Do Agricultural Commodity Prices Respond to Bans against Bioengineered Crops?

Bans against bioengineered food ingredients by major food companies have been broadly reported and have been often taken to signal demand shifts away from commodities in favor of identity-preserved non-bioengineered crops. Yet, the impacts of such bans have not been quantified and, indeed, the market size for non-bioengineered crops remains unknown. We tested whether either the Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures prices (commodity) or the Tokyo Grain Exchange non-GMO soybean futures prices (identity preserved market) responded to firm bans of bioengineered food ingredients. Neither the Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures prices nor the Tokyo Grain Exchange non-GMO soybean futures prices respond to bans.     

Social capital and social economics

The “discovery” of social capital in the early 1990s led to an upsurge of research into the economic impact of social cohesion and governmental effectiveness. This paper outlines key developments in the social capital literature over the past 13 years. It then examines theory and evidence of the links between social cohesion, quality of governance, economic performance and human welfare. The literature indicates that social capital makes a measurable contribution to economic development and overall wellbeing, particularly in developing countries. Partly in response to this emerging body of evidence, there has been increased interest in the application of community development principles to economic development initiatives. This paper argues that the advent of social capital theory represents a partial convergence between social economics and mainstream economics, and signifies an increased acceptance that economic activity cannot be meaningfully “disembedded” from social and political context.     

Alternative Policy Instruments for Agriculture Support: Consequences for Trade, Farm Income and Competitiveness

The views expressed are solely those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development or Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.     

Automotive supplier parks: An imperative for build-to-order?

Build-to-order (BTO) has been hailed as a production strategy that fits the demands of the 21st century where a considerable challenge for the industry is how to achieve flexibility from extended supply chains that span the globe and retain elements of make-to-forecast. A study of 8 European manufacturers examines whether supplier parks are an imperative for BTO using a conceptual framework developed from the literature. The findings question the idea that simply locating suppliers in close proximity to original equipment manufacturer assembly plants reduces delivery lead time and inventory. Hence, not all types of supplier parks are an imperative for BTO, where the cases reveal a wide variety of types ranging in scale and proximity. The originality of the paper is a unique study which redefines both automotive supplier park terminology and the relationships with BTO. It questions received wisdom and offers practical measures for industry.     

An integrated model of service experience design improvement

Service experience design, addressing an overall experience problem with user-centered design thinking is a critical issue. This study proposes an integrated model of service experience assessment that addresses the relationship between user value and experience based on the importance and satisfaction concept. Refined improvement index of this study was developed for the determination of improvement priority. The paper then presents an empirical study of 3C (computer, communication, consumer-electronics) retail stores in which the proposed model was used to identify the critical servicescape items requiring improvement, and ranked on the strategies of improvement. The model requires a systematic approach to (i) examine the performance of these retail service processes; (ii) determine the items to be improved; and (iii) select appropriate and feasible strategies to improve these items. This integrated model is valuable for practical implementation in service firms to investigate and prioritize service design actions based on user experience data gathered from service sites.     

准备一个质量图书馆

所有质量专业人员的一个很重要的技能是从哪里能够找到解决问题的答案。在经过20多年的质量工作后,我发现我的工作所面临的是大量老问题和新问题的混合体。老     

International trade with endogenous mode of competition in general equilibrium

This paper endogenizes the extent of intra-sectoral competition in a multi-sectoral general-equilibrium model of oligopoly and trade. Firms choose capacity followed by prices. If the benefits of capacity investment in a given sector are below a threshold level, the sector exhibits Bertrand behavior, otherwise it exhibits Cournot behavior. By endogenizing the threshold parameter in general equilibrium, we show how exogenous shocks such as globalization and technological change alter the mix of sectors between “more” and “less” competitive, or Bertrand and Cournot, and affect the relative wages of skilled and unskilled workers, even in a “North–North” model with identical countries.     

How is suicide different in Japan?

This study investigates suicide rates among OECD countries, with particular effort made to gain insight into how suicide in Japan is different from suicides in other OECD countries. Several findings emerged from fixed-effect panel regressions with country-specific time-trends. First, the impacts of socioeconomic variables vary across different gender–age groups. Second, in general, better economic conditions such as high levels of income and higher economic growth were found to reduce the suicide rate, while income inequality increases the suicide rate. Third, the suicide rate is more sensitive to economic factors captured by real GDP per capita, growth rate of real GDP per capita, and the Gini index than to social factors represented by divorce rate, birth rate, female labor force participation rate, and alcohol consumption. Fourth, female and elderly suicides are more difficult to be accounted for. Finally, in accordance with general beliefs, Japan's suicide problem is very different from those of other OECD countries. The impact of the socioeconomic variables on suicide is greater in Japan than in other OECD countries.     

Credit Availability and the Structure of the Homebuilding Industry

We investigate the role of disruptions to the structure of the homebuilding industry due to fluctuations in the availability of bank credit. We find a sustained decline in the large private homebuilder market share series over the period from 1988 to 1993 when many banks with deteriorated health reduced their lending in order to raise capital ratios. Regression analysis at the metropolitan statistical area level supports the hypothesis that, in areas where banks were less well capitalized and had more problem construction loans, the market shares of large private homebuilders that relied primarily on bank credit to finance their production suffered at the expense of the public homebuilders that had better access to external funds, in large part due to their direct access to public capital markets.