Private versus public consumption within groups : testing the nature of goods from aggregate data

We study the testability implications of public versus private consumption. The distinguishing feature of our approach is that we start from a revealed preference characterization of collectively rational behavior. Remarkably, we find that assumptions regarding the public or private nature of specific goods do have testability implications, even if one only observes the aggregate group consumption. In fact, these testability implications apply as soon as the analysis includes three goods and four obervations. This stands in sharp contrast with existing results that start from a differential characterization of collectively rational behavior. In our opinion, our revealed preference approach obtains stronger testability conclusions because it focuses on a global characterization of collective rationality, whereas the differential approach starts from a local characterization.Collective model, revealed preferences, public goods, private goods, consumption externalities.

The pattern of inequality in the spatial distribution of the Argentine manufacturing industry (1973-2003)

En este trabajo se compara el grado de desigualdad en la distribución espacial de la industria manufacturera argentina a nivel regional y provincial entre los años anterior y posterior al periodo que va de 1974 a 2002, durante el cual se abandonó la política de sustitución de importaciones y la participación del sector manufacturero en el producto interno bruto mostró una tendencia decreciente. Se analiza con métodos cuantitativos datos censales sobre valor agregado y puestos de trabajo ocupados en 1973 y 2003. Se concluye que la desigualdad total disminuyó conservando su patrón espacialThis paper compares the degree of inequality in the spatial distribution of the Argentine manufacturing industry at regional and provincial levels between the years preceding and following the period from 1974 to 2002, during which the policy of import substitution was abandoned and the share of the manufacturing sector in the gross domestic product showed a decreasing trend. It analyzes with quantitative methods census data on value added and jobs held in 1973 and 2003. It is concluded that total inequality decreased while retaining its spatial patternFil: Pellegrini, José Luis. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Cs.económicas y Estadística; ArgentinaFil: Platino, Marina. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Cs.económicas y Estadística; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Tuberculosis and airflow obstruction: evidence from the PLATINO study in Latin America

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between history of tuberculosis and airflow obstruction.A population-based, multicentre study was carried out and included 5,571 subjects aged >= 40 yrs living in one of five Latin American metropolitan areas: São Paulo (Brazil); Montevideo (Uruguay); Mexico City (Mexico); Santiago (Chile); and Caracas (Venezuela). Subjects performed pre- and post-bronchodilator spirometry and were asked whether they had ever been diagnosed with tuberculosis by a physician.The overall prevalence of airflow obstruction (forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity post-bronchodilator < 0.7) was 30.7% among those with a history of tuberculosis, compared with 13.9% among those without a history. Males with a medical history of tuberculosis were 4.1 times more likely to present airflow obstruction than those without such a diagnosis. This remained unchanged after adjustment for confounding by age, sex, schooling, ethnicity, smoking, exposure to dust and smoke, respiratory morbidity in childhood and current morbidity. Among females, the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios were 2.3 and 1.7, respectively.In conclusion, history of tuberculosis is associated with airflow obstruction in Latin American middle-aged and older adults.Univ Fed Pelotas, BR-96020220 Pelotas, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilNatl Inst Resp Dis, Mexico City, DF, MexicoUniv Republica, Montevideo, UruguayCatholic Univ Chile, Santiago, ChileCent Univ Venezuela, Caracas, VenezuelaUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc

A Measure of Social Loss for Production Economies with Externalities

In this paper we consider a production economy and adopt a cooperative approach to equilibrium analysis which allows each individual to cooperate with others and to form a coalition whose members have access to the available technologies. Our definition of the core requires a blocking coalition to take account of the consequences of its blocking for the production of the counter-coalition. Following Montesano (2002), we introduce a measure of social loss with respect to the core of the economy which characterizes the corresponding core allocations. Our characterization holds in the presence of consumption externalities and an optimistic attitude of coalition agents with respect to the behavior of outsiders

Multi-resolution anisotropy studies of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory

We report a multi-resolution search for anisotropies in the arrival directions of cosmic rays detected at the Pierre Auger Observatory with local zenith angles up to $80^\circ$ and energies in excess of 4 EeV ($4 \times 10^{18}$ eV). This search is conducted by measuring the angular power spectrum and performing a needlet wavelet analysis in two independent energy ranges. Both analyses are complementary since the angular power spectrum achieves a better performance in identifying large-scale patterns while the needlet wavelet analysis, considering the parameters used in this work, presents a higher efficiency in detecting smaller-scale anisotropies, potentially providing directional information on any observed anisotropies. No deviation from isotropy is observed on any angular scale in the energy range between 4 and 8 EeV. Above 8 EeV, an indication for a dipole moment is captured; while no other deviation from isotropy is observed for moments beyond the dipole one. The corresponding $p$-values obtained after accounting for searches blindly performed at several angular scales, are $1.3 \times 10^{-5}$ in the case of the angular power spectrum, and $2.5 \times 10^{-3}$ in the case of the needlet analysis. While these results are consistent with previous reports making use of the same data set, they provide extensions of the previous works through the thorough scans of the angular scales.Comment: Published version. Added journal reference and DOI. Added Report Numbe

Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest cosmic ray observatory. Our current exposure reaches nearly 40,000 km$^2$ str and provides us with an unprecedented quality data set. The performance and stability of the detectors and their enhancements are described. Data analyses have led to a number of major breakthroughs. Among these we discuss the energy spectrum and the searches for large-scale anisotropies. We present analyses of our X$_{max}$ data and show how it can be interpreted in terms of mass composition. We also describe some new analyses that extract mass sensitive parameters from the 100% duty cycle SD data. A coherent interpretation of all these recent results opens new directions. The consequences regarding the cosmic ray composition and the properties of UHECR sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, talk given at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Rio de Janeiro 201

Sex-related differences in COPD in five Latin American cities: the PLATINO study

There is evidence to suggest sex differences exists in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) clinical expression. We investigated sex differences in health status perception, dyspnoea and physical activity, and factors that explain these differences using an epidemiological sample of subjects with and without COPD.PLATINO is a cross-sectional, population-based study. We defined COPD as post-bronchodilator forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity ratio = 2 versus 35% of males. A similar trend was observed in females with COPD (63% versus 44%). in the entire study population, female sex was a factor explaining dyspnoea (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.40-1.84) and SF-12 physical score (OR -1.13, 95% CI -1.56- -0.71). 40% of females versus 28% of males without COPD reported their general health status as fair-to-poor. Females with COPD showed a similar trend (41% versus 34%). Distribution of COPD severity was similar between sexes, but currently smoking females had more severe COPD than currently smoking males.There are important sex differences in the impact that COPD has on the perception of dyspnoea, health status and physical activity limitation.Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (Ingelheim, Germany)Asociacion Latinoamericana de Torax (ALAT)Univ Republica, Fac Med, Montevideo, UruguayCent Univ Venezuela, Fac Med, Caracas, VenezuelaUniv Calif Los Angeles, Sch Publ Hlth, Los Angeles, CA 90024 USAInst Resp Dis, Mexico City, DF, MexicoUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilUniv Fed Pelotas, Postgrad Program Epidemiol, Pelotas, BrazilPontificia Univ Catolica Chile, Santiago, ChileUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, BrazilWeb of Scienc