Rural to Urban Migration and Network Effects in an Extended Family Framework

Literature on migration and network effects suggests that the rate of migration is positively related to the extent or degree of personal and community level networks potential migrants have at the destination. However in this particular paper it is shown that when the decision making unit is the extended family and there is a minimum wage induced Harris-Todaro type job rationing in the urban sector having greater numbers of previous migrants at the urban end does not necessarily lead to more migration from the hinterland. This counter intuitive result is generated as a consequence of juxtaposing an extended family framework with urban equilibrium unemployment in the model. A larger stock of previous migrants at the urban end has a positive effect on new migration which comes specifically through a greater flow of remittance income from the migrants to their rural counterparts - the two households comprising the extended family. The increased remittance income provides a positive stimulus to migration as it relaxes the migration cost constraints facing the extended family. On the other hand limited jobs in the urban sector and the resultant job rationing implies that a greater number of previous migrants also crowds out job opportunities for the new ones thus simultaneously reducing incentives to migrate. The direction of the net effect however depends on the economic characteristics of the extended family and the initial employment conditions in the urban sector.Harris-Todaro, Migration, extended family framework

Migration, Policy and Welfare in the Context of Developing Economies : A Simple Extended Family Approach

After giving an overview of the state of migration policy in developing countries with special reference to Pakistan this paper essentially revisits the issue of policy and its effect on rural to urban migration under an extended family theoretical framework. This specific approach is motivated by empirical literature on migration in the context of developing countries which suggests the emergence of spatially separated but economically linked rural and urban households - expanded or extended families. The extended family in this paper consists of two households, the rural-origin and its urban-migrant offshoot. The migrant after leaving the countryside joins relatives in the city who through the assumption of income sharing within households sustain the migrant in case of unemployment. The economic tie linking the two households is remittances flowing from the migrants to the family members left behind. All decisions, migration and remittance, are based on altruism rather then self-interest. Thus in the model both migration and remittances are endogenously determined. This extended family framework is then employed to analyze the effect of the standard policy prescriptions, i.e., urban employment subsidy and a rural income subsidy on migration and urban employment. Also, the welfare effect of a subsidy transfer from urban to rural sector is analyzed. The results, especially in the case of the rural subsidy provision, are qualitatively different from those in the standard Harris-Todaro type literature on migration suggesting the sensitivity of predicted policy effects on the type of methodology employed.migration policy, Pakistan, extended family framework, Harris-Todaro

Services Trade Negotiations in the Doha Round : Opportunities and Risks for Pakistan

This paper seeks to examine how locking-in of Pakistans unilateral liberalization at the WTO/GATS and further liberalization of services trade would affect Pakistans competitiveness. Focusing on the opportunities and risks of such liberalization the paper discusses possible options regarding the corollary regulatory reforms and other flanking measures that may be needed to achieve these goals. The sectors studied in this paper are (a) construction and related engineering services; (b) architecture, engineering and integrated engineering services; (c) energy services; and (d) environmental services.liberalization, Services, regulation, Pakistan

Prospects of Wheat and Sugar Trade between India and Pakistan : A Simple Welfare Analysis

This paper asks how opening up of wheat and sugar trade between two nuclear neighbours, India and Pakistan, would affect welfare in the two countries. We conduct a partial equilibrium analysis to simulate welfare implications of trade between the two countries under three alternative trade regimes : a) under an FTA between India and Pakistan, b) under SAFTA, and c) under a grant of mostfavoured nation (MFN) to India by Pakistan. We conduct simple welfare analysis for wheat, on the basis of real world data of FY2005, and for sugar, based on data for FY 2000-01. In both these years, India had a net surplus and Pakistan had a net deficit for both wheat and sugar. We show that among other things, favourable weather conditions play a critical role in generating these surpluses, which are most likely to get reversed in years when weather conditions become more favourable to Pakistan. While we find there would be net gains to both countries, in case trade happens, the highest welfare gains accrue to both countries under free trade agreement. Further analysis reveals that if subsidies to Indian wheat farmers are removed, their competitive edge disappears in favour of wheat farmers in Pakistan.wheat, sugar, trade, weather conditions, Pakistan, India, subsidies

Cryopreservation of sperm of common carp, Cyprinus carpio and silver barb, Barbonymus gonionotus for genetically improved seed production

Experiments were conducted to develop and standardize the protocols for cryopreservation of sperm of common carp, Cyprinus carpio and also for using the cryopreserved sperm for fertilization of eggs. Nine extender solutions as Alsever's solution, kurokura-1, kurokura-2, urea egg-yolk, egg-yolk citrate, 0.6% glucose, 0.9% NaCl, Ma and Mb, and five cryoprotectants namely ethanol, methanol, dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), dimethylamine (DMA) and glycerol were tested. The cryoprotectants were mixed at 10% concentration of the extenders (v/v) to make the cryodiluents. Milt and cryodiluents were mixed at a ratio of 1:9 for Alsever's solution, kurokura-1, kurokura-2, 0.6% glucose and 0.9% NaCl, 1:4 for urea egg-yolk, egg-yolk citrate, Ma and Mb. Among the cryodiluents Alsever's solution mixed with either ethanol or methanol was found to be suitable and it produced more than 90% and 80% spermatozoan motility at equilibrium and post-thaw periods, respectively. Kurokura-1 and kurokura-2 when mixed with the same cryoprotectants showed good spermatozoan motility at equilibrium period (80-90%) but the motility was reduced (30-55%) at post-thaw state. Other extenders did not produce acceptable sperm-motility and in some cases the frozen milt became clotted. Different dilution ratios (1:1, 1:2, 1:4, 1:5, 1:7, 1:9, 1:12, 1:15, 1:20) were formulated for obtaining a suitable milt dilution, the dilution ratio of 1: 9 (milt : cryodiluent) demonstrated the highest post-thaw spermatozoan motility (80%) in Alserver's solution. The optimum concentration of cryoprotectants in the cryodiluents was determined, 10% concentration level was found to be effective to produce the highest number of spermatozoan motility in comparison to the other concentrations (5%, 15%, 20% 30%). Sperm preserved with the cryodiluent Alsever's solution along with either methanol or ethanol was found to be effective to fertilize eggs and produce hatchlings. The hatching rates ranged between 1.48% and 14.76%, compare to control. The fish produced through use of cryopreserved sperm and normal sperm were found to grow well and no significant (P<0.05) growth difference was observed between them. In case of silver barb, Barbonymus gonionotus, sperm tested against six extenders such as egg-yolk citrate, urea-egg-yolk, kurokura-1, kurokura-2, 0.9% NaCl and modified fish ringer (MFR) solution. Cryoprotectants used were the same as those of C. carpio. Milt was diluted with the cryodiluent at a ratio of 1:4 for egg-yolk citrate and urea-egg-yolk, 1:5 for kurokura-1 and 1:9 for 0.9% NaCl, MFR and kurokura-2. The cryoprotectant concentration was maintained at 10% of the extender (v/v) in all the cases. Among the extenders, egg-yolk citrate and urea-egg-yolk mixed with 10% DMSO, methanol and ethanol produced 50% post-thaw spermatozoan motility, whereas DMA and glycerol provided only 10% motility. Trials on milt dilution ratio and cryoprotectant concentration are being conducted. Fertilization trials are also underway

Imaging of the anorectal region

Abstract Imaging of anorectal region has drastically changed during the last decade. Transrectal ultrasound and transrectal MRI can be used for staging the rectal tumours. Endoanal sonography can be applied for the classification of perianal fistulae and identification of anal sphincter defects in patients with faecal incontinence. Due to the limitations of endoanal sonography, endoanal MRI was introduced to assess the pathology related to the anal sphincter complex. Endoanal MRI seems superior to endoanal sonography. This paper describes the new developments of the imaging techniques and presents new insights in anatomy and pathology of the anorectum

The employment impact of microcredit program participation in Bangladesh: Evidence from a longitudinal household survey

Microcredit program, originating in Bangladesh in the late 1970s, has played an important role to meet the financing needs of the impoverished communities around the world. While the successes and failures of microcredit in lifting the poor out of poverty have been recorded in a wide array of literature, the employment outcome of participating in a microcredit program as a pathway to poverty reduction has been studied much less. Using two waves of longitudinal data on over 2000 households, we examine the employment impact of microcredit program in Bangladesh during 1998-2004. The longitudinal nature of data allows us fixed effects estimation of the effect of microcredit program participation on self-employment hours and household labor income isolating the biases that may result from non-random program placement, censoring in self-employment work hours and income data, and non-random sample selection of households or individuals as participants who already have entrepreneurial skills or pre-existing household conditions favourable to self-employment activities. The fixed effects estimate shows that households that participate in microcredit program work on average 245 hours longer in self-employment activities and earn 9.4% higher labor income than non-participant households. These extra hours are equivalent to around 7 weeks of employment for a person. The income effect of microcredit program participation is more discernible on household labor income than on total household income due to lack of direct link of microcredit program with non-labor income sources such as remittance. The participating households at the bottom of the income distribution appear to have gained more than those at the upper end suggesting equalizing effect of microcredit program participation over and above the positive effect on employment and income growth. Thus microcredit program in Bangladesh has succeeded in providing employment generating capacities to participants and raised the potential for income growth that contributed to poverty reduction

Plain film diagnosis in meconium plug syndrome, meconium ileus and neonatal Hirschsprung's disease - A scoring system

Abdominal plain films of 133 neonates, with 82 cases of meconium plug syndrome (MPS), 27 cases of meconium ileus (MI) and 24 cases of neonatal Hirschsprung's disease (HD), were reviewed to assess the value of such radiographs for diagnosis. The radiographs were examined according to a list of 11 parameters. By using multivariate discriminant analysis, it appeared that 4 parameters i.e. dilatation of bowel loops, varying loop calibre, fluid levels and colonic gas were most important in discriminating among the three disorders. For each parameter the weight (in points) was derived. To classify patients, three group-scores had to be calculated: the group-score with the largest value indicated the most likely disorder. So in 99%, 88% and 63% of MPS, HD and MI, respectively, an accurate diagnosis could be predicted. The overall diagnostic accuracy was 89%. Such a diagnosis can be a sound basis for further investigation

Pulse-mode quantum projection synthesis: Effects of mode mismatch on optical state truncation and preparation

Quantum projection synthesis can be used for phase-probability-distribution measurement, optical-state truncation and preparation. The method relies on interfering optical lights, which is a major challenge in experiments performed by pulsed light sources. In the pulsed regime, the time frequency overlap of the interfering lights plays a crucial role on the efficiency of the method when they have different mode structures. In this paper, the pulsed mode projection synthesis is developed, the mode structure of interfering lights are characterized and the effect of this overlap (or mode match) on the fidelity of optical-state truncation and preparation is investigated. By introducing the positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) for the detection events in the scheme, the effect of mode mismatch between the photon-counting detectors and the incident lights are also presented.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.