The distributional effect of a large rice price increase on welfare and poverty in Bangladesh

This paper studies the distributional effect of a sharp rice price increase on welfare and poverty in Bangladesh. We employ household consumption data and include the indirect effect of price responses to estimate the welfare loss. Our findings suggest that the estimated welfare effect can be misleading if household responses to rice consumption and production are ignored. This study further supports the hypothesis that the poor are the main victims of such a shock. Our examination also indicates that a higher rice price may increase or decrease the poverty head‐count ratio, depending on the choice of the poverty line, but worsens the country's poverty situation when it is measured by the per capita consumption gap. Our analysis reveals that the government can play a central role to prevent and mitigate such shocks, particularly in the medium to long run. On the methodological side, we observe that consumption provides a more consistent outcome across different methods of analysis than household income.     

The impact of the 2005–2010 rice price increase on consumption in rural Bangladesh

This article studies the impact of the rice price increase between 2005 and 2010 on consumption in rural Bangladesh. Using the Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) data, we compare net rice buyers and sellers to self‐sufficient households. To identify the effect of rice price changes on household consumption of rice, nonrice food and nonfood items, we employ a difference‐in‐differences (DiD) technique. Our findings indicate that the surge in domestic rice prices between 2005 and 2010 reduced the nonrice food consumption of net rice buyer households by 7%, compared to the households who are self‐sufficient in rice production. However, it did neither affect their rice nor their nonfood consumption. In contrast, while we find no significant effect of rice price increases on the rice consumption of net rice sellers, we observe a 9% increase in their nonrice food consumption. In such situation, a subsidy on low‐quality rice may be effective in fulfilling the nutritional requirement of low‐income households.     

The income elasticity of mortgage loan demand

One explanation for the emergence of the housing market bubble and the subprime crisis is that increases in individuals’ income led to higher increases in the amount of mortgage loans demanded, especially for the middle class. This hypothesis translates to an increase in the income elasticity of mortgage loan demand before 2007. Using applicant‐level data, we test this hypothesis and find that the income elasticity of mortgage loan demand in fact declines in the years before 2007, especially for the mid‐ and lower‐middle income groups. Our finding implies that increases in house prices were not matched by increases in loan applicants’ income.     

Land productivity,farm size and returns to scale in Pakistan agriculture

It is by now a commonly accepted proposition that economic development must involve both growth and equity. That in many countries the subsidization of the owners of large farms is inequitable is also acknowledged. However, the debate on the ‘efficiency’ of large versus small farms continues. If the owners of large farms are not using the crop acreage with greater efficiency than are the small farmers and if there are no economies of scale, then the imposition of ceilings on farm size and land redistribution are clearly the right options to consider.The object of this study is to test two hypotheses. First, there is an inverse relationship between land productivity and farm size. Second, there are no economies of scale in agricultural production. The tests are performed by regression analysis on the farm-level data collected from Pakistan by the author in 1974. The merit of this study is that it deals with a country which, with a few other underdeveloped countries, has been a beneficiary of the ‘Green Revolution’. The available studies on Pakistan agriculture are limited to the aggregate analyses. Interregional micro-level studies are almost non-existent.     

Trade liberalization and the structure of protection in Turkey in the 1980s: A quantitative analysis

Zusammenfassung Handelsliberalisierung und die Struktur der Protektion in der Türkei der achtziger Jahre. Eine quantitative Analyse. — Die Autoren haben die Strukturver?nderungen in der Protektion der Türkei untersucht, die sich aus den aufeinanderfolgenden Zollsatz?nderungen von 1983 bis 1989 ergaben. Sie zeigen, da\ die Revisionen der Jahre 1988 und 1989 sowohl die H?he als auch die interindustrielle Streuung der Protektion verringert haben. Trotzdem f?rdert die Struktur der Protektion noch nicht die optimale Allokation der heimischen Ressourcen, wenn man die relativen Preise an der Grenze und damit das türkische Au\enhandelspotential in Betracht zieht. Au\erdem wurde gezeigt, da\ die türkischen Exportindustrien st?rker geschützt werden als die Industrien, die mit Importen konkurrieren.

---

Resumen Liberalización comercial y estructura de la protección en Turquía en los a?os 80: un análisis cuantitativo. — En este trabajo se analizan los cambios en la estructura de la protección en Turquía debidos a revisiones sucesivas de los aranceles entre 1983 y 1989. Se demuestra que las revisiones de 1988 y de 1989 han disminuído tanto el nivel como la dispersión intersectorial de la protección. A pesar de ello, la estructura de la protección aún no conduce a una asignación óptima de los recursos nacionales dados los precios relativos en la frontera y, po lo tanto, el potencial del comercio exterior turco. Además, se demuestra que las industrias de exportación turcas exhiben mayor protección que las industrias que compiten con las importaciones.

---

Résumé Libéralisation du commerce et la structure de la protection en Turquie dans les années 1980: une analyse quantitative. — Cette étude a analysé les changes dans la structure de la protection en Turquie à cause de plusieurs révisions successives des tarifs douaniers de 1983 jusqu’à 1989. Il est prouvé que les révisions de 1988 et 1989 ont baissé le niveau et la dispersion inter-industrielle de la protection. Malgré cela, la structure de la protection n’est pas encore convenable à une répartition optimale des ressources nationales si l’on considère les prix relatifs à la frontière et par cela le potentiel pour le commerce extérieur de la Turquie. En outre, on peut constater qu’on protège les industries d’exportation turques plus fortement que les secteurs industriels étant en concurrence avec les importations.

     

SOME ASPECTS OF FOOD CONSUMPTION AND ITS LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE IN PAKISTAN, 1961-86

This paper attempts to answer three important questions regarding the consumption of food in Pakistan: (2) What are the recent trends of consumption in the rural and urban areas? (2) What is the likely direction and magnitude of food demand during the period 1961-86? (3) Is the growth of production of food commodities going to be sufficient to meet the requirements by 1970 and thereafter?     

Financial market integration and the value of global diversification: Evidence for US acquirers in cross-border mergers and acquisitions

In contrast to the previously documented cross-border discount, we find that there is positive cross-border effect for US acquirers during late 1990s and early 2000s. This is especially particular the case for those that acquire/merge with targets from segmented financial markets where acquirers experience significantly higher positive abnormal returns than those that acquire targets from integrated financial markets. Furthermore, firms acquiring segmented-market targets are also characterized by significantly higher post-merger operating performance improvement. The results indicate that the observed positive cross-border effect is mainly due to the increase in the number of transactions involving targets from segmented markets, in which the average firm experience significant financial constraints. We contend that value is created by a combination of firms with different financial market integration status, in which funds are provided to high cost firms. The finding that the value creation is even higher within the group of acquirers with a lower cost of capital provides additional support for our conjecture.     

Credit Constraints,Technology Choice and Exports: A Firm‐level Study for Latin American Countries

In this paper, constraints on technology choice and credit access are introduced into a firm‐level trade model in a dynamic setting in order to explain factors that limit benefits to a firm from trade liberalization. Theoretical analysis shows that firms face credit constraints depending on their initial productivity and the cost of credit. As a result, credit‐constrained firms may not be able to cross the minimum productivity threshold needed to enter and compete in a foreign market. Empirical analysis using firm‐level panel data for six Latin American countries confirms that financial constraints negatively influence firms' export and investment decisions.     

An Experimental Analysis of Face to Face versus Computer Mediated Communication Channels

Experimental research on Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) has generally focused on democratic groups whose members typically share the same objectives. In organizations, however, there are many situations where groups have a leader who has the power to override the group's recommendation, the objective of the leader may not be the same as the objective of each member, and not everyone may have the same information. This paper reports the results of an experiment in which the groups, having a designated leader, worked on a mixed-motive task. Within this context, we analyze group decision outcomes and processes for groups that use a face-to-face channel of cormnunication and those that utilize computer mediated communication. We compare performance of the leader and members with respect to an objective measure of performance, the efficient frontier. The results indicate that for this task groups using face-to-face channel outperform groups using computer mediated communication.