bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Membrane filtration for tertiary treatment of biologically treated effluents from the pulp and paper industry
Authors: Mänttäri M. , Nyström M.
Published: March 2007

Discharge waters from activated sludge processes in the pulp and paper industry and from a municipal wastewater treatment plant were filtered with various nanofiltration (NF) and low pressure reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. The purpose was to study flux, retention, and permeate quality after membrane filtration by using a high shear (CR-250/2) filter. The suitability of the achieved permeates for reuse at the industrial site is also discussed. The NF permeate was practically free from colour and organic compounds but contained significant amount of inorganic compounds e.g. chloride ions, especially when a high amount of sulphate containing discharge waters were filtered, in which case a low pressure RO membrane was needed to successfully remove monovalent anions. Organic compounds were almost completely retained by NF and RO membranes and organic carbon in the permeate was less than 10 mg/dm3 on average. The achieved permeate can easily be reused in paper production. Nanofiltration has a significantly higher flux and also a lower fouling tendency than reverse osmosis but it passes through monovalent ions when there is a high sulphate concentration in the water. Therefore, RO might be needed in such cases to produce excellent process water.
Application of ultrafiltration in the pulp and paper industry: metals removal and whitewater reuse
Authors: Oliveira C.R. , Silva C.M. , Milanez A.F.
Published: March 2007

In the pulp and paper industry, the water use minimization is a constant target. One way to reduce water use is to recycle the effluent in a closed-cycle concept. In paper mills, the main source of liquid effluent is the so-called whitewater, which is the excess water, originated from pulp stock dewatering and other fibre contaminated water. This research studied the reuse of paper mill whitewater after membrane ultrafiltration (UF) in the paper machine and in the pulp bleach plant of an integrated mill. Contaminant removal and flux behaviour of the UF system were evaluated. The treatment by ultrafiltration was technically feasible and the treated whitewater had good potential to be reused in some processes in the paper machine. The reuse of ultrafiltered whitewater in the bleaching plant was not recommended because of the high level of soluble calcium present in this stream. Therefore, a combined treatment of the whitewater using the principle of precipitation and ultrafiltration was proposed showing good results and enabling the use of the treated whitewater in the bleach plant.
Impact of septic compounds and operational conditions on the microbiology of an activated sludge system
Authors: Pelletier Carl , Ann Fitzsimmons Mary , Deschênes Sophie , Paice Michael
Published: March 2007

In activated sludge (AS) biotreatment, septic compounds such as volatile organic acids and reduced sulphur compounds have been frequently cited as a major cause of Thiothrix and Type 021N filamentous bulking. These filaments are common in Canadian pulp and paper biotreatment systems, where they cause settling problems in secondary clarifiers. We conducted a 14-week study of a TMP/newsprint mill effluent to characterize the septic compounds entering the biotreatment, and to determine correlations with AS biomass characteristics and biotreatment operating parameters. A significant correlation was found between the sludge volume index, the abundance of Type 021N, and the propionic acid (PA) concentration in the primary clarified effluent. PA also induced a significant change in the flocculating bacteria size distribution determined by digital imaging. Consequently, the correlation observed between PA and Type 021N bulking is an indirect effect of inhibition of floc-forming microorganisms, giving a competitive advantage to filaments.
Combined chemical biological treatment of bleached eucalypt kraft pulp mill effluent
Authors: Ruas D.B. , Mounteer A.H. , Lopes A.C. , Gomes B.L. , Brandão F.D. , Girondoli L.M.
Published: March 2007

Effectiveness of ozonation before and after biological treatment for removal of recalcitrant organic matter in bleached kraft pulp effluents was compared. Two industrial ECF bleached eucalypt kraft pulp effluents (E1 and E2) were pretreated with 100 mg O3/L. Raw and pretreated effluents were treated biologically in bench-scale sequencing batch reactors, under constant conditions. Following biological treatment, effluents were post-treated with 100 and 200 mg O3/L. Effluent pretreatment increased effluent biodegradability by 10% in E1 and 24% in E2. Combined O3-biological treated led to small but significant increases in COD, BOD and lignin removal over biological treatment alone, but pretreatment had no significant effect on effluent colour and carbohydrate removal. Ozone pretreatment did not affect biological activity during treatment of effluent E1 but resulted in a 38% lower specific oxygen uptake rate in effluent E2. At an equivalent dose of 100 mg/L, pre-ozonation produced better quality effluent than post-ozonation, especially with regard to COD and colour. Likewise, when an equivalent dose of 200 mg/L was applied, splitting the dose equally between pre- and post-treatments was more efficient than applying the entire dose in the post-treatment. The potential for combined chemical–biological treatment to improve effluent quality has been confirmed in this study.
Strategy for nutrient control in modern effluent treatment plants
Authors: Sivard Å. , Ericsson T. , Larsson B.
Published: March 2007

The fate of nutrients in the modern effluent treatment plant depends on several factors, for example type of treatment plant, availability of nutrients in the specific effluent, dosing of nutrients and sludge age/production. New technologies with the aim to increase the efficiency and stability of the conventional activated sludge process have strongly affected the possibilities to control discharge of nutrients in pulp and paper effluents. A paradox is that a reduction of organic material may often lead to an increase of nutrient discharges. It is of the utmost importance that the operators have good knowledge of the factors affecting nutrient uptake and release in order to minimise nutrient discharge and obtain optimal plant performance. Dosing of nitrogen and phosphorus is one key factor in the sensitive balance in most pulp and paper effluent treatment plants. Correct dosing is crucial as high or low doses might lead not only to increased discharge of nutrients but also to severe operational problems with poor sludge quality, which in turn affects the plant performance for longer periods.
The impact of cleaner processing on nutrient availability in the bleached kraft industry
Authors: Slade A.H. , Maclean P.H. , van Otterdijk F.F.H.
Published: March 2007

The pulp and paper industry has invested heavily over recent years in cleaner processing, to reduce losses and minimise its impact on the environment. Over the past fifteen years, a New Zealand integrated bleached kraft mill has undergone a comprehensive programme of upgrades to increase production, reduce water consumption and streamline its biological treatment process. Whilst the overall discharge of contaminants from the site decreased, the treatment system performance did not show a concurrent improvement as may have been expected. Reduced BOD removal, low dissolved oxygen levels, and poor solids settlability were symptomatic of phosphorus limitation in the aerated lagoon treatment system. The wastewater entering the system was found to be phosphorus limited at a BOD:P ratio of 100:0.2. Mono-ammonium-phosphate was supplemented, at approximately 30 kg P/d, to raise the phosphorus levels to a BOD:P ratio of 100:0.3. Treatment efficiencies improved very quickly after phosphorus dosage, with a 50% reduction in BOD and TSS discharge, a significant increase in dissolved oxygen levels, and improved BOD removal (85% to 93%). This case study demonstrates that whilst more closed operation can result in reduced discharge of organic loads, there may be negative impacts on the availability of nutrients for balanced biological growth.
Strategies for minimizing deflocculation of biosolids due to oxygen disturbances
Authors: Zhang Y. , Allen D.G.
Published: March 2007

The objective of this paper is to identify deflocculation under short-term disturbances of dissolved oxygen (DO) in a continuous system, and to explore the strategies for minimizing the carry-over of biosolids. Sludge deflocculation was examined in four parallel sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) fed with primary treated effluents from a bleached kraft pulp and paper mill. Results show that the DO transients caused a reduction of soluble COD (SCOD) removal efficiency by 50–70%, increases in suspended solid (SS) concentration and turbidity by more than 100%. Under the DO disturbances, the ratio of bulk Ca2 + /K+ decreased by 10% in the treated effluents. All these changes were reversible within 24 hrs after the DO concentrations were restored up to 4 mg/L, indicating a physicochemical response of microorganisms to the DO transients. The sludge deflocculation is correlated with the decreasing ratio of Ca2 +  to K+ in the extracellular environment. Addition of calcium chloride, tetraethylammonium chloride or glibenclamide promotes the formation of bioflocs bigger than 12.5 μm, but the deflocculation of biosolids under the DO transients wasn't completely prevented.
Application of anaerobic biological treatment for sulphate removal in viscose industry wastewater
Authors: Parravicini V. , Svardal K. , Kroiss H.
Published: March 2007

Long term lab-scale and bench-scale experiments were performed to investigate the feasibility of the anaerobic process to treat wastewater from a pulp and viscose fibre industry. Anaerobic wastewater treatment enables an advantageous combination of COD, sulphate and zinc removal from viscose wastewater. The aim of the investigations was to evaluate the influence of the free sulphide concentration on COD and sulphate removal efficiency and on the substrate competition between sulphate reducing and methanogenic bacteria. Since the wastewater did not contain enough COD for complete sulphate removal it was of major interest to determine favourable process conditions to steer the substrate competition in favour of sulphate reduction. Further experiments at bench-scale permitted us to evaluate applicable COD-loading rates and gain fundamental information about process stability and optimization for large-scale implementation. The present work will deal with the most relevant experimental results achieved and with important technological aspects of anaerobic treatment of viscose wastewater.
Comparison of the endocrine effects of treated wastewaters from different paper mills by use of an in-vitro test with modified yeast cells
Authors: Hamm U. , Schabel S. , Oeller H.-J.
Published: March 2007

As opposed to effluents from chemical pulp production, very little is known about the endocrine potential of papermaking effluents. To evaluate the endocrine potential of biologically treated effluents from the main grades produced in Germany (fine, graphic and packaging papers), 16 samples were studied by means of the Recombinant Yeast Estrogen Assay (R-YEA). 10 samples were tested positive; seven of them were effluents from recovered paper processing mills. Possible sources of endocrine disruptors in addition to wood components include papermaking chemicals, paper converting chemicals, if recovered paper is used, and/or detrimental substances introduced by impurities in these chemicals. Six of the above samples were subjected to individual substance analyses to detect endocrinologically active or potentially endocrinologically active substances. Even though phthalate compounds were detected in concentrations between 0.46 and 2.36 μg/L, only two of the six samples were tested positive in the R-YEA, because the test fails to adequately detect this compound's class. Despite this drawback, the R-YEA will be used for further studies because of the great variety of potential endocrine substances present in paper mill effluents. In particular, mechanical and recycled fibre pulps as well as the constituents of chemical additives must be investigated in more detail.
Anaerobic treatment of pulp and paper mill effluents – status quo and new developments
Authors: Habets Leo , Driessen Willie
Published: March 2007

Since the early 1980s, anaerobic treatment of industrial effluents has found widespread application in the pulp and paper industry. Over 200 installations are treating a large variety of different pulp and paper mill effluents. Amongst various anaerobic systems the UASB and IC are the most applied anaerobic reactor systems. Anaerobic treatment is well feasible for effluents originated from recycle paper mills, mechanical pulping (peroxide bleached), semi-chemical pulping and sulphite and kraft evaporator condensates. The advantages of anaerobic pre-treatment are (1) net production of renewable energy (biogas), (2) minimized bio-solids production, (3) minimal footprint and (4) reduced emission of greenhouse gases. Via in-line application of anaerobic treatment in closed circuits (paper kidney technology) further savings on cost of fresh water intake and effluent discharge levies are generated.
Effects of a Single-Lesson Tobacco Prevention Curriculum on Knowledge, Skill Identification and Smoking Intention
Authors: Brown Stephen , Birch David , Thyagaraj Sujan , Teufel James , Phillips Cheryl
Published: March 2007

One in five students report experimenting with tobacco before the age of 13 and most prevention efforts take place in the school setting. This study measures the effect of a single-lesson tobacco prevention curriculum, conducted by a health education center, focusing on knowledge of tobacco, ability to identify refusal techniques, and intent not to smoke. Data were collected, via electronic keypads, from students visiting a non-school, health education center in Michigan ( n = 704 intervention and 85 comparison). Contingency table Chi-squared tests and t-tests demonstrated that a single lesson can improve general knowledge and ability to identify appropriate refusal techniques. Improvement in intent not to smoke was not significant because both groups had very high intent prior to implementation. Similar to results from other programs, multivariate logistic regression of gender, general knowledge, and skill identification revealed that only the skill variable was associated with intent not to smoke at pretest. Recommendations are given for further research and for designing more effective curricula or programs.
Assessing Environmental Prevention Strategies for Reducing the Prevalence and Associated Harms of Methamphetamine Use
Authors: Yacoubian George S.
Published: March 2007

Developed primarily in clandestine laboratories, methamphetamine is a highly addictive synthetic drug whose physical effects include hyperactivity, euphoria, tremors, and a sense of increased energy. While the accuracy of recent accounts suggesting a methamphetamine epidemic in the United States is unclear, these reports have nevertheless translated into significant funding allowances by the federal government. This increased funding suggests that the opportunity is ripe for the development of a scientific, environmentallybased model for methamphetamine prevention.
Bad Luck or Bad Decisions: College Students' Perceptions of the Reasons for and Consequences of Their Alcohol Overdose
Authors: Reis Janet
Published: March 2007

Reasons for and immediate consequences of an alcohol overdose were explored for 217 undergraduate students requiring a medical emergency transport because of excessive alcohol consumption. The sample was categorized into 26 students attributing their overdose solely to bad luck and 191 students citing bad decision making as an explanation. A discriminant analysis portrayed the bad luck students as more likely to change the type of alcohol consumed, worrying more about problems with friends, less likely to change how much they drink and less likely to feel that they learned something about themselves. Friends were not named as being involved, but lapses in knowing how to pace consumption were frequently cited. Design of preventive educational programs for underage drinkers with the aim of avoiding an overdose is discussed.
Retail Point-of-Sale Guardianship and Juvenile Tobacco Purchases: Assessing the Prevention Capabilities of Undergraduate College Students
Authors: Gilbertson Troy
Published: March 2007

This randomized experiment evaluates the attitudes and behavioral intentions of 458 undergraduate college students about intervening with the intent of preventing an illegal retail purchase of tobacco products by a minor after exposure to a factorial combination of three pieces of information. MANOVA results show that none of the treatment conditions, considered alone, are correlated with increased attitudes or behavioral intentions; however, there is a significant interaction effect on attitudes when information portraying a potentially annoying situation is combined with information about the costs associated with youth tobacco use. Post-hoc t tests suggest that this effect is concentrated among non-tobacco using respondents.
Innovation-Based Industrial Policy in Emerging Economies? The Case of Israel's IT Industry
Authors: Breznitz Dan
Published: March 2007

In the last decade, few countries have figured prominently as cases of late-late developers that achieved worldwide success with their Information Technology (IT) industries. This paper focuses on the Israeli case and argues that uniquely in that group, and in contradiction to the model proposed by late development theories, Israel's competitive advantage in the IT industries, is in Research and Development (R&D). The paper's main arguments are that (a) the declared aim of Israel's industrial policy has been to develop a “science-based” industrial system similar to what we see in Israel today; (b) however, these policies, focused on diffusion and not on creation of capabilities, were successful only because of the existence of an already sophisticated and extensive R&D capability in the universities – markedly different from other Newly Industrialized Countries. Looking at the present the paper concludes that the same operational model that led Israel's IT industry to success might now be undermining its future growth.
Party Linkages and Economic Policy: An Examination of Indira Gandhi's India
Authors: Hankla Charles Robert
Published: March 2007

We know from observation that some democracies intervene deeply in their domestic economies while others adopt a more laissez faire approach. Can we explain these differences solely with ideology, or are other political influences also at work? I argue in this paper that elected leaders sometimes opt for hefty economic regulation purely to generate sources of patronage that can be used to maintain their political positions. Leaders are most tempted to take this approach, I contend, when their political parties are not stably linked to sources of electoral support. Unstably linked governing parties will tend to have very short time horizons, focusing on the immediate objective of avoiding massive vote losses in the next election. As a result, they will be less concerned with the potential future damage that a patronage-based policy may inflict on the national economy. I find support for this argument with a close examination of Indian economic policy under Indira Gandhi. Prime Minister Gandhi, I contend, increased the Indian state's control over trade, industrial production, and credit allocation just as the Congress Party's linkages to the electorate were destabilizing.
Direct Targeting as an NGO Political Strategy: Examining Private Authority Regimes in the Forestry Sector
Authors: Sasser Erika N. , Prakash Aseem , Cashore Benjamin , Auld Graeme
Published: March 2007

In recent years, International Political Economy literature on “politics beyond state” has emphasized the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in broader policy processes, both national and international. In addition to their impact on states, NGOs influence the policies of non-state actors such as firms via public and private politics. Dissatisfied with the progress firms have made in response to public regulation, NGOs have sponsored private authority regimes in several issue areas and pushed firms to participate in them. Across the world, the contest between NGOs and firms has provoked substantial behavioral and programmatic change'including widespread participation in these private authority regimes'among firms seeking to escape NGO pressures. Using firm-level data, this paper examines why direct targeting has not led firms in the U.S. forest products sector to participate in an NGO-sponsored private authority regime, the Forest Stewardship Council. This global regime has been adopted widely in Europe, but U.S.-based forestry firms have tended to favor a domestic industry-sponsored regime, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. Our analysis suggests that the desire of firms to maintain control over their institutional environment in light of hostile relations with NGOs has led US-based firms to favor the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
Foreign Direct Investments and Productivity Growth in the Agri-Food Sector of Eastern Europe and Central Asia: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Kaditi Eleni Ath.
Published: March 2007

Since the beginning of transition, Eastern European and Central Asian (ECA) countries compete against one another in attracting foreign investors by offering ever more generous incentive packages. Recent empirical research provides though little support for the idea that foreign direct investments (FDI) have a positive effect on local economies. This paper examines then whether FDI benefits are sufficient to justify the kind of policy interventions seen in practice. Analysis focuses on the impact of the increasing presence of multinationals on the economic development of transition economies in ECA through the generation of vertical and horizontal spillovers. Our theoretical model shows that policies which promote FDI are more likely to be justified on welfare grounds if multinationals engage in technology transfer that improves local suppliers' productivity, multinationals' technological advantage over the local competitors is only moderate, and the establishment of foreign affiliates does not lower the local processors' market share. Using data from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys (BEEPS), empirical research suggests, however, that foreign investments are more likely to have a positive impact on their local suppliers, and a negative one on their local competitors, implying that the second and third conditions are unlikely to hold.
Long-Run Inflation and Exchange Rates Hedge of Stocks in Brazil and Mexico
Authors: Ortiz Edgar , Cabello Alejandra , de Jesús Raúl
Published: March 2007

A substantial body of evidence documents the relationship between macroeconomic variables and stock returns and risk from developed countries. The evidence for emerging markets is limited, particularly identifying risk premia compensations for inflation and exchange rates. This paper attempts to quantify the short and long term relationship between inflation and exchange rates with over all stock market performance for the case of the two largest Latin American capital markets, Mexico and Brazil. Extending the Fisher model, the aim is to determine whether or not these markets have failed to keep pace with movements in those two variables (the most unstable and economic growth hampering variables in these economies during the last three decades), and therefore to what extent the stock market succeeds or fails to test as inflation hedges. The empirical evidence is presented assuming positioning of a local investor in their own market, and from the point of view of a U.S. investor in each of these markets. Two unit root tests are also presented to stress long term relationships between stock returns, inflation, and foreign exchange.
Intra-Industry Specialization in Textiles and Apparel
Authors: Clark Don P. , Rees Kathleen
Published: March 2007

This paper examines changes in intra-industry specialization indicators over the 1992-2004 period to assess potential for structural adjustment problems that may arise in U.S. textile and apparel products with growth in trade. Separate analyses are conducted for U.S. bilateral trade with China, Mexico, and DR-CAFTA members. Seven of the sixteen three-digit Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) product groups are expected to experience significant structural adjustment problems. With the exception of one group, all fall within the apparel and clothing (SITC 84) category. Results suggest substantial increases in U.S. imports from China are influencing these findings.
Services Trade Liberalisation and Domestic Regulations: The Developing Country Conundrum
Authors: Karmakar Suparna
Published: March 2007

Services have become the engine of growth in a large number of economies in the developing world. Additionally, the rapid development of ICT, and emergence of transnational corporations, has not only made cross-border provision of services easier, but has also increased the demand for and trade in services; developing countries today are increasingly emerging as cost efficient providers of key business and professional services, thereby becoming key players in the services supply chain.

In the absence of explicit tariff barriers, as compared to goods, over the years, countries have more intensively regulated services on grounds of protecting consumer interest and ensuring quality and excellence of professional services provided. It is also true that as cheap labour is the resource with comparative advantage in most developing countries, and especially India, access to developed country markets by means of cross-border supply and movement of natural persons have the potential of conferring the maximum benefits from services liberalisation. However, challenges for market access in developed countries in these two modes of supply lie in the range of regulatory barriers, including burdensome visa formalities, stringent quotas and qualification requirements, and discriminatory taxes, levies and standards faced by the developing country service providers. Most professions are closely regulated and certified, and often self-regulated, usually though sectoral trade associations.

This paper brings out the key elements of the prevalent regulatory measures and barriers to market access for developing country service providers, and assesses how (if at all) the proposed disciplines on domestic regulations would help in securing or easing market access problems of developing country professionals in the developed country markets. An analysis of select professional services in India indicate that for developing countries in general there exist many elements in the proposed disciplines that are not only desirable but would help them to get better market access into key developed country markets. Also it appears that given the prevailing weaknesses of the domestic legal and institutional framework in most developing countries, commensurate changes in the domestic legal and regulatory systems would need to be incorporated prior to the adoption of the DR Disciplines so as to enable countries to fulfill the requirements under such disciplines. Incorporation of suitable S&DT provisions is needed to ensure proper implementation of the said disciplines and satisfy the development agenda of the Doha Round.
Has Globalization Deepened Income Inequality in Mexico?
Authors: Borraz Fernando , Lopez-Cordova Jose Ernesto
Published: March 2007

In this paper we use household survey data to study the evolution of income distribution in Mexico over the last decade, a period of rapid integration to the global and North American economies -- "globalization" for short. We measure differences in income inequality, over time and across Mexican states, and relate them to regional differences in the degree of globalization, controlling for the potential endogenous relationship between the two. We use the percent of state employment in exporting firms or in firms with foreign capital participation, as well as data on state trade, as proxies for integration to the world economy. Our findings strongly indicate that globalization has not raised income inequality in Mexico. On the contrary, we present compelling evidence showing that income distribution is more equitable in states that are more closely linked to the world economy and that those states exhibit larger declines in inequality. We also find some statistical evidence suggesting that deepening globalization results in reduced inequality, although our results are sketchier on this point, perhaps because such effect is only observable in the long run. As a potential explanation of why globalization might improve the distribution of income among Mexican households, we show that states that are more integrated to the world economy offer better work opportunities for low-skilled women relative to more educated female workers.
Choice under Limited Uncertainty
Authors: Damiano Ettore
Published: March 2007

This paper considers the problem of an agent's choice under uncertainty in a new framework. The agent does not know the true probability distribution over the state space but is objectively informed that it belongs to a specified set of probabilities. Maintaining the hypothesis that this agent is a subjective expected utility maximizer, we address the question of how the objective information influences her subjective prior.Three plausible rules are proposed. The first, named state independence, states that the subjective probability should not depend on how the uncertain states are `labeled'. Location-consistency, the second property, assumes that `similar' objective sets of probabilities result in `similar' subjective priors. The third rule is an `update-consistency' rule. Suppose the agent selects some probability p. She is then told that the likelihood assigned by p to some event A is in fact correct; then this should not cause her to revise her choice of p.Another property, alternative to update-consistency, is also proposed. When an agent forms her subjective prior assigning subjective probabilities to events in some ordered sequence, this property requires that the resulting prior be independent of that order. This last property, named order independence, is shown to be equivalent to update-consistency.A class of sets of probabilities is found on which state independence, location-consistency and update consistency (order independence) uniquely determine a selection rule. Some intuition is given regarding why these properties work in this collection of problems.
Affiliated Common Value Auctions with Differential Information: The Two Bidder Case
Authors: Parreiras Sergio O.
Published: March 2007

I study affiliated, pure common-value auctions with ex-ante asymmetric buyers. For the two-buyer case I characterize and prove uniqueness of the equilibrium of hybrid auctions where the payment is a weighted average of the highest and second-highest bids. A recursive method to explicitly compute the equilibrium is presented. It is shown that any hybrid auction yields at least as much revenue as the first-price auction. In particular, the equilibrium of the second-price auction, obtained in the limit by letting the weight of the highest bid go to zero, revenue-dominates the first-price auction.
Fundamental and Secondary R&D Races
Authors: Hussain Sayed A
Published: March 2007

R&D is typically characterized by uncertainty about the existence and timing of the innovation (``fundamental R&D"). I show that these uncertainties dampen R&D investment, which may exhibit non-monotonic dynamics, possibly converging to a steady state level. In fundamental R&D, increased rivalry raises investment in the short run, but dampens it in the long run. With an endogenous market structure and free entry, perfect competition ensues, where the race lasts for an instant; with costly entry, firms engage in R&D only if theyre sufficiently optimistic that the innovation exists. Previous models of R&D races, which assume timing uncertainty (``secondary R&D"), are special cases of this model, which allows for a comparative analysis of fundamental and secondary R&D race environments.
On the Number of Contestants and Equilibrium Individual Effort
Authors: Peng Baochun
Published: March 2007

This paper shows that in a contest with the "Tullock" forms of contest success function, an increase in the number of contestants always reduces individual effort. However, when the outcome of the contest is governed by a noisy function of effort, then individual effort could either increase or decrease following an increase in the number of contestants, depending on whether the density function of the shock is upward or downward sloping.
Equilibrium Uniqueness in a Cournot Model with Demand Uncertainty
Authors: Lagerlöf Johan N.M.
Published: March 2007

If Cournot oligopolists face uncertainty about the intercept of a linear demand function and if the realized market price must be non-negative, then expected demand becomes convex, which can create a multiplicity of equilibria. This note shows that if the distribution of the demand intercept has a monotone hazard rate and if another, rather weak, assumption is satisfied, then uniqueness of equilibrium is guaranteed.
Nonrevealing Equilibria and Consumption-Based Asset Pricing Models
Authors: Gunderson James E
Published: March 2007

In the rational expectations equilibrium of this paper, agents have private information and differing information partitions and therefore assign differing conditional distributions to asset payoffs and other economic variables relevant to their investment choices. Standard asset pricing models typically do not recognize the impact of these differing information partitions, and empirical tests based on these models thus measure asset riskiness in a way that may not be relevant to any of the agents' decisions. I show how this can lead to distorted estimates of investment risk and how it can make the equity premium appear difficult to explain.
Agricultural Biotechnology: Legal Liability Regimes from Comparative and International Perspectives
Authors: Smyth Stuart J. , Kershen Drew L.
Published: March 2007

As agricultural biotechnology has become an agronomic alternative, discussion has emerged about what legal liabilities, if any, exists for those who create, distribute, and produce transgenic seeds and crops. Many governments have debated legal liability as related to agricultural biotechnology. In this article, the authors offer fresh insights on legal liability from comparative law and international law perspectives. The article begins by comparing Canadian and American legal liability regimes in agricultural biotechnology. Using this North American comparison as background, the article then discusses liability issues by contrasting the statutory regimes from Denmark and Germany. Once the comparisons and contrasts between Canadian, American, Danish, and German law have been presented, the article focuses on the on-going discussion of legal liability and agricultural biotechnology at the Meeting of the Parties (MOP) of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (BSP). The authors posit that understanding the comparisons and contrasts between Canada, the United States, Denmark, and Germany assists greatly in understanding the issues and debates about legal liability and agricultural biotechnology at the international level in the BSP negotiations.
Offshore Outsourcing - How Safe is Your Data Abroad? Overview of Privacy, Data Protection and Security
Authors: Basu Subhajit , Nikam Amruta
Published: March 2007

Outsourcing arrangements often involve cross-border transfers of indeterminately large proportions of a client's proprietary and confidential information assets. An increasing number of companies from developing countries is contracting with financial institutions, hospitals, and insurance companies to do their back office jobs. In most cases these companies deal with sensitive information, such as financial data, medical data, payroll and benefits information, social security numbers and purchasing histories. Virtually any outsourced business process may involve privacy violations arising from mistakes or negligence. In light of these developments, this paper examines the "other side" of outsourcing and identifies its paradoxical and adverse effects. Further based on a thorough analysis of privacy law the paper also determine the risk to privacy and data security posed by the 'offshore outsourcing' and strategies employed by institutions and regulators to identify, measure, monitor, and control the risk to personal data.
Prescription Drug Advertising and Patient Compliance: A Physician Agency Approach
Authors: Armantier Olivier , Namoro Soiliou
Published: March 2007

This paper proposes an analysis of both doctors and patients' behavior in an agency model that accounts for the interplay between two highly debated health issues: drug advertising toward doctors and/or patients, and the serious problem of patients' noncompliance with their doctors' prescriptions. Due to the lack of individual data, we propose a structural approach inspired from the industrial organization literature. The model is estimated semiparametrically with product level data on the U.S. market for anti-glaucoma drugs. The results suggest that doctors' prescriptions are directly influenced by the probability of noncompliance, as well as advertising aimed at both doctors and patients. Advertisement toward patients (respectively, doctors) appears to have contributed to (respectively, slowed down) the reduction of the estimated average noncompliance rate.
The Impact of Midwifery-Promoting Public Policies on Medical Interventions and Health Outcomes
Authors: Miller Amalia R
Published: March 2007

This paper measures the impact of midwifery-promoting public policies on maternity care in the United States, using national Vital Statistics data on births spanning 1989-1999. State laws mandating insurance coverage of midwifery services are associated with an 18-percentage rise in midwife-attended births. The laws did not decrease rates of cesarean deliveries or lead to consistent effects on maternal mortality or Apgar scores. They did, however, lead to a statistically significant drop in neonatal deaths. Divergence between OLS and natural experiment estimates suggests that women are selecting into provider groups based on unobserved preferences and health.
Do Teachers Really Leave for Higher Paying Jobs in Alternative Occupations?
Authors: Scafidi Benjamin , Sjoquist David L. , Stinebrickner Todd R.
Published: March 2007

There is a common perception that teacher attrition is driven in large part by the allure of higher paying jobs in alternative occupations. However, little is known about what teachers do when they leave teaching. We examine the extent to which teachers leave teaching for higher paying jobs by merging several years of administrative teacher records from the education system in Georgia with salary information from the Georgia Department of Labor. We find strong evidence that very few of those who leave teaching take jobs that pay more than their salary as teachers.
A Simple Model of Entry That Increases Price Levels and Price Dispersion
Authors: Zhou Wen
Published: March 2007

A monopolist who originally charges a uniform price across all markets may switch to discriminatory pricing upon the entry of a competitor. As a result, intensified competition may lead to more dispersed prices as well as higher prices for some or all consumers.
Efficiency and Sectoral Distributional Impacts of Output-Based Emissions Allowances in Canada
Authors: Dissou Yazid
Published: March 2007

Emissions trading with output-based allocation (OBA) of emissions allowances is gaining popularity as a mean to address sectoral distribution issues related to the use of market-based instruments in pollution control. Using a dynamic general equilibrium framework, this paper assesses the potential trade-off between efficiency and uneven sectoral distributional effects. It compares OBA and other alternative emissions trading systems, with special attention to the heterogeneity among energy-intensive industries. Because abatement is achieved at a higher marginal cost with OBA, it is less efficient than emissions trading systems in which permit revenues are used to reduce payroll taxes. Nonetheless, the implicit output subsidy in OBA improves the sectoral distributional outcome of the abatement policy to the benefit of energy-intensive industries as a whole. The simulation results also suggest that energy-intensive industries that do not produce energy are the main beneficiaries of OBA. In the new carbon-constrained environment, energy intensive industries that produce energy could not benefit from OBA.
The Determinants of Pharmaceutical Research and Development Investments
Authors: Civan Abdulkadir , Maloney Michael T.
Published: March 2007

Our maintained hypothesis is that drug development responds to the intensity of consumer demand. We look at the distribution of drug development by disease and link this to the economic harm caused by disease as measured by mortality. Mortality data represent the net effect of human frailty and the efficacy of the existing drugs on the market. If people continue to die from a given condition then existing drugs are not perfect and there are potential profits from developing a more effective compound. We aggregate economic harm worldwide and into three broad regions: the United States, other developed countries, and underdeveloped countries. We find that economic harm motivates the distribution of drug development across diseases, but it is economic harm in the United States alone that matters.
Moral Federalism
Authors: Janeba Eckhard
Published: March 2007

Many political issues like abortion, gay marriage or assisted suicide are strongly contested because individuals have preferences not only over their own choice but also about other individuals' actions. The paper models and compares the equilibria of three institutional regimes (ranging from centralized to decentralized decision making) in an economy where individuals choose their residence and vote over a single-dimensional regulatory policy at the regional and national level. Moral federalism describes a phenomenon where the majority of people who favor a restrictive policy try to impose their preferences through the federal government on jurisdictions where permissive policies are favored. The majority group's gain is larger, the smaller it is in size relative to the entire population. At the normative level, the outcome under centralized and decentralized decision making is the worst when societies are polarized. Allowing the federal government to restrict regional choices is never optimal.
Trade and Contract Enforcement
Authors: Anderson James E , Young Leslie
Published: March 2007

We model imperfect contract enforcement when the victims of default resort to spot trading because the act of repudiation reveals a favorable outside option. We show that enforcement imperfection is essentially distinct from the contract incompleteness analyzed in the previous literature. Improved contract execution benefits traders on the excess side of the spot market by attracting potential counter-parties, but harms them by impeding their exit from unfavorable contracts. Multiple optima are possible, with anarchy a local optimum, perfect enforcement a local minimum and imperfect enforcement a global optimum. LDCs exhibit parameter combinations such that imperfect enforcement may often be optimal.
Deposit Insurance Altered the Composition of Bank Suspensions during the 1920s: Evidence from the Archives of the Board of Governors
Authors: Chung Ching-Yi , Richardson Gary
Published: March 2007

Eight states established deposit insurance systems between 1908 and 1917. All abandoned the systems between 1921 and 1930. Scholars debate the costs and benefits of these policy experiments. New data drawn from the archives of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors demonstrate that deposit insurance influenced the composition of bank suspensions in these states. In typical years, suspensions due to runs fell. Suspensions due to mismanagement rose. During the penultimate year of each system, the bank failure rate rose to an unsustainable height and the system ceased operations.
Corruption, Environmental Resources, and International Trade
Authors: Ranjan Priya , Bakshi Baishali
Published: March 2007

It is shown how corruption in the management of environmental resources can give rise to a comparative advantage in environment-intensive industries. International trade, in this setting, is not necessarily welfare improving. When corruption responds endogenously to the over-exploitation of resources, it is possible for international trade to generate forces that improve resource management by reducing corruption. Therefore, in this case trade could provide gains in addition to the usual gains.
Relative Performance, Risk and Entry in the Mutual Fund Industry
Authors: Loranth Gyongyi , Sciubba Emanuela
Published: March 2007

This paper analyses the impact of the emergence of new funds on the portfolio decisions of mutual fund managers who are evaluated on the basis of relative performance within a dynamic model. Recent theoretical literature has pointed to the inefficiencies in portfolio selection caused by relative performance evaluation of fund managers. We find that the on-going process of creation of new funds, by posing an entry threat to the incumbent fund managers, greatly alleviates these inefficiencies. Hence the transitory market structure that characterises the mutual fund industry could explain why relative performance evaluation is widely in use.
The Effects of Political Action Committee Contributions on Medical Liability Legislation
Authors: Wolaver Amy M , Magee Christopher S
Published: March 2007

This paper examines representatives' voting on the HEALTH Act of 2003, which proposed a limit on noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits. The estimates show that the more campaign contributions a representative received from law firm PACs, the less likely he or she was to vote for the bill, while money from insurance and health care industry PACs increased the likelihood of an aye vote. These effects remain after controlling for the endogeneity of campaign contributions. Other factors affecting voting decisions include party affiliation, representative ideology, whether or not the representative was an attorney, the change in state malpractice premiums and payouts, and the change in the number of doctors in the state. There is no strong evidence that the AMA's strategy of naming certain states as being in "crisis" increased the probability that representatives from those states supported the bill.
The Impact of Digital File Sharing on the Music Industry: An Empirical Analysis
Authors: Michel Norbert J
Published: March 2007

The first file-sharing software, Napster, was shut down in 2001, but the copying technologys impact on the music industry is still passionately debated. This paper uses micro-level data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey to examine the impact of Internet file sharing on music sales. Music industry representatives argue that the practice decreases CD sales, while supporters of file-sharing allege the practice could actually increase sales. Using household-level data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, we find support for the claim that file-sharing has decreased sales.