Re-estimating the relationship between inequality and growth

In this paper, we revisit the inequality-growth relationship using an enhanced panel data set with improved inequality data and special attention to the role of transition countries. We base our analysis on the specification of Forbes (2000), but also address the functional form concerns raised by Banerjee and Duflo (2003). We arrive at three main findings: First, similar to Forbes we find a significant positive association between inequality and subsequent economic growth in the full sample, but this is entirely driven by transition (post-Soviet) countries. Second, this positive relationship in transition countries is not robust to the inclusion of separate time effects. Lastly, it therefore appears that this association is not causal but rather driven by the particular dynamics of the transition. Our finding is consistent with the claim that the relationship between inequality and growth emerges due to the particular timing of inequality and growth dynamics in transition countries. In particular, the rise in inequality in the 1990s coincided with a sharp output collapse, leading us to find an association between the large increase in inequality in the early 1990 and a growth recovery in the late 1990s. In sum, once the transition country dynamics are accounted for, we find no robust, systematic relationship between inequality and subsequent growth, neither for levels nor for changes in inequality. These results hold for different lag structures as well as in the medium- rather than the short term, and the empirical patterns observed are robust to the use of different data sets on inequality

Bienzymatic production and reaction-integrated separation of laminaribiose by ad- and desorption on zeolite BEA

Carbohydrates are fundamental constituents in nutrition, feed and numerous technical applications. Especially for the “rare sugars”, a growing number of applications in chemical and pharmaceutical industry have been developed recently. Laminaribiose has been identified as possible building block in new cancer medication This contribution introduces a bienzymatic production strategy for laminaribiose with a reaction-integrated adsorption to overcome the disadvantage of consecutive reactions and to improve the purity of the product. Laminaribiose is produced using sucrose and glucose as cheap reactants with sucrose phosphorylase and laminaribiose phosphorylase as enzymatic catalysts. Immobilization strategies were developed to retain the enzymes in the reaction solution enabling a continuous process and improving the operation time of the process. BEA 150 zeolites are used as adsorbent due to their specific adsorption of laminaribiose. The batch process was conducted in vessels between 2 mL and 25 mL and a MATLAB tool was developed to model this processes. Therefore, single enzyme kinetics and single component isotherms were used in the model. Furthermore, the loss of capacity over reaction time for the zeolite was determined using dynamic methods and integrated into the model. Simulations showed a good agreement between the model and the experimental data for all experiments, see figure 1 left. The derived model was then used to optimize the process conditions leading to a final loading of the zeolites of approximately 27 mglaminaribiose/gzeolite. Downstream processing of these zeolites included several washing and desorption steps and improved the purity in the final desorbate to approximately 75 % with an overall yield of the downstream process of 25 % although downstream processing is not optimized yet (figure 1 right). In comparison, the purity in the supernatant after the reaction was about 25 %. Moreover, the products of unwanted consecutive reactions could be decreased by 20 % resulting in an increase of laminaribiose formed by about 5 % with 200 gzeolite/L by the reaction-integrated separation in comparison to the reaction without zeolites. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Multi-stage liquid/liquid extraction with a zaiput apparatus

Poorly separable liquid/liquid mixtures often pose a major challenge in pharmaceutical extraction. In particular, compounds containing a low difference of density are difficult to separate using mixer-settler setups. The Zaiput device can prove an advantage over present liquid/liquid extractors. The research work involves characterizing the Zaiput apparatus for liquid/liquid extraction of pharmaceutical compounds with the model solvent system toluene-water. The extraction efficiency was investigated for a solvent mixture containing toluene-acetone-water residence times. To evaluate the separation success, the outlet’s concentrations are measured via IR spectroscopy

The extended Elution by characteristic Point Method to determine Adsorption Isotherms of Labyrinthopeptin for Purification via Ion-Exchange Chromatography

Ion-exchange chromatography (IEC) is the most frequently used technique to purify proteins and therefore, plays an important role in process development for therapeutical proteins. To improve the purification using ion-exchange chromatography, adequate characterization of adsorption isotherms is obligatory. The Elution by Characteristic Point method (ECP) can be used to determine adsorption isotherms applying only minor amounts of sample material to the chromatography column. Here, the applicability of the extended ECP method to determine adsorption isotherms of the model protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) using bovine hemoglobin (bHb) as tracer substance to quantify all nonidealities of the system is shown. The resulting isotherm was validated using the static batch approach. In the next step, the gained knowledge is used to measure isotherms of Labyrinthopeptins A1 and A2, which show promising activity against retroviruses like herpes simplex virus or human immunodeficiency virus

Inequality - worldwide trends and current debates

Income inequality has been rising in many developing countries since the 1980s. At the same time, global income inequality has been roughly stable (or even falling slightly) and there is great heterogeneity in within-country inequality trends across countries and regions. Non-income inequality tends to have fallen, both within and between countries. There is no empirical evidence that rising inequality is an inevitable consequence of economic growth; similarly, the evidence of the impact of changes in inequality on growth is also inconclusive, although higher levels of inequality appear to be harmful for subsequent development. At the same time, reducing inequality is seen as important to promote greater fairness as well as to speed up poverty reduction. To study trends in inequality, we use a framework where income inequality is related to inequality in assets (land, labor, human capital, and physical capital), return to these assets, inequality in private transfers, and redistribution by the state. Trends in inequality are tied to these different drivers which differ greatly by country and over time. This framework also generates opportunities for policy intervention to tackle inequality. This will, however, depend greatly on the country. As a result, it is useful to start a policy framework with an inequality diagnostics to identify the most important drivers of levels and changes in inequality in a particular country; this is also an activity where bilateral development partners can play an important supporting role. When it comes to particular policy issues, some of the issues that have been discussed for a long time remain highly relevant, including land reform (where land is still an important asset), pro-poor educational policies, rural infrastructure, and a focus on improving agricultural productivity of poor farmers. At the same time, increasing the redistributive role of the state through a higher tax take (to be achieved via broadening the tax base, increasing tax compliance, increase resource taxes), and increasing pro-poor social transfers. On the international dimension, there is now a greater emphasis on assisting developing countries with fighting tax evasion and tax avoidance of firms and individuals. As a single bilateral donor, it is not easy to have a significant impact on inequality and an explicit aid program on inequality reduction might also be politically contentious. In principle, the potential is there for significantly affecting inequality via technical cooperation assisting states (and potentially non-state actors) in implementing an inequality-reducing agenda. Budget support and other systemic approaches can of course also support an overall agenda of reducing inequality, as can investment projects if they focus on the policy-areas for inequality reduction outlined here

Fouling pathways in emulsion polymerization differentiated with a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) integrated into the reactor wall

Emulsion polymerization fouling at hot interfaces is studied in situ, making use of a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). The resonator crystal is heated with a ring-shaped thermal pad from the back, turning it into a plate with elevated temperature. Configured to be one of the walls of a small reactor for emulsion polymerization, this resonator is prone to heat-transfer fouling, similar to regular heated parts of process equipment. The fouling kinetics is readily quantified with this QCM. During polymerization at constant temperature (80 °C), some deposition is always observed. However, a film with a thickness of less than 1 μm (determined gravimetrically with the QCM) is sometimes found, which stabilizes the surface against the deposition of much thicker layers. When reaction fouling proceeds directly to thick deposits, a small increase in resonance bandwidth often occurs a few minutes prior to the main transition, presumably caused by coagulum formed in the bulk making first contact with the surface. Furthermore, particle fouling is studied with temperature ramps on nonreactive dispersions. Fouling, if present, is readily observed

Continuous Krapcho Dealkoxycarbonylation in API Synthesis

A high pressure and high temperature continuous flow reactor has been used to intensify a Krapcho dealkoxycarbonylation reaction in the context of API synthesis. The reactor enables operation of the reaction above temperatures possible in batch and thus significantly increased conversion rates are achieved. Also a broader choice of solvents is possible by the use of the continuous process. Batch and continuous reaction are compared in terms of operation range and space-time-yield. Despite lower concentrations of the reactants in the continuous process, space-time-yield exceeds that of the batch process by more than an order of magnitude due to the higher reaction rates