Partners or predators? : the impact of regional trade liberalization on Indonesia

The authors empirically assess regional integration and liberalization scenarios impact on Indonesia and other Pacific Rim economies, including the complete Uruguay Round, further global liberalization and the creation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) or Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) free trade areas. They consider how major international exchange rate realignments affect the world trade pattern, and Indonesia in particular. The analysis uses a multi-country, computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to quantify the trade liberalization impact on countries, sectors, and factors. The extended APEC-CGE model consists of nine linked country models: Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore (together), the Philippines, Thailand, China (including Hong Kong), Korea and Taiwan, Japan, the United States and the European Union. Each country model is linked through explicit bilateral trade flows modeling for each traded sector. The empirical results lead to several conclusions: a) eliminating tariff and non tariff barriers in industrial countries (especially the Multifibre Agreement) gives Asian developing countries the opportunity to expand exports and achieve productivity gains; b) creation of an APEC free trade area gives participants significant benefits, with little effect on nonmembers while creation of an ASEAN free trade area gives its members little benefit, thus ASEAN countries should work toward more liberalization under GATT or hasten the APEC free trade area creation; c) all economies gain the most from further multilateral liberalization; and d) major exchange rate realignments significantly affect bilateral trade balances and world trade volume and direction. However, they have less effect than trade liberalization on the internal production and trade structure. Sectoral protection andsubsidy rates vary greatly and their elimination yields significant efficiency gains. Changes in exchange rates have less effect.Trade Policy,Environmental Economics&Policies,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Economic Theory&Research,Transport and Trade Logistics,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade and Regional Integration,Trade Policy

Processor Willingness to Adopt a Crawfish Peeling Machine: An Application of Technology Adoption under Uncertainty

Crawfish processors’ ex ante adoption rates of three hypothetical crawfish peeling machines are assessed using a polychotomous-choice elicitation format. Adoption rates would likely range from 23% to 70%, depending upon which machine was offered and whether it was purchased or leased. Processors most likely to adopt are determined using ordered probit analysis. Likely adopters would be larger, more diversified processors with greater resources and longer planning horizons.crawfish, ex ante technology adoption, peeling machine, Agribusiness, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization, D81, Q16,

The Janus Face of Brussels: Socialization and Everyday Decision Making in the European Union

This article examines the European Union\u27s Committee of Permanent Representatives, or COREPER, a group composed of the EU permanent representatives (permreps) and responsible for preparing upcoming ministerial meetings of the Council. As the heart of everyday decision making in the EU, COREPER is a key laboratory to test whether and how national officials become socialized into a Brussels-based collective Culture and what difference this makes for EU negotiations. The key scope conditions for COREPER socialization are high issue density/ intensity and insulation from domestic politics. COREPER also displays a range of socialization mechanisms, including strategic calculation, role playing, and normative suasion. Based on extensive interview data and a detailed case study of negotiations for a controversial EU citizenship directive, this article documents a socialization pathway in COREPER marked by adherence to a set of norm-guided rules and principled beliefs in collectively legitimating arguments and making decisions. COREPER socialization does not indicate a pattern of national identities being replaced or subsumed; rather, the evidence points to a socialization process based on a logic of appropriateness and an expanded conception of the self

Comics Art, Cultural Norms, and the Social Consciousness of Activism in American Democracy

The comic art form’s impact on cultural norms can engender new understandings of rights and shape conceptions of equality in our shared consciousness as a society. Drawing on the 1960s era of social change, this Article examines how comics can produce activism by shaping cultural norms which are reframed, contested, or contextualized to help generate new shared understandings of rights and equality in American democracy. The comic art form should be taken seriously as a medium for activism that can influence changes in social consciousness, illustrated in this Article with examples as diverse as the quiet revolution of the Peanuts cast and the brash, norm-busting cartoonists who propelled the underground comix movement. How we now conceive our rights, including implied fundamental rights, or the equality of protections under the Constitution, were influenced by comics. Today, the comics’ world reaches more and more new audiences as a transnational, globalized network of art and artists and expresses ways of seeing and knowing that shape the collective consciousness of pluralistic societies

After the negotiations: assessing the impact of free trade agreements in Southern Africa

After protracted and difficult negotiations, agreement was recently reached on the dimensions of a South African-EU free trade deal. Because of South Africa's prominence in the sub-region, implementation of this agreement will have an impact not only on South Africa, but on all the SADC economies. This paper traces how this impact may be felt over time, using a multi-region model constructed to focus on the determination of sectoral and geographic trade patterns. By separatelymodeling South Africa and the rest of southern Africa, the model can be used to evaluate how alternative SADC regional trade strategies can influence how the EU deal affects the region's economies; by distinguishing among major trading partners (EU, North America, East Asia), the simulations can help illuminate how the trade deal will likely affect current trade patterns The empirical results lead to a number of conclusions: (1) trade creation dominates trade diversion for the region under all FTA arrangements; (2) the rest of southern Africa benefits from an FTA between the EU and South Africa — the recently signed bilateral agreement is not a “beggar thy neighbor” policy; (3) the rest of southern Africa gains more from zero-tariff access to EU markets than from a partial (50 percent) reduction in global tariffs; and (4) the South African economy is not large enough to serve as a growth pole for the region. Access to EU markets provides substantially bigger gains for the rest of southern Africa than does access to South Africa.Trade policy Africa., Free trade., South Africa.,

Association between obesity and bacterial vaginosis as assessed by Nugent score

Background Bacterial vaginosis is one of the most common vaginal conditions in the U.S. Recent studies have suggested obese women have an abnormal microbiota reminiscent of BV; however, few studies have investigated the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis in overweight and obese populations. Moreover, despite the increased prevalence of obesity and bacterial vaginosis in black women, it is not known whether racial disparities exist in the relationship between obesity and bacterial vaginosis. Objective The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between body mass index and bacterial vaginosis as determined by Nugent score and to determine the influence of race in this context. Study Design We performed a cross-sectional study using patient data and vaginal smears from 5,918 participants of the Contraceptive CHOICE Project. Gram stained vaginal smears were scored using the Nugent method and categorized as BV-negative (Nugent score 0-3), BV-intermediate (Nugent score 4-6), or BV-positive (Nugent score 7-10). Body mass index was determined using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and obese individuals were categorized as Class I, II, or III obese based on NIH and World Health Organization body mass index parameters. Linear regression was used to model mean differences in Nugent scores and Poisson regression with robust error variance was used to model prevalence of bacterial vaginosis. Results In our cohort, 50.7% of participants were black, 41.5% were white, and 5.1% were of Hispanic ethnicity with an average age of 25.3 years old. Overall, 28.1% of participants were bacterial vaginosis-positive. Bacterial vaginosis was prevalent in 21.3% of lean, 30.4% of overweight, and 34.5% of obese women (p<0.001). The distribution of bacterial vaginosis-intermediate individuals was similar across all body mass index categories. Compared to lean women, Nugent scores were highest among overweight and obese Class I women (adjusted mean difference; overweight 0.33 [95% CI 0.14, 0.51] and Class I obese 0.51 [95% CI 0.29, 0.72]). Consistent with this, overweight and obese women had a higher frequency of bacterial vaginosis compared to lean women, even after adjusting for variables including race. Among white women, the prevalence of BV was higher for overweight and Class I and Class II/III obese white women compared to lean white women, a phenomenon not observed among black women, suggesting an effect modification. Conclusion Overweight and obese women have higher Nugent scores and a greater occurrence of bacterial vaginosis compared to lean women. Black women have a greater prevalence of bacterial vaginosis independent of their body mass index compared to white women