Capital adjustment costs : implications for domestic and export sales dynamics

Theoretical and empirical work on export dynamics has generally assumed constant marginal production cost and therefore ignored domestic product market conditions. However, recent studies have documented a negative contemporaneous correlation between firms´domestic and export sales growth, suggesting that firms can be capacity constrained in the short run and face increasing marginal production cost. This paper develops and estimates a dynamic model of export behavior incorporating short-term capacity constraints and endogenous capital investment. Consistent with the empirical evidence, the model features firms´sales substitutions across markets in the short term, and generates time-varying transition paths of firm responses through firms´ capital adjustments over time. The model is fit to a panel of plant-level data for Colombian manufacturing industries and used to simulate how firm-responses transition following an exchange-rate devaluation. The results indicate that incorporating capital adjustment costs is quantitatively important. First, it takes more than five years for firms to fully adjust to a permanent change of the exchange-rate process. Second, the long-run exchange rate elasticity of exports is substantially higher than that in the short run. Firms´expectation on the permanence of the policy changes also matters. The failure to accurately anticipate the duration of the devaluation results in reduction in firms`profits due to over- or under-investment in capital

Thermal storage/management system with phase change materials for building

Peer reviewe

Nanoparticles in wastewaters: hazards, fate and remediation

The increasing use of nanoparticleswill inevitably result in their release into the aquatic environment and thereby cause the exposure of living organisms. Due to their larger surface area, high ratio of particle number tomass, enhanced chemical reactivity, and potential for easier penetration of cells, nanoparticles may be more toxic than larger particles of the same substance. Some researchers have been showing some relations between nanoparticles and certain diseases. However, the doses, surface shapes, material toxicity and persistence of nanoparticles may all be factors in determining harmful biological effects. In order to better evaluate their risks, potential exposure route of nanoparticles has to be taken into consideration aswell. Finally, a brief summary of techniques for nanoparticle removal inwaters andwastewaters is presented, but it seems that no treatment can absolutely protect the public from exposure to a large-scale dissemination of nanomaterials

The real exchange rate, innovation and productivity

We evaluate manufacturing firms' responses to changes in the real exchange rate (RER) using detailed firm-level data for a large set of countries for the period 2001-2010. We uncover the following stylized facts: In emerging Asia, real depreciations are associated with faster growth of firm-level TFP, sales and cashow, higher probabilities to engage in R&D and export. We find no significant effects for firms from industrialized economies and negative effects for firms in other emerging economies, which are less export-intensive and more import-intensive. Motivated by these facts, we build a dynamic model in which real depreciations raise the cost of importing intermediates, but increase demand and the profitability to engage in exports and R&D, thereby relaxing borrowing constraints and enabling more firms to overcome the fixed-cost hurdle for financing R&D. We decompose the effects of RER changes on productivity growth into these channels and explain regional heterogeneity in the effects of RER changes in terms of differences in export intensity, import intensity and financial constraints. We estimate the model and quantitatively evaluate the different mechanisms by providing counterfactual simulations of temporary real exchange rate movements. Effects on physical TFP growth, while different across regions, are non-linear and asymmetric

Control of Soybean Aphids with Super Low-Dose Spraying: Efficacy and Labor Savings

The soybean aphid (Aphis glycines Mats.) is a major insect pest in soybean production areas, with annual occurrences causing serious damage to the soybean crops. The purpose of this experiment was to compare the control effect on soybean aphid and working efficacy of two methods of spraying with Dimethoate, namely, super-low volume spraying and conventional volume spraying, carried on the back with a manual compression operation. The results obtained are as follows.Originating text in Chinese.Citation: Li, Yong, Lin, Peili, Liu, Yanping. (1989). Control of Soybean Aphids with Super Low-Dose Spraying: Efficacy and Labor Savings. Agricultural Sciences [in Heilongjiang Province], 1, 34-35