Environinental and economic consequences of technology adoption: IPM in viticulture

The impact of integrated pest management (IPM) on pesticide use, toxicity and other environmental characteristics, yields, and farm profits is examined for grape growers. The method is generally applicable for technology adoption and accounts for self-selectivity, simultaneity, and theoretical consistency. IPM adopters apply significantly less insecticides and fungicides than nonadopters among grape producers in six states, accounting for most of the U.S. production. Both the average toxicity and the Environmental Impact Quotient decrease slightly with adoption of insect IPM, but remain about the same for adopters and nonadopters of IPM for diseases. The effect of IPM adoption on yields and variable profits is positive but only significant for the case of IPM for diseases, i.e., the adoption of IPM for diseases increases yields and profits significantly.     

How do services of owner-occupied housing affect income inequality and redistribution?

This paper aims at analyzing the redistributive impact that the inclusion of the imputed rental market value of owner-occupied housing would have if used for quantifying the ability to pay rather than imputation based on cadastral values. We consider the Spanish personal income tax as reference, due to the differential treatment that it provides for imputed income from owner-occupied housing, together with the exceptionally high percentages of home ownership in Spain. By means of micro-simulation we explore the consequences of alternative possibilities for dealing with implicit income from owner-occupied housing.     

Some properties of the minimum and the maximum of random variables with joint logconcave distributions

It is shown that if (X ₁, X ₂, . . . , X _n ) is a random vector with a logconcave (logconvex) joint reliability function, then X _P = min _i∈P X _i has increasing (decreasing) hazard rate. Analogously, it is shown that if (X ₁, X ₂, . . . , X _n ) has a logconcave (logconvex) joint distribution function, then X ^P  = max _i∈P X _i has decreasing (increasing) reversed hazard rate. If the random vector is absolutely continuous with a logconcave density function, then it has a logconcave reliability and distribution functions and hence we obtain a result given by Hu and Li (Metrika 65:325–330, 2007). It is also shown that if (X ₁, X ₂, . . . , X _n ) has an exchangeable logconcave density function then both X _P and X ^P have increasing likelihood ratio.     

Core equivalence and welfare properties without divisible goods

We study an economy where all goods entering preferences or production processes are indivisible. Fiat money not entering consumers’ preferences is an additional perfectly divisible parameter. We establish a First and Second Welfare Theorem and a core equivalence result for the rationing equilibrium concept introduced in Florig and Rivera (2005a). The rationing equilibrium can be considered as a natural extension of the Walrasian notion when all goods are indivisible at the individual level but perfectly divisible at the level of the entire economy.     

Academic content,research productivity,and tenure

This study examines the influence of a Finance doctoral program’s academic content on the research productivity of the graduates at the time of the tenure decision. The results of this investigation show that a Finance program’s academic content has no influence on the total number of publications of program graduates, but finds a significant relationship between academic content and graduate’s records of publications in top finance journals by the time of the tenure evaluation. More precisely, doctoral programs requiring more mathematically oriented classes such as Continuous Time Finance and/or Stochastic Calculus produce graduates who have a better record of publication in top finance journals at the time of tenure than those graduating from programs without these requirements.     

Fiscal space on the eurozone periphery and the use of the (partially) balanced-budget multiplier: The case of Spain

This article adopts the “functional finance” approach to consider the utilization of expansive fiscal policies in the members of the European Monetary Union most affected by high unemployment. As they do not have their own monetary policy, fiscal deficits require the issuing of public debt without the support of the central bank. The authors consequently incorporate the notion of a (partially) balanced-budget expansion to achieve the desired stimulus in gross domestic product (GDP) with the least possible effect on public debt. Their proposal is only a sort of “imperfect” balanced-budget expansion: It is based on the idea that simultaneous increases in public revenue and expenditure can boost GDP, but without any pretension of keeping public deficit unchanged. Specifically, the authors use the case of Spain to show that a more expansive fiscal policy is desirable on economic grounds, and that only institutional constraints prevent it. They do it presenting two alternative scenarios for the coming years and analyzing their different impact on unemployment and fiscal sustainability. The first represents a firm commitment to budget consolidation, whereas the second is based on this “imperfect” application of the balanced budget multiplier. The main conclusion is that a more expansive fiscal policy is perfectly compatible with finance sustainability.     

Relating business model innovations and innovation cascades: the case of biotechnology

This article conceptualizes innovation as a process, where the scientific and industrial application of technological knowledge nurtures new routines and institutions, in order to relate changing business model innovations to innovation cascades. Innovation in science-based, high-tech sectors is changing its tempo, from the evolutionary pace of incremental novelties punctuated by occasional radical novelties, to innovation cascades. These cascades involve a long series of interlinked radical innovations, which can be traced through various scientific and technological indicators like patents and publications. Innovation cascades are relevant to industry, because they make the future less predictable. They are particularly interesting because these changes also enable the testing an abundance of new business models. Innovation cascades have a major impact on the number and sustainability of business models and on strategy. Business model innovations are visible not only in the existing organizations that undergo change, but also new organizational models appear. The case of biotechnology after the 1980s is used to illustrate our conceptualization.     

Biosimilars in North America

ABSTRACT

The United States (US) is the world leader in the development of biopharmaceutical products. These new drugs, numbering about 200, are now losing patent protection and imitators are entering the market of comparable drugs, called biosimilars. According to a popular belief, these producers of biosimilars (erroneously called copycats) are everywhere, except in the United States. In North America, on both sides of the US border, the increase in the number of biosimilar producers is evident. In addition, although the US federal government tries to erect barriers against the entry of foreign-made biosimilars in the country, many states are lobbying the federal government and allowing the use of biosimilars. And biosimilars represent a very convenient ladder for emergent and industrial countries to learn the enigmatic routines of the pharmaceutical industry. Where this segment of the industry will be located is another matter.     

Inequality and criminality revisited: further evidence from Brazil

The objective of this study is to shed light on the determinants of criminality rates in Brazil. A panel data model was estimated using Brazilian states’ data. Our main result suggests that income inequality plays an important role in the determination of the crime rate. Furthermore, there are evidence suggesting that both unemployment and urbanization rates are positively related to crime. Based on a GMM approach we find the existence of an “inertial effect” on criminality. Besides that, the GMM results show that public security spending is effective in reducing criminality rates. Contrary to the common wisdom, we could not find evidence that poverty increases violent crimes. Finally, we have evidence that income inequality Granger causes crime, but not the reverse.