Implications for food production, land use and rural development of the European Union’s Single Farm Payment: Indications from a survey of farmers’ intentions in Germany, Portugal and the UK

The 2003 reform of the European Union’s (EU) Common Agricultural Policy introduced a decoupled income support for farmers called the Single Farm Payment (SFP). Concerns were raised about possible future land use and production changes and their impact on rural communities. Here, such concerns are considered against the workings of the SFP in three EU Member States. Various quantitative studies that have determined the likely impact of the SFP within the EU and the study countries are reviewed. We present the results of a farm survey conducted in the study countries in which farmers’ responses to a decoupling scenario similar to the SFP were sought. We found that little short-term change was proposed in the three, rather different, study countries with only 30% of the farmers stating that they would alter their mix of farm activities. Furthermore, less than 30% of all respondents in each country would idle any land under decoupling. Of those who would adopt a new activity, the most popular choices were forestry, woodland and non-food crops.     

PRODUCTIVE CAPITAL IN ITALY: A DISAGGREGATED ESTIMATE BY SECTORS OF ORIGIN AND DESTINATION: 1985–88

This study presents a series of matrices of the capital stock disaggregated both by branch of origin and by branch of destination for the years 1985 to 1988 for Italy. The tables, whose dimensions are 23 × 23, were constructed using the perpetual inventory method and are based on disaggregated time series of gross capital formation provided by Istat (Italian Statistical Institute). The tables refer to both gross and net capital (with straight-line depreciation) and have been tested on alternative hypotheses for the average expected service lives of capital goods and their survival functions.     

Hospital competition,spillovers and provision of uncompensated care

Using data for California from 2005 until 2010, we investigate to what extent market competition and the presence of non-profits in the area may play a role in equilibrium uncompensated care (UC) levels, allowing those effects to differ according to the hospital’s ownership type. Previous studies have not explored the potential spillover effects from non-profit hospitals into the hospital decision of UC provision. We find evidence that regions with more non-profits experienced larger increases in UC levels, and even more in less concentrated markets. Our results also indicate that UC provision by for-profit hospitals decreases the larger the presence of non-profits in the region, and this effect is magnified when competition is more intense. We, therefore, find no positive spillover effects of non-profits into the hospital decision of UC provision, which may help us to understand the recent trends in UC levels.     

The Location of New Firms and the Life Cycle of Industries

Small Business Economics - Why does the location of new firms differ according to the characteristics of the industry? Is there a relation between a technologically dense base of firms and the...     

Pensions and Retirement Among Black Union Army Veterans

I examine the effects of an unearned income transfer on the retirement rates and living arrangements of black Union Army veterans. I find that blacks were more than twice as responsive as whites to income transfers in their retirement decisions and 6 to 8 times as responsive in their choice of independent living arrangements. My findings have implications for understanding racial differences in rates of retirement and independent living at the beginning of the twentieth century, the rise in retirement prior to 1930, and the subsequent convergence in black-white retirement rates and living arrangements.     

Taking operations strategy into practice: Developing a process for defining priorities and performance measures

Enterprises’ operations systems and environments, characterized by their complexity and dynamics, are challenging operations strategic management models. The study presented in this paper develops a process to integrate operations strategy content to operations performance measurement system design. Essentially, the developed methodology is based on Process Approach (Cambridge Approach) technique that systematizes procedures for generating a performance measures set coherent to operations strategy objectives and also produces a consistent strategy implementation process. To illustrate the development and the application of the proposed design methodology, findings of two case studies related to telecom engineering services companies are used. Results are discussed focusing on testing the proposed methodology in terms of its feasibility, usability, and utility. A refined process, organized in phases, steps, and procedures, is the final result of the presented study.     

An endogenous growth model for the evolution of water rights systems

This article presents a model to help explain the transition path from one water management system to another, typically a commons framework to one of tradable permit‐based property rights. Furthermore, drawing from transaction cost literature, the model demonstrates how this takes place when externalities (the strain on water resources) become severe enough to warrant the increased transaction costs inherent with more complex water rights management frameworks.     

Annexation: An Economic Analysis

A bstract . Cost/revenue analysis is used to determine the economic feasibility for annexing various types of land uses into a municipality. Operating costs for municipal services within existing municipal boundaries are apportioned to land uses according to the percent of the service utilized by each. Capital expenditures Site averaged over the expected life of the capital facility Sind then allocated to land uses in the same proportional manner as operating expenditures. Tax yields by land use type are estimated by allocating property taxes and income taxes to land uses which generate them. For example, income taxes are allocated to the commercial and industrial land uses where the employment resulting in tax yields is found. Tax yields are then compared by land use through use of an areal average of one acre. Estimates of revenue to be produced through annexation would result from comparing tax yields with service costs using the same acre average. Thus a city is in a better position to make a decision about the economic merits of specific annexation proposals.