CHANGES IN THE WELL-BEING OF NONMETROPOLITAN SINGLE-MOTHER FAMILIES: A SEMI-PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS

In nonmetropolitan areas of the United States, single-mother families contain a majority of children living below the poverty line. Changes between 1992 and 2000 in the economic well-being of nonmetropolitan single-mother families are examined using kernel density estimation and density reweighting methods. The results show that increased education levels of single mothers and the strengthening of area economic conditions explain much of the observed gains in the economic well-being of this family group. But temporal changes in propensities to work and to be on welfare from 1992 to 2000 have also contributed to observed gains.Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

NON-METROPOLITAN TO METROPOLITAN COUNTY COMMUTING: GATEWAY TO PROSPERITY OR BARBARIANS AT THE GATE

Labor and Human Capital,

NON-METROPOLITAN TO METROPOLITAN AREA MIGRATION OF YOUNG ADULTS

The decisions of young adults from non-metropolitan areas to either migrate to metropolitan areas or remain in non-metropolitan areas following the completion of schooling are studied in this paper. The migration decision is decomposed into an hourly initial earnings component and a cost component comprising the financial, psychic, and employment attainment costs of migration. There are three noteworthy findings. First, while the propensity to migrate increases in educational attainment, contrary to conventional wisdom, this is entirely attributable to lower costs to migration among more educated individuals. Second, weak local economic conditions exert a strong influence on migration behavior. Specifically, high local unemployment rates and low per-capita county income significantly increase the cost of migration. Third, expected differences in initial earnings continue to provide an important incentive for young adults to migrate from non-metropolitan to metropolitan areas.Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Labor and Human Capital,

On Intra-Annual Poverty in the U.S.: Prevalence, Causes and Response to Food Stamp Program Use

Poverty measurement with data whose reference period is one year masks family exposure to poverty that only lasts for part of the year. We use quarterly expenditure data and decomposable severity of poverty indexes to quantify consumption-based intra-annual poverty, determine its causes and its response to federal food assistance. Results show that twice as many households are poor for at least one quarter then would be classified as poor with annual consumption data. Severity indexes indicate that intra-annual poverty accounts for over one third of the total annual severity of poverty. The common determinants of intra-annual and annual poverty include low human capital, unemployment and minority status. Changes in family size during the year affect intra-annual but not annual poverty. We also find evidence that food stamp program use reduces intra-annual poverty.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

HOW WELFARE REFORM IMPACTS NON-METROPOLITAN AND METROPOLITAN COUNTIES IN VIRGINIA

Labor and Human Capital,

Valuing Intellectual Property Rights in an Imperfectly Competitive Market: A Biopharming Application

Small research firms developing biotechnology applications often focus on establishing intellectual property rights (IPRs), which can then be sold to more established firms with existing market channels. This paper presents a method for valuing the IPRs for an innovation that lowers product production costs below those associated with the patented process of a monopolist. The application to Glucocerebrosidase enzyme from transgenic tobacco suggests an IPRs value of about $1.75 billion. Despite the innovator’s market power, significant surplus gains also accrue to consumers. Further, U.S. antitrust laws that prohibit IPRs acquisition by the current monopolist increase consumer welfare by almost 50%.biopharmaceuticals, biopharming, economic surplus, imperfect competition, intellectual property rights, Agribusiness, Demand and Price Analysis, Financial Economics, Marketing, D23, M13, D43, D60,

Why don't households see the light? Explaining the diffusion of compact fluorescent lamps

Many countries are currently considering bans on incandescent light bulbs and other policies to enhance the residential diffusion of energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). However the reasons for currently limited diffusion of CFLs are largely unknown. This paper employs a Double Hurdle model to identify distinct barriers to household consideration of CFLs and the subsequent intensity of adoption using a large survey of German households. The results reveal that barriers to CFL consideration are low for all, except households with very low incomes. Further, barriers to CFL consideration are strongly linked to the characteristics of the residences of low-income households. Thus, the greatest potential for increasing the diffusion of CFLs lies not in addressing barriers to consideration, but in augmenting the intensity of household adoption particularly within high income groups. --

Market Strategies for a Tobacco Bio-Pharming Application: The Case of Gaucher's Disease Treatment

Small firms developing biotechnology applications often focus on establishing intellectual property rights, which can then be sold to more established firms with existing market chains. This paper explores the expected 'Buyout' price and economic surplus changes for an emerging bio-pharming application with transgenic tobacco. The results suggest a 'Buyout' price of about $1.75 billion. Yet despite this potentially large payout to the innovating firm, consumers also see significant surplus gains.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

UNDERSTANDING THE RURAL - URBAN DIGITAL DIVIDE

This paper explains the current "digital divide" in internet use between rural and urban areas using a Logit adoption model with data collected from the August 2000 Current Population Survey. A non-linear decomposition shows that rural urban household attribute differences account for 66 percent of the digital divide, while place based differences account for the remaining 34 percent of the divide.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

The Role of Infrastructure in the Rural - Urban Digital Divide

A significant gap exists in the percentage of rural and urban households that connect to the Internet. Furthermore, this "digital divide" has been increasing with respect to high-speed connections. The primary course of action to address this emerging high-speed digital divide has been to subsidize digital communications technology (DCT) infrastructure. This paper explores the diffusion of DCT infrastructure in both rural and urban areas over the period 2000 - 2003, and estimates its contribution to the emerging divide in high-speed access. The findings suggest that the rural - urban high-speed divide is more strongly associated with differences in household characteristics like education and income than differences in infrastructure.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,