Capital Wealth Inequality and Public Bads: A Mathematical Analysis

In A Future for Socialism (1994), John Roerrre'r argues that the highly unequal distribution of capital wealth under contemporary capitalism results in a level of public bads (e.g., environmental degradation) higher than that which would be preferred by the large majority of the population. This contention is examined using an alternative formal model, of arguably greater economic content and realism, from which the result is obtained that the household's share of capital property return has an uncertain effect on its preferred level of the public bad. In the CES special case, the effect of household capital wealth on its preferred level of public bad is determined by the elasticities of substitution in the production and utility functions.Distribution; Wealth; Inequality

The use of microencapsulated feeds to replace live food organisms in shrimp hatcheries

Abstract only.An adequate supply of hatchery produced shrimp fry is the major constraint to the intensification and growth of shrimp culture practices. If even 20% of the more than 500,000 ha of the world's existing tropical and sub-tropical brackishwater ponds were to stock at the relatively low density of 50,000 fry/ha/year, it would take thousands of new hatcheries to produce the 25 billion fry required. The availability of artificially produced diets to replace cultured live food organisms would alleviate many of the problems currently limiting shrimp hatchery production by: (i) reducing the level of technical skill required to operate a hatchery; (ii) assuring a reliable supply of a nutritionally balanced larval feed; (iii) reducing sources of contamination and larval disease; and (iv) simplifying hatchery design and capital cost requirements, thereby facilitating small scale hatchery development. Aquatic farms has been working with the Mars Microencapsulation Research Group (MMRG) to develop techniques for adapting current shrimp hatchery technology and design so that MMRG feeds can be used in existing hatcheries as a live feed replacement. Feeding trials have been conducted in commercial hatcheries in Hawaii, Malaysia and Thailand. The results of these trials and the techniques employed are discussed. Growth and survival of larvae fed microencapsulated diets as total or partial replacement of live foods was comparable to larvae cultured in control tanks using the standard operating procedures of the hatchery in which the trials were conducted. In trials to date, larval survival from nauplii to postlarvae has been as high as 70%

Atlas of Anchorage Community Indicators

The Anchorage Community Indicators (ACI) project is designed to make information (extracted from data) accessible so that conversations about the health and well-being of Anchorage may become more completely informed. Policy makers, social commentators, service delivery systems, and scholars often stake out positions based on anecdotal evidence or hunches when, in many instances, solid, empirical evidence could be compiled to support or challenge these opinions.The Atlas of Anchorage Community Indicators makes empirical information about neighborhoods widely accessible to many different audiences. The initial selection of indicators for presentation in the Atlas was inspired by Peter Blau and his interest in measures of heterogeneity (diversity) and inequality and by the work of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods. In both cases the measures they developed were well-conceptualized and validated. The Atlas presents community indicators at the census block group level derived from data captured in the 2000 U.S. Census and the 2005 Anchorage Community Survey. All maps in the Atlas are overlaid by Community Council boundaries to facilitate comparisons across maps.Introduction / COMMUNITY COUNCIL BOUNDARY MAPS / Eagle River Community Councils / North Anchorage Community Councils / South Anchorage Community Councils / Girdwood Community Councils / CENSUS-DERIVES INDICATORS AT BLOCK GROUP LEVEL / 1. Concentrated Affluence / 2. Concentrated Disadvantage / 3. Housing Density / 4. Immigrant Concentration / 5. Index of Concentration at Extremes / 6. Industrial Heterogeneity / 7. Multiform Disadvantage / 8. Occupational Heterogeneity / 9. Population Density / 10. Racial Heterogeneity / 11. Ratio of Adults to Children / 12. Residential Stability / 13. Income Inequality // APPENDIX: ACI Technical Report: Initial Measures Derived from Censu