Diagnosing development bottlenecks : China and India

Although it had a a lower income level than India in 1980, China's 2006 per capita gross domestic product stands more than twice that of India's. This paper investigates the role of the business environment in explaining China's productivity advantage using recent firm-level survey data. The analysis finds that China has better infrastructure, more skilled workers, and more labor-hiring flexibility than India, but a worse access to finance and higher regulatory burden. Infrastructure appears to be a key constraint for India: it lags significantly behind China, yet it has important indirect effects for the effectiveness of labor flexibility. Labor flexibility is also likely a major constraint for India, as evident in the predominance of small firms, the importance of firm size in accounting for India's disadvantage in productivity, and the complementarity of proxies of labor flexibility with infrastructure and access to finance. Interestingly, regulatory uncertainty has adverse effects in India but not in China. The empirical analysis suggests that it is important to consider country-specific growth bottlenecks and the indirect effects of policy reforms.Environmental Economics&Policies,Labor Policies,Labor Markets,Banks&Banking Reform,E-Business

Determination of the η3He\boldsymbol{\eta ^3{\rm He}} threshold structure from the low energy pd→η3He\boldsymbol{pd \to \eta ^3{\rm He}} reaction

We analyze the data on cross sections and asymmetries for the $pd (dp) \to \eta ^3{\rm He}$ reaction close to threshold and look for bound states of the $\eta ^3 {\rm He}$ system. Rather than parameterizing the scattering matrix, as is usually done, we develop a framework in which the $\eta ^3 {\rm He}$ optical potential is the key ingredient, and its strength, together with some production parameters, are fitted to the available experimental data. The relationship of the scattering matrix to the optical potential is established using the Bethe-Salpeter equation and the $\eta ^3 {\rm He}$ loop function incorporates the range of the interaction given by the empirical $^3 {\rm He}$ density. We find a local Breit Wigner form of the $\eta^3$He amplitude $T$ below threshold with a clear peak in $|T|^2$, which corresponds to an $\eta^3 {\rm He}$ binding of about 0.3 MeV and a width of about 3 MeV. By fitting the potential we can also evaluate the $\eta ^3 {\rm He}$ scattering length, including its sign, thus resolving the ambiguity in the former analyses.Comment: 7 pages, 9 figures. Title slightly changed, more considerations adde

Photodissociation Dynamics of OCS near 214 nm Using Ion Imaging

The OCS photodissociation dynamics of the dominant S(1 D 2) channel near 214 nm have been studied using velocity map ion imaging. We report a CO vibrational branching ratio of 0.79:0.21 for v = 0:v = 1, indicating substantially higher vibrational excitation than that observed at slightly longer wavelengths. The CO rotational distribution is bimodal for both v = 0 and v = 1, although the bimodality is less pronounced than at longer wavelengths. Vector correlations, including rotational alignment, indicate that absorption to both the 21A′ (A) and 11A″ (B) states is important in the lower-j part of the rotational distribution, while only 21A′ state absorption contributes to the upper part; this conclusion is consistent with work at longer wavelengths. Classical trajectory calculations including surface hopping reproduce the measured CO rotational distributions and their dependence on wavelength well, though they underestimate the v = 1 population. The calculations indicate that the higher-j peak in the rotational distribution arises from molecules that begin on the 21A′ state but make nonadiabatic transitions to the 11A′ (X) state during the dissociation, while the lower-j peak arises from direct photodissociation on either the 21A′ or the 11A″ states, as found in previous work