Learning to export and the timing of entry to export markets

Firms that engage in exporting normally enter their first export markets a number of years after beginning to sell locally, then enter subsequent export markets progressively. Standard trade models are essentially static and do not capture these elementary facts about exporting, which biases the estimation of trade patterns and limits understanding of potentially important aspects of firms’ exporting behaviour. This paper proposes a model for the timing of entry to new export markets. The model endogenously generates the timing of entry to each market through a learning mechanism: the fixed cost of entry to a given export market is reduced by the experience gained from having entered other markets. More productive firms are less sensitive to the learning effect and therefore (1) enter markets more quickly and (2) enter larger markets earlier and smaller markets later than less productive firms. These predictions are confirmed using Swedish firm-level data. The latter prediction in particular is difficult to explain using alternative mechanisms and therefore endorses the learning effect as an explanation for the timing of entry. The model additionally predicts that more productive firms export more widely and that firms of all productivity levels enter nearer markets earlier, which are strong features of the data.export market entry; learning by exporting; fixed costs; heterogeneous firms

Regional Policy in a Multiregional Setting: When the Poorest are Hurt by Subsidies

Regional policies that seek to reduce economic inequalities between regions are common. These policies normally involve subsidies or transfers to the poorest regions. Over any given short-term horizon such subsidies serve to reduce inter-regional inequalities, but as they also affect migration patterns the long-term effects are less clear. This paper demonstrates using a three-region, general equilibrium model that subsidising the poorest region may be to the detriment of the periphery as a whole and even to the very region that receives the subsidy, if the subsidy draws firms away from a nearby region that would function better as a production centre. Though further research is needed to isolate the conditions under which such an effect would arise, the result has potentially important implications for the design of regional policy.Regional policy; production externalities; agglomeration; multiregion model

Engaging the 'Xbox generation of learners' in Higher Education

The research project identifies examples of technology used to empower learning of Secondary school pupils that could be used to inform students’ engagement in learning with technology in the Higher Education sector. Research was carried out in five partnership Secondary schools and one associate Secondary school to investigate how pupils learn with technology in lessons and to identify the pedagogy underpinning such learning. Data was collected through individual interviews with pupils, group interviews with members of the schools’ councils, lesson observations, interviews with teachers, pupil surveys, teacher surveys, and a case study of a learning event. In addition, data was collected on students’ learning with technology at the university through group interviews with students and student surveys in the School of Education and Professional Development, and through surveys completed by students across various university departments. University tutors, researchers, academic staff, learning technology advisers, and cross sector partners from the local authority participated in focus group interviews on the challenges facing Higher Education in engaging new generations of students, who have grown up in the digital age, in successful scholarly learning

Hearing behaviour: social interaction as a means of creating emergent situations in/as/through music

This body of writing serves as accompaniment to a portfolio of musical compositions and visual media composed between September 2013 and August 2014. The work is in three parts. Part one sets the context of the compositions with reference to numerous other artists, explaining the political need for compositions of this kind and how these relate to the topic of emergence in relation to group performance and social enrichment. This part also makes reference to the philosophical influence behind the works and how these ideas might be relevant to wider society. Part two offers a commentary on the works themselves, explaining the thinking that brought them about, and a narrative of the development from one composition to the next. Part three offers a reflection of how well these works relate to the originally stated political agenda, as well as outlining my plans for future artistic direction

Evolving a DSL implementation

Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) are small languages designed for use in a specific domain. DSLs typically evolve quite radically throughout their lifetime, but current DSL implementation approaches are often clumsy in the face of such evolution. In this paper I present a case study of an DSL evolving in its syntax, semantics, and robustness, implemented in the Converge language. This shows how real-world DSL implementations can evolve along with changing requirements

A role-based perspective on leadership as a network of relationships.

The research described in this article seeks to address the question of the extent to which a role-based perspective can provide insight into the distributed and networked form of leadership

Comparing two measures of mental toughness

This paper tested relations between two measures of mental toughness. A sample of 110 male athletes (M age = 20.81 years; SD = 2.76), derived from University sports teams and local sports clubs, gave informed consent before completing two questionnaires to assess mental toughness. It was hypothesized that scales and subscales from the two different instruments, which purported to measure the same or substantially overlapping scales, would be strongly correlated. Predictions concerning the expected relations were made a priori. Pearson correlations revealed a significant and positive relationship between higher order mental toughness scores (r = .75; p <.001). Correlations between similar mental toughness subscales were found to be positive and significant but somewhat lower than expected (r = .49 to .62). Results suggest instrument subscales with similar labels are not measuring the same components of mental toughness

Liquid oil painting: Free and forced convection in an enclosure with mechanical and thermal forcing

A fluid dynamics video is linked to this article, which have been submitted to the Gallery of Fluid Motion as part of the 65th American Physical Society meeting of the Division of Fluid Dynamics, held in San Diego, California, USA, over 17-20 November 2012. The video serves to visualize flows generated in a rectangular enclosure that are subjected to both mechanical and thermal forcing through a common horizontal boundary. This system exhibits features consistent with either horizontal convection or lid-driven cavity flows depending on the ratio between thermal and mechanical stirring, and three different cases are visualized in the linked videos.Comment: 2 video files attached, 4 pages, 1 figure. This article is submitted accompanying a video submitted to the Gallery of Fluid Motion as part of the 65th Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting of the American Physical Society (17-20 November, San Diego, CA, USA

Space, place and (waiting) time: reflections on health policy and politics

AbstractHealth systems have repeatedly addressed concerns about efficiency and equity by employing trans-national comparisons to draw out the strengths and weaknesses of specific policy initiatives. This paper demonstrates the potential for explicit historical analysis of waiting times for hospital treatment to add value to spatial comparative methodologies. Waiting times and the size of the lists of waiting patients have become key operational indicators. In the United Kingdom, as National Health Service (NHS) financial pressures intensified from the 1970s, waiting times have become a topic for regular public and political debate. Various explanations for waiting times include the following: hospital consultants manipulate NHS waiting lists to maintain their private practice; there is under-investment in the NHS; and available (and adequate) resources are being used inefficiently. Other countries have also experienced ongoing tensions between the public and private delivery of universal health care in which national and trans-national comparisons of waiting times have been regularly used. The paper discusses the development of key UK policies, and provides a limited Canadian comparative perspective, to explore wider issues, including whether ‘waiting crises’ were consciously used by policymakers, especially those brought into government to implement new economic and managerial strategies, to diminish the autonomy and authority of the medical professional in the hospital environment.</jats:p

Airports have a small benefit on employment in local service sectors, but no measurable effect on others

The U.S. contains hundreds of commercial airports, which have massive positive economic effects through transport and trade access. But can cities justify their desires to build new airports, or enlarge old ones, on the basis that they increase local employment levels as well? Using data from 48 U.S. states, Nicholas Sheard takes a close look at how airports, and airport sizes, affect sectoral employment in cities. He finds that while airports have a positive effect on local employment in ‘tradable’ services, such as publishing and financial services, they have next to no effect on manufacturing or on other employment sectors