The motor manufacturing industry in Britain: prospects for the 1980s*

In the 1960s and 1970s motor manufacturing was seen as a microcosm of British industrial deterioration, now it is hailed as an example of success. Despite scepticism from abroad, the author argues that it is not in terminal decline.     

Toward regional economic planning: The New England case

As a result of the current change in economic thinking toward planning, this article, using New England as a case, after some preliminary data analysis on the continuity of the two sets of time series data, and the rejection of a hypothesis on the similarity between the regional and national economic structures, proposes first to estimate and then to project the regional economic structure and its possible shift in terms of industrial shares of their 10 component industries. Possible contributions of this kind of study toward regional economic planning then conclude the article.     

Union recruitment and organising attempts in Britain in the 1980s

Using information contained in the 1984 workplace industrial relations survey this article examines the extent and pattern of union organising attempts among non-union establishments in the years 1979–84. The results suggest that such attempts have tended to follow relatively traditional lines, although there is some evidence of an increased responsiveness to changing features of the labour market.     

Decentralised planning in Britain: Comment

Conclusions One of the difficulties with discussing planning in capitalist economies is the definition of terms. All governments have macroeconmic policies and plans for public expenditure. The Differentia specifica of economic planning (as I understand it) is that it combines a more coherent approach to the two aspects above with specific interventions aimed at achieving an overall general strategy. Hare's article offer an institutional framework for achieving this end. I have doubts about the feasibility of some of his proposals (especially those concerned with participation). I also believe that a lot more thought has to be devoted to the principles which will guide the planning agencies, and their scale of operation. On the latter question I favour a modest beginning which avoids raising false hopes and expectations. Only thus can the planning system survive its first difficult years. This does not rule out a bold macroeconomic policy, but that is another story.     

Cobdenism for the 1980s

The lessons of the 19th century have been ignored. Professor Castorina, author of a perceptive doctoral thesis on Richard Cobden, in book form as Richard Cobden and Manchester Economists, assesses his insights and their profound impact on the liberating economic expansion of his age. She also indicates his importance for our day.     

Public utility planning and cost efficiency in a decentralized regulation context: the case of the Italian integrated water service

The reformed Italian water and sewerage industry has several distinctive features. It is based on a decentralized structure where local authorities are entitled to define detailed long-term budget plans that claim to provide efficiency incentives to operating suppliers. Unlike previous studies, this paper analyzes the cost efficiency embedded in these budget plans to evaluate the actual capability of local regulators to adequately orientate firm performance. Several panel data cost frontier models were estimated that incorporate diverse specifications for inefficiency and unobserved heterogeneity terms. The results indicate that the decentralized planning mechanism applied in Italian water and sewerage industry regulation failed in fulfilling the declared goal and further highlights that the time-invariant terms are the prevailing source of cost differences, which may conceal a structural component attributable to persistent inefficiency.     

The future of fund raising: developments in the 1980s

Those institutions that survive the "combined onslaught" of inflation, taxes and other stubborn foes that will continue to beset them in the decade to come can only be strengthened by their tribulations, the author claims. With the aid of his "crystal ball", he views what the 1980s have in store for philanthropy.     

The changing corporate-social contract in the 1980s: Creative opportunities for consumer affairs professionals

In an address to members of the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, Hazel Henderson congratulated them on their stated purpose: “to foster the integrity of business in its dealings with consumers,” but added the whether they can also simultaneously “promote harmonious relationships between business, government and consumers” is another matter—one for honest differences of opinion.     

French trade unions: crisis in the 1980s

France has had a Socialist President since 1981, and yet support for French trade unions has declined markedly. This article assesses the nature of this decline and examines the role of government, changes in the labour market, employer policies and trade union strategies, in order to explain this apparent paradox.     

The efficiency of decomposition vs direct solution with implications for the question of decentralized or centralized planning

Conclusion The investigation provides overwhelming evidence that decomposition tends to become increasingly more efficient than direct solution as the number of subproblems becomes greater.Further investigation would be required to obtain a comparable picture of the behaviour of decomposition with respect to an increasing number of variables in the master problem as their range of variation in the present study is rather restricted.It is gratefully acknowledged: that in implementing the decompositional procedure on the computer I have benefitted from Mr. A. C. McKay's advice on matters relating to the computer programmes; also that I enjoyed the pleasant and friendly co-operation of the staff of the computer Centre, University of Birmingham, without which the difficulties involved in carrying out the present task would have been compounded manifold; that Dr. C.-L. Sandblom carefully studied this paper and suggested a number of valuable improvements. Finally, I should like to thank Professor Kronsjö for the encouragement that he has given to me in executing this project and to the research council which made this investigation possible.