Why Doesn't Technology Flow From Rich to Poor Countries?

What is the role of a country's financial system in determining technology adoption? To examine this, a dynamic contract model is embedded into a general equilibrium setting with competitive intermediation. The terms of finance are dictated by an intermediary's ability to monitor and control a firm's cash flow, in conjunction with the structure of the technology that the firm adopts. It is not always profitable to finance promising technologies. A quantitative illustration is presented where financial frictions induce entrepreneurs in India and Mexico to adopt less‐promising ventures than in the United States, despite lower input prices.     

Immigrants and the Spread of Tuberculosis in the United States: A Hidden Cost of Immigration

This panel-data study concerns the incidence of newly diagnosed tuberculosis (TB) in specific U.S. metropolitan areas among immigrants and, in turn, the possible transmission of the disease to the native-born population of these same metropolitan areas. The study includes 50 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas as annual observations, 1993–2007. We find that a 10% increase in the number of high-incidence immigrants results in a 2.87% increase in TB among the foreign-born population, and that a 10% increase in the number of foreign-born TB cases increases the number of new TB cases among the native-born by 1.11%. The study concludes with a benefit/cost analysis of the societal cost of TB and suggests that testing all immigrants for TB would be a cost-effective method to limit the amount of TB that enters U.S. from abroad, thus limiting the transmission to both the foreign- and native-born populations.     

Simultaneity bias in migration models: An empirical examination

A number of migration studies have attempted to explain migration that occurred over a given time interval by means of variables defined for the end of the period and/or variables relating to changes that occurred over the period. Since migration may influence end-of-period levels of explanatory variables by influencing the behavior of these variables over the period of migration, simultaneous-equations bias may be inherent in the parameter estimates of the many single-equation, multiple-regression analyses. This study constitutes an empirical examination of qualitative differences in the parameter estimates of five different types of migration models estimated for two different time periods, 1960 and 1970.     

The influence of social programs in source countries on various classes of U.S. immigration

"This article uses a unique set of pooled cross-sectional and time series data to examine the annual rate of U.S. immigration during 1972-1991 from 60 source countries. One distinguishing feature of the article is that it breaks out and cross-classifies various classes of immigrants--numerically limited versus numerically exempt and new immigrant versus adjustment of status. A second distinguishing feature is that it utilizes a unique vector of variables relating to the presence and characteristics of various social programs in source countries. The models developed here emphasize the importance of both differential economic advantage and the ease with which a prospective migrant can transfer skills to the U.S. labor market. Hausman-Taylor instrumental variable estimates of the coefficients indicate that in addition to other factors, social programs in source countries are significant determinants of immigration to the USA." Data are from the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Public Use Files.     

The future pattern of U.K. share ownership

This article reports the present pattern of ordinary share ownership in the U.K. and forecasts the future pattern of share ownership towards the end of the present century. The authors forecast that institutional shareholders will own 50 per cent of U.K. registered and managed companies by 1977 and that they will own 68 per cent by 1990. Holdings by individuals, executors and trustees will fall from 47·4 per cent in 1970 to 34 per cent in 1977 and 14 per cent in 1990.     

Adult Sibling Relationships in the Context of a Mid- to Late-Life Parental Divorce

There has been much research on the influence of parental divorce on children, but less is known about whether and how a later-life parental divorce influences the lives of adult children. Through qualitative interviews with 40 adult children of divorce—those whose parents divorced after they were 18 years of age—adult sibling relationships were explored to determine if a mid- to late-life parental divorce affects the adult sibling relationship. The majority of participants reported that their sibling relationships were not negatively affected by the parental divorce; however, a minority of participants noted that their adult sibling relationships were negatively affected, especially if they “took sides” during the parental divorce.     

Using a gender perspective to explore forest dependence in rural HIV/AIDS-affected Malawian households

Throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, forest resources play a crucial role in enabling households to control and adapt to HIV/AIDS; however, little is known about how the disease impacts the gendered use of forest resources. This exploratory study characterizes how the dependence on forest resources changes for female and male respondents in HIV/AIDS-affected households in Malawi through three phases: before HIV was known to be present; during HIV-related morbidity; and after AIDS-related mortality. The results presented for female and male respondents in this paper are strikingly similar, and many respondents report that there are no longer any traditional gender roles for household tasks due to HIV/AIDS. Therefore, we question the thinking around gender-specific forest-related interventions for HIV-affected people. Moreover, given the gendered knowledge base that must surround resource use, what do these changes in traditional roles mean for sustainable forest resource use in the future? Further research on knowledge transmission around these resources is warranted.     

Plots of Conditional Wait-Time Intervals Provide Better Information to Queueing System Arrivals

The management of queues is a very important aspect of service operations management. One way to enhance the queueing experience is to provide customers with the most informative and certain estimate of anticipated wait time. This paper develops such a measure—referred to as the conditional wait-time interval (CWTI)—for queueing systems with exponentially distributed service times. It is especially applicable at the operational level of an organization since it utilizes the most current information on the status of the system (number of customers in the queue at arrival). CWTI is also based on two risk factors that consider the chance a customer's actual wait time is outside of the estimated range. This paper also provides a graphical means to display multiple CWTIs.     

Factor structure of the Mini-Maternal Behavior Q-Sort and associations with infant attachment: Informing precision in research and intervention

We examined the factor structure of parental sensitivity to infants as assessed by the Mini-Maternal Behavior Q-Sort (Mini-MBQS), a 25-item short-form of the original 90-item MBQS. We aimed to: (1) identify latent factors of the Mini-MBQS; and (2) validate each factor by testing associations with infant attachment classifications. Data on parent-infant dyads (n = 313; 222 mothers with 281 children, 29 fathers with 32 children) were drawn from a three-generation Australian cohort study. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling examined the structure of the Mini-MBQS. Two latent Mini-MBQS factors were identified, requiring 8 of 25 original items: (1) Attention and Responsiveness and (2) Contingency in Interactions. Infants with insecure attachment classifications had parents with lower sensitivity across both factors relative to infants classified secure. In particular, infants with resistant attachment classifications had parents with notably low Contingency in Interactions scores. Infants with disorganised attachment classifications had parents with the lowest relative sensitivity across both factors, and in these dyads Attention and Responsiveness scores were especially low. Results provide an empirically derived factor structure for the Mini-MBQS. Two subscales, each with significant infant attachment associations, may improve precision in clinical intervention and research translation.