Agricultural pricing policy in Kenya

This paper examines Kenya's agricultural pricing policy, its role in the development of key sectors of the agricultural economy during the 1970s and its impact on different classes of producers. Toward this end, the paper describes the process of agricultural price determination in Kenya, and examines trends in real producer price indices for selected crop groupings and by size of holding.The most important finding of the paper is that agricultural pricing policy has been used in Kenya to create incentives for the growth of marketed agricultural production. In addition, the paper shows that the Government of Kenya has also used pricing and marketing policy instruments to achieve its goal of promoting the agricultural development of smallholders, who constitute the dominant mode of agricultural production in Kenya. Significantly, these findings are contrary to the widely accepted notion that pricing policy in developing countries has uniformly been biased in favor of the urban sector and against agricultural producers.     

Planning policy, planning practice, and housing supply

This paper outlines a brief history of planning policy in Englandas it relates to housing. It discusses briefly the issues raisedby a plan-led system, and the uncertainties of household projections.Evidence on the relationship between house prices and housingsupply, and on house-builders’ landbanks, suggests thatplanning constraints are a key factor behind the long-term upwardtrend in house prices (though over shorter periods other factors,such as long-term real interest rates, will be more important).It concludes that the environmental constraints on additionalhousing supply, albeit important, can be overstated. While thereare serious adverse social consequences of the way in whichthe English housing market works today, it is not yet clearthat the (largely welcome) policy steps taken over the past3 years will prove sufficient to resolve this problem.     

Strategic planning and industrial policy

The poor performance of British industry in international markets is partly due to a lack of sector strategic planning. Whereas the Thatcher government looks to an unfettering of the market mechanism as the key to industrial recovery, in fact this is contrary to the experience of several other capitalist countries. The role of banks and government agencies in Japan, of inter-firm co-operation in Italy, and of various corporatist instruments in France and Germany, suggest ways in which local enterprise boards could assist the re-structuring of manufacturing industry in Britain.     

On the conduct of monetary policy in Vietnam

Vietnam has the highest inflation rate in Southeast Asia (over 20 per cent year‐on‐year in 2011). This paper examines the extent to which inflation in Vietnam is due to its conduct of monetary policy. It is argued that, had the central bank implemented policy on a more timely basis, inflation would not have been as high as it was, but the more fundamental problem is that the central bank does not have the tools it needs to conduct monetary policy effectively. Monetary policy is further complicated by Vietnam's exchange rate policy. By choosing to peg the currency and maintain fairly free capital mobility, the country has all but given up the ability to pursue an independent monetary policy. As a consequence, the central bank is forced to attempt to sterilise its foreign exchange interventions, which it is ill‐equipped to do. The paper argues that financial sector liberalisation is needed not only to promote growth but also to maintain macroeconomic stability.     

Supporting co-operatives and community enterprise

This article lists the elements of good practice required of local authorities in their support for community-based employment initiatives, such as worker co-operatives and highlights some of the areas which so far have received inadequate attention.     

Agricultural price policy in Tanzania

This paper examines agricultural price policy implementation and its strategic impact in Tanzania over the period 1969–1980. Trends in producer prices and the rural—urban terms of trade are analysed by constructing weighted price and income indices for major categories of crops marketed through official channels. The results indicate a substantial deterioration of real prices and incomes from crop sales during the 1970s. When taken in conjunction with a concomitant deterioration in the efficiency of agricultural marketing the analysis suggests that price policy has had a major adverse impact both on peasant living standards and on the economic performance of Tanzania since the mid-1960s.     

Agricultural policy,migration, and malaria in the United States in the 1930s

The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) was associated with a population shift in the United States in the 1930s. Evaluating the relationship between the AAA and the incidence of malaria can therefore offer important lessons regarding the broader consequences of demographic changes. Using a quasi-first difference model and a robust set of controls, we find a negative association between AAA expenditures and malaria death rates at the county level. Further, we find that the AAA was associated with increased out-migration of low-income groups from counties with high-risk malaria ecologies. These results suggest that the AAA-induced migration played an important role in the reduction of malaria.     

Reflections on the nature and policy implications of planning restrictions on housing supply. Discussion of 'Planning policy, planning practice, and housing supply' by Kate Barker

Planning is about other things as well, but it is fundamentallyan economic activity. It allocates a scarce resource but independentlyof prices or any market information. In analysing the effectsthis allocative mechanism has on housing supply (or, indeed,the supply of buildings for any given use), we need to thinkcarefully about what exactly it is that planning allocates andwhether, in its operation, it creates a constraint on the supplyof what it is allocating. In the British case, our planningsystem does not operate on the supply of housing directly, butindirectly via the constraint imposed on land supply. Giventhe income elasticity of demand for space this has policy implicationsperhaps even more serious than is acknowledged by Barker.     

An integrated planning model for investment in urban infrastructure and pricing municipal services

This viewpoint proposes an iterative, cyclical and incremental model for preparing and pricing a capital investment programme and budget for municipal infrastructure services. South African towns and cities are used as case‐studies. The model links capital investment, operation and maintenance (supply) to the prices offered or paid by the beneficiaries (demand). Ignoring the conventional framework for the development of an area, this viewpoint concentrates on how capital investment for municipal infrastructure services could be planned and programmed and prices or tariffs determined. Given that socio‐economic trends in most municipalities in South Africa are unpredictable, short‐ to medium‐term capital investment planning is emphasised.     

Optimal pricing and ordering policy for deteriorating inventory under trade credit in demand declining market

In market, the retailer tries to sell the product at much higher price than the purchase cost. In this study, an attempt is made to develop optimal ordering and pricing policy for a retailer when the supplier offers a credit period to settle the account. The demand of a product is declining with time and units in the retailer＇s inventory are subject to constant deterioration. An algorithm is developed to determine the optimal selling price and the ordering quantity to maximize the retailer＇s profit. The numerical examples are given to support the development of the mathematical model. The sensitivity analysis of critical parameters is carried out to observe the changes in the decision variables and objective function.     

Policy evaluation and meta-evaluation: The case of rural co-operatives

Many presentations of debates about co-operatives and rural development, and some of these debates themselves, are simplistic, or self-asserting, or self-defeating. Evaluation theory has not been given the attention it merits. Positions in meta-evaluation have been un-, or misidentified. Philosophical problems of values at the levels of policy and programme analysis have been neglected or glossed over. This paper addresses itself to some of these issues, in respect of the structuring of the evaluative argument and counter-argument. The case of rural co-operative evaluation is analysed by a method which could also be used for study and appraisal of other public policies for development.     

在统筹城乡发展中解决“三农”问题的政策选择

<正>中国的农业、农村和农民问题,从某种意义上讲是由于特定历史条件下所形成的城乡分割的二元经济结构造成的。改革开放以后,我国城乡分割的格局虽然发生了较大变化,但城市化相对滞后,农村人口仍占很大比例;城乡分割制度壁垒森严,阻碍了农村剩余劳动力的转移和农村