EFFECTS OF THE FARMER SUPPORT PROGRAMME AND CHANGES IN MARKETING POLICIES ON MAIZE PRODUCTION IN SOUTH AFRICA

This article analyses the effects of action aimed at narrowing the gap between South Africa's ‘two agricultures’, specifically the effects of the Farmer Support Programme (FSP) on structural aspects of maize production under different marketing policies. This is done by assembling a sectoral linear programming model of the South African summer-rainfall grain-producing area. The emphasis is on the inclusion of supply, demand and production risk. Results show that the effects of a successful FSP on specific interest groups, e.g. consumers of a specific product, or producers in a specific region, depend on the marketing policy followed, as well as on the effectiveness of the FSP. The analysis accentuates the interrelationships in South African crop production and illustrates how past policies ignored regional comparative advantages, distorted regional development and affected social welfare.     

My vision of a better India

India is a rich country in which poor people live, a big country which does not realise its own potential. India must build on its strengths and achieve its potential to become an economic superpower with a good and just society. A number of attitudinal and structural factors, such as lack of national pride, politics based on caste and other identities, a hierarchic and corruption-ridden feudal society and the tendency to reward failure and weakness rather than success and achievement are the major hurdles that are stopping us from achieving our true potential. On the other hand, our strengths in democratically managing a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural country and our capacity to master technology are also notable. Steps and hopeful developments that show the way forward to solve our national problems and realise the vision of a better India are suggested.     

Estimation of the mean in ranked set sampling with non responses

The estimation of the population mean when ranked set sampling [rss] is used for selecting the sample and non responses [nr] are present, is studied. The nr stratum is sub sampled using simple random sampling with replacement. Two strategies are analyzed. One of them is based on the selection of a sub sample from the nr in each cycle. The other uses sub samples selected among the nr in each rank.  The accuracy of the proposed estimators is characterized by the corresponding expected variances. Simulations and real life data are used for analyzing the behavior of them. Acknowledgements: This paper was developed partially during the visit of the author to Université des Antilles et Gouyane. The author gratefully acknowledges the helpful suggestions of the referees and thanks the support of DAAD for visiting Humboldt University where a version of the paper version was made.     

UNIT MANAGEMENT BUYOUTS, STOCKHOLDER WEALTH, AND SELLING FIRMS' CHARACTERISTICS

Previous research on unit management buyouts, UMBs, has shown that selling firms benefit from the selloff transaction. The current research demonstrates that when the selling firm has either poor liquidity or poor earnings, selling firm shareholders do not benefit as much. We hypothesize that the unit managers have knowledge about the selling firm's difficulties so they do not pay as large a premium for the assets. Since the unit managers technically are employed by the selling firm shareholders, their bargaining to achieve a better price is an agency cost. Finally, selloff frequency does not affect seller abnormal returns.     

Rates of Return to Schooling in China

This study uses data from a 1988 survey of Chinese individuals to estimate rates of return to schooling in China. The Mincer-type rate of return to schooling was estimated at 4.02 percent in the rural areas and 3.29 percent in the urban areas; these are fairly low estimates compared with similar estimates in other countries. The rate of return to schooling for females was significantly higher than that for males in urban areas. In addition, members of the Communist Party in urban areas had significantly lower returns to schooling compared with non-members.