Will future land based food and fibre production be in family or corporate hands? An analysis of farm land ownership and governance considering farmer characteristics as choice drivers. The New Zealand case

Family farming in various guises has been the dominant ownership and governance system in primary production over recorded history. This outcome has been controlled by farmers and their families, possibly due to tradition, opportunities, personal characteristics, skill sets and the nature of primary production. Of these, it is hypothesised that the farmers’ personal characteristics play a major part in the choice, and continuance, of current ownership and governance systems. Equally as important, they, and therefore the land ownership system, play a part in the efficiency of production systems and improvement of the biological and production environment.The benefits and difficulties of commonly used ownership systems in Western society are reviewed. Using a sample of New Zealand (NZ) farms, a comparison of the managers’ features for owner/operator, partnership and corporate based systems is presented. There were significant differences in many variables including the farmers’ age, education, number of children, asset levels, years on the current farm, and similar, but more importantly, the farmers in the ownership system groups had differing personal characteristics. Significantly, despite the corporate based farms employing more professional assistance, the profit levels were similar across ownership systems leaving the farmers’ characteristics the main factors correlating with system choice. However, governance systems per se are only marginally correlated with production systems and efficiency.As successive generations of farmers are unlikely to have different characteristics, and corporate based systems continue to exhibit similar profit levels, relatively simple family based systems will continue to dominate farm land ownership and control. The trends suggest family farms will increase in size and involve family conglomerates facilitating the management of larger, and in many cases multiple, farms. While currently there are few differences in biological efficiency between ownership systems, given the efficiency benefits of size and scale, this could well change with the increase of family conglomerates. Relative to increasing corporatisation, the continuance of family based ownership and governance will also be of benefit to the environment. When developing land policies, these highlighted relationships should be taken into account. This study is a first to consider personal characteristics relative to ownership.     

匹配式管理模式在汽车城规划建设中的探索与应用

针对两江国际汽车城规划建设中招商引资困难的问题,结合两江国际汽车城的实际情况、资源条件以及发展趋势,设计了匹配式管理模式.在阐述匹配式管理模式内涵基础上,对匹配式管理体系的组成要素、框架结构、匹配关系等进行了分析,并对该管理模式在实际中的应用效果及推广意义进行了总结.     

High commitment work system,transactive memory system,and new product performance

Although scholars find that the transactive memory systems can improve new product performance, few studies have empirically examined how managers can induce a transactive memory system in new product development teams with a set of systematic management practices. Based on the theoretical argument about human resource system in the strategic human resource management literature, this study proposes that implementing a set of coherent human resource management practices with workers in new product development teams can induce a transactive memory system in the team. Following previous scholars, this study calls this set of coherent human resource management practices as the high commitment work system. With survey data collected from 336 new product development engineers of 73 new product development teams in 73 firms, this study finds that transactive memory system mediates the positive relationship between the high commitment work system implemented with workers in new product development teams and new product performance.     

Pesticide‐handling practices: the case of coffee growers in Papua New Guinea

Pesticide mismanagement potentially has high risks for farmers, households living in the community and the environment. In Papua New Guinea where farming is the primary occupation, there is evidence of dangerous herbicide application methods being used by coffee growers. Using original survey data for coffee smallholders from four provinces, we assess the factors driving farmers' use of personal protective equipment when preparing and applying herbicides, and farmers' disposal of agro‐chemical containers. We control for households' demographic variables and measure the impact of farmers' training in pest and disease management. We use the special regressor method to estimate binary choice models featuring an endogenous binary regressor (training). Our results show that human capital (education) and training are important drivers of farmers' pesticide‐handling practices, with marginal effects estimated at 10 and 22 per cent, respectively.     

审视新结构经济学:一个多维视角

要素禀赋论又被称为要素比例理论,被誉为国际贸易理论的一大柱石. 新结构经济学以要素禀赋理论为基础,将一国的产业结构变迁归因于要素禀赋结构的变化.本文的分析表明:新结构经济学忽视了某些重要的历史因素和现实因素;如果按照新结构经济学的建议来制定一国的发展战略,企业在要素使用结构上将会高度一致,从而可能导致一国经济在面临外部冲击时产生巨大波动.     

Unpacking the black box of successful ICT-enabled service transformation: how to join up the vertical,the horizontal and the technical

This paper aims to understand what goes on in the black box of successful, joined-up ICT-enabled service transformation, where complex interactions and integration must occur among the horizontal processes internal to a joined-up service delivery network, the vertical top-down processes of the organizations involved, and the change processes caused by using ICTs. A new conceptual framework is developed and applied to an illustrative case study of successful, joined-up service transformation in New Zealand.     

新医药产业协同创新结构考察

协同创新的本质是创新系统的结构构建,各创新要素之间的联结和相互作用机制决定了协同创新系统的效率。本文以江苏新医药产业为例,从创新网络的节点和创新资源两个方面分析了新医药产业协同创新的结构,并从创新网络的结构特征归纳了新医药产业协同创新的类型,最后提出应如何通过构建产业协同创新的结构来优化创新系统的效率。     

我国私人资本不是社会主义资本——评靳共元《资本新论》

文章对山西财经大学靳共元教授《资本新论》(中国财政经济出版社2009年12月第2版)内容进行了评析。主要论及:我国私人资本不是社会主义资本;我国社会主义经济中的劳动力不是商品;人力资本这一用语认识上的分歧;什么是马克思所阐明的社会主义社会中的个人收入分配。     

Estimating DSGE models across time and frequency

Using a wavelet-based decomposition, this paper exploits the information in the data usually employed in the estimation of DSGE models. A simple New Keynesian model featuring price and wage rigidities is estimated for the United States across different frequencies. The estimations indicate that most structural parameters exhibit a frequency-dependent behavior. The impulse response functions also indicate frequency-dependent responses of output to the exogenous shocks. For lower frequencies, there are more persistent effects, especially for preference and technology shocks.     

The design of light-handed regulation of airports: Lessons from experience in Australia and New Zealand

The difficulties experienced with traditional forms of economic regulation of airports involving direct control of prices have led to an interest in light-handed regulatory frameworks. Experience with light-handed regulation of airports is primarily confined to Australia and New Zealand. The paper examines the design features of light-handed regulation in Australia and New Zealand in relation to the stated objectives associated with the introduction of light-handed regulation. The paper identifies important aspects associated with the design of light-handed regulation including the incorporation of a credible threat of stronger regulation and the characteristics of this, and an apparent trade-off in objectives achieved with different approaches to light-handed regulation.