Basudeb Biswas

Impact of Globalization on Income Distribution Inequality in 60 Countries

This paper investigates the impact of globalization on income inequality distribution in 60 developed, transitional, and developing countries. Using Kearneys (2002, 2003 and 2004) data and principal component analysis (PCA), two globalization indices are created. One of these indices is the equally weighted index. The other index is derived from the principal component analysis. The Gini coefficient of a country is regressed on each index, respectively, in all 60 test cases.The main contribution of this paper is its finding of a negative relationship between both globalization indices and the Gini coefficient for all 60 countries under investigation. Furthermore, test results indicate that this relationship is robust. Therefore, the empirical evidence presented in this paper supports the claim that globalization helps reduce income distribution inequality within countries.

On the Choice Between the Stocking Rate and Time in Range Management

A long standing question in range management concerns the relative importance of the stocking rate versus the length oftime during which animals graze a particular rangeland. Weaddress this question by analyzing the problem faced by a privaterancher who wishes to minimize the long run expected net unit cost (LRENC) from range operations by choosing either the stocking rate or the length of time during which his animals graze hisrangeland. We construct a renewal-theoretic model and show that,in general, this ranchers LRENC with an optimally chosen stocking rate is lower than his LRENC with an optimally chosen grazing cycle length. From a management perspective, this means that correct stocking of the range is more important than the length of time during which animals graze the range. In addition, our research shows how to address questions concerning the desirability of temporal versus non-temporal controls in managing naturalresources such as fisheries and hunting grounds. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 2001

The effects of group size and income on contributions to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

This paper examines the extent to which individual contributions to public television are explained by the size of the audience which receives the individual stations television signal. It also incorporates the effects of income on contributions to public television in order to assess the combined effects of income and group size on contributions to public goods.The existing literature on contributions to public goods differs from this paper in several respects. First, this study uses field data to test the effects of group size on a public good. The majority of the existing literature on public goods contributions is based on experimental data. Most of this literature addresses the issue of free riding behavior, not the effects on contributions of different sized groups. Finally, the theory of group size developed in prior work does not address the issue of how contributions differ for groups which are very different in size.

Economic Impact of Terminal Illness and the Willingness to Change It

OBJECTIVE To gather pilot data on the economic impact of terminal illness on families and on the feasibility of training caregivers as a method of stemming illness-related poverty. DESIGN Exploratory, descriptive study involving semistructured interviews with patient and caregiver dyads. SETTING Pallium India Palliative Care Clinic in Trivandrum, Kerala, India. PARTICIPANTS Eleven patient-caregiver dyads (22 individual participants) visiting Pallium India in 2008. METHODS Trained interviewers conducted face-to-face interviews consisting of 114 questions with the patient and caregiver separately. Questions covered topics of economic impact of illness on household, family, and individual. Questions included if the illness had so impacted families that they needed to sell assets or significantly reduce work and/or schooling. RESULTS All families reported that patients were obliged to give up work as a result of illness. In seven families, the caregiver also had to change work habits. All respondents stated illness had forced them to sell assets. Ten households reported that their children were obliged to miss school due to the illness. All respondents indicated they would use trained caregivers to help with the care burden if available. Nine respondents thought that use of trained caregivers would have reduced or prevented some of the households illness-related change. Nine caregivers said they would be interested in becoming a trained caregiver. CONCLUSION These data indicate that a definitive study would be feasible and would reveal how much assistance caregiver training could lend to household socio-economic resilience.

Trade and wage inequality: Are they related?

The objective of this paper is to investigate the relationship between net exports and wage inequality in the U.S. The short- and long-run analyses of the U.S. trade and wage data are undertaken. Cointegration test results indicate that net exports and wage inequality are related in the long run. The main contribution of this paper lies in its focus on the short-run investigation of the relationship between net exports and wage inequality. This investigation was conducted using the vector error correction (VEC) testing framework. Contrary to the prevailing view, the VEC test results indicate that trade has no statistically significant impact on wage inequality in the U.S. Instead, the empirical evidence shows a negative causal impact of wage inequality on net exports.

The Stocking Rate Versus Time in Range Management: A Review of Recent Theoretical Developments

A long-standing question in range management concerns the relative importance of the stocking rate versus the length of time during which animals graze a particular rangeland. Recently, Batabyal and co-workers provided a theoretical answer to this question. Given the importance of this question for practical range management, this paper has two objectives. First, it provides a non-technical discussion of the methodology employed and the analysis conducted by Batabyal and co-workers. Second, it points out and discusses the significance of two range management questions that are suggested by the previous analysis.

Energy development and Navajo coal leasing programs A dynamic optimization approach

Abstract This paper employs a dynamic optimization model to evaluate the shadow prices of Navajo coal and estimates the optimal rate of extraction of coal over time using conventional welfare economics criterion. The results indicate that the actual royalty payment received by the tribe on the basis of the present long-term lease contracts is usually less than the amount estimated in the optimizing model. In view of the tribes recently recognized legal right to tax, a corrective tax scheme is suggested.

A Dynamic and Stochastic Perspective on the Role of Time in Range Management

This chapter uses a new ecological-economic approach to analyze the role of time in range management in a dynamic and stochastic setting. We first construct a theoretical model of a parcel of rangeland in which time restrictions are used to manage the land. We then show how the dynamic and the stochastic properties of this rangeland can be used to construct two managerial objectives that are ecologically and economically meaningful. Finally, using these two objectives, we discuss an approach to range management in which the manager has two interrelated goals. This manager maximizes the profits from range operations and (s)he also takes steps to move the rangeland away from the least desirable state of existence.

General Equilibrium Analysis of Negative Value‐added

A simple two‐sector general equilibrium model is developed to show how the phenomenon of negative value‐added occurs in the protected sector, when the intermediate input is an exportable of the country. Previously, it has been shown in a partial analysis that the production loss of negative value‐added comprises two elements – the foreign exchange loss and the domestic resource loss. These losses are geo‐metrically identified in the general equilibrium model. This analysis departs from earlier ones, however, in that the intermediate input is treated as an exportable good rather than an importable one.

Explaining forward Rate Unbiasedness Hypothesis: the Risk Premium Approach

The hypothesis that the forward rate is an unbiased predictor of the future spot rate has been questioned time and again. In majority of the cases empirical evidence suggests that forward rates are neither efficient nor rational forecasts of future spot rates. The rejection of the forward rate unbiasedness hypothesis can be attributed to a misspecified theoretical model. In this paper we consider the misspecification to be in the form of exclusion of an explanatory variable, the risk premium. We test the unbiasedness hypothesis by including a time-varying risk premium using the GARCH-M representation. The risk premium is modeled by extending the Domowitz and Hakkio (1985) ARCH framework and by applying a GARCH (1, 1) specification. The exchange rates data are from January 1991 to February 2008 for U.K., Canada, Australia and Japan, the four advanced economies and for India, the emerging market economy, the data ranges from January 1999 to February 2008.