Tourism Immiserization: Fact or Fiction?

Tourism plays a major part in the development strategies of both developing and developed countries because of the alleged potential of generating foreign exchange, economic growth and welfare enhancement (Sinclair and Stabler, 1997; Sinclair, 1988). Consequently, in several countries a considerable amount of resources is allocated to further promote the tourism sector in a hope of reaping more economic benefits. However, it is still debatable whether tourism is beneficial for the tourist-receiving country or not. While empirical studies (Adams and Parmenter, 1994; Zhou et al., 1996, Baaijens et al., 1998; Blake, 2000; Blake et. al., 2003; Dwyer et al., 2003), argue that tourism expansion is beneficial to the economy, theoretical studies (Copeland, 1991; Chen and Devereux, 1999; Hazari and Nowak, 2003; Hazari et al., 2003; Nowak et al., 2003) posit that tourism expansion can be immiserizing. This paper critically reviews the theoretical and empirical literature to identify the sources via which tourism expansion can benefit or harm the economy. The issues are then empirically investigated using a CGE model for Mauritius to identify the conditions under which tourism expansion can be immiserizing.Tourism, Immiserization, Welfare, Economic growth

An Age Constraint for the Very Low-Mass Stellar/Brown Dwarf Binary 2MASS J03202839-0446358AB

2MASS J03202839-0446358AB is a recently identified, late-type M dwarf/T dwarf spectroscopic binary system for which both the radial velocity orbit for the primary and spectral types for both components have been determined. By combining these measurements with predictions from four different sets of evolutionary models, we determine a minimum age of 2.0+/-0.3 Gyr for this system, corresponding to minimum primary and secondary masses of 0.080 Msun and 0.053 Msun, respectively. We find broad agreement in the inferred age and mass constraints between the evolutionary models, including those that incorporate atmospheric condensate grain opacity; however, we are not able to independently assess their accuracy. The inferred minimum age agrees with the kinematics and absence of magnetic activity in this system, but not the rapid rotation of its primary, further evidence of a breakdown in angular momentum evolution trends amongst the lowest luminosity stars. Assuming a maximum age of 10 Gyr, we constrain the orbital inclination of this system to i >~ 53 degrees. More precise constraints on the orbital inclination and/or component masses of 2MASS J0320-0446AB, through either measurement of the secondary radial velocity orbit (optimally in the 1.2-1.3 micron band) or detection of an eclipse (only 0.3% probability based on geometric constraints), would yield a bounded age estimate for this system, and the opportunity to use it as an empirical test for brown dwarf evolutionary models at late ages.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication to Astonomical Journa

Keck NIRSPEC Radial Velocity Observations of Late-M dwarfs

We present the results of an infrared spectroscopic survey of 23 late-M dwarfs with the NIRSPEC echelle spectrometer on the Keck II telescope. Using telluric lines for wavelength calibration, we are able to achieve measurement precisions of down to 45 m/s for our late-M dwarfs over a one to four year-long baseline. Our sample contains two stars with RV variations of >1000 m/s. While we require more measurements to determine whether these RV variations are due to unseen planetary or stellar companions or are the result of starspots known to plague the surface of M dwarfs, we can place upper limits of <40 MJsini on the masses of any companions around those two M dwarfs with RV variations of <160 m/s at orbital periods of 10-100 days. We have also measured the rotational velocities for all the stars in our late-M dwarf sample and offer our multi-order, high-resolution spectra over 2.0 to 2.4 micron to the atmospheric modeling community to better understand the atmospheres of late-M dwarfs.Comment: Accepted to Ap

General Equilibrium Modelling Applied to Romania (GEMAR): Focusing on the Agricultural and Food Sectors

Applied general equilibrium modelling represents a powerful tool for assessing future likely economic changes due to upcoming or hypothesised policy shocks such as those brought about by EU enlargement. It entails the main advantage of considering the complex simultaneous linkages, interactions and feedback effects between various sectors, institutions and factor resources within an economy, as well as the inter- and intra-industry trade links with other economies across the globe. This technical paper develops a general equilibrium model applied to Romania (GEMAR) with an emphasis on the agricultural and food processing activities. A simple simulation example is then given for illustrative purposes. More extensive use of GEMAR will be made in other forthcoming papers where the model will be employed to identify those economic impacts stemming from incorporating Romania's agricultural and food sectors into EU/CAP structures. The model is static with constant returns to scale and perfect competition in production. Other studies have deployed modelling techniques to deal with EU accession issues. However, the literature assessing separately the economic effects of CAP enlargement for Romania is extremely sparse. In addition, as far as the authors are aware of, there are no studies that solely focused on the likely economic effects of CAP enlargement on Romanian agricultural and food processing sectors at a disaggregated level and within a single-country general equilibrium framework. Hence, the paper should not only fill in a gap in the modelling literature dealing with EU's next phase of eastward expansion but also tackle an issue of current interest for both researchers and policy-makers involved in agriculture and economic development.Applied General Equilibrium Modelling, Romania, Agriculture, D58, O520, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Tourism and Poverty Alleviation: Tools and Policies

Tourism is a substantial economic activity in many developing countries with high levels of poverty. However, research on the impact of tourism on local poverty alleviation is not always positive, and even at macro levels the advice from previous research is often that while tourism can help to alleviate poverty, this link is not automatic. Developing countries need to do more than assume that tourism provides incomes that must at least in part end up providing incomes to poor households. The study of the effects that tourism has on poverty is still in its infancy. While literature on tourism in developing countries, and in particular on the role that tourism has in development, dates back to the 1970s, and has been part of the tourism economics literature (e.g. Sinclair 1998), the relationship between tourism and poverty only came to the fore after Ashley, Boyd and Goodwin (2000) put “poverty at the heart of the tourism agenda”. This led to the definition of ‘pro-poor tourism’, The UNWTO’s Sustainable Tourism – Eliminating Poverty programme and poverty alleviation gaining importance in tourism programmes through the World Bank, the International Trade Centre and other international organisations. Advances in the last decade have moved beyond consideration of the contribution made by tourism to the incomes of poor households to assessing the potential of tourism to move households out of poverty. While the early evidence on tourism and poverty, through Pro-Poor Tourism and ST-EP case studies, has concentrated on the incomes earned by poor households, the real benefit of tourism is its ability to move households out of poverty, with academic literature demonstrating that at macro levels this can happen but also that it doesn’t necessarily happen, and that impacts of tourism on prices, costs and (real) exchange rates can reduce incomes for poor households. This paper examines how the poverty agenda has influenced economic policies in NGOs and developing countries, reviewing economic and tourism policies and planning documents. It identifies where there is an evidence base that enables policy makers to design and implement policies at (large) scale and where such evidence is lacking

Quantifying Foreign Direct Investment Productivity Spillovers: A Computable General Equilibrium Framework for China

We construct a static computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to quantify the endogenous productivity spillovers from foreign-invested firms to domestic firms, taking the Chinese economy as a case study. The coefficients of four spillover channels are estimated from econometric analysis. The simulations are conducted under two alternative market structures, namely perfect competition and monopolistic competition. Simulation results indicate that the spillover premia are positive in terms of national total output, GDP and welfare. The spillover effect is more prominent when the market structure is relatively monopolistic. FDI spillovers can also result in more product varieties produced by domestic enterprises, and can also help domestic enterprises increase their production scale.productivity spillovers, foreign direct investment, computable general equilibrium models

How Does the Productivity of Foreign Direct Investment Spill over to Local Firms in Chinese Manufacturing?

We use a firm-level dataset for Chinese manufacturing, to estimate productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) to local firms. The spillover channels considered include inter-firm labour turnover/mobility; vertical input-output linkages; exporting externalities; and horizontal effects. The roles of these channels are dependent on various factors including export propensity, R&D expenditure per capita, employee training, and ownership structure. We find that export of MNEs is the most prominent spillover channel. Labour turnover and horizontal demonstration and competition bring positive spillovers to SOEs but not to local private firms. Vertical linkages are not found to be significant.productivity spillover, foreign direct investment (FDI), labour mobility/turnover, linkages, export

Langmuir Probe Instrument Suite for Mesosphere Turbulence Experiment Mission

The Langmuir probe technique is the predominant in-situ plasma diagnostic technique, and is arguably the only measurement technique that is universally own on every sounding rocket investigation. Earth\u27s mesosphere region (80-120 km) is a host of many dynamic phenomena such as the noctilucent clouds, breaking gravity waves, inversion layers, settlement of mesospheric smoke particles, etc. As such it is critical to have a comprehensive suite of plasma diagnostics that can unambiguously measure various plasma parameters. This thesis deals with the development and testing of three different Langmuir probe implementations suitable for investigation of the mesosphere which are to be launched as part of the Mesosphere Turbulence Experiment sounding rockets. Two of the implementations are fixed bias Langmuir probes with different probe geometries, and the third implementation is a typical cylindrical sweeping Langmuir probe. Amongst the fixed bias Langmuir probe implementations, the multi-needle fixed bias Langmuir probe is a collection of three fixed bias needles at distinct voltages in the electron saturation region that can together make an absolute electron density measurement that is immune to low levels of spacecraft charging. Similarly, the multi-surface fixed bias Langmuir probe is a collection of three spherical probes, however these are biased at the same potential in the electron saturation region while each having a different metal electroplated on its surface. This probe not only gives relative plasma density measurements, but is also able to detect the presence of mesospheric smoke particles. The sweeping Langmuir probe is a traditional Langmuir probe implementation capable of giving us absolute density and electron temperature along with payload floating potential. The work towards this thesis involved the design of these various implementations in National Instrument\u27s Multisim, the layout of the boards in National Instrument\u27s Ultiboard, the board population, calibration and testing. Finally, the sweeping Lang-Muir probe electronics were also tested in the new ERAU Space Plasma Chamber