Impacts of Market Reform on Spatial Volatility of Maize Prices in Tanzania

Maize is one of the major staples and cash crops for many Tanzanians. Excessive volatility of maize prices destabilises farm income in maize‐growing regions and is likely to jeopardise nutrition and investment in many poor rural communities. This study investigates whether market reform policies in Tanzania have increased the volatility of maize prices, and identifies regional characteristics that can be attributed to the spatial price volatility. To achieve the objectives, an autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity in mean (ARCH‐M) model is developed and estimated in this study. Results show that the reforms have increased farm‐gate prices and overall price volatility. Maize prices are lower in surplus and less developed regions than those in deficit and developed regions. Results also show that the developed and maize‐deficit regions, and regions bordering other countries have experienced less volatile prices than less developed, maize‐surplus and non‐bordering regions. Our findings indicate that investments in communication and transportation infrastructures from government and donor countries are likely to increase inter‐regional and international trade, thereby reducing the spatial price volatility in Tanzanian maize prices in the long run.     

On measuring the utilization rate of employed labour

This paper deals with the factors that influence plans to retire from the labour force. We use a theoretical model to explain the empirical findings from a bivariate probit model relating economic, demographic, and social characteristics to retirement plans for over 7000 women and men between the ages of 40 and 64. The results of the analysis concerning retirement intentions suggest that personal, economic and household characteristics are more important determinants of retirement plans for women than men.     

Japanese management style in China? Production practices in Japanese manufacturing plants

Through an examination of twenty Japanese owned manufacturing plants in China, this article seeks to question the usefulness of identifying Japanese competitive success as being associated with specific Japanese production management techniques. Rather Japanese plants adopt, seemingly profitably, various and differentiated production methods, depending on local and parent company circumstances.     

The Target Zone Model, Non-Linearity and Mean Reversion: is the Honeymoon Really Over?

We estimate a target zone model for three ERM exchange rates for 1983–6 and 1987–91 by the method of simulated moments, taking account of the continuous time specification by using daily data with the interruptions of holidays and weekends. Specification tests are unable to reject the model. The estimates imply, however, an essentially linear relationship between the exchange rate and the fundamentals, with a very limited 'honeymoon effect'. Using Monte Carlo simulations, calibrated on the estimates, we find that standard tests for mean reversion of the exchange rate would largely reject the target zone model when, in fact, it held.     

Knowledge transformation in project networks: A speech act level cross‐boundary analysis

Researchers stress the importance of understanding knowledge transformation in projects. To explore how knowledge is transformed across organizational and specialization boundaries in project networks, we observed 22 knowledge transformation cases in two project networks. We found that new knowledge was created across specialization boundaries and that knowledge was altered across organizational boundaries. When both organizational and specialization boundaries were crossed, new knowledge was created. From these findings, we developed a set of propositions and formulated these into a model of knowledge transformation in project networks. This research contributes to a better understanding of knowledge transformation processes and outcomes in project networks.     

Industrial restructuring and regional policy

The paper examines the changing regional specialisation of UKemployment over the period 1971-94, analysing the extent towhich UK regional policy has altered the industrial structureof the Assisted Area regions, making them less vulnerable toeconomic change. All regional economies are found to have becomemore specialised, but industry has become less geographicallyconcentrated leading to a convergence of regional industrialstructures towards the national pattern of employment. Thesetrends are stronger in the Assisted Areas, and have been promotedby the operation of regional policy, but the major policy effectoccurs through the large-scale capital grants which have acceleratedthe employment decline of the traditional manufacturing industriesin which the Assisted Areas were relatively over-represented.     

Is off-farm income reforming the farm? Evidence from Mexico

Does access to off-farm income complement or compete with agricultural production? This article explores the effect of off-farm income on agricultural production activities, using data from the 2003 Mexico National Rural Household Survey. We first discuss the theoretical conditions under which access to off-farm income may influence production in an agricultural household model. Instrumental-variable (IV) estimation methods are then used to test whether agricultural production activities, technologies, and input use differ between households with and without access to off-farm income. We find that off-farm income has a negative effect on agricultural output and the use of family labor on the farm, but a positive impact on the demand for purchased inputs. There is also a slight efficiency gain in households with access to off-farm income. Findings offer insights into how household production evolves as rural households increasingly engage in off-farm income activities.     

The rise and rise of IFRS: An examination of IFRS diffusion

We seek to understand the ever-increasing push towards the international harmonization of accounting standards and particularly the inexorable rise of standards produced by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). While the primary justifications for the increasing recognition given to these standards (IFRS) are economic, we question whether the empirical evidence to date has yielded convincing support for these arguments. We therefore offer an alternative explanation for the origin and diffusion of IFRS that incorporates social and political factors. Outsourcing the manufacture of accounting standards to a single private agency appears to be a rational, lower cost option – lowering both economic and political costs for individual states as long as they continue to retain residual decision rights with respect to the adoption of IFRS. However, such outsourcing must also be perceived to be legitimate. IFRS confer institutionalized legitimacy because they possess three characteristics required of a technology for global governance. These are sponsorship by powerful interest groups/regulators, internationality and plasticity. We therefore conclude that the widespread diffusion today of IFRS can at best be only partially explained as an economically rational phenomenon. Rather, the demand for legitimate action in the face of tightly coupled and complex global markets is at least equally important in generating support for IFRS.