Bilateral export trade and income similarity: Does the Linder hypothesis hold for agricultural and food trade?

In this paper we investigate the Linder hypothesis for bilateral export trade in agricultural and food products by utilizing the sectoral gravity equation derived in Hallak (2010). Based on a sample of 152 countries, we study the relationship for 737 agricultural and food products at the 6-digit HS code level, using trade data for 1995-2012. We estimate the gravity equation year by and year and sector by sector, analyzing the estimates of Linder's term for two specifications of the similarity index. We compare a theoretically justified definition of the index with an adjusted definition that takes into account relative prices. We show that similar demand structures determine bilateral export trade. Accounting for relative prices, we find that the Linder term is more pronounced. Our findings show that the similarity effect is strongest for processed products and weakest for bulk products. From those results we come to the conclusion that similar aggregate preferences are a major driver of export trade in final consumption goods

The impact of ambient air pollution on hospital admissions

Ambient air pollution is the environmental factor with the most significant impact on human health. Several epidemiological studies provide evidence for an association between ambient air pollution and human health. However, the recent economic literature has challenged the identification strategy used in these studies. This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion by investigating the association between ambient air pollution and morbidity using hospital admission data from Switzerland. Our identification strategy rests on the construction of geographically explicit pollution measures derived from a dispersion model that replicates atmospheric conditions and accounts for several emission sources. The reduced form estimates account for location and time fixed effects and show that ambient air pollution has a substantial impact on hospital admissions. In particular, we show that SO2 and NO2 are positively associated with admission rates for coronary artery and cerebrovascular diseases while we find no similar correlation for PM10 and O3. Our robustness checks support these findings and suggest that dispersion models can help in reducing the measurement error inherent to pollution exposure measures based on station-level pollution data. Therefore, our results may contribute to a more accurate evaluation of future environmental policies aiming at a reduction of ambient air pollution exposure

The impact of ambient air pollution on hospital admissions

Ambient air pollution is the environmental factor with the most significant impact on human health. Several epidemiological studies provide evidence for an association between ambient air pollution and human health. However, the recent economic literature has challenged the identification strategy used in these studies. This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion by investigating the association between ambient air pollution and morbidity using hospital admission data from Switzerland. Our identification strategy rests on the construction of geographically explicit pollution measures derived from a dispersion model that replicates atmospheric conditions and accounts for several emission sources. The reduced form estimates account for location and time fixed effects and show that ambient air pollution has a substantial impact on hospital admissions. In particular, we show that SO2 and NO2 are positively associated with admission rates for coronary artery and cerebrovascular diseases while we find no similar correlation for PM10 and O3. Our robustness checks support these findings and suggest that dispersion models can help in reducing the measurement error inherent to pollution exposure measures based on station-level pollution data. Therefore, our results may contribute to a more accurate evaluation of future environmental policies aiming at a reduction of ambient air pollution exposure

The effect of local growth in antidepressant consumption on mental health outcomes

Despite growing skepticism regarding the efficacy of antidepressants, global consumption is increasing at an unprecedented path with unknown implications for society. We estimate the causal effect of this increase on mental health outcomes using an IV strategy that exploits detailed drug sales data from Switzerland between 2002 and 2014. Our instrument, a modified version of the popular shift-share instrument, relies on the national growth in antidepressant sales for pharmaceutical companies (the shift) - mainly due to product innovation - and assigns it locally using regional non-antidepressant market shares. Our estimates show that an increase in antidepressants sales does not significantly affect suicide rates but cause an increase of hospital admissions for mental disorder and for depression. The causal effects prove to be resistant to several robustness checks

A Longitudinal Assessment of Racial and Ethnic Inequities in Food Environment Exposure and Retail Market Concentration

Abstract Objective: This paper assesses trends in food environment and market concentration and racial and ethnic inequities in food environment exposure and food retail market concentration at the U.S. census tract level from 2000 to 2019. Design: Establishment-level data from the National Establishment Time Series were used to measure food environment exposure and food retail market concentration. We linked that dataset to race, ethnicity, and social vulnerability information from the American Community Survey and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. A geospatial hot-spot analysis was conducted to identify relatively low and high healthy food access clusters based on the Modified Retail Food Environment Index (mRFEI). The associations were assessed using two-way fixed effects regression models. Setting: Census tracts spanning all U.S. states Participants: 69,904 US census tracts Results: The geospatial analysis revealed clear patterns of areas with high and low mRFEI values. Our empirical findings point to disparities in food environment exposure and market concentration by race. The analysis shows that Asian Americans are likelier to live in neighborhoods with a low food environment exposure and low retail market concentration. These adverse effects are more pronounced in metro areas. The robustness analysis for the social vulnerability index confirms these results. Conclusion: U.S. food policies must address disparities in neighborhood food environments and foster a healthy, profitable, equitable, and sustainable food system. Our findings may inform equity-oriented neighborhood, land use, and food systems planning. Identifying priority areas for investment and policy interventions is essential for equity-oriented neighborhood planning

Deep-UV high resolution cavity ring-down spectroscopy of the Schumann-Runge bands in O-16(2) and O-18(2) at wavelengths 197-203 nm

With the use of a novel titanium: sapphire laser source delivering, upon fourth harmonic generation, narrowband and tunable radiation in the deep-UV, spectroscopic studies were performed on weak Schumann-Runge bands of oxygen. Improved values for rotational and fine structure molecular parameters for the B(3)Sigma(u)(-), v = 0-2 states of O-16(2) were determined, as well as values for the v = 0-1 states in O-18(2). Signal detection was accomplished via cavity ring-down spectroscopy. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Bilateral export trade and income similarity: Does the Linder hypothesis hold for agricultural and food trade?

In this paper we invesƟgate the Linder hypothesis for bilateral export trade in agricultural and food products by uƟlizing the sectoral gravity equaƟon derived in Hallak (2010). Based on a sample of 152 countries, we study the relaƟonship for 737 agricultural and food products at the 6-digit HS code level, using trade data for 1995-2012. We esƟmate the gravity equaƟon year by and year and sector by sector, analyzing the esƟmates of Linder's term for two specificaƟons of the similarity index. We compare a theoreƟcally jusƟfied definiƟon of the index with an adjusted definiƟon that takes into account relaƟve prices. We show that similar demand structures determine bilateral export trade. AccounƟng for relaƟve prices, we find that the Linder term is more pronounced. Our find¬ings show that the similarity effect is strongest for processed products and weakest for bulk products. From those results we come to the conclusion that similar aggregate preferences are a major driver of export trade in final consumpƟon goods

Exchange Rate Volatility and Grain Trade: A Gravity Model Analysis at the Sectoral Level

There has been a controversy among economists on whether exchange rate volatility has a negative effect on trade. We will investigate this issue by making use of a sectoral gravity model of global grain trade. Our identification strategy carefully addresses endogeneity issues present in earlier studies. Using a long panel, we are able to show that exchange rate volatility has a negative impact on bilateral export trade flows. The magnitude of this effect can vary widely, depending on the market under study, which is an indicator for substantial heterogeneity among sectors

Exchange Rate Volatility and Agricultural Commodity Trade

This paper is concerned with the relationship between exchange rate volatility and agricultural commodity trade. Since the Bretton Woods system had been established in 1973, many countries have moved from a fixed exchange rate system to a floating system. The increase in volatility has provoked considerable interest both in the theoretical and empirical trade literature. I contribute to the ongoing debate on the relationship between exchange rate volatility and commodity trade by testing for a causal effect at the commodity level. My empirical results provide evidence for a significant effect of exchange rate volatility on agricultural commodity trade. I find that the higher the exchange rate volatility between two countries is, the less these countries trade with each other. The magnitude of this effect varies widely, but is strongest for differentiated commodities. Lastly, I find that the use of the end-month volatility measure masks the true effect of exchange rate volatility as the measure provides significantly lower effect estimates