Bell inequality is in general less violated than in the nonrelativistic case will have to be taken into account in tests for eavesdropping if massive particles will be used for a key transfer.Comment: Figures added as appeared in PRA, two typos corrected (one important in the formula for eigenvector in Sec. IV); link to the unpublished 1984 paper containing the results (without typos!) of Sec. IV is adde