AN APPLICATION OF THE STAPLE THEORY TO SONORA, MEXICO*

The role of primary exports in the economic development of a country or region has been subject to much debate. The “staple theory” has been proposed as an explanation of the beneficial effect of primary exports on the economic development of Canada and the United States. However, one authority argues that the staple theory is applicable only to the special case of a new underpopulated country. This paper shows that primary exports have stimulated development in the state of Sonora, Mexico. Data showing the increase in primary production and exports between 1950 and 1960 are linked to the increase in manufacturing employment in industries producing inputs for primary production, industries processing primary products, and industries producing products to satisfy increases in final demand. The role of government policies, institutional arrangements, and the nature of the production functions for primary products are examined in an effort to determine the impact of primary exports on manufacturing activity. This study illustrates that the staple theory provides insight into the development or lack of development of all countries exporting primary products. L'IMPORTANCE DES EXPLOITATIONS DE BASE DANS LE DEVELOPPEMENT ECONOMQUE: ?APPLICATION DE LA “THEORIE DES DENREES PRINCIPALES” DANS ?ETAT DE SONORA AU MEXIQUE - Le rôle des exportations de base dans le développement économique ?un pays ou ?une région a fait le sujet de bien des débats, La “théorie des denrées principales” a été proposée comme une explication de ?effet avantageux des exportations de base sur le développement économique du Canada et des États-Unis. Toutefois, une autorité prétend que la théorie des denrées principales ne s'applique qu'au cas particulier ?un nouveau pays sous-peuplé. Le présent exposé démontre quelles exportations de baseont stimulilé développement de ?étal de Sonora au Mexique. Des données indiquant ?augmen tation de la production et des exportations de base entre 1950 et 1960 sont liées à?avance de ?emploi manufacturier dans les industries produisant des intrants pour la production de base, pour les industries qui préparent des produits de base et pour les industries qui produisent des marchandises pour satisfaire aux demandes accrues de produits finis. Le rôle des politique! gouvemementales, des accords institutionnels et la nature des fonctions de la production pour les produits de base sont examinés afin de déterminer ?effet des exportations de base sur ?activité manufacturière. Cette étude démontre que la théorie des denrées principales fournit un aperçu du développement ou du manque de développement des pays qui exponent des produits de base.     

比较优势原理及其在农业上的运用

综述了比较优势原理及其发展过程,指出比较优势是动态的、变化的;介绍了农业比较优势的3种计算方法,即转换法、国内资源成本法、显示比较优势法;最后分析了比较优势原理在农业上的应用：一是有助于建立统一、完整的市场体系,二是有助于调整农产品生产结构,三是实施农产品生产科学布局,四是组织农产品对外贸易。     

APPLICATIONS OF GAME THEORY MODELS IN AGRICULTURE*

Due to the time lag between investment and payoff, the price-taking nature of agriculture, stochastic weather variables and other factors, the uncertainty faced by decision makers in agriculture is greater than and different from that confronting managers of most other sectors of economy. In this paper, game theory models have been applied to the problem of decision making under uncertainty in agriculture. The authors examine and compare the pros and cons of the four conventional theories of choice in decision making in agriculture. The four theories are: (a) Wald's maximin criterion, (b) Laplace's principle of “insufficient reason”, (c) Hurwicz's “optimism-pessimism” criterion and (d) Savage's “regret” criterion. In this study, applications have been made to the choice of type of farming, optimum dosage of fertiliser and manure and the most appropriate time of selling agricultural produce. The authors propose an additional theory of choice—the criterion of “benefit”—which seems more appropriate than the conventional theories under many situations.     

AGRICULTURAL LABOUR IN AN EXPANDING ECONOMY

The low position of agricultural workers in the wages scale is examined in the context of National Plan objectives to increase opportunities for the labour force. The results of a survey of lubour use on 55 Yorkshire farms over the past five years are presented. The regular hired labour force on these farms has been cut by a quarter, and some farms still report surplus labour. Data on the farm workers employed and those which have left the farms is given. The characteristics of the ‘ideal farm worker’ as seen by the farmers are investigated and conclusions regarding the likely success of a wages structure in agriculture are drawn. The implications of a rise in the minimum agricultural wage to £14 a week are discussed in the light of the survey results.     

UTILITY FUNCTIONS AND DEMAND STRUCTURE*

The purpose of this paper is to review the demand structures implied by several common utility specifications. After a review of the Hicks-Allen measures of the demand structure, four utility functions are examined including the Cobb-Douglas, CES, and Mukerji functions. The results indicate that the most popular utility specifications provide patterns of demand parameters which do not conform to those made in estimation of commodity demand functions L'objet de cet papier est passer en revue des structures commandes de quelques caractéristique de ?utilité. Après un revoir de la proposition du Hicks et Allen du structure commandes, quatre fonctions pour ?utililé sonl examiné. Ils renfermes les fonclions du Cobb-Douglas, CES, et Mukerji. Les résultats indiquent ce que les caractérisliques de, ?utilité le plus populaire pouvoissem les modèles les quels ne confor-mentpas à celles des fonctions des commandes pour les produils.     

关于我国土地有偿使用制度的理论思考

我国土地使用制度从无偿、无期限使用转向有偿、有期限使用;土地有偿使用的主要形式是出让,即"批租制";出让这种有偿使用形式存在许多问题;本文从经济学的角度提出解决这一问题的途径--土地有偿使用应建立并推行"土地租赁制".     

RISK,UTILITY AND STOCKING RATE*

A simple utility-based model of risky wool production is presented. Evaluation of the model indicates the effect on optimal stocking rate of changes in the degree of risk aversion, farm area, variable cost, fixed cost, wool cut, wool price, variance of wool price, climatic variability and tax rate. It is shown that the utility hypothesis implies a lower optimal stocking rate than does expected profit maximization and hence implies a discrepancy between private and public optimal resource use which it is suggested, might be mitigated by a progressive bounty on wool production.     

THE USE OF A DECISION MAKER'S UTILITY FUNCTION IN A LINEAR PROGRAMMING ANALYSIS OF AGRICULTURAL POLICY*

A decision theoretic approach to agricultural policy decision making is examined to discover whether a utility function of an Australian Wool Corporation decision maker can be established and, if so, whether this can be used to improve the policy analysing performance of an agricultural sector linear programming model. After discussing the theoretical requirements of the utility function elicitation and the elicitation procedures, the characteristics of the resulting functions are examined. A means for its inclusion in a linear programming framework is described and some analysis of policy is carried out. The general conclusions are that the relevance of the agricultural sector analysis is enhanced by the use of such a utility function.     

UNDERWRITING ASSISTANCE TO THE AUSTRALIAN WHEAT INDUSTRY — AN APPLICATION OF OPTION PRICING THEORY

For the ten crop seasons 1979-80 to 1988-89, returns to producers in the Australian wheat industry were underwritten by a government-guaranteed price floor. Similar schemes operate in other rural industries (dairy, apples and pears, dried fruits). Although the underwriting provisions have only been triggered once (in the 1986-87 season), the provision of this scheme has acted to reduce the risk normally associated with returns to producers of wheat in all years of its operation. This reduction in risk has been granted free-of-charge by the Commonwealth Government. The guaranteed price can be viewed as a put option taken out by the Government on behalf of growers — it gives growers the option to sell to the Australian Wheat Board at this floor price. The aim of this paper is to apply to this underwriting arrangement the Black-Scholes formula for valuing options, in order to estimate the cost that growers would otherwise have had to pay to obtain cover (through put options) equivalent to the guaranteed price. We also estimate the magnitude of this form of assistance to the industry, which (until now) has not been taken into account unless the returns to growers fell below the guaranteed price.     

CHANGING PERSPECTIVES IN AGRICULTURE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: AN AGRONOMIST'S VIEW

This paper is concerned with five main topics-the size of the agricultural tasks ahead of us during a period of increasing change in the poorer countries: recent trends in food supplies and agricultural output; the constraints, including those outside the domain of agronomy, which hinder growth in output; the technical prospects in agronomy as they can be perceived at present; and some thoughts about the nature of future change in rural areas.     

区域比较优势理论在农业布局中的应用

对区域比较优势概念作了简要回顾,应用区位商设计了区域农业比较优势的测度指标,完成我国12种农产品区域比较优势的定量分析。探讨了面向国内存量市场,抵御进口的农产品;面向国内增量市场,顶替进口的农产品;以及面向国际市场,有出口优势的农产品的目标市场定位、区域布局。最后提出推进我国农产品区域化布局的改革建议。     

AN APPROACH TO UNIVERSITY TEACHING IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS

In our complex industrialised society there can no longer be a clear cut distinction between education and the training for a profession. Pressure from society for highly specialised knowledge and from students for satisfaction of vocational needs has resulted in the greater development of applied subjects. The aim of teaching in Agricultural Economics is to present a variety of subject matter within the framework of cohesive degree structures consistent with an academic discipline, while as far as possible fitting a student for a professional career in the field of Agricultural Economics. In the ever widening range of professional activity a distinction which has relevance to teaching can be made between the practising agricultural economist and the academic agricultural economist. For the former some professional training has to be incorporated in the first degree scheme. The need in industry and government is for economists who are prepared to make direct economic appraisals and the practising economist will therefore be involved in problem solving in a sphere where non-economic consideration have also to be weighed. He can best be fitted for his environment if he is aware of the interaction between economics and other relevant disciplines.     

TECHNOLOGY CHANGE AS AN INSTRUMENT IN AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

The introduction of new technology into agriculture is a central feature of development schemes, but is regularly criticised because of its distributive effects. Technology change is unavoidably biased, however, and cannot easily be used to serve specific distribution objectives. Ex post studies do not necessarily guide the appropriate choice of technology as they rarely offer causal explanations. Predicting the consequences of innovation is hampered by the narrowness of established economic models and the conceptual indefiniteness of technology as a variable in those models. In the absence of a wider system framework, technology for development is selected according to more general guides. These emphasise either the primacy of output objectives or advocate technology forms presumed appropriate to distribution objectives. Neither adequately substitutes for a broad framework to guide the choice of technology as an instrument in development.     

增长极理论在我国西部开发中的应用

从增长极理论基本原理,西方国家应用增长极理论开发区域经济的经验教训等方面,探讨我国西部区域开发的对策。     

CROSS-SUBSIDISATION OF RURAL AREAS VIA UTILITY PRICING POLICIES*

Public utilities which apply roughly uniform prices to all consumers often engage in cross-subsidisation — charging prices which are below cost for consumers in low population density areas but above cost for consumers in high density areas. The distributional and allocative implications of this practice are examined and it is concluded that some cross-subsidisation may be justifiable on welfare grounds even where no externalities exist. There is, however, little empirical evidence released by utilities to enable assessment of the efficiency of their practices. If nothing else, we highlight the need for greater public disclosure of pricing practices by public utilities.