2,809 research outputs found
Export Dynamics in Colombia: Transactions Level Evidence
No full textWe examine Colombian export transaction data from customs records in several dimensions. We begin with some basic statistics on the number and frequency of export transactions by a firm, overall and across individual markets. We then decompose the variation in overall exports into the number of transactions and the size of the average transaction, both at the aggregate level and for individual firms to explore gravity equations, where the patterns of exports and numbers of transactions are related to the distance with respect to the destination. The analysis is carried out both at the aggregate and the firm level. Then we explore the relationship between patterns of transactions numbers and shipment modes. Our results show great heterogeneity in the patterns of frequency and number of transactions across firms; the average firm sent about 75 shipments abroad in 2005, while the firm with largest number of transactions that same year dispatched more than 26,000 shipments. Moreover, while close to 35% of firms in the sample report a single export transaction over the period, for most firms with multiple transactions the average span between two transactions is less than a month. Part of this heterogeneity is shown to be related to the distance with respect to the destination market: firms exporting to more distant destinations make less frequent shipments than firms exporting to markets that are closer. This suggests that there are fixed costs per shipment inducing declining marginal cost of higher shipment volume. These patterns imply that, at the aggregate level, transactions numbers are the primary source of variation in exports. The variability in the numbers of transactions also explains an important part of the well-known negative relationship between aggregate exports and distance to a specific destination.Export transaction frequency; fixed shipment costs and scale economies in transportation; destination distance, average shipment volume and number of shipments. Classification JEL: F10; F12; F14.
Citizen participation in news
No full textThe process of producing news has changed significantly due to the advent of the Web, which has enabled the increasing involvement of citizens in news production. This trend has been given many names, including participatory journalism, produsage, and crowd-sourced journalism, but these terms are ambiguous and have been applied inconsistently, making comparison of news systems difficult. In particular, it is problematic to distinguish the levels of citizen involvement, and therefore the extent to which news production has genuinely been opened up. In this paper we perform an analysis of 32 online news systems, comparing them in terms of how much power they give to citizens at each stage of the news production process. Our analysis reveals a diverse landscape of news systems and shows that they defy simplistic categorisation, but it also provides the means to compare different approaches in a systematic and meaningful way. We combine this with four case studies of individual stories to explore the ways that news stories can move and evolve across this landscape. Our conclusions are that online news systems are complex and interdependent, and that most do not involve citizens to the extent that the terms used to describe them imply
OPTIMAL EXPORT POLICY IN THE PRESENCE OF R&D INVESTMENT
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the optimal export policy in a two-stage game in which a domestic and a foreign firm compete in price and R&D investment. Under international Bertrand duopoly, an export subsidy directly promotes excess price competition, as delineated by Eaton and Grossman (1986). But, in the presence of international R&D rivalry, an export subsidy indirectly reduces the rival's R&D level, and thereby raises its cost. This effect offsets the negative effect of the export subsidy resulting in excess price competition. We show that an export subsidy (tax) policy is optimal if the relative return to R&D is great (small), provided that a government can precommit to an ex ante optimal export policy.
Sovereign debt : a primer
No full textThe troublesome debts of many developing countries have spawned much literature on why countries borrow, on what debt contributes to growth, on why countries repay, and on how to deal with existing debt. The author provides an analytical primer on the following aspects of sovereign debt : 1) the basic accounting concepts associated with debt and some data associated with external borrowing; 2) debt as a component of an optimizing model of borrowing in a competitive loan market, when the borrower faces an intertemporal budget constraint; 3) debt as a component of recent models of endogenous growth; 4) problems arising from sovereign risk, including problems of liquidity, enforcement, and revenue-raising to finance repayment; 5) incentives to repay; 6) options available to a creditor whose debtor is unwilling to meet current debt-service obligations; and 7) debt buybacks. The author concludes that in the absence of any efficiency cost imposed by outstanding debt, how much a buyback benefits the borrower depends on how much buying back debt reduces what is available for repayment later. The author also concludes that if there are efficiency losses associated with debt, debt forgiveness can benefit both a debtor nation and its creditors. Contrary to claims in the literature, this outcome does not require that a reduction in the face value of debt raise its market value, and the debtor benefits even though the buyback raises the market price of the debt.Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Strategic Debt Management,Economic Growth,Economic Theory&Research
Tar sandstone investigation in southwestern Uinta Basin
No full textreportDuring the month of July 1972, the author assisted by Jonathan Mann studied the oil impregnated sandstone (hereafter OISS) deposits in the Lower Unit of the Parachute Creek Member of the Green River Formation on the southwestern edge of the Uinta Basin, along the Roan Cliffs and within the Roan Plateau. Careful mapping was conducted to determine the extent of the Sunnyside OISS deposit and to relate it to other deposits in the general vicinity. In addition to this mapping, which was restricted to the Flat Canyon and Sunnyside 15 min. quadrangles, (correlation investigations? ) were carried out in Nine Mile Canyon, Argyle Canyon, Indian Canyon, and at the headwaters of Avintaquin Canyon near Reservation Ridge (see USGS 7 1/2 min. quadrangles Gray Head Peak, 1969, and Flat Ridge, Utah, 1969). These areas, in this report, are further subdivided into smaller regions (often ridges or canyons) for further expansion of the results of the investigation. A number of the canyons could only be studied by hiking them through, others because of the size of the area studied and time requirements were studied by numerous stops from a four-wheel-drive truck. A field method to categorize the estimated richness of the OISS was used in the mapping: A numeral from I-V was assigned to a deposit, I being void of tar and progressing with each number until very rich OISS would be classed as V
An answer to a paper, [electronic resource] : Called A Memorial Of the Poor Inhabitants, Tradesmen and Labourers of the Kingdom of Ireland. By the Author of the Short View of the State of Ireland.
No full textThe author of The short view = Jonathan Swift.An answer to 'To the R-d Dr. J-n S-t, the memorial .. ', by Sir John Browne.Teerink-Scouten,Hanson,Goldsmiths',Electronic reproduction.English Short Title Catalog,Reproduction of original from University of London's Goldsmiths' Library
Jonathan Ashley-Smith: mentor, role model, inspiration
No full textJonathan Ashley-Smith has been such a prominent player in the field of conservation that he has had an impact on many people’s careers. He has certainly been an inspiration for this author who presents a personal overview of the many ways in which Ashley-Smith helped steer my path
Morphologic and functional correlates of synaptic pathology in the cathepsin D knockout mouse model of congenital neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis
No full textMutations in the cathepsin D (CTSD) gene cause an aggressive neurodegenerative disease (congenital neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis) that leads to early death. Recent evidence suggests that presynaptic abnormalities play a major role in the pathogenesis of CTSD deficiencies. To identify the early events that lead to synaptic alterations, we investigated synaptic ultrastructure and function in presymptomatic CTSD knockout (Ctsd) mice. Electron microscopy revealed that there were significantly greater numbers of readily releasable synaptic vesicles present in Ctsd mice than in wild-type control mice as early as postnatal day 16. The size of this synaptic vesicle pool continued to increase with disease progression in the hippocampus and thalamus of the Ctsd mice. Electrophysiology revealed a markedly decreased frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) with no effect on paired-pulse modulation of the evoked excitatory post synaptic potentials in the hippocampus of Ctsd mice. The reduced mEPSCs frequency was observed before the appearance of epilepsy or any morphologic sign of synaptic degeneration. Taken together, these data indicate that CTSD is required for normal synaptic function and that a failure in synaptic trafficking or recycling may bean early and important pathologic mechanism in Ctsd mice; these presynaptic abnormalities may initiate synaptic degeneration in advance of subsequent neuronal loss
The Pure Theory of Country Risk
No full textThis paper attempts to survey, and to put into perspective, recent lterature that has analyzed the nature of credit relations between developed and developing countries.This analysis has made use of recent advances in the economics of information and strategic interaction. Traditional concepts of solvency and liquidity are of little help in understanding problems of soverign debt. Creditors do not have the means to seize the assets of a borrower in default. Hence the borrower who is expected eventually to repay his debts should be able to borrow to meet any current debt-service obligations. A problem that is essential to a theory of international lending is that of enforcement. The difficulty is one of ensuring that the two sides of a loan contract adhere to it, in particular that the borrower repays the lender and the lenders can commit themselves to penalize the borrower if he does not.
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