AGRICULTURAL PROCESSING INDUSTRIES IN THE INTERNATIONAL DIVISION OF LABOUR*

Agricultural processing industries are sometimes recommended as being particularly suitable for industrialisation programmes in developing countries. In this article, however, it is argued that such a general statement does not appear to be warranted. In a short survey some of the criteria are first discussed by which suitability of agro-processing industries can be judged. It is concluded that the contribution to development objectives of some feasible sub-sectors can easily be overestimated. It also appears that the wide disparity of characteristics of sub-sectors that belong to the category of agricultural processing industries necessitate careful examination of individual sub-sectors before judgement as to their attractiveness for developing countries is pronounced. In order to illustrate this point evaluations of the cocoa and leather industries are briefly discussed.     

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FOOD MANUFACTURING AND DISTRIBUTIVE INDUSTRIES

This paper, in reviewing developments in food manufacturing and distribution, discusses trends in the overall demand for food, particularly the increase in demand for convenience foods. Along with this has gone an increased concentration of power in both the food manufacturing and distributive industries. The economic performance of these industries and the role of price competition is considered together with the possible consequences of polarisation of power between food manufacturers and distributors.     

STRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE OF THE UK FOOD AND DRINK INDUSTRIES

This paper analyses the structural characteristics of the food and drink industries and assesses their recent economic performance. Although classified among the less technologically intensive group of British manufacturing industries, the food and drink industries are found to share many of the features of the more technologically intensive group, such as product differentiation, product diversification and advertising intensity. They are also found to have achieved above-average growth in labour and total factor productivity through expansion in size, capital accumulation and shedding of labour.     

PRODUCTIVITY GROWTH AND THE UK FOOD SYSTEM 1954-84

This paper uses input-output data bases to derive estimates of industry productivity growth rates in the UK for three discrete sub-periods. The results are then used to derive estimates of the within-industry productivity growth contributions to the changing efficiency over time of the economic system in meeting consumers' food requirements. The resultant estimates indicate the value of extending studies of agricultural productivity growth to encompass efficiency gains in industries that are upstream and downstream of the agricultural industry.     

THE FOOD AND DRINK INDUSTRIES AND THE SECOND PRICE COMMISSION (1977–1979)

This paper is a second one on the subject of price controls in the late 1970s, the previous one being that presented by Ivor Lightman to the April 1978 conference of the Agricultural Economics Society held at the University of Manchester (Lightman, 1978). That paper traced the development of price controls in the UK over the period between 1973 and 1978. Lightman explained how under the terms of the 1977 Price Commission Act the reconstituted Price Commission (PC) had been given the task of appraising notifications of price increases by large companies and of investigating cases in detail at its discretion. The present paper firstly discusses the problems that make it difficult to assess the impact of the reconstituted PC. It then offers an interim assessment of the PC arising from a project based at Loughborough University financed by the Economic and Social Research Council. The project involved a programme of interviews between the two researchers, Dr. M. C. Fleming and myself, and senior management of companies that were the subject of investigation by the PC.     

民国年间冀中农户劳动生产率研究

农村经济的发展是整个社会现代化过程中最广阔、最深厚的基础,而农村生产者的劳动生产率则是农村经济发展的核心因素;单纯经济总量的增长不是最重要的,它往往被当代经济学家认为只有增长没有发展,或谓之为“没有发展的增长”。本文主要根据陈翰笙等老一辈学者30年代保定11村的实地调查资料和河北省统计局关于40年代同一地区的追踪调查资料,力求用实证研究的方法,从农民家庭的农副业生产与收入入手,试着计算出冀中地区农户的劳动生产率,包括工副业所占比例,进而从一个方面反映民国中后期北方农业生产力的发展水平。     

LABOUR USE AND LABOUR REQUIREMENTS IN UK AGRICULTURE

Estimates of labour input coefficients for individual agricultural enterprises have many uses for policy-makers, agricultural administrators, farm mangement advisers and academics alike, though they have attracted relatively little attention in the UK in recent years. This article describes a new method for estimating labour input coefficients which enables the estimates to be updated quickly and cheaply using information already available from the annual June Census. Some possible uses of the resulting coefficients including the evaluation of prospective changes in agricultural policy are described.     

THE UNITED KINGDOM FOOD PROCESSING AND DISTRIBUTIVE TRADES: AN APPRAISAL OF PUBLIC POLICIES

This paper gives a critical assessment of government policies relating to this sector of the economy in the postwar period. Particular analysis is made of policies affecting the nature of the business environment in more recent years. An underlying theme is the relative lack of academic study of this sector as a basis by which to evaluate whether its constituent industries function effectively even when allowance is made for inherent normative problems in their appraisal. Areas deserving of particular research are suggested.     

SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND FOOD SECURITY IN THE UK AND EC PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

The political strength in the EC and UK of the belief that high levels of self-sufficiency make food supplies more secure is demonstrated and explained. The relationship is examined analytically and critically, taking particular account of the priority of food, adjustment costs, and linkages between agriculture and other sectors. The need for a policy of food security in Western Europe is discussed in relation to military, crop and trade uncertainties. Finally, the elements of a more rational policy, including measures of storage, procurement and production independence, are outlined.     

INPUTS,OUTPUTS AND PRODUCTIVITY CHANGE IN THE AUSTRALIAN SHEEP INDUSTRY

Tornqvist quantity indexes of output and input are computed for the period 1952/53 to 1976/77 from Australian Sheep Industry Survey data. The computation includes estimating the annual service flow from durable inputs. Total productivity in the sheep industry is estimated to have increased by 2.9 per cent per annum during this 25-year period. While the ratio of capital employed per unit of labour has increased, materials, services and livestock have been the inputs for which the quantity used has increased most rapidly. On the output side, there has been a move towards greater diversification with both crop and cattle enterprises on 'sheep properties' increasing in relative importance.     

EEC FOOD LAW AND TRADE IN FOOD PRODUCTS

The paper first considers some of the legislation, and associate measures, affecting the availability, the form and presentation, and the price of foods to consumers. Little work seems to have been undertaken, and published, which would seek to establish the costs and benefits of ‘food law’. Food law can act as a non-tariff barrier; and within the EEC, because of the elimination of other barriers to trade, national legislation now attracts much press and political comment. The EEC's food law harmonisation programme, and the implications of the Cassis de Dijon case, are briefly reviewed. As with food law in general, there appears to be little economic appraisal of the EEC's measures.     

东海海洋资源潜力及相关产业的发展

改革开放以来,东海沿岸的经济获得了飞速发展,成为我国经济比较发达的地区之一,同时这里也面临着巨大的人口增长和资源短缺的压力。而东海沿厚所具有的丰富的海洋资源潜力尚未得到充分利用,所以解决未来东海沿岸的人口与资源问题的有效途径就是开发东海的海洋资源、发展相关的海洋普,但目前东涨的海洋普发展水平还很低,发迹目前善的唯一途径是实现海陆经济一体化。     

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA

One of the problems of economic policy concerns the best use of the resources available to the nation, whether they are distributed in the best way between the sectors of production and whether they are used in an optimal way within each sector. Clearly this is a “productivity” problem. It is said that neither the distribution of resources between sectors, nor the use that is made of them within each sector is optimal either in Europe or North America. One of the most important examples is in agriculture, to which too much labour is allocated and sub-optimal use is made of the resources available. Thus agricultural productivity is low, and there are regional and international differences. To answer questions about the level of agricultural productivity it is necessary to have a method of measurement and on this there has been a lot of discussion. The object of this note is to define the optimal yardstick and to use it to estimate the differences in agricultural productivity between the countries in Eastern and Western Europe and North America.