Factors influencing adoption of conservation tillage in Australian cropping regions*

The purpose of this research is to improve understanding of conservation tillage adoption decisions by identifying key biophysical and socio‐economic factors influencing no‐till adoption by grain growers across four Australian cropping regions. The study is based on interviews with 384 grain growers using a questionnaire aimed at eliciting perceptions relating to a range of possible long‐ and short‐term agronomic interactions associated with the relative economic advantage of shifting to a no‐tillage cropping system. Together with other farm and farmer‐specific variables, a dichotomous logistic regression analysis was used to identify opportunities for research and extension to facilitate more rapid adoption decisions. The broader systems approach to considering conservation tillage adoption identified important determinants of adoption not associated with soil conservation and erosion prevention benefits. Most growers recognised the erosion‐reducing benefits of no‐till but it was not an important factor in explaining whether a grower was an adopter or non‐adopter. Perceptions associated with shorter‐term crop production benefits under no‐till, such as the relative effectiveness of pre‐emergent herbicides and the ability to sow crops earlier on less rainfall were influential. Employment of a consultant and increased attendance of cropping extension activities were strongly associated with no‐till adoption, confirming the information and learning‐intensive nature of adopting no‐till cropping systems.     

Engineering bureaucracy: the genesis of formal policies, positions, and structures in high-technology firms

This article examines the impact of organizational foundingconditions on several facets of bureaucratization - managerialintensity, the proliferation of specialized managerial and administrativeroles, and formalization of employment relations. Analyzinginformation on a sample of technology start-ups in California'sSilicon Valley, we characterize the organizational models orblueprints espoused by founders in creating new enterprises.We find that those models and the social composition of thelabor force at the time of founding had enduring effects ongrowth in managerial intensity (i.e., reliance on managerialand administrative specialists) over time. Our analysis thusprovide compelling evidence of path dependence in the evolutionof bureaucracy - even in a context in which firms face intenseselection pressures - and underscore the importance of the 'logicsof organizing' that founders bring to new enterprises. We findless evidence that founding models exert persistent effectson the formalization of employment relations or on the proliferationof specialized senior management titles. Rather, consistentwith neo-institutional perspectives on organizations, thosesuperficial facets of bureaucracy appear to be shaped by theneed to satisfy external gatekeepers (venture capitalists andthe constituents of public corporations), as well as by exigenciesof organizational scale, growth, and aging. We discuss someimplications of these results for efforts to understand thevarieties, determinants, and consequences of bureaucracy.     

Flexible exchange rates and perfect foresight: The implications of domestic monetary policy for foreign prices and stabilization policy

Zusammenfassung Flexible Wechselkurse und vollkommene Voraussicht: Implikationen der inl?ndischen Geldpolitik für die Preisentwicklung und Stabilisierungspolitik im Ausland. — Vorgestellt wird eine Variante mit zwei L?ndern und vollkommener Voraussicht, die auf dem 1976 von Dornbusch entwickelten Modell flexibler Wechselkurse basiert. Die Güterpreise in beiden L?ndern passen sich danach nur z?gernd der übernachfrage an. Die Isolierung des ausl?ndischen Preisniveaus von einem unerwarteten dauerhaften Anstieg der heimischen Geldmenge erfordert in dem Augenblick eine sprunghafte Erh?hung der ausl?ndischen Geldmenge, in dem es im Inland zum Anstieg kommt, gefolgt von einem Rückgang auf das frühere Niveau. Soll das ausl?ndische Preisniveau bei einer im voraus angekündigten Geldpolitik im Inland stabilisiert werden, dann mu\ die ausl?ndische Geldmenge zu dem Zeitpunkt sprunghaft erh?ht werden, zu dem die Ankündigung im Inland erfolgt. Die weitere zeitliche Entwicklung der Geldversorgung im Ausland h?ngt von bestimmten Parametern des Modells ab, die n?her erl?utert werden.

---

Résumé Taux de change flexibles et la prévision parfaite: les implications des politiques monétaires locales pour les prix et la politique de stabilisation à l’étranger. — L’auteur présente une version de prévision parfaite et à deux pays d’un modèle des taux de change flexibles développé par Dornbusch en 1976. Les prix des biens dans les deux pays s’ajustent inertement à l’excès de demande. L’isolation du niveau de prix étranger d’une imprévue augmentation permanente du stock monétaire rend nécessaire un saut en stock monétaire étranger au moment où l’augmentation locale se passe, suivie par une réduction jusqu’au niveau initial. La stabilisation des prix à l’étranger au cas d’une politique locale monétaire préannoncée implique un saut en masse monétaire étrangère si l’annonce est faite. Le développement subséquent de la masse monétaire dépend des certains paramètres dans le modèle.

---

Resumen Tasas de cambio flexibles y predicción perfecta: las implicaciones de la política monetaria doméstica sobre los precios externos y la política de estabilización. — Se présenta una versión de predicción perfecta de dos países de un modelo de tasas de cambio flexibles de Dornbusch de 1976. Los precios de los bienes se ajustan en ambos países lentamente al exceso de demanda. La aislación del nivel de precios extranjero de un aumento permanente no anticipado del stock monetario del pais natal requière de un salto en el stock de monedas extranjeras cuando se produce el aumento doméstico, seguido de una disminución a su nivel original. Estabilización de precios extranjeros con una pol⩼ica monetaria doméstica preanunciada envuelve un salto en la oferta monetaria extranjera cuando se hace el anuncio. La trayectoria en el tiempo de la oferta monetaria depende de ciertos parámetros en el modelo.

     

The impact of organizational climate and strategic fit on firm performance

A firm's organizational climate—its degree of trust, morale, conflict, rewards equity, leader credibility, resistance to change, and scapegoating—helps determine its success. Likewise, organizational strategy—the firm's commitment to capital investment, innovation, quality, and the like—has also been found to be an important determinant of firm performance. However, prior work has most often explored the impact of climate and strategy separately, and not in tandem. In our study, we develop a measure of organizational climate comprised of tension, resistance to change, and conflict, and go on to show that at least for some pairings of a firm's climate and its strategy, there is a negative effect on return on assets (ROA). © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Arts to Follow Political Piper?

The arts are almost universally commended for government subsidy because of their supposed dispersed cultural and economic benefits to the community as a whole. John Burton, Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, challenges this superstition and demonstrates it is economically unfounded and impossible to establish from the evidence.     

Governmental behavior in response to compensation requirements

The amount of compensation paid to those harmed by public activities is thought to influence mainly the distributional consequences of public programs. This paper uses a simple model of bureau behavior to examine the response of a public agency to changes in compensation requirements. Under some circumstances, changes in compensation requirements will induce agencies to change both the level and mix of public output. Tests of these predictions using data on U.S. highway construction suggest that the presence of compensation requirements can affect the real output decisions of public agencies and not simply the distributional consequences of their decisions.     

Economic theory in corporate planning

The microeconomic theory of the firm encompasses classical marginal analysis and modern operations research techniques. Yet, one finds a paucity of explicit application of microeconomics to corporate planning. In this paper we explore the reasons for the seeming void and develop an economic theory of corporate planning. Our main thesis is that received microeconomic theory focuses on answers, and answers stated in non-operational terms. Nonetheless, economic theory asks questions of central importance to the strategic choices of the firm. These questions arise from economic theory and the fundamental notion of trade-offs. We develop a microeconomic theory of strategic search for corporate planning. The theory is used to develop important questions and efficient search in lieu of chaotic and random search.