Financial impact of wheat quality standards on South African wheat producers: A dynamic linear programming (DLP) approach

The South African wheat industry has been under pressure in recent years from global economic instability and a fast-changing domestic policy environment. This has manifested itself in declining wheat production and profitability at the farm level. Wheat quality plays a key role in wheat buying decisions, with quality improvements correlating negatively with yield and, ultimately, productivity. Yet any new wheat cultivar released for commercial production must still meet the standards of the country’s wheat classification system, which has led to wheat sometimes being imported in the face of a domestic shortfall. This situation has inevitably led to tension within the industry and affected both performance and pricing. Using various data sources and a dynamic linear programming (DLP) approach, this paper takes an in-depth look at the link between wheat quality and yield, with a view to determining the impact of wheat quality standards (ceteris paribus) on the profitability of South African wheat producers. Results indicated that were these classification discrepancies removed, the country-wide effect on net farm income is estimated to range between ZAR606 million and ZAR920 million per annum.     

Sensitivity and specificity of the Mini-Mental State Examination in the Mexican population

The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) is a rapid, easy-to-administer test for the assessment of cognition functions. It is widely used in clinical practice and in applied research. In this study, we aimed to establish a standard for the Mexican population similar to the ones produced for other relevant populations. We also analysed the effects of demographic variables which regularly induce bias in responses on performance tests, and then, on the basis of the results, implemented a series of corrections to the MMSE to compensate for the usual effects of age and years of formal education. We thus generated a new scale, the adjusted MMSE (AMMSE). We established the maximum sensitivity point to discriminate between the normal population and subjects diagnosed with dementia (vascular and Alzheimer’s). The study provides sensitivity and specificity estimates of this subject-standardized tool in order to reduce the probability of false positives and negatives in the Mexican population.     

未来20年中国城市化的前景与挑战

过去30多年来,中国经济的巨大成功都与方兴未艾的城市化浪潮息息相关。展望未来10～20年,中国将有近10亿人口居住在城市。一方面,这种巨大的城市化空间都将孕育新的机会,并将成为未来中国长期增长与经济转型的宏大主题;然而,另一方面,我们应该看到,未来中国的城市化进程将不可避免地遇到市场、资源和公共服务三方面的重要约束。因此,解决一个13亿人口大国的城市化问题是一项巨大的挑战。     

A qualitative approach to the intangible cost of road traffic injuries

The consequences of fatal and non-fatal road traffic injuries (RTI) at the personal and household levels were analysed using qualitative interviews of 12 injured and of 12 relatives of people who died for this reason. Collisions change physical and mental health both of the injured and of their relatives. This leads to changes in daily activities and even to the redefinition of future life. RTI also changes the way people see and act in life, becoming an experience that teaches them. Survivors commonly transmit a road safety message afterwards. Changes in family life were evident (in extreme cases family's composition also changed), affecting intra-familial relationships. Associated unexpected and unplanned expenditures and loss of income have consequences in the short, medium and long term that unbalance household's economies and immerse people into a constant stress. Individuals and family's future plans are occasionally condition to whether they have or not debts. Household dependence in economic terms was sometimes observed, as well as uncertainty about future life and household's sustainability. Sometimes, households change and adapt their life to what they now are able to afford, having important repercussions in vital spheres.     

EFFICIENCY AND HYBRIDIZATION IN COOPERATIVE BANKING: THE FRENCH CASE*

ABSTRACT: This paper analyzes how French cooperative banking groups adapted their organization, status and model to develop and grow, until the current financial crisis. It explores how they benefitted from evolutions in cooperative law that lowered financing constraints and increased the scope of their activities, becoming large banking groups, and identifies how these groups tried to develop a model of governance, characterized by internal control, which was partly dedicated to the members, but biased more and more towards the top of the organizational pyramid and to stockholders (the new stakeholders coming from the existence of listed vehicles). While the developing business model for cooperative banks appeared to confer a comparative advantage and was synonymous with efficiency before the financial crisis, it seems that the hybridization of the cooperative model has also been a source of conflict of interest, weakness in strategy and an incentive to increase risk. The third part of the article examines how French cooperative banking groups have been hurt by the recent crisis and whether different organizational and strategic features or choices may explain different levels of resilience to financial turmoil.     

Methods versus substance: Measuring the effects of technology shocks

Calibration and modern (Bayesian) estimation methods for a neoclassical stochastic growth model are applied to make the case that the identification of key parameters, rather than quantitative methodologies per se, is responsible for empirical findings. For concreteness, the model is used to measure the contributions of technology shocks to the business cycle fluctuations of hours worked and output. Along the way, new insights are provided in the parameter identification associated with likelihood-based estimation, the sensitivity of likelihood-based estimation to the choice of structural shocks is assessed, and Bayesian model averaging is used to aggregate findings obtained from different DSGE model specifications.     

The influence of managerial discretion,innovation and uncertainty on export intensity: A real options perspective

Geographic sales diversification (i.e., exports) is a multidimensional phenomenon that has primarily been examined using a single theoretical perspective drawn from international trade or organizational strategy. This study uses managerial discretion, real options, and innovation literatures to examine the roles of managers, context, and environment in motivating geographic sales diversification. We contribute to the international business and organizational strategy literatures by highlighting how the combination of managerial discretion, capacity to offer innovative products, and uncertainty can motivate export-driven internationalization.     

Four Levers of Redistribution: The Impact of Tax and Transfer Systems on Inequality Reduction

We use harmonized survey data from the Luxembourg Income Study to assess the redistributive impact of taxes and transfers across 22 OECD countries over the 1999–2016 period. After imputing missing tax data (employer social-security contributions), we measure the reduction in income inequality from four key levers of tax and transfer systems: the average tax rate, tax progressivity, the average transfer rate, and transfer targeting. Our methodological improvements produce the following results. First, tax redistribution dominates transfer redistribution (excluding pensions) in most countries. Second, targeting explains very little of the cross-country variation in inequality reduction. In contrast, both tax progressivity and the average tax rate have large impacts on redistribution. Last, there seem to be political tradeoffs: high average tax rates are not found together with highly progressive tax systems.     

Do potential migrants internalize migrant rights in OECD host societies?

This paper analyzes how countries’ provision of migrant rights affects potential migrants’ destination choice. Combining data on bilateral migration desires from over 140 origin countries and data on migrant rights in 38 mainly OECD destination countries over the period 2007–2014, we find that potential migrants tend to favour destinations that are more open to the inclusion of immigrants into their society. In particular, better access to and conditions on the labour market as well as access to nationality and to permanent residency significantly increase the perceived attractiveness of a destination country. These results are robust across different specifications and hold for subsamples of origin countries as well as of destinations. Moreover, some results vary across types of respondents. Educational opportunities for migrants, for instance, affect the migration desires of individuals aged 15 to 24, but less so of individuals in other age groups.     

Timeliness of Accounting Information in Family Controlled and Managed Companies in Brazil

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of family control and management in the quality of accounting information in Brazilian companies, with a focus on timeliness. The sample consisted of 72 Brazilian companies and 1,656 observations from 2008 to 2013. The results show that family-controlled companies are quicker to recognize good news related to the price of the respective stock. On the other hand, family managed companies showed low accounting timeliness in relation to recognition of good news. The findings contribute to the agency theory and the literature on family firms and confirm that such companies experience fewer agency problems arising from conflicts between majority and minority shareholders. In addition, the agency conflicts between the management and minority shareholders can be compounded by the recognition of good news not being in family managed firms.