Services trade and domestic regulation

This paper argues that regulatory measures affect the fixed cost of entering a market as well as the variable costs of servicing that market. Moreover, differences in regulation among countries often imply that firms have to incur entry costs in every new market. Indicators of regulatory intensity and heterogeneity are introduced in a gravity model and their impact on market entry and subsequent trade flows estimated for total services, business services and financial services. It is found that regulatory heterogeneity has a relatively large negative impact on both market entry and subsequent trade flows. Further, regulatory barriers have a negative effect on the local services sectors’ export performance. Finally it is found that regulations that aims at correcting market failure can have a positive impact on trade. It is concluded that services trade liberalization and regulatory reforms are complementary in creating competitive services markets.Trade in services; regulation; GATS; fixed trade costs

The Role of FDI in Economic Development

This paper deals with two questions: First, what are the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI)? Second, what is the role of FDI in economic development? In order to provide some answers to these questions, we draw upon the existing theoretical and empirical literature as well as insights derived from five country studies that we have conducted. Important location advantages include a stable social, political and economic environment, liberal trade policies, and geographical proximity to large and growing economies. On the host country effects of FDI, we conclude that while FDI is not necessary to achieve economic development, the entry of foreign firms may play an important role in adding technology and competition to the host economies. However, foreign entry may lead to a loss in market shares, and thereby a loss in profits, for local firms. This problem is likely to be more important if foreign entry takes place in markets shielded from the competitive pressures of international trade.

A study of diabetes mellitus within a large sample of Australian twins.

Udgivelsesdato: 2008-FebTwin studies of diabetes mellitus can help elucidate genetic and environmental factors in etiology and can provide valuable biological samples for testing functional hypotheses, for example using expression and methylation studies of discordant pairs. We searched the volunteer Australian Twin Registry (19,387 pairs) for twins with diabetes using disease checklists from nine different surveys conducted from 1980-2000. After follow-up questionnaires to the twins and their doctors to confirm diagnoses, we eventually identified 46 pairs where one or both had type 1 diabetes (T1D), 113 pairs with type 2 diabetes (T2D), 41 female pairs with gestational diabetes (GD), 5 pairs with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and one pair with MODY. Heritabilities of T1D, T2D and GD were all high, but our samples did not have the power to detect effects of shared environment unless they were very large. Weight differences between affected and unaffected cotwins from monozygotic (MZ) discordant pairs were large for T2D and GD, but much larger again for discordant dizygotic (DZ) pairs. The bivariate genetic analysis (under the multifactorial threshold model) estimated the genetic correlation between body mass index (BMI) and T2D to be 0.46, and the environmental correlation at only 0.06

Patterns of foreign direct investment in poor countries

This paper introduces endogenous adoption costs for productive assets in a Ramsey type growth model with international capital flows. There are two classes of productive assets: owner-specific and location-specific. Adoption costs are an increasing function of the level of technology embodied in the investor's owner-specific assets and a declining function of the host country's location-specific assets. In this setting the observed pattern of international capital flows is consistent with diminishing returns to capital. Further, our model predicts the sectoral allocation of investment and output observed in the South

Tolv år etter høgskolereformen – en statusrapport om FOU i statlige høgskoler

På oppdrag fra Kunnskapsdepartementet har NIFU STEP utarbeidet en rapport om ulike sider ved FOU-virksomheten ved statlige høgskoler; stillingsstruktur, FOU-profil, tidsbruk, deltakelse i oppdrags- og programforskning, publiseringsaktivitet, forskningssamarbeid, internasjonal kontakt og forskningsvilkår. I tillegg er Universitetet i Stavanger inkludert i undersøkelsen. Basert på en spørreskjemaundersøkelse belyser rapporten utviklingen over tid og sammenligner med tilsvarende data fra en tidligere undersøkelse ved universiteter og vitenskapelige høgskoler

Liberalization of trade in services and choice of technology in the Norwegian petroleum sector

The petroleum sector is a service-intensive industry. The quality, price and availability of services are therefore important for the productivity level in the petroleum sector. This paper analyzes how intermediate inputs contribute to productivity in the Norwegian petroleum sector and discusses how technical progress and changes in the international trade regime affect productivity and vertical relations between oil companies and their suppliers. It is shown that in a small market, tailor-made inputs and dose vertical relations between the oil companies and their suppliers are the preferred and most cost-effective technology. As the market expands, the relative cost of tailor-made inputs increases, and at one critical point becomes less cost-effective than standardized inputs. A policy implication of the analysis is that the NORSOK policy of enhancing standardization needs to be complemented with a more open market in order to achieve its objectives. The analysis is particularly relevant for oil-related producer services, since this is the market for intermediate inputs that is the least open

Institutions, trade policy and trade flows

This paper analyses to which extent domestic institutions affect trade flows. We use two complementary approaches, one focusing on the size of total trade flows and one focusing on bilateral trade patterns (gravity equation). Besides, we control for two other domestic policy variables: trade policy and domestic infrastructure. We find that the quality of institutions has a positive and significant impact on a country's level of openness. Domestic tariffs have no statistically significant impact on their own, but do affect total trade flows when combined with good institutions. Domestic institutions also have a positive and significant impact on bilateral trade flows, but the parameter of our institution variables is reduced by almost a half and may turn insignificant when the quality of domestic infrastructure is included in the regression

Sex differences in heritability of neck Pain

Experimental studies have suggested biological factors as a possible explanation for gender disparities in perception of pain. Recently, heritability of liability to neck pain (NP) has been found to be statistically significantly larger in women compared to men. However, no studies have been conducted to determine whether the sex differences in heritability of NP are due to sex-specific genetic factors. Data on lifetime prevalence of NP from a population-based cross-sectional survey of 33,794 Danish twins were collected and age-stratified univariate biometrical modeling using sex-limitation models was performed based on 10,605 dizygotic (DZ) twins of opposite sex to estimate the qualitative sex differences. In a full sex-limitation model the genetic component in females were higher than in males, but the genetic and the shared environmental correlations were equal to what is normally assumed between same-sex DZ twins. A 'no-sex-effects' model showed the overall best model fit which confirms absence of sex-related gene interaction. The age-stratified sex-limitation models showed similar results. Thus, there is no evidence for a sex-specific genetic influence in the liability of heritability of NP

Etiological relationships in atopy:a review of twin studies

Udgivelsesdato: AprThe genetics of asthma and atopy has been studied frequently in twin populations from various parts of the world. However, emphasis has been put on univariate analysis of questionnaire data, whereas clinical and intermediate traits only sporadically have been studied, especially in multivariate settings. This review focuses on multivariate twin studies of atopy and related traits. We conclude that the genetic liability to most atopic traits is significantly correlated but that trait-specific genes also play a role. Previous studies have estimated the genetic correlation between upper and lower respiratory allergic symptoms, that is, asthma and hay fever, to be between .47 and .95. Furthermore, atopic traits share a portion of their genetic determinants with other complex disorders like obesity and behavioral traits. A correlation of about .3 and .34 has been reported between genes associated with asthma and obesity, and between genes associated with asthma and depression, respectively. We emphasize that multivariate methods applied to twin studies, especially when genetic marker information is available, provide a valuable framework within which complex etiological mechanisms underlying atopy can be disentangled