Russian Nanotechnology Market: High-Technology Industry or Statistical Phenomenon

This article presents a medium-term forecast of the development of the Russian nanoindustry, taking into account the assumed transition of the industry from the formation stage to the investment growth stage. Problems associated with the estimated output volumes of products in the Russian nanoindustry are considered, since the trends recorded in the primary statistical data are very far from reflecting the real situation due to the imperfection of the system of statistics of nano-containing products, as well as a reduction of state funding and a decline in the intensity of research in the industry. It is concluded that a full-fledged industry has not been yet completely formed in Russia and it actually exists only as a statistical phenomenon; in addition, the project really set different objectives from the declared creation of a breakthrough high-technology branch.     

The Economic Importance of Methyl Bromide: Does the California Strawberry Industry Qualify for a Critical Use Exemption from the Methyl Bromide Ban?

Methyl bromide has been applied to California strawberries for forty years. However, it will be banned in the United States and other developed countries in 2005. Critical use exemptions provide a mechanism that allows its continued use after this date for industries that do not have technically and economically feasible alternatives, and are consequently subject to significant market disruption. Integrating scientific and economic results from a multidisciplinary research project, we evaluate whether California strawberries are eligible for a critical use exemption.     

Price Stability and the Case for Flexible Exchange Rates

We revisit Friedman’s case for flexible exchange rates in a small open economy with several distortions and rigidities and a variety of domestic and external shocks. We find that, for external shocks, the flexible exchange rate regime outperforms the fixed regime independent of the source of domestic nominal rigidities provided that the monetary authorities pursue a policy of strict inflation targeting. For domestic supply shocks, a joint policy of a flexible exchange rate and strict inflation targeting fares well when the main source of nominal rigidities is in the domestic goods markets, but not if rigidities arise in the labor markets.     

A new approach to household fertility behavior

A 1st step is taken in this discussion towards the explicit theoretical recognition that fertility decisions are made by pairs of individuals who conceivably have different preferences or are in different circumstances. The focus is on disagreements between spouses over desired family size. The discussion begins by identifying the costs and benefits of child services to each spouse, which involves consideration of the type of interdependency of the utility functions as well as the nature of the externality problem in the production of child service. Specific examples are included of situations in which disagreement is likely to occur. Using the National Fertility Survey of 1965, it is possible to test whether disagreements are more likely to occur in these identified cases. 2 types of fertility conflict are predicted: the wife desires fewer children than the husband and the reverse. The National Fertility Survey (NFS) data set contains 5617 interview records. A sample of 1559 women who were married once, husband present, nonmenopausal, aged 25-39 with valid answers to all questions were selected. Husband's schooling in excess of wife's increased the probability that conflict of the husband demanding fewer children type will arise and the probability was increased at higher levels of income. The demand for quality rose with income and placed additional pressure on a husband with more education to assist (via lost leisure time) in the creation of quality. The effects were highly nonlinear. Higher levels of status of the wife's (potential) job had the predicted effect of making wife demands fewer children conflict more likely, but only through intermediate levels of status. Another variable which had a significant influence on the probability of conflict was the husband's age, with higher husband's age leading to husband demanding fewer children than wife conflict.     

On public investment, long-run growth, and the real exchange rate

This paper extends the Barro (1990) endogenous growth modelwith productive government services to a two-country world withperfect capital mobility, populated by optimising agents withuncertain lifetimes. It shows that increases in government spendingon infrastructure for the home country result in higher growthrates and a terms of trade improvement. Both these effects arereversed after a point, showing that a hump-shaped curve—similarto the Barro curve, but with different properties—canbe obtained here even with lump-sum taxes. We also examine thewelfare implications of public investment policies, and characterisethe world economy's dynamics.     

The erosion of the liberal economic order

Atlantic Economic Journal -