The complex kinematics of rotating star clusters in a tidal field

We broaden the investigation of the dynamical properties of tidally perturbed, rotating star clusters by relaxing the traditional assumptions of coplanarity, alignment, and synchronicity between the internal and orbital angular velocity vector of their initial conditions. We show that the interplay between the internal evolution of these systems and their interaction with the external tidal field naturally leads to the development of a number of evolutionary features in their three-dimensional velocity space, including a precession and nutation of the global rotation axis and a variation of its orientation with the distance from the cluster centre. In some cases, such a radial variation may manifest itself as a counter-rotation of the outermost regions relative to the inner ones. The projected morphology of these systems is characterized by a non-monotonic ellipticity profile and, depending on the initial inclination of the rotation axis, it may also show a twisting of the projected isodensity contours. These results provide guidance in the identification of non-trivial features which may emerge in upcoming investigations of star cluster kinematics and a dynamical framework to understand some of the complexities already hinted by recent observational studies.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Evidence and implications of non-tradability of food staples in Tanzania 1983-1998

"Economic reform programs assume that major goods are tradable, such that depreciation of the real exchange rate raises the value of output compared to factor costs in domestic currency. In Tanzania, major food staples that account for most real income are non-tradables in at least one-quarter of the country. This is demonstrated and implications assessed for the constraints imposed on macroeconomic-led adjustment strategies." Author's AbstractFood staples ,Food prices ,Tradable goods ,Non-tradable goods ,

Livestock industrialization, trade and social-health-environment impacts in developing countries: a case of Indian poultry sector

This paper presents the results of an empirical study of the Indian Poultry Industry which is specially focused on the social and environmental outcomes generated by the rapidly increasing scale of egg and broiler production in India. Among the effects of these rapid changes that occurred in the poultry industry include increased risk for animal health, changes in demand patters in terms of amount, quality, and food safety, higher prices for high value items; but there is also a threat to smallholders that they will be excluded from more demanding markets. There are important questions, which have arisen with the industrialization of poultry activity in India. Is the scaling up of production driving small producers to disadvantage on account of high transaction costs, policy distortions and environment externalities? Why do some poultry farms have higher incomes than others? Do large farms earn more profit per unit of output than small farms? What explains the differentials in efficiency? An attempt is made here to take stock of these changes and to assess their social and environmental outcomes particularly those that affect the welfare of poor. The paper starts by examining the state of the Indian Poultry Industry, and then it goes in dealing with selected socio-economic, health, and environment changes that affect the competitiveness of livestock production including domestic institutional arrangement of food safety standards.Indian poultry sector; livestock industrialization; competitiveness; transaction costs; environmental externalities; contract farming

EVIDENCE AND IMPLICATIONS OF NON-TRADABILITY OF FOOD STAPLES IN TANZANIA 1983-1998

Economic reform programs assume that major goods are tradable, such that depreciation of the real exchange rate raises the value of output compared to factor costs in domestic currency. In Tanzania, major food staples that account for most real income are non-tradables in at least one-quarter of the country. This is demonstrated and implications assessed for the constraints imposed on macroeconomic-led adjustment strategiesAgricultural and Food Policy,

Technology transfer, policies, and the role of the private sector in the global poultry revolution:

"With the Biotech Revolution, questions are being asked about what role the government should play in the process—does public research in developing countries play a role? Can governments speed the spread of technology by offering complementary services? Unlike the public investment–driven Green Revolution in cereals, the “Poultry Revolution” in developing countries was driven by the successful transfer of biological technology developed by the private sector in the developed world to developing countries. This paper uses a supply response function to measure the importance of different types of private technology and of public investments on poultry productivity. The findings confirm that imported private technology was important to the growth of the poultry industry but also emphasize the importance of complementary government investments such as veterinary services." from authors' abstractsupply response function, private sector research, Technology transfer, Poultry, Public investment,

Assessing the Potential Impacts of Reducing Philippine Corporate Income Tax and Reforming Sectoral Incentives on Poverty and Employment

The Philippines needs to re-align its corporate income tax rates to its neighboring ASEAN countries to be competitive. Thus, the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, which is 30% at present to 20% in 2029 under the tax reform, is critical. However, because corporate income tax is a major source of government revenue, corporate incentives have to be reduced as well to finance/compensate for the reduction in the corporate tax. Also, to realize the full economic benefit of the reform, the government has to ensure that the resulting higher corporate income is reinvested back to the economy

Structural changes in the Philippine pig industry and their environmental implications:

"Pig production in the Philippines has intensified in the urban and peri-urban areas in response to a radical structural change in the pig industry and a growing demand for pork products. Alongside this rapid growth is the emergence of societal concern about the increasing negative environmental externalities that the industry produces, particularly those related to the disposal of waste and dead animals. Pig producers are said to benefit from negative externalities when they do not bear the full social costs of their business enterprise. Non-internalization of such externalities occurs when pig producers receive payment for their output while not investing in pollution abatement or not making compensatory payments to surrounding communities affected by their production processes. In some cases, producers are able to recycle all nutrients from swine production on-farm through various cropping mechanisms. In other cases, pig production is so large that there is no land to properly dispose of such by-products without some environmental mitigation effort. Failure to implement any sort of measure will most likely lead to an environmental externality. To determine whether a farmer has the ability to utilize all manure produced on-farm, we use a mass balance calculation approach in this paper. Results for the mass balance calculations suggest that, in general, smaller farms generate less excess nutrients per hectare than larger farms. This is because most small-scale pig farms are mixed systems where some croplands are available for nutrient assimilation. Large commercial farms tend to be “pure land-intensive” systems. We used a Tobit regression analysis to determine the factors affecting environmental mitigation expenditures of pig farms. Results of the regression showed that smaller farms tend to respond to opportunities to make use of manure as fertilizer on their own farms and crops. For large farms, no single factor significantly influenced mitigation costs. An interpretation of why this is so or what this result implies apparently cannot be achieved without ambiguity. Thus, we do not attempt to do so and we leave the matter for further investigation. With respect to the effects of production arrangement on environmental capture, the factors that significantly influenced mitigation costs varied between independent and contract farms. Only the operation of croplands mattered for independent producers. For contract farms, lands that are classified as agricultural carried the expected positive coefficient sign. Further, farmers in the industrial pig sector, which is concentrated in peri-urban areas favored by market access or feed availability, may consider being located as close as possible to cropland that they can use to dispose of the wastes in pig production. Policy options include zoning, mandatory nutrient management plans, licensing or limiting the number of animals raised per production unit, and contractual agreements between livestock producers and crop farmers. The effectiveness of such regulations will depend largely on the degree to which they are enforced and whether they are accompanied by a well-developed system of education and extension with focus on proper manure management systems and dead animal disposal." from Author's AbstractEnvironmental mitigation, Mass balance, Structural changes, Pig production, Water quality,