The measurement of conjectural variations in an oligopoly industry

Using independently derived estimates for the market demand elasticity and firm marginal cost, this paper measures the conjectural variations (cv's) of the eight largest U.S. steel firms for the years 1920 to 1972. Comparisons are then made between the measured cv's and those predicted by certain industry conduct hypotheses. Specifically the hypotheses are those for competitive behavior, Cournot behavior, imperfect collusion, and industry profit maximization (perfect collusion). One of the two extreme theories of firm behavior, industry profit maximization, is rejected, but the acceptance or rejection of the other theories depends on the assumptions made about the cost structure of the sample firms.     

Learning about the future: From the learner's perspective

The path for a hopeful future depends on learning, a process that is a complex symphony of human experience. It is a process that demands deep questioning and critique of our world-views. It is a process that requires that we open ourselves to and effectively cope with a myriad of emotions. It is a process that compels us to engage in soul-searching as we explore our human responsibilities and commitments, connect with the meaning and purpose of our very existence and choose paths of action based on those reflections. Learning to care for future generations and the world they will inherit is a unique and holistic process. Our ability to support this form of learning begins with an understanding of the human experience of learning, from the perspective of learners.     

The Fourth International Symposium on Intelligent Systems in Accounting,Finance and Management

The Fourth International Symposium on Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management ranks as the oldest, on-going meeting on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in business. The conference spotlights a wide range of issues with both theoretical/practical and behavioral/technological dimensions.     

Assessing Total Factor Productivity Growth in Sub‐Saharan African Agriculture

The importance of the agricultural sector in the economic development process is well known. Improvements in agricultural productivity are often found to spill into other areas of a developing economy, potentially improving the standards of living of urban and rural workers alike. Given the importance of this sector, accurate measures of total factor productivity (TFP) across countries can be helpful in identifying conditions, institutions or policies that promote agricultural development. In this article, we estimate TFP growth in agriculture for a panel of 39 sub‐Saharan African countries from 1961 to 2007. We also develop a set of development outcome measures theoretically consistent with strong agricultural performance to serve as external validation of our results. We find that three estimation methods (stochastic frontier, generalised maximum entropy, and Bayesian efficiency) generate relative rankings that are consistent with the development outcome measures, providing external validation of the methods. However, the data envelopment analysis approach performs poorly in this regard.     

Book Review

Kindleberger, Charles P., The International Economic Order: Essays on Financial Crisis and International Public Goods, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988, xi + 235 pages.

Root, Franklin R., International Trade and Investment (6th ed.), Cincinnati, OH: South-Western Publishing Co., 1990, viii + 696 pages.

Krugman, Paul, Rethinking International Trade, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1990, viii + 282 pages.

Schmiegelow, Michele, and Henrik Schmiegelow, Strategic Pragmatism: Japanese Lessons in the Use of Economic Theory, New York: Praeger, 1989, 212 pages.

Lynn, Leonard H., and Timothy J. McKeown, Organizing Business: Trade Associations in America and Japan, Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1988, xviii +191 pages.

Patterson, Seymour, The Microeconomics of Trade, Kirksville, MO: Thomas Jefferson University Press, 1989, vii + 223 pages.

Whalley, John, The Uruguay Round and Beyond—Final Report from the Ford Foundation Project on Developing Countries and the Global Trading System, Ann Arbor: MI: The University of Michigan Press, 1989, xi + 211 pages.

Baumol, William J., Edward N. Wolff, and Sue Anne Batey Blackman, Productivity and American Leadership: The Long View, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1989, x + 395 pages.

Carter, Barry E., International Economic Sanctions: Improving the Haphazard U.S. Legal Regime, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1988, xiv + 290 pages.

Dornbusch, Rudiger, The Road to Economic Recovery: Report of the Twentieth Century Fund Task Force on International Debt, Background Paper, New York: Priority Press, 1989, vi + 123 pages.

Edwards, Sebastian, Real Exchange Rates, Devaluation and Adjustment, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1989, xi + 371 pages.     

Business Ethics in North America: Trends and Challenges

This conceptual paper analyses the arguments which have been made in favour of a transition towards humanistic management. In order to reconcile economic as well as moral arguments an integrative model of humanistic management is presented. This model outlines prospective lines of empirical research especially in the area where business conduct is profitable but not humanistic.     

Utilities bounded below

It is common to work with utilities which are not bounded below, but it seems hard to reconcile this with common sense; is the plight of a man who receives only one crumb of bread a day to eat really very much worse than the plight of a man who receives two? In this paper we study utilities which are bounded below, which necessitates novel modelling elements to prevent the question becoming trivial. What we propose is that an agent is subjected to random reviews of his finances. If he is reviewed and found to be bankrupt, then he is thrown into jail, and receives some large but finite negative value. In such a framework, we find optimal investment and consumption behaviour very different from the standard story. As the agent’s wealth goes negative, he gradually abandons hope of ever becoming honest again, and plunders as much as he can before being caught. Agents with very high wealth act like standard Merton investors.     

Bankruptcy and steel plant shutdowns

The bankruptcies resulting from the American steel industry downturn in the period, 1999–2002, raise the question of whether the bankruptcy process itself led to permanent plant shutdowns and job losses. With information on 110 of the steel plants operating in the United States in 1994, this paper develops empirical models of steel plant closure and firm bankruptcy to see if the latter impacts on the former. Based on survival models, the results provide support for the hypothesis that the bankruptcy of steel companies could have led to viable steel plants closing, and thus, the bankruptcies in themselves may have caused permanent inefficient employment loss.