Job creation and job destruction in Estonia: labour reallocation and structural changes

This paper documents and analyses gross job flows and their determinants in Estonia over the years 1995-2001, using a unique database from the Estonian Business Registry. This database contains all (including also micro and small firms) officially registered firms in Estonia, the total number being almost 52,000. There are several important findings in the paper. Our results show that job flows (job creation and job destruction rates) have been extremely high in Estonia and are comparable to the levels documented for the US. These rates have not decreased recently, although worker flows (transitions between labour market states) have dropped. We also found that the firm-specific component in job flows excess of employment change had relatively lower importance than in western studies due to the emergence of small and medium-sized enterprises and labour reallocation between the economic sectors. The high inter-sectoral mobility has helped maintain high levels of job flows, while both are high also due to a favourable institutional environment, especially due to low start-up costs and a large share of micro enterprises

Pressure rig for repetitive casting

The invention is a pressure rig for repetitive casting of metal. The pressure rig performs like a piston for feeding molten metal into a mold. Pressure is applied to an expandable rubber diaphragm which expands like a balloon to force the metal into the mold. A ceramic cavity which holds molten metal is lined with blanket-type insulating material, necessitating only a relining for subsequent use and eliminating the lengthy cavity preparation inherent in previous rigs. In addition, the expandable rubber diaphragm is protected by the insulating material thereby decreasing its vulnerability to heat damage. As a result of the improved design the life expectancy of the pressure rig contemplated by the present invention is more than doubled. Moreover, the improved heat protection has allowed the casting of brass and other alloys with higher melting temperatures than possible in the conventional pressure rigs

Creative destruction and transition: the effects of firm entry and exit on productivity growth in Estonia

This paper presents one of the first studies of firm demographics in Estonia, particularly, on the processes of firm entry and exit as well as survival analysis of new firms. Also decompositions of productivity change into components consisting of resource reallocation, firm entry and exit, and productivity growth within continuing firms is carried out. Our results, derived from a novel database of the population of Estonian firms, show that firm turnover has been rather high in Estonia during the observed period from 1995 to 2001, resulting from low institutional entry barriers and emergence of the SME sector. The high survival rates for new firms and surviving firms' relatively fast growth could reflect their relatively high productivity compared to incumbent firms and changes in the sectoral structure of the economy. The decomposition of productivity change shows that the high productivity growth has been mostly from within-firm productivity growth (e.g. the adoption of new production technologies and organizational changes), but the reallocation of production factors (especially the exit of low productivity units) has played an important role as well

Rural Food Procurement Strategies and Attitudes Towards Food Sourcing: A Case Study of Boulder Town, Utah

Today, while the United States continues to boast one of the highest standards of living in the world, rural communities suffer from an inability to acquire sufficient healthy food. Rural food systems have undergone a substantial transition over the last 50 years causing previously agricultural regions to now depend heavily on outside food sources. It should not be so hard to consume food produced within these rural communities, yet it is. Researchers relying on secondary data analysis from national scale databases may identify rural areas as “low food access,” however, gaps in available records inhibit the development of a full understanding these rural food systems. This research explores the current state of food access in the rural population of Boulder Town, Utah through an on the ground exploration of the many avenues used by residents to procure their food as well as the importance and satisfaction the residents feel towards said strategies Ultimately, Boulder residents self-produce or procure from someone they know 27% of their food. The remaining 73% is obtained from outside sources (i.e. grocery stores, big box stores). This means that large, national scale databases overlook over a fourth of the food consumed in this town. On the other hand the percentage of community-produced food consumed looks promising and is something residents have worked to achieve for many years. There remains much room for growth, however, as residents of Boulder desire increased self-reliance in their town and personal food systems. They identify, better access to town-produced foods, support for local growers, green houses, more producers of a wider variety of crops, and producers of meat and dairy as areas for improvement within the town’s food system. The researcher identifies a lack of dialogue between producers and consumers as a significant barrier to increased consumption of Boulder produced foods. A structured avenue of communication as well as retail space (i.e. a farmer and food co-op) may provide the space for such dialogue to take place

Polynomial filter estimation of range and range rate for terminal rendezvous

A study was made of a polynomial filter for computing range rate information from CSM VHF range data. The filter's performance during the terminal phase of the rendezvous is discussed. Two modifications of the filter were also made and tested. A manual terminal rendezvous was simulated and desired accuracies were achieved for vehicles on an intercept trajectory, except for short periods following each braking maneuver when the estimated range rate was initially in error by the magnitude of the burn

Playing in the dark with online games for girls

Pregnant Rapunzel Emergency is part of a series of online free games aimed at young girls (forhergames.com or babygirlgames.com), where dozens of characters from fairy tales, children’s toys and media feature in recovery settings, such as ‘Barbie flu’. The range of games available to choose from includes not only dressing, varnishing nails or tidying messy rooms, but also rather more troubling options such as extreme makeovers, losing weight, or a plethora of baby showers, cravings, hospital pregnancy checks, births (including caesarean), postnatal ironing, washing and baby care. Taking the online game Pregnant Rapunzel Emergency as an exemplar of a current digital trend, the authors explore the workings of ‘dark digital play’ from a number of perspectives – one by each named author. The game selected has (what may appear to adults) several disturbing features in that the player is invited to treat wounds of the kind of harm that might usually be associated with domestic violence towards women

Dampak Lingkungan Kerja dan Etos Kerja Terhadap Kinerja Pegawai

This study aims to determine the effect of work environment and work ethic on employee performance in the Regional Education and Culture Office of Sangihe Islands Regency. This study used a survey research method, where the research instrument was a tested questionnaire and met the validity and reliability test requirements. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The population in this study were all employees at the Education and Culture Office of the Sangihe Islands Regency totaling 70 people, while the number of samples was 60 people. The results show that there is an influence of the work environment on the performance of employees at the Regional Education and Culture Office of the Sangihe Islands Regency, there is an influence of work ethic on the performance of employees at the Regional Education and Culture Office of the Sangihe Islands Regency, and there is a joint influence on the work environment and work ethic on the performance of employees at the Regional Education and Culture Office of Sangihe Islands Regency