The Doha Round and Kenya: Good and Not So Good Lessons

The global financial crisis and spiking unemployment figures have raised the threat of escalating barriers to trade. An early conclusion to the Doha Round might help avert some of the increase in protectionism, but no one knows by how much. And while Doha will help the world economy, it will also create winners and losers across countries and across sectors within countries (Polaski, 2006). How much developing countries can win or lose depends, to a large extent, on how the issue of agricultural subsidies in developed countries is resolved. But it also depends on the definition of sensitive commodities and the effects of further liberalising trade in manufacturing goods. Developing countries will have to look very carefully at the gains and losses from proposed Doha Round agreements, the so-called ?modalities?. For many developing countries, the nature of any agreed package will be more important than reaching any agreement by a specific deadline.The Doha Round and Kenya: Good and Not So Good Lessons

SIMULTANEITY OF TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION AND PRODUCTIVITY

A simultaneous equation generalized probit model is estimated to determine factors affecting technology adoption by California dairy farmers. Since productivity and technology choice are jointly determined, a single-equation approach to determine whether productivity affects technology adoption is subject to simultaneity bias. Since the system of equations contains both continuous and discrete endogenous variables, generalized probit is used. The findings indicate that the biased single-equation estimates tend to exaggerate relationships with explanatory variables, and in some cases, lead to different implications. This emphasizes the need to use the consistent and asymptotically more efficient generalized probit results to account for simultaneity.Productivity Analysis,

Latin America?s Progress on Gender Equality: Poor Women Workers Are Still Left Behind

Latin America?s Progress on Gender Equality: Poor Women Workers Are Still Left Behind

PREDICTING BOVINE SOMATOTROPIN USE BY CALIFORNIA DAIRY FARMERS

An ex ante adoption model of bovine somatotropin (BST) is estimated with survey data of California milk producers. Theoretical justification is developed for incorporation of socioeconomic explanatory variables in a technology-adoption model. The advantages of a multinomial over a binomial ex ante model also are presented. The multinomial logit model is used to predict BST adoption, to test hypotheses on characteristics associated with knowledge and receptiveness towards BST, and to predict potential structural changes in the California dairy industry due to the release of BST technology.Livestock Production/Industries,

Descartes on Physical Vacuum: Rationalism in Natural-Philosophical Debate

Descartes is notorious for holding a strong anti-vacuist position. On his view, according to the standard reading, empty space not only does not exist in nature, but it is logically impossible. The very notion of a void or vacuum is an incoherent one. Recently Eric Palmer has proposed a revisionist reading of Descartes on empty space, arguing that he is more sanguine about its possibility. Palmer makes use of Descartes’ early correspondence with Marin Mersenne, including his commentary on Galileo’s Two New Sciences. I argue that Palmer’s reading is mistaken, and that it relies on an understandable but faulty inference—i.e., that if Descartes considers the implications of an opposing view, he must find it at least coherent. Descartes, as I show from his correspondence and other texts, uses a variety of persuasive strategies, and levels charges of different logical strength, against positions which he takes to be incoherent. Thus we cannot infer from the fact that Descartes argues, e.g., that something is a superfluous theoretical entity, that he admits that entity’s coherence. He often chooses to argue a weaker thesis against an opponent so that he can use an argument to which the opponent is more likely to agree

Order-of-magnitude physics of neutron stars

We use basic physics and simple mathematics accessible to advanced undergraduate students to estimate the main properties of neutron stars. We set the stage and introduce relevant concepts by discussing the properties of "everyday" matter on Earth, degenerate Fermi gases, white dwarfs, and scaling relations of stellar properties with polytropic equations of state. Then, we discuss various physical ingredients relevant for neutron stars and how they can be combined in order to obtain a couple of different simple estimates of their maximum mass, beyond which they would collapse, turning into black holes. Finally, we use the basic structural parameters of neutron stars to briefly discuss their rotational and electromagnetic properties.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in European Physical Journal

Consumers' Views on Local Food

This focus-group study investigated shoppers'’ beliefs and behaviors regarding local foods. Two of the four focus groups consisted of organic food shoppers. They were more committed to purchasing local foods and identified a much wider array of such foods than did the conventional shoppers. One group of conventional shoppers consisted of African-Americans, who tended to define “"local"” as a much larger geographic area than did the group of Caucasian conventional shoppers. The African-Americans were also less interested in local-food labels per se, despite being interested in the qualities associated with local foods: freshness, supporting local farmers, and developing personal relationships with food producers.Consumer/Household Economics,

EFFICIENCY OF SMALL LANDHOLDERS IN EASTERN PARAGUAY

The relative efficiency levels of 283 rural households from three regions in eastern Paraguay are measured using a nonparametric approach. Technical, allocative, and scale efficiency measures are calculated both at national and regional levels, and factors that may affect the efficiency levels are analyzed econometrically. The three regions selected for this study represent distinct production systems and socio-economic conditions: production of traditional crops or extensive livestock operations; a dynamic region with massive in-migration where capitalized farms produce soybeans and wheat; and an older region, integrated with urban areas, where depleted and highly fragmented land has forced households to rely on nonagricultural sources of income. Nonparametric results show high levels of technical efficiency across all three regions, but low levels of allocative and scale efficiency. Because policies to increase scale efficiency are politically unpalatable, the factors affecting allocative efficiency are explored. Significant factors include employment opportunities, land titling, and access to credit, markets, and extension services.Farm Management,

Do CCTs Reduce Poverty?

.Poverty, CCT, Cash Transfers