Superfund Cleanups and Infant Health

We are the first to examine the effect of Superfund cleanups on infant health rather than focusing on proximity to a site. We study singleton births to mothers residing within 5km of a Superfund site between 1989-2003 in five large states. Our “difference in differences” approach compares birth outcomes before and after a site clean-up for mothers who live within 2,000 meters of the site and those who live between 2,000- 5,000 meters of a site. We find that proximity to a Superfund site before cleanup is associated with a 20 to 25% increase in the risk of congenital anomalies.NIH grant #HD055613-02 and the MacArthur Foundatio

Do Housing Prices Reflect Environmental Health Risks? Evidence from More than 1600 Toxic Plant Openings and Closings

A ubiquitous and largely unquestioned assumption in studies of housing markets is that there is perfect information about local amenities. This paper measures the housing market and health impacts of 1,600 openings and closings of industrial plants that emit toxic pollutants. We find that housing values within one mile decrease by 1.5 percent when plants open, and increase by 1.5 percent when plants close. This implies an aggregate loss in housing values per plant of about $1.5 million. While the housing value impacts are concentrated within 1/2 mile, we find statistically significant infant health impacts up to one mile away

Non-Resident Alien Investment Activity In Iowa Farmland: A Preliminary Anaylsis

The issue of non-resident alien investment in U.S. business and agriculture has recently attracted the attention of numerous groups at the local, state, and national level. Public discussion and concern on this issue are based largely upon hearsay evidence and incomplete information. A comprehensive source of data or general picture of foreign investment in U.S. agriculture does not exist. Not only are the number of cases and characteristics (type of land, motivations of the investor, the intermediary channels, etc.) of actual investment activity unknown, but the nature and incidence of inquiries are equally unclear..

Is the Child Health / Family Income Gradient Universal? : Evidence from England

In an influential study Case et al. (2002) documented a positive relationship between family income and child health in the US, with the slope of the gradient being larger for older than younger children. In this paper we explore the child health income gradient in England, which has a comprehensive publicly-funded National Health Service (NHS) founded on the twin principles of health care being free at the point of delivery and equality of access for the whole population. Our analysis is based on a sample of over 13,000 children (and their parents) drawn from the Health Survey for England. In accordance with Case et al. (2002), we find consistent and robust evidence of a significant family income gradient in child health using the subjective general health status measure. However, in England the size of the gradient is considerably smaller than that found for the US and we find no evidence that its slope increases with child age. We also provide new evidence that nutrition and family lifestyle choices have an important role in determining child health and that child health outcomes are highly correlated within the family. In addition, we find no evidence of an income gradient for objective indicators of child health, derived from nurse measurements and blood test results. Together our evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the NHS has a protective effect on the health of children in England

Visualising interoperability : ARH, aggregation, rationalisation and harmonisation

This paper proposes a visualisation of interoperability to assist real-world deployment of metadata. For some time, resource managers in many organisations have been acting on faith, creating 'standards compliant' metadata with the aim of exposing their resources to provide interoperability in discovery activities. In some cases, their faith has led them to miss the very essence of the work they are doing, and they have not got what they worked for. The authors report a case study involving government agencies in Victoria, Australia. A number of departmental agencies have implemented, more or less, the DC-based Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) application profile, at least for their web resources. They have done this with care and precision, with the long-term aim of developing a fully interoperable system. In the case study, typical would-be records for seven government departments were studied and it was shown that the tiniest, and typical, variation in use of the standard can be expected to thwart the aimsof interoperability in significant ways. In the context of the government’s move to seeking interoperable metadata for all resources, including those within document management systems, the authors make visible how a small 'creep' can lead away from interoperability and how it might be contained in the future. They use a 3-step approach of 'aggregation, rationalisation and harmonisation' to expose the problems with 'nearly good enough' interoperability and the benefits of good interoperability, and encourage true harmonisation

On-sky speckle nulling demonstration at small angular separation with SCExAO

This paper presents the first on-sky demonstration of speckle nulling, which was achieved at the Subaru Telescope in the context of the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme Adaptive Optics (SCExAO) Project. Despite the absence of a high-order high-bandwidth closed-loop AO system, observations conducted with SCExAO show that even in poor-to-moderate observing conditions, speckle nulling can be used to suppress static and slow speckles even in the presence of a brighter dynamic speckle halo, suggesting that more advanced high-contrast imaging algorithms developed in the laboratory can be applied to ground-based systems.Comment: 5 figures, accepted for publication by PAS

Phases of Imitation and Innovation in a North-South Endogenous Growth Model

In this paper, we develop a North-South endogenous growth model to examine three phases of development in the South: imitation of Northern products, imitation and innovation and finally, innovation only. In particular, the model has the features of catching up (and potentially overtaking) which are of particular relevance to the Pacific Rim economies. We show that the possible equilibria depend on cross-country assimilation effects and the ease of imitation. We then apply the model to analyse the impact of R&D subsidies. There are some clear global policy implications which emerge from our analysis. Firstly, because subsidies to Southern innovation benefit the North as well, it is beneficial to the North to pay for some of these subsidies. Secondly, because the ability of the South to assimilate Northern knowledge and innovate depends on Southern skills levels, the consequent spillover benefits on growth make the subsidising of Southern education by the North particularly attractive.