Long-period Positions and Economic Change. A rejoinder

Roncaglia and Nell have criticised the interpretation of Sraffa's normal prices as centres of gravitation for actual prices. Roncaglia mainly focuses on the interpretation of the notion of gravitation in Smith and on the meaning of the ‘given outputs’ in Sraffa. Nell attempts to confine the relevance of Sraffa's theory to specific historical circumstances and to find a role for Sraffa's prices in his version of post-Keynesian price theory. This rejoinder criticises the case made by both Roncaglia and Nell, and defends Sraffa's centre of gravitation view.     

Geographic Indications and Farmer‐Owned Brands: Why Do the US and EU Disagree?

Geographic Indications (GIs) identify the geographic origin of products whose quality, reputation or other characteristic can be attributed to the geographic origin. We focus on a subcategory of GIs, Farmer Owned Brands. Like GIs in general, FOBs require governmental assistance to protect the property rights of the brand owners. GIs are receiving increased attention because many countries and producer groups realize the importance of property right protection for GIs, and are negotiating such rights in international forums like the World Trade Organization. Here we explore possible reasons for US opposition to EU policies conferring special property right protection to GIs. We conclude that the most plausible explanation for the US position is the lack of a domestic constituency advocating greater GI protection, which means that the US position represents the interests only of those who stand to lose from such protection. It will take a change in US property right regulations and a widespread understanding and adoption of the concept among producer groups before the political pendulum changes within the US. This process will take several years and until then we will have the unusual situation of the US opposing the only market-based solution to the US rural development problem that we are aware of.     

An integrated framework for the conceptualization of consumers’ perceived-risk processing

Research on risk is built on a complex array of diverse and sometimes inconsistent definitions, constructs, models, and outcomes. This study examines various literatures to formulate an integrated framework for the conceptualization of perceived-risk processing. The framework specifies three phases (framing, assessment, and evaluation) and their accompanying outcomes of risk attention, perceived risk, and risk-taking propensity. Explicit linkages are specified between situational and individual characteristics. Perceived-risk evaluation is identified as concepturally distinct from assessment of perceived risk, and the construct of risk-taking propensity is separated from those of risk affinity and perceived risk. The framework further presents points of intersection between the literatures on perceived risk and the literatures on consumer decision-making, information search, and satisfaction. Finally, it serves as an anchor for framing future research to promote conceptual and methodological consistency, and to guide progress in directions that are consistent with some leading edge paradigms outside of marketing. Margy P. Conchar (concharm@mail.ecu.edu; Ph.D., University of Georgia) is an assistant professor at East Carolina University. Her research focuses on consumer behavior and advertising. Her work in consumer behavior concentrates on risk, motives, and optimal consumption experience. Her research in advertising focuses on the interface between advertising and finance, accounting, or economics. She has previously published in the proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Association for Consumer Research, the American Marketing Association of Educators, and the Society for Marketing Advances. George M. Zinkhan (gzinkhan@terry.uga.edu; Ph.D., University of Michigan) is the Coca-Cola Company Chair of Marketing at the University of Georgia. His major research interests include advertising, promotion, e-commerce, and knowledge development. Two of his recent coauthored books includeConsumers (2004, McGraw-Hill) andElectronic Commerce: A Strategic Perspective (2000, Dryden). Cara Peters (petersc@winthrop.edu; Ph.D., University of Nebraska) is an assistant professor at Winthrop University. Her research lies in the general areas of consumer behavior and e-commerce. Primarily using mixed methods, she examines risky consumer behaviors as they relate to sociology and psychology. She has published in theJournal of Consumer Psychology andConsumption, Markets, and Culture, among other journals. Sergio Olavarrieta (solavar@negocios.uchile.cl; Ph.D., University of Georgia) is an assistant professor at Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile. He is assistant dean of undergraduate programs at the School of Business and Economics at the University of Chile. His research focuses on branding and marketing strategy. He has previously published in theJournal of Strategic Marketing and theInternational Journal of Product Distribution and Logistics Management.     

THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PAY‐AS‐YOU‐GO DEFINED‐CONTRIBUTION PENSION SCHEMES

The paper inquires into notional defined contribution pension schemes, which retain the pay‐as‐you‐go financing method while adopting the award and indexation formulas typical of funded, defined‐contribution systems. It examines the properties of the new arrangement and compares them with those of the traditional defined‐benefit pay‐as‐you‐go schemes.     

Genetically Modified Crops: Their Market and Welfare Impacts

A framework is developed for examining price and welfare effects of the introduction of genetically modified (GM) products. In the short run, non-GM grain generally becomes another identity-preserved product. However, more profound market effects are observed under some reasonable parameterizations. When calibrated to reflect the U.S. corn market, introducing GM technology increases aggregate welfare over a wide range of scenarios, unless the corresponding production cost savings are small and consumers are seriously concerned about GM products. The possibility that GM technology may reduce aggregate welfare is interesting because the model assumes rational agents and does not include regulatory constraints.     

The Link between Institutional and Economic Integration: Insights for Latin America from the European Experience

The European experience illustrates that institutional integration interacts with economic integration at the regional level. In this paper we ask how economic and institutional integration are linked and whether there is a causal link between the two. We present an original indicator of institutional integration and study how it developed vis-à-vis diverse measures of economic integration. In particular, we ask what insights can be drawn from the European process of regional integration, which started in the 1950s, for regional integration in Latin America today. We find that Latin America is currently less economically integrated not only than the European Union today, but for certain economic variables even than the European Union in the 1960s. A VAR analysis illustrates that the link between institutional and economic integration has worked both ways throughout the European experience. There is also evidence that stronger institutional integration has indeed led to deeper economic integration.     

Index Models and Land Allocation Reconsidered

In contrast with previous index model land applications, this article shows that the land allocation problem is a portfolio model with two constraints, namely, investable funds and land. The two-constraint model implies a drastic reinterpretation of what previous studies have quantified as diversifiable and systematic risks in agricultural production. The article also argues that the constant marginal-rate-of-product-substitution (MRPS) technology implicit in financial portfolio models is unlikely to hold in a production context such as the land allocation problem, and that the index model must be modified accordingly. Farm-level data are used to illustrate and test the hypotheses advanced. Empirical results indicate that most of the risk for corn and soybeans is diversifiable, and that corn and soybeans are characterized by decreasing MRPS. The MRPS effect is found to be large from an economic standpoint and implies that crop diversification may be optimal, even for risk-neutral farmers.     

The cotton weaving industry in European countries: Size of firm,static and dynamic efficiency

This paper is based on the results of a field work analysis of the cotton weaving industry, focusing on the relationships between performance, size and structure of firms. The results are utilized to compare models of the industries in the main European countries and to evaluate their competitiveness in the light of both standard and some non-standard efficiency criteria.