Sraffa and the Assumption of Constant Returns to Scale: A Critique of Samuelson and Etula

In a recent paper Samuelson and Etula claim to have providedthree examples of the presence of a constant returns to scaleassumption in Sraffa's Production of Commodities. The presentpaper is a refutation of their interpretation of Sraffa's propositions.It shows that they mistakenly take Sraffa's logical propositionsfor empirical propositions. This article also provides evidenceto refute Samuelson's hypothesis that Sraffa consistently confusedthe concept of Marshallian "constant cost" with the generalequilibrium concept of "constant returns to scale". The paperalso argues that Sraffa's prices are not necessarily "equilibrium"prices, and that it is not true that Sraffa maintained thatchanges in demand had no impact on prices; his position appearsrather to be that the impact of demand on prices is unpredictable.     

Entry-timing,business groups and early-mover advantage within industry merger waves in emerging markets: A study of Indian firms

Merger waves are periods of intense and concentrated merger activity which exhibit a wave-like pattern. Drawing upon the resource-based view, we examine the timing of entry and early-mover advantage within merger waves. Following a robust simulation-based methodology of wave analysis, we identify merger waves in eight industries during the time period 2000–2014. Firms affiliated to business groups were found to be early movers. A higher degree of internationalization is also associated with early movement of a firm. Within business groups, their multi-entity character is positively associated with early entry whereas their board interlock was negatively related with entry-timing. Further, early moving acquirers reap superior post-acquisition performance, thereby suggesting that early-mover advantages exist within merger waves.     

Bus transportation crews planning by goal programming

In the present paper, an integer goal programming model formulation is presented for the bus transportation crews planning to find an optimal schedule in which each crew is assigned two days off (consecutive or non-consecutive) per week and several goals like upper and lower limits on the total number of crews having consecutive and/or non-consecutive days off on each day, lower limit on the number of crews having consecutive days off on the particular pairs of consecutive days, and minimization of the number of crews having non-consecutive days off, are taken into consideration. The model is demonstrated by a numerical example.     

Crop yield convergence across districts in India’s poorest state

Journal of Productivity Analysis - Bihar, India’s poorest state, witnessed impressive yield growth in its three principal crops during the last decade or so. This paper examines whether a...     

Japan's concessions towards trade fairness: Mistaken western views

It is now acknowledged even by US officials that Japan's recent efforts to liberalize trade have been remarkable. Our author, who has recently published a book on “Japan's Options for the 1980s”, argues that the continuing EEC complaints about Japan's behaviour as a trading partner are unjustified: Japan is simply being made a scapegoat for the EEC's own failures.     

Can We Meaningfully Speak of Changes in Price under the Regime of Changes in Techniques?

Abstract

This paper presents a simulation exercise on Sraffa's system under various types of technical changes to show that the direction of changes in prices of commodities is contingent on the choice of the numeraire. Thus, such a comparison of prices in two systems turns out to be meaningless. This result points to the arbitrary nature of the neoclassical supply functions, as they inevitably compare prices across several Sraffa systems on the basis of an arbitrarily chosen numeraire. We anticipated such a result from our reading of Sraffa as part of his ‘prelude to a critique of economic theory’.     

Customization of the online purchase process in electronic retailing and customer satisfaction: An online field study

This paper investigates the customization of the online purchase process in electronic retailing. We conceptualize customization relevant to the two constituent sub-processes in the online purchase process: (i) decision customization—the customization of the information content delivered to customers to help them in the decision-making sub-process; and (ii) transaction customization—the customization of the purchase transaction sub-process for each customer. We draw on and synthesize the theoretical perspectives of Website Usability, Technology Acceptance Model, and Transaction Costs, to triangulate and deduce hypotheses linking customization of the online purchase process in electronic retailing and customer satisfaction. The hypotheses are tested by analyzing: (i) primary data on customization of the online purchase process collected from an online field study involving a direct observation and content analysis of the websites of 422 retailers; and (ii) secondary data on customer satisfaction with the online purchase process for the same set of 422 electronic retailers collected from a publicly available data source. The research method used for the empirical analysis is Multivariate Analyses of Covariance (MANCOVA). The results indicate that decision customization that provides choice assistance by way of personalized product recommendations is positively associated with customer satisfaction with the decision-making sub-process; and transaction customization, oriented towards making the transaction sub-process personal, convenient, and interactive is positively associated with customer satisfaction with the purchase transaction sub-process. Additionally, the results indicate that both decision customization and transaction customization are associated with overall customer satisfaction with the online purchase process of electronic retailers. The contributions, managerial implications, and limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.