Determinants of Smallholder Farmers' Marketing Channel Choice: Evidence from the Vietnamese Rice Sector

Cash crops such as specialty rice and other high‐value varieties produced for domestic and international markets are considered an increasing source of income for smallholder farmers in many Asian countries. The present study focuses on the factors affecting Vietnamese specialty rice farmers' choice of marketing channel and how their choice influences farm performance. The analysis has been conducted using multinomial logit and linear regression models on quantitative data collected from 280 specialty rice farmers in the Red River Delta, one of the main rice production regions in Vietnam. Results reveal that even though local collectors and wholesalers are still the most common recipients of farmers' goods in rural areas, reduction in transaction costs with regard to uncertainty influences farmers to choose modern marketing channels through collective action (via specialty rice farmer associations). This collective marketing channel helps farmers increase average prices received by US$0.028 per kg of paddy. Based on the results, manifold political implications are derived.     

Transport infrastructure,growth and persistence: The rise and demise of the Sui Canal

This paper investigates the effect of transport infrastructure on the spatial distribution of population over two millennia. Focusing on the Sui Canal, one of history's greatest infrastructure projects, we show that its completion in the 7th century CE led to a strong increase in population concentration along the newly established transport artery. We exploit the fact that large parts of the canal fell into disrepair after the 12th century to analyze the persistence of this effect. We find that in 2010, more than 800 years after the Sui Canal fell into disuse, regions once directly connected to the canal are still more populous than areas that never had access. However, this population concentration is not mirrored in economic development. GDP per capita is lower in areas that lay along the course of the canal. One potential explanation for this finding is a change in the value of locational fundamentals as well as a shift in investments to the benefit of coastal regions since the initiation of the Open Door Policy in 1978.     

Optimal destabilization of cartels

Journal of Regulatory Economics - This paper introduces an oligopoly model that includes three actors: a cartel (comprising two or more firms that operate like one merged company), a group of...     

Demographic change, human capital and welfare

Projected demographic changes in the U.S. will reduce the share of the working-age population. Analyses based on standard OLG models predict that these changes will increase the capital-labor ratio. Hence, rates of return to capital decrease and wages increase, which has adverse welfare consequences for current cohorts who will be retired when the rate of return is low. This paper argues that adding endogenous human capital accumulation to the standard model dampens these forces. We find that this adjustment channel is quantitatively important. The standard model with exogenous human capital predicts welfare losses up to 12.5% (5.6%) of lifetime consumption, when contribution (replacement) rates to the pension system are kept constant. These numbers reduce to approximately 8.7% (4.4%) when human capital can endogenously adjust.     

No chills or burns from temperature surprises: An empirical analysis of the weather derivatives market

This article examines the efficiency of the weather futures market traded on the CME in both HDD and CDD futures contracts in 18 cities across the United States. Efficiency is examined in three ways. First, by comparing the market's implied forecasts for the weather against other forecasts. Second, by looking at whether market's overreact or under‐react to temperature surprises. Third, by looking at weather derivative patterns across cities. We find that generally the market seems very efficient despite its lack of liquidity. We also find risk premia that seem to vary across cities and over time. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 31:1–33, 2011     

Trust Formation in Collaborative New Product Development*

This research examines antecedents of trust formation in new product development partnerships and the effect of trust on performance. Trust is modeled as an outcome of communication behavior, shared problem‐solving, perceived fairness, the existence of conflicts during the development project, and partner egoism. The hypotheses are tested with data on 44 product development partnerships representing the perspective of the manufacturer. The findings suggest that communication behavior and fairness are positive contributors to trust. In contrast, conflicts during product development and perceived egoism of the partner appear to have a detrimental effect. High levels of trust were found to create the conditions for successful outcomes. A higher level of trust clearly differentiates between high‐ and low‐performing collaborative relationships in new product development. Trust also was found to be a powerful mediator, particularly as it relates to mitigating conflicts during such partnerships.     

A second warning by the club of Rome

The growth of managed care has been accompanied by calls for increased government regulation because HMOs and other forms of managed care are seen by the public as more concerned about controlling costs than with protecting the rights of patients to quality care. This paper applies a theory of health care rights and clinical evidence of managed care quality in an analysis of public opinion about managed care. The paper concludes that there is no persuasive evidence that managed care has resulted in a general deterioration in the quality of care and that, with one exception, restrictions imposed by managed care plans are consistent with a theory of health care rights. The paper concludes with the recommendation that public policy should dispense with attempts to fine tune managed care and address an unquestionable violation of health care rights, the failure to guarantee a minimum standard of care to some 43 million Americans.