Human Development, Social Interactions, and Identity Formation

40 pagesThis paper presents a general theory of child development that incorporates interactive learning and identity formation in social interactions with caregivers. The model sheds light on many puzzling aspects of child development. Child learning responds nonmonotonically to caregivers' attention and approval in social interactions. I highlight key parental characteristics associated with child learning, and identity formation. The theory also explains why media devices widen human inequality. Lessons are finally drawn for the design of policies that alleviate human inequality

D.C.P.L. - A distributed control programming language

technical reportIn this thesis, a computation is considered a system of asynchronously cooperating "independent" programs (coroutines) linked by paths of in formation along which messages are sent. A programming language called DCPL, a Distributed Control Programming Language, in which such computations may be expressed, and which may be considered as a system - oriented programming language, is presented. A tree-structured represent at ion and a very dynamic binding give t o a DCPL program the flexibility of the highest level programming languages together with the potential of concurrency of the asynchronous computational structures. The locality of references which is exhibited in any DCPL program allows a new computer organization using sequential storage devices with large transfer rate instead of random-access storage devices with relatively low transfer rate. Moreover, the computer is expected to achieve a large throughput by taking the parallel ism in to account

The Political Economy of Foreign Aid and Growth: Theory and Evidence

In this paper, we demonstrate that even when foreign aid is used to fund patronage, it may still have a positive - and significant - effect on economic growth in developing countries. First, we present a theory that formalizes the effect of aid on economic growth and patronage. Next, we provide evidence from Pakistan consistent with the predictions of the model that foreign aid increases economic growth, despite being used for patronage. The identification strategy we propose allows us to provide causal evidence for the predictions of the model

Crystallization of YIoQ, a GTPase of unknown function essential for Bacillus subtilis viability

YLoQ is a putative ATP/GTP-binding protein of unknown function identified from the complete sequence of the Bacillus subtilis genome. A gene-knockout programme established that yloQ is one of a set of some 270 indispensable genes for the viability of this organism. Crystals of YloQ have been grown from HEPES-buffered solutions at pH 7.5 containing polyethylene glycol and diffraction data have been collected extending to 2.5 Angstrom spacing

A Theory of Cultural Revivals

Why do some societies have political institutions that support productively inefficient outcomes? And why does the political power of elites vested in these outcomes often grow over time, even when they are unable to block more efficient modes of production? We propose an explanation centered on the interplay between political and cultural change. We build a model in which cultural values are transmitted inter-generationally. The cultural composition of society, in turn, determines public good provision as well as the future political power of elites from different cultural groups. We characterize the equilibrium of the model and provide sufficient conditions for the emergence of cultural revivals. These are characterized as movements in which both the cultural composition of society as well as the political power of elites who are vested in productively inefficient outcomes grow over time. We reveal the usefulness of our framework by applying it to two case studies: the Jim Crow South and Turkey\u27s Gülen Movement

Migrants and firms : evidence from China

This paper estimates the causal effect of rural-urban migration on urban production in China. We use longitudinal data on manufacturing firms between 2001 and 2006 and exploit exogenous variation in rural-urban migration due to agricultural price shocks. Following a migrant inflow, labor costs decline and employment expands. Labor productivity decreases sharply and remains low in the medium run. A quantitative framework suggests that destinations become too labor-abundant and migration mostly benefits lowproductivity firms within locations. As migrants select into high-productivity destinations, migration however strongly contributes to the equalization of factor productivity across locations

Culture, Institutions & the \u3cem\u3eLong Divergence\u3c/em\u3e

During the medieval and early modern periods the Middle East lost its economic advantage relative to the West. Recent explanations of this historical phenomenon— called the Long Divergence—focus on these regions’ distinct political economy choices regarding religious legitimacy and limited governance. We study these features in a political economy model of the interactions between rulers, secular and clerical elites, and civil society. The model induces a joint evolution of culture and political institutions (delegation of power from rulers to elites) converging to one of two distinct stationary states: a religious and a secular regime. We then map qualitatively parameters and initial conditions characterizing the West and the Middle East (separation between state and religion, initial political power of clerical elites, and predominance of religious values in the population) into the implied model dynamics to show that they are consistent with the Long Divergence as well as with several key stylized political and economic facts highlighted in the historical narrative. Most notably, this mapping suggests non-monotonic political economy strategies in both regions, in terms of legitimacy and limited governance, which indeed characterize their history