Dense families of low-complexity attainable sets of markets

The complexity of the attainable set of utility outcomes of a market (with finitely many traders) is defined as the least number of commodities involved in any market giving the same set. This notion is investigated both for the case of quasiconcave and concave utility functions. It is shown that, in either case, there is a dense collection of attainable sets, each having complexity at most n(n?1)/2.     

A programme for agriculture in island plantation economies

Small-island plantation economies have some structural characteristics, related to their size, which differentiate them from large continental plantation economies. Namely, they are more specialized, more dependent and less flexible than the latter.Those economic characteristics generate a particular political structure in which the plantation interest is predominant. This makes their adjustment to the present decline of some of the main traditional plantation crops difficult and painful, since most of their economic policy measures are not long-run policies to insure competitiveness, but are short-run expedients to save uncompetitive crops.The Caribbean islands, where one finds some of the oldest plantation economies, are a case in point. While the traditional export crops of the area, i.e. bananas, cane and pineapple, have been declining over the last 15 yr or so, the policies adopted by government towards the agricultural sector have proved inoperative.In this article, we analyze the weaknesses of these policies and we outline a programme for the agricultural sector.     

Economies of scale for a state system of public school districts

A review of the different variables, school district samples, regression techniques and a priori assumptions utilized in recent studies clearly indicates that no standard model or set of procedures have been developed for the problems of economies of scale within the educational sector. Based on these studies and a brief discussion of the limitations of economies of scale models as a tool in policy planning, we present a generalizable model that can easily be applied to statistics now available in state departments of education to derive valuable new information about the existing cost-size relationships and opportunity costs that exist in a state system of public school districts. A recent application of the model in Oregon that illustrates its generalizability is described. An example of how economies of scale information might be used in policy planning and proposed district consolidations is also outlined.     

Improving food retailing in developing Asian countries

The adoption of horizontal and vertical integration in retail systems in the marketing of food in developing countries has long been the recommendation of researchers in this field. The author suggests that such proposals may not achieve the desired results for the poorer consumers in low-income Asian countries. An alternative approach, based upon the strengthening and improvement of traditional methods, is suggested as a more appropriate course of action in those countries.