The Extended Heckscher-Ohlin Model: Patterns of Trade between the U.S. and China

Though there have been many attempts to extend the Heckscher-Ohlin model in order to account for empirical data, I intend to examine John Romalis’ model of factor proportions and commodity structure. The purpose of this paper is to examine Romalis’ model to see if it is supported by empirical data on trade between China and the United States. In order to do this, I will use data from the 2000 and 2005 U.S. Census trade data CD-ROM to determine if Romalis’ extended Hecksher-Ohlin model of international trade can explain the U.S.-China pattern of trade

Spatially resolved observations of warm ionized gas and feedback in local ULIRGs

We present VLT/VIMOS-IFU emission-line spectroscopy of a volume limited sample of 18 southern ULIRGs selected with z<0.09 and dec<10. By covering a wide range of ULIRG types, this dataset provides an important set of templates for comparison with high-redshift galaxies. We employed an automated Gaussian line fitting program to decompose the emission line profiles of Halpha, [NII], [SII], and [OI] into individual components, and chart the Halpha kinematics, and the ionized gas excitations and densities. 11/18 of our galaxies show evidence for outflowing warm ionized gas with speeds between 500 and a few 1000 km/s, with the fastest outflows associated with systems that contain an AGN. Our spatially resolved spectroscopy has allowed us to map the outflows, and in some cases determine for the first time to which nucleus the wind is associated. In three of our targets we find line components with widths >2000 km/s over spatially extended regions in both the recombination and forbidden lines; in two of these three, they are associated with a known Sy2 nucleus. Eight galaxies have clear rotating gaseous disks, and for these we measure rotation velocities, virial masses, and calculate Toomre Q parameters. We find radial gradients in the emission line ratios in a significant number of systems in our study. We attribute these gradients to changes in ionizing radiation field strength, most likely due to an increasing contribution of shocks with radius. We conclude with a detailed discussion of the results for each individual system, with reference to the existing literature. Our observations demonstrate that the complexity of the kinematics and gas properties in ULIRGs can only be disentangled with high sensitivity, spatially resolved IFU observations. Many of our targets are ideal candidates for future high spatial resolution follow-up observations.Comment: 44 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted to MNRA

Lumber Futures and Timberland Investment

Using 20 years of data, we derive a pricing model for timberland market values. We examine the relationship between lumber futures, capitalization rates, anticipated inflation, anticipated construction and timberland value. Using an ordinary least squares regression model and Johansen’s cointegration technique, we find that timberland market values have a long-run significant positive equilibrium relationship with lumber futures, and building permits. Capitalization rates have a significant negative relationship as expected. In the short run, unanticipated shocks in the independent variables provide a permanent change in timberland market values.