The Dynamics of Commoditization in a Vietnamese Uplands Village, 1980–2000

Commodity markets have become key forces transforming upland livelihoods, social relations and landscapes in Vietnam and throughout Southeast Asia. This paper examines the processes of market formation and their effects on local livelihoods and social relations in a village of Vietnam's north-western uplands. The results indicate that villagers' reactions to new opportunities arising from decollectivization and market liberalization wove them into an increasingly intricate 'commodity web'. Differences among households widened as households with an initial advantage accumulated further advantages. Yet the relations governing access to land and product markets also provided a floor of subsistence for the disadvantaged. The findings demonstrate the need to interrogate commodity markets, investigate the practices and relations constituting them, and analyse how they distribute income and risks among the actors involved. The nature of commodity markets, together with the relations governing access to productive resources, influences processes of social differentiation in the uplands.     

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Japan: consumers' food safety perceptions and willingness to pay for tested beef*

The discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as ‘mad cow disease’, in Japan caused anxiety about consuming beef and beef products. As a result, there was a sudden fall in sales of beef that hurt the Japanese beef industry as well as major beef exporters to Japan. We analyse factors that affect Japanese consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) price premiums for BSE‐tested beef and estimate the mean WTP for BSE‐tested beef using data obtained from a consumer survey in Japan. A single‐bounded dichotomous choice contingent valuation model is used to recover the premium amount. We find that attitudes to food safety, reduction in beef consumption following the BSE outbreak, and being female all have a statistically significant positive effect on the WTP for BSE‐tested beef. Interestingly, demographic variables such as age and income do not affect the WTP, possibly indicating that the BSE scare similarly affected multiple segments of the population. In our sample, consumers are willing to pay a premium on average of greater than 50 per cent for BSE‐tested beef.     

Testing for the Presence of Financial Constraints in US Agricultural Cooperatives: An Investment Behaviour Approach

This study examines the presence of financial constraints in US agricultural cooperatives. We test the cooperative capital constraint hypothesis with a panel data econometric analysis of agricultural cooperatives’ investment behaviour. Regression results suggest that agricultural cooperatives’ capital expenditures are significantly affected by the availability of internal funds. Results also indicate that the sensitivity of investment to cash flow is correlated with cooperative structural characteristics.     

Consumer Attitudes to Genetically Modified Food in Norway

There is a lack of public acceptance of genetically modified (GM) food products in Europe. Using a dichotomous choice contingent valuation methodology, we find that, on average, survey respondents with a positive attitude toward the use of biotechnology in food production, higher educated, younger, and male need less of a discount to choose to purchase bread made with GM wheat. Further, we estimate confidence intervals for the mean discount required for consumers to choose GM bread. The 95% confidence interval for the mean discount required for the respondents to choose the GM bread is a 37% to 63% discount relative to conventional bread.     

All's not fair in pricing: An initial look at the dual entitlement principle

A new theory in economics (Kahneman, Knetsch, and Thaler, 1986a, b) contends that consumer judgments of seller fairness can explain why sellers in many industries do not raise prices to ration off excess demand. In a small study focusing on automated teller machines (ATM) fees, we obtain empirical support for KKT's prediction that unjustified price increases are perceived as unfair, while cost justification legitimates a price increase in consumers' eyes. We also find, however, that fairness perceptions are not significantly related to behavioral intentions (as the theory would suggest). Many respondents felt the fee was unfair but would not switch banks because of switching costs, while others felt the fee was fair but would switch banks because of the cumulative cost. Research directions are discussed.     

Global peace as a professional concern,I

The most serious threat currently facing people all over the world is that of a global nuclear war, in which hundreds of millions of people would be killed by the immediate effects of nuclear explosions, and over a billion others would later die of cold and starvation in the ensuing nuclear winter. Physicians and other health professionals have an ethical responsibility to educate themselves, their patients, and the public to the need for major political changes to achieve multilateral disarmament and thus prevent nuclear war. Scientists ought to oppose all research and government expenditures preparing for war, and should participate only in work designed to improve health and living standards for all the world's inhabitants.Dr. Perry is Professor of Pharmacology & Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia. Educated at Oxford and at Harvard Medical School, he first practiced pediatrics, and later became a neurochemist researching a variety of human brain disorders. He has been a peace activist since seeing combat in Europe during World War II. He works in Canadian Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and in Veterans Against Nuclear Arms, and is an appointed member of Vancouver City Council's Special Committee on Peace.The articles by Thomas L. Perry, Gilles D. Hurteau, and Joanna Santa Barbara are the result of a three-person panel presentation and therefore appear under the same title. At the publisher's discretion, roman numerals have been included to distinguish these articles.     

The practical side of international trade

We've all heard stories about U.S. exporters who shipped goods, then were not paid—or importers who bought goods from abroad, then found them not up to quality or received them too late. These problems are often due to too much concentration on the glamorous side of international trade and too little attention to the practical.     

An Attempt to Determine the CSR Potential of the International Clothing Business

Most empirical studies of corporate social responsibility (CSR) focus on variables at the company level. In this article, I focus on the sector level: I consider features of the international clothing business and of the global economy in general, that may influence the CSR potential. There is high ‘CSR potential’ when sector-specific features indicate that the risk of violating CSR standards is high. Thus, ‘high CSR potential’ indicates that there is a potential for positive influence through CSR-related actions. Based on several empirical studies of the clothing business, I identify six features that indicate a high CSR potential. These features are shown to be consistent with more general features of the global economy. This holds whether we emphasize asymmetric relations and unequal distribution, the product cycle, or transnationalization. Thus, the CSR potential of the international clothing business seems not only to be a product of sector-specific properties, but also of more systemic and general features of the global economy. This suggests that the CSR performance of individual companies may enhance their social and environmental impact, but will probably have little effect on the features that determine the CSR potential. In order to affect these features I argue, we rely on other institutions to act – mainly governments. Finally, I conclude that this study shows that it is useful to identify the CSR potential of a business sector. We get a picture of which part of the international CSR standards companies run the greatest risk of violating and of which structural issues intergovernmental actions should address to reduce the potential for violating CSR standards.     

Municipalities and regions in locational competition — New economic considerations

Locational competition has intensified in recent years in the wake of globalisation as well as the general development towards a knowledge- and service-based economy. In this context, newer economic analyses point to a shifting of the locational factors considered relevant for success in local and regional competition. With respect to these fundamental changes, it is becoming increasingly relevant to ask how local and regional development processes must be constructed in order for municipalities and regions in modern industrial countries to maintain the positions they have already achieved.