Papers by Rajendra Kulkarni
Atlantic Journal of Communication
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020
Social Science Research Network, 2021
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020
This paper presents a comparison of the COVID-19 infections between a select pair of neighboring ... more This paper presents a comparison of the COVID-19 infections between a select pair of neighboring states and their border county regions where the policies of the Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPI) such as Lockdown/Stay-at-Home differ. These analyses use a Difference-in-Differences (Diff-in Diff) model to test the effectiveness of NPI in mitigating COVID-19 infections at the state and border county regions between these states. The counties are in the states on the Iowa and Illinois border, the Dakotas (North and South) and Minnesota border and the Arkansas and Mississippi border. In each case the policies on each side of the border differ and the border is clearly designated by a river separation. Based on the Diff-in-Diff model output, state policies appear to make a significant difference in some of these specific border regions, at least early in the pandemic (April-June 2020). State level results are mixed reflecting spatial heterogeneity across the inter-state system.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020
During the pre-vaccine period, the success of containing the spread of COVID-19 depends upon how ... more During the pre-vaccine period, the success of containing the spread of COVID-19 depends upon how communities respond to non-pharmaceutical mitigation policies such as social distancing, wearing of masks, retail and dining constraints, crowd limitation, and shelter-in-place orders. Of these policies, shelter-in-place and social distancing are of central importance. By using county-level mobility data as a measure of a community’s voluntary compliance with social distancing policies, this study found that counties who received strong state social distancing policy directives and who had a high pro-social character showed lower mobility (better social distancing) after states reopened from shelter-in-place orders. Counties that experienced a longer duration of shelter-in-place orders showed higher mobility (less social distancing), implying that the duration of the shelter-in-place order deteriorated social distancing response after reopening. This may be because reopening sent a “safe” signal to these counties or resulted in a response to the pent-up demand inducing higher mobility. The results indicate that implementing shelter-in-place and social distancing policies to slow down the transmission of COVID-19 were not necessarily effective in motivating a county to reduce mobility voluntarily. A county’s pro-social character and the duration of shelter-in-place order should be considered when designing COVID-19 mitigation policies.
Other Economics Research eJournal, 2015
Over the last several decades the scientific world has seen an unprecedented growth in new knowle... more Over the last several decades the scientific world has seen an unprecedented growth in new knowledge, accompanied by an explosive growth in scholarly literature published in a rising number of journals. Conventional wisdom tells us that the new knowledge is built on top of current knowledge, which in turn traces its origins to older knowledge. However, this linear view of knowledge growth, studied typically with citation analysis, may not be universal. Many of us have heard or known of a significant scientific idea that was not recognized at the time it was discovered/invented and published; rather it lays dormant for an unspecified period of time till it was rediscovered much later for its contribution in the creation of valuable new knowledge. Such scholarly work with delayed recognition has been euphemistically referred to as “sleeping beauties” that were discovered by “waking princes” (new scholarly work). In this paper, we propose to study whether the field of regional science/...
This chapter examines how and to what extent there are variations in sub-regional patterns of soc... more This chapter examines how and to what extent there are variations in sub-regional patterns of socio-spatial interaction using a novel methodology. The methodology uses bipartite network modeling combined with spatial statistical and geographically weighted regression analysis. It provides a statistically robust approach for studying regional variations in the relationship between social and spatial interaction at different distance thresholds. The study applies the methods to the Atlanta metropolitan area using a sample of location-sharing services data. While intended as an exploratory analysis, it does provide some evidence that the association between socialization and location behavior and related distance-decay effects are not uniform in space.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2020
The prospect of co-occurrence of Influenza (Seasonal Flu) and COVID-19 is potentially a worrisome... more The prospect of co-occurrence of Influenza (Seasonal Flu) and COVID-19 is potentially a worrisome future development that could get worse if infections are co-l
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2019
For sizable populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), remittances from abroad form... more For sizable populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), remittances from abroad form significant portion of their income. The remittances are monies sent to them by their close relatives or friends who work as migrant workers in high income countries. The total remittance amounts have been steadily growing over the last several decades to hundreds of billions of dollars as of 2019 (World Bank). For some low-income countries, these funds account for as much as 10 to 15% of their annual GDP. As important as this source of income is for those living in LMICs, the transfer of money may involve untrusted third parties that charge hefty fees to facilitate such transfers. These fees can be anywhere from 5% to 10% of the total funds per transaction. Even if majority of these transactions occur without any problems, there is always possibility of fraud and theft resulting in loss of income for those who depend on such funds. The use of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies is an alternative to money transfers. Use of these technologies eliminate need for untrusted third parties in funds transfer operations. With increasing penetration of mobile phone technologies all, even those who may be “unbanked” are likely to have access to mobile phones. In such case, cryptocurrency/blockchain technology can be utilized for funds transfer to their mobile devices. There are at least two well-known cryptocurrency companies (Ripple and Stellar) that help in near instantaneous digital funds transfer for a tiny fraction of fees charged by banking industry and other money transfer operators; although their global reach is limited to high-income countries. What is needed in the LMIC case is an entity that has global appeal and reach. The recent announcement of a new cryptocurrency called “Libra” by Facebook may be one such candidate; given that Facebook has a vast social network spanning the entire globe with nearly 2.5 billion active users. That could help its cryptocurrency Libra as medium of exchange and cross-border funds transfer. In this paper we consider remittance operations with and without cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies in general and present pros and cons of Libra for cross-border payments and money transfers. We also present a brief discussion on challenges posed by global cryptocurrencies to central bank governing bodies all over the world and policy implications arising out of potential conflicts between sovereign currencies and future of global cryptocurrencies such as Libra.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2019
Money - a medium of exchange and store of value - has been evolving ever since its inception a fe... more Money - a medium of exchange and store of value - has been evolving ever since its inception a few thousand years ago. Among many evolutionary changes, the one that occurred in the first decade of 21st century is likely to be a defining moment that will divide the history of money into two distinct periods, pre-crypto and post-crypto. The defining moment happens to be emergence Bitcoin, the money in the form of a digital code that derives its intrinsic value from computational problem solving and cryptography. The following research note briefly describes emergence of cryptocurrencies in current times.
Spatial Dynamics Networks and Modelling 2006 Isbn 978 1 84542 450 3 Pags 121 138, 2006
This chapter describes how the fractal dimensions of road networks serve as connectivity measures... more This chapter describes how the fractal dimensions of road networks serve as connectivity measures for regional road networks. Both global and nodal connectivity indices can be used in order to measure connectivity regardless of the network shapes and sizes. Therefore, various networks can be easily compared to each other using the connectivity measures. The connectivity indices can also be computed for sub-parts of a network and used to compare these sub-parts in order to assess the differential demand of or lack of infrastructure. The connectivity models are based on the more traditional approach of graph theory is not capable of obtaining this type of information, especially when comparing a multitude of road networks of different sizes. These models provide even less information to policy makers for assessing relative adequacy of the built infrastructure of a region. It may be noted that the approach in this chapter neither supersedes nor replaces the traditional graph theory approach. Instead, the chapter aims to make available to policy makers a tool that can give them information about area road networks, which would otherwise be difficult to achieve from traditional models and measures. The method that is proposed in this chapter is both intuitive and empirical. It is easy to implement at all scales of network sizes using the current advances in geographic information systems (GIS). Almost without exception, transportation authorities in all regions have access to traffic information on lanes per segment of regional roads as well as the lane miles and areas of these networks. Hence, computation of the connectivity index becomes a simple exercise of measuring and rank-ordering the lanes, lane miles and calculating fractal dimensions.
Recent urban growth is explored as is the idea that this growth is driven by technology,specifica... more Recent urban growth is explored as is the idea that this growth is driven by technology,specifically information and communications technology (ICT).An examination of the location of technology-intensive business is conducted using U.S. Bureau of Census data. This analysis shows that the vast majority of employment in the ICT is in metropolitan areas, albeit on the outer edges of the metropolitan areas and in edge cities, which has contributed to urban decentralization. It appears that the geographic location of the area does not matter as much as the size of the area. ICT has made metropolitan travel easier, allowing employees to live further from their place of employment through such changes as telecommuting, smart roads, and intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The revolution in ICT has contributed to the increase in entrepreneurship and enterprise development, and has been a driver of globalization.As a result of the importance of entrepreneurship and enterprise developmen...
Spatial Dynamics, Networks and Modelling
Spatial Dynamics, Networks and Modelling
Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 2004
The events of 9/11 brought an increased focus on security in the United States and specifically t... more The events of 9/11 brought an increased focus on security in the United States and specifically the protection of critical infrastructure. Critical infrastructure encompasses a wide array of physical assets such as the electric power grid, telecommunications, oil and gas pipelines, transportation networks and computer data networks. This paper will focus on computer data networks and the spatial implications of their susceptibility to targeted attacks. Utilizing a database of national data c arriers, simulations will be run to determine the repercussions of targeted attacks and what the relative merits of different methods of identifying critical nodes are. This analysis will include comparison of current methods employed in vulnerability ana lysis with spatially constructed methods incorporating regional and distance variables. In addition to vulnerability analysis a method will be proposed to analyze the fusion of physical and logical networks, and will discuss what new avenues this approach reveals. The results of the analysis will be placed in the context of national and regional security and economic impact.
Regional Science Policy & Practice, 2021
The world tried to control the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at national and regi... more The world tried to control the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at national and regional levels through various mitigation strategies. In the first wave of infections, the most extreme strategies included large-scale national and regional lockdowns or stay-at-home orders. One major side effect of large-scale lockdowns was the shuttering of the economy, leading to massive layoffs, loss of income, and livelihood. Lockdowns were justified in part by scientific models (computer forecast and simulations) that assumed exponential growth in infections and predicted millions of fatalities without these 'non-pharmaceutical interventions' (NPI). Some scientists questioned these assumptions. Regions that followed other softer mitigation strategies such as work from home, crowd limits, use of masks, individual quarantining, basic social distancing, testing, and tracingat least in the first wave of infectionssaw similar health outcomes. Clear results were confusing, complicated, and difficult to assess. Ultimately, in the USA, what kind of mitigation strategy was enforced became a political decision only partly based on scientific models. We do not test for what levels of NPI are necessary for appropriate management of the first wave of the pandemic. Rather we use the 'inverse-fitting Gompertz function' methodology suggested by anti-lockdown advocate and
Regional Science Policy & Practice, 2011
In this paper we explore how satellite images of global night lights from year 1992 to 2003 can b... more In this paper we explore how satellite images of global night lights from year 1992 to 2003 can be used to estimate economic activity at the sub-regional level in the U.S. and China. The night lights based estimates of economic activity are then spatially analyzed and compared with subregional economic indicators where available for selected years. We also briefly discuss two theoretical models that shed light on the geospatial patterns reflected by the night light data. The results are presented with a series of maps, charts and tables
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Papers by Rajendra Kulkarni