The effect of local ties, wages, and housing costs on migration decisions

Previous research on migration has focused more on the effect of wage differences between the destination and the origin on migration and less on how non-pecuniary attachments workers have to their current location may affect their migration decisions. In this paper, we examine how the presence of a strong social network and desirable location amenities in the current location may deter individual migration across U.S. metropolitan areas. Our empirical results show that, controlling for wage and housing cost differences between metropolitan areas, workers with strong attachments to their current location are significantly less likely to move. Interestingly, the effects of a strong social network and desirable location amenities on individual migration decisions are more important than the effect of wage or housing cost differentials between the destination and the origin.migration; worker mobility; mobility costs; location amenities; wages; housing costs

‘History of the Official Currency and the Central Bank of Cyprus’ Preliminary Conclusions for the Period 1960-2007

The period 1960 to 2007 – when the Cyprus pound was legal tender – is examined with a view to relating the major turning points of exchange, fiscal and monetary policies to their likely causes and consequences. Assumptions are made and conclusions are drawn regarding: the four periods of exchange rate policy (1960-1972, 1972-1992, 1992-1999, 1999-2007); the three phases of bank claims on the government sector (1960-1966, 1966-1975, 1975-2007); the five swings of bank credit to the private sector (1960-1965, 1965-1975, 1975-1984, 1984-2007); the five oscillations of the banking system’s foreign assets (1960-1971, 1971-1980, 1980-1989, 1989-1998, 1998-2007); the parallel tracks of GDP, CPI and the average annual salary during the 47 years under review. The above methodology is applied to the analysis and synthesis of the monetary and credit history of Cyprus between 1878 and 2007.Economic history, business cycle, exchange rate, fiscal policy, private credit, price index, wage adjustment

A reconciliation of two alternative approaches towards buffer stock saving.

This paper shows that the two main models in the buffer stock saving literature can be nested in a model that varies the level of available social insurance. Equivalently, the assumption about the time series process for labor income (and social insurance during unemployment) is crucial in determining the level (but not the shape) of optimal consumption as a function of liquid wealth.

Race and self-employment: The role of training programs, self-employment background, and access to financing

This paper uses data from Project GATE to examine the efficacy of offering free self-employment assistance to unemployed individuals interested in self-employment, overall and by race. We also examine the effect of participants’ self-employment background, finances, and personal circumstances on their self-employment outcomes. We find that Project GATE led to significant gains in the outcomes of unemployed participants, particularly for black participants. Our analyses also show that significant portions of the race disparities in self-employment outcomes among unemployed participants are attributed to race differences in access to financing. The policy implications of our findings are discussed.self-employment; small business; unemployment; workforce development; SEA; Project GATE

Lessons taught and learned from the operation of the solar energy e-learning laboratory

The solar energy e learning laboratory (solar e-lab) in Cyprus is a good example of a web-based, remote engineering laboratory. It comprises a pilot solar energy conversion plant which is equipped with all necessary instrumentation, data acquisition, and communication devices needed for remote access, control, data collection and processing. The impact that the solar e-lab had during its nearly 5 years of operation is indeed high. Throughout this period, the solar e-lab has been accessed by users from over 500 locations from 79 countries spread all over the world. In the period of November 2004 to October 2008, more than a million visits were recorded, out of which 25000 have registered on the site and surfed through studying the supplied material. Around 1000 hits concerned registered users that passed the pre-lab test and performed the experimentation part. The four years of operation of the solar e-lab demonstrated how the Internet can be used as a tool to make the laboratory facilities accessible to engineering students and technicians located outside the laboratory, including overseas. In this way, the solar energy e-learning lab, its equipment and experimental facilities were made available and shared by a number of interested people, thus widening educational experiences. Judging from the online evaluation reports that were received from the solar e-lab users during the last 2 years of operation, it can be concluded that there is nearly excellent satisfaction by the users

Solvent Induced Proton Hopping at a Water-Oxide Interface

Despite widespread interest, a detailed understanding of the dynamics of proton transfer at interfaces is lacking. Here we use ab initio molecular dynamics to unravel the connection between interfacial water structure and proton transfer for the widely studied and experimentally well-characterized water-ZnO$(10\bar{1}0)$ interface. We find that upon going from a single layer of adsorbed water to a liquid multilayer changes in the structure are accompanied by a dramatic increase in the proton transfer rate at the surface. We show how hydrogen bonding and rather specific hydrogen bond fluctuations at the interface are responsible for the change in the structure and proton transfer dynamics. The implications of this for the chemical reactivity and for the modelling of complex wet oxide interfaces in general are also discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure