University of California, Davis

About: University of California, Davis is a education organization based out in Davis, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Gene. The organization has 78770 authors who have published 180033 publications receiving 8064158 citations. The organization is also known as: UC Davis & UCD.

Successful establishment of Wolbachia in Aedes populations to suppress dengue transmission

Abstract: Genetic manipulations of insect populations for pest control have been advocated for some time, but there are few cases where manipulated individuals have been released in the field and no cases where they have successfully invaded target populations. Population transformation using the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia is particularly attractive because this maternally-inherited agent provides a powerful mechanism to invade natural populations through cytoplasmic incompatibility. When Wolbachia are introduced into mosquitoes, they interfere with pathogen transmission and influence key life history traits such as lifespan. Here we describe how the wMel Wolbachia infection, introduced into the dengue vector Aedes aegypti from Drosophila melanogaster, successfully invaded two natural A. aegypti populations in Australia, reaching near-fixation in a few months following releases of wMel-infected A. aegypti adults. Models with plausible parameter values indicate that Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes suffered relatively small fitness costs, leading to an unstable equilibrium frequency <30% that must be exceeded for invasion. These findings demonstrate that Wolbachia-based strategies can be deployed as a practical approach to dengue suppression with potential for area-wide implementation.

Capital in the 21st Century

Abstract: On 19 December 2014, the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the Bank of England hosted a discussion forum based around Thomas Piketty’s book, Capital in the twenty-first century, with a number of economists from academia, public sector bodies and private sector institutions. Four speakers presented research on various issues relating to inequality, including: access to education; wealth and taxation policy; and the role of governance and institutions. This article presents each speaker’s key arguments, and includes a summary of the open-floor debate that followed.

The new economics of labour migration and the role of remittances in the migration process.

Abstract: In 1995, international migrant remittances exceeded US$70 billion. How have these remittances shaped development in migrant sending areas? Pessimistic views on migration and development pervade the literature. In contrast, the new economics of labour migration (NELM) argues that migration may set in motion a development dynamic, lessening production and investment constraints faced by households in imperfect market environments and creating income growth linkages. This article assesses the development potential of remittances from a NELM perspective and cites empirical evidence that remittances may be a positive factor in economic development. Governments in migrant origin countries may increase the development potential of remittances through a variety of economic policies. Creating a fertile ground for remittances to contribute to broad based income growth in migrant sending areas is a key to promoting development from migration.

Is the good news about compliance good news about cooperation

Abstract: Recent research on compliance in international regulatory regimes has argued (1) that compliance is generally quite good; (2) that this high level of compliance has been achieved with little attention to enforcement; (3) that those compliance problems that do exist are best addressed as management rather than enforcement problems; and (4) that the management rather than the enforcement approach holds the key to the evolution of future regulatory cooperation in the international system. While the descriptive findings above are largely correct, the policy inferences are dangerously contaminated by endogeneity and selection problems. A high rate of compliance is often the result of states formulating treaties that require them to do little more than they would do in the absence of a treaty. In those cases where noncompliance does occur and where the effects of selection are attenuated, both self-interest and enforcement play significant roles.