SHORT REVIEWS

D. W. P earce and R. K erry T urner , Economics of Natural Resources and the Environment , Hemel Hempstead, Wheatsheaf
F rank A. C owell Cheating the Government: The economics of evasion MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, £15.95 (hard cover).
J ozef M. van B rabant , Remaking Eastern Europe—On the political economy of transition , Dordrecht     

SHORT REVIEWS

J ohn D. H ey , Experiments in Economics, Oxford
J ohn P encavel , Labor Markets Under Trade Unionism: Employment, Hours and Wages.
J. M. A lec G ee AND G eorge N orman , Market Strategy and Structure, Hemel Hempstead; Harvester Wheatsheaf
R oman F rydman , A ndrzej R apaczynski , J ohn S. E arle et al., The Privatization Process in Central Europe, London
J ozef M. V3 b B rabant , Privatizing Eastern Europe, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers     

Book reviews

New Perspectives on Technology and Organization.

Innovative Banking: Competition and the Management of a New Networks Technology J. Howells & J . Hines Eds) Ldon, Routledge, 1992, 252pp., £40.00 (hbk), ISB-V 0-415-05941-0. Technology and Organization: Power, Meaning and Design H. Scarborough & J.M. Corbett London. Routledge. 1992, 178pp., ,£15.00, (pbk), ISBN 0-415-05941-0.

Beyond Partnership-Strategies for Innovation & Lean Supply Richard Lamming Hemel Hempstead, Prentice-Hall International, 1993, ix + 299pp., £19.95 (hbk).

From Anticipation to Action: A handbook of Strategic Perspective Michel Godet.     

News and notes

New Perspectives on Technology and Organization.

Innovative Banking: Competition and the Management of a New Networks Technology J. Howells &; J . Hines Eds) Ldon, Routledge, 1992, 252pp., £40.00 (hbk), ISB-V 0-415-05941-0. Technology and Organization: Power, Meaning and Design H. Scarborough &; J.M. Corbett London. Routledge. 1992, 178pp., ,£15.00, (pbk), ISBN 0-415-05941-0.

Beyond Partnership-Strategies for Innovation &; Lean Supply Richard Lamming Hemel Hempstead, Prentice-Hall International, 1993, ix + 299pp., £19.95 (hbk).

From Anticipation to Action: A handbook of Strategic Perspective Michel Godet.     

Book reviews

B.G.Dale & J.J.Plunkett (eds) Hemel Hempstead, Philip Allan,1989, 350 pp., £ 18.00

Theories and Technologies of the Knowledge SocietyNiels Ole Finnemann (ed) Centre for Cultural Research, University of Aarhus, Denmark, 1989, 100 pp., DK40

The Internationalisation of Software and Computer Services OECD Paris, OECD, 1989, 180pp., Ff120

Techno-diplomacy. US-Soviet Confrontations in Science and Technology Glenn E. Schweitzer New York and London, Plenum Press, 1989, xiv f 320 pp., $23.00

Strategic Management of Services in the Arab Gulf States: Company and Industry Cases M. Sami Kassem & Ghazi M. Habib Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1989, 480 pp.     

SHORT REVIEWS

C igno , A lessandro , Economics of the Family , Oxford: Clarendon Press
S. F othergill and N. G uy , Retreat from the Regions: Corporate Change and the Closure of Factories , London: Jessica Kingsley and Regional Studies Association
W ĺodzimierz B rus and K azimierz łaski . From Marx to the Market: Socialism in Search of an Economic System , Oxford, Clarendon Press
R ichard W hittingham , Corporate Strategies in Recession and Recovery: Social Structure and Strategic Choice , London, Unwin Hyman, 1989
A nthony S laven and S ydney C heckland (eds.), Dictionary of Scottish Business Biography, 1860–1960 . Volume 2: Processing, Distribution, Services , Aberdeen, Aberdeen University Press, 1990
A lan S. B linder , Inventory Theory and Consumer Behaviour , Hemel Hempstead, Harvester-Wheatsheaf. 1990
D avid L aidler , Taking Money Seriously , Philip Allan. 1990, pp. xiv + 226,£32.50 (hardback),£12.95 (paperback)     

Reviews

Book reviewed in this article:
Growth Receiving: Economic Change in World History , by E. L. Jones (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1988)
Review of the State Tax System: Tax worm and NSW Economic Development , New South Wales Tax Task Force (NSW Government Printer, Sydney, August 1988)
Incentive Cooperation and Risk Sharing: Economic and Psychological Perspectives on Employment Contacts . by H.F., Nalbantian (Rowman and Littlefield, New Jersey, 1987)
Alternative Systems of Buaivss Organization and Worked Remuneration . by J.E. Meade (Allen & Unwin, London. 1986)
The Costs of Academic Libraries An Econometric Interpretation . by John R. Brockman (Curtain University of Technology, Perth, 1988)
socialism, Economics and Development . by A. Nove (Allen & Unwin, London. 1986).
Stock Market Anomalies , edited by E. Dimson (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988)
The Flow of Funds in Theory and Practice: A Flow-Constrained Approach to Monetary Theory and Policy , by J. Cohen, Financial and Monetary Policy Studies 15 (Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dordrecht, 1987)
Technological Change Development and the Environment Socio-Economic Perspectives , edited by Clem Tisdell and Riyatosh Maitra (Routledge, London, 1988)
Dynamic Economic Analysis , by Milton Harris (Oxford University Press, New York. 1987)
Elements of Econometrics , by J. Kmenta (MacMillan. New York. 1986)
The Theory of International Trade , by J.R. Markusen and J.R. Melvin (Harper & Row, New York 1988)
An Assessment of Agricultural Research Priorities: An International Paspective , by J.S. Davis, P.A. Oram and J.G. Ryan (Australian Centre for International Research, Canberra. 1987)
A History of Economics The Past as the Present , by John Kenneth Galbraith (Hamish Hamilton, London 1987)     

LONG WAVES IN ECONOMICS AND POLITICS

Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 , New York: Random House, 1987; and Joshua S. Goldstein, Long Cycles: Prosperity and War in the Modern Age , New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988.     

Book review

Built by Japan: Competitive Straegies of the Japanese Construction Industry, Fumio Hasegawa & Shimizu Group FS New York, John Wiley & amp; Sons, 1988, 204 pp., US$25.00.

Technological Change at Work Ian McLouglin & Jon Clark Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1988, 202 pp., Pb £9.00, Hb £25.00.

Enterprising Innovation: An Alternative Approach Veronica Mole & Dave Elliott London, Frances Pinter, 1987, pp. 180.

Flexible Automation: The Global Diffusion of New Technology in the Engineering Industry Charles Edquist Jacobsson Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1988, Hb £35.00.

Expert Systems: Strategic Implications and Applications A. Beerel Chichester, Ellis Horwood Ltd, 1988, 173 pp., £22.50.     

Book review

Built by Japan: Competitive Straegies of the Japanese Construction Industry, Fumio Hasegawa & Shimizu Group FS New York, John Wiley & amp; Sons, 1988, 204 pp., US$25.00.

Technological Change at Work Ian McLouglin & Jon Clark Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1988, 202 pp., Pb £9.00, Hb £25.00.

Enterprising Innovation: An Alternative Approach Veronica Mole & Dave Elliott London, Frances Pinter, 1987, pp. 180.

Flexible Automation: The Global Diffusion of New Technology in the Engineering Industry Charles Edquist Jacobsson Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1988, Hb £35.00.

Expert Systems: Strategic Implications and Applications A. Beerel Chichester, Ellis Horwood Ltd, 1988, 173 pp., £22.50.     

SHORT REVIEWS

J ohn C reedy (ed.), Foundations of Economic Thought , Oxford, Basil Blackwell
A lec G ee , The Theory of the Spatial Firm and Industry: A Marshallian Approach , Hemel Hempstead
M ichael P okorny
A ndrew B ritton
L. R andall W ray , Money and Credit in Capitalist Economies: the Endogenous Money Approach , Aldershot
J. L. S tein , International Finnncial Markets, (Integration, Efficiency and Expectations )     

Intermarket spread opportunities between Canadian and American agricultural futures

This study extends Carter's (1989) study of the efficiency of Canadian canola and American soybean oil futures markets during 1981–1987 to a new period (1988–1993). It also uses a different spread strategy than Carter to see if the same conclusions hold for canola and soybean as well as Canadian feed wheat and American wheat futures. Our findings confirm that in the 1981–1987 period there were no opportunities for intermarket spread profit between canola and soybean oil futures and between feed wheat and wheat futures. Our findings for the period 1988–1993, however, suggest there were some opportunities for such profits. Thus, it was possible for floor traders (and possibly institutional investors), who paid low transaction costs, to experience some additional profits. We also find that these opportunities are neither due to changes in currency values over time, nor to the use of weekly or daily exchange rates. Nevertheless, nonparametric tests show that spread profits are statistically insignificant.     

Measuring school segregation

Using only ordinal axioms, we characterize several multigroup school segregation indices: the Atkinson indices for the class of school districts with a given fixed number of ethnic groups and the Mutual Information index for the class of all districts. Properties of other school segregation indices are also discussed. In an empirical application, we document a weakening of the effect of ethnicity on school assignment from 1987/1988 to 2007/2008. We also show that segregation between districts within cities currently accounts for 33% of total segregation. Segregation between states, driven mainly by the distinct residential patterns of Hispanics, contributes another 32%.     

Household demand for fats and oils: two-step estimation of a censored demand system

A censored system of household fat and oil demand equations is estimated with a two-step procedure, using cross-sectional data from the 1987–1988 US Nationwide Food Consumption Survey. Own price and total expenditure elasticities are close to unity and there is no evidence of gross substitutability. Compensated elasticities suggest net substitution among the products considered.     

On the Variable Money Demand Elasticity: The Case of Taiwan

This study attempts to examine the money-demand function for Taiwan by applying the BCEA model of Savin and White (1978). Major Findings are: (1) the conventional double-log form is inappropriate for Taiwan; (2) the income elasticity of money demand rose from 1.29 in 1969. 2 to 1.74 in 1988. 3, compared to a range of 0.6 to 0.8 estimated for the U.S.; and (3) the interest elasticity of money demand varied from ?0.25 ti ?0.62 during the same period. The author has also found that estimated income and interest elasticities of money demand for the U.S. varied widely during 1970-1987. [310]     

On the monotonicity of the labour-capital ratio in Sraffa's model

Work done in part while visiting (1988–1989) the Department of Mathematics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, U.S.A. One of the authors (E. S.) wishes to thank Paolo Caravani for bringing the subject matter of Caravani and DeLuca (1987), in an earlier version, to his attention; and David Rosenblatt for illuminating correspondence on aggregation.     

New Zealand's Economic Reforms: An assessment

New Zealand's economic policy between 1984 and 1996 is often hailed as an example of comprehensive supply-side reform that successfully improved the performance of a weak economy. In contrast, this paper presents statistical evidence to show that: (1) New Zealand sacrificed a large volume of real per capita gross domestic product after 1987; (2) its average unemployment rate increased substantially after 1988; (3) labour productivity growth declined after 1992; and (4) the per capita real income of low-income households in 1996 was more than 3% lower in absolute terms than it had been in 1984. The paper concludes that the economic reform programme did not achieve the objectives expected at its launch.     

Estimating a mixture of stochastic frontier regression models via the em algorithm: A multiproduct cost function application

Researchers have become increasingly interested in estimating mixtures of stochastic frontiers. Mester (1993), Caudill (1993), and Polachek and Yoon (1987), for example, estimate stochastic frontier models for different regimes, assuming sample separation information is given. Building on earlier work by Lee and Porter (1984), Douglas, Conway, and Ferrier (1995) estimate a stochastic frontier switching regression model in the presence of noisy sample separation information. The purpose of this paper is to extend earlier work by estimating a mixture of stochastic frontiers assuming no sample separation information. This case is more likely to occur in practice than even noisy sample separation information. In order to estimate a mixture of stochastic frontiers with no sample separation information, an EM algorithm to obtain maximum likelihood estimates is developed. The algorithm is used to estimate a mixture of stochastic (cost) frontiers using data on U.S. savings and loans for the years 1986, 1987, and 1988. Statistical evidence is found supporting the existence of a mixture of stochastic frontiers. First version received: 3/13/01/Final version received: 6/17/02 RID="*" ID="*"  I am grateful to Ram Acharya, Janice Caudill, and especially James R. Barth for several helpful comments on an earlier version of the paper. During the revision process I benefitted greatly from the suggestions of the Associate Editor and three anonymous referees.     

Purchasing power parity and real factors

It is acknowledged that purchasing power parity (PPP) fails in empirical tests. The position adopted is that real factors are an omitted variable from the PPP relationship and are the cause of divergences from PPP. The real exchange rate as being determined by supply and demand shift factors (as in Stockman, 1987 and Neary, 1988) is modelled. We then empirically estimate a real exchange rate equation and use the fitted value as a generated regressor in tests of PPP. It is demonstrated that when changes in the real exchange rate are incorporated into the PPP relationship, PPP improves.