Total factor productivity in South African agriculture, 1947‐91

Indices of total factor productivity (TFP) measure aggregate output per unit of aggregate input, providing a guide to the efficiency of agricultural production. This article outlines the relationship between production functions and TFP indices. Then, an index is constructed for South African agriculture for the period 1947‐91. The index shows that TFP grew at an average rate of 1,3 per cent per annum. However, TFP growth has increased since the reforms of the early 1980s. Since capital has been more realistically priced relative to labour, greater productivity growth has gone together with increasing employment, which must have improved social welfare.     

Whistle Blowers: Saints of Secular Culture

Neither the corporate view of whistle blowers as tattle-tales and traitors, nor the more sympathethic understanding of them as tragic heroes battling corrupt or abused systems captures what is at stake in whistle blowing at its most distinctive. The courage, determination and sacrifice of the most ardent whistle blowers suggests that they only begin to be appreciated when they are seen as the saints of secular culture. Although some whistle blowers may be attempting to deflect attention from their own deficiencies and others may be disgruntled employees, the most serious instances involve a level of moral sensitivity that approaches religious proportions that are baffling for a culture that has dispensed with sainthood.     

The involvement of trade unions in quality: evidence from EC enterprises

In 1987–88 a large attitudinal survey covering all 12 Member States of the European Community was carried out by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions in Dublin which focused on various aspects of participation by employee representatives in new information technology. This paper presents evidence on one important aspect of technological change—that of participation in product and service quality.     

Is there a crisis in arts sponsorship?

What is the connection between Heinz Baked Beans, the Notting Hill Carnival and Windows 95? This paper examines present trends in arts sponsorship. Sponsorship by brands is developing rapidly, while traditional arts sponsorship as part of the corporate promotional budget is under threat. Examples of trend setting sponsorships from companies as diverse as Ernst & Young, Lilt and Beck's Bier, show that arts sponsorship is in transition. Arts organisations are having to adjust rapidly to the new environment if they are to fulfil their targets.     

FUND SUBSTITUTION AND THE INCENTIVE EFFECT OF PUBLIC INVESTMENT SUBSIDIES

This paper analyses the observed phenomenon of public for private fund substitution in industrial assistance, by examining the public and private sector funding of investment under different assumptions about the nature of the private capital market. This bears on the effectiveness of industrial subsidies, and has implications for welfare and the design of optimal assistance contracts. It is shown that fund substitution depends crucially on the elasticity of investment with respect to the user cost of capital in the without-subsidy position, and on the nature of any amount and rate constraints on the assistance contract.