Bulgarian Agriculture and EU Accession

This article analyses markets, income and agricultural policy changes in Bulgaria after its accession to the EU. A country AG-MEMOD model, consisting of 18 commodities organised in four sub-models (crops, livestock, milk & dairy and a link between crops and livestock) is applied. The model is an econometric, dynamic, partial-equilibrium and multi-product one. In order to examine the policy environment in Bulgaria, two scenarios are designed: baseline or non-accession (N-Ac) and accession (Ac). The accession scenario should have a very positive effect on the crop sector in Bulgaria, whereas the effect is the opposite on the livestock sector. The most remarkable results come from the milk sector. The effect on income is also positive, despite the pessimistic macroeconomic projections.     

Excessive indebtedness of LDCs?

Though even in such cases there may be different opinions, it appears fairly obvious under what conditions a business is excessively indebted. However, there is hardly any agreement on the point where an entire national economy ought to be considered as overindebted. The present article discusses this problem.     

A destination VAT for CIS trade

This paper was originally produced as a co-operative study between the Fiscal Affairs Department and the European II Department of the International Monetary Fund. It is intended for inclusion in a special issue on fiscal policy of the journal MOCT-MOST, Economic Policy in Transitional Economies (Kluwer Academic Publishers). The authors would like to thank Henri Lorie, of the European II Department, and John Crotty and James Walsh, of the Fiscal Affairs Department, for their extensive contributions to the analysis. They also wish to thank the numerous staff members of the two departments who made factual contributions to this effort.     

Public Goods and Minimum Provision Levels: Does the Institutional Formation Affect Cooperation?*

We investigate experimentally the role of institutional formation on the implementation of a binding minimum contribution level to a public good. Groups either face the minimum level exogenously imposed by a central authority, or are allowed to decide for themselves by means of a group vote whether a minimum level should be implemented. We find that a binding minimum contribution level has a positive and substantially significant effect on cooperation. Interestingly, we do not find an additional positive effect of democracy in the context of our experiment; the minimum‐level intervention is as effective when exogenously implemented as when endogenously chosen.     

Zins und Inflation: Bemerkungen zu einer Synthese der Wicksellschen und Fisherschen Inflationstheorie

Schlußbemerkung Die obigen Überlegungen sind keineswegs als Kritik an Friedrich Lutz zu verstehen. Die Lektüre seiner Schrift hat mich derart angeregt, daß ich versucht habe, mir selbst klar zu machen, welche Implikationen ein Wicksell-Fisher-Modell bzw. ein Wicksell-Fisher-Friedman-Modell für eine inflationäre Wirtschaft hat. Viele andere überlegungen, die sich in dem Text von Lutz befinden (wie z. B. das Verhalten der Zinsstruktur im Inflationsprozeß, die Existenz von indexierten Geldforderungen und der außenwirtschaftliche Aspekt der Inflation), habe ich in dieser Rezension auf Grund meiner langatmigen Reflexionen über das Grundproblem seiner Abhandlung nicht mehr ausführlich erwähnen können. Um so mehr empfehle ich dem Leser, diese Schrift mit größter Aufmerksamkeit zu lesen — er wird dementsprechend vom Autor Lutz entlohnt werden.     

Anwendung der Volterra'schen Integralgleichungen in der mathematischen Statistik

Abstract

In der vorliegenden Abhandlung, welche einen Auszug aus den in den Abhandlungen der tschechoslowakischen Akademie für Wissenschaften (Rozpravy ?eské akademie) veröffentlichten Arbeiten darstellt ¹ Pon?iti Volterrových integrálnich rovnie v matematické statistice Jahrg. XXVI. No. 26, Praha 1917. O jisté integrodifferenciálni rovnici Jahrg. XXIX. No. 15, Praha 1920. wird die Theorie der Integral- und Integrodifferentialgleichungen auf die Lösung wichtiger Probleme der mathematischen Statistik angewendet. Das Ziel der Arbeit ist zu zeigen, dass die Volterra'schen Integral- und Integrodifferentialgleichungen die mathematische Grundlage für die Beschreibung zahlreicher sog. Kollektiverscheinungen bilden. Es handelt sich dabei um Probleme, welche die Praxis bereits seit langer Zeit mittels angenäherter Methoden durch Rekursionsprozesse oder mit, Hilfe von Hypothesen, die dem heutigen Stande unseres Wissens nicht mehr entsprechen, löst. Diese Probleme, wenn wir sie genau formulieren und auf alle Erkenntnise der Praxis und Theorie Rücksicht nehmen wollen, führen zu den Integral- und Integrodifferentialgleichungen, ohne deren Studium die Lösung also nicht vollständig ist.     

Tourist segments' justifications for behaving in an environmentally unsustainable way

Misalignment of pro-environmental beliefs and environmentally unsustainable vacation behaviour can cause psychological tension to tourists. They manage this tension by finding justifications for their behaviour, rather than changing their behaviour. A recent study has systematized such justification; this systematics is used in the present study to investigate the existence of tourist segment sharing justification patterns. A finite mixture model with concomitant variables is used to analyse 2785 survey responses. Three segments are identified. The government blamers express strong interest in the environmental sustainability of their vacation, but deny both their responsibility and ability to make a difference. The struggling seekers would not book their dream vacation if it was environmentally unfriendly, yet do not feel in control of reducing negative environmental impacts of their holiday, which they fully acknowledge. The impact neglecters also state they would not book their dream vacation if it was environmentally unfriendly, but their main justification for taking – potentially environmentally harmful – vacations is denial of the negative environmental consequences of tourism. The existence of these differences in justification patterns indicates different approaches could counteract each of these segment-specific beliefs by inducing cognitive dissonance, shown in other contexts to induce behavioural change. Advice on approaches is given.